# Memphis to Chicago via St. Louis



## lepearso (Jul 9, 2009)

On June 28th I attended a business conference in downtown Memphis. Being in the same town as a train station I can never resist going for a short trip on the rails. So, I planned in advance to make a round trip to Chicago leaving on the 30th.

I have made the round trip from Memphis to Chicago several times, but this time I wanted to venture over to St. Louis and take a different northbound route. First of all, I wanted to see the new St. Louis Gateway station and, secondly, I have never before ridden the Lincoln Service between St. Louis and Chicago.

The late night northbound departure from Memphis (10:40 p.m. to be exact) allowed me to finish an entire day of meetings and workshops, catch a quick swim in the hotel pool, have dinner, pack my bags, and get to the train station without feeling rushed.

I arrived at Memphis Central Station at 9:30 p.m. and was grateful that the parking lot beside the track is back in business. It was closed through the better part of last year when a century-old culvert collapsed and caused a huge sinkhole. Amtrak service was rerouted away from downtown Memphis for 7 months while the city government and the railroad worked things out. Fortunately, that ordeal is behind us and I got to park my car right beside the canopy next to the track.

To my disappointment, the northbound City of New Orleans was running 53 minutes late and that was a real bummer for me. If the train could run on time tonight, I could catch an earlier train out of St. Louis and spend more time in Chicago. If the train was late, I would miss the earlier connection and have to take a later train meaning less time in the Windy City. To add insult to injury, I had been checking with Amtrak and the City of New Orleans was running perfectly on schedule for the last several days. The one day I was riding and needed to be on time the train was late!

The train arrived at 10:55 p.m., 55 minutes late. The schedule allots 40-minutes of dwell time in the station and I was curious to see if Amtrak personnel would try to reduce that and leave the station closer to schedule. In my previous experiences that rarely happened. I recall years ago riding the California Zephyr through Colorado about 2 hours behind schedule. The train was allotted 90 minutes of dwell time in Denver and the train waited in the station all 90 minutes. We left Denver as far behind schedule as when we arrived. On this night, Amtrak made me proud. The dwell time was cut in half and we left Memphis 35 minutes late instead of 55.

I didn’t expect the train to be full of passengers on a Tuesday night, but it was. I recall in previous years I could board the train in Memphis and have plenty of empty seats to choose from. Tonight, there were only a few.

To get to St. Louis from Memphis is not the easiest plan in the world. You have to tumble out of your seat at about 3:15 a.m. and transfer to a shuttle van at Carbondale, IL. Fortunately, our train arrived in Carbondale only about 15 minutes late. Evidently we made up some additional time along the way. Our shuttle van left Carbondale on time to the minute with about 9 passengers on board. The ride into St. Louis is breathtaking as the famous arch comes into view from miles away.

We arrived 5-minutes early at the new St. Louis Gateway Station. Some may wonder why I wanted to make a special trip to see this station. Well, 9 years ago I made a train connection in St. Louis and got to experience the famous “Amshack” that looked more like a tool shed than a train station. It was supposed to be a “temporary” station for St. Louis but ended up being in use for 28 years – far beyond its intended lifespan! In 2006 I made a connection at St. Louis in a much-improved temporary station that Amtrak built. I wanted to see with my own eyes that St. Louis finally had a real train station instead of something “temporary”.

Gateway Station really and truly lives up to its name. It’s a gateway for various modes of transportation. Amtrak, Greyhound, and the local transit system use this station. Passengers can connect between the different modes of transportation, which is a huge plus for the city. The station is clean, pleasant, and attractive. The layout means that bus passengers can see the bus bay and rail passengers can see the tracks. The ticket offices, the food services, and the full-time security desk are also in plain view, and this gives passengers a much greater sense of ease. I like the retro styling and the abundance of natural sun light inside the building.

Because we made up for lost time, I was able to take the earlier northbound train. We left right on time. Although it wasn’t a full train when we pulled out of St. Louis, the conductor informed us that we would be picking up large numbers of passengers at each of our northbound stops. By the time we left Springfield the train was nearly full.

I had a light breakfast in the snack car, which has booth table seating on one half. It was nice to see other passengers congregating there to play cards, play board games, and eat, of course. While sitting in my coach seat I overheard a young fellow in the seat behind me talking on his cell phone. He told the person on the other end, “The train is really nice, so I won’t be taking the bus anymore.”

We made really good time on this trip. We had three brief delays and each time the conductor got on the speaker and gave a brief explanation. For years Amtrak was bad about keeping its passengers in the dark about delays and interruptions. I understand that the company’s new policy is to be up front and clear about each and every delay en route, and I think that is a very good practice.

I could see from the train window that each grade crossing through the central Illinois has quad gates. I assume these were installed to prepare for higher track speeds in the near future.

Arriving at Chicago Union Station is always an indescribable experience for me. There’s something about this big, huge, ornate and extremely busy station that makes my heart pound. As trains carry more and more people, Chicago Union Station gets busier and busier. They have made some positive changes at CUS in recent years. The first class Metropolitan Lounge is larger and the new Quik-Trak ticket machines mean shorter lines at the Amtrak ticket windows. However, there’s still room for improvement. There’s a shortage of restrooms, they still don’t make train announcements in the Great Hall, and they could use another set of storage lockers.

I always enjoy a day on the town in Chicago, so I stored by bags in a storage locker and took the famous stairway used in the movie “Untouchable”. As soon as I got to the street I saw that the Jackson Street Bridge is completely out of service and undergoing a massive rebuild. So I ventured another block over and went into town. My first stop was to have Chicago-style pizza at Giordano’s only a few blocks from Union Station. I did some shopping and general sightseeing, but did not take in any museums on this trip. I enjoy museums so much more when I’m traveling with my family, especially with my niece and nephew. So, I just killed time doing some other things.

I’m always impressed with how clean and friendly Chicago is. I enjoy people watching and it warms my heart to see folks congregate on the streets and visit with one another in passing. It makes the city feel more like a small town.

While visiting a book store I found the perfect book to read while waiting for the train. It was a biography about a troublesome situation we had in Tennessee a couple years ago. The story always intrigued me and I was so glad somebody wrote about it.

I did not bother having dinner in Chicago because I was getting a complimentary dinner on the train with my sleeper space. So, I returned to Union Station and took my place on one of the massive wooden benches in the Great Hall. While reading my book I really enjoyed seeing all the people gathering to wait for their train. Most noticeable was a group of young folks with backpacks heading to Colorado for some camping. Imagine the hassle these kids would have trying to take an airline!

About an hour ahead of train time, I checked in at Metropolitan Lounge. Although I like the Lounge I would rather be in the Great Hall where all the action is. About 45 minutes ahead of departure time they called for all City of New Orleans sleeper car passengers. I boarded and took my place in room 4.

The attendant stopped by and asked me if I was ready for dinner. I was a little surprised, but then I remembered that Amtrak now opens the dining car early for sleeper passengers. My attendant took me to the Cross Country Café, which is a combined Diner and Lounge Car. Serving dinner early to sleeper passengers means that coach passengers get to eat at a more reasonable time. In years past, Amtrak did not open the dining car until and unless all tickets were collected and counted. I like the new practice much, much better.

I chose the braised flat iron steak with baked potato and stewed vegetables. It made for a nice, pleasant dinner. The seating arrangement in the Cross Country Café is unusual because some people sit with their backs to the window. I like the traditional dining car arrangement better; however, this is perfectly acceptable for a train that doesn’t do a vast amount of food service.

Sleeper car passengers have access to a shower. For me, this was a real plus because I had been 24 hours without one! Taking a shower on a moving train is tricky, but well worth it for me. I returned to my room and changed into something more comfortable. I expected the attendant to offer to make up my room for me, but I did not see him, so I did it myself. I would have enjoyed watching the nighttime scenery slip by, but I was tired and fell asleep around 10 p.m.

I slept soundly, maybe waking up once in the night to look out the window. I didn’t wake up until early the next morning when I heard the attendant tell someone down the hall “Memphis in 30 minutes.” He then came to my door and said the same thing.

I got up, got dressed, and grabbed a cup of coffee from down the hall. Arriving in Memphis is so easy because you literally walk from the train to your parked car in just a few steps.

Looking back on the trip, I must say that Amtrak has much better on-time performance than what I’ve seen in years past. This definitely gives the train much greater appeal. I also give high compliments to the city of St. Louis for finally building a better station.

As always, I look forward to my next trip.


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## AAARGH! (Jul 9, 2009)

Nice report! Glad it worked out well.

I would like to see the new station in St. Louis as well.


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## gaspeamtrak (Jul 10, 2009)

Great trip report!!!  I passed through St. Louis many years ago to and i would like to see the new station too...


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## stlouielady (Jul 10, 2009)

It's a nice station, and really central for all the forms of transportation, as mentioned. One negative to it is the lack of reasonably priced long term parking. There is a short term lot there, with a rate of $1 per hour. The closest long-term parking is either at an open lot at Union Station, approximately 2-3 blocks away, for something like $17 a day, or at the Sheraton hotel garage across the street, for something like $20 a day. Luckily, the light rail has several long-term parking lots available (for free), and, it drops you off within steps of the station.


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