# Cross Country



## Long Train Runnin' (Aug 25, 2008)

This trip report will be put on in two parts in the same thread

EDIT: here are the pics links up here read the post at bottom for info about them

http://picasaweb.google.com/stephenmontero...untryTrainTrip#

Part 1 The Cardinal Train #51 NYP->CHI 8-24 8-25

In a rommette.

Consist:

Electric Engine 907 to WAS

Engine WAS to CHI 161

Coach 25084 Amfleet 2

Coach 25049 Amfleet 1

Coach 25068 Amfleet 2

Cafe/Diner 28014

Sleeper Viewliner 62014

The trip started with an early morning ride into NYC where I got dropped off right in front of Penn Station perfect. I arrived at 5:50 AM to find a quite empty and quiet NYP compared to other times I've seen it. So with an hour to kill I figured I would take advantage of Club Acela since I was booked in a Rommette. Only to find that on Sundays the club Acela opens at 7 A.M., which is after, or at the same time almost all LD trains leave before that time. No big deal though I just flashed my ticket and got into the regular waiting area no problems. The track announcement wasn't made until 6:40 AM for a 6:55 departure, which surprised me. I got onboard and found my SA S. Johnson no problem. She offered to get me some coffee since the machine in the car was broken. This turned out to be a good thing because for the duration of the trip I could get coffee from the Cafe rather then chance the pot that was sitting there longer. Breakfast was called around 7:40 where i promptly went and was getting ready for my first meal of the trip. I had the French Toast and sausage patties. Both were delicious and the Server who was by herself waiting and serving food did a great job of handling things. Then back to the room to look out the window. At Washington I got out and spoke with the guys doing the power change. One came aboard to try and fix the coffee maker since it was jutting out into the hall. He was able to fix that. Anyway, lunch came I hand the Burger witch was again fantastic. Met some good tablemates who were also riding the train like me for no reason at all. After lunch my SA came around to tell us our toilets were not working and we wouldn't have anyone aboard to fix them for about two hours. I am writing this on the train so at the moment 4 hours after the toilets stopped working and 2 stations later nothing has been done so have had to use coach restrooms. This has been the biggest issue. Wondering when this will be taken care of but not really bent out of shape over it. At this point just waiting the call for dinner then I will write more. Well back from dinner and I had the Pizza of the Day, which was Buffalo Chicken it was good and was served, hot so that’s all I could ask for. I was feeling full so I decided to skip dessert we'll see if I regret that later. Met a great guy at dinner his first LD trip and he was really sorry he didn't get a sleeper. It was interesting none the same. Coming in to Charleston WV the sold out train is pretty empty. Coach is about half full, 1 empty bedroom and 3 open roomettes. Which is interesting since the website told me it was sold out all the way from NYP to CUS. Anyway that’s it for now. Well I stand corrected at Charleston we picked up quite a few filling the sleep for the overnight. Still no toilets and there never will be so I guess a call to customer service is in order. We are 55 minutes late at the moment, which to me doesn't seem to bad to me compared to what it could be. Well I am going to get my room changed and try and stay up till we hit Kentucky. Woke up WAY early while we were sitting in IND watched them put to more cars on the end then went back to bed. Wake up around 8:00 AM Central Time had the cheese omelet and sausage. The omelet was was okay even though I could tell the cheese inside was fake it was still tasty. Last meal in the car so gave the server her tip realized i probably shouldn't have waited and tipped at each meal but whatever. Had to wait for my room to be changed so I sat in the other half of the diner known as the lounge. Sat with a woman who was a writer and worked in Hollywood who was going to catch the Southwestern Chief Later in the day. We talked about some of her writing and about the farmland. Then we hit the last stop before CHI, which is kind of sad. My guess is we'll be a little over an hour late. Which isn't bad we made up some time. I was shocked to learn that I was the only sleeper passenger who went end to end. And there were only 9 coach paxs to do the route entirely which told me that these places out here really do need more then service 3 days a week. But that’s a whole other thread lol. I'll have to get the info off the other 2 cars when I get off in CHI. Overall I enjoyed the first leg of the trip. I slept well and all the meals were not the greatest food I've ever had but it worked. The toilets broke at Washington Union so my attendant was very apologetic about that and I guess I'll talk it over with Customer Service later today. Sorry this was so long but I wanted to write it as it happened vs. thinking back on it when I get back I think it will make it less opinionated and more factual.

Tuesday I start the CZ and will be writing the same style report for it in this thread.

Sorry for all the mistakes I’ve only used spell check and have not proof read any of it.

Also my first TR so idk if its good or not


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## MrFSS (Aug 25, 2008)

Hey - nice report - looking forward to the next part!


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## Long Train Runnin' (Aug 25, 2008)

Thanks I cant wait for the next part either since I maybe going through Feather River but im glad someone liked it


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## the_traveler (Aug 25, 2008)

Great TR - and thanks for sharing. Enjoy the Feather River detour! B) (Lucky dog!  )


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## BillyJo (Aug 25, 2008)

Long Train Runnin said:


> I was shocked to learn that I was the only sleeper passenger who went end to end. And there were only 9 coach paxs to do the route entirely which told me that these places out here really do need more then service 3 days a week. But that’s a whole other thread lol.


Thanks for the report. Just wondering - why did you take the Cardinal and not the LSL, or even the regional down to WAS, and then the CL? Quite frankly, I'm surprised that there were that many people going the whole way!

Looking forward to the next installment.


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## Long Train Runnin' (Aug 26, 2008)

I took the Cardinal because I've traveled the LSL and frankly I don't like to worry about connections so the CL was out but I figure that if I take another trip west which I probably will I'll take the CL because its a different route I haven't taken. Plus this was the day I planned to leave the Cardinal runs so I rode it.


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## Long Train Runnin' (Aug 29, 2008)

PART 2

CHI->EMY

The California Zephyr

Roomette

Consist

backwards to forwards since thats how I walked it while boarding

32020 An empty sleeper we pulled to DEN for some reason??

34072 Coach

31000 Coach (NEED HELP WITH THIS ONE) Lower Level Coach missing just empty space down below with a concrete floor ill be sure to get a pic.

34137 Coach

330121 Lounge

3043 Diner

32074 Sleeper

32031 Sleeper

39027 Sleeper/Dorm

1756 Baggage (old mail car)

44 engine

45 engine

Well after sleeping off the delicious pizza at Giordano's and man was that good now granted I live in NJ and have eaten real NY pizza but Giordano's was still amazing pizza. Anyway I woke up kind of late and walked around Chicago. FInally grabbed a cab over to CUS so here we go. Headed over the Metropolitan Lounge and dropping off my bags. Headed to the food court and had some Chicago style dogs over at gold coast. Very different from any thing I've had before but good none the less. So then I had about an hour till the train left so just sat around had some drinks since they were free. Boarding call for Sleeper paxs so I slipped out of the lounge and to track 12. Noted the consist and met my attendant. He has been good so far. Got to my lower level roomette which is an unremodeled Superliner 1 which was a little depressing but oh well this is it. Off we go rolling through suburban CHI lost 5 minutes to the first station. Just sat in my room till dinner made a 6:45 reservation I had the roast game hen because I wanted to save the steak for tomorrow night which I understand is really good so looking forward to that. To through Iowa nothing special really just sent some time in the lounge and some more time in my room. We just lost more and more time. I vowed to stay awake to Omaha because I am dying to know if we are going through feather river and it was a crew change. We got there about 90 minutes late and low and behold security check. A dog and police officer swept through the train. This was a precaution since we were heading to Denver during the convention. The new conductors laughed and said I probably knew more then they did and I would have to ask the SLC conductors they would no. With my room changed over for the night I caught 7 hours of sleep without waking up in the night so that left me good to go. Went to breakfast and just had to wait a few minutes for a table to clear and had the French Toast and Sausage now the debate which was better the one on the Cardinal or the CZ I still not sure either way it was great. The stop before Denver gave me the shock of my life. 12 officers board from various federal agencies. Including Amtrak Police with automatic weapons strapped to there chests. The secret service and FBI. What a fun breakfast lol the Amtrak Police asked everyone for a photo ID and they swept through all the cars. When we arrived in Denver the platform was lined with private cars and more security people. It was just pretty amazing to see all the Agents and such trying to one up each other from the various organizations. After leaving Denver the security ended. I snagged a table in the Lounge and got ready for the tunnels and so on. Most of you who read this have done the CZ and know but man it was lovely if u can ride the CZ you really should. After we got to Fraser I gave up my lounge seat to some other paxs and returned to my roommette. Then we got held up for about 30 minutes while UP workers cleared the main line for us. Putting us nearly 3 hours behind and slipping even more. Just returned from lunch had the burger it was good and I enjoyed it. Great scenery and views of the Colorado River. No one mooned us though lol which we warned about. The 3 hour trip between Grandby and Glenwood springs is turning into at least 4 now wonderful lol. So yeah thats where I am at the moment waiting for Gleenwood to walk around a little. Cause walking the train is fun but being outside seems to make a difference to me anyway. Going back from dinner I finally had my first Amsteak not bad very good in fact. So another great meal aboard Amtrak. I am like 95% I met an AU member although I couldn't come up with the right way to ask the question lol. But I've seen that person in pics but they had an Australian Accent so yeah is there an Aussie on here that was on the CZ 5 in utah on 8-27 please let me know lol. Maybe I'm just crazy lol. So yeah I want to say it was the_traveler but don't want to offend anyone so let me move on. We continue to slip further and further behind. I would say at the moment were about 2 hours and 20 minutes back. Well I have vowed I will stay up and walk around in SLC regardless of the hour. So yeah lol got a few hours to stay awake. Ummm not much else happening I was sad to find the Lounge car empty and dead hoping to chat with a few ppl up there but oh well. Just sitting in the room to listening to od 60's albums and enjoying the utter lack of things out here in UT. I should just go suck it up and ask that guy who he is lol and have a mini gathering lol. I'll do that and let you folks know how it goes lol. Well I swept the train in search of my potential AU member and can't seem to find him lol oh well...Well The Beatles rendition of "Let it Be" just came on so I guess I'll drop my quest. Man I would kill to know if I was getting detoured or not which is why I am going to stay up to SLC to ask the new set of Conductors if they have any idea. I know there is UP work going on here in UT because on the scanner I can hear the speed restrictions go from 60 to 10 then back to 50 so its been pretty comical. Whoa first shower on a train. YIKES!! it wasn't the motion that got me like I thought it would be it was the temperature. HOLY COW!! it had freezing and hotter then the coffee upstairs! lol so I worked a system where I could get just enough water while it was getting hot to make it work. So yeah 4 minute shower feel refreshed sure but I don't know if it was worth it lol so yeah deff something that was a new experience. So yeah gunna sleep for 2 hours now and then have an alarm to get me up way before SLC so I can go shoot the breeze with the conductors getting off. Well I didn't bother getting off in SLC because that crew wouldn't have known. It would have be the crew we pick up in Winemucca, so with that knowledge its off to bed. I woke up at about 7:00 AM Pacific time today. Went over and got some breakfast; the french toast and sausage. It was fantastic as usual and interestingly enough I had the same tablemates as my last breakfast so that worked out well. Then I sat in the Lounge for an hour or so because my attendant was having his breakfast and had a few other rooms to change. No big deal though. We talked about how 3 weeks ago Amtrak didn't even have enough money to pay its workers and they didn't get a pay check. YIKES! That made me feel really bad that our nations rail system has fallen to a point where they can't pay their staff.  Anyway we are sitting about 40 minutes outside of Reno waiting for some freight traffic to clear before getting to Reno. We made up an hour overnight so now we are about 1 hour and 20 minutes behind the schedule. Thats it for now I'll right more at lunch even though I think this is already getting to long... Lunch was another great hamburger I cant believe this is my last meal on board the Zephyr  oh man can this trip really be ending???? I am currently rolling through Donner Pass although on the Scanner I can tell we are going to be sitting for at least an hour up here. Oh well more train time works for me. So yeah EMY is a lot closer then I ever thought it would be... Well I guess I spoke to soon. We didn't detour and we should have. We sat for 2 and a half hours waiting for the eastbound 6 to pass us. Then we were capped to 10 MPH for a long long time. So we lost about 4 hours and it took about 6 hours to get from Truckee to Colfax. Man I thought I was going to crazy lol but anyway we finally cleared all that and made it Colfax just over 4 hours late. We somehow made up time getting to Roseville and were about 3 and a half hours down. Then to Sacramento at about the same rate. Quick hop to Davis which wasn't really a surprise. Right now we are really pushing it toward Martinez probably so people don't miss even more connections. I know a bunch of people missed them in Sacramento. Oh well... so yeah here we are its 7:45 PST and we are about 30 minutes to Martinez. Cafe just closed so just have to haul it to EMY the kink up in the pass really really pissed me off. The conductor who got on knew we should have detoured and it sounded to me like we would have but some one was to lazy to set up the connections or they are to strapped for cash one or the other. UP made it so clear there would be work getting done and they didn't want us coming through, Oh well nothing to do when I get to EMY except get a cab and sit in the hotel till my flight tomorrow afternoon anyway... Well I'll wrap up the TR when I get to my hotel and post it. Thats it from onboard. Well grabbed a cab and am now in my hotel. Total 3.5 hours late

Thats my whole TR um if u have questions or comments leave them thanks

again Sorry for all the mistakes I’ve only used spell check and have not proof read any of it.

Long Train Runnin'


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## Shotgun7 (Aug 29, 2008)

Very entertaining! If all goes well, I might be including the Cardinal in a trip out to Glacier Park this winter (from Florida). I heard from another member that this ride can get kind of boring, considering its length and lack of interesting equipment. Were you feelin any of that? I'm really just interested in this train for the scenery and to experience the diner-lite. Unfortunately, I wouldn't have a sleeper for this leg. Since it sounds like you ventured into coach quite often, did those cars appear to be very full at times, or were they filled with a few empty seats? I'm really interested in this particular ride (mostly because I've already been on at least parts of the other three trains for this trip, the Meteor, CL, and EB).

On a side note, that coach on the CZ missing lower level seating was probably a coach-baggage car. Amtrak removed all seating from the lower level and welded on a big baggage door to be used in place of a heritage baggage car. Right now, the Sunset Limited (I think), City of New Orleans and Texas Eagle are the only trains widely utilizing them for that function.


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## Long Train Runnin' (Aug 30, 2008)

Umm yeah on the cardinal the train is short so walks dont last to long but coach was never 100% full and the half of the diner lite that was the loungue was always almost empty so u could escape your coach seat for awhile and sit there. But as for the scenery that is what truely matters i agree with you the Cardinal had to me better scenery then the LSL i've ridden both. And i think you could take that journey in coach pretty easily.

thanks for reading my TR


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## profwebs (Aug 30, 2008)

Shotgun7 said:


> Very entertaining! If all goes well, I might be including the Cardinal in a trip out to Glacier Park this winter (from Florida). I heard from another member that this ride can get kind of boring, considering its length and lack of interesting equipment. Were you feelin any of that? I'm really just interested in this train for the scenery and to experience the diner-lite. Unfortunately, I wouldn't have a sleeper for this leg. Since it sounds like you ventured into coach quite often, did those cars appear to be very full at times, or were they filled with a few empty seats? I'm really interested in this particular ride (mostly because I've already been on at least parts of the other three trains for this trip, the Meteor, CL, and EB).
> On a side note, that coach on the CZ missing lower level seating was probably a coach-baggage car. Amtrak removed all seating from the lower level and welded on a big baggage door to be used in place of a heritage baggage car. Right now, the Sunset Limited (I think), City of New Orleans and Texas Eagle are the only trains widely utilizing them for that function.


I haven't been on the Cardinal yet, but it is one of my planned trips due to the scenery alone. The New River Gorge is spectacular. I don't know if you remember that commercial awhile ago where they dropped a Chevy Blazer(I think) from a bridge on a bungee cord, but you will see that bridge from the train.

New River Gorge Bridge on Wikipedia


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## Long Train Runnin' (Nov 22, 2008)

Sorry if I look like I am bumping this thread up to the top but someone pointed out that I never added the photos from my trip on to the internet so the other day I put them all online and then thought I should put the photos in here with my TR. There arnt to many and some of them arnt that great but hey its still okay I guess. this is my shoutout to Whoozon1st i tried to base my captions off of but didn't quite as well as he did. so anyway pics from the trip are here

http://picasaweb.google.com/stephenmontero...untryTrainTrip#


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## GG-1 (Nov 22, 2008)

Long Train Runnin said:


> Sorry if I look like I am bumping this thread up to the top but someone pointed out that I never added the photos from my trip on to the internet so the other day I put them all online and then thought I should put the photos in here with my TR. There arnt to many and some of them arnt that great but hey its still okay I guess. this is my shoutout to Whoozon1st i tried to base my captions off of but didn't quite as well as he did. so anyway pics from the trip are here


Mahalo Stephan

For sharing your trip pictures with us. Some are so good you may have a future in Photography. From your picture you appear to be the same age, as I was, when I first got interested in Photography, then the colors were monochromatic (Black and White).

The pictures you labeled as a creek may just be the beginning of the Colorado river.







Here is my shot from about the same place, as I traveled eastbound.

Again thank you for sharing your trip.

Aloha

Eric

ps you may enjoy some of my other Zephyr Shots in my gallery. Address in Signature.


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## Rail Freak (Nov 22, 2008)

Long Train Runnin said:


> This trip report will be put on in two parts in the same thread
> EDIT: here are the pics links up here read the post at bottom for info about them
> 
> http://picasaweb.google.com/stephenmontero...untryTrainTrip#
> ...


WOW!,

Nice shots! Sept 8th I was on the EB Sephyr #6. Your sunset shots in Utah are really nice. I was on that stretch in the AM.


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## Long Train Runnin' (Nov 22, 2008)

GG-1 said:


> Long Train Runnin said:
> 
> 
> > Sorry if I look like I am bumping this thread up to the top but someone pointed out that I never added the photos from my trip on to the internet so the other day I put them all online and then thought I should put the photos in here with my TR. There arnt to many and some of them arnt that great but hey its still okay I guess. this is my shoutout to Whoozon1st i tried to base my captions off of but didn't quite as well as he did. so anyway pics from the trip are here
> ...


That is unreal but I guess things don't change much do they. I wish all my shots were so good lol I think i should have set the shutter faster. I've been through some of your photos but will be checking out the older ones as thats amazing thanks for sharing that


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## GG-1 (Nov 22, 2008)

Long Train Runnin said:


> GG-1 said:
> 
> 
> > Long Train Runnin said:
> ...


Aloha

Setting the shutter faster will stop motion, but the amount of focus (depth of field) will be shallower. As you can see from this shot






Blurring is interesting. another example





is the sheeting look of the water, I have seen other examples where the water is so blurred it looks like a dream fog.

A trick is to follow the moving object. When you are lucky the important part of the image is sharp and the rest of the image conveys the motion



The drums are sharp while you feel how hard the musicians were working and sense the music from the still image.

Another thing time teaches you is what to throw away, Was much harder to do when I used Film camera's. Other times you go back and try again until you have what you like. The best part of Photography, is I please myself first, and then hopefully those I share my images with.

Keep going you have a good eye for the subject, you will master the equipment.


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## Long Train Runnin' (Nov 22, 2008)

GG-1 said:


> Long Train Runnin said:
> 
> 
> > GG-1 said:
> ...


Thanks for all the tips. I will be rail fanning tomorrow and will try and use some of the things you told me in my attempts at photography tomorrow and i went through your older galleries amazing stuff did you have to scan all of those images from the print copies u had?


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## GG-1 (Nov 22, 2008)

Long Train Runnin said:


> Thanks for all the tips. I will be rail fanning tomorrow and will try and use some of the things you told me in my attempts at photography tomorrow and i went through your older galleries amazing stuff did you have to scan all of those images from the print copies u had?


Aloha

I have no idea of the proportion of scanned prints and digital originals, but more are digital originals, including 2 HD video's. You can also tell the differences between my first Digital Camera, Olympus, and my second, Pentax. the resolution is almost double. As you learn and develop you will also see the need to improve the equipment to keep the enjoyment in the Photography. And learning to edit is an important tool also, sometimes a bad picture in the camera becomes great when you only show part of the frame.

Please share with us the results you get tomorrow.


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## Long Train Runnin' (Nov 22, 2008)

GG-1 said:


> Long Train Runnin said:
> 
> 
> > Thanks for all the tips. I will be rail fanning tomorrow and will try and use some of the things you told me in my attempts at photography tomorrow and i went through your older galleries amazing stuff did you have to scan all of those images from the print copies u had?
> ...


Well the camera I have now is nice for a compact with out all those lenses and all that jazz its 8 megipixles but ya tomorrow I plan to take a lot of shots so I will be sharing them with everyone and a small TR as well


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