sunchaser
Conductor
After our first Amtrak trips from SLC to OLW & back, hubby was hesitant to take the California Zephyr because of the conditions of the first train. I had already been talking about taking a 'short run' from SLC to GSC for a couple of days in October, before the first trip. I thought it would be a nice break from the valley, enjoy the hot springs, then come back. Since hubby was being a bit difficult about another Zephyr ride, & I had not notified Amtrak of the sleeper issues we had experienced, I emailed Amtrak.com about it. I got two automated responses, & one notification that it was forwarded to Customer Service, but after two days of the forwarding, no response. I suggested to hubby give them a call, because the reservations/purchases were in his name. We will see if he gets any response from them. After 10 days of email tag, I finally called- spoke to a nice Customer Relations Agent who promised to send out a voucher. That was Aug 20th.
We received the voucher Aug 29th.
I went through the ARROW system on Amtrak.com for pairs of days for two months to find a date where the bedrooms/roomettes were cheaper. I also matched it with the hotel/ pool schedules for availability. I finally found the dates of Oct 26th & 28th as good dates for both train & hotel/pool. I would have preferred to book bedrooms for the size factor, but since the travel times on the Zephyr would be roughly nine hours each way and the big price difference for bedrooms, we decided to book roomettes.
The California Zephyr #6, eastbound will arrive at around 3:45 am We will board sleeper car #631, roomette 5. It is scheduled to depart at 4:10 am. Hubby and I will probably try to go back to sleep for a bit, then get up for breakfast, & enjoy the ride. We should also be able to have lunch on the train too. The Zephyr is scheduled to arrive in Glenwood Springs, Co at 12:50pm, then we will cross the bridge over the Colorado River to the Glenwood Springs Lodge. They have a shuttle, and they will pick you up from the station for free, & also take you over to town if you ask. I picked this hotel because it has the original big hot springs pool. It's a bit pricey, but it does include unlimited access to the pools, wifi & free breakfast. Their website is hotspringspool.com. They also have an Ocktoberfest in Glenwood Springs every year, the first & second weeks of October.
I think it will be fun & relaxing! They also have an Ocktoberfest in Glenwood Springs every year.
On the return trip on the the 28th, the westbound Zephyr #5 is scheduled to arrive in GSC at 1:53pm. We will board sleeper car #531, roomette #4, enjoy the scenery, have dinner, & arrive back in SLC at 11:00pm.
We went down to the station on Sept 3rd and bought the tickets. After the deduction of the voucher, the total price was $289.00 for two round trips tickets & two roomettes.
The rail fare was $208, so the roomettes was a total $81 for both. Well worth the price, and would have been worth it even at full price. If you figure 2 meals each both ways at $50 per person, that's $100.00, not including drinks. Add at least $10.00 per person per train for drinks, that's another $40.00, bringing the total to $140.00. Since the full price for the roomettes was $231.00, it would be equal to paying just $91.00 for two roomettes. With the voucher, it would be equivalent to free roomettes.
We got down to the station at around 3:00 AM! As we were sitting there, we met a Conductor, Ray Patterson. Great guy, had some good insight into Amtrak. He used to do the Pioneer Run, said it was a great train trip. He said it was a sad day when he went on the las run. I asked him if he had heard anything about reinstating it, he said last he heard is that they hadn't commited to it yet. I mentioned how it t would take 3-4 years for equipment etc., once they got funding, he seemed surprised. He said they had the equipment before, where was it? So I shared what info I could. He wanted to know where I got my info, I told him about this board. He said he would check it out, so hopefully he will get on and lend his expertise!
The California Zephyr #6 arrived in SLC at 332AM, and departed 413AM, 3 minutes late. Our SCA Dave, was right there to load our bags & cheerfully haul our stuff to the roomette, which was already set for sleeping. He came by right away to introduce himself & give us a run down on the features, amenities & times for Breakfast & offered a wake up call. Our only issue other than of course its size was that it seemed very cold in the roomette, even with cranking it up. I did not say anything because I was sure he had probably gone back to sleep. When I got up around 6:30, Coffee was ready, so I grabbed some & huddled under my blanket until hubby woke up.
We went to breakfast, we both had the French Toast & Sausage. The French Toast was good, but no syrup was offered & no fruit with it either. The sausage was smoky flavored & good.
We went back to our roomette, which had not been reset yet. I had not said anything to Dave, & with our curtain closed, he did not realize we were at breakfast. We let Dave know the roomette was real cold, & he said he would go reset it. I did notice how clean the bathrooms were, with a can of disinfectant sitting on the counter. While he was resetting or roomette, we asked him about his train travels. He, like Ray, had over 30 years in with Amtrak & enjoyed the job. He said he used to do the Desert Wind run, and Dave was on the last run for the Desert Wind.
Our roomette had been refurbed, but not the most recent one. It had the wood paneling in the halls & a closet in the roomette, but the closet was off white, not blue. I had hoped we would have gotten one without the closet because it offers more room even under the seats, but we were still able to stow our stuff without much problem.
At the Grand Junction stop, we burned one & spent more time speaking with Dave & looking at the old station. It would be great if it was refurbed and put back to use. It was there that I collected the consist.
Here is the consist:
#45- Locomotive
#15- Locomotive
#1203- Baggage
#39028- TransDorm/Passenger Sleeper (640)
#32052- Sleeper (632)
# 32025- Sleeper (our sleeper, 631)
#38066- Diner
#33002- Lounge Car
#34075- Coach (610)
#31013- Coach (611)
#34010- Coach (612)
Since the train was running twenty minutes ahead of schedule, we skipped lunch on the train, coming in Glenwood Springs at about 12:30PM.
A little info about the Glenwood Springs Station-its not very ADA compliant. Trackside & inside the Station you would be okay, but if you go inside the station to get to the street, there are stairs. I lugged our suitcases up the stairs & then found out later that there is a locked ramp on the west side of the Station I could have had them unlock. When we came back to depart, the Hotel just called ahead & they unlocked it. The shuttle just drove us down trackside which was so much easier.
The station is very old and currently being restored. There is a little train museum inside that costs $1 to tour, and train stuff to buy.
We were impressed on how much better the service, staff, & train conditions were in comparison to June/July. It was almost as good as the Coast Starlight!
Stay tuned for part 2 & 3!
Thanks for reading!
I forgot to add that Dave cleaned the bathrooms at least twice in the 8 hours we were on the train, and was checking them regularly-a far cry from what we had seen before!
We received the voucher Aug 29th.
I went through the ARROW system on Amtrak.com for pairs of days for two months to find a date where the bedrooms/roomettes were cheaper. I also matched it with the hotel/ pool schedules for availability. I finally found the dates of Oct 26th & 28th as good dates for both train & hotel/pool. I would have preferred to book bedrooms for the size factor, but since the travel times on the Zephyr would be roughly nine hours each way and the big price difference for bedrooms, we decided to book roomettes.
The California Zephyr #6, eastbound will arrive at around 3:45 am We will board sleeper car #631, roomette 5. It is scheduled to depart at 4:10 am. Hubby and I will probably try to go back to sleep for a bit, then get up for breakfast, & enjoy the ride. We should also be able to have lunch on the train too. The Zephyr is scheduled to arrive in Glenwood Springs, Co at 12:50pm, then we will cross the bridge over the Colorado River to the Glenwood Springs Lodge. They have a shuttle, and they will pick you up from the station for free, & also take you over to town if you ask. I picked this hotel because it has the original big hot springs pool. It's a bit pricey, but it does include unlimited access to the pools, wifi & free breakfast. Their website is hotspringspool.com. They also have an Ocktoberfest in Glenwood Springs every year, the first & second weeks of October.
I think it will be fun & relaxing! They also have an Ocktoberfest in Glenwood Springs every year.
On the return trip on the the 28th, the westbound Zephyr #5 is scheduled to arrive in GSC at 1:53pm. We will board sleeper car #531, roomette #4, enjoy the scenery, have dinner, & arrive back in SLC at 11:00pm.
We went down to the station on Sept 3rd and bought the tickets. After the deduction of the voucher, the total price was $289.00 for two round trips tickets & two roomettes.
The rail fare was $208, so the roomettes was a total $81 for both. Well worth the price, and would have been worth it even at full price. If you figure 2 meals each both ways at $50 per person, that's $100.00, not including drinks. Add at least $10.00 per person per train for drinks, that's another $40.00, bringing the total to $140.00. Since the full price for the roomettes was $231.00, it would be equal to paying just $91.00 for two roomettes. With the voucher, it would be equivalent to free roomettes.
We got down to the station at around 3:00 AM! As we were sitting there, we met a Conductor, Ray Patterson. Great guy, had some good insight into Amtrak. He used to do the Pioneer Run, said it was a great train trip. He said it was a sad day when he went on the las run. I asked him if he had heard anything about reinstating it, he said last he heard is that they hadn't commited to it yet. I mentioned how it t would take 3-4 years for equipment etc., once they got funding, he seemed surprised. He said they had the equipment before, where was it? So I shared what info I could. He wanted to know where I got my info, I told him about this board. He said he would check it out, so hopefully he will get on and lend his expertise!
The California Zephyr #6 arrived in SLC at 332AM, and departed 413AM, 3 minutes late. Our SCA Dave, was right there to load our bags & cheerfully haul our stuff to the roomette, which was already set for sleeping. He came by right away to introduce himself & give us a run down on the features, amenities & times for Breakfast & offered a wake up call. Our only issue other than of course its size was that it seemed very cold in the roomette, even with cranking it up. I did not say anything because I was sure he had probably gone back to sleep. When I got up around 6:30, Coffee was ready, so I grabbed some & huddled under my blanket until hubby woke up.
We went to breakfast, we both had the French Toast & Sausage. The French Toast was good, but no syrup was offered & no fruit with it either. The sausage was smoky flavored & good.
We went back to our roomette, which had not been reset yet. I had not said anything to Dave, & with our curtain closed, he did not realize we were at breakfast. We let Dave know the roomette was real cold, & he said he would go reset it. I did notice how clean the bathrooms were, with a can of disinfectant sitting on the counter. While he was resetting or roomette, we asked him about his train travels. He, like Ray, had over 30 years in with Amtrak & enjoyed the job. He said he used to do the Desert Wind run, and Dave was on the last run for the Desert Wind.
Our roomette had been refurbed, but not the most recent one. It had the wood paneling in the halls & a closet in the roomette, but the closet was off white, not blue. I had hoped we would have gotten one without the closet because it offers more room even under the seats, but we were still able to stow our stuff without much problem.
At the Grand Junction stop, we burned one & spent more time speaking with Dave & looking at the old station. It would be great if it was refurbed and put back to use. It was there that I collected the consist.
Here is the consist:
#45- Locomotive
#15- Locomotive
#1203- Baggage
#39028- TransDorm/Passenger Sleeper (640)
#32052- Sleeper (632)
# 32025- Sleeper (our sleeper, 631)
#38066- Diner
#33002- Lounge Car
#34075- Coach (610)
#31013- Coach (611)
#34010- Coach (612)
Since the train was running twenty minutes ahead of schedule, we skipped lunch on the train, coming in Glenwood Springs at about 12:30PM.
A little info about the Glenwood Springs Station-its not very ADA compliant. Trackside & inside the Station you would be okay, but if you go inside the station to get to the street, there are stairs. I lugged our suitcases up the stairs & then found out later that there is a locked ramp on the west side of the Station I could have had them unlock. When we came back to depart, the Hotel just called ahead & they unlocked it. The shuttle just drove us down trackside which was so much easier.
The station is very old and currently being restored. There is a little train museum inside that costs $1 to tour, and train stuff to buy.
We were impressed on how much better the service, staff, & train conditions were in comparison to June/July. It was almost as good as the Coast Starlight!
Stay tuned for part 2 & 3!
Thanks for reading!
I forgot to add that Dave cleaned the bathrooms at least twice in the 8 hours we were on the train, and was checking them regularly-a far cry from what we had seen before!
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