# LAX to SJC and back (CS)



## trainfanmom (Sep 8, 2009)

LAX to SJC, Sept 1st

Our arrival at Union Station was almost an exact repeat of our trip just one month earlier. Again my husband took the kids to the platforms to check out the trains while I picked up the tickets and then settled into the Traxx lounge with my Mom and the bags. The conductor came around about 9:30 to collect tickets and then it was time to walk to the train.

We were again in car 1431 but this time we had two upper level roomettes across from one another (last month we had the family bedroom). We found these accommodations just as nice but for different reasons, LOL. It was nice to sit and chat with my Mom in one roomette while the kids colored in the other (and we could still see them). Then we would switch around rooms depending on what we were doing. And somehow when we came to the stretch of ocean we still managed to fit all four of us inside the ocean-facing roomette to enjoy the view, LOL. The view is so much nicer from the upper level.

Our car attendant was a bit friendlier this time and seemed to be around almost all the time (but again, being a day trip, we didn’t require much help). We were happy to see that the train did have a Parlour car after reading about some recent problems with one of them. This time the Parlour car attendant was Jane and she was wonderful. I believe I have read other trip reports about her also. My son spent the rest of our trip imitating her accent. What do they say…imitation is the sincerest form of flattery? This time it was certainly true because my son just loved hearing her voice  We once again took part in the Wine Tasting but unfortunately this time the movie was not really kid friendly and started much earlier than the wine tasting so we ended up not really having the relaxing time that we had before because the kids needed something to do.

We had lunch and dinner in the dining car again. I asked about kid’s meals in the Parlour Car this time but they said that they couldn’t do that. But that was no problem for us because we still got to enjoy the Parlour Car quite a bit.

We arrived in San Jose about 10 minutes early and over all it was a very pleasant trip.

SJC to LAX, Sept 6th

This was by far the best trip of all three. We had been tracking the train all day on Saturday via internet (to my son’s delight) and were very happy to find it running very close to on time. So on Sunday morning we packed up and headed over to the station. The train was actually ahead of schedule and arrived 10 minutes early. Since both of our other trips originated in LAX, this was our first time standing on a platform watching our train pull into the station. My son was thrilled to see the big Genesis engines come roaring in.

We were back in the family room for this leg of the trip (which amazingly was cheaper than two roomettes even though we booked this trip only a few weeks in advance). We were in car 1130 this time, right next to the PPC (which again, to our delight, was on the train). We had plenty of time in the station and the crew was even nice enough to allow my sister and BIL to come inside and see our room and the PPC (great customer service because I think they are ready to plan a trip now). The car this time looked much more worse for wear than the others we had been in (I believe it was a Superliner I based on how the toilets flushed, LOL).  But it was still clean and we had no problems in the room other than we could not hear the announcements. We ended up keeping the door open a lot so that we could hear them because the conductor did a really good job of keeping us informed of what was going on (and the conductors on the train prior to the change in San Luis Obispo were very entertaining).

But what made this trip so wonderful was our car attendant. She was excellent and we really enjoying chatting with her at the stops. What thrilled me the most was how she treated my kids. She really made this trip a special experience for them. And it wasn’t just us that she was this way with. She really seemed to enjoy interacting with all the people in her car.

She noticed my son’s Amtrak shirt right off the bat and starting talking to him about trains. He just kept chatting with her and then asked her if he could say “all aboard” when it was time to go. She not only let him but told him once he said it one direction to face the other way down the train and yell it for those people also.

The train was early into every station which gave us a lot of time to get out and check out some sites. In Salinas we were able to take the kids over to view the steam engine and caboose on display there. We stayed close to the train at first but our attendant kept telling us that we had plenty of time and she would be sure to call us back. We never got too far away though. Unfortunately they called us for lunch before we left Salinas so my son didn’t get to say “all aboard” this time.

Since we had already done it twice, and again the movie was not very kid friendly, we decided to forgo the wine tasting this time. I believe the regular Parlour Car attendant may have been sick because the woman in the car this time was the lead in the dining car on our previous trip (and she admitted that it was her first time in the Parlour car). Since she didn’t say anything and the number of people attending the wine tasting was really small, we just stayed in the PPC anyway (and no one attempted to kick us out). This gave us a really nice view of the horseshoe curves. While in the PPC, we overheard one of the conductors talking to a couple other passengers about the car. He told them a little history about it but said they were having problems with them (AC, etc) and he expected that they would be pulled from service completely in the near future (I certainly hope that isn’t the case).

We headed back to our room for a bit and as we were pulling into San Luis Obispo, our attendant knocked on our door to ask my son if he wanted to come be her Jr. Conductor again. We were really early so we had plenty of time to check things out at the station. There was an Amtrak volunteer there that gave my son a Jr. Conductor’s hat (paper) and was telling him all about the train. At one point, one of the conductors was coming by and my son asked for a picture with him. The conductor told him that to be official, they would need to change hats so he put his conductor’s hat on my son and he wore the paper hat  Then a few minutes later, the volunteer came back and brought my son some Amtrak postcards and a bag to keep his stuff in. While we were chatting, another man was walking by so the volunteer told my son that this was someone that he needed to meet. It turns out it was the Engineer (this was a changing point for them). So we also got a picture with the Engineer and the volunteer. Then soon it was time to go and our attendant made sure to have my son belt out a couple of loud “all aboards,” in case anyone missed the train horn, 

We watched the coast from our room for a bit and then it was time for dinner. Luckily we were seated on the ocean side and had a beautiful view to watch during dinner. We were early again into Santa Barbara where we picked up about 100 passengers (which filled up the coach cars). Again we had plenty of time to go over and take pictures by the train car on display there (all the while keeping an eye on our car attendant in case she needed to call us back). My son also got one last chance to yell “all aboard.” He was in train heaven 

The train was about 30 minutes early arriving into Union Station and luckily we called my husband before we even got to Van Nuys so he had time to drive to LAUS and meet us on the platform.

I don’t know if we have just been really lucky but we encountered nothing but friendly employees on our trips, with this last leg being the best, by far. It was the kind of customer service that makes you want to tell all your friends about it so they will try Amtrak too. I do plan on writing to Amtrak to share my experience also, and especially to give praise for our car attendant. She went above and beyond to make it a great trip for us.


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## Long Train Runnin' (Sep 8, 2009)

Thanks for posting your report! I enjoyed reading it.  Seems like you had a great experience.


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## the_traveler (Sep 8, 2009)

Great report! Glad you enjoyed the trip! 

By any chance - was your SCA Veronica? :huh: I had her on the TE last month, and she sounds like the same one. She told me that she usually is on the CS.


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## JayPea (Sep 8, 2009)

the_traveler said:


> Great report! Glad you enjoyed the trip!
> By any chance - was your SCA Veronica? :huh: I had her on the TE last month, and she sounds like the same one. She told me that she usually is on the CS.



And if so, I wonder if she's the same Veronica that was in the faux PPC when I took the CS in August. She was probably the best attendant of any sort I've had, and I've had a lot of good ones.


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## Bob Dylan (Sep 8, 2009)

Great report,thanks!Its always good to see the youngsters love trains,they can pass it on and keep it going for the next generation!The CS is a great ride,sure hope Amtrak doesnt do a stupid thing and pull the PPCs,perhaps with the winter coming and the stimulus $$ coming they can rehab and buy some more of the Hi-Level cars to have a few spares, its not the same to have an ssl in its place!


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## Bob Dylan (Sep 8, 2009)




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## trainfanmom (Sep 9, 2009)

the_traveler said:


> Great report! Glad you enjoyed the trip!
> By any chance - was your SCA Veronica? :huh: I had her on the TE last month, and she sounds like the same one. She told me that she usually is on the CS.



The SCA was Robin. She said that she always works the 30 (1430 and 1130) car. I believe she said she is on a 10-day rotation. I took that to mean she works the 4-day round trip and then is off for 6. Is that the way it works?


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## Bob Dylan (Sep 9, 2009)

Missed this one before, we had Veronica on the CS and she is first rate!Maybe when they start the CHI-LAX run daily shell be a regular but sure would be hard to give up the CS I would think!


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