# The Southwest Chief Chicago to Los Angeles



## Long Train Runnin' (Jun 26, 2010)

June 21th 2010 The Southwest Chief Chicago-Los Angeles

After several fun hours in Chicago we were back in the metropolitan lounge waiting for the departure of the Southwest Chief. The conductor came into the lounge and collected all the sleeping car tickets before leading everyone out to the train. My dad and I were the first to reach our sleeper, so seeing an open door I climbed aboard and ran into the attendant franticly saying he wasn’t ready for us. He had me stand by the H-room and promptly closed the door, leaving me standing the car alone looking at my dad through the window. I shrugged and a minute later he came downstairs stating he was ready for us now, and ask me the room number. He already knew my last name, and let my dad onboard so the two of us settled quickly into room 2 in the 0330 car. The rest of the boarding process went smoothly and Mr. Joe Washington introduced himself as our sleeping car attendant and apologized for the boarding mix up. At 3:15 on the button we lurched forward and were on our way to Los Angeles.

My dad and I got comfortable unpacking some snacks getting the scanner set up, ect and waited to make our dinner reservation. This would be our first introduction to the dining car lead service attendant Chris, who along with rest of the dining car staff would turn out to be a disappointment. He came around and we took a 6:30 dinner reservation. Then headed to the lounge car where we couldn’t find any empty seats on the upper level, so we sat down below. We headed back to our room around Princeton, IL and I went to take a shower. We pulled into Galesburg and I got a few pictures of all the equipment in the area. While waiting to get called to the diner we were slowed down since we were in a tornado warning, and heavy storms were approaching. The storms never materialized and it rained lightly for a few minutes, and we made it without too much delay to the bridge spanning the Mighty Mississippi River, where we waited for barge to pass and the bridge to close.

We headed to the diner for dinner with a family traveling back home to Kansas City after a fun weekend in Chicago. My dad and I had steak, while our tablemates opted for the chicken. Both my dad and the gentlemen spoke about their time in the navy, and how their son had graduated from the naval academy. It was a good meal although the service wasn’t too great, and I thought it was because our server was new, when she said she had 32 years with Amtrak I nearly fell out of my seat. She had messed up the orders, and had to redo the checks for our table and the table behind us. The LSA wasn’t happy, and understandably so.

After dinner we went to the lounge car and stared into the darkness by the Iowa/Missouri border area. We sat there for awhile looking at vast tracks of…well nothing. After awhile we returned to our room which had been made up for sleeping. We laid on our bunks until we made our stop in Kansas City it was only about 10 minutes since were behind schedule. I only stayed outside for a couple minutes since it was hot and humid on the platform. After we left Kansas City I headed to bed for the night.

My phones woke me up at 5:55 AM and much to my surprise we were back on time and already sitting in the Dodge City, KS train station. I had wanted to get up and see Dodge City because of its place in Western legend and with its reasonable calling time I climbed out of bed and into the lounge to take in the sights. There wasn’t much of a train station but the downtown area was much larger then I would have thought. There was one area of recreated western structures named boot hill, a few hotels/motels and several dining options. After Dodge we napped for a bit longer before putting our name on the waiting list for breakfast.

Breakfast sadly was the worst meal service I have ever received on Amtrak to date. Our server with 32 years of experience was totally stressed out since all the tables in her section were full. I commented to my dad it was going to be a long summer for this crew if they can’t manage a full dining car. The LSA showed 0 leadership qualities instead when another server asked for help he was like I am stressed out right now just give me some space. That isn’t going to help get things running smoothly, and I’m not quite sure how Chris manages to hold down an LSA position. Our server forgot about our meals in one of the elevators from the kitchen, so the plates of railroad French toast she placed in front of us were stone cold. My dad and I decided not to say anything, since the LSA didn’t seem like he was capable of stepping in and doing something. We ate the cold French toast and chatted with our tablemates who were on their way home from Portland, Maine. The conversation was good, the food and service were not.

My dad and I returned to our room after breakfast making plans to avoid sitting in that servers section for lunch at all costs, since she was okay at dinner and terrible at breakfast we couldn’t imagine lunch. We got to La Junta, CO early so we had a chance to step off the train after breakfast and take a look around. There were a couple of vendors on the platform that met the train. Once back on board we decided we’d go over Raton pass from the comfort of our roomette instead of sitting in the lower level of the lounge. The scenery was quite nice, but not quite the mountain passes on the California Zephyr. We made a 1 PM lunch reservation, and sat in the room until then.

When our seating was called we walked nervously to the dining car hoping we would be seated in another section and mercifully we were. Our servers name was John and he was very efficient and very friendly, almost the polar opposite of Cynthia who we had before. He took good care of us, and delivered the food to the table while it was still hot. He was very nice and lunch went well sitting with a couple who were heading to Los Angeles as well.

After lunch we headed back to our room and I was amazed at how green New Mexico was I was expecting the dessert to more like Utah, but it was scenic none the less. I couldn’t believe just how small a town Lamy, NM was, but several people detrained, and it looked liked some folks just came down to the station to see the train. The run from Lamy to Albuquerque was nice and I was looking forward to the long stop.

We got Albuquerque a few minutes early so we would have about an hour in the station. I walked the platform, and found and photographed the New Mexico Railrunner equipment being stored there. There was also a BNSF track geometry train parked in the station which I was able to photograph. I went into the station and saw the food court inside was popular with the train passengers. I didn’t see the legendary burrito cart however.

Our SCA had opened doors on both sides so I was standing on the side of the train not facing the station with the vendors but still very much on a platform taking pictures. When the LSA from the dining car came right over to me asking what I was doing, and told me to go back inside the train I couldn’t stand on this platform this was an active right of way. Now I was already annoyed with this LSA so I wanted to say something really really bad, but I just shook my head since I already started writing a letter to Amtrak about this guy. First of all the track geometry train was on the next track so it wasn’t like a train was going to come barreling down the track at 79 miles an hour, and even if it did I was on a platform behind the yellow line so I would have been fine. It was just this LSA being well….yeah.

We ended up leaving Albuquerque about 13 minutes late for “passenger issues” from this point on we would never be on time. The LSA came around for dinner reservations, at 4:45 and I thought to myself this will be interesting with dinner starting at 5. The diner jus t like train would start to fall further off schedule. Our 6 PM dinner reservation was called at 6:23 so we headed to the diner, and I cringed when we were led to Cynthia’s section which my dad and I weren’t to thrilled about. She did an okay job, up until my dad and I asked for a couple ice creams to take back to the room, that ended up taking 20 minutes.

I think I fell asleep before Flagstaff I certainly didn’t get off the train, and I slept pretty well, and I woke up at 5:05 AM curious about where we were I used my phones GPS to see we were still outside of Victorville and I said to myself maglev to Las Vegas and fell back asleep. An hour later I woke up again and my dad told me we were running hours behind. I said there was a lot of padding so who knows. I was hoping we wouldn’t be to late since I was meeting Whoozon1st, Chuljin, and GG-1 for a day of train riding in California and I was hoping the plans would still work out. I left Whooz a voicemail asking him what he thought and called Amtrak who said we would only be 27 minutes late.

With the delay the dining car remained open longer, and since the connection to our surfliner was shrinking with every passing moment we decided ot give this dining crew one more chance. We were mercifully seated in John’s section and he served well although at that point they were running low on just about everything. We luckily got one of the last orders of French toast and after an uneventful breakfast returned to the room to square things away.

The approach to LA was underwhelming it was an industrial wasteland much like the NEC before Newark Penn Station. The last time I was in Southern California was younger so I don’t remember to much aside from Disneyland and LegoLand, but LA certainly underwhelmed me.

Train number 3 the Southwest Chief came to a stop in LA Union Station 40 minutes late and we tipped our attendant Joe did a great job especially when the toilets weren’t working at elevation. Then dashed toward the front of the train where we saw Whoozon1st fez and all heading toward us. We quickly entered the station dumped the bags and printed tickets.

I enjoyed all 2261 miles onboard and looked forward to a day of dashing around SoCal with a group from AU.

Please take a look at my photos by clicking here


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## Ispolkom (Jun 26, 2010)

Great trip report! I'm taking this route in a couple of months, so reading your travelogue only whets my appetite.


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## Bob Dylan (Jun 26, 2010)

Thanks for the report Stephen, I know there's lots more to come, look forward to it!I havent met your dad but I got to meet you in PHL for NTD, I know you are a polite person but Im surprised yall let the LSA and 32 year prima donna waitress give yall such lousy service! Being from the NE I thought yall would have spoken up for sure! :lol: At least youre going to let Amtrak know!Must be one of those poor service OBS crews that seem to show up once in a while, I was lucky when I rode the SWC and had one of the best,especially my SCA Sharon, also a 30+ employee! 

The toliets seem to be a problem that's happening more and more, I wonder if the wear and tear and all the resetting the breakers is taking it's tole,guess Ill find out next month when we ride the CZ and the SWC!Yall probably should have sent the cold French toast back,and hope you tipped appropriately for the lack of service! aka ZERO! 

I know yall are enjoying the trip, as I said look forward to the future episodes of your adventure, enjoy as you gear up for the upcoming first year in college! BTW-Neat that you got to spend time with your Dad with Fathers Day occuring this month!  Jim


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## MrEd (Jun 26, 2010)

thanks for the report. I guess services was bad because train was full, I like the hot french toast.


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## lthanlon (Jun 26, 2010)

Good report --thanks! I'm riding the SWC from CHI to LAX and hope I get better service in the dining car. I sometimes wonder if Amtrak would be better off with fewer items on the menu.


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## Rail Freak (Jun 26, 2010)

Enjoyed your report. I took this trip last month, so it brings back some good memories!

Question - Between Lamy & Albuquerque, growing along side the tracks, were what looked like baseballs on a vine,




LOL!!! A lady I talked with told me they were buffalo ________??? Trying to remember. You're photos reminded me of them.

RF


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## Trogdor (Jun 26, 2010)

I assume you are going to report the dining car crew, which is a good thing. Amtrak needs to know about employees who provide bad service.

If you have not sent off the note already, then I would leave out the part about what happened at Albuquerque. Really, the other door shouldn't have been opened, and the LSA was right to tell you to not go on that side of the train.

I don't know about the Albuquerque station that much, as it has been a few years since I was last there, but there are some stations that have "platforms" that aren't passenger platforms, but instead are service access platforms (Chicago Union Station has these). Regardless of how safe you perceive that area to be, there's really no reason for passengers to be walking around on the non-station-side platform. If someone is walking down that platform, and the car attendant didn't realize someone was out there, he might close that door, and now that person would have no way of getting back on the train.


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## amtrakwolverine (Jun 27, 2010)

poor dining car service seams to come up allot. 35 years of service is allot and no excuse for messing up orders forgetting orders and a lazy LSA who could care less about his crew. please report them and hopefully you get some kind of voucher for this. 35 years you think she could take orders in her sleep but she can't even do them awake. even though the meals are free i don't think i would have returned after 2 bad services in a row. same with a land restaurant if they screw up the order twice incompetent crew why go back. john on the other hand should be complemented and hope you praise him in your letter sense he was the only one who knew what he was doing. i have experienced bathroom problems on 2 trains. on the TE they had to have a pumper truck(honey wagon) at el-paso and the car stunk after that for awhile. on another train(don't remember which) the toilet tanks ran out of water so it backed up. hopefully this funding goes through and amtrak can order new superliner 3s or do complete overhauls from top to bottom of the cars like they did the p-40s.


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## Dental Wiz (Jun 27, 2010)

I enjoyed the report. The Chief is a nice train, I've taken my family out to the Flagstaff/Sedona area from Connecticut via 3/4. I'm sorry to hear of the dining experience. Ours was great and we had a diner-lite config going out.

The crew hated the car, said it looked nice but was inefficient for the load on board. You should contact Amtrak about the waiter Cynthia. They should be made aware of her poor performance, especially with the years she has under her belt. If no one speaks up, she'll keep going along giving poor service. Be sure to mention your reservation number. They will take action. Perhaps you can help some future passenger down the line.

Thanks again for the report,

Steve


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## greatcats (Jun 28, 2010)

Stephen - sorry to hear that some of the meals in the diner were unpleasant. I have had Cynthia on at least two, maybe three, SWC trips. She is not the fastest, but gave me and tablemates very friendly and courteous service. Maybe she was not feeling well or was exhausted. She came over to hear me sing my tour bus songs in the lounge car! Now I don't like to receive poor service either, but I think after all those years that job could wear someone out. I'm trying to remember a few other things she said to me, but it might not be proper to divulge too much information about her. For the most part I have always had pretty good to excellent service on that train.


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## Long Train Runnin' (Jun 30, 2010)

greatcats said:


> Stephen - sorry to hear that some of the meals in the diner were unpleasant. I have had Cynthia on at least two, maybe three, SWC trips. She is not the fastest, but gave me and tablemates very friendly and courteous service. Maybe she was not feeling well or was exhausted. She came over to hear me sing my tour bus songs in the lounge car! Now I don't like to receive poor service either, but I think after all those years that job could wear someone out. I'm trying to remember a few other things she said to me, but it might not be proper to divulge too much information about her. For the most part I have always had pretty good to excellent service on that train.



I'm glad to hear she has good days, it could have been her frustration with the LSA.


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## greatcats (Jun 30, 2010)

Long Train Runnin said:


> greatcats said:
> 
> 
> > Stephen - sorry to hear that some of the meals in the diner were unpleasant. I have had Cynthia on at least two, maybe three, SWC trips. She is not the fastest, but gave me and tablemates very friendly and courteous service. Maybe she was not feeling well or was exhausted. She came over to hear me sing my tour bus songs in the lounge car! Now I don't like to receive poor service either, but I think after all those years that job could wear someone out. I'm trying to remember a few other things she said to me, but it might not be proper to divulge too much information about her. For the most part I have always had pretty good to excellent service on that train.
> ...


Yes, that could have been the LSA causing the problem. My LSA

s have had their act together when I have been on the train. I have found Cynthia to be a good example for Amtrak.


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## rrdude (Jun 30, 2010)

Good read Stephen, in the future, you can always refuse to be seated where the LSA wants to seat you, for any reason really, but you must be prepared to wait for "your open table/section/server".

The customer is ALWAYS right.


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## Chepe2022 (Jun 30, 2010)

Hi, this is my first post as a member here. I'd like to thank you for the excellent trip report as well. Your patience with the crew is amazing, and from that I think I've gained a new way to be more courteous and have better train etiquette.

I say that because I don't think I could've stomached the numerous hiccups you just went through on the Chief. Pardon the puns!

Yet, I leave next Tuesday on the Builder to Chi, then the CZ to Colorado, stopping there for three days, off again on the CZ to Sac, transfer to the Starlate for PDX.

I hope our service is better than yours, but then again in my one trip on the Chief it was an atrocious run. Bad attitude staff, poor service overall, this train made all its comparable western brethren seem like first class runs. Is the SWC more of a hand-me-down run vs. Starlight, etc?


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## Guest (Jun 30, 2010)

The SWC is usually a pretty good train with good OBS, the track is a little rough in Kansas but it's a good trip, usually pretty full so pricey! The occasional bad apple crewmember or the mechanical problems are the exception rather than the rule! I voted for the Coast Starlight on favorite LD train, it's one of a kind in most folks opinion for lots of reasons!


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## Chepe2022 (Jul 1, 2010)

Thank you Guest Guest for the reply. By and far my experience is with the Starlight and the CZ, so I guess I've been spoiled, or expected good customer service and usually got it.

I was scheduled for the Chief, but still a bus bridge into Raton? So we opted out, and are back on the CZ.

I found my one trip on the Sunset last year was unbelievably good, maybe better than on 11&14. Really surprised me!


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## Devil's Advocate (Jul 1, 2010)

Nice report. Thanks for the write up. I also really appreciated the photos!



Trogdor said:


> If you have not sent off the note already, then I would leave out the part about what happened at Albuquerque. Really, the other door shouldn't have been opened, and the LSA was right to tell you to not go on that side of the train.


I would suggest the OP include whatever he wants. If he thought the LSA was overreacting then by all means say so. If Amtrak thinks pushing trainspotters around is just good business they are still free to do so.



Trogdor said:


> Regardless of how safe you perceive that area to be, there's really no reason for passengers to be walking around on the non-station-side platform. If someone is walking down that platform, and the car attendant didn't realize someone was out there, he might close that door, and now that person would have no way of getting back on the train.


I wonder how you think anyone ever makes it to the station in the first place if we're all so helpless without Amtrak staff there to hold our hands.


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## Shanghai (Jul 2, 2010)

Great report, Stephen. I was planning a trip on SWC later this year,

but will rethink now. It was good your could meet up with other AU'ers

at LAX. Thanks.


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## Rail Freak (Jul 2, 2010)

daxomni said:


> Nice report. Thanks for the write up. I also really appreciated the photos!
> 
> 
> 
> ...



If you want the system to work, you must work within the system!!!





RF


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## Railroad Bill (Jul 3, 2010)

We have ridden the SWC four times in the last two years and each time was a positive experience. Our SCAs were good and waiters were mostly efficient. 

But that track in Kansas is bad news when you want to sleep :lol:

Just another example of the lack of consistency in Amtrak service- Box of Chocolates philosophy


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