had8ley
Engineer
Many years ago I had made a promise to an Amtrak million plus miler that if the sleepers ever went back onto the rear end of the Crescent that I would buy us a sleeper ticket. I wasn't too sad that he has the memory of an elephant. I had almost abandoned any ideas of riding the Crescent since the last "TCL disaster." I went to our local manned station and the agent blurted out, "I thought you gave up on #20!" He laughed when I said I keep my promises, no matter how many years ago they were made.
We boarded in Slidell, the first stop north of NOL. #20 is carded in at 8:02 a.m. on the new TT but showed up at 7:55. When we got seated in the 2011 car I turned on my walkie talkie. The lead unit's windshield wiper had fallen apart at East City Junction which is near the New Orleans cemeteries about 2 miles out of the NOL station. I had visions of another engine being brought across the lake light and eating breakfast and lunch in the same spot~Slidell depot. Amazingly, the repair was made by mechanical forces who had driven up from NOL in 20 minutes and we were on our way. I had called the station agent in TCL the day before and he said, even though the TT shows #20 coming into TCL first that the dispatcher was holding #20 south of town and running #19 first. Apparently, he found 35 minutes of padding for #20 between TCL and Birmingham in the new TT so it behooved the dispatchers to move #19 first. He did tell me to call him before we hit Meridian (where we would have to de-train and wait four or more hours for #19) to see if 19 had fallen down.
Breakfast was served in the diner as soon as we boarded. I don't know exactly where it opened but a long previous conversation with the Manager of On Board Services netted a promise to do better in opening for breakfast in a timely fashion. I have had first call at Picayune which is over an hour and 15 minutes out of NOL. The menu was the same but the LSA said she had a new book with all the new menu items that will be served on or about June 1st. I saw Crawfish Etouffe and Catfish but am still scratching my head at New England Clam Chowder. My friend Jim and I laughed at length when we read how a grapefruit is prepared per the manual. Wash grapefruit. Dry completely. Cut into two equal pieces and serve. Amtrak ingenuity at its finest.
We went back to the room after I went and saw the lounge LSA that I knew. Jim rides wide loads as a messenger and refuses to fly back home. He has honestly racked up over a million Amtrak miles and is working on his second million. He made the comment on the way back from the diner, we were at track speed~79 mph~ of how rough the sleepers were riding. It seems that when there are cars coupled at both ends the ride is a lot less harsh. Siding and house track frogs are knee jerkers and I sadly foresee some older persons going down as we hit some frogs that I thought were going to derail the car.
We actually started making up a little time before we hit Laurel, MS so I called TCL to see where #19 was. I had high hopes but they were immediately diminished when I was told, "You two better get off at Meridian unless you want to spend the night in TCL." So we started planning what we could do for four hours in Meridian. About three minutes before we pulled into Meridian the conductor came in the room. He told us to stay on; that #19 would be held north of town. After a very short crew change, we were on our way almost biting our finger nails hoping that nothing like a busted air hose or a near miss at a crossing would occur. We even passed up lunch we were thinking about what to do over night in TCL. Sure enough we pulled into TCL at #19's appointed leaving time~1:14 p.m. but he was in Bryant siding north of town. (The track is next to The University of Alabama's football field and the siding is named after Paul "Bear" Bryant.) Bear in mind that we are on single track. From the time #20 pulled out, met #19 and #19 backed out onto the main line and we boarded was eight minutes. They were still serving lunch so I decided our luck was good this day. I saw the back of a gentleman I thought I knew and sure enough it was the Manager of On Board Services. He had been giving the crews pep talks about perhaps getting the prep cook back in the diner and perhaps another SA in the diner. BTW, unfortunately, the flat iron will be frozen on the new menu and heated in the micro-wave to an internal temp of 140 degrees. We had a lengthy talk and parted ways. He did say the moral was picking up with the on board crews. Sometimes I wonder if some train crews had not already hit bottom. We walked gingerly to dinner and tried to do so between siding switches so we wouldn't get bounced around. Our car attendant, Claude and the #10 car attendant, Marci, both complained about the rough ride. Dinner was absolutely delicious. The flat irons were great, the veggies were perfect and the NYC bread was delicious. Topped off with vanilla ice cream I wanted to sit and savor our meal for a while. I honestly think this crew would have done just as well with or without a manager on board.
The NS had annulled many of its freight trains and all of its locals for Monday's holiday so we started seeing some trains in sidings southbound. The car count is getting better which usually signifies a better economy in about 6 months. I had observed this for a lot of years and it usually panned out and it also worked in reverse~ business starts falling off and a recession is about 6 months off.
All in all, we had a great trip and were treated like kings. My only hope is that Amtrak can keep up this "can do" attitude for a long time to come.
We boarded in Slidell, the first stop north of NOL. #20 is carded in at 8:02 a.m. on the new TT but showed up at 7:55. When we got seated in the 2011 car I turned on my walkie talkie. The lead unit's windshield wiper had fallen apart at East City Junction which is near the New Orleans cemeteries about 2 miles out of the NOL station. I had visions of another engine being brought across the lake light and eating breakfast and lunch in the same spot~Slidell depot. Amazingly, the repair was made by mechanical forces who had driven up from NOL in 20 minutes and we were on our way. I had called the station agent in TCL the day before and he said, even though the TT shows #20 coming into TCL first that the dispatcher was holding #20 south of town and running #19 first. Apparently, he found 35 minutes of padding for #20 between TCL and Birmingham in the new TT so it behooved the dispatchers to move #19 first. He did tell me to call him before we hit Meridian (where we would have to de-train and wait four or more hours for #19) to see if 19 had fallen down.
Breakfast was served in the diner as soon as we boarded. I don't know exactly where it opened but a long previous conversation with the Manager of On Board Services netted a promise to do better in opening for breakfast in a timely fashion. I have had first call at Picayune which is over an hour and 15 minutes out of NOL. The menu was the same but the LSA said she had a new book with all the new menu items that will be served on or about June 1st. I saw Crawfish Etouffe and Catfish but am still scratching my head at New England Clam Chowder. My friend Jim and I laughed at length when we read how a grapefruit is prepared per the manual. Wash grapefruit. Dry completely. Cut into two equal pieces and serve. Amtrak ingenuity at its finest.
We went back to the room after I went and saw the lounge LSA that I knew. Jim rides wide loads as a messenger and refuses to fly back home. He has honestly racked up over a million Amtrak miles and is working on his second million. He made the comment on the way back from the diner, we were at track speed~79 mph~ of how rough the sleepers were riding. It seems that when there are cars coupled at both ends the ride is a lot less harsh. Siding and house track frogs are knee jerkers and I sadly foresee some older persons going down as we hit some frogs that I thought were going to derail the car.
We actually started making up a little time before we hit Laurel, MS so I called TCL to see where #19 was. I had high hopes but they were immediately diminished when I was told, "You two better get off at Meridian unless you want to spend the night in TCL." So we started planning what we could do for four hours in Meridian. About three minutes before we pulled into Meridian the conductor came in the room. He told us to stay on; that #19 would be held north of town. After a very short crew change, we were on our way almost biting our finger nails hoping that nothing like a busted air hose or a near miss at a crossing would occur. We even passed up lunch we were thinking about what to do over night in TCL. Sure enough we pulled into TCL at #19's appointed leaving time~1:14 p.m. but he was in Bryant siding north of town. (The track is next to The University of Alabama's football field and the siding is named after Paul "Bear" Bryant.) Bear in mind that we are on single track. From the time #20 pulled out, met #19 and #19 backed out onto the main line and we boarded was eight minutes. They were still serving lunch so I decided our luck was good this day. I saw the back of a gentleman I thought I knew and sure enough it was the Manager of On Board Services. He had been giving the crews pep talks about perhaps getting the prep cook back in the diner and perhaps another SA in the diner. BTW, unfortunately, the flat iron will be frozen on the new menu and heated in the micro-wave to an internal temp of 140 degrees. We had a lengthy talk and parted ways. He did say the moral was picking up with the on board crews. Sometimes I wonder if some train crews had not already hit bottom. We walked gingerly to dinner and tried to do so between siding switches so we wouldn't get bounced around. Our car attendant, Claude and the #10 car attendant, Marci, both complained about the rough ride. Dinner was absolutely delicious. The flat irons were great, the veggies were perfect and the NYC bread was delicious. Topped off with vanilla ice cream I wanted to sit and savor our meal for a while. I honestly think this crew would have done just as well with or without a manager on board.
The NS had annulled many of its freight trains and all of its locals for Monday's holiday so we started seeing some trains in sidings southbound. The car count is getting better which usually signifies a better economy in about 6 months. I had observed this for a lot of years and it usually panned out and it also worked in reverse~ business starts falling off and a recession is about 6 months off.
All in all, we had a great trip and were treated like kings. My only hope is that Amtrak can keep up this "can do" attitude for a long time to come.
