My best Amtrak experience has been November 2010, round-trip from San Jose to Seattle. Took a friend of mine on their very first trip aboard a train, and I've very successfully created another fan in the process. The train was over 40 minutes early arriving into SJC, giving us ample time to board and settle in our bedroom, then venture to the PPC until well after midnight watching the lights of the Bay Area, then Sacramento fade, reappear, then fade again. Absolutely amazing service; our SCA Annette was overjoyed when I told her of my traveling companion's first trip aboard a train. We woke up unexpectedly at 7:30 in the morning by a polite knock on the door to find Annette standing there with a tray of coffee, OJ and a newspaper for the two of us! It was her way of "Welcoming" my friend to the Amtrak system, and "re-welcoming" me back. She got a very generous tip as we stepped off the train at King Street Station 10 minutes early from what was scheduled!
The trip back was no less impressive, and while our SCA was not really all that amazing, she was not bad either. Instead, the shining beacon of an Amtrak employee was the PPC attendant, Ben, who we originally found frantically trying to get his car in shape as passengers were boarding at King Street. The original PPC had been bad-ordered and was swapped last-minute with another PPC that was sitting standby in Seattle. As such, nothing was stocked or ready yet Ben was trying his best. I pitched in, despite his kind pleas that it was not necessary, to help get the table cloths out and carry a few cases of soda from the coolers beneath the screen downstairs up to the bar area. We left right on time, and Ben became a very entertaining individual to talk with through the rest of the trip. My buddy and him instantly related, considering both had gone through a similar surgery and as such had some things very alike. We again arrived smack on-time into San Jose.
Rewind to February 2008. I've had an absolutely amazing time on VIA as well, aboard the Canadian, and even though the trip ended up being robbed of a significant portion of train time the steps taken in order to get the passengers to their destinations was mind-boggling. A freight derailment at Sioux Lookout blocked all chances of the Canadian leaving Toronto, and as Customer Service Agents frantically tried to give information to passengers about the situation, Toronto was being pounded with a massive blizzard. A rerouting of the train over a different set of tracks was ruled out early on, and as the day drug on, worse news was that Toronto Pearson International Airport was closed due to the weather. Vouchers for food were given out to everyone waiting, and by 6 PM a plan seemed to be forming. VIA had chartered two B-373 airliners from WestJet Airlines, had them sitting on the tarmac at some regional airport two hours out of Toronto, and were going to bus the whole train-load of passengers to this airport. We arrived, many heads shaking (including my own) about the chances of actually getting off the ground, and trudged through several feet of snow into the small terminal building. VIA had taken all our checked baggage from Toronto and re-checked them aboard the airplanes for us, we went through security, and out onto the tarmac to try and get up the stairs into the plane before turning into a snowman. The captain fired up the engines after everyone was settled, and gave us a quick briefing over the PA about the window of opportunity for take-off closing quickly due to the weather, and headed for the runway. We did NOT de-ice the plane, and had over a foot accumulated on the wings as seen through my window. I've never been more nervous about flying before, and I was far from alone. And yet, we screamed down the pavement and into the sky with the second jet just behind us.
We landed an hour and change later into Winnipeg, met buses there and went to our lodging for the night at the Raddison Hotel. Vouchers were given for two full meals per-person at the hotel restaurant, and I can tell you the rooms were extremely nice! The next morning, VIA had turned the former east-bound Canadian around (and had similarly flown those passengers to Toronto) and prepped it for boarding at 11 AM at Winnipeg Union Station. We were bussed the two blocks from the hotel to the station due to the temperatures (NEGATIVE 53 DEGREES CELSIUS!!!) where we were allowed to do as we please. Lunch was on the train in the dining car, or we had the option of catered food in the station below. Live music was brought in to play for us in the station as well! And the train left on-time at 5 PM and headed West. The rest of the trip was more-or-less perfect. The only other unexpected occurrence being when another passenger found out the hard way why the shower had been locked. He forced the door early in the morning, everyone else asleep, and turned on the water to clean himself up. It only took a few moments for shower water to end up pooling because of the frozen drain, overflow into the rest of the shower compartment, and out into the rest of the car. I awoke to his frantic pounding and screaming as the door in which he'd forced to get inside remained locked when he tried to get out and trapped him. I put my feet on the floor, instantly soaked my socks because of all the water, and went to see what all the noise was about! It took many attempts at the call button before the SCA appeared dreary-eyed to see what was the matter, but only a second to see him instantly wake-up and become quite angry. The door was opened, the man extricated, then yelled at repeatedly because not only was the door locked but a sign placed in plain sight about it being out of service. The carpet was wet for the duration of the trip into Vancouver.
What an adventure! :lol:
