The 12 Best & Worst Cafe Items on Amtrak: from Thrillist.com

[BCL]

Just in a related note, I suppose it's difficult to have deep-fried foods in a moving environment like a train. It would probably be one heck of a safety hazard.

I recently took my kid to a local food truck gathering. One of the trucks had high end donuts. I relented an bought one for my kid (it was dinner time). It was good, but I expect good for $3.50. I researched the company, and they have a fixed location in addition to their mobile trucks. Apparently they used to fry the donuts right on site, but having a deep fryer in a truck wasn't that great an idea. They had some real messes even if nobody was at the fryer while they were moving.

So if food trucks were available during an extended stop, would that work for many of you? I specifically recall going to one of these food truck locations set up in the parking lot of the Menlo Park Caltrain station. I suppose it would be possible (with Caltrain's off and back on policy) to stop to get dinner - then get back on the next train.

 

[niemi24s]

You must be from Massachusetts!

No, but I lived in Maine for a few years.

 

[Manny T]

BCL, I personally would be very much in favor of your proposal. Kind of like getting off & visiting a Harvey House restaurant, but XXIst cent. style.

I can only foresee three problems: 1. Amtrak's excessive lateness. No guarantee the train would reach the trucks at any particular meal time (or day, for that matter).

2. More work for on board personnel: they would essentially have to deboard and board PAX over and over again.

3. Padding the schedules: the stops would make LD travel even longer.

 

[BCL]

BCL, I personally would be very much in favor of your proposal. Kind of like getting off & visiting a Harvey House restaurant, but XXIst cent. style.

I can only foresee three problems: 1. Amtrak's excessive lateness. No guarantee the train would reach the trucks at any particular meal time (or day, for that matter).

2. More work for on board personnel: they would essentially have to deboard and board PAX over and over again.

3. Padding the schedules: the stops would make LD travel even longer.

I'm looking at the Coast Starlight (#11) and they have scheduled dwell times in Portland (35 min), Emeryville (10 min), Oakland (15 min - where they restock the cafe/diner), and San Jose (12 min). Still - I'm not sure how something like this could be worked out, especially since there would need to be a place to do this near the station. Also - I'm not sure Amtrak would be on board since it would eat into their own dining/cafe car revenues. And as you say, there could be delays, and we know that dwell time often disappears when they're trying to make up time.

The closest thing I can think of is the longer distance Amtrak thruway buses. I helped some friends by booking a trip from LA, and they ended up taking the Pacific Surfline from Irvine to Santa Barbara, and then a bus from Santa Barbara to Emeryville. I wasn't sure if they'd have a meal stop, so when I picked them up (and it was late - in fact the station waiting room was closed by that time) I went to McDonald's for a few things in case they had nothing to eat. Turns out they had a scheduled stop in King City right at the McDonald's there.