RandyJay
Train Attendant
Advance warning - "slightly" long!
Well Ms Jay (MJ) had been bugging me to take her to New York City for quite a while, and being the true Texan that I am, I steadfastly refused, until I was promised a train ride if I would go. Well, it didn't go exactly like, that - but I did get my train ride and she got her NYC trip! I had some comp nights for Holiday Inn that were going to expire and plenty of AGR points waiting to be used, so I said OK, let's do it. Arrow wants to route SAS-NYP via CHI, but MJ wanted to see New Orleans on the "uphill" side of the trip and Chicago on the way back so I figured this was a good opportunity to do a loop. Arrow will route Houston-NYP via NOL, so that's what I booked, with a return via CHI. This meant we needed to buy a ticket from SAS-HOS, not that expensive even in a sleeper and the reservation agent was able to keep us in the same sleeper room as the already-booked AGR portion, so there would be no waking up in Houston to change rooms. I booked four comp nights at the Crowne Plaza near Times Square (figured that would be a good spot for newbies like us) and we were all set.
Our trip began near home in San Antonio, leaving on the Sunset Limited (train 2) right on time at 11:55. Consist was the normal 2 P-42, bag, trans dorm, sleeper, diner, sightseer lounge, and two coaches. This was my first trip on the "new" adjusted schedule for the Sunset, so we were leaving about an hour earlier than usual. We were scheduled into New Orleans at around 3:00 the next day so that would give us some time to visit the city before the next morning's early departure on the Crescent. We settled into room 6 of the sleeper; our attendant Robert (an excellent long-time Amtrak employee - I will miss him when he retires next year) had our beds ready and greeted us in his usual cordial style when we boarded early at 10:30. For those who might not know, this train often arrives early into San Antonio these days (my how things can change!) and thus has some "dwell" time in San Antonio which affords the opportunity to board the sleepers early at a slightly more reasonable hour. MJ was soon asleep but I had to wait until I knew who our T&E crew was going to be and then waited until we were well underway and out of the city. We both slept right through the Houston stop and awoke early and just in time for the diner opening at 6:30. We had left HOS on time and were expecting to be in NOL about an hour early now. The Sunset had not yet gotten the new menus - out LSA stated that they were expecting them any day and would be glad that "they were getting their steaks back", referring to the flatiron "non-steaks" that had drawn some complaints. Breakfast was the usual Amtrak fare and it was soon obvious that the passenger count on this train was pretty light. Now the big surprise for us: the LSA said there would be NO lunch service on the train; stating that with a possible arrival into NOL at 2:00 p.m. that lunch just wasn't possible. Well I wasn't too happy to hear that. As a regular Texas Eagle rider the "early closing of the diner" is a touchy subject with me, and I could not see the reason why an abbreviated lunch could not have been served, especially in view of the light pax count. I know the OBS crews want to leave the train as soon as possible at the endpoint, but this "beating the pax off the train" is getting a little ridiculous now. I remember my last trip on #2 (under the old schedule with a 4:00 p.m. scheduled arrival) and having lunch served - so this new one-hour bump has given them the excuse to cut lunch altogether. Beware if you ride the Sunset in this direction! I will never get tired of the view when crossing the Mississippi over the Huey Long bridge at a crawl. It would be a few days before we would get back on "our" side of this river! We did arrive early onto NOL at 1:55, we would have been about ten minutes earlier but we had to hold at the wye to let 58 (the NB CONO) get out of the station first.
It had been almost a year since I was in New Orleans, and it seems there is still gradual progress being made in getting things cleaned up. The areas near the CNIC ROW east of the Huey Long bridge seemed a lot cleaner, and a lot less "blue roofs" and damaged homes were visible. I doubt the city will ever fully recover from Katrina, but at least efforts are still being made (more so than what Amtrak is making for service east of NOL). Upon leaving the station and making our way on foot the several blocks to our hotel we had to fight our way upstream among hoards of people heading towards the Superdome - the Saints were playing and they seemed to have no trouble in drawing fans. We checked in and headed out to explore the Quarter and riverfront areas and grab a casual dinner before making it back to our room as darkness fell. The forecast was calling for rain the next morning as hurricane Ida was approaching the city; we figured on a cab ride or a wet walk to the station. Nope, just gray skies and balmy winds greeted us and we walked to the station and waited in the Magnolia Room lounge for our boarding call. For those who have seen the Magnolia Room, you know what it is - a very small and sparsely furnished lounge for the sleeper passengers. And it was packed - standing room only for us - it seems that all sleeper space was sold out for this northbound Crescent and the lounge couldn't accommodate it. Of course sleeper space is less than what it used to be now that the OBS crew have rooms in the sleepers too, but oddly out in the main waiting room there didn't seem to be very many coach passengers. I'm guessing the coaches were maybe at only 30% capacity or less. We boarded about 20 minutes prior to scheduled departure and I was at least glad to now have only a short walk from the station to the sleepers since they have been relocated to the rear of the train. Consist was the normal 2 P-42s, bag, 4 coaches, lounge, diner, and 2 sleepers on the rear. We settled in to our room and met our attendant, a young man who turned out to be really nice and efficient. MJ still prefers Superliner sleepers to the Viewliners, and when two are sharing a room I definitely have to agree. We knew we would be doing the "Viewliner Shuffle" the whole trip, wherein one person leaves the room while the other uses the "facilities"! All part of the adventure, I say. Oh, and the Saints won.
We were out of NOL on time and running well until just after "X Tower" alongside lake Pontchartrain and we stopped to meet two SB frieghts. This put us down 40 minutes right off the bat, but at least the diner crew announced first call for breakfast about 15 minutes out of the station (apparently they have their act together) and we enjoyed our breakfast with a stationary view of the lake. Now the Crescent did have it's new menu - and a quick scan showed that the new menus are indeed train-unique, with a cover labeled Crescent and an Amtrak-style silhouette graphic. Inside there weren't too many changes that I could see; a new item for lunch was the "Crescent Combo" which was a bowl of Gumbo and sandwich, but breakfast looked pretty much the same as always. After breakfast we just sat back and the Crescent picked off station after station with nice regularity, although we didn't seem to be making up any of that :40 down. We got to stretch our legs for a minute at Meridian, and then at Birmingham later. Funny thing though, we never met 19 (the SB Crescent) near Tuscaloosa as usual, and I hadn't heard anything on the scanner to indicate why. That was starting to bother me a bit; I had visions of some disruption north of us that was going to keep us from getting to NY. When we arrived in Atlanta (about :30 late) I got my answer. It was dark but I could see that an empty 19 was parked beside us (well sort of beside us) and was able to talk to our outbound conductor about it. He stated that shortly after we (20) had left NOL that morning the city began closing the flood gates in anticipation of Ida; and the decision was then made to terminate 19 in ATL. Not sure what happened to the pax; bussed I assumed. So I felt better knowing that there wasn't any problem for us, and that we made it out of NOL apparently just in time. Ooops - forgot to mention lunch and diner on the Crescent - the lunch selections were pretty much the same old; the "Warm Bistro Sandwich" and "Chef's Marketplace Special" may have been new, but I'll never know since they were "out" of both! So much for my kudos the diner crew (although it probably wasn't their fault that they were short-stocked). Yes I know the train turns overnight in NOL but to be "out" of two major lunch items upon leaving seems a little odd to me. OK, MJ says now I'm being too picky! The dinner menu repeated the Crescent Combo, but clearly stated that is was "A La Carte - not part of any diner item". I'm not a gumbo fan so I passed on it and went with the pasta dish and MJ had the fish and both were fine. The "grilled to order" flatiron was back on the menu, and if it weren't for MJ trying to get me to cut back on red meat, I would have tried it. By the way, I did not detect any change in the dessert portion of the new menu. We had our beds made down a little while after Atlanta, and I will have to say that I still can't sleep very well in Viewliners, even with the more open upper bed area. MJ agrees on this one as well. Don't know why; something about the slightly choppier ride motions maybe, maybe we were just excited about the next day and the new territory we'd be seeing.
We woke for an early breakfast somewhere in Virginia with scenic countryside rolling by. You know it can be a strange feeling to wake up on the train and not know exactly where you are! And since I'm not very familiar with the area, just hearing the signals called on the radio didn't really help much! Nevertheless we quickly availed ourselves of the Viewliner shower then enjoyed a nice breakfast and got to know our SCA a little better now that he had a few less passengers north of Atlanta. When we got to Manassas I knew we were close to Washington; we were running on time now and the stop at Arlington was really a quick one. We had a great view coming in to DC of the Potomac crossing and the monuments before we finally "lost daylight" near downtown and our approach to the station. We were able to get off and stretch our legs for a while in WAS and I was able to watch while we lost our P-42s for an electric motor in preparation for running on the electrified NEC. For a western guy, the sight of all the overhead catenaries just outside the platform area at WAS is a real eyeful -we just don't have stuff like that at home! A surprise - in addition to our power change we picked up a private car on the rear, the old Pullman "Kitchi Gammi Club" and a nice restoration it was, too. I was able to briefly speak to the owner although their wasn't enough time for a tour, and MJ was way down the platform doing her power walk thing and I wouldn't have wanted her to miss out. The "all aboard" call came quickly and we were out of WAS right on time. This was my first time running under true electric power, and my first time truly on the Amtrak-owned NEC. Lots of track and lots of "cat" to be seen, and those funny looking signals with the diagonal aspects. I do suppose I need to get out more often! Another surprise to me was how quiet the radio was. I don't think I heard a defect detector the whole way into NYP (or I just missed them) and even comparatively little chatter except at station stops. I'm not sure how fast we were running out of WAS, but just north of Baltimore I noticed that the ties (and trees!) were really moving past outside our window. I guessed that we must be running about 90 MPH. Hah! Our attendant came in to talk again and had his GPS with him, showing 108! That was the fastest I've been on Amtrak by far, and I began to wonder about that old PV on the rear and whether it had ever seen anything close to that back in its day (doubtful). I sure wasn't expecting to be running nearly that fast. And I don't need to tell you what meets are like at that kind of speed - just a bam!, a quick flash of another train at what seems like mere inches away from your window and then its gone as quick as it came. Regional, Acela, it didn't matter . . . everyone was hauling and THAT was a neat experience for me! Now I wasn't caring too much about how NYC was going to be; I had already had my fun for the trip . . . .
We made it into NYP at just about 2:00 p.m., at little early. And unlike on the Sunset, the Crescent managed to serve a lunch prior to even a 2:00 p.m. arrival, for which I was appreciative of the dining car staff. We were able to enjoy a nice view of the Susquehanna river crossing prior to Newark. A slight disappointment was the fact that there was no view of NYC to be had on our approach; we were in a tunnel and underground (or should I say under river?) for those last few miles and didn't get to see any skyline as we had in DC. Stepping off the train, the NYP platform looked kind of like the CUS platform to me - but thanks to great advice from members of the forum we just followed the other folks and headed up the escalator to the Amtrak level of Penn. Wow - Toto, we're not in Kansas any more! What a station this was! But it didn't take us long to find the baggage claim area, and again just like advised, we waited about 20 minutes for them to roll up the metal door and went to find our bags. It was all surprisingly civil and orderly. I suppose I was pre-loaded to expect all kinds of rudeness and pushiness in the Big City, but we never did the whole time we were there. MJ said I watch too much TV! With bags on wheels and carry-ons in hand we noticed that we were right by the escalator going up to 31st street and 8th avenue, right where we needed to be. No problem finding a cab and within two minutes of getting our luggage we were tearing (literally) up 8th avenue in a NYC cab and all that entails! And I thought the Amtrak ride was high speed! Now this part was just like on TV; horns honking, traffic, cabs vying for position, etc. But still all great fun for me. We got checked in to our hotel (which was very nice) and prepared to take in the City. MJ had prepared an itemized daily itinerary for us (she is truly a major geek, as am I) and off we went. I won't bore you with the details of our stay in NYC, except to say we saw New York from sunup to sundown (and after) every day. We probably wore out a pair of shoes each, but had a great time doing so. There is SO much to see that you can't possibly do it in one trip, but we checked off most of the things on our to do list. With ONE major exception - and I am really ashamed to admit it here on this forum - but we never once rode the subway! I know, almost sacrilege for a railfan to come to NYC as a newbie and not ride the subway. And I'm not sure how it happened either - I promise it wasn't my fault. We'll just have to come back again, that's all there is to it!
But Saturday afternoon finally came and it was time to go. We cabbed it back to NYP (asked for 31st street side) and made it down the stairs (the escalator was being repaired) to the Amtrak level. It didn't take us long to orient ourselves and find the baggage check-in counter (right next to the baggage claim) and get our big bags checked. The Club Acela lounge, to the left of the ticket counters and very close to the baggage check-in, was a welcome spot and we were greeted by an very nice agent who gave us a brief orientation on the layout of NYP. We stashed our carry-ons and became explorers one more time, surveying the entire Amtrak level and then venturing down to the NJT and LIRR level below. Double wow! I had no idea this place was this big! All kinds of stores, restaurants, shops . . . . and lots of corridors and boarding gates for all kinds of local trains. OK, I know you folks that live there probably find it easy and routine to navigate, but MJ and I wanted to start dropping bread crumbs so we could find our way back. We had to hit a Smoothie King and then a bookstore for goodies, but the clock was ticking and our exploration of NYP would have to wait for another day. Back to the CA and to await our boarding call. I was half expecting some kind of mad dash for the escalator, but our call for the Lake Shore Limited to CHI was announced in the lounge before the main waiting area and we quietly filed out to the escalator right by the CA (darn - I can't remember the track number now). An agent checked our tickets and then we headed down to the platform and our train. It was kind of a sad feeling to be leaving this crazy place, so unlike even my local big cities of Dallas and Houston. This was to be our first ride on the LSL and I was soon busy checking out the consist - one P-42-something (I know it's not a regular P-42; it is 3rd rail electric compatible) # 710 on the nose, 3 coaches, cafe, 2 sleepers, and a bag on the rear. Had a little time before leaving and met a super-nice female conductor on the platform and we chatted a bit before the boarding call. She gave me the channels for my scanner through Albany and was a pleasure to talk to. MJ and I found our Viewliner (again!) room and made reservations for an early 5:00 p.m. dinner. We were both plenty tired from the last few days, I doubted the Viewliner would keep us awake tonight!
Our departure from NYP was right on time, and it was after 4:00 p.m. before we saw the fading daylight. By the time 5:00 came around it was fully dark outside, so there would be no nice views to see on this leg of our trip. We made it to the diner - oops, not really a true diner but a cafe / diner lite / whatever and immediately said "where is everyone"? It turns out there weren't many customers for the diner out of NYP, and then I remembered some previous comments on the forum about the "diner lite" service on this train not being the greatest. Our LSA was again very nice, and when I commented about a minimal menu she said "I think you might be surprised". Well we were! The LSL had it's new menu, and like the Crescent's it had its own LSL graphic on the cover. I noticed a new (to me at least) breakfast entry for the "Knife and Fork Scrambled Egg Croisant Sandwich" and for lunch the Spinach Salad, a "Chipotle Black Bean Veggie Burger" and the "Lake Shore Combo" which was a bowl of clam chowder and sandwich. But unlike the Crescent, the combo did not appear on the dinner menu. The dinner selections were the usual pasta, seafood, baked chicken and the "non-steak" flatiron. MJ went for the fish (baked trout) and being the glutton for punishment I am, I chose the "non-steak". To make a long story short, her trout was excellent and my "pseudo flatiron" was lean, flavorful and fork-tender. No problems whatsoever with us and the diner lite car; maybe we just drew a good hand on this trip, but I was pleased with the food and the service. We even chatted with our chef a bit since he is essentially right there behind the old cafe counter in plain sight. Our LSA stated that she would likely get busy from the Boston section at Albany, but we certainly enjoyed a table for two, the good food, and the nice conversation we had for our LSL dinner. Before long we were in Albany and a light rain was falling. MJ and I walked the covered portion of the platform and I watched and listened to the switching as the Boston section was added to the front of our train. In addition to gaining a sleeper, 2 coaches and a snack lounge ahead of our NY consist, we lost our special locomotive for two regular P-42s. I met a fellow Ham and part-time railfan on the platform and she and I chatted for a while during the switching move; always great to meet another of "your kind" on these trips! MJ was getting cold so we went back to our sleeper and were both asleep shortly after leaving Albany - no problem with the Viewliner this time. As sometimes happens, I was awakened a couple of hours later by the total silence of a stopped train. A quick look outside showed that we weren't in a station; I started listening to the scanner and found out that we were stopped due to a problem with the brakes on the second locomotive. We hadn't made it to Syracuse yet and the crew was on the phone with Amtrak mechanical and they were trying various things to get the brakes to release properly on the trailing unit. Turned out to be a bad MU cable between the two units on one side; they were able to remove it and cut out the brake line on that side as well and we were able to get moving again. That cost us an hour . . . not a big deal but when I have just a few hours between trains in CHI I always cringe just a little at an unforeseen delay like that one. Another failure in route and our connection to the TE could have been in jeopardy.
Fortunately there were no other problems and we awoke the next morning early enough to partake once again of a Viewliner shower before breakfast and were only about :40 down. The LSL diner lite provided a good breakfast for us and then we started getting ready for our short time in Chicago. The approach onto CHI is not especially scenic, but if you're a Sox fan you do get a close pass by the field. At least the distinctive Chicago skyline is visible in the distance as get close to town, but otherwise the area is rather industrial looking. We made it into CUS only :30 down and quickly checked our carry-ons in the Metropolitan Lounge and headed out to fulfill our short Chicago itinerary. MJ wanted to visit the Skydeck observation level in the Sears (actually not Sears any more) Tower, so we crossed the river and over to Jackson street. We had been there before, but not since the new all-glass "ledge" feature was added. Well to our surprise the Skydeck was closed until 12:00 for a charity function, so we decided to walk towards the lake and visit Grant Park and Buckingham Fountain (famous for the opening scene in the old "Married With Children" series). No problem, I said; we'd be back in plenty of time to see the Skydeck before our 1:45 p.m. departure on the Texas Eagle. MJ was cold, as all we had were our light jackets and the lake breeze was a bit chilly. But as hardy travelers we pressed on, only to find the fountain was drained and turned off. Oh well, the good news is we passed a Giordano's on the way and as anyone who has been around these forums knows, you don't go to Chicago and NOT eat at Giordano's. So after a quick visit to the gift shop in the Chicago Art Institute for MJ, we made a beeline for Giordano's on Jackson street. We still wanted to be at the Tower at 12:00, so I almost cried when I found out we didn't have time for a pizza (they take 35 to 40 minutes to bake) - so it would have to be a turkey sandwich instead. Now I have already gotten myself in trouble with my fellow forum members for going to NYC and not riding the subway; here I go again, going to Chicago and Giordano's and NOT getting a pizza! Oh well, we were out of there at 12:05 and the Tower was only a block away. Whoa - big surprise - where before at 10:30 there wasn't a soul at the Tower, now the line stretched way around the block - literally! And the doors still weren't open, so there was no way we were going to make the Skydeck today and not risk missing our train. Had I known this, I could have had my pizza after all. Of all the luck! So now we will have to do a Chicago visit again too I suppose. So back to CUS we head and over to the Great Hall for a couple of pictures and a then little snack shopping before getting back to the lounge. Although not standing room only, the CUS lounge was its usual busy self and when the call for train 21 came we were more than ready to point ourselves south and start the final leg of our trip.
The Texas Eagle was like an old friend to us - consist was one P-42 (usual), dorm, sleeper, CCC diner, Sightseer lounge, and 4 coaches (the last coach was 321 and would get cut in St Louis). Back to good old Superliner equipment! We were out on time and rolling as the sun started to come out of the overcast. About 30 minutes out of CHI we stopped for a red signal and waited. And waited some more. Our crew couldn't get a response from the dispatcher for that long - and then finally we got a clear (there was never any other traffic in the vicinity). That put us down :30 right at the start, and we never made it up until Dallas the next day. Otherwise it was a rather uneventful trip. The TE had its new menu in use; the changes I noted were for breakfast a "Made to Order Omelet" with your choice of vegetables, and a "Chef's Good Morning Special" which was two grilled quesadillas and a side of potatoes. I suppose that was the "Texas" themed special for the menu . . . although the lunch menu offered the BBQ Brisket sandwich in addition to the Spinach Salad. Oddly, there was no "Texas Eagle Special" on the lunch menu. The dinner menu had an apparent new offering, "Country Crisp Chicken" and it had the real "grilled to order" Flatiron steak. The dinner special was again "BBQ Pork Ribs". As a Texan I came away from this a little disappointed as I was expecting the Eagle to have a real signature item on the menu, like a lunch combo with a bowl of chili perhaps. Nonetheless we had good service in the CCC, although MJ and I still can not get used to the seating arrangements. We had dinner the first night with another person in one of the "tables for three". I really wasn't that hungry and asked for the Angus burger for dinner, which was not a problem for the CCC as the lunch items are available "all day". Of course on the Eagle the CCC operates more as a conventional diner and the kitchen is closed except for meal periods. Our tablemate ordered the flatiron, and after seeing it I regretted that I didn't. It was a nice-looking steak and he obviously enjoyed every bite. I made a note to try it on the following night for my last meal of our trip. Also something different on this train - at every meal the LSA brought us the yellow copy of the order check after serving dessert and said "this is your receipt." It was news to me that sleeper pax were due a receipt from their meals - maybe this LSA was just doing it as a courtesy, or maybe she thought we needed a souvenir? They were just the same old check forms and certainly weren't unique to the TE. MJ and I stayed up until St Louis where we were able to briefly stretch our legs under a light (and cold) rain. We always enjoy the approach to St Louis and the view of the arch as we cross the Mississippi and it's our cue that we are getting "back West". The trailing coach was cut from our train and we left STL about :30 down. South of St Louis there isn't much to see in the darkness, so it was another early night for the both of us and an attempt to catch up on our sleep. Needless to say it felt good to be back in a good old Superliner again; maybe it's the side-to-side sway on the upper level that rocks us to sleep. Or threatens to throw you out of bed, depending on the track condition!
We awoke early and each enjoyed the larger shower downstairs in the Superliner sleeper before breakfast. I forgot to mention that our attendant was a very nice young lady, Janna, and provided excellent service and conversation to us during the whole ride. We talked a bit about the possible upcoming changes for the Eagle "merging" with the Sunset to become a daily train from CHI to LA and the consequences for the OBS crews. She apparently hadn't heard any more then we have on the forum (not surprising) and stated that she did not like the idea of having to turn in Dallas or Fort Worth if that were to happen. I told her we would keep our fingers crossed that the crew turn would still be in San Antonio. This morning's ride continued the uneventful nature of the previous day - there is not a great deal of exciting scenery on the North Texas portion of the route and we spent most of our time in our room just reading and dozing. We arrived early into Dallas (not at all unusual due to schedule padding) with sunny skies and had an hour to spend so we walked over to the old red courthouse building and visited the new museum they have inside. We then made a quick pass by the JFK Memorial and back over to Union Station to watch a TRE train come through. MJ and I both commented more than once about the differences between downtown Dallas and NYC; here we were in Dallas at noon and the streets and sidewalks looked positively deserted compared to what we experienced in NYC late at night! We both agreed on the spot that while New York is a great place to visit, we wouldn't want to live there - ha ha. No offense at all to those who do, but we Texans have got to have our wide open spaces! With the boarding call it was adios to Dallas and then a quick run over to Fort Worth, running through Arlington and right past the new Cowboys Stadium. Man that thing is big; truly Texas all the way! There are big video screens on the outside for the tailgaters who are happy to see the game from the parking lot (for a fee, of course). As expected, we were WAY early into FTW and had over an hour to spend so we went on our usual walk from the station over to the large Barnes & Noble downtown to browse the books and hit the Starbucks. The weather was sunny and warming up quickly and like Dallas the traffic and crowds were practically non-existent. We had planned to eat our lunch back on the TE, but the Starbucks was offering some nice looking new hot sandwiches so we decided to forego train food for a change. After lunch we had a few minutes still to spare so we walked around FTW a little more before getting back to the station. I was expecting the NB Eagle, train 22 to be in the station by now, but it was apparently running a little behind and we left before they made it in. FTW is a crew change point, and one of our outbound conductors was an acquaintance from the SAS crew base. We had a nice long talk and he had not heard anything new about the proposed changes to the Eagle and Sunset. Again that didn't surprise me, not that I would have expected him to divulge company information to me necessarily, but rather that I don't think Amtrak itself yet knows what exactly is going to happen. I have a feeling the "lowly" OBS and T&E folks will be some of the last to know when the decision is eventually made.
Well due to freight traffic around the famous Tower 55 just south of the FTW station we actually got rolling for good about :30 down out of the FTW station. No biggie to us as we were heading home with no connections to make. Other minor delays in route eventually put us almost a full hour down by Austin. Now here goes my last rant about diner service hours. Amtrak, in its infinite wisdom, still continues to put the dining car crew off the southbound Eagle in Austin, well before San Antonio. No one has ever been able to give me a good reason as to why this is - even the crews themselves have told me they would much rather go all the way and turn in San Antonio with the rest of the OBS. So with a scheduled arrival into AUS of 6:30 p.m. this means that dinner is offered as a "first and last call" at 4:00 p.m. There are no reservations since there is only the one seating. I can't blame the crews too much on this one as they do have to get off the train at AUS, but as a result MJ and I just weren't at all hungry at 4:00 so we just skipped dinner (and my flatiron). Now say at about 7:00 we certainly would have eaten, but under the current way of doing things that's not an option. If the dining car crew stayed on to SAS, even with a possible 9:15-9:30 early arrival time, there could be more reasonable dinner hours on the way south, and the NB pax out of SAS could have a real breakfast. Maybe with the coming changes that issue will finally get addressed. I'm not holding my breath on that one! OK, to wrap things up for this leg - we rolled into the SAS station at 9:40 (versus 9:55 on the schedule), and with a departure out of AUS almost an hour late that really goes to show the amount of pad in the schedule. There was no sign of train 2 near the station, so he was apparently running a little late for some reason. We said our goodbyes to our nice attendant (and gave her a generous tip) and went over to claim our bags at trainside a few feet next to the coach/baggage car. Again what a difference from our NYP experience! Ah to be back home again - even after a great trip there is always something nice about being back home.
To sum up, we had a really great time overall. New York was great and we want to go back - we found our way around NYP OK - and I got my feet wet and even a little "speed" on the NEC. Except for my gripes about operating hours in the diners, our Amtrak experience was smooth as well. All of the crew we interfaced with were nice, pleasant and competent, with a couple that were really outstanding; we didn't run into any bad apples. And we were mostly early or on-time (or only slightly late) at our endpoints. It will take us a couple of days to get back into our normal routine - and then we'll start planning our next trip, though likely not quite as ambitious as this one! We still have those AGR points to use! Apologies in advance for any technical errors I may have made in the above - and again best regards and many thanks to all of the AU members who kindly provided advice and suggestions for our time in New York . . . . RJ/MJ
Well Ms Jay (MJ) had been bugging me to take her to New York City for quite a while, and being the true Texan that I am, I steadfastly refused, until I was promised a train ride if I would go. Well, it didn't go exactly like, that - but I did get my train ride and she got her NYC trip! I had some comp nights for Holiday Inn that were going to expire and plenty of AGR points waiting to be used, so I said OK, let's do it. Arrow wants to route SAS-NYP via CHI, but MJ wanted to see New Orleans on the "uphill" side of the trip and Chicago on the way back so I figured this was a good opportunity to do a loop. Arrow will route Houston-NYP via NOL, so that's what I booked, with a return via CHI. This meant we needed to buy a ticket from SAS-HOS, not that expensive even in a sleeper and the reservation agent was able to keep us in the same sleeper room as the already-booked AGR portion, so there would be no waking up in Houston to change rooms. I booked four comp nights at the Crowne Plaza near Times Square (figured that would be a good spot for newbies like us) and we were all set.
Our trip began near home in San Antonio, leaving on the Sunset Limited (train 2) right on time at 11:55. Consist was the normal 2 P-42, bag, trans dorm, sleeper, diner, sightseer lounge, and two coaches. This was my first trip on the "new" adjusted schedule for the Sunset, so we were leaving about an hour earlier than usual. We were scheduled into New Orleans at around 3:00 the next day so that would give us some time to visit the city before the next morning's early departure on the Crescent. We settled into room 6 of the sleeper; our attendant Robert (an excellent long-time Amtrak employee - I will miss him when he retires next year) had our beds ready and greeted us in his usual cordial style when we boarded early at 10:30. For those who might not know, this train often arrives early into San Antonio these days (my how things can change!) and thus has some "dwell" time in San Antonio which affords the opportunity to board the sleepers early at a slightly more reasonable hour. MJ was soon asleep but I had to wait until I knew who our T&E crew was going to be and then waited until we were well underway and out of the city. We both slept right through the Houston stop and awoke early and just in time for the diner opening at 6:30. We had left HOS on time and were expecting to be in NOL about an hour early now. The Sunset had not yet gotten the new menus - out LSA stated that they were expecting them any day and would be glad that "they were getting their steaks back", referring to the flatiron "non-steaks" that had drawn some complaints. Breakfast was the usual Amtrak fare and it was soon obvious that the passenger count on this train was pretty light. Now the big surprise for us: the LSA said there would be NO lunch service on the train; stating that with a possible arrival into NOL at 2:00 p.m. that lunch just wasn't possible. Well I wasn't too happy to hear that. As a regular Texas Eagle rider the "early closing of the diner" is a touchy subject with me, and I could not see the reason why an abbreviated lunch could not have been served, especially in view of the light pax count. I know the OBS crews want to leave the train as soon as possible at the endpoint, but this "beating the pax off the train" is getting a little ridiculous now. I remember my last trip on #2 (under the old schedule with a 4:00 p.m. scheduled arrival) and having lunch served - so this new one-hour bump has given them the excuse to cut lunch altogether. Beware if you ride the Sunset in this direction! I will never get tired of the view when crossing the Mississippi over the Huey Long bridge at a crawl. It would be a few days before we would get back on "our" side of this river! We did arrive early onto NOL at 1:55, we would have been about ten minutes earlier but we had to hold at the wye to let 58 (the NB CONO) get out of the station first.
It had been almost a year since I was in New Orleans, and it seems there is still gradual progress being made in getting things cleaned up. The areas near the CNIC ROW east of the Huey Long bridge seemed a lot cleaner, and a lot less "blue roofs" and damaged homes were visible. I doubt the city will ever fully recover from Katrina, but at least efforts are still being made (more so than what Amtrak is making for service east of NOL). Upon leaving the station and making our way on foot the several blocks to our hotel we had to fight our way upstream among hoards of people heading towards the Superdome - the Saints were playing and they seemed to have no trouble in drawing fans. We checked in and headed out to explore the Quarter and riverfront areas and grab a casual dinner before making it back to our room as darkness fell. The forecast was calling for rain the next morning as hurricane Ida was approaching the city; we figured on a cab ride or a wet walk to the station. Nope, just gray skies and balmy winds greeted us and we walked to the station and waited in the Magnolia Room lounge for our boarding call. For those who have seen the Magnolia Room, you know what it is - a very small and sparsely furnished lounge for the sleeper passengers. And it was packed - standing room only for us - it seems that all sleeper space was sold out for this northbound Crescent and the lounge couldn't accommodate it. Of course sleeper space is less than what it used to be now that the OBS crew have rooms in the sleepers too, but oddly out in the main waiting room there didn't seem to be very many coach passengers. I'm guessing the coaches were maybe at only 30% capacity or less. We boarded about 20 minutes prior to scheduled departure and I was at least glad to now have only a short walk from the station to the sleepers since they have been relocated to the rear of the train. Consist was the normal 2 P-42s, bag, 4 coaches, lounge, diner, and 2 sleepers on the rear. We settled in to our room and met our attendant, a young man who turned out to be really nice and efficient. MJ still prefers Superliner sleepers to the Viewliners, and when two are sharing a room I definitely have to agree. We knew we would be doing the "Viewliner Shuffle" the whole trip, wherein one person leaves the room while the other uses the "facilities"! All part of the adventure, I say. Oh, and the Saints won.
We were out of NOL on time and running well until just after "X Tower" alongside lake Pontchartrain and we stopped to meet two SB frieghts. This put us down 40 minutes right off the bat, but at least the diner crew announced first call for breakfast about 15 minutes out of the station (apparently they have their act together) and we enjoyed our breakfast with a stationary view of the lake. Now the Crescent did have it's new menu - and a quick scan showed that the new menus are indeed train-unique, with a cover labeled Crescent and an Amtrak-style silhouette graphic. Inside there weren't too many changes that I could see; a new item for lunch was the "Crescent Combo" which was a bowl of Gumbo and sandwich, but breakfast looked pretty much the same as always. After breakfast we just sat back and the Crescent picked off station after station with nice regularity, although we didn't seem to be making up any of that :40 down. We got to stretch our legs for a minute at Meridian, and then at Birmingham later. Funny thing though, we never met 19 (the SB Crescent) near Tuscaloosa as usual, and I hadn't heard anything on the scanner to indicate why. That was starting to bother me a bit; I had visions of some disruption north of us that was going to keep us from getting to NY. When we arrived in Atlanta (about :30 late) I got my answer. It was dark but I could see that an empty 19 was parked beside us (well sort of beside us) and was able to talk to our outbound conductor about it. He stated that shortly after we (20) had left NOL that morning the city began closing the flood gates in anticipation of Ida; and the decision was then made to terminate 19 in ATL. Not sure what happened to the pax; bussed I assumed. So I felt better knowing that there wasn't any problem for us, and that we made it out of NOL apparently just in time. Ooops - forgot to mention lunch and diner on the Crescent - the lunch selections were pretty much the same old; the "Warm Bistro Sandwich" and "Chef's Marketplace Special" may have been new, but I'll never know since they were "out" of both! So much for my kudos the diner crew (although it probably wasn't their fault that they were short-stocked). Yes I know the train turns overnight in NOL but to be "out" of two major lunch items upon leaving seems a little odd to me. OK, MJ says now I'm being too picky! The dinner menu repeated the Crescent Combo, but clearly stated that is was "A La Carte - not part of any diner item". I'm not a gumbo fan so I passed on it and went with the pasta dish and MJ had the fish and both were fine. The "grilled to order" flatiron was back on the menu, and if it weren't for MJ trying to get me to cut back on red meat, I would have tried it. By the way, I did not detect any change in the dessert portion of the new menu. We had our beds made down a little while after Atlanta, and I will have to say that I still can't sleep very well in Viewliners, even with the more open upper bed area. MJ agrees on this one as well. Don't know why; something about the slightly choppier ride motions maybe, maybe we were just excited about the next day and the new territory we'd be seeing.
We woke for an early breakfast somewhere in Virginia with scenic countryside rolling by. You know it can be a strange feeling to wake up on the train and not know exactly where you are! And since I'm not very familiar with the area, just hearing the signals called on the radio didn't really help much! Nevertheless we quickly availed ourselves of the Viewliner shower then enjoyed a nice breakfast and got to know our SCA a little better now that he had a few less passengers north of Atlanta. When we got to Manassas I knew we were close to Washington; we were running on time now and the stop at Arlington was really a quick one. We had a great view coming in to DC of the Potomac crossing and the monuments before we finally "lost daylight" near downtown and our approach to the station. We were able to get off and stretch our legs for a while in WAS and I was able to watch while we lost our P-42s for an electric motor in preparation for running on the electrified NEC. For a western guy, the sight of all the overhead catenaries just outside the platform area at WAS is a real eyeful -we just don't have stuff like that at home! A surprise - in addition to our power change we picked up a private car on the rear, the old Pullman "Kitchi Gammi Club" and a nice restoration it was, too. I was able to briefly speak to the owner although their wasn't enough time for a tour, and MJ was way down the platform doing her power walk thing and I wouldn't have wanted her to miss out. The "all aboard" call came quickly and we were out of WAS right on time. This was my first time running under true electric power, and my first time truly on the Amtrak-owned NEC. Lots of track and lots of "cat" to be seen, and those funny looking signals with the diagonal aspects. I do suppose I need to get out more often! Another surprise to me was how quiet the radio was. I don't think I heard a defect detector the whole way into NYP (or I just missed them) and even comparatively little chatter except at station stops. I'm not sure how fast we were running out of WAS, but just north of Baltimore I noticed that the ties (and trees!) were really moving past outside our window. I guessed that we must be running about 90 MPH. Hah! Our attendant came in to talk again and had his GPS with him, showing 108! That was the fastest I've been on Amtrak by far, and I began to wonder about that old PV on the rear and whether it had ever seen anything close to that back in its day (doubtful). I sure wasn't expecting to be running nearly that fast. And I don't need to tell you what meets are like at that kind of speed - just a bam!, a quick flash of another train at what seems like mere inches away from your window and then its gone as quick as it came. Regional, Acela, it didn't matter . . . everyone was hauling and THAT was a neat experience for me! Now I wasn't caring too much about how NYC was going to be; I had already had my fun for the trip . . . .
We made it into NYP at just about 2:00 p.m., at little early. And unlike on the Sunset, the Crescent managed to serve a lunch prior to even a 2:00 p.m. arrival, for which I was appreciative of the dining car staff. We were able to enjoy a nice view of the Susquehanna river crossing prior to Newark. A slight disappointment was the fact that there was no view of NYC to be had on our approach; we were in a tunnel and underground (or should I say under river?) for those last few miles and didn't get to see any skyline as we had in DC. Stepping off the train, the NYP platform looked kind of like the CUS platform to me - but thanks to great advice from members of the forum we just followed the other folks and headed up the escalator to the Amtrak level of Penn. Wow - Toto, we're not in Kansas any more! What a station this was! But it didn't take us long to find the baggage claim area, and again just like advised, we waited about 20 minutes for them to roll up the metal door and went to find our bags. It was all surprisingly civil and orderly. I suppose I was pre-loaded to expect all kinds of rudeness and pushiness in the Big City, but we never did the whole time we were there. MJ said I watch too much TV! With bags on wheels and carry-ons in hand we noticed that we were right by the escalator going up to 31st street and 8th avenue, right where we needed to be. No problem finding a cab and within two minutes of getting our luggage we were tearing (literally) up 8th avenue in a NYC cab and all that entails! And I thought the Amtrak ride was high speed! Now this part was just like on TV; horns honking, traffic, cabs vying for position, etc. But still all great fun for me. We got checked in to our hotel (which was very nice) and prepared to take in the City. MJ had prepared an itemized daily itinerary for us (she is truly a major geek, as am I) and off we went. I won't bore you with the details of our stay in NYC, except to say we saw New York from sunup to sundown (and after) every day. We probably wore out a pair of shoes each, but had a great time doing so. There is SO much to see that you can't possibly do it in one trip, but we checked off most of the things on our to do list. With ONE major exception - and I am really ashamed to admit it here on this forum - but we never once rode the subway! I know, almost sacrilege for a railfan to come to NYC as a newbie and not ride the subway. And I'm not sure how it happened either - I promise it wasn't my fault. We'll just have to come back again, that's all there is to it!
But Saturday afternoon finally came and it was time to go. We cabbed it back to NYP (asked for 31st street side) and made it down the stairs (the escalator was being repaired) to the Amtrak level. It didn't take us long to orient ourselves and find the baggage check-in counter (right next to the baggage claim) and get our big bags checked. The Club Acela lounge, to the left of the ticket counters and very close to the baggage check-in, was a welcome spot and we were greeted by an very nice agent who gave us a brief orientation on the layout of NYP. We stashed our carry-ons and became explorers one more time, surveying the entire Amtrak level and then venturing down to the NJT and LIRR level below. Double wow! I had no idea this place was this big! All kinds of stores, restaurants, shops . . . . and lots of corridors and boarding gates for all kinds of local trains. OK, I know you folks that live there probably find it easy and routine to navigate, but MJ and I wanted to start dropping bread crumbs so we could find our way back. We had to hit a Smoothie King and then a bookstore for goodies, but the clock was ticking and our exploration of NYP would have to wait for another day. Back to the CA and to await our boarding call. I was half expecting some kind of mad dash for the escalator, but our call for the Lake Shore Limited to CHI was announced in the lounge before the main waiting area and we quietly filed out to the escalator right by the CA (darn - I can't remember the track number now). An agent checked our tickets and then we headed down to the platform and our train. It was kind of a sad feeling to be leaving this crazy place, so unlike even my local big cities of Dallas and Houston. This was to be our first ride on the LSL and I was soon busy checking out the consist - one P-42-something (I know it's not a regular P-42; it is 3rd rail electric compatible) # 710 on the nose, 3 coaches, cafe, 2 sleepers, and a bag on the rear. Had a little time before leaving and met a super-nice female conductor on the platform and we chatted a bit before the boarding call. She gave me the channels for my scanner through Albany and was a pleasure to talk to. MJ and I found our Viewliner (again!) room and made reservations for an early 5:00 p.m. dinner. We were both plenty tired from the last few days, I doubted the Viewliner would keep us awake tonight!
Our departure from NYP was right on time, and it was after 4:00 p.m. before we saw the fading daylight. By the time 5:00 came around it was fully dark outside, so there would be no nice views to see on this leg of our trip. We made it to the diner - oops, not really a true diner but a cafe / diner lite / whatever and immediately said "where is everyone"? It turns out there weren't many customers for the diner out of NYP, and then I remembered some previous comments on the forum about the "diner lite" service on this train not being the greatest. Our LSA was again very nice, and when I commented about a minimal menu she said "I think you might be surprised". Well we were! The LSL had it's new menu, and like the Crescent's it had its own LSL graphic on the cover. I noticed a new (to me at least) breakfast entry for the "Knife and Fork Scrambled Egg Croisant Sandwich" and for lunch the Spinach Salad, a "Chipotle Black Bean Veggie Burger" and the "Lake Shore Combo" which was a bowl of clam chowder and sandwich. But unlike the Crescent, the combo did not appear on the dinner menu. The dinner selections were the usual pasta, seafood, baked chicken and the "non-steak" flatiron. MJ went for the fish (baked trout) and being the glutton for punishment I am, I chose the "non-steak". To make a long story short, her trout was excellent and my "pseudo flatiron" was lean, flavorful and fork-tender. No problems whatsoever with us and the diner lite car; maybe we just drew a good hand on this trip, but I was pleased with the food and the service. We even chatted with our chef a bit since he is essentially right there behind the old cafe counter in plain sight. Our LSA stated that she would likely get busy from the Boston section at Albany, but we certainly enjoyed a table for two, the good food, and the nice conversation we had for our LSL dinner. Before long we were in Albany and a light rain was falling. MJ and I walked the covered portion of the platform and I watched and listened to the switching as the Boston section was added to the front of our train. In addition to gaining a sleeper, 2 coaches and a snack lounge ahead of our NY consist, we lost our special locomotive for two regular P-42s. I met a fellow Ham and part-time railfan on the platform and she and I chatted for a while during the switching move; always great to meet another of "your kind" on these trips! MJ was getting cold so we went back to our sleeper and were both asleep shortly after leaving Albany - no problem with the Viewliner this time. As sometimes happens, I was awakened a couple of hours later by the total silence of a stopped train. A quick look outside showed that we weren't in a station; I started listening to the scanner and found out that we were stopped due to a problem with the brakes on the second locomotive. We hadn't made it to Syracuse yet and the crew was on the phone with Amtrak mechanical and they were trying various things to get the brakes to release properly on the trailing unit. Turned out to be a bad MU cable between the two units on one side; they were able to remove it and cut out the brake line on that side as well and we were able to get moving again. That cost us an hour . . . not a big deal but when I have just a few hours between trains in CHI I always cringe just a little at an unforeseen delay like that one. Another failure in route and our connection to the TE could have been in jeopardy.
Fortunately there were no other problems and we awoke the next morning early enough to partake once again of a Viewliner shower before breakfast and were only about :40 down. The LSL diner lite provided a good breakfast for us and then we started getting ready for our short time in Chicago. The approach onto CHI is not especially scenic, but if you're a Sox fan you do get a close pass by the field. At least the distinctive Chicago skyline is visible in the distance as get close to town, but otherwise the area is rather industrial looking. We made it into CUS only :30 down and quickly checked our carry-ons in the Metropolitan Lounge and headed out to fulfill our short Chicago itinerary. MJ wanted to visit the Skydeck observation level in the Sears (actually not Sears any more) Tower, so we crossed the river and over to Jackson street. We had been there before, but not since the new all-glass "ledge" feature was added. Well to our surprise the Skydeck was closed until 12:00 for a charity function, so we decided to walk towards the lake and visit Grant Park and Buckingham Fountain (famous for the opening scene in the old "Married With Children" series). No problem, I said; we'd be back in plenty of time to see the Skydeck before our 1:45 p.m. departure on the Texas Eagle. MJ was cold, as all we had were our light jackets and the lake breeze was a bit chilly. But as hardy travelers we pressed on, only to find the fountain was drained and turned off. Oh well, the good news is we passed a Giordano's on the way and as anyone who has been around these forums knows, you don't go to Chicago and NOT eat at Giordano's. So after a quick visit to the gift shop in the Chicago Art Institute for MJ, we made a beeline for Giordano's on Jackson street. We still wanted to be at the Tower at 12:00, so I almost cried when I found out we didn't have time for a pizza (they take 35 to 40 minutes to bake) - so it would have to be a turkey sandwich instead. Now I have already gotten myself in trouble with my fellow forum members for going to NYC and not riding the subway; here I go again, going to Chicago and Giordano's and NOT getting a pizza! Oh well, we were out of there at 12:05 and the Tower was only a block away. Whoa - big surprise - where before at 10:30 there wasn't a soul at the Tower, now the line stretched way around the block - literally! And the doors still weren't open, so there was no way we were going to make the Skydeck today and not risk missing our train. Had I known this, I could have had my pizza after all. Of all the luck! So now we will have to do a Chicago visit again too I suppose. So back to CUS we head and over to the Great Hall for a couple of pictures and a then little snack shopping before getting back to the lounge. Although not standing room only, the CUS lounge was its usual busy self and when the call for train 21 came we were more than ready to point ourselves south and start the final leg of our trip.
The Texas Eagle was like an old friend to us - consist was one P-42 (usual), dorm, sleeper, CCC diner, Sightseer lounge, and 4 coaches (the last coach was 321 and would get cut in St Louis). Back to good old Superliner equipment! We were out on time and rolling as the sun started to come out of the overcast. About 30 minutes out of CHI we stopped for a red signal and waited. And waited some more. Our crew couldn't get a response from the dispatcher for that long - and then finally we got a clear (there was never any other traffic in the vicinity). That put us down :30 right at the start, and we never made it up until Dallas the next day. Otherwise it was a rather uneventful trip. The TE had its new menu in use; the changes I noted were for breakfast a "Made to Order Omelet" with your choice of vegetables, and a "Chef's Good Morning Special" which was two grilled quesadillas and a side of potatoes. I suppose that was the "Texas" themed special for the menu . . . although the lunch menu offered the BBQ Brisket sandwich in addition to the Spinach Salad. Oddly, there was no "Texas Eagle Special" on the lunch menu. The dinner menu had an apparent new offering, "Country Crisp Chicken" and it had the real "grilled to order" Flatiron steak. The dinner special was again "BBQ Pork Ribs". As a Texan I came away from this a little disappointed as I was expecting the Eagle to have a real signature item on the menu, like a lunch combo with a bowl of chili perhaps. Nonetheless we had good service in the CCC, although MJ and I still can not get used to the seating arrangements. We had dinner the first night with another person in one of the "tables for three". I really wasn't that hungry and asked for the Angus burger for dinner, which was not a problem for the CCC as the lunch items are available "all day". Of course on the Eagle the CCC operates more as a conventional diner and the kitchen is closed except for meal periods. Our tablemate ordered the flatiron, and after seeing it I regretted that I didn't. It was a nice-looking steak and he obviously enjoyed every bite. I made a note to try it on the following night for my last meal of our trip. Also something different on this train - at every meal the LSA brought us the yellow copy of the order check after serving dessert and said "this is your receipt." It was news to me that sleeper pax were due a receipt from their meals - maybe this LSA was just doing it as a courtesy, or maybe she thought we needed a souvenir? They were just the same old check forms and certainly weren't unique to the TE. MJ and I stayed up until St Louis where we were able to briefly stretch our legs under a light (and cold) rain. We always enjoy the approach to St Louis and the view of the arch as we cross the Mississippi and it's our cue that we are getting "back West". The trailing coach was cut from our train and we left STL about :30 down. South of St Louis there isn't much to see in the darkness, so it was another early night for the both of us and an attempt to catch up on our sleep. Needless to say it felt good to be back in a good old Superliner again; maybe it's the side-to-side sway on the upper level that rocks us to sleep. Or threatens to throw you out of bed, depending on the track condition!
We awoke early and each enjoyed the larger shower downstairs in the Superliner sleeper before breakfast. I forgot to mention that our attendant was a very nice young lady, Janna, and provided excellent service and conversation to us during the whole ride. We talked a bit about the possible upcoming changes for the Eagle "merging" with the Sunset to become a daily train from CHI to LA and the consequences for the OBS crews. She apparently hadn't heard any more then we have on the forum (not surprising) and stated that she did not like the idea of having to turn in Dallas or Fort Worth if that were to happen. I told her we would keep our fingers crossed that the crew turn would still be in San Antonio. This morning's ride continued the uneventful nature of the previous day - there is not a great deal of exciting scenery on the North Texas portion of the route and we spent most of our time in our room just reading and dozing. We arrived early into Dallas (not at all unusual due to schedule padding) with sunny skies and had an hour to spend so we walked over to the old red courthouse building and visited the new museum they have inside. We then made a quick pass by the JFK Memorial and back over to Union Station to watch a TRE train come through. MJ and I both commented more than once about the differences between downtown Dallas and NYC; here we were in Dallas at noon and the streets and sidewalks looked positively deserted compared to what we experienced in NYC late at night! We both agreed on the spot that while New York is a great place to visit, we wouldn't want to live there - ha ha. No offense at all to those who do, but we Texans have got to have our wide open spaces! With the boarding call it was adios to Dallas and then a quick run over to Fort Worth, running through Arlington and right past the new Cowboys Stadium. Man that thing is big; truly Texas all the way! There are big video screens on the outside for the tailgaters who are happy to see the game from the parking lot (for a fee, of course). As expected, we were WAY early into FTW and had over an hour to spend so we went on our usual walk from the station over to the large Barnes & Noble downtown to browse the books and hit the Starbucks. The weather was sunny and warming up quickly and like Dallas the traffic and crowds were practically non-existent. We had planned to eat our lunch back on the TE, but the Starbucks was offering some nice looking new hot sandwiches so we decided to forego train food for a change. After lunch we had a few minutes still to spare so we walked around FTW a little more before getting back to the station. I was expecting the NB Eagle, train 22 to be in the station by now, but it was apparently running a little behind and we left before they made it in. FTW is a crew change point, and one of our outbound conductors was an acquaintance from the SAS crew base. We had a nice long talk and he had not heard anything new about the proposed changes to the Eagle and Sunset. Again that didn't surprise me, not that I would have expected him to divulge company information to me necessarily, but rather that I don't think Amtrak itself yet knows what exactly is going to happen. I have a feeling the "lowly" OBS and T&E folks will be some of the last to know when the decision is eventually made.
Well due to freight traffic around the famous Tower 55 just south of the FTW station we actually got rolling for good about :30 down out of the FTW station. No biggie to us as we were heading home with no connections to make. Other minor delays in route eventually put us almost a full hour down by Austin. Now here goes my last rant about diner service hours. Amtrak, in its infinite wisdom, still continues to put the dining car crew off the southbound Eagle in Austin, well before San Antonio. No one has ever been able to give me a good reason as to why this is - even the crews themselves have told me they would much rather go all the way and turn in San Antonio with the rest of the OBS. So with a scheduled arrival into AUS of 6:30 p.m. this means that dinner is offered as a "first and last call" at 4:00 p.m. There are no reservations since there is only the one seating. I can't blame the crews too much on this one as they do have to get off the train at AUS, but as a result MJ and I just weren't at all hungry at 4:00 so we just skipped dinner (and my flatiron). Now say at about 7:00 we certainly would have eaten, but under the current way of doing things that's not an option. If the dining car crew stayed on to SAS, even with a possible 9:15-9:30 early arrival time, there could be more reasonable dinner hours on the way south, and the NB pax out of SAS could have a real breakfast. Maybe with the coming changes that issue will finally get addressed. I'm not holding my breath on that one! OK, to wrap things up for this leg - we rolled into the SAS station at 9:40 (versus 9:55 on the schedule), and with a departure out of AUS almost an hour late that really goes to show the amount of pad in the schedule. There was no sign of train 2 near the station, so he was apparently running a little late for some reason. We said our goodbyes to our nice attendant (and gave her a generous tip) and went over to claim our bags at trainside a few feet next to the coach/baggage car. Again what a difference from our NYP experience! Ah to be back home again - even after a great trip there is always something nice about being back home.
To sum up, we had a really great time overall. New York was great and we want to go back - we found our way around NYP OK - and I got my feet wet and even a little "speed" on the NEC. Except for my gripes about operating hours in the diners, our Amtrak experience was smooth as well. All of the crew we interfaced with were nice, pleasant and competent, with a couple that were really outstanding; we didn't run into any bad apples. And we were mostly early or on-time (or only slightly late) at our endpoints. It will take us a couple of days to get back into our normal routine - and then we'll start planning our next trip, though likely not quite as ambitious as this one! We still have those AGR points to use! Apologies in advance for any technical errors I may have made in the above - and again best regards and many thanks to all of the AU members who kindly provided advice and suggestions for our time in New York . . . . RJ/MJ
