greatcats
Engineer
I made a major trip from Arizona to the East Coast ( written up here in two segments ) in May via sleeper. I cut and pasted my writeups and sent them to Amtrak, which were mostly very positive. It was a nice trip with good service, except I disliked the Diner Lite car on the Lakeshore. ( the crew was fine, though, on this car. ) Since I sent them such an earful, they called me one day expressing their thanks and sent me a $200 voucher, good for one year. I wasn't sure when and how I would use it, but came up with an idea to take a few days off from my Grand Canyon tour bus driver position ( on which I can talk endlessly...I love what i do ) and make a fast four night trip east for social purposes. Last week on Wednesday night, I flew out of Phoenix at 11:55 pm to Atlanta and then to Reagan National ( Washington ) on Delta. Red eye flight - tiring yes, but it suited my purpose and arrived on time, and I took the Metro downtown to a nice hotel, as I was meeting a friend. The next day I departed DC on the 2 pm Acela Express. The $194 fare(!) was nicely covered by my $200 voucher, which had been issued in Flagstaff, AZ. I have ridden Acela before, and it was pretty much on the money. The windows could have been cleaner and the seats and restrooms are showing signs of wear, but otherwise it was fine. Stayed in my seat next to a businessman type, who barely spoke. ( boring ) I napped a little around Baltimore and otherwise spent an uneventful ride at great speed. These trains certainly are doing a roaring business. But it was rather noisy, with loud conversations and incessant cell phones ringing. I love my cell phone, but next trip I will opt for the quiet car. I arrived at Newark, NJ 10 minutes late - must have lost a few minutes around Baltimore when I was napping, as I do not remember going through the tunnels.
I am a former employee of New Jersey Transit and resigned in 2002, after 27 years. I dislike the company, but will not go into the convoluted story of my ugly departure here. Needless to say, I maintain friendships with a number of former co-workers and the purpose of this journey was to attend the retirement dinner of my friend Bill, who started with me on Erie Lackawanna in 1974. ( I was mostly crew dispatcher and ticket agent. ) The position he retired from at age 54 was General Foreman at Port Jervis passenger yard, which now looks after nine trains, as opposed to two in 1974. The dinner was held at a nice catering establishment a few miles away in Matamoras, Pennsylvania, overlooking the Delaware River and the evening was quite pleasant. I stayed at Bill's home for two nights. A highlight was a phone call I placed to a NJT conductor in Dover, NJ who had retired that week, one of the finest gentlemen I knew on the railroad, an opinion shared by many. He was leaving town the next day to move to Florida.
I will mention here my routine but interesting commuter train ride from Newark Penn Station to Port Jervis, most of which is certainly one of the most scenic commuter rides anywhere. The Secaucus Junction transfer station between the former Pennsylvania and Erie lines was being constructed when I was still working there. This was the first time I had used it - a huge place out in the swamps, a tad confusing, but at least with personnel to direct travelers, and certainly a major advance in rail transportation in the area. ( used by New Jersey Transit, not Amtrak. ) I boarded the last car of a five car Train 55 to Port Jervis, via the old Main Line ( Paterson, NJ area ) to Port Jervis, running nonstop to Suffern, New York, where the ride really turns beautiful and was especially so in the autumn colors. This line runs to the north on what was known as the former Graham Line, which was built as a high speed freight line, as an alternate to the old Erie main line, now abandoned. ( this being the Middletown, NY area ) The country is mostly rural, with crowded commuter parking lots out in the country. As is the case in other areas, passenger business is way up. It used to be that only a handful of passengers used Port Jervis. I don't know what the numbers are these days, but a substantial number of people now use the train from Port Jervis, in spite of the long, meandering route. I returned Sundayl morning on Train 76, a local, back to Secaucus Junction and then to Newark Airport. This was the same five car consist as Friday night. It used to be there was no service on this line on Sundays. By the time we came down into New Jersey, four cars were open, moderately full. Times have changed! From a customer standpoint, in my opinion, the service on NJT was pretty good - never mind what I think of the organization.
I returned to Phoenix on a nonstop, very crowded US Air flight. OK, $2 for a ginger ale and never mind their pay meals, but the flight was fine and my return to Grand Canyon ( 228 mile drive ) brought me back to my happy tour bus job. Cheers.
I am a former employee of New Jersey Transit and resigned in 2002, after 27 years. I dislike the company, but will not go into the convoluted story of my ugly departure here. Needless to say, I maintain friendships with a number of former co-workers and the purpose of this journey was to attend the retirement dinner of my friend Bill, who started with me on Erie Lackawanna in 1974. ( I was mostly crew dispatcher and ticket agent. ) The position he retired from at age 54 was General Foreman at Port Jervis passenger yard, which now looks after nine trains, as opposed to two in 1974. The dinner was held at a nice catering establishment a few miles away in Matamoras, Pennsylvania, overlooking the Delaware River and the evening was quite pleasant. I stayed at Bill's home for two nights. A highlight was a phone call I placed to a NJT conductor in Dover, NJ who had retired that week, one of the finest gentlemen I knew on the railroad, an opinion shared by many. He was leaving town the next day to move to Florida.
I will mention here my routine but interesting commuter train ride from Newark Penn Station to Port Jervis, most of which is certainly one of the most scenic commuter rides anywhere. The Secaucus Junction transfer station between the former Pennsylvania and Erie lines was being constructed when I was still working there. This was the first time I had used it - a huge place out in the swamps, a tad confusing, but at least with personnel to direct travelers, and certainly a major advance in rail transportation in the area. ( used by New Jersey Transit, not Amtrak. ) I boarded the last car of a five car Train 55 to Port Jervis, via the old Main Line ( Paterson, NJ area ) to Port Jervis, running nonstop to Suffern, New York, where the ride really turns beautiful and was especially so in the autumn colors. This line runs to the north on what was known as the former Graham Line, which was built as a high speed freight line, as an alternate to the old Erie main line, now abandoned. ( this being the Middletown, NY area ) The country is mostly rural, with crowded commuter parking lots out in the country. As is the case in other areas, passenger business is way up. It used to be that only a handful of passengers used Port Jervis. I don't know what the numbers are these days, but a substantial number of people now use the train from Port Jervis, in spite of the long, meandering route. I returned Sundayl morning on Train 76, a local, back to Secaucus Junction and then to Newark Airport. This was the same five car consist as Friday night. It used to be there was no service on this line on Sundays. By the time we came down into New Jersey, four cars were open, moderately full. Times have changed! From a customer standpoint, in my opinion, the service on NJT was pretty good - never mind what I think of the organization.
I returned to Phoenix on a nonstop, very crowded US Air flight. OK, $2 for a ginger ale and never mind their pay meals, but the flight was fine and my return to Grand Canyon ( 228 mile drive ) brought me back to my happy tour bus job. Cheers.
