Hello, all...
I had lots of vacation time to kill, and a work-related ceremony I wanted to attend in San Diego on 6 Mar, and since my employer won't pay to send me out there, what better way than Guest Rewards points?! I originally booked Capitol Limited WAS-CHI, Southwest Chief CHI-LAX, and Pacific Surfliner LAX-SAN and vice-versa for the return (departing WAS 2 Mar, arriving SAN 5 Mar; departing SAN 7 Mar, arriving WAS 10 Mar). Once I arrived in SAN, however, and spending lots of time pouring over the Amtrak timetables, I decided a more circuitous route would be better, plus an extra day in lovely San Diego. A quick five-minute call to Guest Rewards (no hold time!) and I quickly exchanged my original return trip for the Texas Eagle/Capitol Limited, departing SAN 8 Mar, arriving WAS 12 Mar. No fees, no fuss, and no arguments about the routing. Business class on the Surfliner and roomettes the rest of the trip, both ways.
I'd ridden the Capitol Limited many times before, but this was my first true exposure to the 37000-series Diner Lite. I have to say, this "improved" model really addresses a lot of the shortfalls we saw on the prototype (especially those tiny inward-facing tables!). The food was good, and even the limited menu was still varied enough for my trip. Can't get enough of the Railroad French Toast! Jameel, my sleeping car attendant, was wonderful.
A note that occurred throughout the trip - super on-time performance! I was very excited about this, until one conductor explained the unfortunate reason - economy is so bad, freight traffic is WAY down. It's not that railroads like UP and NS suddenly took a liking to Amtrak (though I'm sure the performance bonus payments would be gratefully accepted as "free money" to pad their abysmal bottom lines!). The saddest site of all was on the Surfliner heading into LAX - row after row of idling BNSF mainline engines, just sitting there, depreciating. There had to be over a hundred, easily. That doesn't speak well of the economy, folks...
The trip from WAS to CHI on the Capitol was literally devoid of ANY freight traffic. Unless I missed a few overnight, we didn't pass a SINGLE freight on the way to Chicago. The Southwest Chief wasn't much better, but is that usually a busy route?
Anyway, back to the trip report. Nice semi-refurbished Superliner II sleeper on the Capitol (new upholstery and paneling in hallway, but old-style inefficient bathrooms). I can't believe how much better the refurbished bathrooms and showers are! You'd think they doubled the square footage of the compartments! Kudos to the fine folks at Beech Grove for getting those new compartments right.
Had a six-hour layover in Chicago, so I met up with a college roommate of mine. We wandered around downtown, had lunch at Cheesecake Factory, then wandered back to the station. We boarded the Southwest Chief on time. This time I had a fully refurbished Superliner I, with the better bathrooms and shower. Perfect! I even asked if I could switch roomettes because I wanted to travel down the right side. My attendant, Antonio, happily obliged! Another excellent staff member.
The scenery on the Chief is nice, but doesn't hold a candle to the Builder or Zephyr. I did like spending an hour in downtown Albuquerque, though. We arrived into LAX about a half-hour early, which was a nice surprise. Had I known the Surfliner RIGHT ACROSS THE PLATFORM was a southbound, I could've hopped on, but just as I approached the conductor to ask, he shut the doors and they left! I waited another hour for my actual ticketed train. Surfliner never fails to disappoint.
San Diego was simply wonderful - I'd forgotten to pack shorts! I had a Hertz rental car waiting for me, and she drove me back to the location to sign the papers. I also used my Hilton points to stay at the Hampton Inn Downtown off Pacific Hwy - once again, they remembered me as the guy who always requests rooms FACING the tracks!
Surfliner ride back up was uneventful, and when they announced the Sunset Limited/Texas Eagle, I made my way to the platform to discover something I should have predicted - the Texas Eagle through coach and sleeper were on the very end of the train! That meant walking through 3 coaches and the Sightseer Lounge to get to the dining car. My wife and I had done this a few years back on the Portland section of the Builder, and by the third day the...um...odor of coach kind of destroys any appetite for a meal! Oh, well - I was thankful I was in a sleeper, and this routing through San Antonio meant another day and night on the train!
As I expected, the scenery through Arizona and western Texas is nothing to write home about - if you've seen one desert, you've seen 'em all. I liked being in the last car 'cos you get some great end-of-train shots. Lots of UP track work, but we weren't held up much, and we ended up arriving on time or early to most stations. My attendant in this train between LAX and San Antonio was Lloyd, a 37-year (!) veteran of Amtrak - he joined the year after Amtrak formed, and started on the Southern Pacific. He had some wonderful stories to tell about Amtrak's early days.
The highlight of my trip so far was the overnight layover in San Antonio. We arrived on time at 10:30PM, and of course I de-trained to watch as much of the switching action as I could. If you haven't witnessed it before, it's quite a sight for a railfan! Basically, the incoming southbound Texas Eagle splits - a coach and sleeper are added to the westbound Sunset, and our coach and sleeper are added to the "traditional" Eagle consist. I was impressed with the speed and professionalism of the switching crew. They happily answered all my questions - and I made sure to stay out of the way and not talk when anything was moving.
At midnight, I wandered a mile into downtown to see the Alamo. Got a few pictures, came back, took a quick nap, and was woken up by the westbound Sunset departing on time at 5:40AM. Quickly dressed and power-walked to the nearby Denny's for a hot meal (dining car staff doesn't get on until Austin at 9:30AM, so only cold continental breakfast boxes for sleeping car passengers). Got back around 6:30, and we departed on time at 7:00.
I write this now sitting at Marshall, TX after arriving a full 40 minutes early! We've seen a few freights, but apparently not enough to need the excessive padding this schedule has! This has been a fantastic journey all around, and I already can't wait for my next trip.
Questions? Did I leave anything out? Any details I missed? Let me know!
Hopefully I'll add more once we get to Chicago, then WAS.
Cheers for now!
I had lots of vacation time to kill, and a work-related ceremony I wanted to attend in San Diego on 6 Mar, and since my employer won't pay to send me out there, what better way than Guest Rewards points?! I originally booked Capitol Limited WAS-CHI, Southwest Chief CHI-LAX, and Pacific Surfliner LAX-SAN and vice-versa for the return (departing WAS 2 Mar, arriving SAN 5 Mar; departing SAN 7 Mar, arriving WAS 10 Mar). Once I arrived in SAN, however, and spending lots of time pouring over the Amtrak timetables, I decided a more circuitous route would be better, plus an extra day in lovely San Diego. A quick five-minute call to Guest Rewards (no hold time!) and I quickly exchanged my original return trip for the Texas Eagle/Capitol Limited, departing SAN 8 Mar, arriving WAS 12 Mar. No fees, no fuss, and no arguments about the routing. Business class on the Surfliner and roomettes the rest of the trip, both ways.
I'd ridden the Capitol Limited many times before, but this was my first true exposure to the 37000-series Diner Lite. I have to say, this "improved" model really addresses a lot of the shortfalls we saw on the prototype (especially those tiny inward-facing tables!). The food was good, and even the limited menu was still varied enough for my trip. Can't get enough of the Railroad French Toast! Jameel, my sleeping car attendant, was wonderful.
A note that occurred throughout the trip - super on-time performance! I was very excited about this, until one conductor explained the unfortunate reason - economy is so bad, freight traffic is WAY down. It's not that railroads like UP and NS suddenly took a liking to Amtrak (though I'm sure the performance bonus payments would be gratefully accepted as "free money" to pad their abysmal bottom lines!). The saddest site of all was on the Surfliner heading into LAX - row after row of idling BNSF mainline engines, just sitting there, depreciating. There had to be over a hundred, easily. That doesn't speak well of the economy, folks...
The trip from WAS to CHI on the Capitol was literally devoid of ANY freight traffic. Unless I missed a few overnight, we didn't pass a SINGLE freight on the way to Chicago. The Southwest Chief wasn't much better, but is that usually a busy route?
Anyway, back to the trip report. Nice semi-refurbished Superliner II sleeper on the Capitol (new upholstery and paneling in hallway, but old-style inefficient bathrooms). I can't believe how much better the refurbished bathrooms and showers are! You'd think they doubled the square footage of the compartments! Kudos to the fine folks at Beech Grove for getting those new compartments right.
Had a six-hour layover in Chicago, so I met up with a college roommate of mine. We wandered around downtown, had lunch at Cheesecake Factory, then wandered back to the station. We boarded the Southwest Chief on time. This time I had a fully refurbished Superliner I, with the better bathrooms and shower. Perfect! I even asked if I could switch roomettes because I wanted to travel down the right side. My attendant, Antonio, happily obliged! Another excellent staff member.
The scenery on the Chief is nice, but doesn't hold a candle to the Builder or Zephyr. I did like spending an hour in downtown Albuquerque, though. We arrived into LAX about a half-hour early, which was a nice surprise. Had I known the Surfliner RIGHT ACROSS THE PLATFORM was a southbound, I could've hopped on, but just as I approached the conductor to ask, he shut the doors and they left! I waited another hour for my actual ticketed train. Surfliner never fails to disappoint.
San Diego was simply wonderful - I'd forgotten to pack shorts! I had a Hertz rental car waiting for me, and she drove me back to the location to sign the papers. I also used my Hilton points to stay at the Hampton Inn Downtown off Pacific Hwy - once again, they remembered me as the guy who always requests rooms FACING the tracks!
Surfliner ride back up was uneventful, and when they announced the Sunset Limited/Texas Eagle, I made my way to the platform to discover something I should have predicted - the Texas Eagle through coach and sleeper were on the very end of the train! That meant walking through 3 coaches and the Sightseer Lounge to get to the dining car. My wife and I had done this a few years back on the Portland section of the Builder, and by the third day the...um...odor of coach kind of destroys any appetite for a meal! Oh, well - I was thankful I was in a sleeper, and this routing through San Antonio meant another day and night on the train!
As I expected, the scenery through Arizona and western Texas is nothing to write home about - if you've seen one desert, you've seen 'em all. I liked being in the last car 'cos you get some great end-of-train shots. Lots of UP track work, but we weren't held up much, and we ended up arriving on time or early to most stations. My attendant in this train between LAX and San Antonio was Lloyd, a 37-year (!) veteran of Amtrak - he joined the year after Amtrak formed, and started on the Southern Pacific. He had some wonderful stories to tell about Amtrak's early days.
The highlight of my trip so far was the overnight layover in San Antonio. We arrived on time at 10:30PM, and of course I de-trained to watch as much of the switching action as I could. If you haven't witnessed it before, it's quite a sight for a railfan! Basically, the incoming southbound Texas Eagle splits - a coach and sleeper are added to the westbound Sunset, and our coach and sleeper are added to the "traditional" Eagle consist. I was impressed with the speed and professionalism of the switching crew. They happily answered all my questions - and I made sure to stay out of the way and not talk when anything was moving.
At midnight, I wandered a mile into downtown to see the Alamo. Got a few pictures, came back, took a quick nap, and was woken up by the westbound Sunset departing on time at 5:40AM. Quickly dressed and power-walked to the nearby Denny's for a hot meal (dining car staff doesn't get on until Austin at 9:30AM, so only cold continental breakfast boxes for sleeping car passengers). Got back around 6:30, and we departed on time at 7:00.
I write this now sitting at Marshall, TX after arriving a full 40 minutes early! We've seen a few freights, but apparently not enough to need the excessive padding this schedule has! This has been a fantastic journey all around, and I already can't wait for my next trip.
Questions? Did I leave anything out? Any details I missed? Let me know!
Hopefully I'll add more once we get to Chicago, then WAS.Cheers for now!
