# Acela/Capitol Limited 9/21 Trip Report



## Dovecote (Sep 27, 2010)

On September 21, my wife and I traveled from NYP to HFY. Our first leg of our trip we traveled Acela #2117 connecting to the Capitol Limited #29 in WAS. Actually the preparation of the trip began on Sunday, September 19 when I traveled via the LIRR to NYP. The purpose of the trip was to present my AGR upgrade coupons to Amtrak personnel in hopes of an upgrade to First Class. I was successful in doing this. Special thanks to AU forum member Jim Hudson who was gracious enough to part with one of his upgrade coupons.

On the day of the trip we arrived into NYP about an hour before deparature time. We directly proceeded to the Club Acela lounge and seated ourselves in front of the television area. I used one of the two lounge computers to check email messages and grabbed a coffee and danish on the way back to my seat. On this occasion there was ample juice and danish available for lounge guests.

At approximately 11:30 AM our Redcap took us to the train and we were the first to be seated. We decided to sit towards the back of the train in a two seater on the right side. Within ten minutes there were several other passengers in the car that utilized Redcap personnel. This included a party of three businessmen who decided to sit in the row in front of us. The seats were configured to allow two parties of two face one another with a table in the middle. No sooner than they were seated they broke out their electronic equipment and phones and started conducting business. They were quite noisy and their phones were ringing constantly. This prompted a solo female passenger sitting across from us to move to seat in front of the car towards the food preparation area. We too decided to relocate as the noise was relentless. We sat across the aisle from the woman who relocated earlier.

Our train departed on time at noon and shortly afterwards our attendant, Johnny Pallote, served us a trail mix type snack and took our drink order. While waiting for the drinks, my wife noticed that the woman sitting across from us looked familiar. It did not take her long to figure out that the woman was Meryl Streep. She was quite reserved and her body language clearly told us that she wanted her privacy. We respected that although at one point, while waiting for the train to depart PHL, my wife stood up to stretch and at that time she briefly talked to Ms. Streep. I too engaged in a few pleasantries while the train sat in the station. We had a nice conversation that lasted probably no longer than a minute.

Lunch was served about forty-five minutes into our trip. I cannot recall the entire menu but I chose the crab cake salad while my wife chose the small bites/sliders slection. Lemon bar with blueberries dessert accompanied the meal. The meals were tasteful and filling.

The trip down to WAS was a fast one. Johnny came by frequently to replenish our drinks during the trip. He was more than a efficient attendant who provided attentive service. We had Johnny previously back in May on the same train. He told me that he services #2117 and returns back to NYP from WAS on #2122 at 5:00 PM, Monday-Thursday. I gave him a generous tip for his services.

We arrived into WAS on time, if not early. We said or good-byes to Ms. Streep and proceeded to the Club Acela. Our first class ticket allowed us entrance into the lounge and we waited for our connnecting train, the Capitol Limited. The lounge was full but we were able to find two seats and had a nice discussion with a retired couple from Minnesota who were returning home on the CL and EB. We boarded the train with the sleeping car passengers around 3:40 PM and proceeded to our lower level coach seats. The train departed on time at 4:05 PM but lost time enroute arriving into HFY about an half hour late. Our neighbors met us at the station and we proceeded to our home a mile and half away.


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## hello (Sep 27, 2010)

Thank you for your report ... I'd love to take a trip like yours!


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## jimhudson (Sep 27, 2010)

Nice report Rich! Fantastic trip! :wub: If I"d known y'all were going to have such a sweet trip i would have used my other coupon and come up to NYP and taken that Acela myself!  And the business guys, I know it's First Class and really for Biz travelers but still wouldnt be a bad idea to perhaps make a semi-quiet car with no damn cell phones! Lap tops,texting might?be OK or even reconfigure the First Class cars with a section maybe walled off for these types or even their own First Class Lounge similar to the 2x1s on other BC trains!

Sounds like great service also, we'd had a couple of posts earlier about poor FC service on the Acelas, that's a surprise to me, I've never had less than professional service, most times it's Sterling! Thanks, hope harper's ferry is having a great fall and good luck with the house!


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## MrEd (Sep 27, 2010)

thanks for the report, sorry about the noise.


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