# Great Middle Western Odyssey '09



## sweet tea (Dec 22, 2009)

long time no post, but i thought i'd write up our year-hinge trip for anyone who'd like to read it.

first installment coming to you live from the chicago metropolitan lounge. pictures and updates to come after we've wandered around outside a bit:

Step one: NYP>WAS

This was supposed to be the easy part. 11:35 from NYP to WAS, arriving 2:59, leaving us just over an hour to catch the Cap. A guaranteed connection and no problem in the generally-punctual NEC, I figured. The snow that walloped the east coast two days before the trip left my wife worried enough that I sat on hold for 30 minutes the day before our trip, to be reassured by the Amtrak agent that this was indeed no problem. “Train does it every day.” “Even with the snow?” “No problem.”

After the usual last-minute leaving-town business (“I only have enough medicine for half the trip! What do you mean the pharmacist hasn’t shown up yet?” and the like), we hopped on the best little train in NYC, the Franklin Avenue Shuttle, transfered to the C to Penn Station.

We arrived at Penn with a bit over an hour to spare, checked our luggage through to LRK (via the LSL), bought a bagel and lunch to eat on the Regional, and headed to Club Acela….where they informed us that the 11:35 was delayed, no one knew how delayed — maybe canceled — and if we wanted to see if we could get on the 11:00 Acela and actually make our connection in WAS, we’d better get to the Station Manager, pronto.

At the station manager’s office, they confirmed what we knew: that we’d likely miss our train. The agent we talked to called down to WAS to see if the Cap was scheduled to leave on time, which it was, told us the 11:00 was sold out, the LSL was sold out, there were no other options, and all we could do was keep calling Julie to see if the Cap became delayed. All of this sounded a lot like we were going to get stuck in WAS for the night and end up in coach on the Cap the following day (since I assume sleepers would have been sold out). No fun. Obviously, the delay wasn’t the fault of the agent, and I’ve dealt with worse customer service people — he wasn’t rude or anything — but it was frustrating that he didn’t seem to make much effort to think through other options (like, could we have taken a train to Pittsburgh and met the Cap that way?). It didn’t seem to bother him much that we were being set up to have a pretty unpleasant trip.

We left the office frustrated, and then noticed that the (delayed) 10:35 Regional was still listed as boarding (at almost 11). Even though it was running late, we figured it might get us to WAS in enough time for our connection, if they’d let us ride. We booked it back to the office, waited in a short line, and by the luck of the draw wound up with the other agent, who told us to run to the gate and ask. “Tell them Valerie said it was okay.” After a brief confusion at the gate, we were told to ask down on the platform, where someone (I think maybe a redcap, actually) told us to just do it. We were a bit worried about what the conductor would say when he came for our tickets, but he couldn’t have been nicer. Yay, Valerie!

The ride through the NEC is unusually pretty, thanks to the deep snow and the frozen marshes in northern NJ. The white background makes the objects that are in color — trains, houses, trees, blue sky — look like drawings on an otherwise blank piece of paper. When we’re moving fast, the loose snow flies around us and gives the strange sensation of looking through fog at a brightly sunny world. The train is full, but we’ve found seats and may be able to sit together once my seat-mate gets off at Philly. So far, so good.

…And, a few long siding stops (weird on the NEC) later, we have made it to WAS, in time for the Cap! Arrived about 3:15 (scheduled 2:01). Awfully glad we didn’t take no for an answer and wait on the 11:35 — it’s not due here until 5:00, and the Cap is still scheduled to leave on time at 4:05. The lounge is crowded and the Wifi seems not to work, but I’m happy to be perched on an end table nibbling potato chips, instead of arguing over hotel accommodations.


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## Long Train Runnin' (Dec 22, 2009)

Well so far so good. Looking forward for the rest of the trip!

The train for Pittsburgh leaves at 10:50 AM i think, so it might have been to late for that choice.


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## sweet tea (Dec 23, 2009)

yes, LTR, i discovered that later. the fellow i sat next to on the regional had been supposed to catch that train at NYP, had either forgotten or never known (he was a bit vague). the conductor just told him to get off at philly and catch it there.


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## sweet tea (Dec 23, 2009)

step 2: WAS>CHI

The Cap did indeed board on time and leave pretty close to on time — maybe 10 minutes late. Our roommette is on the lower level, which I like a bit less than upstairs, but is otherwise fine. The kids down the hall seem to have settled down (though their mother was always more the problem than they). Our attendant, Brian, is friendly and helpful and doing his best to make the woman across the hall happy though she’s having none of it. (No idea what she’s upset about.) We have opened our high-end box of wine (no need to carry extra glass), fired up some New Orleans Jazz at a reasonable volume on my laptop, and commenced to enjoy the scenery. The moon is a thin crescent over the snowy woods.

Announcement: we’re stopped because we’ve “hit an obstruction on the tracks” (deer?) that has knocked an air hose loose. They say they’re fixing it, that it shouldn’t take long. …And indeed, it didn’t. We’re moving again after only 5 minutes or so.

We hit another deer later in the evening — came to a halt with our nose in a tunnel. (They announced that this one was a deer.) Took a bit longer to fix that one, so we were called to the dinner with only emergency lights. Nonetheless, folks were in good spirits. The lights came back by and by, and we enjoyed some nice, thick, medium rare steaks. 

We stopped for a long break in Cumberland to make sure the hoses were good and on before we headed out into the night. The crew did a great job of keeping passengers informed of the reasons for the stops, which kept people pretty happy. The first-timers we sat with at dinner commented specifically on how nice it was to know what was happening.

There was snow everywhere we went, deeper in the east. Passengers at Martinsburg, WV, had to wade quite a distance across the tracks through shin-deep snow. The snow made it possible to see the scenery a bit, and even after dark this is beautiful country. Whenever we passed through even the smallest towns, Christmas lights strung on trees and houses reflected in the snow.

Our roommette was number 12, downstairs next to the stairs. Until now, I’ve had no preference among rooms, but now I do: I hope to avoid that one in the future. The attendant buzzer sounded like it was in our room, and the clattering from people fussing in their luggage and those boarding at Pittsburgh in the middle of the night was not awesome. (To say nothing of the aforementioned mother hollering down the hall at her daughters.)

For breakfast, we had french toast & bacon, scrambled eggs with grits, sausage, and biscuit. I love that I can get grits on the train. After breakfast, I began to wonder whether they’d substitute grits for oatmeal in the continental breakfast. I may try that next time, as the eggs are my least favorite part of the meal and the biscuit — while edible enough — is hardly worthy of the name.

What with all the deer and such, we fell a few hours behind, but we made up much of it in the night. By the time we got to Alliance, OH, we were about an hour back; but we still made it to Chicago right on time!


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## sweet tea (Dec 23, 2009)

Interlude: Chicago

One of the great advantages train travel has over flight is the ability to use lay-overs for something other than gorging on Cinnabon and vegging out over the latest Twilight book. I love the fact that trains arrive in the middle of cities, making it possible to leave the naugahyde environs of the waiting area. Downtown Chicago offers many delights — on previous lay-overs, we’ve gone to the Art Institute, window shopped at Marshall Fields (no, I will not call it Macy’s), and gone ice skating under the bean. However, when traveling through Chicago between Thanksgiving and Christmas, it would be criminal not to visit the Christkindlmarket at Daley Plaza.

The Christkindlmarket is a Bavarian-style outdoor fair, whose wooden booths bristle with art glass and carved wooden ornaments, Russian nesting dolls and custom-etched steins, all under the protection of red-and-white striped awnings. It’s cold, of course (except inside the large glass-ornament house, where the crowds keep you snug — in the old days, the glass-blowing exhibition tent was toasty, too), but nothing takes your mind off the cold and snow and wind like a mug of hot Gluwein. Unless it’s a grilled bratwurst and a plate of potato pancakes. If it’s snowing too hard, you can eat inside a wooden hut, but it’s more fun to stand at one of the outdoor tables and watch the crowds. Most of the people working in the booths are young Germans (and some Poles and Ukranians, depending on the booth); the fair closes early on Christmas Eve so they can be home for Christmas. In short, this place is as close to heaven as you’re likely to find in the Chicago winter.

It was snowing and windy, but neither rain nor snow nor gloom of night would keep me from my appointed rounds here. We bravely hiked the blocks north and east, and were richly rewarded for our trouble. Could decide between bratwurst and potato pancake, so we got one and then the other. My only regret is deciding not to have any gluwein, as it was eleven in the morning and they were sold out of the commemorative mugs I like to collect. Ah, well. Next year.

Back at the station, we took advantage of the rule that arriving sleeping car passengers may use the Metropolitan Lounge and settled on a sofa there, even though our tickets to Little Rock were coach. We also bought our tickets for a later jaunt to Michigan (Chicago to Battle Creek and back, right after New Years). We shouldn’t have waited, as at least one of our preferred trains was sold out. This was my first attempt at buying tickets from a QuikTrax machine (though I’ve printed tickets purchased online plenty of times), and we encountered an odd bug: I gave it my credit card and bought two round trip tickets (for the same trains, etc.), but since it never asked for a second traveler’s name, all four tickets were printed with my name. Since there was no line, we traded them at the ticket agents’ counter for correctly printed ones. The agent said it was a constant problem and puts the conductor in the sticky position of having to ignore that the second (third, etc.) traveler’s ID doesn’t match the ticket (rather than kicking paying passengers off the train for no fault of their own).


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## Bob Dylan (Dec 23, 2009)

Sounds like a great trip so far! The info from the OBS crew is outstanding, lots of crews never know themselves what's going on, lots of times pax with scanners let them know what's happening! If you are an AGR member the machine printing the tickets in your name isnt' a bad idea since you can get all the points unless your sig other is also a member?

Look forward to the trip to LRK and your future trips! Happy Holidays!


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## Neil_M (Dec 23, 2009)

Always good to encounter a German Christmas market, can't go wrong with a Bratwurst and a cup of spiced warm wine!

Most civilized.......


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## OlympianHiawatha (Dec 23, 2009)

Bratwurst and Deer Meat! Now I'm getting hungry!


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## sweet tea (Dec 23, 2009)

OH -- heh. should have asked the Cap diner crew if they could add a special under unusual circumstances.

jimhudson -- AGR ARG! just remembered that the other thing i meant to do at the ticket counter was deal with points -- i didn't know my number offhand for the machine. i'll have to call in, maybe when the lines aren't going crazy from the NEC problem + holiday nuttiness.


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## sweet tea (Dec 23, 2009)

And then: CHI>LRK

We decided last year that taking a sleeper CHI>LRK is only marginally worth the money, as we only get one meal and we get off in the middle of the night, which means we’re not going to get a good night’s rest anyway. Not only will be have to get up at 3 or so, but I generally lie awake for most of the night even before that, worried that the attendant will forget about us and we’ll wake up in Texas. Granted, there are other nice things about riding in a sleeper, but it’s hard for me to justify the cost, all things considered.

Since we had come in on a sleeper, we waited in the Metropolitan Lounge for boarding, which was certainly preferable to the main waiting area. (Last year we rode this train after spending a week or so in Chicago, so we didn’t have the Lounge as an option.) We boarded at about the same time as the rest of the coach passengers, but apparently no one had told the Lounge attendants that they were using a color-code system to assign coach cars. There was some confusion figuring out whether we were green or blue, whereas before it’s always been enough to state our destination. Once underway, it became clear that we’d also missed passing our tickets in — no one ever asked to see them on the train, so I guess they were collected in the main waiting area.

Train is moving well so far, more or less on time. Between Pontiac and Bloomington-Normal, we stopped for 10 minutes or so for “required” “routine” “preventative” “inspection”. No idea what that means.

The train is completely sold out, at least as far as Little Rock. I looked it up online today (to see if there was any chance of an on-board upgrade) and saw no seats of any kind available. Folks are in good spirits (for the most part) despite tight seating, which is good, since a few other things are slightly jankety. Credit Card machine down in the lounge and will be until San Antonio. The CCC has dinner menu only tonight — I had been hoping to order off the “all day” list, as we’re in coach and those are cheaper. A bit surprised at the restriction right after leaving Chicago. Also no mention of the chicken when listing available options — only steak, ribs, and “saLmon.”

The crew is a bit disorganized about their announcements but quite friendly. They are scrambling to accommodate an eleven-member family on this very packed train. As of Springfield, they’re assigning seats, which the woman behind us says she’s only seen once before on this train, despite riding often for work. Two rather tattooed men a few rows back agreed to sit together to help out, saying, “and I’ll only charge you two beers.”

“Fair enough,” the crew member replied, “but I can’t buy them myself when I’m in uniform.”

“You buy, I’ll fly.”

And so the deal was done.

Somewhere north of Lincoln, we run out of snow. I’m surprised it was this early — I was expecting white fields through most of Illinois.

The train stopped at the flag-stop of Carlinville, a first for me. A few people thought they’d take a smoke-break and we’re surprised that the train was already moving again by the time they got down the stairs. A lot of unhappy smokers on this train — no one seems content to wait for the only smoke-stop they’ve announced, St. Louis.

By the time we pulled into St. Louis, we were well into our enormous plates of ribs, which were really quite good. Evidently the inevitable turkey plate supplanted the chicken. I was pleased to find that the crew on this train had brewed iced tea. I’ve found this is almost always true of the trains running into the South, and I’m glad both that it happens and that it happens informally. I’d hate to see the national office decide to stock some awful powder or Brisk or something.

In the CCC is the same LSA as 2 years ago — recognized her by her festive headgear. This time it was a band of felt holly; last time full on antlers. She’s lovely — wish I’d caught her name.

Consist was:

Engine

Sleeper

Sleeper

CCC

SSL

Coach

Coach

Coach

The train arrived and left STL right on time and seemed to move well through the first half of the night — I didn’t wake up for Poplar Bluff or Walnut Ridge. When the wake-up for LRK came, I was confused by the time on my phone — 2:28. I thought my phone must not have managed to reset itself to Central Time, but No! We really did arrive 40 minutes EARLY!

A perfect ride, all around.


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## Bob Dylan (Dec 23, 2009)

A good trip on the Eagle! It's packed going North all week, usually, as the lady said, not so busy! Glad the OBS did ya'll right, there's lots of great crews on this train! Good point about updating with AGR after the holidays but I'll bet they are not so busy till after New Years, the office is in Canada and they do get more holidays than down here! Thanks for the positive, fun report! Happy Holidays!


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## stntylr (Dec 23, 2009)

Last month when I caught the TE in LRK it arrived 40 minutes early and it reached each stop from there to Fort Worth early.


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## sweet tea (Dec 27, 2009)

Hmmm, well, for some reason I can't edit those posts anymore, so I'll just add some pictures down here. More here, too: http://www.flickr.com/photos/[email protected]/...57623081552660/







The Best Little Train In NYC: The Franklin Avenue Shuttle






Art At Franklin Station (C line)






Snowy NEC











At WAS






Deep Snow At Martinsburg






Frohe Weihnachten!






Chicago Union Station






Texas Eagle at Little Rock






At LRK -- one of many vintage posters


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## Bob Dylan (Dec 28, 2009)

Great pics! Thanks for sharing!


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## the_traveler (Dec 28, 2009)

Great photos!

I WANTA GO!


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## sweet tea (Jan 3, 2010)

getting a bit behind in posting these -- we're in Michigan now, but i need to get us from Little Rock to Chicago in the story. We actually arrived in Chicago on 12/29

TE was already at the LRK station when we pulled up at 11:20 or so; I’m not sure how early it was. It was COLD out, believe it or not — after that big rain/snow storm, temperatures dropped very low for this part of the country, and we were chagrined to see that the weather was warmer back in New York. Quite a lot of people were outside to smoke, nevertheless.

We have a sleeper for this leg, but there seemed to be some confusion about that between the conductor and…his assistant? Not sure who the other man was. At any rate, the room number they gave us was the same as the one on our ticket, despite a certain amount of shuffling of papers and mutterings about how they could or could not give us this or that room. They were clearly a little surprised at our presence. Just put your suitcases on the rack and head up, they said, after taking our tickets; your attendant will be around.

The room (7, upstairs, middle of the car) was as usual already made up for sleeping when we boarded — the pillows are at opposite ends of the bunks, which I haven’t seen before that I remember. There’s also a mirror on the wall at one end of the top bunk. One of the dining car crew was hanging out in the doorway of our car to smoke, so I was able to go back out to the platform and talk with my parents until the train left at 11:39, right on schedule.

It’s nine in the morning now, and we’ve just left Alton (on time). Still no sign of any attendant. Our car (32044) is okay but in less than stellar repair — the sink downstairs is stuck dribbling; the one up here has two H handles on the faucet, that kind of thing. The “cold” handle blasts the water in a manner reminiscent of a jet engine. If there is an attendant, s/he’s not doing well stocking the place. No hangers in our closet, no water in our room, no coffee or cups in the usual spot. (Also no route guide or timetable — I have a spare timetable with me but forgot to grab a route guide in Chicago, which I’m sorry for. I should download one to this computer.) On the other hand, our roommette does feature a puzzling assortment of loose screws and metal oddments. The intercom is EXTREMELY quiet when it works at all, so it’s lucky that I was downstairs using the bathroom in St. Louis in time to hear a very faint “last call” or we would have missed breakfast entirely.

The dining car crew is cheerful and friendly and all-around great, despite imperfect circumstances. The dishwasher is broken — the utensils are therefore plastic — and they’re out of a lot of food. No bacon or oatmeal at breakfast; we got the last two cups of orange juice. I ordered the quesadillas, which were fine, but mostly I just ate the pork sausage and grits, which is plenty of food. Our tablemates were on their way back to Ann Arbor from Dallas; they had come down during the flooding. Their train got through, but they reported the strangeness of being surrounded by rippling water, of cattle with only their heads visible. (Sure hope those cattle got dried out before the weather turned cold — there was plenty of ice and snow even in Arkansas.)

After breakfast we pulled our call button and eventually went looking for help converting our beds to chairs, but had no luck. We did our best to do it ourselves, but although we hefted the bottom mattress up top and slid back the chairs okay, we can’t get the upper bunk to stay up. Lucky neither of us is extremely tall or claustrophobic. I am thinking of writing a letter to Amtrak about the lack of attendant, given that some assistance and attention is part of what we’re paying for. I’ve had the occasional indifferent attendant on this train, but this is another thing entirely.

We are moving very well. In fact, we got to St. Louis so early that I thought it must be Poplar Bluff, since it was still dark out. By the time I began to wonder and checked the time it was 6:45, but I think we were closer to an hour early. (The train is scheduled to arrive in St. Louis at 7:19.) Alton and Carlinville have both been right on time. The past two Christmases, the TE has been like this, while in my previous experience, it could be relied upon to be hours late. Did something change about Amtrak’s relationship with UP? I shouldn’t say this while we’re still en route [_Yes — Ed._], but I can’t think of a time we’ve been on a siding this trip, in either direction, and we’ve only moved slowly once or twice, never for long.

Can someone tell me what this means? At Carlinville, I see a spur of rail splitting off to the right of ours, with a neatly lettered sign alongside it reading “DERAIL.”

It’s beautifully clear and sunny, so you know it must be bitter cold outside. There’s snow on the fields and ice in the low places — in one swamp, the trees had high, white collars of snowy ice several feet above the present water level, presumably from the recent flooding. In other places, the high branches still sparkle from an ice storm. Outside of Alton we saw what I think has to have been an eagle in a tree. Shaped like a hawk but very big, and very brown/black when it took off. Not a vulture, from its wing shape and flying habit.

Good thing we didn’t eat much at breakfast, because the LSA, George, came by a bit past 10 to say that we’d better go to the diner right then if we wanted lunch at all, as they were very low on food. (We also prevailed upon him to get the top bunk up, which he did swiftly and with good grace. I guess we just weren’t pushing hard enough.) This is the fourth day out for this train, as I gather it is stocked in Chicago for the trip out and back, and there’s only so much they can carry. We were just about the first table waited on, at which point they had in stock: 5 salmon salads, 8 veggie pastas, 20 burgers, and some number of veggie burgers. We had salmon salads, which were really quite good, and passed on dessert, since we didn’t want it so badly and there was hardly any of that left, either.

We spent a little time on a siding for inaudible reasons and were about 20 minutes late into Lincoln, always the cutest stop on the trip. 15 late to Bloomington. Made up the rest of the time en route and arrive on time in Chicago. A fine trip except for the lack of attendant.


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## Bob Dylan (Jan 3, 2010)

Really surprised about the invisible SCA! I ride this train frequently and I've not had this happen to me (the CONO is a different story!), next time this happens ask the conductor or a/c to find them for you! In a pinch the LSA can also call for you! Sounds like it was really cold up that way, not as bad as the Western trains or back east but cold for this part of the country! The food situation is a problem on this train, the second day is usually when they run out or low on most items, perhaps when the daily train starts on this route (2012?) theyll have a commisary in FTW or even SAS to stock up! In my experience the diner crew on this route is always pretty friendly and helpful but it could be because they get the spend the night in Austin before going back north to CHI! :lol: (THe LSA George is a very helpful/friendly OBS)> Be sure and contact Amtrak Customer Relations about this lazy SCA,you also might get a nice voucher to use on the next trip!  Call and write a letter so the good and the bad get noted by the proper people @ Amtrak!


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## AlanB (Jan 3, 2010)

sweet tea said:


> Can someone tell me what this means? At Carlinville, I see a spur of rail splitting off to the right of ours, with a neatly lettered sign alongside it reading “DERAIL.”


That sign indicates that a Derail device is present on that spur track. Most spurs have a derail, some are manual and some automatic, that move when the switch is moved to connect with that spur.

A derail is a metal device that is clamped to the rail. It's purpose is to do exactly what's implied, derail a train or a runaway car. Should someone forget to properly set the hand brakes on a car sitting on that spur, it could start rolling depending on the slope of the tracks. A runaway car is not something that one wants to meet head on with another train. So the derail is supposed to kick the runaway car off the tracks and onto the ground, preventing it from crossing the switch, damaging the switch, and potentially hitting a moving train.

And I would definately file a complaint with Amtrak regarding the lack of an attendant. It's just too bad that you didn't ask George for your attendant's name, as it would have made it easier to file a complaint.


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## the_traveler (Jan 3, 2010)

I too would let Customer Service know about the attendant - or actually the lack of. And also mention that you had to reset your own beds in the morning!



jimhudson said:


> In my experience the diner crew on this route is always pretty friendly and helpful but it could be because they get the spend the night in Austin before going back north to CHI! :lol:


Maybe they're just happy to be getting away from Austin! :lol: :lol: :lol:


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## sweet tea (Jan 4, 2010)

thanks for explaining the derail, alan. i figured it was something like that, but it looked like a strange order. ("Derail! Now!")

i will write to customer service and let you know what comes of it. i hope we will get a voucher of some kind.

and now, without further ado...

Train 364, the Blue Water

5:00 pm — We are pulling out of Union Station, almost an hour after our scheduled departure of 4:10. Boarding was accomplished very quickly — 15 minutes from the beginning of general boarding until the train began to move — but everything before that was rather lousy. The lounge was crowded and unpleasant, and while there were occasional announcements that we were delayed for mechanical problems, people were getting very cranky. I’m not sure what the station can do about the crowding, but I sure wish they’d do something. Standing around cheek to jowl while confused people barge around, trying to fit themselves and their bags through miniscule gaps in the line for no particular purpose starts passengers off in a bad mood which I imagine must be wearing for the onboard crew. (On the train, there have been repeated apologies over the PA, I assume partly in response to crabby passengers.) Also, perhaps this is just me, but it seems like boarding happens slightly differently every time. My wife commented that while airplane boarding is not so pleasant, she always knows just what to do, no matter what airport she’s in, whereas every general boarding at a train station involves a period of confusion about where and whether we should line up, etc.

These short-haul trains are where I think Amtrak should be on its very best behavior in terms of customer ease and so on, because these are the easiest trains to avoid taking. A passenger on a long-distance train likely has good reason for not flying and at least isn’t overly concerned with speedy travel, but a train like the Blue Water is in competition with cars and highways. Our trip is scheduled to take about only a little less time than driving would. We’re taking the train so we can relax, as, I imagine, are most people here. While we were standing around in the packed lounge, wondering what was to become of us, I heard people commenting about how they should really just have driven.

Oh well, if nothing else this should help us better appreciate the first class lounges we’ll get to use in Chicago and DC when we go home next week.

I didn’t realize there was any checked luggage on this train, but there is a cabbage (term always cracks me up) at the back end. Its number is 90218. At any rate — and I know you all will cringe when I say this — it is awfully cute. And, on a more serious note, awfully packed with snow and ice. I was a little afraid at first sight that this was our engine, but we have an ordinary new-looking one in front.

We never did make up any time — thank heavens the cafe car was open and well-stocked — and arrived in Battle Creek just about exactly an hour late, grateful to have shared a hotdog, chips, and a couple of beers and even more grateful to be away from the fellow who’d brought his own aboard and spent the whole trip bellowing about football. Our family was a bit peeved to have sat in the parking lot that long, but sometimes not answering your cell phone is its own reward. (We did call, and they had also said they would call Amtrak to check for themselves and clearly didn’t.) No serious problems, but not my favorite trip ever.


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## Long Train Runnin' (Jan 4, 2010)

Sounds like it was a wonderful trip. Aside from that one Sleeping Car Attendant. Did you take any photos on your trip?


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## sweet tea (Jan 4, 2010)

yes! i will add some once i have gotten them off my camera. SOME people around here seem to think there are things for me to be doing other than posting on train forums! go figure!


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## Long Train Runnin' (Jan 4, 2010)

sweet tea said:


> yes! i will add some once i have gotten them off my camera. SOME people around here seem to think there are things for me to be doing other than posting on train forums! go figure!


:lol: :lol: What do they know? :lol:

Looking forward to the pictures.


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## the_traveler (Jan 4, 2010)

You said "the lounge" and "didn't know where or when to line up". Did you wait in the Metropolitan Lounge or in the main waiting room? :huh:

Even though you were departing on the Blue Water (in coach - or even in BC), because you arrived (the same day :huh: ) via sleeper, you were entitled to use the Metro Lounge at CHI!


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## sweet tea (Jan 4, 2010)

the_traveler said:


> You said "the lounge" and "didn't know where or when to line up". Did you wait in the Metropolitan Lounge or in the main waiting room? :huh:
> Even though you were departing on the Blue Water (in coach - or even in BC), because you arrived (the same day :huh: ) via sleeper, you were entitled to use the Metro Lounge at CHI!


oh, i wasn't very clear. i meant the main waiting area. we couldn't use the metropolitan lounge, because we spent several days in chicago before this leg of the trip. believe me, we would have!


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## sweet tea (Jan 12, 2010)

pictures one of these days, really, but in the meantime, here's the story of our trip home:

BTL>CHI

To save the in-laws a drive to Chicago, we arranged to ride the Wolverine from Battle Creek to Chicago, where we’d catch the Capitol Limited back East. The train was listed as on time when we left the house, but had slipped back 10 minutes or so by the time we reached the station, where we were glad of the opportunity to wait in their van rather than the crowded station with its bizarre pressed steel decor.

When the train arrived it was fairly crowded, but after walking through a few cars we found two seats together, albeit in a car where every seat faced backwards. This train had a regular, new engine at both ends, unlike the Blue Water we took to Battle Creek, which had an engine in front and a cabbage in the rear. Perhaps it gets pushed back to Chicago? (Cabbages don’t have engines anymore, right?)

The train stayed 15 minutes or so down for the entire ride, which was otherwise uneventful. Snow lay deep everywhere we went, and at times it was also falling heavily. We nonetheless pulled into Chicago close to on time.


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## sweet tea (Jan 12, 2010)

Second Chicago Interlude:

We checked into the Metropolitan Lounge at about 4:30 and made a dinner reservation for 7:30, reasoning that we were hungry enough to need a snack before the train boarded at 5:45 and that the snack would hold us for a few hours. With our bags stored in the lounge, we bundled up and headed out of the station.

The weather did a good job of reminding us Chitown ex-pats why we’d left. Snowing and cold, of course — the truly knowledgeable will note that snow is good news for Chicago temperatures in January, since that means it’s not TOO COLD TO SNOW, an idea to strike fear in my Carolina heart — and with every street corner blocked by immense lakes of dirty slush puddles, requiring leaps from the curb into traffic in order to cross the street without galoshes. I am pleased to report that I did not fall, despite several close calls, nor were we sliced open by the falling ice that signs in front of every skyscraper warned us to beware of. (What a person is supposed to do once wary I’ve never understood, unless it’s stay home until late spring.)

After a quick side trip to CVS for toothpaste, we decided to try Boston Blackie’s, where a man stood right at the window slicing roast beef and ham onto plates held by the kind of Chicago stockbroker who looks, as I believe Mark Twain once remarked of Chicago men in general, like he could personally butcher a steer. Now, I know you on this board are die-hard Giordanos/Gold Coast Dogs fans, but I do recommend Blackie’s to you. The service couldn’t be better, the situation more comfortable, and for $4.99, they will bring you something called “Frings”: a half-POUND of onion straws in a metal basket, surrounded on all sides by heaps of home-style potato fries. I promised myself when we ordered that I would eat only enough for a snack, regardless of how much was put before me, but I regret to say that in this matter I let myself down. (Okay, I don’t regret it at all. I regret only that my anticipation of a steak dinner kept me from joining the line at the carving station)

Upon our return to the Metropolitan Lounge — after another visit to CVS for prophylactic Pepcid — we requested that our dinner reservation be moved as late as possible and sat down to rub our bellies and smile until the train boarded.


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## sweet tea (Jan 12, 2010)

*CUS>WAS on the Cap: *

Boarded early from Lounge — wish we’d waited, as we didn’t want to eat early enough to justify sitting around on the train for so long in the station, but we also didn’t want to miss the train. Unfortunately, we’re in roommette #11, so right by the door and the stairs again.

Somewhere near Gary, we stop for freight traffic for…so far maybe an hour or so? Supposedly the freights are having switching problems. There is something Chris Van Allsburg-y about the industrial landscape here, so after a little griping, I got out my sketchbook and did a rather ham-fisted drawing of the scene, which did pass the time. I think this might have to become my new habit for times when the train stops, as it makes a virtue of necessity. The train is going so slowly now that I could almost draw the rest of this — I believe we were just out-paced by a snowflake. If only I had fast enough film to capture the surreal video billboard of the casino we just passed, where pennies fly through the air, salad bars slide past plates of sliced steak, and women walk from office cubicles to Caribbean beaches, all on a glowing square aloft in the snowy sky.

Around 10 o’clock Eastern, we began to worry that we had missed hearing our 8:30 dinner reservation called. (This isn’t as crazy as it sounds. Dinner reservations were keeping Central time, so it was 9:00 according to the diner, and everything seemed to get delayed while we sat still.) We headed up to the diner to see and were sent back by a harried-looking crew member, who told us they would call when they were ready. When we apologized and said we’d only worried we hadn’t heard the call, she suddenly turned sweet, assuring us that they would not let us miss dinner.

The call came soon enough, and we joined a young couple who were taking a sleeper from Chicago to Pittsburgh because it sounded romantic. They were in a good mood, and by the time the attendant — Beverly — reached our table, so was she, clearly driven a bit punchy by difficult passengers at earlier seatings (including at least one set who wandered back to their sleeper without paying for their bottle of wine, and perhaps also including the good natured but rather tipsy women at a nearby table, who carried on about why anybody would ever live in Ohio and how they’d ever stood to live there so long. They later attempted to go down the kitchen stairs instead of to their car.) We had a marvelous time with her. She alternately praised three of us for being good, easy passengers and ragged on the fourth, scolding him for having filled out his order ticket before we could stop him. “Premium Ice Cream! He wants _premium_ — do you even know what premium ice cream is? You tell me, what is premium ice cream?” He played along very nicely, and we all had a good time. (And he was glad he didn’t get premium ice cream, since that turns out to mean Ciao Bella Lemon Sorbet.)

What we did not have, I regret to inform, was a good dinner. Three of us ordered steak, and was I ever red-faced for having recommended it! I am certain they never saw a grill — in fact, I’m pretty sure they were microwaved. None was medium-rare as ordered; mine was well-done. Ugh. Mind you, these were meant to be steaks, not the braised beef I’ve ordered in the past. I suppose we should have sent them back, but I had no belief that something better would have followed. (And I couldn’t claim great hunger, given the pounds of fried potato I’d eaten in Chicago….) The succotash was surprisingly good, and the baked potato was as usual — a bit overcooked but basically good. Despite the menu’s promises of wine by the glass, only half-bottles were available, so we skipped that (since we prefer different kinds). We all four had ice cream — _regular_ ice cream — for dessert, which was pleasant as usual. But oh, that steak! Rare are the occasions on which I send much meat back on my plate, let alone steak. In fact, I can’t think of another time it’s happened in my life, certainly not on our CL journey west, only a couple weeks back. A grave disappointment.

Our beds were turned back when we returned for dinner (making me feel a bit guilty for not straightening up the room before we left*), and we turned in soon after. Worn out by in-laws and travel, I slept very well, waking only briefly in Pittsburgh to watch the Carnegie Mellon cupola glide by overhead.

One thing I like very much about the brunch schedule on the CL is the freedom it affords to sleep late without missing breakfast. We stayed in bed hours later than usual, finally dressing and coming upstairs just before 11:00. We were in Cumberland then, still about an hour down. Beverly brought us breakfast — including iced tea for me ☺ — and let us sit over it, reading the paper and enjoying the view, long after the diner had stopped serving. Again, while the service in the diner was great, the food was unimpressive. My grits and sausage (I never really eat the eggs) were okay, though I think the sausage was microwaved, but my wife’s french toast was horribly tough.

It was a perfect day to ride along the Potomac. There was heavy snow and ice all the way to Rockville, and early clouds gave way to stunning blue sky. We saw many geese, crows and turkey vultures and also a black vulture and two glorious Bald Eagles, wheeling over the river. For a while, we sat in the SSL to get a little more light, but we were back in our room when the conductor came on the intercom to announce that we would be stopping outside of Germantown, MD, because, “our _friends_ at CSX are having trouble with a broken road block.” Crew from our train had, by regulation, to get out and stand in the road to be sure it was clear for the train to pass, which took some time and made us even later coming into WAS. When we pulled in to WAS about an hour and a half late, the conductor mentioned in his announcement (and lateness apology) that we were at the mercy of freight dispatchers, making clear which lines we were on at each point in the trip. His tone was not overly harsh, but I think it’s wise to let riders know that lateness often isn’t Amtrak’s fault (and perhaps what names they should mention in any aggrieved letters to congressmen). Finally, he reminded us, “Elvis has left the building.”

*Post-Script: The attendant (Darryl) also made our beds into chairs while we were eating breakfast, again having left the room disorderly. I didn’t think much of it at the time — it was a bit weird to have it done without his asking us, but it was getting late, so his assumption didn’t seem unreasonable — but now I REALLY wish he’d waited. Upon our return to New York, we discovered that he must have tossed half of a brand-new (Christmas gift) set of pajamas onto the top bunk with the sheets. Since it wasn’t visible when we were packing up later, we didn’t notice its absence until we were headed to bed at home, by which point (according to the Lost and Found man at WAS, whom I called the next morning) it was long ago thrown away by a car cleaner.

I know we should have been neater and more careful, but it’s still a disappointment to lose something in this manner. Great thanks to Garnet Hill, the company that sold the pajamas, though. When I called to see if by any chance they could sell me just a top — factory second, whatever — they kindly offered a complete set at less than half the usual price.


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## sweet tea (Jan 12, 2010)

*Washington Interlude*

Despite our late arrival, we still had plenty of time before our Regional to New York at 4:25, so we decided to see if we could switch to the 3:25 and get home a bit earlier. We headed to the ticket counter, but found that it would be $100 to switch trains. I’m a little confused about how Regional pricing works when connecting to Long-DIstance trains, but it seems crazy to me that we couldn’t just switch, assuming the train wasn’t sold out. It was a Saturday, and the station was very quiet. (I suppose we could have just risked boarding with the wrong tickets, but that is more stress than I care for without a good reason.)

Since we couldn’t get home sooner, we stuck to our original plan of having lunch at Union Station. We ate this year at “America,” one of the corner cafes in the main hall. It was a nice place, and I’d recommend it over Thunder Grill, where we ate last year. The menu was varied, the service lovely, and the murals on the walls fun to look at. I don’t particularly recommend the pulled pork sandwich, but I am a tremendous barbeque snob and knew from the outset that it wasn’t a wise choice for me. The cole slaw was very good, though, and my wife liked her steak sandwich.

After lunch we spent a few minutes in the Club Acela before leaving to board train 146 home.


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## sweet tea (Jan 12, 2010)

*WAS>NYP*

There wasn’t much of a crowd waiting for 146, by the standards of WAS, and we had no trouble finding space for our suitcases and seats together. (We decided not to check our bags through on the LSL, since it only gets into NYP an hour before we would and we hated the idea of sitting around Penn if it ran late.) So far the train is running quickly — deliciously quickly, after the trains we’ve been on in the past day — and has hit every station right on time. The sunset was brilliant red as we crossed over an icy arm of the Chesapeake north of Baltimore.

…The train remained on time all the way to NYP. Sadly, the subways were a complete disaster, and it took us double the usual time to get home. The first line we tried turned out to be replaced by a bus for our destination (no good with luggage); the second two weren’t even running to Brooklyn or a reasonable transfer point (only point available was an outdoor transfer, again awful with luggage); ended up going uptown to Times Square and catching the Q to Brooklyn. The fact that so many options are even possibilities for us is all thanks to the best little train in NYC:


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## Heading North (Jan 12, 2010)

Thanks for an excellent report! AND for shedding some light on the Franklin Avenue Shuttle, which never gets much attention.

One of the things I miss about living in New York is that even if one subway line is down, you can get to quite a few neighborhoods by taking another line around it. When I lived in Forest Hills, I had my choice of the E, or the 7 to the E, or the N to the 7 to the E... or the F... or (rarely) the G... or heaven forbid the pokey V!


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## AlanB (Jan 12, 2010)

The Franklin Ave shuttle doesn't get a lot of attention for two reasons, one it doesn't really go anywhere. Two, it was the scene of the worst accident in NYC subway history, the Malbone Street wreck that killed some 97 people in 1918. So they try to keep it out of the limelight as it were.

They even changed the name of the street after that wreck because of that, it's now called Empire Blvd. Additionally the tunnel where the wreck happened now goes unused by the S shuttle, this is why they always come in on the inbound platform for the B & Q trains at Prospect Park.


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## sweet tea (Jan 13, 2010)

AlanB said:


> The Franklin Ave shuttle doesn't get a lot of attention for two reasons, one it doesn't really go anywhere.


I beg your pardon -- it goes right to my house! 

My understanding is that the Franklin shuttle is some of the oldest "subway" track in NYC, as it was originally part of the line that extends to Coney Island.

It's most used by people traveling within Brooklyn -- you should see the swarms of teenagers coming to and from school -- so naturally it's not of much interest to those outside the borough. I adore it, though: it runs very regularly, it connects my un-fancy address to 7 different lines (C, 2/3, 4/5, B, Q), and it's the most likely train in the system to hold the doors as you run across the platform. There are so few drivers that most of us know them all by sight and temperament. My only complaint about it is the late night schedule -- during regular hours, the line has two trains, one going each direction. (Two cars each -- adorable.) Because there's only one spot where they can pass each other (Botanic Garden; the rest of the line is only one track), one pauses for a long time at one end of the line (Prospect Park) so that the other train can catch up, which all makes sense. Late nights, though, there's only one train running, so it's irritating that it waits just as long (needlessly), making your wait time on a given platform double.


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## AlanB (Jan 13, 2010)

sweet tea said:


> My understanding is that the Franklin shuttle is some of the oldest "subway" track in NYC, as it was originally part of the line that extends to Coney Island.


It is indeed some of the oldest track around. The line connects on the southern end with the Brighton Line (the current B & Q line) and runs to CI. The current connection that the B & Q use to reach Manhattan did not exist and the trains continued up to Franklin Avenue. For a number of years, before electrification, the line terminated there. As electrification spread and the Fulton Street El was built to carry what in effect is today's A train, this line was connected to the Fulton El in 1896 and trains were able to run from CI to Manhattan.

Come the 1920's when the current connection used by the B & Q was built, the connection to the Fulton El was severed and the Shuttle was born. The last train to ever run on the Fulton Street El did so on May 31st 1940, replaced by the current underground expressway of the IND.



sweet tea said:


> Because there's only one spot where they can pass each other (Botanic Garden; the rest of the line is only one track), one pauses for a long time at one end of the line (Prospect Park) so that the other train can catch up, which all makes sense.


At one time it was fully a two track line, but the current shuttle simply doesn't need all that extra track and associated costs that come with it. Not sure why they sit so long, other than perhaps to give the operator time to change ends and perhaps pay a visit to the facilities.


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