Ever order a pizza while enroute to the next station?

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IndyRacingNut

Train Attendant
Joined
Jul 8, 2012
Messages
51
Location
Richmond, VA
Seems to me with a little planning, one could easily pull off a Papa John's (et al) delivery if you know how long it'll take the train to get to the next station and call ahead accordingly. Just hop off the train while others pax are boarding, etc, pay for the pizza and there you go! Dinner is served!

Or do the conductors frown on this sort of thing?
 
I wouldn't do it unless there's a scheduled layover at the stop. What happens if there's an issue that causes the train to stop/be delayed for a bit? Are you going to make the delivery driver sit in the station?

It's quite a bit different, but on the corridor (I only do this on train 66 for various reasons) I will some times pull up the Unos website after closing the Cafe in Alexandria, VA, and place an order for a nice steak at the Unos in Union Station. By the time we pull in and I get up to the restaurant, the food is just about finished.
 
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I would think that if you were going to try that you'd need to know the boarding characteristics at that station. For example, at Charlotte and Greensboro, NC, you have to go through a tunnel between the station and the platform. Unticketed people, in this case the pizza delivery person, would not generally be allowed access to the train.

jb
 
I'm more or less thinking about the stops where there's two times listed on the timetable. (eg. ABQ on the SWC, etc)
IMHO...too much margin for error in arrival times. You can order pizza at home. Dine in the elegant diner. Seriously, just google "Ordering Pizza at Amtrak Stops". There are threads from years ago discussing the same subject. Should keep you busy for awhile....maybe time to order a pizza? :p
 
I've done it before with a restaurant in the bottom floor of the station that offered delivery to their community I called and asked if they would deliver to the train. And sure enough there was a delivery man on the platform I paid him and then took my food back. And the train had no diner so the other pax were a tad jealous. But it was worth it
 
Seems to me with a little planning, one could easily pull off a Papa John's (et al) delivery if you know how long it'll take the train to get to the next station and call ahead accordingly. Just hop off the train while others pax are boarding, etc, pay for the pizza and there you go! Dinner is served!

Or do the conductors frown on this sort of thing?
I've seen train crews picking up pizza on the EB, especially at Havre MT and Williston ND.
 
I don't think it would be a problem if the business is ok with delivering to the train. If they are willing to make it to the station on time, nothing stopping it from happening. Nothing illegal, unless some train crew quotes / makes up some FDA regulation BS.
 
Don't see how it's possible. Apart from delays, wouldn't pizza delivery guy have to go down to the track to meet the train? Since he's not ticketed, what if there is a sign in the station that says, "passengers only beyond this point"? How does he access the track? How do you access your pizza? What if there's security asking to see tickets before allowing access to the tracks?
 
"Most." You say this based on a personal inventory of stations? Or some published source?

And how am I going to know if the station I get hungry approaching is one that allows access or one that does not?

And how will I know in advance if Amtrak or local security has imposed restrictions, temporary or otherwise, on that very day?
 
For $10-$20 bucks, it's worth it just to say you did it. Makes for a great "war story" if it works. I considered it in the days before cell phones. There was a pizza place right across from an open station on one of our trips in the '70s on the SWC and their number was on the sign. I figured the next time we went through, I would call ahead from a long stop but by the time we went again, I lost the number and the name of the place. No internet back then. :(
 
"Most." You say this based on a personal inventory of stations? Or some published source?

And how am I going to know if the station I get hungry approaching is one that allows access or one that does not?

And how will I know in advance if Amtrak or local security has imposed restrictions, temporary or otherwise, on that very day?
Except for very large cities like CHI, NYP, WAS and PHL, most stations do not have any restrictions to access the platforms. Stations like Havre, Flagstaff, NHV, SAN, WPK, HOS, ABQ, FTW, GJC - even LAX - do not.
 
Franchise pizza is boring. I'm leaving on the EB this Saturday and will be ordering from Whitefish Wasabi for some sushi Sunday evening. I love spider rolls and sashimi. Maybe they'll even bring me a cold Sapporo!

http://www.wasabimt.com/
 
Don't see how it's possible. Apart from delays, wouldn't pizza delivery guy have to go down to the track to meet the train? Since he's not ticketed, what if there is a sign in the station that says, "passengers only beyond this point"? How does he access the track? How do you access your pizza? What if there's security asking to see tickets before allowing access to the tracks? "Most." You say this based on a personal inventory of stations? Or some published source? And how am I going to know if the station I get hungry approaching is one that allows access or one that does not? And how will I know in advance if Amtrak or local security has imposed restrictions, temporary or otherwise, on that very day?
We're talking about picking up a phone and ordering a pizza and you're making it sound like some kind of Oceans Eleven style food heist. This is an Amtrak forum and I would imagine most of us already know our usual routes like the back of our hand. Yes it's possible the order could get tripped up by some random delay or unexpected development, but the idea that coordinating a simple food delivery borders on the impossible is just plain silly.

Franchise pizza is boring.
Pizza was may favorite meal for most of my life but I struggle to eat delivery pizza today. In most cases the cheese has no flavor, the meat toppings are dried out or burned, the veggie toppings are gooey, the dough tastes like mildew, and the sauce is sugary sweet. When I'm in Chicago or New York I can always find some pizza I like but other than that I rarely eat it anymore.

 
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I suppose it's possible, but it kind of runs counter to the food delivery model if someone has to wait. It's predicated on the customer being there to accept the order and moving to the next customer. I remember a friend who delivered for Domino's in college. Many of his trips included two or even three deliveries.

Now if the order was prepaid (and a lot of deliveries are these days) I suppose it might be left with someone at a station. Could a red cap do something like this?
 
I suppose it's possible, but it kind of runs counter to the food delivery model if someone has to wait. It's predicated on the customer being there to accept the order and moving to the next customer. I remember a friend who delivered for Domino's in college. Many of his trips included two or even three deliveries.

Now if the order was prepaid (and a lot of deliveries are these days) I suppose it might be left with someone at a station. Could a red cap do something like this?
Every prepaid pizza I have ordered has needed my signature on the receipt prior to the pizza being handed to me.
 
What happened to the good ole days of enjoying a meal in the lounge or diner. Papa johns or piazza hut, just doesn't cut it for me, cheapens my train experience. Be like having dunkin donuts instead of breakfast in the dinner.
 
erierail--

The problem is that the current café car food is overpriced fast-food garbage, no better than a delivered pizza.

As for the dining cars, even just a few years ago, a meal in the dining car was a delightful experience, with decent food in a nice atmosphere. However, Amtrak is doing its best to get rid of as many dining cars as possible and make the food and (on some trains, not all) the service on the ones left as mediocre as they can manage.

For example, I don't eat pizza. But if someone were to deliver a delicious slice of cheesecake to the train, I would certainly take it over the current dining car cheesecake option, which is a little circle of something that tastes somewhere between cardboard and medicine, and is awful even when you get it "free" as a sleeping car passenger.
 
erierail--

The problem is that the current café car food is overpriced fast-food garbage, no better than a delivered pizza.
Actually Delivered Pizza would have been prepared right before delivery and would be much better and more reasonably priced.

Instead of continually weighing pros and cons maybe someone on a train should try it and report back how it worked out.
 
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