Zephyr Diamonds and Duds

[NAVYBLUE]

Taking the CZ out of RNO Monday 10/10 @4;06 PM (PCT). Interested in positive and/or negative SCAs you may have had and any scenic/historic sites to look out for.

Thanks

NAVYBLUE

 

[OlympianHiawatha]

Stephanie Utt, one of Amtrak's best SCAs is now working the Zephyr. Scenery is outstanding all the way from Emeryville to Denver.

 

[Swadian Hardcore]

Boyan's a pretty good TA-S. Johnny and Dennis too.

 

[greatcats]

People tend to talk about the scenery across Colorado, some of which I find disappointing. Keep your eyes open across Utah after it becomes light. That should keep your attention. Last year going west on 5 there were two ladies named Mildred in the diner. They were dolls.

 

[Swadian Hardcore]

People tend to talk about the scenery across Colorado, some of which I find disappointing. Keep your eyes open across Utah after it becomes light. That should keep your attention. Last year going west on 5 there were two ladies named Mildred in the diner. They were dolls.

I agree. The desert is amazing during dawn.

 

[oregon pioneer]

Just took the Zephyr, and my SCA was Gwendolyn. She runs a tight ship, and you have to ask her for the water and ice (she doesn't put it out where everyone can grab it), but the coffee will be hot, she will have your bed made up when you want it, she's never just missing, and she's a really nice person.

 

[Blackwolf]

Just stepped off the Zephyr yesterday in Chicago after running the entire route; our SCA was Dave. An older member of Amtrak who's done nearly 30 years, and is both very good at what he does while also being a little entertaining. We'll remember the little tune he sang out with "The Joe's Gonna Go!" over the car PA as he was making last call on the sleeper coffee before arriving into CHI. He also made sure that every single person in the car was well aware of the Metropolitan Lounge and how to get there!

We were also early into Chicago by over and hour! A personal record for that OBS crew, as all were astonished. We were early into every single stop on the route, no joke!

 

[TimePeace]

We were also early into Chicago by over and hour! A personal record for that OBS crew, as all were astonished. We were early into every single stop on the route, no joke!

That must have made the smokers happy :unsure:

 

[Swadian Hardcore]

Just stepped off the Zephyr yesterday in Chicago after running the entire route; our SCA was Dave. An older member of Amtrak who's done nearly 30 years, and is both very good at what he does while also being a little entertaining. We'll remember the little tune he sang out with "The Joe's Gonna Go!" over the car PA as he was making last call on the sleeper coffee before arriving into CHI. He also made sure that every single person in the car was well aware of the Metropolitan Lounge and how to get there!

We were also early into Chicago by over and hour! A personal record for that OBS crew, as all were astonished. We were early into every single stop on the route, no joke!

Talk about too much padding!

 

[jebr]

Just stepped off the Zephyr yesterday in Chicago after running the entire route; our SCA was Dave. An older member of Amtrak who's done nearly 30 years, and is both very good at what he does while also being a little entertaining. We'll remember the little tune he sang out with "The Joe's Gonna Go!" over the car PA as he was making last call on the sleeper coffee before arriving into CHI. He also made sure that every single person in the car was well aware of the Metropolitan Lounge and how to get there!

We were also early into Chicago by over and hour! A personal record for that OBS crew, as all were astonished. We were early into every single stop on the route, no joke!

Talk about too much padding!

Except for the fact that often the Zephyr runs late. I don't remember ever departing or arriving in Omaha exactly on-time, always a few minutes late. And there are times when the Zephyr is over an hour late into SLC, missing the Thruway connection to Boise.

 

[Blackwolf]

Just stepped off the Zephyr yesterday in Chicago after running the entire route; our SCA was Dave. An older member of Amtrak who's done nearly 30 years, and is both very good at what he does while also being a little entertaining. We'll remember the little tune he sang out with "The Joe's Gonna Go!" over the car PA as he was making last call on the sleeper coffee before arriving into CHI. He also made sure that every single person in the car was well aware of the Metropolitan Lounge and how to get there!

We were also early into Chicago by over and hour! A personal record for that OBS crew, as all were astonished. We were early into every single stop on the route, no joke!

Talk about too much padding!

Except for the fact that often the Zephyr runs late. I don't remember ever departing or arriving in Omaha exactly on-time, always a few minutes late. And there are times when the Zephyr is over an hour late into SLC, missing the Thruway connection to Boise.

Quite true! This was one very rare exception, and most on the train knew it. I've been on a 9-hour late CZ before; luckily I was staying in Chicago and did not have to que up at Customer Services like the 200 or so other passengers who missed their connections.

 

[NAVYBLUE]

Sorry to be so late replying. Thanks everyone for replying. Between enjoying Harrahs Casino in Reno, NV prior to departure, sleeping, enjoying the scenery, the "characters" at the meals and in the sightseer lounge and the grand tour of the station at Chicago with my wife, the limited coverage with my air card and playing hide and seek with my MD grand kids for (3) days, I am now in CT and have a chance to fill you in.

The "Diamonds"

The scenery was incredible !!! I have been throughout the area between Helper, UT and Denver, CO many times during the past (12) years desert/mountain hiking and off roading, BUT between Grand Junction, CO and Granby, CO the train showed me places I never saw when hiking. Places you can only get to by train, kayak or if you are an advanced hiker/climber (I am not). Eagles, elk and antelope.

AMTRAK has the best "characters" at their meals. Unlike last year, I did more "listening" and less talking. What an experience. Met an 82 year old (approximate) lady who enlisted in the Army Air Corp/U.S. Air Force in 1949 for (20) years and retired as a Chief Master Seargeant (E-8). Was one of the first (5) women to be selected for the communications technician job. Was stationed everywhere it seemed like. What a pistol !! She said "she was going to live at least until 100 cause the sons a bitches didn't pay us much in the 50s and 60s and I'll get it back by out living them". I almost spit out my drink through my nose. There were others like her. Maybe it's just me, but "trainers" for the most part seem to be more "open" when it comes to conversation.

The sleeper, diner and the lounge "appeared" to be nicer than the SWC last year and I

did notice some Beech Grove (???) plaques in the cars.

The "Duds"

The SCA, Donald was not up to my standards. Conductor at Reno said E ticket scanner says 6001 car, room 15 but ticket said 6000 car, room 15. Said to tell SCA to check manifest. Donald was on the platform. When I told him what conductor said he said wait here (platform) while he went to get the manifest. Shouldn't he have had it in his hand while passengers boarded ? So he returns and says "Yes, your in car 6001 room 15". End of conversation. No, please board and your room is on the lower level, make a right after you enter car. Luckily I knew where the room was. I played dumb the rest of the trip to see what his performace would be. Never saw him the rest of the trip. Had to go find him when I needed the berths made up for the nights as he couldn't hear the attendant call as he was in BEDROOM "C" vice his roomette or smoozing with his co-workers in the diniung car. Mailed my complaint letter to AMTRAK customer service center and COO.

Dining car staff (Lynette/Reggie) were as personable as a hernia but delivered the meals efficiently and had no problems with some minor requests.

DEAD COWS !!!!

About an hour east out of Grand Junction, CO hit (2) cows doing about 82 MPH. No, not the cows, us. We stopped to reattach some air hoses. I didn't learn until "breakfast" the next morning about the demise of Farmer Jones bovines. Unfortunately when we arrived in Chicago part of the carcass/es was still attached to the front of the engine and SOME people just HAD to take pictures.

BUTCH CASSIDY and the SUNDANCE KID

Stopped about 1-2 miles south of Grandby, CO. I could see that part of the train was at a crossing with crossing arms down and lights flashing. What I couldn't see was Mr. Drunk and Disorderly being escorted off to the welcoming arms of the County Sheriff's Department. I met the conductor in the dining car after meals and she explained what she thought may have caused both my sleeping rooms (CZ & CL) to be changed to different cars. I questioned her about "E" tickets. She seemed realtively happy with it but I got the impression that she couldn't do onboard upgrades onboard as she didn't have rates but if one was to to call reservations and get an upgrade that after the call was completed all she had to do was reinput your reservation number, the room upgrade would show and then she could move you from coach to sleeper or to your sleeper upgrade. Very nice lady and we spoke for about 15 minutes.

So if you get a chance, do the Zephyr. It is an experience you will enjoy.

NAVYBLUE.

 

[Swadian Hardcore]

Just stepped off the Zephyr yesterday in Chicago after running the entire route; our SCA was Dave. An older member of Amtrak who's done nearly 30 years, and is both very good at what he does while also being a little entertaining. We'll remember the little tune he sang out with "The Joe's Gonna Go!" over the car PA as he was making last call on the sleeper coffee before arriving into CHI. He also made sure that every single person in the car was well aware of the Metropolitan Lounge and how to get there!

We were also early into Chicago by over and hour! A personal record for that OBS crew, as all were astonished. We were early into every single stop on the route, no joke!

Talk about too much padding!

Except for the fact that often the Zephyr runs late. I don't remember ever departing or arriving in Omaha exactly on-time, always a few minutes late. And there are times when the Zephyr is over an hour late into SLC, missing the Thruway connection to Boise.

Quite true! This was one very rare exception, and most on the train knew it. I've been on a 9-hour late CZ before; luckily I was staying in Chicago and did not have to que up at Customer Services like the 200 or so other passengers who missed their connections.

So, nine hours late or ten hours late. Not much difference.

 

[AlanB]

I met the conductor in the dining car after meals and she explained what she thought may have caused both my sleeping rooms (CZ & CL) to be changed to different cars. I questioned her about "E" tickets. She seemed realtively happy with it but I got the impression that she couldn't do onboard upgrades onboard as she didn't have rates but if one was to to call reservations and get an upgrade that after the call was completed all she had to do was reinput your reservation number, the room upgrade would show and then she could move you from coach to sleeper or to your sleeper upgrade. Very nice lady and we spoke for about 15 minutes.

May I inquire as to what reasons she gave?

And conductors haven't been able to price upgrades for a number of years, they've always had to call that in to get the price. Amtrak recently however did away with the incentive to wait to do an onboard upgrade, namely the cheaper bucket price. Waiting now to do it while onboard means paying current bucket price, so you might as well do it at the station prior to boarding. Failing that, just call Amtrak yourself, there is no advantage to having the conductor do it for you.

 

[jebr]

Just stepped off the Zephyr yesterday in Chicago after running the entire route; our SCA was Dave. An older member of Amtrak who's done nearly 30 years, and is both very good at what he does while also being a little entertaining. We'll remember the little tune he sang out with "The Joe's Gonna Go!" over the car PA as he was making last call on the sleeper coffee before arriving into CHI. He also made sure that every single person in the car was well aware of the Metropolitan Lounge and how to get there!

We were also early into Chicago by over and hour! A personal record for that OBS crew, as all were astonished. We were early into every single stop on the route, no joke!

Talk about too much padding!

Except for the fact that often the Zephyr runs late. I don't remember ever departing or arriving in Omaha exactly on-time, always a few minutes late. And there are times when the Zephyr is over an hour late into SLC, missing the Thruway connection to Boise.

Quite true! This was one very rare exception, and most on the train knew it. I've been on a 9-hour late CZ before; luckily I was staying in Chicago and did not have to que up at Customer Services like the 200 or so other passengers who missed their connections.

So, nine hours late or ten hours late. Not much difference.

Except that it's almost never early. If it was consistently early, then yes, there's too much padding. But the schedule should be a close approximation to what time the train gets to each stop, not an "ideal" time if everything runs perfectly.

 

[Swadian Hardcore]

Just stepped off the Zephyr yesterday in Chicago after running the entire route; our SCA was Dave. An older member of Amtrak who's done nearly 30 years, and is both very good at what he does while also being a little entertaining. We'll remember the little tune he sang out with "The Joe's Gonna Go!" over the car PA as he was making last call on the sleeper coffee before arriving into CHI. He also made sure that every single person in the car was well aware of the Metropolitan Lounge and how to get there!

We were also early into Chicago by over and hour! A personal record for that OBS crew, as all were astonished. We were early into every single stop on the route, no joke!

Talk about too much padding!

Except for the fact that often the Zephyr runs late. I don't remember ever departing or arriving in Omaha exactly on-time, always a few minutes late. And there are times when the Zephyr is over an hour late into SLC, missing the Thruway connection to Boise.

Quite true! This was one very rare exception, and most on the train knew it. I've been on a 9-hour late CZ before; luckily I was staying in Chicago and did not have to que up at Customer Services like the 200 or so other passengers who missed their connections.

So, nine hours late or ten hours late. Not much difference.

Except that it's almost never early. If it was consistently early, then yes, there's too much padding. But the schedule should be a close approximation to what time the train gets to each stop, not an "ideal" time if everything runs perfectly.

At least it might give the freight companies more reason to yield.

 

[A.J.]

At least it might give the freight companies more reason to yield.

aren't they already supposed to yield? it was my understanding, from a friend who works in freight, that they are obligated to yield to amtrak because amtrak is on a timetable and freight is not.

 

[Linda T]

The SCA, Donald was not up to my standards. Conductor at Reno said E ticket scanner says 6001 car, room 15 but ticket said 6000 car, room 15. Said to tell SCA to check manifest. Donald was on the platform. When I told him what conductor said he said wait here (platform) while he went to get the manifest. Shouldn't he have had it in his hand while passengers boarded ? So he returns and says "Yes, your in car 6001 room 15". End of conversation. No, please board and your room is on the lower level, make a right after you enter car. Luckily I knew where the room was. I played dumb the rest of the trip to see what his performace would be. Never saw him the rest of the trip. Had to go find him when I needed the berths made up for the nights as he couldn't hear the attendant call as he was in BEDROOM "C" vice his roomette or smoozing with his co-workers in the diniung car. Mailed my complaint letter to AMTRAK customer service center and COO.

Wow, that sounds just like my SCA last August on the CZ. Surely he's not still working there. My SCA on the Zephyr was the one who started me calling them "Houdinis" because they'd simply disappear. It was interesting because while I was out hunting him down I ran into two other sleeper pax who were doing the same. Several of us in the bedrooms and roomettes organized a hunting party and spread out in our car, the dining car, and the other sleeper but never did find him. He finally showed up a little after 10 AM to make up our room, and after that the only time we saw him was when we were coming into CHI 8 hours late (track work, flooding, heat, etc.) and he and the conductor were going through the cars telling us what some of our options would be. We missed our connecting train (the Cardinal 3x a week train), and stood in line waiting -- when we got up to customer service we asked for two nights in Chicago and be sent home via the next Cardinal -- the immediately agreed and gave us a voucher for the first night, and told us we'd need to come back the next day for the following night's voucher. For the most part, that took care of all the negatives of Mr. Houdini. BTW, that trip was just after the IND bridge was wiped out by CSX, and a lot of people didn't realize the Card was running again, so we got to get a roomette back to CIN (that's what we missed when we missed our connection). Amtrak gave that to us as part of our deal! Not bad, though our hotel was so far out in the boonedocks that we didn't get to see the city. Could've been a lot worse!

 

[NAVYBLUE]

I met the conductor in the dining car after meals and she explained what she thought may have caused both my sleeping rooms (CZ & CL) to be changed to different cars. I questioned her about "E" tickets. She seemed realtively happy with it but I got the impression that she couldn't do onboard upgrades onboard as she didn't have rates but if one was to to call reservations and get an upgrade that after the call was completed all she had to do was reinput your reservation number, the room upgrade would show and then she could move you from coach to sleeper or to your sleeper upgrade. Very nice lady and we spoke for about 15 minutes.

May I inquire as to what reasons she gave?

And conductors haven't been able to price upgrades for a number of years, they've always had to call that in to get the price. Amtrak recently however did away with the incentive to wait to do an onboard upgrade, namely the cheaper bucket price. Waiting now to do it while onboard means paying current bucket price, so you might as well do it at the station prior to boarding. Failing that, just call Amtrak yourself, there is no advantage to having the conductor do it for you.

Alan,

Sorry for the late reply. Here is first reservation.

TRAIN CALIFORNIA ZEPHYR RENO - CHICAGO (UNION STATION) DEPARTS ARRIVES (Wed Dec 12)

6 Dec 10, 2012 4:06 PM 2:50 PM 1 Family Bedroom | Car 0631 - Room 015

TRAIN CAPITOL LIMITED CHICAGO (UNION STATION) -

WASHINGTON

DEPARTS ARRIVES (Thu Dec 13)

30 Dec 12, 2012 1 Bedroom | Car 3000 - Room C 6:10 PM 12:40 PM

Here is after I changed CL to "roomette"

TRAIN CALIFORNIA ZEPHYR RENO - CHICAGO (UNION STATION) DEPARTS ARRIVES (Wed Dec 12)

6 Dec 10, 2012 4:06 PM 2:50 PM 1 Family Bedroom | Car 0631 - Room 015

TRAIN CAPITOL LIMITED CHICAGO (UNION STATION) -

WASHINGTON

DEPARTS ARRIVES (Thu Dec 13)

30 Dec 12, 2012 1 Superliner Roomette | Car 3001 - Room 009 6:10 PM 12:40 PM

When I got on at Reno, conductor in station said go to Car 0632, NOT 0631 and check with SCA as E scanner says I am in 0632 Room # 15 now. Checked and SCA said yep I am in his car.

In Chicago, I went to Car 3001 Roomette # 9 and someone was in the room with a VALID reservation. So got off train and spoke to conductor and she said E scanner says Car 3001 roomette "11". ACTUALLY the scanner said "Car 3000 roomette 11 which she admitted during our talk that because of the platform darkness and the rush to get everyone onboard (we left 6 mins late)

she misread the scanner.

Then someone later got onboard who was ACTUALLY booked for my roomette (3001 Rm 11) and she put her in 3000 Rm 11 and switched us manually and all was well.

Have I confused the hell out of you. She "thinks" when the man in CL car 3001 Rm 9 booked (2 days befire departure) and the lady booked CL car 3001 Rm 11 AMTRAK changed my car and/or room numbers and never notified me by email (they didn't) and that is why my E tickets didn't match what AMTRAK had.

Glad no one got "bumped" and being that we rode SWC/CL in the upper level and now CZ/CL on the lower level we "think" we like the lower level better due to less traffic, cleaner restrooms and the road level view was a nice perspective and we could always go to the SSL if we felt like we need a more expansive view.

And yes you are correct about the upgrades situation and I guess you have to call AMTRAK if you want to upgrade and then tell the conductor to check the res as you upgraded. And she said that people don't understand that the E scanner in her hand is NOT a cell phone and she couldn't call to get upgrade prices. Don't know if the E scanner eliminated a AMTRAK cell phone she might have been issued to call or not.

Anyways the positives outweighed the few negatives and am looking forward to the CL/CZ ( maybe CL-EB-CS-CZ) back to Reno in January

NAVYBLUE

 

[TimePeace]

( maybe CL-EB-CS-CZ) back to Reno in January
NAVYBLUE

That second one: I have never ridden the CL, but EB-CS-CZ sounds like an excellent trip!

Enjoy

 

[NAVYBLUE]

( maybe CL-EB-CS-CZ) back to Reno in January
NAVYBLUE

That second one: I have never ridden the CL, but EB-CS-CZ sounds like an excellent trip!

Enjoy

I know what you mean. Rght now it is $700 more than CL-CZ (WAS-RNO) but I am watching the fares daily. I have done the CHI-SEA-LAX in a motorcoach/truck but it would be a hoot to see it by train and see it from a different perspective. And I have never seen it in winter. I imagine it to be spectacular.

NAVYBLUE.

 

[Swadian Hardcore]

At least it might give the freight companies more reason to yield.

aren't they already supposed to yield? it was my understanding, from a friend who works in freight, that they are obligated to yield to amtrak because amtrak is on a timetable and freight is not.

Actually, you and I mean the same thing, because if your timetable has too much padding, then the freights could just disregard it and let their own train go first.