"Wake Up" Coffee Service

[Devil's Advocate]

To give an Amtrak answer - sometimes yes, sometimes no! I've had some SCA's give them to me, either in the room or while I was "stretching" at the "fresh air" stop or just walking thru. Other times, the SCA just put them by the coffee machine.

I think papers provided in sleepers is about as random as it gets. You dont know if, what, or when something might show up. Im not positive but I wouldnt be surprised if there was some sort of astrological component.

In this day and age with all our electronic devices, if you need a wake up call and can't do it yourself, maybe you should never leave your residence.

Then therere people like me who set the alarms dependably enough, but can also turn off multiple alarms without actually waking up. Some days it takes three separate alarms playing rather specific tunes in strategic locations to bring me back to life.


USA Today is considered a newspaper in the same way iceberg is considered a lettuce, and has about as much wisdom as iceberg has nutrients.

 

[CoachSlumber]

In the early days of Amtrak, Sleeping Car attendants would take your order for a Wakeup Cup of Coffee or hot tea. This was carried over from better Railroads like the Santa Fe and Seaboard Coastline, but I haven't had that happen in years. They also would shine shoes when you put them in the shoe locker which they don't have any more.

Your experience mirrors mine. I used to see this with the Heritage 10-6 sleepers because they had no coffee pot. The SCA would also bring a newspaper that was picked up along the way. There was also the wine and cheese basket in the room.

I've never seen it in the Superliner era but that is contained to the CL as that is the only one I've ridden over the years.

I remember the basket, which was part of short-lived "customer service" blitz. I got some that came with pens and stationery. Local papers used to be more common. In the heritage car the SCA kept a coffee pot in a roomette.

 

[SarahZ]

USA Today is considered a newspaper in the same way iceberg is considered a lettuce, and has about as much wisdom as iceberg has nutrients.

Ha! That's a great way to put it.

Wake me up with a knock at the door, and you will be greeted with something akin to this:

Only I'm a bit more ferocious.

 

[trainman74]

Isn't that a honey badger? Since you live in Michigan, I would think you'd look more like a wolverine:

At any rate, on my trip earlier this month, one morning the SCA announced to the car that he hadn't gotten enough papers to give one to each room, and so he was leaving a stack on top of the recycling bin upstairs; the other mornings, I got a paper under my door.

 

[SarahZ]

Haha, yes. The Wolverine is a good example too.

 

[Henry Kisor]

Yes, sleeper passengers still do get the morning paper. Usually McPaper. Yuck.

 

[jebr]

I was disappointed to see the USA Today as my paper on the EB. Would much rather have gotten a copy of the Star Tribune or the Pioneer Press. (Plus, isn't part of the fun of train travel is seeing the local papers?)

 

[Devil's Advocate]

Yes, sleeper passengers still do get the morning paper.

Sometimes.

There's no guarantee that any given paper will be provided on any given train on any given day.

 

[OlympianHiawatha]

I was disappointed to see the USA Today as my paper on the EB. Would much rather have gotten a copy of the Star Tribune or the Pioneer Press. (Plus, isn't part of the fun of train travel is seeing the local papers?)

One of the best papers I received was The Oregonian on the northbound Starlight. It was fun reading local news tidbits, Little League Scores, upcoming Garage Sales and even someone getting busted in a small town for Pot.

 

[SarahZ]

 

[The Davy Crockett]

I was disappointed to see the USA Today as my paper on the EB. Would much rather have gotten a copy of the Star Tribune or the Pioneer Press. (Plus, isn't part of the fun of train travel is seeing the local papers?)

Yeah, USA Today seems - most unfortnately - to have replaced most of the local papers. Amtrak probably got 'a deal' with them as a cost cutting move.

At least it does as good a job as any other paper of blocking the light from under the room door at night when propped against the door with my shoes.

 

[Trainmans daughter]

We need a "LIKE" button here!

 

[Devil's Advocate]

We need a "LIKE" button here!

 

[EMDF9A]

I was disappointed to see the USA Today as my paper on the EB. Would much rather have gotten a copy of the Star Tribune or the Pioneer Press. (Plus, isn't part of the fun of train travel is seeing the local papers?)

One of the best papers I received was The Oregonian on the northbound Starlight. It was fun reading local news tidbits, Little League Scores, upcoming Garage Sales and even someone getting busted in a small town for Pot.

I've always liked the Oregonian they bring aboard #14 in KFalls. I dont remember if its McPaper or perhaps the Sacramento Bee on #11.

 

[The Davy Crockett]

We need a "LIKE" button here!

"LIKE"

 

[Shanghai]

I was recently on the Lake Shore Limited, Capitol Limited and Crescent in a sleeper and was

offered to have coffee delivered to my room by the SCA on each train.

 

[Ispolkom]

I was disappointed to see the USA Today as my paper on the EB. Would much rather have gotten a copy of the Star Tribune or the Pioneer Press. (Plus, isn't part of the fun of train travel is seeing the local papers?)

What! No Star Tribune? I hope you still get the Whitefish Daily Inter Lake on #8. I always enjoy the "Law Roundup" column, where surreal police calls are narrated in deadpan manner. Examples:

"A pair of wandering donkeys were corralled back home after making their way onto a Hodgson Pines Way property."

"A bewildered Woodland Drive resident found her mailbox had been moved and placed across the street with a deer head placed on top."