What are some of the neat extra things?

[Bill Haithcoat]

I can think of at least four things right now--- there are probably many, many more.

1.On the Crescent one night from Atl to NYC the toilet in my roomette was not working. Somebody got on to try to repair it at a scheduled stop. I was put in the lounge car or another room or something while he worked on it. He was not able to fix it. There were no other roomettes left---so the conducter put me in a double bedroom(a room designed for two, even though I was traveling alone). That was my FIRST time in a bedroom. I asked if I would have to transfer back to a roomette when one became available the next morning and he said, "No---this is yours all the way to the BIg Apple".No extra charge.

2.As just described on another post, once I was to ride as a single person in a double slumbercoach room ATL to NYC. The slumbercoach was bad ordered and replaced with two standard 10-6 sleepers. SInce my slumbercoach reservation was for a double I was put in a double bedroom in a standard sleeper....again, no extra charge, since it was not my fault.

3.Pre AMtrak, in the dome diner on the City of Los Angeles, I was half finished with breakfast. Another order arrived from the galley below just like mine, the waiter decided it was a "fluke" that nobody was expecting it..it was the same thing I was eating. The waiter looked at my half finsihed plate, jerked it away, and replaced it with a brand new plate of the same thing!! No charge.

4.Also, pre-Amtrak, on the South Wind from Miami to Nashville(the same trip in which we hit a car, also mentioned on a recent post) it was as if the dining car staff had more food than they knew what to do with and they pumped all of us with extra food and coffee at dinner, unbelievably so. I was waddling like a duck the next day I was so stuffed....I do not remember the details. But I know it happened.

What are some of the charming unexpected little things that have happened to you?

 

[tp49]

On the Adirondack last summer I had a coupon for a free drink of my choice. Once we crossed back into the US I went to the lounge car to get my scotch. When I went to give the attendant my coupon he told me it would be a long trip and I would probably want to use it again later. He was right and I went through the same thing 3 times. When I got back to California and took the train back home I used the coupon for the 4th and final time.

 

[Viewliner]

On our last southbound trip in March, our attendant, Paul, let us use one of the Standard Rooms to watch a movie, etc. in Florida, because the one in our deluxe room didn't work.

 

[RandyJay]

Not a big deal, but when I took my Mom (age 78) for her first train ride last year on the Eagle, our sleeper attendant noticed I had a camera with me and offered, without my asking, to take our picture next to his car. That really impressed my Mom, and me too. It's amazing how those "little things" stick with you.

 

[Amtrak Watcher]

Pre-Amtrak, I remember a ride on the Super Chief (which took roughly the same route the Southwest Chief does today) with my parents back in 1960 (I think). I remember what seemed to be a vary large number of service staff members attending to every detail as if able to read the passengers’ minds, and my father talking about the very fine service right up until he died in 1995. I remember everything (the bedroom, the dishes in the diner, the food, etc.) being fancier than anything I saw anywhere; it was like a dream.

Another was during a long delay on the south-bound Coast Starlight, which had stopped for hours in the middle of an artichoke field just north of Oxnard. After about an hour, a farm supervisor drove up to the stopped train, and took everyone who wanted to on a very interesting tour along the side of the tracks explaining the finer points of artichoke biology and advanced farming techniques. Fascinating stuff.

 

[Guest_Gyuri_FT]

1) This April for the trip from EMY to DEN we (3 kids + my wife + me) bought the tickets on eBay. they did cost $51. There were plenty of rooms, including Family Sleeper. The conductor sold us Family Sleeper for $153. The attendant had some stuff in the Family Room but the de-luxe rooms "A" and "B" were empty - so he put us in two with the permition of conductor - no extra charge! Two de-luxe rooms between EMY and DEN for $153 definitly boosted the morale of family for entire trip!

2) Two weeks ago we had a smaller trip between SJC and KFS. It was "tunnel work" week, so the Coast Star-late did not run up to Seattle, only to Klamath Falls. The sleepers were empty. We got two "Standard" rooms ($100 total!). The atendant decided, we are too many and the accessible room was empty. So my wife and the junior landed up in accessible, and I was sharing two "Standard" with my two older sons. No extra charge!

3) Non-Amtrak event. Back in 1983 I was going with my than-g/f (= my wife now) between Beijing and Moscow via Manchu route ("Russian" train). In Harbin a Japanese camera crew boarded the train. They were making the moovie about Transsib. The train was full, the Japanse got 4-bed 1st class sleeper, while we (=poor Hungarian students) got a de-luxe 2-bed compartment with shower. (Yes, at THAT time the Russian train had Russian cars, with shower. Now they have German cars without!). The Japanse badly wanted to film the 2-bed compartment. They offered us $$$$ for the change. I asked the attendant, is it OK or not. Attendant told me, I would be an idiot if I wouldn't do. So I did. The Japanese detrained in Irkutsk (about 30 hours later), so we had BOTH 2-bed and 4-bed compartments for two(!) from Irkutsk to Moscow. And yes, the money we got did cover our entire train trip - so we made the train round-trip from Budapest to Beijing (and beyond!) for free. This does not happen too often...