OUR 2006 AMTRAK TRIP
by Rich Kimmel
July 1, 2006 -
“Railroad Rich” Kimmel with Mrs. Railroad Rich (aka Jan) at Winona,
Minnesota
(Throughout this report, click any
image to see a double-sized picture.)
Saturday July 1-Sunday, July 2, 2006 –
Silver Meteor
I haven’t taken an AMTRAK trip for about 4 years,
since during the last couple years, I was busy preparing for my recent
marriage of June 2005 to my wife Jan. This was the first “long”
AMTRAK trip I had taken Jan on, and we discussed it at great length at
least one year before we took the trip, as I wanted to make sure she
would be comfortable traveling overnight for 3 days out and 3 days back
on AMTRAK. She had taken AMTRAK trips before, however, but had
been previously limited to coach. We booked 1st class
accommodations on this trip both out and back, in “deluxe bedrooms”
(formerly called “bedrooms”, as opposed to what are now called
“bedrooms,” which were formerly known as either “economy rooms” or
“roomettes.”) Our route “out” would take us on the
Silver Meteor
from Winter Park, FL to Washington DC, then the
Capitol Ltd from
Washington DC to Chicago, then the
Empire Builder
from Chicago to the Izaak Walton Inn at Essex, Montana. Once in
Montana, we rented a car and headed south, did more sightseeing, then
came back on the
Southwest
Chief from Flagstaff, AZ to Chicago, then retraced our route on
the
Capitol Ltd and
the
Silver Meteor.
I had wanted to take a different route back from Chicago, on the
Lake Shore Ltd or
the
Cardinal,
but it is impossible to make connections to any of those trains from
the SWC without an overnight stay in Chicago, which we did not
want.. So we were limited in our itinerary.
The
Silver Meteor
was scheduled to depart Winter Park at 1:15 PM Saturday
afternoon. I checked the “Train Status” section of
http://www.amtrak.com on Saturday
morning and the site stated that Train #98 would be arriving in Winter
Park on time. My wife Jan and I then continued our routine
Saturday morning activities, and finished packing, and I checked the
web site again later, which now showed Train #98 would arrive in WPK at
1:52 PM, a bit late. One more check an hour later, and #98 was
now scheduled for 1:55 PM – still not too terribly late. Jan and
I went to the local McDonald’s to get lunch, thinking that the dining
car may be closed for lunch by the time we finally boarded, then we
called the local Yellow Cab taxi to pick us up and take us to the
Winter Park AMTRAK station. We arrived at the station about 1:40
for our expected 1:55 departure of the
however, upon
arrival, the agent at the station told us that #98 would be a “little
late” – apparently it was no longer due to arrive at 1:55, but was now
due at 2:15. 2:15 came and went, and still no #98. We were
talking with another railfan, whose name I didn’t catch, but he must
have been a loyal Train Web Forum reader, since he was telling us he
had heard that most of the AMTRAK system was due to get 180-day
train-off notices the following week. Hmmm – where would he have
gotten that information? Only one source I know of has published
that type of information, but I did not ask the gentleman……. This
particular gentleman also told us what he thinks of the Viewliner
sleepers – not complimentary comments.
About 2:30 it began to rain – the usual summer
afternoon rain showers in Florida. And still no Train #98.
Our railfan friend had been calling “Julie” at AMTRAK once every 5
minutes or so, and reported to us that the train had “just left
Orlando” about 2:30 PM. Finally about 2:40, we heard the whistle
coming up from Orlando and saw the gates go down just south of the
station. The rain was coming down harder, and I was concerned
about my new JVC camcorder getting wet. But nonetheless, as we
were waiting in the sleeper boarding location, Train #98 pulled in and
got a video of the train coming to pick us up. We boarded into
Room A of the car “Morning View,” and our attendant was “Allen.”
Allen introduced himself to us and stated that lunch was not in fact
being served any longer, but he would be happy to make a dinner
reservation for us, and we chose the 7 PM sitting. We had already
eaten lunch before we left for the station, since I thought the train
would be arriving later than 1:55. However, since we were first
class passengers, and our scheduled departure from Winter Park was
during the time when the diner was still open for lunch, shouldn’t we
have been somehow compensated, since the lunch meal should have been
included in our fare? I didn’t make an issue of it.
We had left approximately 1 hr 45 minutes late from
Winter Park. Between Winter Park and Jacksonville, we passed all
3 southbound AMTRAK trains (including Auto Train), all of which were
several hours late. Because of the delays, we were about 3 hours
late as we pulled into Jacksonville. During the afternoon, we sat
in the room, me doing video out the window, and my wife Jan
sewing. The main bunk in our room was facing “backwards,” but at
one point, Allen pulled out a folding chair from beneath the bunk and
set it up across from the main bunk, so I could sit forward while
taking my video, and could also be across from my wife for talking and
socializing. One thing about being in a deluxe bedroom is that
you actually have good views out both sides of the train – one window
in the room, but with the door and curtain open, it is easy to see out
the hall window, and it is only a couple steps for me to walk into the
hall and take video from the other side of the train. We spent
very little time in any lounge cars, which, as you may know from
reading past travelogues, is very unusual for me! But the views
from the deluxe bedroom were adequate, and you don’t have the crowds to
put up with.
One problem we had was what to do with our luggage –
both Jan and I each had a large suit-case, plus I had a smaller
suitcase which was full of route map books. My wife Jan had a
cos-metics bag and a purse also, and I could wear my camcorder in a
back pack around my waist. Initially we pulled the top bunk in the room
down and put everything except the camcorder, purse, and small map book
suitcase on the top bunk, and we would figure out later where the bags
would go overnight after we decided who would sleep on the top bunk and
who on the bottom bunk.
It was finally “diner lite” time as we made the stop
in Jacksonville with out 7 PM reservations. We had wanted to get
out and walk around at the Jacksonville stop, but because of our
tardiness, we were eating during the stop. If we would have been
closer to schedule, we would have made the stop in JAX before dinner,
and we could have gotten out. I did not keep track of every meal
I had on our trip like others have done, so I will just make a few food
comments. The Meteor had diner lite, as did all other trains
except the Empire Builder. We walked into the diner from the
sleeper car, and one of the Steward’s “assistants” told us to sit at a
certain table; however, the table she told us to sit at had not been
cleaned from the previous diners and the tablecloths had not yet been
changed. The steward saw what had happened, apologized to us, and
cleaned the table for us. We didn’t see the “assistant” much
more. We soon ordered our food, and it seemed to take longer than
it should have for my food to come. Apparently someone had lost
my order, so I put it in again. “Diner Lite” is OK – I think I
had the braised beef the first night, which was fine. There is
not the variety with “diner lite” that we were used to previously, and
yes, I believe the food quality has changed for the worse,
unfortunately. Most of the offerings were fine, but the things to
stay away from are the “special of the day,” which was country fried
steak (aka chicken fried steak) on every train we were on, I believe,
and the pizza, which we never had, but others have said it was
awful. And my wife didn’t particularly care for the cod.
After dinner it was back to the room. Shortly
after the Jesup stop, we asked Allen to make up the beds, and as he was
doing that, I noticed that the bottom bunk in the Viewliner deluxe
bedroom (and in Superliners) is actually a double mattress, and plenty
big enough for the 2 of us. We were pleasantly surprised, and
happy that neither of us had to take the top bunk, which would have
required us to rearrange our suitcases again. We were in bed
after the Savannah station.
The CSX tracks through the eastern seaboard have got
to be the roughest tracks on the AMTRAK system. If not the
roughest, they are a close second. I had forgotten how rough that
section was. The other nights we were onboard, we slept on much
smoother track.
The following morning we woke up between Petersburg
and Richmond and were approximately 4 hours late. We arrived in
Washington DC on the lower level, and the train was met by
redcaps. I don’t like to think of myself as “old,” but we needed
help carrying our 2 heavy suitcases up to the Acela Lounge – we were
going to be gone 2_ weeks, so our suitcases were full and heavy.
The redcap took our luggage directly to the Acela Lounge where we
stored it for the day, and checked in. I have always liked the
Washington DC Acela Lounge – it is comfortable and quiet most of the
time, and a nice place to relax. We stored our suitcases, then
took a walk around Washington Union Station to check out all the
shops. Several years ago there used to be a railroad shop at WUS,
in which all sorts of model railroad as well as railfan items were
sold, including books and videos. I was looking forward to
walking through that shop again, but alas, it is no longer there!
We then took a walk outside the station and toward the Capitol
building. It was Sunday, July 2, and festivities for the 4th of July
were being set up amid the road construction around the capitol
building. And it was HOT!!!!!!! So we did not walk very
far. After walking for an hour or so, we retreated back to Union
Station and had lunch at the Thunder Grill, which is located in the
southeast corner of the station. Good choice of food there.
We had plenty of time between trains, since I had been following the
status of all the trains we were going to be on for a few weeks through
www.amtrak.com We
originally were booked on the
Silver Star,
which left Winter Park later in the afternoon and arrived in WAS later
in the day, but the Star had been subject to numerous “service
disruptions” in the weeks before our trip, and when it did run, it made
it to Washington much after our next train,
the Capitol, was
scheduled to leave on numerous occasions. So I paid an “upgrade
charge” to change the reservations a couple weeks before the trip.
Sunday July 2-Monday, July 3, 2006 –
Capitol Ltd
Later in the afternoon, after our Thunder Grill
lunch and walk around DC, it was time to board the
Capitol Ltd.
We had “signed up” for a redcap to help us with our bags when we
checked into the Acela Lounge earlier. The Capitol was delayed in
arriving, however, and a few minutes before it was finally time to
board, the Acela Lounge attendant called everyone up front who had
requested redcap assistance. Several redcaps came in, but each
one was “assigned” to one or two passengers, it seemed, and no one was
available for us. Passengers were beginning to board, and the
attendant told us several times that a “redcap is coming right away,”
and to wait. After 10 minutes or so, no redcap showed up to help
us with our baggage, so, not wanting to miss the train, I “schlepped”
our 2 large suitcases all the way out to the platform and onto the
waiting train – thank goodness the Capitol boarded on the upper level,
and not on the lower level. As I carried our 2 heavy suitcases
through the boarding door, the lounge attendant was there and said “Oh,
you’re not going to use the redcap?” I said no, since “the
redcap” never showed up to help us. That was the only time on the
entire trip that I carried our heavy suitcases onto a train!
We found Room C in the refurbished Superliner
sleeping car, known as “car 2901” since it was the second car in front
of the diner. I never knew for sure, but I suspected that the
bottom bunk in Superliner “deluxe bedrooms” is also a double mattress,
and, as it turned out later, my suspicion was correct, so we pulled the
top bunk down and stored the heavy suitcases up there again. Our
attendant “Lou” soon came around to introduce himself. After we
got under way, we ventured back to the Sightseer Lounge, which, on the
Capitol, is one of the recently converted lounge cars.
Approximately half the car was occupied by tables; however, on this
train they were used solely for lounge seating and not for diner
seating. I like the new layout of these cars, since it allows
room to lay down my map books and video camera equipment, and be able
to sit across from my wife for conversation, but still being able to
see out the windows to take video and photos.
As we made our stop at Harpers Ferry, I noticed that
the Harpers Ferry AMTRAK station is currently undergoing what appears
to be a major remodeling. We left Harpers Ferry 43 minutes late
then, and were on our way to Martinsburg, the next stop. We left
Martinsburg approximately 55 minutes late, and shortly after our
departure from Martinsburg, the female conductor made an announcement
over the PA system that we were running approximately one hour late due
to CSX-imposed heat restrictions, which would be lifted by 7 PM.
She also said something about a problem grade crossing we had come
through, in which the gate may not have been working properly. It
is nice that the train crews on some trains is now keeping passengers
informed of delays and train status. I also noticed, shortly
after the Martinsburg stop, the MARC commuter train yard on the south
side of the CSX line, which today was gated shut as several MARC cars
were being stored overnight in the small facility. MARC trains do
not operate on Sunday, so these cars were set to begin service again on
Monday morning. Between Martinsburg and Cumberland, we used our
dinner reservations and sat with a woman approximately our age and her
mother, who were traveling to I forgot where By the time we left
Cumberland, we were a full 1_ hours late. The Capitol also has
“diner lite,” and I believe I had the pork chops that evening, which
were good. My wife and I also shared a bottle of wine with each
dinner meal on the trains we rode. Later on, after dinner, we sat
in the lounge car again, and were going to get a nightcap, but
apparently the lounge car steward was “out of everything.” Sounds
like the train was not restocked very well in Washington—or is the
Capitol stocked in Chicago for both the eastbound and westbound
trip? Soon it was time to turn in for the night, so we asked Lou
to make up the bottom bunk, and we were in bed before the Connellsville
stop. The CSX-owned tracks which the Capitol travels over
are in MUCH better shape than the CSX tracks between Florida and the
Northeast, so we were able to sleep better this second night of our
trip.
On Monday morning, we awoke at the Toledo station,
from which we departed approximately 1_ hours late. I took a
shower in the Superliner shower in our room, which had nice hot water,
but was rather cramped and small. I never complain about showers
in the sleeper rooms; however, since it wasn’t that long ago that
AMTRAK trains did not have showers, which was not a problem for people
spending just one night on the train, but for people who are on the
train for several nights in a row, it is a luxury to have a shower
available! We soon got organized and had breakfast in the diner,
and sat with an Australian couple who were touring the United
States. Their impressions of AMTRAK were fairly positive from the
trips they had already been on. After breakfast we sat in the
room some more, and I continued my video. We began traveling much
slower than usual, the telltale sign of following freight traffic,
since the main line in that area is double track, and to pass a freight
train going the opposite direction, AMTRAK and the freight would each
be on a separate line, usually AMTRAK being in the passing siding and
restricted to slower speeds. We left the Waterloo, Indiana,
station approximately 2 hours late. At many of the stations at
which we stopped, the trains we were on were required to make “double
stops,” due to the lengths of the trains, lengths of the platforms at
the stations, and due to the fact that at many stations, both coach
passengers and sleeper passengers would detrain, thus requiring 2
separate stops. After we left Waterloo, the conductor came over
the PA system and confirmed that we were indeed 2 hours late because of
freight traffic, and that the situation was likely to stay the same
“for a while.” He also mentioned that Chicago time was one hour
behind Waterloo, and that it was only a little after 7 AM there now,
that the running time between Waterloo and Chicago was 3 hours, and
that all passengers with connecting trains in Chicago WOULD make their
connections – a rather bold statement in my opinion, but it turned out
that he was correct! A few minutes after the announcement,
however, our train noticeably picked up speed and was soon traveling at
what I presumed to be track speed. We soon passed a freight train
headed the same way we were, but on the other track, so apparently
Norfolk Southern was in a good mood this morning or something and
switched the freight onto the other track so we could pass. That
was nice of them….. Wish it happened more often!
It soon began raining fairly heavily as we passed
through Goshen, Elkhart, and South Bend. We left South Bend 2
hours 20 minutes behind schedule, and my wife and I decided to call my
wife’s daughter and my sister on the ol’ cell phone to see if they’d
like to meet us in Chicago between trains, since it was now evident
that we would indeed have several hours between trains. We had
discussed this with them prior to our trip, and they both thought it
was a good idea. My sister Kathy would take the Metra train in to
Union Station from Libertyville, and would arrive about 11 AM, she
thought. Jan’s daughter Melissa would take the Metra in from
Naperville and would arrive about 10:30 in Union Station. Since
this was the day before the 4th of July, all the Metra routes in
Chicago had special schedules in effect.
As usual, most trains are wyed into Chicago Union
Station, and this train was no exception. The conductor had said
we’d be at Union Station by 10, but we actually were not within sight
of the station until about 10:15, and by the time the Capitol was wyed
onto the BNSF/Metra line and backed in to CUS, it was approximately
quarter of 11. As we were wying onto the BNSF, we saw Jan’s
daughter Melissa’s inbound Metra train pass the Capitol, and about 5
minutes later, Melissa called on the cell phone saying she was at the
station and wondering where we were. Apparently she did not see
the AMTRAK train wying onto the BNSF next to her train. As soon
as we pulled in, we tipped Lou, then found a redcap to take our
suitcases into the Metropolitan Lounge, then we saw Melissa waiting for
us right before the point where no one except ticketed passengers are
allowed. I checked our suitcases into the baggage storage area in
the Metropolitan Lounge, and both Jan & I got our “passes” so we
could come back to the lounge later.
The Metropolitan Lounge in Chicago Union Station has
changed somewhat—it is much bigger now, and does not seem to be so
congested as in the past. When several trains arrive and depart
at times near each other, however, it is still somewhat of a “zoo,” but
I have seen definite improvements with the remodeling. The
attended baggage storage area is new also, even though the unattended
room next to the check-in desk is also still there. We left our
suitcases with the attendant in the locked storage area, and were given
claim checks to retrieve our suitcases later. The redcaps from
the train platform took our suitcases right into the baggage storage
area for us—this kind of service is DEFINITELY worth a tip of $5 per
bag or so!
I tried checking the Metra North Line schedule to
check on my sister’s train, but the one Metra monitor which was not
working was the one for her train!! There was a Metra information
table in the north concourse today, however, since there were so many
special schedules, so I asked about my sister’s train, and was told it
would be in about 11:20. Kathy finally arrived on Metra, right at
11:20, and the four of us went to the Food Court to get some
lunch. Everyone except Melissa get lunch at the Country Bakery,
and Melissa got a burrito at a different place, then found us a table
in the darkest possible corner of the food court – that was the only
table available. We all had a nice lunch together, then we all
walked outside the Jackson Boulevard entrance and stood in the Plaza by
the river talking and visiting. Since this was the day before
July 4, there were several tour boats passing the station on the
Chicago River. Then about 1:30, Kathy left on the next northbound
Metra train for home, and Melissa left on the next westbound train for
her home. Jan and I went back to the Metropolitan Lounge,
arranged for a redcap, got our suitcases, and soon boarded the next
train, #7, the
Empire
Builder.
My sister Kathy, wife Jan, and
stepdaughter Melissa outside CUS
Monday July 3-Tuesday, July 4, 2006 –
Empire Builder
It was soon time to board the
Empire Builder,
so we found a redcap and loaded our suitcases from the baggage room
onto his cart, and he took us to Deluxe Bedroom C in car 0731.
This particular Superliner train had refurbished cars, and our room was
finished in the “wood texture” motif, which looks nice. Unlike
the Viewliner sleepers, the Superliner deluxe bedrooms have a
permanently-mounted chair set across from the bunk and facing it, so
again I could sit facing the “right” direction and also be facing my
wife, or if the bunk was facing “forward,” I could sit next to her and
still do my videotaping looking forward. Our car attendant this
leg was “Moe,” a fairly efficient and helpful attendant, but definitely
not one of AMTRAK’s brightest employees. We departed Chicago 2
minutes late by my watch; however, my watch may have been off by 2
minutes. Shortly after we left, before Moe came up to formally
introduce himself to us, we had a long drawn-out lecture from
“Michelle,” the dining car steward, about dinner reservations and the
order in which they would be taken. She also made a request for
people not to leave the diner until they have paid, since she didn’t
want to have to chase after people, and also mentioned that alcoholic
beverages are an extra cost for 1st class passengers, and also made a
comment that when you go into the diner, you will be seated with
someone you don’t know. She would take reservations in the
Seattle sleepers first this evening, then the Portland sleepers, then
the Seattle coaches, then the Portland coaches, and finally in the
lounge car, and tomorrow night, she would reverse the order in which
she took reservations. We were in a Seattle sleeper, so we were
the first car she came through to make dinner reservations. After
she left, Moe came around to see us, and we informed him we would like
to put our suitcases on the top bunk, and use only the lower bunk to
sleep, and asked if he would help us, which he did. After we got
the suitcases stored, I attempted to hook the straps in the upper bunk
into their places on the ceiling, but apparently I got the straps so
tight that it was not possible to get them unattached then.
Hopefully Moe got that straightened out after we left the train.
We soon went to the Sightseer Lounge to get a drink
and watch as we passed through the suburbs of Lake Forest, where both
my wife and I went to high school (and first met) many years ago.
The upstairs bar was serving on this train, as well as the downstairs
bar, but there were long lines at both of them. My wife found a
couple seats in the upper level of the lounge, and I attempted to get
us each a rum and coke at the upper level bar, but after waiting in
line for 15 minutes, the attendant told me that he didn’t serve alcohol
upstairs and that I would have to go downstairs! That would not
have been a problem if there had been some sort of sign somewhere
saying that, but there was no such sign, so I ended up going downstairs
and standing in line for another 15 minutes before I got our
drinks. We sat in the lounge for a while, then went back up to
our room. We arrived into Milwaukee 10 minutes early, so had
plenty of time to get off the train for a few minutes and walk
around. We then left Milwaukee 2 minutes late again, but I gave
AMTRAK the benefit of the doubt, assumed my watch was 2 minutes fast,
so I reset my watch so that I showed an on-time departure from
Milwaukee. I did not reset my watch any more on the trip.
We continued the trip across Wisconsin, and were stopped by our first
freight delay south of Ixonia, where we were put onto a siding.
We then left Columbus 25 minutes behind schedule, and Portage 26
minutes behind schedule. I figured we would most likely arrive at
our final destination, Essex, Montana, on time the following evening,
since the schedule of the Empire Builder has quite a bit of padding
between Havre and Shelby, Montana, and at a couple other places along
the route. Since the Empire Builder was pretty full on this trip,
we had to “double stop” at most stations, one stop being for sleeper
passengers, and one for coach.
I was also trying out the new JVC Everio camcorder for the first time
on this trip. The camera has a color screen LCD viewfinder, but
the image quality in the viewfinder is not very good, and I was worried
that some of my video would not come out when I eventually downloaded
it onto a standard VCR cassette. Luckily I was wrong, as all my
video came out quite well. However, I was using my polarizing
filter up to this point, to eliminate the reflections from the train
windows, but thought maybe if I took the filter off, I would get better
images in the viewfinder. I did get better quality images in the
viewfinder with the filter off; however, that was compensated for by
the continuing presence of reflections throughout the trip. I
should have left the filter on, but I did not.
Our next stop was Wisconsin Dells, where both my
wife and I had been on a few occasions as children with our
families. The Dells continues to be a classic “tourist trap,” and
some of the tackier businesses visible from the Empire Builder were
such gems as Old River Golf, the Dells Torture Museum, and the Dells
Bells Wedding Chapel. My wife and I joked that maybe we should
have gotten married at the Dells Bells Wedding Chapel! A little
later it was time for our 7 PM dinner reservations. We entered
the diner and sat with a young couple who were going to Seattle.
The Empire Builder has
not converted to “diner lite” yet, so they had the old-fashioned full
selection of food, and the menu included things like pork shanks,
seared salmon, and beef bourginone, which are not available on the
“diner lite” trains. As we sat in the diner, we crossed the
Mississippi River into Minnesota. My wife had been watching a
somewhat obnoxious fellow who she had seen getting several drinks in
the lounge car earlier, who apparently had been talking loud and being
boisterous for a while, so we saw this particular fellow being escorted
through the diner back into his coach (or maybe off the train?) by one
of the onboard staff while we were eating dinner. Before we had
gone to dinner, Moe came to the room and told us that we get a
complimentary bottle of champagne for being 1st class passengers –
another of the new “amenities” which AMTRAK is trying out on the
upgraded Empire Builder. I had not previously heard about the
complimentary champagne, and we told Moe yes we would like it, but
probably not until later, maybe just before we went to bed. After
dinner we retreated to our room again and had Moe make the bunk
up. We did have time to step off the train at the Winona station,
however, and while we were off, the young couple we had dinner with
took a photo of us (the photo at the beginning of this article).
We left Winona 35 minutes late. We asked Moe about the
complimentary champagne again, and he had forgotten about it at first,
but after we reminded him, he brought us a bottle with 2 glasses, which
we finished before the St. Paul station. At St. Paul we again got
out for a few minutes, then we went back in for the night.
On Tuesday morning the 4th of July, we awoke at the
Devils Lake stop, but when I first awoke, I thought we were still at
the East Grand Forks station. My timetable indicated that we had
left Devils Lake pretty close to schedule, within 2 or 3 minutes, which
was good. Eastern North Dakota was quite foggy this morning, but
the fog eventually lifted. We got up and had breakfast in the
diner, and sat with a couple who was going to East Glacier Park, and
then onto Browning to work with the Blackfeet Indians for a few
weeks. By the time we had gotten back to our room, Moe had made
up the bed so we again had a nice couch to sit on. Because of a
lot of “padding” in the schedule of the Empire Builder, we arrived in
Minot approximately one hour early, since we had basically been on time
ever since departing Chicago the previous afternoon. We had plenty of
time to get out and walk around the station and take more video.
Back onto the train, and we left Minot on time, and soon crossed the
Gassmann Coulee, which was fairly impressive to my wife, who had never
seen it. She did not like the fact, however, that you can’t see
the trestle or any railings while we are on the trestle! Between
Tioga and Williston, I took a short nap on the bunk in our room.
At the Williston station, we arrived early again, and I stepped off for
a few minutes, but my wife stayed on the train. We departed on
time, then my wife and I went to the lower level of the Sightseer
Lounge to sit on the other side of the train where we got a better view
of the Missouri River, and we also got soft drinks. I took some
video of the river, and at this time, the National Park Service’s
“Trails and Rails” was beginning in the upper level of the lounge, with
a ranger talking about the Lewis & Clark Expedition. We were
interested in sitting and listening for a while, but alas, every seat
in the upper level of the lounge was occupied, so we went back to our
room. The
Empire
Builder was packed today, with all sleeper rooms occupied, and
I believe most of the coach seats occupied. At each station, we
boarded and disembarked quite a few passengers – I only wish that
Former Secretary of Transportation Norm Mineta was onboard with us
today to see first-hand his “empty train” which goes to places that
“nobody wants to go.”
Shortly after the Williston stop, Moe came by the
room and announced that there would be a wine tasting party in the
diner “after lunch,” and asked if we were planning on going to
it. We said we would, and asked what time it started. Moe
said “well, I don’t know – they stop serving lunch at 2, so probably
about then.” Later in the morning, Michelle came through the car
again to make lunch reservations. I have never had to make a
reservation for lunch on AMTRAK, so I asked her “Since when do you take
lunch reservations?”” Her answer was “Oh, we’re supposed to do
that all the time now because of the new meal service.” I replied
“well, we have not had to make lunch reservations on the previous 2
trains we were on.” “Oh,” says Michelle,” well, they should have
been doing that!” We made 1 PM lunch reservations, and ate as we
were passing between Malta and Glasgow, I believe. We had lunch
with a retired teaching couple from Palm Springs, CA, who had been
touring the country. Then the inevitable happened -- our first 2
major delays on the Builder. We were put into a siding on the
single-track main for approximately _ hour to wait for an eastbound
BNSF freight, then shortly after that, we had a 45 minute delay, but
that delay was NOT for a freight train – we were waiting for the
eastbound Builder! As best I could estimate from our current
position and the timetable, it appeared that the train we were waiting
for was also fairly close to schedule. Of course, our wait
delayed our train for most of the rest of the day.
At Havre, the Builder makes a fuel stop immediately
before the passenger stop, and the an-nouncement came over the PA
system that no one was to get off the train during the fuel stop, but
we were to wait until the second stop, then we could get out and walk
around or smoke – as most of you know, most of the AMTRAK LD trains now
are non-smoking, but passengers are allowed to smoke at designated
“smoking stops,” which are generally the longer station stops where
train servicing and crew changes take place. The fuel stop was
made, and soon we pulled up to the Havre station, and both Jan and I
got off to walk around for a few minutes. We then left Havre
exactly 1 hour behind schedule.
Earlier Michelle had made another announcement that
she would soon be taking dinner reservations, and the first one would
be at 5:30. She was going to start at the Portland end of the
train for reservations on this evening, but the conductor or someone
had told her that there were some people in our car (meaning us) who
need to get off at Essex, and would need an early dinner reservation,
so she found us and made 5:30 reservations for us. I appreciated
that very much—it is the mark of a good AMTRAK employee who pays
attention to details such as this! So what happened to the wine
tasting we were supposed to have? Was there now any time left to
do a wine tasting? Maybe it was going to be cancelled since we
were running so late. Throughout the afternoon, we looked into
the dining car, which was one car behind us, and they had wine glasses
set up at all the tables for most of the afternoon. We were
supposed to leave Havre at 2:49 PM; we left at 3:49 PM – almost 4
PM. How was the crew going to have time to do a wine party, then
set up for 5:30 dinner? Well, as it turned out, shortly after we
departed Havre, the announcement came over the PA that all sleeping car
passengers should now report to the dining car for the wine tasting
party, so we had the wine tasting after all! The tasting was
coordinated by the 4 or 5 sleeping car attendants on the train and
maybe one person from the diner staff (not Michelle). We had 3
samplings of wine, and all wines were from the Columbia River Valley,
which of course is traversed by the Portland section of the Empire
Builder. The wines were all fairly tasty, and each passenger got
a tasting glass, plus 3 kinds of cheese – one to taste after each wine
selection was tasted. The driest wine was tasted first, then the
sweeter wines. The tasting was done in a fairly professional
manner, and the staff told us (from reading written descriptions!)
about each wine and cheese. Then at 5 PM on the dot, the dining
car representative told us that we all have to leave right now, so they
can set up for dinner. But it was a nice 1-hour wine tasting
party.
Again, due to quite a bit of padding in the
schedule, we arrived into Shelby just about “on time,” according to the
timetable, even though we had left Havre (105 miles east) 1 hour
late. The rest of the trip was on time, and we arrived at Essex
at 7:41 PM, on time.
The Essex “station” is a wide spot in a driveway
which leads to the Izaak Walton Inn, no more than _ mile from the
Inn. It is a flag stop, but on this day, we had several people
getting off at Essex. The train had to make 3 stops, one sleeper
stop for us in front, a coach stop further back in the train, and a
stop for the Portland coach, on the end of the train.
Approximately 6 other people got off the train with us. One of
the employees at the Inn meets the train with a van, and puts the
suitcases in the back of the van, then drives to the check-in desk at
the Inn.
The Izaak Walton Inn (see
http://www.izaakwaltoninn.com/index2.htm)
was built in 1939 to house Great Northern Railroad workers from the
engine facility located next door. The engine facility is still
there, only it is now operated by BNSF. The hotel fell into
disrepair for a few years, but over the last 10 or 15 years, it was
remodeled and revamped into the premier “railroad themed” hotel it is
today. It is truly a railfan’s paradise!! Almost every inch
of the inside of the lodge is highlighted by railroad themes – old and
modern photographs, old railroad memorabilia, old timetables, and
“railfan” items. It has a railroad-themed gift shop (with some
emphasis also on nearby Glacier National Park!), and has a full dining
room and bar. Approximately half the rooms face the BNSF main
line, over which the Builder operates twice daily. I have been
through the area numerous times on the Empire Builder, but one thing I
never noticed was the pedestrian footbridge over the tracks, which is
an excellent place for freight and passenger railfanning! Across
the footbridge are several refurbished “cabooses,” which can also be
rented as accommodations. We stayed in the main lodge, but, if
you look at the photos on the web site, the cabooses are also
shown. The lodge is located on U.S. 2, near the south boundary of
Glacier National Park.
Empire
Builder at Minot, N.D.
|
Izaak Walton Inn, Essex, MT
|
The first evening we were at the Izaak Walton Inn,
we actually had fireworks after dark! The fireworks were largely
“store-bought” fireworks set off by the Izaak Walton staff right
between the BNSF main line and the siding which leads to the engine
maintenance facility at Essex. Several freights passed during the
fireworks show – the fireworks did not interfere at all with the BNSF
traffic.
VACATION – July 4 through July 14, 2006
Since this is a railroad article, I am not going to bore you with
details of the “non-rail” portion of our trip. All I will say is
that we had a wonderful 1_ weeks of sightseeing out West! In a
nutshell, we stayed at Izaak Walton 3 nights, toured Glacier Park in
one of the vintage “red busses” –the “Jammers.” We then rented a
car at the Kalispell, MT airport, and drove south. From Glacier
National Park, we drove to Yellowstone Park on Friday, July 7, stayed
in West Yellowstone one night, then 2 nights at the Old Faithful Snow
Lodge. We did more sightseeing in Yellowstone for 2 days, and saw
lots of wildlife (primarily elk and buffalo), plus the normal
geyser-hot-spring-mud pot-pretty views associated with Yellowstone,
then we headed south into Colorado. The drive from Yellowstone to
Denver is a loooooooooooong day!!!!!!! (12 hours, largely on 2-lane
roads in Wyoming!) Overnight in Denver, then it was on to Durango
where my wife’s parents used to live and are now buried. The main
attraction in Durango was the Durango & Silverton Narrow Gauge
railway, which I will discuss here. (see
http://www.durangotrain.com/ )
Wednesday July 12, 2006 – the Silverton
The Silverton
at Durango, CO
|
Railroad Rich at the loco
|
Of course I have known about the Silverton train
for years, but had never ridden it. My wife Jan had ridden it
once several years ago while visiting her folks in Durango, but we
wanted to make sure we included it in this year’s vacation. We
had arrived in Durango the previous evening, and heard the distinctive
whistle of the
Silverton train all over town! We had made a reservation
several weeks in advance, and had reserved our seats on the 9 AM
departure from Durango. I was always under the impression that
there was only one train; however, there are several sets of locos and
cars, and at least 4 daily departures to Silverton (during the
summer). The 45-mile trip up the Animas Canyon takes 3 hours,
then another 3 hours back. After arrival in Silverton, we had 2
hours to eat lunch and sightsee and shop before heading back. We
had arrived at the Durango depot early, and saw the train sitting at
the station almost full, and were surprised that it filled up so fast –
we were told to be there by 8:30, but we had arrived 8:15 or so.
We soon found out that the train we saw was not our train, but the 8:30
train, so I was lucky enough to get some video of the 8:30 pulling out
of the depot. We had time to walk around the gift shop for a few
minutes, then we boarded into “coach no. 42,” and it was not
immediately obvious which car that was, since each vintage coach has a
regular “railroad number” on it, and the “42” or whatever they use to
designate each car, is on a very small signboard which is attached to
one end of the car. We found the car we were in, which was
railroad car no. 630, and found our seats. The Silverton train
consists of “vintage coaches” and “open-sided coaches.” The
open-sided coaches are open on the sides, but they also have
roofs. All windows in the vintage coaches can be opened by the
passengers.
The Silverton line is a tourist train only line now,
and is single-tracked; therefore, inbound and outbound trains at no
time pass each other. All trains arrive in Silverton before the
first trains head back to Durango. The line was formerly part of
the Denver & Rio Grande Western Royal Gorge route. One can
see a couple old freight cars on sidings on the route; however, I
believe they are only for “effect,” as no regular freight or passenger
traffic uses this line any more. The line from Durango climbs
approximately 2700 ft in the 45 miles. Because of the steep 1.1%
grade (average 1.1%; however, several sections have steeper grades),
the train runs on narrow-gauge tracks. The route follows the
Animas River Canyon upstream from Durango to Silverton. Because
the train lacks modern braking and suspension systems, the ride is
quite rough, but that is part of the enjoyment of traveling on this
historic train! Because of the curves and the roughness of the
ride, the train is limited to approximately 20 mph average. The
route itself, in my opinion, is not that much more scenic than Amtrak’s
California Zephyr, as it is largely through forests and along the river
valley. The highest spot above the Animas Canyon, however, is
quite scenic – that is the part of the route that one sees in all the
“tourist brochures,” The “high line”: above the Animas Canyon is
only 2 or 3 miles, and that is definitely the most scenic part of the
ride on the Silverton. The route crosses the Animas River at
several places, and also stops at Needleton to put water into the steam
locomotive. Through most of the trip, the Animas River is at the
same level as the train, and it is a very pretty rushing mountain
stream. A few high peaks can be seen from the train, and they are
labeled with marker signs along the right-of-way.
After arrival in the old mining town of Silverton,
we had 2 hours to
sightsee before heading back. My wife Jan and I had lunch at the
“Shady Lady,” which has an ummmm-“shady” history of being the last
active brothel in Silverton! We then walked around some of the
tourist spots and saw the historical museum, which was rather
interesting, then bought some typical “touristy” souvenirs, and headed
back to the depot.
The return trip takes the same amount of time as the trip to Silverton,
in spite of the fact that the return trip is downhill and the trip to
Silverton is uphill.
We enjoyed riding on the Silverton very much, and
this is one
attraction that every railfan HAS to visit sometime in his or her
life!!!
Saturday July 15-Sunday, July 16, 2006 –
Southwest Chief
After our stay in Durango, we drove on down to Flagstaff,
Arizona via
the Meteor Crater, where we spent an hour or so. Our itinerary
for Flagstaff was to spend one day at the Grand Canyon before heading
back home on AMTRAK. We were supposed to turn our Alamo rental
car in at the Flagstaff airport; however, when we arrived at our
Holiday Inn Express, we saw there was an Alamo drop-off desk right at
the hotel, so we were able to turn the car in there, which saved us a
trip to the airport and a probably expensive taxi ride back. The
first evening in Flagstaff we were able to connect with Jan’s brother
Neal, who lives in the Phoenix area, but was working in Flagstaff that
day, so we were able to all go to dinner together. The next day
we saw the Grand Canyon, then came back to the motel and prepared for
an early morning departure on AMTRAK Train #4, the
Southwest
Chief. Since we had to leave pretty early in the AM, I
inquired
at the front desk about checking out the night before, and about
finding a taxicab to the AMTRAK station at 4:15AM. Since I had
put our room on a credit card, they merely slipped the checkout under
our door in the AM, and it was all paid for. There is actually
staff at the front desk of the Holiday Inn Express all night, so when
we got our 3:30 AM wakeup call, there was someone at the desk. As
soon as we got our 3:30 AM wakeup call, I called “Julie” at AMTRAK to
check on the status of Train #4 into Flagstaff. It must have been
pretty early for Julie, since she had to ask me 2 or 3 times what city
I was inquiring about. But she finally “understood” me and told
me that Train #4 was running about 20 minutes late, so we packed up and
went downstairs to the lobby of the motel to wait for the taxi which
the front desk staff had ordered for us. In a few minutes a taxi-cab
appeared, but the driver remained in the driver seat and did not open
up the door or offer to help us load our luggage. It turned out
that the taxi which first pulled up was not the right taxi – he was
waiting for a different group, and didn’t know anything about the
request for us. But a couple minutes later another taxi pulled
up, which was driven by a young female driver, who appeared, well, kind
of “ditzy.” She was the one the motel had called, but what we did
not know was that the motel had paid for our taxi ride – an unexpected
surprise. We were telling the driver about our vacation, and the
first question she asked was are we going to catch a train or a tour
bus to some other location (at 4:30 AM?) Then we told her we were
traveling back to Florida, and she asked when we would get home – the
next day? And then were we coming back right away?
We arrived at the AMTRAK station, which had a
moderate crowd waiting
for the departure of the
Chief. It
was still dark outside, and
the station agent asked us to check in, where we gave him our names,
and he crossed our names off the master list he had. He then told
us that the train would be a little later now, maybe 40 minutes or so,
and that the train had just left Williams Junction, the last station
stop before Flagstaff. I wandered around and took some video both
inside and outside the station, and watched a couple freights go past
the station on the BNSF “Transcon” line, which is a very heavy freight
mainline across the country. Since it was a bit chilly (even
after daytime 100 degree temperatures the day before!), Jan stayed
inside the station until shortly before the train pulled in, but I
chose to hang around outside and talk to other passengers.
The Southwest Chief finally pulled in about quarter
of 6, only 45
minutes late, and left by 5:50 AM. We met “Henry” our sleeper car
attendant, who helped us take our suitcases into Room C of car 0430,
the first sleeper in front of the diner. In a few minutes, the
conductor came by to pick up our tickets and apologized for the delay
in arriving at Flagstaff, but they had a small freight delay at
Williams Junction. This part of the route of the
Chief is on the
BNSF “Transcon” freight line, which is double-tracked and over which
many many freight trains operate – between Flagstaff and Dalies, just
south of Albuquerque, we were running on the Transcon and saw a freight
train at least once every 3 or 4 minutes. We had a few minor
delays while on the Transcon, but at no time did we have to wait on a
siding for extended periods of time, and we basically kept moving all
morning. BNSF is to be commended for their handling of AMTRAK on
this very busy freight line – too bad some of the other host railroads
can’t do the same. We had no more significant delays between
Flagstaff and Albuquerque.
Soon Henry came to the room and introduced himself,
and we had him help
us put the big suitcases on the top bunk. Henry asked each of us
our names, as he did to other passengers in his car as well. We
departed Flagstaff 51 minutes late, and my wife soon went to sleep on
the main bunk to catch up on the sleep we missed by getting up at 3:30
AM! I sat on the chair across from the bunk and took some video,
but every time I turned the video camera on to catch an interesting
feature, it seems a freight train would pass right at that minute!
At the Winslow stop, I noticed a few old
Pennsylvania and NYC passenger
cars sitting in a yard near the station, including a car named
“America.” I could not tell whether these cars were coaches or
sleepers. After we departed Winslow, I heard the dining car
steward calling names off the waiting list for breakfast, so I decided
to wake Jan up and see if she was interested in getting some
breakfast. She was, so we went to the dining car and gave our
name to the steward. A few minutes later they called us in.
We sat with a young black mother and her teenage daughter who were
moving from San Diego to Chicago. Since I wasn’t feeling that
well on this return trip, I opted only for the continental breakfast,
and I believe my wife had the same thing.
The Chief also
features
“diner lite” service. After breakfast, we went back into the
room, and our next stop was Gallup, New Mexico, where we departed one
hour 14 minutes late. My wife continued working on a sewing
project she had brought with her, and I continued my video out the
window. Passing through Grants, New Mexico, there apparently was
some kind of motorcycle rally taking place. We saw several tents
set up in the downtown area, then as we sped through the city parallel
to old U.S. 66, we saw several motorcycles heading both directions,
into and away from town. At Dalies, the route of the Chief
diverges from the Transcon line, and, as we made the sweeping left-hand
turn, there was a BNSF freight waiting on the westbound Transcon for us
to clear. We did not see any more freight trains until quite a
distance past Albuquerque.
Again due to padding in the schedule, we arrived
into Albuquerque 5
minutes early, so had plenty of time to get out and walk around.
The Native American vendors were there waiting for the train, so most
passengers wandered around to look at their wares. My wife
purchased a necklace for her daughter and some earrings for herself
from one of the vendors. Albuquerque now has a new AMTRAK
station, which I have never seen before. It is an “intermodal”
station and serves both Greyhound and AMTRAK, and will soon be serving
the new Albuquerque light rail system. I did not wander into the
station, but it looked rather modern and nice. And the famous
“burrito wagon” is still parked at the station between trains
also! We did not get any food, as we were going to be eating
lunch onboard the Chief soon. While we were at the station,
however, I did notice that our train was carrying 3 “express” cars on
the back of the train, and then a private car behind the express
cars. The “All Aboard” was soon given, and we were about to pull
out on time; however, we progressed a few car lengths, then stopped
again, and finally left approximately 25 minutes late. An
announcement was made that the reason we had to stop again was to fill
the private car at the end of the train with water. Apparently,
that car was not positioned properly while we were stopped at the
station to allow that task to be done (too many express cars in the
way?)
The next stop was Lamy, New Mexico, the stop for
those passengers going
to Santa Fe. We departed Lamy 21 minutes late, and, as we left
the station, I noticed the refurbished red passenger car which is
parked next to the station, and which apparently has people living in
it! They had the end of the “car home” outfitted with a nice
patio, with chairs and tables. After passing through Apache
Canyon and Glorieta Pass, and showing the features to my wife, we were
delayed in the Interstate 25 town of Rowe, waiting for the westbound
Southwest Chief,
Train #3, which apparently was running fairly close to
schedule. It was soon lunch time, and, although it had not been
that long since breakfast, we went to have lunch anyway. I
believe I had the Angus burger, which was okay. At lunch we sat
with a couple from Palm Springs, California, who were taking the
Chief
to Raton, and then were going to catch an AMTRAK Thruway bus to
Colorado Springs. As we passed through the fairly featureless
high plains of northeastern New Mexico, I took a short nap on the
train, then went back to my videotaping, and we saw quite a few
antelope from the train the rest of the afternoon. We departed
Las Vegas 35 minutes late. At Raton we had time to get out for a
few minutes and walk round, and we left Raton 30 minutes late, to begin
our ascent up Raton Pass and into Colorado.
I took some more video going over Raton Pass, then
we arrived in
Trinidad, Colorado, where we also left 30 minutes late. We saw
quite a few more antelope from the train as we passed through
southeastern Colorado, then we arrived at La Junta early, and left on
time. We had 7:30 dinner reservations, and sat with a couple who
had also been traveling to the Grand Canyon, but who had taken the
Grand Canton Railway from Williams, and had gotten confused about
whether the hotel they had reservations at was in Williams or Williams
Junction, so they had to go through sort of a “Chinese fire drill” with
taxicabs around Williams and the Grand Canyon. This couple was
eventually bound for St. Louis, but instead of taking #4 to Kansas
City, then connecting to the
Ann Rutledge,
they had to take the
Chief
to Galesburg, then an AMTRAK Thruway bus to Springfield, IL, then the
State House or the
Texas Eagle to
St. Louis, since they were apparently
told that the
Rutledge
the following morning was sold out. After
dinner, we asked Henry to make up the bottom bunk in our room, and we
were in bed by the time the Chief made its on-time stop at Lamar.
Overnight we slept fairly well, and I awoke at a couple of the Kansas
stations, and I believe we were pretty close to schedule all
night. We woke up on Sunday morning between Topeka and Kansas
City, and had several freight delays in the maze of yards, railroad
junctions, and crossovers. Again, due to a lot of padding in the
schedule, we arrived in Kansas City only 20 minutes late, and had a
chance to get out and walk around for a few minutes. I have not
been through Kansas City on the
Chief for many
years, so I have not
seen the new station. We did not have time to go into it on this
trip, but we saw the stairway which leads up to the station.
After departing Kansas City only 27 minutes behind schedule, we soon
found our way into the dining car to eat breakfast, and sat with 2
women. I was not feeling well on this day, so again all I had was
the continental breakfast. After breakfast, we retreated back to
the room, and I spent quite a bit of time through the day napping, and
took very little video of the route as it crosses Missouri. My
wife and I sat in the Sightseer Lounge for a while later, but then went
back to our room. I also did not keep track of our on-time
performance at the La Plata stop. We decided not to have lunch on
the train.
In Fort Madison, we also had time to get out and
walk around for a few
minutes. It was hot in Fort Madison, as it had been all across
the Midwest during this week. We departed Fort Madison 39 minutes
late, and as we pulled out of the station and prepared to cross the
Mississippi River, Henry became our “tour guide” to the Fort Madison
area, and pointed out features such as the old Fort Madison, Catfish
Bend and the casino boat, the Sheaffer Pen Company (what? Are
they still in business?), and the prison. He also pointed out
that
a barge plying its way down the river had cleared the drawbridge, so we
would not have to wait for the drawbridge before we crossed the
river. My wife Jan called her daughter Melissa in Naperville,
Illinois, on the cell phone, and told her we would probably be passing
through Naperville about 3 PM, and if she wanted, she could drive down
to the Naperville Metra station and wave at us as we passed.
Melissa chose not to do that, however, due to the extreme hot weather
in the Chicago area – she would rather stay in her air-conditioned
apartment for the afternoon.
As we approached Cameron, Illinois, I was interested
in studying the
new crossover that BNSF recently built to connect the former BN main
with the former (and higher in elevation) ATSF main, which allows both
the
Southwest
Chief and the
California Zephyr to
now take the same
route between Chicago, Galesburg, and Cameron. It apparently is
more than just one connecting track which connects 2 other tracks at
different grades. There appear to be several other new tracks in
the area now. If anyone reading has a detailed map of this new
junction, I’d like to see one. We soon stopped at Galesburg, and
departed approximately 46 minutes late. We only had a couple
hours between trains in Chicago, but we never doubted we would miss the
connection at any time during our trip from Flagstaff.
As the afternoon went on, it seemed that our car was
getting warmer and
warmer, I thought it was just me, since as I said, I was not
feeling that well on this day, but my wife was getting warmer also, and
soon Henry made an announcement that the car was indeed getting hotter
due to a malfunction in the air conditioning system. Actually,
our half of the sleeper was extremely hot, but the other half (the
“roomette half”) remaining in a deep freeze the whole route. We
did not have very far to go; however, it has been the general practice
lately that the consist from the incoming
Chief into
Chicago is the
same consist which is used in the outgoing
Capitol Ltd, so we were a
bit concerned. Henry told us several times that he was making up
beds so that car could be used on the
Capitol later
in the evening, but
that AMTRAK would not use this car on the
Capitol if the
air
conditioning could not be fixed. He said they would likely
replace the car in Chicago, but as efficient as Henry may be, he is
only a car attendant, and they do not always know the inner workings of
putting trains together in the yard and consisting. So we were
wondering what would happen to us – would we be in the same hot car all
night again on the
Capitol
out of Chicago? Would they be able to
replace the car? If no other sleeper was available, would they
put us in a coach on the
Capitol and
refund our accommodation
fare? And if they were able to replace the car, would that delay
the boarding of the
Capitol by
several hours? We would hope for
the best.
In Aurora, we were delayed for a while waiting for
freights to clear
the track ahead of us. I had originally thought that we may have
been waiting for a Metra train; however, it was Sunday, and not very
many Metra schedules operate on Sunday. Jan called her daughter
again
as we approached Naperville, and told her daughter the exact moment
when we were passing the Naperville Metra station and other landmarks
in the area, but, a stated earlier, her daughter did not come down to
wave at us. We left the Naperville AMTRAK station 1 hour 1 minute
late, but again, thanks to padding in the schedule, we arrived into
Chicago Union Station only 28 minutes late. And for once, the
Southwest Chief did
not back into Union Station, but headed straight
in, engine first. As soon as we got out and Henry unloaded our
baggage for us, we found a redcap to take our suitcases directly to the
Metropolitan Lounge, where we again checked in and checked the
suitcases into the locked attended baggage room. The Metropolitan
lounge was not very busy, and we had approximately one hour before
boarding was supposed to begin for the next train, #30, the
Capitol
Ltd. I was expecting the boarding of #30 to be quite
delayed if
AMTRAK had to replace our sleeper with another one. Since we
didn’t have lunch on the
Chief, Jan and
I went up to the Snuggery in
the Food Court and had a late lunch of chicken wings and beer.
Sunday July 16-Monday, July 17, 2006 –
Capitol Ltd
After our late “lunch,” we retreated
back to the Metropolitan Lounge to
await the boarding of Train #30, the eastbound
Capitol Ltd.
To
our surprise, we boarded on time and found a redcap to take our
suitcases out to Deluxe Bedroom E in car 3000. We found our room,
and saw immediately that the train we were boarding was NOT the same
consist as the inbound Train #4, which we had departed just a couple
hours ago. I saw that the numbers on the sides of the car were
all “06**” numbers, which leads me to believe that this was actually
the consist from the inbound
California Zephyr,
and not the consist
from the inbound
Chief.
The sleeper we were in was newer than the
car we were in on the
Chief, and we
did have air conditioning in the
car!! We soon met our car attendant “Brenda,” who I have met
before, and remember her from my 1998 trip (see travelogue elsewhere in
this section of Train Web) on the
Cardinal from
Washington DC to
Chicago. The only difference was that Brenda now had dark hair,
and when I met her in 1998, she had blonde hair, but she told me that
was during the years when she had a desire to be a blonde. When
she came to our room to introduce herself, we again told her of our
plans to put the suitcases on the top bunk and use the lower bunk for
sleeping, and she helped us put our suitcases in the upper bunk.
She also made 7:15 PM dinner reservations for us, and had told us that
the consist of this train was actually from the inbound
Southwest Chief
of the previous day, but, based on the car numbers, I believe it
was
actually from the previous day’s Train #6, the
Zephyr.
Surprisingly, we left Chicago on time, and
stayed in our room for the
first couple hours, again with me taking video out the window of the
south side of Chicago and our traverse through northern Indiana.
We had a couple minor delays due to freight traffic or traffic in the
Gary steel mill complex, but arrived into South Bend only 15 minutes
late or so. Neither this train nor the
Lake Shore Ltd
stop at
Hammond-Whiting, Indiana, any more, and I can not understand why this
important suburban stop was cut from all trains except the Michigan
trains. We then made our stop in South Bend, and about the time
we were supposed to depart, all the power in the train went out and we
were stopped for approximately 45 minutes. Luckily we were in the
diner and had gotten our food order in before the power went out.
Apparently there was a broken air hose somewhere, which was repaired
while we were stopped. This was the only mechanical delay we
experienced in the entire vacation! Jan and I had dinner with a
lady from Mishawaka, Indiana, who had just boarded in South Bend and
went right to the diner. She was headed for Pittsburgh.
After dinner and after we got the air hose fixed, we went back to our
room for a while, and later decided we wanted to go to the Sightseer
Lounge to get a drink before we went to bed. We found seats in
the lounge, and I went downstairs to get our drinks, and found the
lounge attendant gone on her dinner break. This was not the first
time this happened on this trip!! On several other occasions, we
went to the lounge after dinner only to find the attendant gone.
As we walked through the diner, the lady who we had eaten with was
still sitting at the table we were at, even though she had long ago
finished her dinner. I waited a few minutes, then I walked back
to the lounge alone to get some soft drinks, and the attendant was
still gone, and the lady we had dinner with was still sitting in the
diner yet! We gave up on our drinks for the evening, and soon
went to bed. I was still not feeling that well, and was tired.
I awoke at a couple of the overnight stations, and
to the best of my
judgment, I figured we were running about _ hour late, mainly due to
our mechanical delay in South Bend. I do not believe the train
lost any additional time overnight. We woke up Monday morning
between Connellsville and Cumberland, and had breakfast in the diner
again. I still was not feeling that well, so I believe I had the
continental breakfast again this morning, without the yogurt. We sat
with a single man who did not talk very much. After breakfast I
napped a little in our room, and again took very little video. We
began slowing down outside of Cumberland, and at first I thought we
were going under heat restrictions again, but it soon became obvious
that there was quite a bit of track work going on for the last 10 or 15
miles before Cumberland. We passed many CSX MOW vehicles, and saw
evidence of track replacement and alignment going on. We then
stopped for a few minutes approximately _ mile before the Cumberland
station, and several of the passengers thought that was the station
stop. After we finally stopped at the correct location, we
departed Cumberland 1 hour 11 minutes late, and the track work
continued for a few more miles past the station.
We departed Martinsburg 1hour 20 minutes late, and
departed Harpers
Ferry 1 hour 21 minutes late. It then became obvious that we were
not going to be “that” late into Washington DC – on several occasions
over the last few weeks before our vacation, according to the AMTRAK
“Train Status” part of the web site, the Capitol arrived 5, 6 or more
hours late into Washington. I had originally booked us on Train
#91, the
Silver
Star, from Washington DC back to Florida, which was
scheduled to depart Washington DC at 3:05 PM. Since the
Capitol
is scheduled to arrived in Washington at 11:59 AM, I thought the 3-hour
connection might be a little close and we may miss Train #91, so I
changed our reservation one week before we left to Train #97, the
Silver Meteor,
which is scheduled to depart Washington DC at 7:30 PM,
which would give us plenty of time to make the connection if the
Capitol was
running more than 4 or 5 hours late. Since it was
obvious that we would arrive in Washington well before 3 PM, we decided
to try and get a deluxe bedroom on the
Silver Star
after we arrived in
Washington.
We finally arrived in Washington DC at 12:45 PM,
only 46 minutes
late. We found a redcap on the platform when we arrived, who
again took our suitcases to the Acela Lounge. We met him in the
lounge and told him, as well as the lounge attendant, that we were
scheduled to depart again at 7:30 PM on the
Silver Meteor,
but that we
may be on the
Silver
Star at 3:05 instead, and we would let the lounge
attendant know. At any rate, we would need redcap assistance
again to help us carry our heavy suitcases from the Acela Lounge out to
the Florida train. We tipped the redcap, then put our suitcases
in the luggage room next to the lounge attendant, then went to the
AMTRAK ticket window to try and change our reservation to the earlier
train.
I explained the situation to the AMTRAK agent, and
she told me that
yes, there was a bedroom available on the
Silver Star.
I was
about to book it, then I realized that what she meant was a “bedroom,”
not a “deluxe bedroom,” or, as most of us know it, a “roomette” or an
“economy room.” My wife and I discussed it for a few seconds,
then decided we did NOT want to try and squeeze us plus our large
suitcases into an economy room, and we would just go ahead and keep the
deluxe room we had on the later
Meteor.
The AMTRAK agent also
told us that, if we were to book the “bedroom” on the
Star, we would
have to pay yet another “upgrade charge.” Huh? Why would we
have to pay an upgrade charge to get into a smaller bedroom? That
makes absolutely 0 sense to me!! If we were in doubt about
whether or not to take the roomette accommodation, that was the
deciding straw that led us to NOT opt for the smaller room on the
earlier train. So we decided to spend the afternoon touring the
Smithsonian Natural History Museum between trains!! But first, we
had to inform the Acela Lounge attendant that we would NOT be leaving
on Train #91, and that we would still be on Train #97, but would need
redcap assistance for that train later in the evening. Then it
was lunch time. We again went to the Thunder Grill in Washington
Union Station to get lunch, then took one of Washington’s “Circulator”
busses from Union Station to 8th Street, I believe, then we caught
another Circulator down a few blocks to Constitution Avenue, from where
we had to walk about 2 blocks to get to the Natural History
Museum. It was another very hot day in Washington, DC, so the
air-conditioned museum was packed with people, including many kids – it
was almost too crowded to enjoy. Instead of waiting for bus
connections on the way back, we took a taxicab back to Union Station,
had an afternoon drink at the Center Court cocktail lounge, then
retreated to the Acela Lounge again to wait for the boarding of the
Silver Meteor.
Monday July 17-Tuesday, July 18, 2006 –
Silver Meteor
The
Silver Meteor
was scheduled to depart Washington DC at 7:30
PM. We had stayed at the Smithsonian until about 5 PM, then had
gone back to Union Station. In the Acela Lounge, the
Meteor was
still posted as departing on time; however, the departure immediately
before the
Meteor,
the southbound
Crescent,
was reportedly delayed in
boarding due to a broken-down MARC commuter train someplace between
Washington, DC and Baltimore. I was wondering why that had not
affected our train, and at approximately 7:15 PM, the AMTRAK staff was
in the process of beginning to get the
Crescent
boarded. Finally,
the notice appeared that Train #97, the
Meteor, would
also be delayed
in boarding. We continued waiting in the Acela Lounge, and
finally the broken-down commuter train was fixed and the track was
cleared, so it was soon time to board the
Silver Meteor.
We had
arranged for a redcap earlier, and this time, a redcap came up to help
us with the big suitcases. There were not very many passengers
boarding Train #97, so the redcap offered to give us, as well as our
baggage, a ride down to the track. So we took him up on the offer
and climbed into his golf cart. I always wondered how the redcaps
got down to the lower level tracks from the upper level at Washington
Union Station. He drove us out to the end of the upper level tracks,
where the grades of the upper and lower levels come together, simply
crossed over a couple tracks, then went back down the other direction
on the lower level, and stopped right at the spot where our sleeping
car would be spotted. One other passenger and baggage was also
being driven to the track by a redcap in front of us.
Eventually, Train #97, the
Silver Meteor,
came into sight led by an AEM
electric locomotive, which would be replaced with a P42 here before we
left Washington. The redcap took our suitcases into Room B of Car
9711, Skyline View. We soon met our car attendant Julie, and
again went through the ritual of putting our suitcases on the upper
bunk. The Skyline View car, while it is a newer Viewliner car,
had already seen its day. It appeared to be in rather run-down
shape –scratches on the mirrors, a beat-up outside, and no working PA
system in the car. We departed Washington, DC exactly one hour
behind schedule. Julie was pleasant, but appeared worn out, like
this was the last leg of a multi-day shift. After we departed and
our tickets were collected, we went into the dining car for dinner –
our last “diner-lite” meal on this vacation! We sat with a
gentleman who was traveling to Charleston. After dinner we went
back to our room, and were soon in bed for the night before the
Richmond station.
The CSX tracks in the Atlantic Seaboard did not get
any smoother in the
2 weeks we were gone. They were still plenty rough, making it
hard to get much sleep on the last night of our trip. The next
night we would be home, in our own bed – aaaah! A bed that
doesn’t move! We awoke in the morning before the Savannah stop,
and again got breakfast in the diner. We were joined at breakfast
by a lady from Lake Mary, Florida, not too far from where we live, who
had been visiting in Rocky Mount, NC, and she had mentioned that, in
her opinion, the Rocky Mount AMTRAK station is the only station in the
AMTRAK system that “actually looks like a train station.” Well, I
appreciate her comments, and I know some of what AMTRAK passes off as
“stations” are nothing more than oversized bus shelters, but I think
there are several stations in the system that actually “look like
stations.”
We departed Savannah 1 hour 28 minutes late, and
departed Jesup,
Georgia, 1 hour 27 minutes late. Again, I napped most of the
morning. As much as I like riding on trains, like my wife, I too
was anxious to get back home after a wonderful 2 _ –week
vacation. We were able to get out and walk around for a few
minutes at the Jacksonville station. Only 3 hours until home now!
For the final 3 hours of our trip, I took very
little video, and didn’t
even follow my railroad maps, like I usually do. I have been on
this segment enough times, that I pretty much know what everything we
pass is. We arrived at our home station of Winter Park about 1:45
PM, only 1 hour 20 minutes late or so. Julie helped us get our
suitcases off, then we waited next to the sleeping car while I took one
last video sequence, and the Winter Park agent came past with the
baggage cart, and put our 2 big suitcases on top of the others he was
taking up to the station. There were not very many passengers
detraining at Winter Park, but I imagine there were quite a few
detraining at Orlando, the next stop, 5 miles further south.
We walked to the front of the station, and Jan
called a taxicab on the
cell phone. While we were waiting for the taxi, I got a large
bottle of coke from the machine inside the station, but could not get
the top off it without a pair of pliers or a wrench. So we were
not able to open the bottle until we got home. Soon enough, our
taxi came and whisked us back home.
All in all, we had a great trip and enjoyed every
part of it! My
wife Jan enjoyed the train trip as much as I did, and we both enjoyed
all the things we had a chance to see out west. Who knows?
We may plan another combination train/car trip somewhere for next
year! As long as there are still trains around and AMTRAK – and
as a final note, I may add that nowhere, but NOWHERE did we see any
signs or indications that some of the AMTRAK LD trains may not be
running much longer, and we saw zero “180-day train-off notices,” like
had been rumored before this trip.
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