# Four hours in Washington, DC



## Trogdor (Jul 9, 2006)

Having thousands upon thousands of unused Amtrak Guest Rewards points, and only weekends off thanks to my new job, led me to decide to take a quick trip to Washington, DC, and back. By quick, I mean that literally.

I flew from Midway Airport to BWI Saturday morning, arriving around 10:30. At BWI, I rode the B30 bus (which either was not air conditioned, or had defective air conditioning, not sure which) to Greenbelt, and boarded a Green Line train. The second car in that consist also had defective air conditioning, so I repositioned myself into the first car.

DC Metro has changed their subway announcements since the last time I was there. They got pretty annoying after the first or second time hearing them (I miss the old, "Doors closing; DOOO dooo"). After picking up my ticket and checking in at the Metropolitan Lounge, I returned to Metrorail (to get my money's worth out of the day pass), finding lunch in Virginia before returning via the Blue and Yellow lines. Having spent the last couple of months riding CTA's rail lines, the rides I took on the DC subway were such a nice, refreshing change.

I had my camera with me, and took photographs of planes, Metro buses, and even inside the Metro subway system. The *only* time I was bothered by anyone and told that photography wasn't allowed was by the Amtrak attendant that took us from the Metropolitan lounge to the track level at Washington Union Station. I'm not sure what the actual rule is regarding photography on track level at that station, but as my own way of giving the finger either to that employee or to the actual policy makers that made the rule (if the rule, in fact, exists), I took a photograph anyway after I walked by her. (It wasn't a very good photograph, but still, it's the principle of the matter.)

As outgoing DOT secretary Norman Mineta would say, nobody boarded the train, and it ran empty all the way to Chicago, serving places people didn't want to go to (like Pittsburgh, Cleveland, Toledo, and Chicago). As I would say, having ridden the train, it was pretty full. The train had two sleepers and three coaches. Sometime before dinner, I walked through the coaches, and found that the first two coach cars were about 75% full of passengers traveling all the way to Chicago. The third coach had the "shorts," and was about 1/3 to 1/2 full. The sleepers appeared to be full, but I didn't really pay too close attention to which rooms had passengers and which ones didn't (I was in 05/2901).

As for "simplified dining service," as others have stated, the food quality is pretty good. One complaint would be the salad (which out SA brought out late, after our food, simply because he forgot) consisted of about four pieces of lettuce and a quarter slice of a cherry tomato. The ranch dressing wasn't very good. I had the roast chicken, and it was delicious. Mashed potatoes were good. Carrots were a little dry, but not too, too bad.

Service was spotty. The SA serving my table seemed to be new. He was slow at taking my order, and nearly walked away without taking my drink order. My table didn't have silverware. I already mentioned that the "salads" came late. Also, I had to ask him for dessert, as it was apparent that he wasn't going to ask anyone at the table if we wanted any. Oh, and BRING BACK THE CHOCOLATE PYRAMIDS.

We were on time from Washington, DC, all the way into Rockville, MD. Then we lost about 25 minutes due to a CSX switch problem. That led to us losing about a half hour waiting for a freight. I went to sleep after we left Pittsburgh (00:54, just over an hour late), and woke up shortly before we arrived into Toledo, an hour and a half late.

The sleeper had a new shower head/control unit installed (no more "push button, let water run for 30 seconds" setup). I don't specifically remember if this is the way it is on the remanufactured cars or not. Nevertheless, the instructions inside the shower on how to operate the unit still referred to the old setup.

Breakfast was good. Faster service, stuff served properly. Only complaint would be the lack of pancakes on the menu. Syrup was in little single-half-serving cups in a basket on the table (I forget how syrup was served before).

Stayed about 1:30 late through Elkhart, IN. I dozed off in my room for a while, and woke up as the car attendant was announcing arrival into Chicago. We were delayed crossing the state line as the drawbridge was raised.

Ultimately, we arrived 2:10 late into Chicago, at 10:40.

Interestingly, for both meals, when I told them that I flew into Washington just to take the train back, the guy sitting next to me said "You must be a railfan." At dinner, the couple across from us was retired, and interested in advocacy. The guy next to me told them about the Midwest High Speed Rail Association and the National Association of Railroad Passengers, and I gave them the address for NARP's website.

And, finally, for those keeping score at home:

99

69

1755

39045

32030

32047

38011

33032

34085

34065

34077

74051

74101


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## MrFSS (Jul 9, 2006)

Thanks for the report, Robert. Glad you had a good trip. Now back to work.


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## Boxcar (Jul 10, 2006)

> had my camera with me, and took photographs of planes, Metro buses, and even inside the Metro subway system. The *only* time I was bothered by anyone and told that photography wasn't allowed was by the Amtrak attendant that took us from the Metropolitan lounge to the track level at Washington Union Station. I'm not sure what the actual rule is regarding photography on track level at that station, but as my own way of giving the finger either to that employee or to the actual policy makers that made the rule (if the rule, in fact, exists), I took a photograph anyway after I walked by her. (It wasn't a very good photograph, but still, it's the principle of the matter.)
> As outgoing DOT secretary Norman Mineta would say, nobody boarded the train, and it ran empty all the way to Chicago, serving places people didn't want to go to (like Pittsburgh, Cleveland, Toledo, and Chicago). As I would say, having ridden the train, it was pretty full. The train had two sleepers and three coaches. Sometime before dinner, I walked through the coaches, and found that the first two coach cars were about 75% full of passengers traveling all the way to Chicago. The third coach had the "shorts," and was about 1/3 to 1/2 full. The sleepers appeared to be full, but I didn't really pay too close attention to which rooms had passengers and which ones didn't (I was in 05/2901).


I don't know the reason for no photo's unless it's something that has come up since 9/11. I suspect it came from the Dept. of Homeland Security but the same should have applied to the Subway as well if that was the case.

For such a fancy schmancy lounge in Washington, there is certainly some grumpy attendents there.

I don't know if it was the same lady or not but when I was there the middle of last month, a poor Guy made the mistake of pushing a cart filled with luggage and kids into the lounge. I thought she was going to stroke out.

Instead of politely telling him that carts were not allowed into the lounge even by Red Caps and please remove it, she screamed out an order to remove it immediately. Not the best PR move IMHO.

As for the train set it was the same for me and because of a mix up on the dates of my tickets and all sleepers full, We were boarded into the second car which was completely filled and the third was still empty. Somewhere around Cleveland several passengers detrained and a group of about 30 came trooping through the car and into the rear car that was empty.

No surprise to me when a few minutes later they were herded back into the second car and dispersed through out the car. In Toledo the rear car was about 1/3 filled.

It must have been the other days that outgoing DOT secretary Norman Mineta had in mind and not on the days of the week we traveled. <_<


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## Guest_Rick (Jul 11, 2006)

Loved your report, and I can certainly relate. I have a three day trip planned for late October, and a money saving one at that. I will be flying from Philly to Chicago on a Saturday morning. $49 on Southwest and taking the Cardinal back that evening. With the H570 code you save 25% off the regular fare on most trains. When I get to Philly I ll take a regional overnight to New London, Ct visit Foxwoods and take a train back to Philly that afternoon. Two nights in coach..I can handle that. Nothing like train riding to spend your time. Also traveling the route of the Cardinal in late October should provide some great foliage.


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## sentinal (Aug 1, 2006)

rmadisonwi said:


> As outgoing DOT secretary Norman Mineta would say, nobody boarded the train, and it ran empty all the way to Chicago, serving places people didn't want to go to (like Pittsburgh, Cleveland, Toledo, and Chicago). As I would say, having ridden the train, it was pretty full. The train had two sleepers and three coaches. Sometime before dinner, I walked through the coaches, and found that the first two coach cars were about 75% full of passengers traveling all the way to Chicago. The third coach had the "shorts," and was about 1/3 to 1/2 full. The sleepers appeared to be full, but I didn't really pay too close attention to which rooms had passengers and which ones didn't (I was in 05/2901).


maybe if any cabinet level person would ride with the rest of the train, instead of his own personal car he might see other people. But then he may run the risk of some one like me telling him what a moron he is



oh yes my first time taking the Capital Limited, sleepers were all booked solid, and coach was full too


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