Dining

[Chris J.]

and how many meet and just have a 1-2 night stand on the train.

Lol, does that ever happen I wonder! That'd make for an interesting promotional campaign!

I suppose if you have a sleeper it's a little more likely

So when someone asks "are you going all the way?", they may not be enquiring as to if your desination is the final calling point for the train. :lol:

 

[WhoozOn1st]

You people are disgusting. Tell us more!

 

[RailFanLNK]

Couple of years ago I made an "Amtrak quiz" for some kids that were accompanying me with an "ex" and I had questions about Amtrak etc and a "prize" for 1st place and 2nd place. Neither of them would "play the game", thought it was "stupid" and were incondsiderate of what I attempted to do. So last year, new girlfriend, new girlfriends kids, same quiz, same destination (LNK to Glenwood Springs CO RT). One of the questions was "who did you have lunch with in the dining car, what was there names and what did they do for careers?" Both of them (ages 15-17) both wrote down Brenda's name and my name, our jobs etc and then said, "that one was easy". We shook our heads and said "no, you are not going to eat with us at lunch, you will break bread with others, be polite to your tablemates and give us the answers". They were FREAKING OUT! DREADING IT! Lo and behold, we had to literally (I mean it to) drag them out of the dining car because we were arriving in GSC. They just sat and talked and talked and the couple they were seated with were a retired couple who had been school teachers in upstate New York. When we were dragging them out of the dining car, the couple said, "those are the nicest and most respectful young women we have met on this trip ". Both teenagers played the quiz, 1st place was $50 and 2nd place was $25. The prior relationship with the two kids who chose not to play, I opened up the "envelopes", pulled out the $75 and put the money in my wallet with them all P.O.ed about "you didn't tell us there was cash for a prize". That last trip to GSC was great and we all are taking another trip this summer. LNK-CHI-NYC-WAS-CHI-LNK.

 

[RailFanLNK]

Forgot, had a social moron only once in the Dining Car. He was a turd. (if this forum wasn't read by children turd would be replaced with foul language and a word that rhymes with ?....) :lol: Grunted with my first two questions so I left him alone. He endlessly stared out the window. So I stared at him to make him a tad uncomfortable. Shoulda winked! That trip was detailed in the "trip reports" and the vibe on that one trip was just STRANGE! The people on the train had all been "extra's" in the movie "One Flew Over The Cuckoo's Nest" or had been in the movie, "Shawshank Redemption, Papillion or Midnight Express", the train was 12 hours lated due to flooding, the fares were unbelievable, $71 RT to Winter Park CO from LNK, couldn't find a coach employee etc. I just giggled when I left the dining car and thought, "what a trip". I detailed it in trip reports with the title, "Trip was a lil' bit.....wierd!"

Al

 

[Mark]

The wife and I were going to Kansas City on SWC to see some friends about four years ago. We were seated in the diner with this a middle aged man and wife. I got the impression right away that she didn't care for Amtrak travel as she was reasonably friendly but kind of snippy. He said very little other than what he did for a living and where they were going. My wife was right in the middle of saying something, (as we were doing the our best to keep up the conversation), when the woman looks up at the celing of the diner and shouts very loudly, "WILL YOU CUT IT OUT!" My wife and I looked at each other in shock that somebody would shout that loud in a public place let alone in a 'dining atmosphere'. The woman quickly recovered, smiled strangely and said, Oh, sorry. I was talking to the train, I'm tired of getting bumped around." Needless to say we ate and beat feet out of there!

On another note, when I was in High School, (returning home on the SSL/TE w/my parents), I met a wonderful girl who was traveling with her family in the same sleeping car. They were from Yuma AZ and were going to attend her father's reunion or something like that in Chicago. We hung out in the vestibule for hours after dinner, (on the SSL portion), until each set of parents hinted it was time to go to bed. Ultimately we kissed and hung out together, (now on the TE portion), for the rest of the trip. We did not get to sit together at dinner but her family was diagonally across from mine so were able to smirk and make eyes at each other while trying to be 'cool' in front of our respective families. We did stay in contact via letters and calls into our college years, (this is pre-email and massive cell phone availability of course). I never did see her again after that trip but we sent each others pictures and it was fun to have a cute pen pal in AZ for almost seven years. Thanks Amtrak!

 

[WhoozOn1st]

Cool stories! Thanks to all, and keep 'em coming.

On a northbound Coast Starlight outta L.A. we were stuck in the diner with an older woman who was pretty snippety. Yes. No. You know the type.

I happened to mention offhand that I'd been to Chicago on the train as a kid.

The woman lit right up. Apparently I'd unknowingly said the magic words.

She had grown up in Chicago, her father had been a pastor or something, and she and her sister had regularly snuck out of his Sunday services so they could go watch the North Shore trains go by.

So while she was snippety at first, we ended up having a good ol' time. She could recite North Shore schedules from memory, and told us when exactly was the best time in her dad's sermons to slip away to watch trains.

The food was no good, but the company was great.

 

[JayPea]

I by nature am not much of a conversationalist. Get me in a room full of people I don't know, and many times if someone says "Hi" to me, I'm stuck for an answer. However, get me in a dining car with people I don't know, and I not only strike up a conversation with those around me, I actually enjoy it!!!!!!!!!! Only one time did I find someone not willing to talk. Fortunately for me, this was during lunch on the CZ, during which time we were rolling through Glenwood Springs, so I at least had the scenery out the window to keep me occupied.

I have had many wonderful conversations over the years in Amtrak diners. I need to spend more time on Amtrak, I guess; I need to brush up on my conversational skills. If I should ever meet up with anyone here in this forum in an Amtrak diner somewhere down the road, I promise I won't end up in the boring/not willing to talk category!!!

 

[Green Maned Lion]

Its actually the only place I generally have a good time socially. I usually find social interaction with people in person to be unpleasant. On a train, its totally different, but I have yet to figure out why.

 

[jackal]

I like conversation, but I'm a horrible small-talk conversationalist. Usually, I run out of things to say within moments, unless we somehow have a deep and interesting subject to talk about. (I guess I'm a wannabe extrovert who's stuck in an introvert's body...)

I think part of what makes dining car talk so easy and fascinating is that simply traveling on Amtrak gives you a great starting point for conversation--the train itself. From there, the conversation's contents can clue you in to other potential conversational points or shared interests. Once you have a subject everyone is knowledgeable about and interested in, you're home free.

At least that's been my experience...