You're Worst Train Trip And You're Best Train Trip

[amtrakadirondack]

Well, I saw the "Share your stories of your most delayed Train!", and I thought this might be good too!

Well, my worst train trip was on board the our trip to Chicago, the Silver Meteor was 4 hours late into New York City Penn Station and we missed the Lake Shore Limited by 1 and a half hours, so we had to take the Three Rivers, which was ok, but I wanted to see the scenery the Lake Shore Limited had to offer, but it was ok, we took the Lake Shore Limited on the trip back.

My best train trip was on the Silver Palm, before it lost the Sleeping car and Dining Car, I got my own Deluxe Room, because the room divider got jammed! It was very nice to have a big room all to myself! I worked on my laptop, read books, and watched the scenery, it was great! Well, except for the Luggage Attack from the Luggage Rack, someone didn’t put there bags in far enough and it fell on my, I don’t know what the bag had in it but it heavy, but I was ok.

My next endeavor is to save enough money to have a Standard Room of my own, on some train.

 

[Amfleet]

My worst trip wasn't even actually a trip. My mom and I were planning to take the Lake Shore Limited back from Chicago to Boston in a Deluxe Room. To our misfortune, the sleeper had to be pulled from the train due to mechanical failure. Instead of going coach, which is something I don't favor in doing, we flew back to Boston the next day. The station agents were not very helpful, and the whole situation was caotic and unorganized.

So far my best trip has been on my most recent trip, from Portland to Boston aboard the Downeaster. Service was top notch and the crew was one of Amtrak's finest.

 

[P40Power]

Best train trip : June 27-28 (six year anniversary today) 1997, Train 49 Albany-Chicago. Really good trip, arrived only 14 minutes late. Confortable Amfleet II coaches, I was really happy that trip because it was the first big train trip I had been on in a while. Good breakfast in the dining car although the waitress was a bit crabby and the menus were nothing more then scribbled on ripped up pieces of cardboard. The boarding in Albany was long and Chaotic due to the insane number of people getting on there. But all in all I loved it.

Worst Train trip: June 28 1997 - Train 305 Chicago to St Louis. Uncomfortable Horizon coaches, all kinds of crackheads (literally) in our car. The engineer loved tooting that damn horn, not that I dont like the sound of a nice locomotive horn, it gets annoying about the 3000th time. The engineer was also VERY rough on the brakes, sudden stops all the time. The tracks were also extremely rough the whole way combined with the stiff horizon seats made for a horrible ride. The air conditioner was also way overactive making it down right cold in the car, everyonce in a while the the conductor would turn it off but it would turn back on again making it cold again. Also while trying to eat in the cafe car the ride was so rough that it gave me an upset stomach and that made the whole thing less enjoyable. On the plus side we did arrive right on time!

 

[AlanB]

Well, my worst train trip was on board the our trip to Chicago, the Silver Meteor was 5 hours late into New York City Penn Station and we missed the Lake Shore Limited by 23 minutes, so we had to take the Three Rivers, which was ok, but I wanted to see the scenery the Lake Shore Limited had to offer, but it was ok, we took the Lake Shore Limited on the trip back.

Ok, now I'm confused here. :unsure: Something just doesn't add up with your numbers.

When did you take this trip to Chicago?

If you made this trip before October 27, 2002, a five hour late Meteor would have still made the connection to the Lake Shore.

On the other hand, if you made you trip after October 27th of last year, then a five hour late Meteor would have missed the Lake Shore by a lot more than 23 minutes. You would have missed the LSL by over 2 hours. A five hour late Meteor would also completely miss the connection with the Three Rivers, by a least an hour.

So something is wrong here.

 

[Bill Haithcoat]

It is really hard to say what my best trip would be.....so,so many.Possibly certain trips taken in childhood when I was just old enough to sort of know what I was doing and what was happening, about age 7 or 8 or so, I guess.

As for worst, I have not had anything as bad happen to me as happened to Amfleet as described above. A few of the things which have gone bad I actually remember with at least some fondness--they have been part of life's experiences.

I will relay a trip which probably had more stumbling blocks than any other.

It is pre-Amtrak.

Nashville- New Orleans all ok

New Orleans to Jacksonville --- not ok, Hurricane Camille came to town and train had to be cancelled. Flew NO to Jax following day.

Jacksonville to Miami. Was to leave 9 a.m. on SIlver Meteor. But same hurricane which had botched things in New Orleans area was now botching things up in the Carolinas and Virginia. Thus, the Meteor was going to be about 7 hours late, so I instead rode the Silver Star, from 4 a.m. that morning, coming through about the time the SM would have come through.

Miami to Nashville. Train hit a car.

 

[PRR 60]

Worst? A 1999 trip from Richmond to Philadelphia on the Twilight Shoreliner. 1:45 late (nearly an hour of which was the result an extremely lackadaisical power change in DC), and a crew that was, at best, indifferent. This trip included one of those remarkable café attendants who needs two hours to “take inventory”, and simply barks at the passengers. An Amtrak classic.

Easily, my best train trip was in May of 1991. For our twentieth wedding anniversary, my wife and I rode from Philadelphia to Chicago on what was then called the American-European Express.

The AEE originally ran as a few cars added to the rear of Amtrak’s Broadway Limited. In 1991, the AEE changed its marketing philosophy and ran from New York to Washington on the back of one of the Amtrak corridor trains, and continued on to Chicago as a stand-alone train on the route of the Amtrak Cardinal. A stop was made at White Sulphur Springs, WV to permit a tie-in with the Greenbriar resort.

We boarded in Philadelphia (where the AEE car attendant greeted up by name while we were still on the platform), and were shown to our room in the sleeping car Vienna (originally UP “Placid Waters”). The equipment was superb (old cars do not necessarily wear out), the service was unparalleled, and the ride was great. The afternoon featured a champagne reception in the Piano Lounge “Seattle” (former UP “Alpine Meadows”). The evening was time for pure R&R with wine and snacks. I can remember my wife and I sitting with a CSX Vice President and his wife at midnight in the nearly empty observation car “New York” (former NYC Twentieth Century Observation) just watching the double-track mainline pass into the West Virginia nighttime. The CSX exec had the rear facing inspection floodlights turned on, so the view was great.

The food was five-star. Dinner including a special cake baked for our anniversary: a total surprise since I had mentioned the event just in passing with the AEE telephone reservation clerk. Breakfast included lamb chops! Upon arrival at Chicago Union Station, the entire crew was lined up on the platform to see us off. An expensive ride for sure (although surprisingly not that much more than riding Amtrak in a sleeping car), but worth every penny!

Sadly, AEE ended service in the fall of 1991. Although the service was never a roaring success, the business was building (our trip was well patronized), and a proposed winter service to Florida was selling well up until a grade crossing accident in Indiana sidelined a number of cars. Now, bookings had to be cancelled due to reduced capacity, cash flow was killed, and the service folded. After several fits and starts, including service to Branson, MO (can anyone say Andy Williams?), the AEE equipment returned to the rails in 1997 as the American Orient Express.

 

[Viewliner]

Worst Trip(s):

Crew/Mechanical: Couple of years ago, toilet broke/had to be shut off in Deluxe room, had to use crew restroom and later one in a Standard Room.

Best and Worst(Timewise):

Timewise: Recent Silver Meteor trip in March, got in Delray Beach after Midnight, crew was very nice (especially, since my attendant showed me the festival in WPK through the vestibule window, and was very nice to me)

Best:

Crew: Very good Crew (Diner Attendant made foil animals) on the Silver Star #92 in April 2002, what made that trip really special was my dad was on there for the first time.

Special: Lucky enough to see Viewliner 62091 (2301) from the outside, when it was deadheading on the Silver Meteor #98 in February 2002.

My recent return (March 2003 #98) was also enjoyable in that I got to meet Battalion51, and hang with the crew in Florida.

 

[Morris&Essex]

My worst trip was approximately one year ago, and a classic case for getting a sleeper. I rode in coach on the westbound 3Rs, window seat. The woman sitting next to me in the aisle seat was having nightmares, yelling things like "get off of me!" and "don't touch me there" and other graphic things that I won't mention. I loudly said to her to wake up and that she was having a nightmare but to no avail. I certainly wasn't going to climb over her or touch her, so I just sat there hoping the nightmares would stop. They did for an hour or so, but then she started with them again. She woke up and said good morning as if nothing happened.

 

[Amfleet]

This trip included one of those remarkable café attendants who needs two hours to “take inventory”, and simply barks at the passengers. An Amtrak classic.

They should do it Downeaster style. Open on departure and stay open until the final station stop. Both cafe attendants just marked off what they sold as people made purchases.

 

[PRR 60]

This trip included one of those remarkable café attendants who needs two hours to “take inventory”, and simply barks at the passengers. An Amtrak classic.

They should do it Downeaster style. Open on departure and stay open until the final station stop. Both cafe attendants just marked off what they sold as people made purchases.

Interesting that you bring that up. The Downeaster uses an outside caterer (Epicurean Feast) for on-board food service. Those café attendants do not work for Amtrak. The operating authority that contracts with Amtrak for the Downeaster wanted something more than the standard Amcafe fare and service and the catered service is the result.

Here is the Downeaster café menu: Menu

And here is a link to the catering company's website: http://www.epicureanfeast.com/

It has long been my opinion that Amtrak should get out of the restaurant business. To use a business buzz-phrase (and I usually HATE business buzz-phrases), Amtrak’s “core business” is running trains. This is what they should do. Food service is best handled by people who specialize in food service. It’s that simple. So, Amtrak should contract out all on-board food service to one or more caterers, just as the Northern New England Passenger Rail Authority (NNEPRA) has done with the Downeaster. Anyone remember the Fred Harvey Company and the AT&SF? Bid the service not just on price, but quality as well. My bet is that Amtrak food service, potentially a major selling point for rail travel, would improve dramatically.

 

[amtrakadirondack]

Well, my worst train trip was on board the our trip to Chicago, the Silver Meteor was 5 hours late into New York City Penn Station and we missed the Lake Shore Limited by 23 minutes, so we had to take the Three Rivers, which was ok, but I wanted to see the scenery the Lake Shore Limited had to offer, but it was ok, we took the Lake Shore Limited on the trip back.

Ok, now I'm confused here. :unsure: Something just doesn't add up with your numbers.

When did you take this trip to Chicago?

If you made this trip before October 27, 2002, a five hour late Meteor would have still made the connection to the Lake Shore.

On the other hand, if you made you trip after October 27th of last year, then a five hour late Meteor would have missed the Lake Shore by a lot more than 23 minutes. You would have missed the LSL by over 2 hours. A five hour late Meteor would also completely miss the connection with the Three Rivers, by a least an hour.

So something is wrong here.

Out trip was in DEC of 2002. My bad, the Meteor was about 4 hours late, I was typing a little fast when I posted. My dad calculated the lateness of the Meteor and I never gave it a second thought, I’ll tell him he was about an hour and a half off! Sorry for the mix up Alan. :blink:

Ps. I'll correct my original post.

 

[Amfleet]

This trip included one of those remarkable café attendants who needs two hours to “take inventory”, and simply barks at the passengers. An Amtrak classic.

They should do it Downeaster style. Open on departure and stay open until the final station stop. Both cafe attendants just marked off what they sold as people made purchases.

Interesting that you bring that up. The Downeaster uses an outside caterer (Epicurean Feast) for on-board food service. Those café attendants do not work for Amtrak. The operating authority that contracts with Amtrak for the Downeaster wanted something more than the standard Amcafe fare and service and the catered service is the result.

Here is the Downeaster café menu: Menu

And here is a link to the catering company's website: http://www.epicureanfeast.com/

It has long been my opinion that Amtrak should get out of the restaurant business. To use a business buzz-phrase (and I usually HATE business buzz-phrases), Amtrak’s “core business” is running trains. This is what they should do. Food service is best handled by people who specialize in food service. It’s that simple. So, Amtrak should contract out all on-board food service to one or more caterers, just as the Northern New England Passenger Rail Authority (NNEPRA) has done with the Downeaster. Anyone remember the Fred Harvey Company and the AT&SF? Bid the service not just on price, but quality as well. My bet is that Amtrak food service, potentially a major selling point for rail travel, would improve dramatically.

Amtrak isn't in the restaurant business totally. All the food for cafe and lounge cars are prepared by an outside caterer, the equivilant of the airlines "Sky Chef". And yes, most of it taste like crud in my opinion. However, the Dining Car food is fully prepared in the kitchen onboard the train and I can't complain about that as the food is very good.

The other thing that made the Downeaster special was, as you said, the cafe attendants work for Epicurean Feast, not Amtrak. They were already trained food service employees.

 

[AlanB]

The other thing that made the Downeaster special was, as you said, the cafe attendants work for Epicurean Feast, not Amtrak. They were already trained food service employees.

I'm not so sure that the worker attitude is due to being trained food service employees. I think that it has more to do perhaps in part to more careful selection of employees, but mainly due to the fact that I'm betting that the workers can be more easily fired for not doing their jobs.

Certainly if NNEPRA gets too many complaints about an attendant, then they will pressure Epicurean to transfer that employee elsewhere.

 

[AMTRAK-P42]

The worst trip I have ever been on was about 4 years ago. We were on the crescent in route from New York to Atlanta when our viewliner sleepers' AC stopped working. When we arrived into Washington, DC the car was determined unable to be fixed, and they switched a coach car in its place. This was bad but it only got worse. The coach car had about 10 lights that refused to go out. The passengers began poking at the lights in an attempt to knock the bulbs out. No luck. The car also had a very very strong lisol smell. It gave us all head aches. We FINALLY arrived into Atlanta, Ga about 3 1/2 hours late.

 

[Amfleet]

Well first, about 10 lights will remain on in the Coaches for various safety reasons. Second, the strong lisol smell probably meant the coach was just e-cleaned. However, sorry to hear the AC in your sleeper broke.

 

[AMTRAK-P42]

Yeah, the lysol smell was because the train had just been cleaned, but ironicly, when we entered the coach the attendants were spraying a plethora of lysol over everything. Granted, im sure it keeps things nice and clean but wow.

 

[pismobum]

"worst" trip?

try this:

http://trainweb.org/web_lurker/swiss2

 

[AMTRAK-P42]

WOW :blink: . That is........amazing.

 

[Anthony]

"worst" trip?
try this:

http://trainweb.org/web_lurker/swiss2

Oh, my God... and I thought I had had some miserable train trips!

 

[Guest_Gyuri_FT]

Best trip(s):

many to choose from across the globe.

- The recent EMY - DEN by CZ where we got two(!) de-luxe rooms for a total of $153 (extra to $51 paid for the r/t) is one of the top candidate.

- In 1982, 1983 and 1986 we had three Transsib roundtrips from Budapes to Beijing and beyond. Each one was remarkable.

Two worst trips:

1) Great crew, bad weather.

In winter (late December) of 1970 my mom took me to my grandparents. We lived in Debrecen (eastern part of Hungary) and my grandparents in Moscow (Russia). The train had cars from Belgrade (Serbia), Rome (Italy) and Budapest attached. That day it was an unusually long (over 20 WLAB streamliners) because the cars from Rome were delayed 24 hours due the snowstorm.

After the Russian border the Russian rail had problems to take so many cars over the mountains due snow storms, so they did de-couple several cars and let us stay at the border station in the hope, an other train can pick up these cars. Of course, it was no diner, no water, etc. People got hungry - but the cars stayed in an unsafe area so the attendant did not let us go (besides, nobody knew anything, when we will go again).

The train which picked us up was a private train of the head of Russian agriculture(?) ministry. It had no diner, since the minister was eating in private. So he had plenty to eat, we not. If he happen to have an protocoll meeting, we had to wait until it finished. The train was on HIS schedule, not ours. The attendants and the passengers scrambled some food and ate what could for the next 30-something hours. Luckily, the torture was over (with 24-hour delay). Never ever I had worse delay since. Under these circumstances the railroad and the crew did the best what they could. The weather conditions were to blame. A couple from Italy spoke no local language and were completely unaware what is going on. They did expect to get some wine in the diner - but it was neither diner nor dinner. The attendant was obviously trained in wizardy - he GOT wine for them (for the amusement of the rest) as they got the food from us.

Opposite story: good weather, horrible crew.

Two weeks ago going back home from KFS to SJC (and having non-eBay tickets this time!) the conductor of Coast Star-late denied us the sleeper upgrade. The sleepers were empty, it was the tunnel-work week. I bet, it was the same conductor "Wooden Mike" had once. This time he seem to made fun of my Hungarian accent, was VERY rude. After I asked him second time, he promised to come by "in 45 minutes" after KFS. He never did. In the morning I made my way after Sacramento inot the transition sleeper to complain. It was a new crew. They comfirmed, the sleepers are mostly empty and the new conductor suggested me to call Amtrak service desk ASAP and was ashamed for the other conductor. So I did call. The Amtrak service desk told me, such conductor should better look for a different job, possibly outside of Amtrak.

I was using rail almost since I was born. Never ever before in any country I had such experience, like what we had two weeks before. On contrary, many times I did experience conductors of different railways across the globe to "browse" the people sitting in the coach and ACTIVELY ASKING the people to upgrade with a discount if there are sleepers available. I remember in April, he was explaining the benefits of a $80 upgrade in CZ to a couple after DEN (they did not take his offer). I also remember in China the English-speaking conductor going in the coach and looking for the tourists or better-off Chinese as potential sleeper customers. The guy we had bad luck to meet in Klamath Falls on June 23 should be better working for an other company.