metrorail
Train Attendant
On Novemver 28, my family (Mom, Dad, and I) traveled from Houston, Texas to Beaumont, Texas in Coach and planned to go back that night. Train 2, heading eastbound to New Orleans ran on time, and we even had breakfast in the Dining Car. We got up early at 4:30am to make it to the station by 5:45am. We left Houston on time at 6:15am and arrived on time and Beaumont - at 8:00am in the morning!
After enjoying our Railroad French Toast (A little chewy, but still good) we returned to our coach seats. A short while after, the car attendent came by to let us know that our stop would be coming up shortly and that we should go ahead and go downstairs and wait. We went downstairs and waited while the train came to a stop, we looked out the window of the vestible and saw just grass. We waited for a few minutes, and then the door opened from the outside. Our nice car attendent told us that we were here.
The "Station" was a very pitiful. It was a concrete slab out next to three sets of tracks, a factory, and an old abandoned house. There was another concrete slab which would be the parking lot. Unlike what the amtrak timetable said, there was not any taxis "ON CALL" because there was no where "TO CALL". The yellow cab number we had from the official Texas Eagle website was wrong (Later we found out that there has not been any yellow cab service in five years.
After we relunctly stepped off the train, we found a pluming/utility truck waiting at the station. He told us he was picking up some other members of his crew to go home. Apperantly, the crew did not get off. We asked him if he knew the number to a cab. Instead he offered us a ride. We were thankful.
The ride was not on your normal vacation iternary. The seats were torn up as if a dog had come in there and chewed out the cushion. The driver, although very nice, smoked, which irritrated me to the point off choking. We aggred on getting off at the mall, where there would be shops, restrooms, and hopefully and number to a taxi. When we got out of the truck, we offered to pay the nice man, but he would not accept it (He was a nice man).
We arrived at the Parkdale Mall looking as if we had waked up at 6:00am to catch a train to a concrete slab (Who would have thought of that?). We took care of some shopping and snacking. I even had my hair cut! We went to the information booth and got the number for a cab. At about 1:00pm, we took the cab to the Black Eyed Pea restaurant. After some meatloaf and cornbread, we took the cab to a miniture-golf course in Beaumont. My dad and I played both courses (And he won...) and made our own stuffed animal (Think Build a Bear in a Mini-Golf Place). Beaumont Bear and Beaumont Panda were now with us.
As we were turning our golf putters back, we heard the honking of our taxi. We went out there only to find out he was early (The train comes at 6:43pm, We scheduled a ride at 5:45pm so that we would not have to wait on the concrete slab too long). He told us that because of people getting off work (It's 4:57pm), he may not be able to get back to us for a little while. While concerned, we went ahead to the station (STOP! There is no station!).
We arrived there at about 5:30pm. The only thing my parents and I had to do was sit on a concrete slab for more than an a hour with no one, or nothing to do. By this time, it was sunset. Right after our cab left, I called Juile - Amtrak's automated agent only to find out our train would be arriving at 8:43pm, 2 hours late. We now have 3 hours in the middle of nowhere!*
*You could walk the broken glass road very far to a closed antique shop or a no name bail bond place. Very far away I could make out the golden arches of a McDonalds. Since my mom cannot walk very well, we chose not to even try.
More bad news came, I called "Julie" again to find out that the train was now scheduled to arrive at 11:57pm. This forcasted us arriving in Houston at 2:00am in the morning. My mon asked me to dial Amtrak so she could talk to an agent. The first agent hung up on her. The second told her there had been a wreck at New Iberia, LA. A truck went around the crossing guards and was hit then killed.
Waiting seems no problem, unless you are out in the middle of nowhere. It was dark now, with a few lights (Like streetlights) giving the concrete slab some light. Since we woke up at 4:00am that morning, sleep was needed, but unfortunately we could not get to sleep on the three pillows the car attendent let us keep (Did he know this would happen?). Since the platform (slab) was right next to the tracks, we had to move back every time a train passed by. Mosquitos were another thing. There had to be enough to create an insect exhibit at the Houston Zoo. Our coats and our Stuffed animals kept us warm. We kept ourselfs from checking the time, hoping time would move faster for us. It did at first, then it was nice enough to slow down. There was an abandoned house near the slab. We kept seeing cars (in the middle of nowhere) go to it and turn around. Later we heard a gunshot or a firecracker go off. That's when we really started to get scared.
We made a few friends while waiting. Our cab driver came back to check on us once (8:40pm) meanwhile we met an older man and his son who were with him. They explained that they were from Beaumont and that their station (Stop, no SLAB!) was a discrase. They told us of their efforts to the city council of Beauont to try to get a station or at least a policeman to watch the boarding and deboarding of the train. The cab driver and the older man and his son left. My mom called the Beaumont police to check on us and to mabye put a patrol out. An officer came once, checked on us, and said he would ask dispatch to put a patrol out. After he left, we never saw another policeman again that night.
More bad news (ugh...). Julie now says that the train will arrive at 12:41AM. The time moved slow, the mosquitos bit more, and I kept going to the bathroom (bush) for being so nervous. The nice older man's son and wife came back and offered to take my mom to the restroom (9:23pm). She went while my dad and I stayed. *If you're still reading, it gets better!*.
When my mom got back, we continued to wait, and wait, and wait. At 11:46pm I called Julie and found out that it would now arrive at 1:52am. We continued to wait. By this time, freight train travel was quiet, so we did not have to move off of the slab as much. We continued to wait............
At 12:20am, just our luck, IT STARTED TO RAIN. After all three of us getting in our small umbrella, we dicided that we need more shelter. We slowly walked the road and sat under the awning of an antique shop. The thunder and lightning was bad, but we could not wait the entire time over here in fear of missing our trip home. Julie now says 2:01am. We sat.
At about 1:00am, the rain let up and we walked back and stood on the wet platform still waiting. This is when it was miserable, we could not even sit down.
At 1:40am, the nice older man and his son and his son's wife came back to wait. My mom was invited to wait in the son's car, the older man waited outside with us.
Moments later, another car pulled up, waiting to put up someone getting off of the train (lucky!).
An Amtrak agent now says 2:15am. I couldn't take it any more.
While talking to the older man in the dead of night, we heard the wonderful sounds of the train's bells. It slowly arrived into the station, after 9 hours of miserable wait. Although it was 2:00am, it seemed that most people on the train were awake. Weird? We were given our pillows and I retired for that, not night, morning.
I woke up only to find the train already in the Houston Station, my pillow gone for some reason. We made it off, called a cab to a parking garage 4 miles south, and drove back to our hotel north 20 miles to our hotel in Humble, Texas. We made it there right before they started the morning breakfast (I woke up at 1:00pm that same day).
Our trip could have been great. But it was not, all thanks to the man who just had to beat the train across. He wasn't the victim, everyone who was effected by him was the victims. We still love Amtrak (More Texas Eagle and Heartland Flyer than the tri-weekly Sunset Limited) We still plan to ride it, but not to Beaumont - until they get a station to wait in. We still like Beaumont the city, not Beaumont the station. Maybe that nice older man will get Beaumont to build even the smallest station, or mabye they will remove it as a stop from Amtrak, so no one else has to go through this. As my dad said, "We would never wish this apon anyone, even our enemies.
After enjoying our Railroad French Toast (A little chewy, but still good) we returned to our coach seats. A short while after, the car attendent came by to let us know that our stop would be coming up shortly and that we should go ahead and go downstairs and wait. We went downstairs and waited while the train came to a stop, we looked out the window of the vestible and saw just grass. We waited for a few minutes, and then the door opened from the outside. Our nice car attendent told us that we were here.
The "Station" was a very pitiful. It was a concrete slab out next to three sets of tracks, a factory, and an old abandoned house. There was another concrete slab which would be the parking lot. Unlike what the amtrak timetable said, there was not any taxis "ON CALL" because there was no where "TO CALL". The yellow cab number we had from the official Texas Eagle website was wrong (Later we found out that there has not been any yellow cab service in five years.
After we relunctly stepped off the train, we found a pluming/utility truck waiting at the station. He told us he was picking up some other members of his crew to go home. Apperantly, the crew did not get off. We asked him if he knew the number to a cab. Instead he offered us a ride. We were thankful.
The ride was not on your normal vacation iternary. The seats were torn up as if a dog had come in there and chewed out the cushion. The driver, although very nice, smoked, which irritrated me to the point off choking. We aggred on getting off at the mall, where there would be shops, restrooms, and hopefully and number to a taxi. When we got out of the truck, we offered to pay the nice man, but he would not accept it (He was a nice man).
We arrived at the Parkdale Mall looking as if we had waked up at 6:00am to catch a train to a concrete slab (Who would have thought of that?). We took care of some shopping and snacking. I even had my hair cut! We went to the information booth and got the number for a cab. At about 1:00pm, we took the cab to the Black Eyed Pea restaurant. After some meatloaf and cornbread, we took the cab to a miniture-golf course in Beaumont. My dad and I played both courses (And he won...) and made our own stuffed animal (Think Build a Bear in a Mini-Golf Place). Beaumont Bear and Beaumont Panda were now with us.
As we were turning our golf putters back, we heard the honking of our taxi. We went out there only to find out he was early (The train comes at 6:43pm, We scheduled a ride at 5:45pm so that we would not have to wait on the concrete slab too long). He told us that because of people getting off work (It's 4:57pm), he may not be able to get back to us for a little while. While concerned, we went ahead to the station (STOP! There is no station!).
We arrived there at about 5:30pm. The only thing my parents and I had to do was sit on a concrete slab for more than an a hour with no one, or nothing to do. By this time, it was sunset. Right after our cab left, I called Juile - Amtrak's automated agent only to find out our train would be arriving at 8:43pm, 2 hours late. We now have 3 hours in the middle of nowhere!*
*You could walk the broken glass road very far to a closed antique shop or a no name bail bond place. Very far away I could make out the golden arches of a McDonalds. Since my mom cannot walk very well, we chose not to even try.
More bad news came, I called "Julie" again to find out that the train was now scheduled to arrive at 11:57pm. This forcasted us arriving in Houston at 2:00am in the morning. My mon asked me to dial Amtrak so she could talk to an agent. The first agent hung up on her. The second told her there had been a wreck at New Iberia, LA. A truck went around the crossing guards and was hit then killed.
Waiting seems no problem, unless you are out in the middle of nowhere. It was dark now, with a few lights (Like streetlights) giving the concrete slab some light. Since we woke up at 4:00am that morning, sleep was needed, but unfortunately we could not get to sleep on the three pillows the car attendent let us keep (Did he know this would happen?). Since the platform (slab) was right next to the tracks, we had to move back every time a train passed by. Mosquitos were another thing. There had to be enough to create an insect exhibit at the Houston Zoo. Our coats and our Stuffed animals kept us warm. We kept ourselfs from checking the time, hoping time would move faster for us. It did at first, then it was nice enough to slow down. There was an abandoned house near the slab. We kept seeing cars (in the middle of nowhere) go to it and turn around. Later we heard a gunshot or a firecracker go off. That's when we really started to get scared.
We made a few friends while waiting. Our cab driver came back to check on us once (8:40pm) meanwhile we met an older man and his son who were with him. They explained that they were from Beaumont and that their station (Stop, no SLAB!) was a discrase. They told us of their efforts to the city council of Beauont to try to get a station or at least a policeman to watch the boarding and deboarding of the train. The cab driver and the older man and his son left. My mom called the Beaumont police to check on us and to mabye put a patrol out. An officer came once, checked on us, and said he would ask dispatch to put a patrol out. After he left, we never saw another policeman again that night.
More bad news (ugh...). Julie now says that the train will arrive at 12:41AM. The time moved slow, the mosquitos bit more, and I kept going to the bathroom (bush) for being so nervous. The nice older man's son and wife came back and offered to take my mom to the restroom (9:23pm). She went while my dad and I stayed. *If you're still reading, it gets better!*.
When my mom got back, we continued to wait, and wait, and wait. At 11:46pm I called Julie and found out that it would now arrive at 1:52am. We continued to wait. By this time, freight train travel was quiet, so we did not have to move off of the slab as much. We continued to wait............
At 12:20am, just our luck, IT STARTED TO RAIN. After all three of us getting in our small umbrella, we dicided that we need more shelter. We slowly walked the road and sat under the awning of an antique shop. The thunder and lightning was bad, but we could not wait the entire time over here in fear of missing our trip home. Julie now says 2:01am. We sat.
At about 1:00am, the rain let up and we walked back and stood on the wet platform still waiting. This is when it was miserable, we could not even sit down.
At 1:40am, the nice older man and his son and his son's wife came back to wait. My mom was invited to wait in the son's car, the older man waited outside with us.
Moments later, another car pulled up, waiting to put up someone getting off of the train (lucky!).
An Amtrak agent now says 2:15am. I couldn't take it any more.
While talking to the older man in the dead of night, we heard the wonderful sounds of the train's bells. It slowly arrived into the station, after 9 hours of miserable wait. Although it was 2:00am, it seemed that most people on the train were awake. Weird? We were given our pillows and I retired for that, not night, morning.
I woke up only to find the train already in the Houston Station, my pillow gone for some reason. We made it off, called a cab to a parking garage 4 miles south, and drove back to our hotel north 20 miles to our hotel in Humble, Texas. We made it there right before they started the morning breakfast (I woke up at 1:00pm that same day).
Our trip could have been great. But it was not, all thanks to the man who just had to beat the train across. He wasn't the victim, everyone who was effected by him was the victims. We still love Amtrak (More Texas Eagle and Heartland Flyer than the tri-weekly Sunset Limited) We still plan to ride it, but not to Beaumont - until they get a station to wait in. We still like Beaumont the city, not Beaumont the station. Maybe that nice older man will get Beaumont to build even the smallest station, or mabye they will remove it as a stop from Amtrak, so no one else has to go through this. As my dad said, "We would never wish this apon anyone, even our enemies.
