Green Maned Lion
Engineer
We got up about 4:25 in the morning, and left the house around 5:30, with my dad driving us to the station. This saved us the slightly sticky problem of parking for three or maybe four days in a lot designed for commuters. Since the station is just a block from my dads weekend office, it wasn't that much of a problem. We ate breakfast at Dunkin' Donuts because Starbucks apparently doesn't open until 6:00 on Saturdays. We brought them with us on the train. Audrey had a jelly donut, I had a bacon, sausage, egg, and cheese on a croissant. The NJT train ran its usual 3-4 minutes late into New York Penn station.
We went to the ClubAcela lounge and checked in without hitch- to my surprise. I don't know, I was expecting more of a problem. Maybe I am giving Amtrak's employees too little credit for CS in my mind, too much credit for bureaucracy. It sure seemed that way at the end of this trip. Anyway, the lounge was pretty nice- a heck of a lot nicer than the regular waiting area in Penn. The food was ok, as, to my shock, was the coffee. The soda was too watery. Both me (23) and my girlfriend (18) take the old Toys'Rus campaign to heart- we don't wanna grow up. So we were both enthralled by the electronic shoe polishing machine.
The lounge attendant, true to her word, called us for the Regional, which I will now refer to as the Nutmeg State, because thats what it was called prior to Regionals losing their names, about 5 minutes before the train was tracked on the main board. This managed to confuse Audrey because we went to the proper track and the escalator was still set in the "UP" mode and people were still disembarking. We boarded the Nutmeg State first and managed to find some side by side seats. I was glad to find out that my big roller bag containing our sleeping bag, pillows, and clothes fit into the overhead rack. It didn't on the Comet V we took into Penn.
I forgot how fast 125 mph can be. Especially when passing another like-speeded train. The trains we occasionally passed going in the opposite direction managed to scare Audrey because of how quickly they appear and disappear. We checked out the Cafe car during the long ride between Wilmington and Baltimore. The seats seemed to be decorated in the striped brown colour of early Amtrak Cafes. Didn't they have a Capstone refurbishment for the Amfleet Cafes? What happened to them? Checking OTOL it says they were stored... why?
The Nutmeg State pulled into Washington early, which was nice. We checked out stuff into the ClubAcela lounge and went out exploring the station. I was thinking of eating lunch at Thunder Grill like I had once when my mother and I went to DC for a vacation. I guess I forgot how expensive it was. We ended up eating at this chinese/cajun (interesting combination, no?) place in the food court. It was actually quite good. We explored the heck out of the station. It really is a beautiful station, perhaps the nicest inside of the still-extant great stations.
We went back to the lounge to await boarding the Capitol Limited. The food wasn't really food- just some pretzels and goldfish. The soda wasn't watery, but it was kinda flat. It really is a nice lounge- I'd say its nicer than the one in New York. The called the Capitol Limited sleeping passengers for early boarding, and we went. The train was sitting on the track, dwarfing all the other trains. There was a few PV cars to its left, and we also managed to catch a glimpse of Beech Grove on the way to the train. To our disappointment, an obnoxious old bat from the lounge who felt a need to butt into our conversations and try and solicit my girlfriend and I to help her with things either she or redcaps should be doing and her husband, came with the group.
The train was all painted in Phase V paint. The two sleeping cars were refurbished Superliner Is. We were in Roomette three of car 2900, which was 32042. The consist was actually very interesting.
There were, of course, 2 P42s. I failed to get the number. Here is the rest of the consist:
F59PHi Sounder V40
Bombardier Bi-level, Sounder 102
Bombardier Bi-level, Sounder 103
Heritage Baggage Car 1754 (converted to mail only, originally a coach)
Transition Sleeper 39037 (Superliner II)
Sleeper 32007 - Canyonlands (Superliner I, Refurbed 6/14/06)
Sleeper 32042 - Wrangell-St. Elias (Superliner I, Refurbed 2/15/06)
Diner 38010 (Superliner I)
Sightseer Lounge 33047 (Superliner II)
Coach 34116 (Superliner II)
Coach 34139 (Superliner II)
So question for anyone who wants to answer it: What the heck were the Sounders there for? And why were they being referred to as "VRE" cars? They were in Sounder paint.
Anyway, the inside of the sleeping car was gorgeous. Elegant, luxurious feeling. Much nicer than the comfortable-but-institutional look of Superliner IIs. Our car attendants name was Larry, a hard working, nice guy who easily earned his tip. Unfortunately, the aforementioned annoying old bat was in the room across from us. She constantly was bugging us. I don't mean chatting with us- although she did some of that. She complained about the draft in the car, asked me to fix it, tried to get us to close our door, tried to get Larry to raise the already high temperature, and finally had the gall to try and insist that we turn off our light because she wanted to go to sleep (at about 7:30, by the way).
Larry then came up to her and told her that it is wholly inappropriate to ask us to do that, and to please refrain from doing so. She then started bugging him for everything under the sun. Every 5 minutes, "LARRY! LARRRRRYYY!!!!!!" Eventually he stopped responding to her. Despite all the things he did for her, I never saw her give him a tip. Anyway, they were the kind of old couple where both of them were deaf. She wanted to get Larry, and was cold. Her husband was hot, in the upper bunk, in his underwear, and didn't want the cover because he was hot. He kept telling her he was half naked and please close the curtain. She kept telling him she needed Larry.
The were still going at this when we got back from the lounge around midnight. I got sick of listening to it and around 12:15 I leaned into her room and said, "Madam, could you please shut up?" She looked shocked and appalled. Her husband was trying to hide his snickering. I then closed her door for her (loudly), and my girlfriend and I went to bed. Her door later opened. They slept with it open. God knows why.
We spent most of the day in the lounge, though. My girlfriend was kinda bored and disinterested until we set foot in the Sightseer Lounge. After that, her whole perspective on the train in general changed. I was glad. She enjoyed the scenery, and the bantering going on between three increasingly drunk southerners with thick accents (who didn't know each other). I'll admit, it was a riot. I took tons of pictures. I'll post them in an album later and link them.
We went to dinner. Let me explain a bit about our dinner situation. My girlfriend has to major talent areas- art, and cooking. She enjoys being in the kitchen and doesn't mind spending all day cooking something. So we both have jaded tastes that tend to find most restaurants wanting. I have yet to have a breakfast that really compares to either her eggs benedict with fresh hollandaise, or even more so, her poached eggs Burgundian.
We both had the flat iron steak for dinner. The salad was pretty good to my tastes, my girlfriend didn't like it. We were both very favorably impressed with the steak, however. I like my meat rare, and when I say rare, I like it bloody in the middle. They made it rare. For desert, my girlfriend ordered ice cream. I ordered the chesecake (Amtrak's cheesecake is one of my favorite deserts ever. I don't know why.) ala mode. They didn't charge me for my ice cream, and even gave me a plastic spoon so I could take it back to my room. On top of that, she told me something I didn't know. I left the tip-slot on the receipt blank because I figured they'd prefer cash. She pointed out to me that I should make a point of zeroing that because some people apparently write fake tips in there. I was charged for the shrimp cocktail, of course.
We were seated with a pair of unrelated gentleman, some southern dude who was riding the train for the first time, and a seasoned Amtrak rider. We got into a fascinating conversation with the latter, and ended up staying there for about an hour and a half in conversation. The other guy got bored and left early.
Breakfast was acceptable. My girlfriend had the french toast, which she said was mediocre. I had a belgian waffle, which tasted frozen and bland. The coffee was, once again, surprisingly drinkable. The stuff in our sleeping car was most emphatically not. We both slept very well. This leg of the trip was good. We arrived about an hour and forty minutes late, partially because of freight traffic, partially because of a failed traction motor in our number 2 engine.
We went to the ClubAcela lounge and checked in without hitch- to my surprise. I don't know, I was expecting more of a problem. Maybe I am giving Amtrak's employees too little credit for CS in my mind, too much credit for bureaucracy. It sure seemed that way at the end of this trip. Anyway, the lounge was pretty nice- a heck of a lot nicer than the regular waiting area in Penn. The food was ok, as, to my shock, was the coffee. The soda was too watery. Both me (23) and my girlfriend (18) take the old Toys'Rus campaign to heart- we don't wanna grow up. So we were both enthralled by the electronic shoe polishing machine.
The lounge attendant, true to her word, called us for the Regional, which I will now refer to as the Nutmeg State, because thats what it was called prior to Regionals losing their names, about 5 minutes before the train was tracked on the main board. This managed to confuse Audrey because we went to the proper track and the escalator was still set in the "UP" mode and people were still disembarking. We boarded the Nutmeg State first and managed to find some side by side seats. I was glad to find out that my big roller bag containing our sleeping bag, pillows, and clothes fit into the overhead rack. It didn't on the Comet V we took into Penn.
I forgot how fast 125 mph can be. Especially when passing another like-speeded train. The trains we occasionally passed going in the opposite direction managed to scare Audrey because of how quickly they appear and disappear. We checked out the Cafe car during the long ride between Wilmington and Baltimore. The seats seemed to be decorated in the striped brown colour of early Amtrak Cafes. Didn't they have a Capstone refurbishment for the Amfleet Cafes? What happened to them? Checking OTOL it says they were stored... why?
The Nutmeg State pulled into Washington early, which was nice. We checked out stuff into the ClubAcela lounge and went out exploring the station. I was thinking of eating lunch at Thunder Grill like I had once when my mother and I went to DC for a vacation. I guess I forgot how expensive it was. We ended up eating at this chinese/cajun (interesting combination, no?) place in the food court. It was actually quite good. We explored the heck out of the station. It really is a beautiful station, perhaps the nicest inside of the still-extant great stations.
We went back to the lounge to await boarding the Capitol Limited. The food wasn't really food- just some pretzels and goldfish. The soda wasn't watery, but it was kinda flat. It really is a nice lounge- I'd say its nicer than the one in New York. The called the Capitol Limited sleeping passengers for early boarding, and we went. The train was sitting on the track, dwarfing all the other trains. There was a few PV cars to its left, and we also managed to catch a glimpse of Beech Grove on the way to the train. To our disappointment, an obnoxious old bat from the lounge who felt a need to butt into our conversations and try and solicit my girlfriend and I to help her with things either she or redcaps should be doing and her husband, came with the group.
The train was all painted in Phase V paint. The two sleeping cars were refurbished Superliner Is. We were in Roomette three of car 2900, which was 32042. The consist was actually very interesting.
There were, of course, 2 P42s. I failed to get the number. Here is the rest of the consist:
F59PHi Sounder V40
Bombardier Bi-level, Sounder 102
Bombardier Bi-level, Sounder 103
Heritage Baggage Car 1754 (converted to mail only, originally a coach)
Transition Sleeper 39037 (Superliner II)
Sleeper 32007 - Canyonlands (Superliner I, Refurbed 6/14/06)
Sleeper 32042 - Wrangell-St. Elias (Superliner I, Refurbed 2/15/06)
Diner 38010 (Superliner I)
Sightseer Lounge 33047 (Superliner II)
Coach 34116 (Superliner II)
Coach 34139 (Superliner II)
So question for anyone who wants to answer it: What the heck were the Sounders there for? And why were they being referred to as "VRE" cars? They were in Sounder paint.
Anyway, the inside of the sleeping car was gorgeous. Elegant, luxurious feeling. Much nicer than the comfortable-but-institutional look of Superliner IIs. Our car attendants name was Larry, a hard working, nice guy who easily earned his tip. Unfortunately, the aforementioned annoying old bat was in the room across from us. She constantly was bugging us. I don't mean chatting with us- although she did some of that. She complained about the draft in the car, asked me to fix it, tried to get us to close our door, tried to get Larry to raise the already high temperature, and finally had the gall to try and insist that we turn off our light because she wanted to go to sleep (at about 7:30, by the way).
Larry then came up to her and told her that it is wholly inappropriate to ask us to do that, and to please refrain from doing so. She then started bugging him for everything under the sun. Every 5 minutes, "LARRY! LARRRRRYYY!!!!!!" Eventually he stopped responding to her. Despite all the things he did for her, I never saw her give him a tip. Anyway, they were the kind of old couple where both of them were deaf. She wanted to get Larry, and was cold. Her husband was hot, in the upper bunk, in his underwear, and didn't want the cover because he was hot. He kept telling her he was half naked and please close the curtain. She kept telling him she needed Larry.
The were still going at this when we got back from the lounge around midnight. I got sick of listening to it and around 12:15 I leaned into her room and said, "Madam, could you please shut up?" She looked shocked and appalled. Her husband was trying to hide his snickering. I then closed her door for her (loudly), and my girlfriend and I went to bed. Her door later opened. They slept with it open. God knows why.
We spent most of the day in the lounge, though. My girlfriend was kinda bored and disinterested until we set foot in the Sightseer Lounge. After that, her whole perspective on the train in general changed. I was glad. She enjoyed the scenery, and the bantering going on between three increasingly drunk southerners with thick accents (who didn't know each other). I'll admit, it was a riot. I took tons of pictures. I'll post them in an album later and link them.
We went to dinner. Let me explain a bit about our dinner situation. My girlfriend has to major talent areas- art, and cooking. She enjoys being in the kitchen and doesn't mind spending all day cooking something. So we both have jaded tastes that tend to find most restaurants wanting. I have yet to have a breakfast that really compares to either her eggs benedict with fresh hollandaise, or even more so, her poached eggs Burgundian.
We both had the flat iron steak for dinner. The salad was pretty good to my tastes, my girlfriend didn't like it. We were both very favorably impressed with the steak, however. I like my meat rare, and when I say rare, I like it bloody in the middle. They made it rare. For desert, my girlfriend ordered ice cream. I ordered the chesecake (Amtrak's cheesecake is one of my favorite deserts ever. I don't know why.) ala mode. They didn't charge me for my ice cream, and even gave me a plastic spoon so I could take it back to my room. On top of that, she told me something I didn't know. I left the tip-slot on the receipt blank because I figured they'd prefer cash. She pointed out to me that I should make a point of zeroing that because some people apparently write fake tips in there. I was charged for the shrimp cocktail, of course.
We were seated with a pair of unrelated gentleman, some southern dude who was riding the train for the first time, and a seasoned Amtrak rider. We got into a fascinating conversation with the latter, and ended up staying there for about an hour and a half in conversation. The other guy got bored and left early.
Breakfast was acceptable. My girlfriend had the french toast, which she said was mediocre. I had a belgian waffle, which tasted frozen and bland. The coffee was, once again, surprisingly drinkable. The stuff in our sleeping car was most emphatically not. We both slept very well. This leg of the trip was good. We arrived about an hour and forty minutes late, partially because of freight traffic, partially because of a failed traction motor in our number 2 engine.
