ainamkartma
Service Attendant
- Joined
- May 26, 2015
- Messages
- 137
Hi all,
A couple of weeks ago I made a nice trip from El Paso to New York on the Sunset Limited and Crescent, stopping for two nights in New Orleans. I had a roomette for both legs, upstairs on the Superliner. It was my first opportunity to ride both sections, so i was very pleased by the beautiful scenery in Texas and the southeast. Both trains arrived "Amtrak-on-time", so that was nice. As always on trains where it is available, the dining car experience was a highlight of the trip: I met an archeologist employed by Monticello, a fellow who spends his retirement delivering motor homes and taking the train back to home base, and some retired schoolteachers touring the country. The food was fine, but, as noted on other recent threads, many listed menu items were not available (even on the Crescent), having not been stocked in the first place according to the server. My choice was available for every meal, though, so the understocking did not cause a particular problem for me.
The VL dining car on the Crescent was number 68008, Columbus, and was pleasingly shiny and new. This was my first experience in one of the VL diners. The extra height of a Viewliner is quite obviously wasted on a diner, of course. Interestingly, the dining car attendant told my dining table seat mates (before I arrived at the table) that it was an old car recently refurbished. "Amtrak hasn't bought any new equipment in many years." Also, one of the tables and its associated seats was missing entirely. A passenger fell into the resulting substantial gap when the train hit a bump as he was passing by. Luckily, he was unhurt, as he took quite a purler.
After the trip, I received an survey from Amtrak to fill out for the El Paso to New Orleans segment. I stressed strongly the value of the dining car as part of the total trip package. There is no scenario where I would have made this trip if "contemporary dining" had replaced the traditional dining car on either leg.
All in all, an example of Amtrak doing what it does and doing it well. I will be happy if they can just maintain this level of service going forward, but it sure looks like management wants to make that a challenge.
Happy trails,
Ainamkartma
A couple of weeks ago I made a nice trip from El Paso to New York on the Sunset Limited and Crescent, stopping for two nights in New Orleans. I had a roomette for both legs, upstairs on the Superliner. It was my first opportunity to ride both sections, so i was very pleased by the beautiful scenery in Texas and the southeast. Both trains arrived "Amtrak-on-time", so that was nice. As always on trains where it is available, the dining car experience was a highlight of the trip: I met an archeologist employed by Monticello, a fellow who spends his retirement delivering motor homes and taking the train back to home base, and some retired schoolteachers touring the country. The food was fine, but, as noted on other recent threads, many listed menu items were not available (even on the Crescent), having not been stocked in the first place according to the server. My choice was available for every meal, though, so the understocking did not cause a particular problem for me.
The VL dining car on the Crescent was number 68008, Columbus, and was pleasingly shiny and new. This was my first experience in one of the VL diners. The extra height of a Viewliner is quite obviously wasted on a diner, of course. Interestingly, the dining car attendant told my dining table seat mates (before I arrived at the table) that it was an old car recently refurbished. "Amtrak hasn't bought any new equipment in many years." Also, one of the tables and its associated seats was missing entirely. A passenger fell into the resulting substantial gap when the train hit a bump as he was passing by. Luckily, he was unhurt, as he took quite a purler.
After the trip, I received an survey from Amtrak to fill out for the El Paso to New Orleans segment. I stressed strongly the value of the dining car as part of the total trip package. There is no scenario where I would have made this trip if "contemporary dining" had replaced the traditional dining car on either leg.
All in all, an example of Amtrak doing what it does and doing it well. I will be happy if they can just maintain this level of service going forward, but it sure looks like management wants to make that a challenge.
Happy trails,
Ainamkartma
