# Great Beginning Bad Ending



## BigBears2 (Jun 21, 2011)

Just thought I'd tell everyone about our very first trip on Amtrak we took to celebrate our 25th wedding anniversary. Though a little tricky to find because of trees hiding the signs but we had made a day trip to get the tickets so we knew where to go. We arrived at the station for our very first train trip on Amtrak in Cleveland Ohio about 1:00am to catch train 49 to Chicago Illinois at 3:45am, yes I was paranoid about missing it. The station was clean and the staff was very helpfull as we waited for the train to arrive. I even checked with them several times to make sure my car wouldn't be towed away as an abandoned vehicle in the 2 1/2 weeks we were gone.  The train was an hour late but that was no biggy being we had a good 4 hour buffer in Chicago. We traveled the first night by coach from Cleveland to Chicago for the experiance and though it was roomy and comfortable I wouldn't do it for long travel. The only minor glitch was when we were told where to sit only to find someone sleeping there because people were not staying in there assigned seats. So they gave my wife and I new seats rather than making the person return to their own seat they were assigned to sit in.

We arrived in Chicago and got lost in the terminal several times and found ourselves waking in circles. In our wanderings we took tons of pictures of the station inside and out and then got something to eat before going to the lounge. The lounge was great though it did lack enough electrical plugs so most places to sit were without electrical access. But I did manage to use what little battery time I had on my laptop to use the available wi-fi to get a quick e-mail off to the people we were visiting to say we were on our way. I don't know how long we were roaming around the station lost but the call to board train 421 to Tucson Arizona came as I sent the e-mail off. 

From Chicago we traveled by Roomette and found it very nice yet small but that came as no surprise because we had read so much here and watched tons of videos online. Also, being my wife and I can be in close proximity to each other without either of us getting uspet was a plus I'm sure. The top bunk could use a couple of handles to hold onto while getting in and out but I managed not to fall to my death while getting in and out. Being 50 and on the thinish side and 6'1" the top bunk wasn't easy but not impossably hard either but I wouldn't recommend it for anyone with mobility problems or weight issues. Even with my long legs finding that first step on the way down was a little scary without anything to really hold onto. Maybe some circus training before hand or being a ninja h34r: would help make it easier to get in and out of the top bunk. :giggle:

The food was fantastic and they gave you allot of it which made the cost of the roomette even more worth the price. I think we both gained weight on the trip we'll have to work off now that we are home.  It wasn't until after the train was rearranged in San Antonio that we had to walk through the coach cars to get to the dinner. That's when we did discovered that coach isn't as nice in the daytime when everyone is awake. Very few used earbuds as per the rules for electronic devices and there were children running everywhere yelling, screaming and playing in the isles and nobody was stopping any of it. Once in Texas as we left the dinning car there was a altercation that broke out in the observation car between a Mexican and an American Indian. It could have gotten physical but the Indian ignored the taunting to get physical and walked away before it did. The staff was quickly on the scene to control the situation and both men were removed from the train at the next available train station. Though I would have only removed the Mexican being he was the main aggressor and was the one trying to aggitate it into a physical fight.

Though the windows needed cleaning badly we did find one clean enough to take pictures out of and we did take a bunch of the wonderful scenery from there. I was a little surprised after reading here of the trouble other people had taking pictures that we never ran into anyone asking us to not take pictures inside the train or at the stations. Oh, and there was the delay because a crane truck tried to beat a freight train at a crossing but lost and the pickup that drove on the tracks just outside Tucson that hit the switching box that had to be inspected before we could go into the station. But those are just part of rail travel and no biggy. All in all our trip down was a blast and we had a wonderful time on the trains down to Tucson Arizona.

Sadly the trip home to Cleveland from Tucson didn't go as well and began to fall apart right from the start. First they moved us into another room instead of having us wait because the room wasn't ready. Which was no biggy for us but it did cause issues for the next sleeper attendant, I'll explain that later. The first sleeper attendant on the 422 turned out to be more interested in talking to the young studs in coach than actually being available to the passengers in the sleeper. She was MIA for most of her tour of duty and didn't even put any water out for anyone and a few new passengers that got on later never even got their beds turned down. Luckily for us we had bought some water in Tucson and were old hacks at putting our room up and down. The next sleeper attendant was great and made sure the water was always available and fresh coffee was always there. He did unfortunatly have to deal with the mess the previous attendant made of the room assignments. We discovered that he thought us a no-show and not only were people moved some were upgraded without charge or reason and one person had a whole family from coach staying in their bedroom. When he discovered the family he chased them back to coach and the woman with the bedroom was removed at the next station. I would have thrown all those involved but thankfully I wasn't in charge. 

But wait there's more.. Then the air went out in one of the coach cars and the heat and humidity was unbearable just walking through. I felt so bad for those people that had to stay in that car under those conditions. They opened the doors between cars trying to help the situation but it wasn't working at all with no fans to move the air. One lady in that car ( got two stories ) either passed out from the heat or had an asthma attack and had to be removed by ambulance. Then after the trains were separated in San Antonio Texas the toilets began to fail in our sleeper car. At one stop, I can't recall the town, a man went below and did something that sounded like a whole system flush but that didn't solve anything. Soon after all the group toilets in the sleeper had failed completely and we had to use the toilets in the coach cars. They had a guy vacuum the toilets in Houston Texas but that didn't help and he only did the lower deck. When we pulled out of Houston the system was also reading a vacuum leak warning light as well and soon the toilets in the rooms had also failed. If all that wasn't bad enough people had trouble with understanding "toilet broke don't use them". Our attendant locked them but when they didn't unlock by themselves from the rattling a conductor unlocked them the night before St. Louis where he got off. I ran into him during one of the night smoke stops and found him to be rude and drowning in his own self-importance. He was laughing and pointing at our sleeper attendant as we pulled away having left us in a bigger mess by opening the toilets that night. By the time we pulled into St. Louis the toilets were over flowing and the entire car smelled of raw sewage. They emptied the tank but that didn't solve anything being it was a line issue and not a full tank problem. Our attendant did what he could to move everyone off the lower deck where the mess and smell was the worst and into other rooms and into other sleeper cars if available. Things were really getting nasty and the crap was hitting the fan in our sleeper car, pun intended. I'm not sure if the problem was they didn't have anyone that knew how to fix the problem or just didn't want to take the time needed to fix it but either way the sent us onto Chicago with no sleeper toilets. The coach toilets were quickly becoming a disaster as well and begining to fail too with the extra usage from the sleepers. One time I went in someone must of had an accident and there was crap on the seat, they put used toilet paper in the area for the toilet paper rolls and even tracked crap into the hallway either to or from the restroom. :help:

All of that caused us to slip out of our time slot and we began to fall further and further behind as we were put on secondary rail priority. As a result everytime we got going at a good clip we had to stop for freight train traffic. They were running out of food during lunch and there was no food for dinner for anyone and they began raiding the cafe car for chips and other snacks. Our attendant said at one point that the conductor was arranging a sizable refund for all the sleeper car passengers ( which the Cleveland station said the conductor had no authority to do or say that ). Our sleeper car attendant was a real trooper from the start of his time with us but I can't say the same for the conductor towards the end of the trip near Chicago. When our car demanded to see him he,as far as we know, told our attendant that he was off the clock and refused to come back to talk to us. We were supposed to be in Chicago at 1:52pm but we didn't get in until near or after 10:00pm. We had scheduled close to an 8 hour layover in Chicago to site see but by the time we got in they were holding train 48 over waiting for us, luckily. So instead of site seeing we had to run from one platform to the other to catch our train with no side trips for bathrooms, food or anything. Other than a few small peices of cheese they were serving at some wine and cheese tasting thing on board the 48 we had nothing to eat from lunch until breakfast the next morning. It was basically get on board run to the dinner, eat a few small cheese peices as they loaded from another train that was late and then to bed hungry in our sleeper. :angry: The only reason they fed us breakfast was that they were late waiting on us in Chicago so we were still on board when breakfast was served, which we barely finished as the train pulled into Cleveland Ohio.

I find sending a sleeper car from San Antonio to Chicago with no bathrooms let alone smelly failed bathrooms ireprehensable. Then add to that the indifference to those in that car and to those missing their connections, compounded with lies about refunds and being off duty so I don't care attitued. If it wasn't for me asking the ticket agent in Cleveland about the refund we would have waited until it was too late to call anyone. Which we will be doing tomorrow. Even the ticket agent was very sympathetic and said we should get something for our trouble when we call.

Will we travel by Amtrak again.. being we saw how good it could be more than likely we will concider it.. well as long as TSA stays out of it. Speaking of those folks we were not afraid for our safety at any time.. our health with the toilets.. but not for our safety. We had, before the trip back, planned a trip across the top of the country to Seattle Washington as well as other trips with only a turn around at the other end because we enjoyed the ride so much... we'll see.

We also loved all the great people we met in the dinning car from all over the world. We met folks from England, Scottland, Australia, New Zealand, China and a few other places I just can't recall right now. :hi: Also a big salute out to the many great staff people we met that loved their jobs and were happy, helpfull and nice.  And the few rude and miserable employees of Amtrak, and you know who you are, if you don't like the job quit I'm sure someone will gladly take your place.


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## bobnabq (Jun 21, 2011)

I really enjoyed reading your post. Sorry you had those bad experiences and hope you get some restitution.


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## Devil's Advocate (Jun 21, 2011)

Thank you so much for the trip report. I've seen the same backed up toilets, the same MIA sleeper attendants, and the same needlessly cocky conductors as you have. It's a disgrace the way those toilets fail so completely. Never saw anything so bad on literally _hundreds_ of airline flights, including the long-haul ones. But on the plus side you seem to have managed to handle the situation well and enjoy the good parts despite the bad stuff. You should definitely request a large voucher in return for your continued business. Hope the next trip goes better and that you'll post another report when the time comes!


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## acelafan (Jun 21, 2011)

Wow, that's quite a trip - thanks for taking the time to share your experience. I've only been on a handful of long-distance trains and have never experienced the disaster you endured. I do hope you try it again in the future since your bad trip on the return was definitely an anomaly. You might try traveling in the off-peak season, too, as I have found the train to be more relaxed and generally not as full.

However, I have seen rude and uncontrolled children and coach and THAT should not be tolerated. It is not fair to the other paying passengers.


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## BigBears2 (Jun 22, 2011)

:wacko: I mistakenly put Houston in my post, The Texas Eagle doesn't even go to Houston. Where it says Houston it should have been Fort Worth Texas.

Sorry hboy:


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## greatcats (Jun 22, 2011)

I am sorry that you had such a messy return trip. Definitely complain loudly and you should receive a substantial adjustment. Going back to February you will see that I posted a four installment account of my Amtrak trip coast to coast. Most of it was quite good and I gave them a B+ overall. Please try another long distance trip. Much of what you described is inexcuable, however. I think I would have bailed off that train and headed for an airport.


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## Shanghai (Jun 22, 2011)

Thank you for your post. You are a real trooper to put up with the issues on your

return trip. I had the unpleasant experience in a roomette on the Cardinal. The

air conditioning and toilets failed from Charlottesville, VA to Indianapolis, IN

in the summertime. I wrote Customer Service and I received a phone call from Amtrak

apologizing for the inconvenience and given a voucher for the cost of the roomette.

I hope to take the Empire Builder trip to Seattle.


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## reefgeek (Jun 23, 2011)

I liked your trip report. Sometimes a bad time makes for a more interesting story! I'm really glad I wasn't in that sleeper on your return trip. Your comment about ninja training to enter the upper bunk was great. Being 6'3" myself, I concur. Maybe Amtrak could post some suggested yoga positions on the website to help prepare for climbing into the bunk. Your attitude about the inferior OBS members was on target. I think if we all like Amtrak but hate bad service, we just have to keep after those particular dingbats.


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## Railroad Bill (Jun 23, 2011)

Enjoyed your trip report. Very sorry you had such a bad return trip. It is difficult to believe that so many incompetent employees can be on a set of trains but it happens. Why Amtrak can't weed out these people is beyond me. :angry:

I know that I recommend Amtrak to all my friends but if they had a trip like yours, it would be their last one. :angry2:

Those of us on AU group are overly tolerant at times of this poor performance by Amtrak employees. 

Hope you will try another LD trip. We have been on all four western trains several times and for the most part, all were very pleasurable experiences. 

(And yes, at 6'6" I find that climb into the top bunk to be a wild experience.


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