greatcats
Engineer
This is the most recent of my train segments travelling around the country during this month of February, the purpose of which is to attend various symphonies and cultural events. Most of this little jaunt that originated in Flagstaff has been by Amtrak and I have mostly good to report. I was especially pleased that the Lakeshore from Boston to Chicago was a very good experience. After hearing the Chicago Symphony again and Siberian baritone Dmitri Hvorotovsky at Orchestra Hall the next evening, I arrived at Union Station on Thursday and had lunch at the recommended Lou Mitchell's nearby, which was pretty good. A fair crowd was in the first class lounge waiting for the various westbound trains. All the others but ours departed on time, but we were delayed due to a " mechanical problem. " So the bunch of us with time on our hands sat joking about the situation and our train was finally boarded, departing nearly one hour, 45 minutes late. Off we went and my SCA was Richard, a veteran of many years and a fine gentleman. I do not need much assistance and know how to arrange the bed, running an extension cord around the roomette for my Bipap breathing machine. Dinner was fine, although the service and atmosphere in this car were a bit noisy and chaotic. Our server tried hard, but tended to be disorganized. ( I try to sympathize, because a small part of my working career has been as a server, at which I am not very good. ) Dinner the second night was particularly noisy, partially because of the customers, but one of the tables had four on board service crew members having their dinner. Now I don't mind them having their dinner break or being sociable, but they were awfully loud. The ride out of Denver was great, but then the day clouded over and was rather murky going through Glenwood. However, as we approached Grand Junction, the skies cleared and the lighting of the descending sun on the landscape was really breathtaking. Later that evening, I sat in my sleeper with the lights off and watched as we descended the west side of Soldier Summit by moonlight. I had driven through there in my car recently, and was aware of how high the railroad run above the highway and then makes a snaky descent toward Provo.
The sleeper in back of mine had complete plumbing failure the entire trip. I know this is a common problem, but I would have been really unhappy if I had been in that car. ( Our car failed briefly at the highest alititudes. ) The grumbling from some of the passengers tarnished this trip. These Superliners are nice equipment, but the design deficiencies of the plumbing are a blemish on what otherwise is good service that Amtrak tries to offer. We made up some of the time we had further lost since leaving Chicago and arrived Salt Lake just over an hour and a half late at 12:43 am. I asked the ticket agent to call a cab - 30 minutes was the word. Never showed up. I had a similar situation a few weeks ago in Chicago with no cabs at a late hour, so for the second time - and I was NOT in the mood - hoisted the big backpack and roller bag and hoofed ir the mile or so over to Little America on South Main. As in Chicago, nobody bothered me, but this was not fun, walking in the hotel lobby at 2am! I stopped in Salt Lake City to attend the Mormon wedding reception of a good friend who has been a fellow bus driver with me in Ketchikan, Alaska, and I felt honored that he wanted me in attendance. I had rented a car, went visiting in Park City where I had worked briefly this winter driving a bus, and then went down toward Provo to visit another co-worker from Alaska for the evening. The car was returned to downtown Salt Lake City, I retrieved my bags, and this time was able to take the LAST Light Rail train back to the Amtrak station, arriving at 10pm, just as the station opened. Much more enjoyable doing it that way. Westbound #5 pulled in on time and I was ready for that bed, feeling exhausted. My nice lady attendant, Morgana, who lives near Detroit, showed me to my room and I was in the shower, which took a while to build up pressure, as we started to roll. I had the best night's sleep so far of my sleeping car trips on this segment, and I woke up as we were stopped in Winnemucca. I am sure others will agree that waking up to daylight breaking out over the Nevada desert is another highlight. Three other gentlemen and I enjoyed breakfast to this scene and I give praise to two of the dining car staff as the best Amtrak employees encountered recently. Two young ladies working out of Chicago, one the LSA and the other a server, both named Mildred. What sweethearts! They did their best to please their customers and I tipped them more than usual.
Theses trains in winter were rather lightly patronized from Western Colorado through Nevada, but a huge crowd boarded aat Reno and it was sold out. The diner was completely full at lunch. Another pair of hands in the diner would have been helpful, but they pulled it off. There had been a major snowstorm a few days early over the Sierra Nevada. It was a picture book of fantastic snowscapes over Donner Pass, a route that I have not ridden since 1983. Then down, down, down to more temperate locations and we rolled into Emeryville 45 minutes early. Amtrak could do a better job of directing people to the buses. Only about 15 boarded the bus to San Francisco and the otherwise helpful driver delivered us promptly and dropped most of us not at the Ferry Building, but near the currently not running California St. cablecar terminus. I then hopped on the F streetcar out Market Street to where I am staying.
With the exception of a late departure from Chicago and problems on that other sleeper, this was a great experience - good service, pretty good food, and some delightful passengers and a great panorama of the American West.
Tomorrow I am going to San Diego, but will use United Miles to fly there. The train and bus combinations to go down the coast would make for a long and tedious day. In a few days I will return to Flagstaff by way of a Surfliner and Southwest Chief. Comments invited.
The sleeper in back of mine had complete plumbing failure the entire trip. I know this is a common problem, but I would have been really unhappy if I had been in that car. ( Our car failed briefly at the highest alititudes. ) The grumbling from some of the passengers tarnished this trip. These Superliners are nice equipment, but the design deficiencies of the plumbing are a blemish on what otherwise is good service that Amtrak tries to offer. We made up some of the time we had further lost since leaving Chicago and arrived Salt Lake just over an hour and a half late at 12:43 am. I asked the ticket agent to call a cab - 30 minutes was the word. Never showed up. I had a similar situation a few weeks ago in Chicago with no cabs at a late hour, so for the second time - and I was NOT in the mood - hoisted the big backpack and roller bag and hoofed ir the mile or so over to Little America on South Main. As in Chicago, nobody bothered me, but this was not fun, walking in the hotel lobby at 2am! I stopped in Salt Lake City to attend the Mormon wedding reception of a good friend who has been a fellow bus driver with me in Ketchikan, Alaska, and I felt honored that he wanted me in attendance. I had rented a car, went visiting in Park City where I had worked briefly this winter driving a bus, and then went down toward Provo to visit another co-worker from Alaska for the evening. The car was returned to downtown Salt Lake City, I retrieved my bags, and this time was able to take the LAST Light Rail train back to the Amtrak station, arriving at 10pm, just as the station opened. Much more enjoyable doing it that way. Westbound #5 pulled in on time and I was ready for that bed, feeling exhausted. My nice lady attendant, Morgana, who lives near Detroit, showed me to my room and I was in the shower, which took a while to build up pressure, as we started to roll. I had the best night's sleep so far of my sleeping car trips on this segment, and I woke up as we were stopped in Winnemucca. I am sure others will agree that waking up to daylight breaking out over the Nevada desert is another highlight. Three other gentlemen and I enjoyed breakfast to this scene and I give praise to two of the dining car staff as the best Amtrak employees encountered recently. Two young ladies working out of Chicago, one the LSA and the other a server, both named Mildred. What sweethearts! They did their best to please their customers and I tipped them more than usual.
Theses trains in winter were rather lightly patronized from Western Colorado through Nevada, but a huge crowd boarded aat Reno and it was sold out. The diner was completely full at lunch. Another pair of hands in the diner would have been helpful, but they pulled it off. There had been a major snowstorm a few days early over the Sierra Nevada. It was a picture book of fantastic snowscapes over Donner Pass, a route that I have not ridden since 1983. Then down, down, down to more temperate locations and we rolled into Emeryville 45 minutes early. Amtrak could do a better job of directing people to the buses. Only about 15 boarded the bus to San Francisco and the otherwise helpful driver delivered us promptly and dropped most of us not at the Ferry Building, but near the currently not running California St. cablecar terminus. I then hopped on the F streetcar out Market Street to where I am staying.
With the exception of a late departure from Chicago and problems on that other sleeper, this was a great experience - good service, pretty good food, and some delightful passengers and a great panorama of the American West.
Tomorrow I am going to San Diego, but will use United Miles to fly there. The train and bus combinations to go down the coast would make for a long and tedious day. In a few days I will return to Flagstaff by way of a Surfliner and Southwest Chief. Comments invited.
