# Fullerton to Worcester



## rmgreenesq (Jan 12, 2008)

Monday, January 07, 2008

Greetings from train 48, the Late For Sure Limited. ™ My wife, five year old daughter and I are on our way home from spending three weeks in the Los Angeles Basin over the holidays. This Amtrak adventure started on Friday night at the train station in Fullerton, California. We boarded train #4, the Southwest Chief bound for Chicago. We boarded train #48 last night. We will transfer to train 448 in Albany this afternoon. If the trains are on time, we will arrive home in Worcester, Massachusetts at about 8:00 pm this evening. I have made this exact same trip several times. This trip report is not my usual blow by blow reporting. It is just a quick report giving the highlights of the trip.

Accommodations: My family and I are traveling in a bedroom. I’ve never ridden in a bedroom before. I’ve toughed it out in coach, and ridden in a roomettes. We had the family bedroom on the Auto Train last year. I’ve never had a bedroom, and I could get used to this. I like having my own private shower, even if it is only slightly larger than I am.

The Chief’s sleeping cars were recently refurbished, and everything in it worked. However, I am surprised about how little space there is for carry-on luggage in the superliner bedroom. We have six carry-on bags (two laptop bags, one food bag, one clothing bag, one bag of the kids toys and my wife’s knitting bag) I contemplated storing bags in the lavatory. The viewliner car has lots and lots of room for baggage. There is the space over the hall, the space over the lav, and space under the seat. Most people my find this space tough to use, but at 6’ 7”, I have no problem getting to the bags up there.

The viewliner sleeping car room is a whole lot taller than the superliner. I got the top bunk and I could sit upright in the viewliner’s bunk. The Superliner top bunk gave me that coffin like feeling, and was rather difficult to get out of in the morning, especially when I had to go to the bathroom.

Unlike the recently refurbished Superliner, the viewliner sleeper I’m in now could use some TLC in Beech Grove. The toilet has stopped working, making for a long walk to the john in the café car. The door rattles in its jamb, and the couch I’m sitting on will not lock into the upright position. It wants to slide into the sleeping position.

My observation between the superliner and viewliner cars also holds true of their attendants. Vic, the attendant on the Chief worked his tail off. He greeted us by name as we boarded in Fullerton, had dinner reservations in the dining car for us leaving Fullerton, converted our room quickly, and cheerfully, gave helpful and useful PA announcements. Vic also gave my daughter a cyalume stick to play with. I’m not sure this is exactly kosher given that the safety card lists the cyalume sticks are emergency lights.

Ainsley, the Lakeshore’s attendant is almost the exact opposite of Vic. He introduced himself briefly, explained to me how to unfold the beds and politely suggested that I make up my own room when I’m ready to go to bed. He delivered a copy of the New York Times this morning while I was at breakfast. Other than that, the only time I’ve seen him was on the platform, talking on his cell phone during smoke stops.

Both the superliner and viewliner bedroom have a mirror opposite the couch. I’m not exactly all that thrilled at looking at myself all the way across the country. The couch in the superliner was facing backwards, also not my favorite way to travel.

Timeliness: The Southwest Chief was its usual punctual self. We rolled into Chicago Union Station fifteen minutes early. The Lakeshore Ltd. is also running on time. I think the fact that it is Sunday night going on Monday helps. I don’t imagine that the freight railroads are moving a lot of freight on Sunday night.

The Border Patrol: Not even the Border Patrol is slowing down the train. They came aboard in Erie, PA as we were eating breakfast (more on the food below), and asked everybody onboard if they were US citizens. This is a questionable enforcement tactic as all an illegal alien has to do is tell the Border Patrolman that he/she is a US citizen and he walks on. At least it is better than the last time I encountered my friends in green. They were shining flashlights in peoples faces at midnight and interrogating only those who skin tone fell between Caucasian and African American.

Electronic Toys: My wife gave me a Garmin GPS as a Christmas gift. It works just fine here in the train, and the belt clip attaches to the table here in the room. It is not as accurate as it would be if I were outside, but I really don’t need to know where I am within 11 feet. My GPS is telling me that we are following the shores of Lake Erie at 80.2 mph (tisk tisk) approaching Buffalo, NY. I have left a “breadcrumb” trail across the country. Well almost across the country. The GPS’s batteries died shortly after leaving Kansas City, and the lounge attendant did not have any batteries for sale. I bought more batteries in Chicago and now travel with a spare set in the bag. As nice as it is to know exactly where I am, it does take away from the fun of staring out the window and trying to figure it out.

The Food: Amtrak has recently revised their menu. The chicken fried steak, and Bob Evans breakfast specials are gone. They have been replaced by a real steak and a Belgian Waffle. The steak was very good. It was cooked to order. I also had the fish for dinner, and it was very good. It was a white fish covered in a red sauce. The sauce had a hint of cayenne pepper in it. Amtrak has made definite improvements on the dinner selections.

Breakfast, on the other hand needs some work. All three mornings on the train I’ve ordered the scrambled eggs. I think two of the three mornings, I’ve gotten powdered eggs, and I think the chef was still getting used to the convection or microwave oven as my breakfast potatoes were only slightly warmer than the freezer they were stored in. The heritage dining car is gone. I was served breakfast in a café car with tables where the smoking room used to be. Also there were no pre-printed menus on the Lakeshore Ltd. This wasn’t as big a problem as it might seem. We’ve been eating breakfast on the train for the last three days and pretty well know what to expect.

Rick


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## AlanB (Jan 12, 2008)

Rick,

I've always considered the Viewliner sleepers superior to the Superliner sleepers for that very reason, far more space. Both for luggage, but also in the overall height of the room, and in the upper bunk. I do understand why the Superliner sleeper's can't have all that extra room, but that doesn't mean that I don't miss that extra room.

And it sounds like you need to report Ainsley to management, as that is definately not the correct attitude. It is his job to put down the beds, not instruct you on how to put them down.

Thanks for the mini-report!


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## GG-1 (Jan 12, 2008)

rmgreenesq said:


> Breakfast, on the other hand needs some work. All three mornings on the train I’ve ordered the scrambled eggs. I think two of the three mornings, I’ve gotten powdered eggs, and I think the chef was still getting used to the convection or microwave oven as my


Aloha

Gee I always thought there was no way to mess up Scrambled Eggs. Just Proves Amtrak can do anything :lol:


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## Green Maned Lion (Jan 13, 2008)

Its easy to mess up scrambled eggs. Almost everyone does. They take about an hour to make and a lot of intense work. I doubt anyone here has ever had proper scrambled eggs. 

Anyway, is that checking thing a standard procedure? Was the food on the Lake Shore real decent edible food?


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## rmgreenesq (Jan 13, 2008)

Green Maned Lion said:


> Anyway, is that checking thing a standard procedure? Was the food on the Lake Shore real decent edible food?


If by checking yo are referring to the Border Patrol, unfortunatly, it has become a standard part of the Lakeshore's trip between Chicago and New York. On my trip, they actually boarded the train twice. Once in Erie, PA and and once in Rochester, NY. The second time, they just stared a people. I imagine if you looked "foreign" they hauled you off the train.

The food was pretty good on the Lakeshore. The only problem with the potatoes was that they were cold. I imagine that if they were heated properly, they would be quite tasty.

Rick


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## GG-1 (Jan 13, 2008)

rmgreenesq said:


> If by checking yo are referring to the Border Patrol, unfortunately, it has become a standard part of the Lakeshore's trip between Chicago and New York.


Aloha

I wondered ever since the was mentioined in thes thread. Why does any Border Patrol check passengers between Chicago and NY?

Mahalo

Eric aka GG-1


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## AlanB (Jan 13, 2008)

GG-1 said:


> rmgreenesq said:
> 
> 
> > If by checking yo are referring to the Border Patrol, unfortunately, it has become a standard part of the Lakeshore's trip between Chicago and New York.
> ...


Because the White House wants Amtrak dead?

Actually it is a known fact that many illegals slip over the border, and then often take public transportation thinking that they are safe. And since US Customs has the legal right to stop any vehicle or train within 100 miles of a US border, they do it. And it is not unheard of for them to actually catch illegals this way.

What is questionable is how they go about doing the inspections, not to mention their lack of disrespect to the other 200 or more passengers who are legal, but are often subject to delays because customs can't do the right thing and board the train and ride it to the next station. Instead they order the conductor not to move the train.


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## Green Maned Lion (Jan 13, 2008)

When I am king of the world, I will go wandering about my kingdom as a commoner. I will bestow fortunes on those who are nice to be nice, or who go the extra mile just to help someone. And I will lop off the head of people who are jerks to be jerks, lord their small scraps of authority over people simply because they have it, and whom hurt people for their own advantage. If they are the type who do that and then self-praise themselves for whatever virtues they think they have, I will instead slowly immerse them in boiling oil. In anycase, there will be so many heads rolling it will be like billiards.


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## Joel N. Weber II (Jan 14, 2008)

rmgreenesq said:


> Vic also gave my daughter a cyalume stick to play with. I’m not sure this is exactly kosher given that the safety card lists the cyalume sticks are emergency lights.


These may have a limited shelf life, in which case giving ones just past their expiration date to children to play with may be just as good as throwing them away.

Also, there are benefits to Amtrak's staff being familiar with how to use the emergency lights, and practicing getting these to produce light occasionally when the lights are on is probably not a bad thing.



rmgreenesq said:


> The Border Patrol: Not even the Border Patrol is slowing down the train. They came aboard in Erie, PA as we were eating breakfast (more on the food below), and asked everybody onboard if they were US citizens. This is a questionable enforcement tactic as all an illegal alien has to do is tell the Border Patrolman that he/she is a US citizen and he walks on. At least it is better than the last time I encountered my friends in green. They were shining flashlights in peoples faces at midnight and interrogating only those who skin tone fell between Caucasian and African American.


As far as I know, there's no requirement for a US citizen traveling within the United States to carry documentation proving that they're a citizen, and I believe that a driver's license or other state ID isn't really considered proof of citizenship, such that I normally don't carry any proof of my citizenship, which leaves me wondering how those checks could possibly be effective. If there was a specific non-citizen they somehow knew they were looking for, they might very well find that person by stopping the train, but asking people like that does seem kind of useless.


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## VentureForth (Jan 14, 2008)

rmgreenesq said:


> Vic also gave my daughter a cyalume stick to play with. I’m not sure this is exactly kosher given that the safety card lists the cyalume sticks are emergency lights.


Way off topic here... In the late 80's I worked guest control for the parades at Tokyo Disneyland when I was 16. We used those cyalume sticks for safety on the ropes that we would put up in the dark to set up the parade route. We'd used them on average about 3 nights and then toss 'em. People were stealing these things all the time! How crazy. We were selling them for $10 each down the street.... 



Joel N. Weber II said:


> As far as I know, there's no requirement for a US citizen traveling within the United States to carry documentation proving that they're a citizen, and I believe that a driver's license or other state ID isn't really considered proof of citizenship, such that I normally don't carry any proof of my citizenship, which leaves me wondering how those checks could possibly be effective. If there was a specific non-citizen they somehow knew they were looking for, they might very well find that person by stopping the train, but asking people like that does seem kind of useless.


True - a driver's license is NOT proof of citizenship, but it is a pretty good indicator that at least you are in the US legally, as any one who is in the US legally can get a DL (except, maybe, folks on a tourist visa). They are typically required to carry proof of citizenship wherever they go. But it would be easy to lie about your citizenship and just show the DL.

But if you're English is no good, and you don't have any ID (which is required for travel on Amtrak), then expect to be harrassed. If, indeed, you're a citizen, you'll be released eventually.


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