# Lamy to Washington DC and Back - Southwest Chief/Capitol Limited/Cardi



## printman2000 (Jul 9, 2014)

I usually try and take very detailed notes during my trip so I can write a decent trip report. This time, I decided not to. Did not want to deal with it and just wanted to enjoy the trip. So this report will be pretty thin and based mostly on my memory (be scared).

My family and I (wife and two sons, 16 & 13) left Amarillo on June 27th around 8:00am and drove to Lamy, NM. It is about a four hour drive. We arrived around 11:30am and checked our bags. At that time, the train was only showing a few minutes late. We drove down the road and had lunch at a little café closer to Santa Fe. After lunch, we returned and started waiting for the Southwest Chief #4. Cell service and cell data service at lamy are very spotty. You really have to find a specific spot to get service. I found one and it allowed me to keep track. The train started losing time. Fortunately, not much. It arrive at 1:40 (scheduled for 1:17).

We were in sleeper 0430 right next to the dining car in roomettes 3 & 4. This was a Superliner I sleeping car that had some, but not all refurbishments. It was in pretty good shape. I have to say, I really like the new restrooms. They are just FAR superior to the Superliner II designs.

Our sleeper car attendant told us people just left our rooms and she needed to clean them, so she handed us our lunch reservation she had gotten for us and sent us to the dining car. As I mentioned, we had eaten not too long before, but we went anyway. And yes, we all ate some second lunch. The dining car crew was nice.

After second lunch, we went back to our rooms and settled in. My ticket had not been scanned yet so I was getting worried about it being canceled. Somewhere before Las Vegas, we got put on a siding to let #3 pass. From the sounds of it (I had a scanner), the switches were having to be done manually. At 3:00, #3 passed and we resumed.

Around 3:15, a conductor finally stopped by to scan out ticket. I felt much more relaxed after that. We had lots of slow orders between Lamy and Raton. I also caught a quick glimpse of a semaphore.

We arrived in Raton about 1.5 hours late. We stepped off and noticed they let the Boy Scouts use the coach/baggage compartment for their stuff. I thought that was smart idea. I also heard a guy in Amtrak clothing telling a passenger he was the “Operations Manager”. Not sure what that is or who he was. I saw him on board once. Maybe he was the dining car LSA?

Dinner was pretty bad. We all had steak. It was bland and over cooked (I asked for medium) and the portions were pathetic. The cheesecake was excellent. Guy at another table was complaining about community seating when there were open tables. He just would not understand.

My roomette was very quiet at night except for one stinking rattle in the window which I could not stop.

Went to breakfast at 6:30 and had pancakes for the very first time on Amtrak (always have French toast). They were okay. The sausage patties were AWFUL.

The rest of the trip was pretty uneventful. We arrived in Chicago and went to the Met Lounge to wait for our departure on the Capitol Limited. We received 7:30pm dinner reservations. About an hour before departure, they announced the equipment was having problems and there would be a delay. We boarded around 7:00 and pulled away around 7:30.

This train is the one I remember the least about so minimal details.

We were in the 3000 sleeper in roomettes 5 & 6. Our attendant was nice, but did not do much. In one of the bathrooms, I found a cleaning brush laying in the toilet. For the whole trip, it stayed there which means she never went in to that restroom to clean.

We were in a Superliner II. I love the fact that these rooms do not have the stupid closet. They leave plenty of room for our onboard bag and my laptop bag. However, I hate the restrooms. And this car was pretty worn out.

The biggest thing I remember about this train is soon after the stop in Cumberland, I noticed that our electricity was out in the car. The train soon stopped and it turned out to be a “shredded” HEP cable up front. They worked on it for a while and at one point I heard a loud bang and a large puff of smoke. Not long after, we were moving again (without power). The crew planned to take off the baggage and transition sleeper and move them to the rear of the train. They had to move a few passengers out of the transition sleeper and into the lounge (as well as the crew).

We then stopped near a siding where the crew went to work. It was obvious they were not use to doing this stuff. They got the two cars disconnected and moved to the siding. My family and I went downstairs because it was cooler down there. The funniest thing was the when they were backing the locos to connect to the train, the conductor was calling out feet. “Thirty feet”, “Twenty feet”, “Ten Feet” then RIGHT after he said 10 feet we felt the bang. Obviously he was closer than 10 feet when he said it. The Engineer said “Come on, man.”

After an hour without, we had power again. They then pulled forward, and then backed up to hook up the two cars. Since they did not have power going to them, they had to put a red flag on the backend since there would be no marker lights.

During all the switching, the engineer has some problems getting the loco to go in reverse. I think he ended up having to use the rear loco to make the moves.

After all the switching, things ran smoothly. We were pretty late into Washington DC. Around 6:00pm (scheduled 1:10pm). We had planned to visit the Mall that evening but decided not to because by the time we got to the hotel, it was just too late.

We then spent four full days in DC. If you would to see pictures, you can visit my travel blog at http://www.craigmashburn.com/travelblog

We arrived back at Washington Union Station on July 4th around 9:45am for our 11:05 departure on the Cardinal. I have never been on the Cardinal so this would be my first new train in a long time. It would also be our first single level train since 2009. We settled into the lounge to wait.

The Cardinal all the sudden lost time before arriving into Baltimore. We were taken out to board at 11:30. To my surprise there were two sleepers. It was a baggage, sleeper, sleeper, coach, dining/café, coach, coach. We were in the 5100 sleeper, rooms 3 & 4. I spoke with the attendant outside and he was also surprised about the setup of the train.

So, Viewliner roomettes. Obviously, the upper bunk with windows is superior to Superliners. I also like the air vents by the windows so the lower bunk is not so hot at night and also the built in fans. I dislike the toilet/sink in the room and also, the lower bunk seems narrower (even on the wide side) than a Superliner lower bed. All in all, I prefer the Superliner roomette. Several things did not work in our rooms like the speaker controls and the attendant call buttons. These did not work in the whole car. Could also barely hear announcements in the hallway speakers.

Sometime mid-morning, I noticed the toilets stops flushing in our rooms. I alerted our attendant (who had never come by and never even introduced himself. He tried resetting something which did not work and said he would let the conductor know. At one stop, the conductor tries resetting something outside the car which also did not work. We were told to use roomette 4 in the other sleeper. Late afternoon, I just happened to try again and the toilet flushed and they continued to work for the rest of the trip. Nothing was done to fix them, they just started working again. At the Huntington stop, I stepped off. The conductor getting on told me he was going to try and fix our toilets. I informed him they were already working.

The poor excuse for a dining car on this train was really disappointing. One guy, serving and microwaving for two sleepers was just not sufficient. It did not help that our one guy was not very organized. He would basically try and do one table at a time. Drinks, order, serve. Then next table. Needless to say, service took a very long time. We were in there first for every meal just to make sure we got food. He said he was not given enough to cover all the additional passengers with the second sleeper. The food was okay, but I do not have very high standards.

We were running about an hour late for arrival into Chicago. I got online and ordered a Giordano pizza for pickup at 12:15. We arrived a little after 11:00 (scheduled 10:05) and we settled into the lounge. There was a Superliner train sitting on the next track that I suspected was our SWC. That would prove to be correct. At noon, my son and I walked down the street and picked up our deep dish which we took back to the lounge and very much enjoyed.

As far as I can remember, boarding and departure were right on time. I had not realized it, but we were in the 0331 sleeper. I get tickets so early every year, we are usually always in the first sleeper. This turned out to be good for two reasons. The car was the exact one we went Lamy to Chicago on and I was in the exact same room which was good. The other good reason was our attendant. His name is Rene and he is, by far, the best sleeper car attendant I have ever had (and I have already let Amtrak know!). He was so nice, called me by name, was constantly caring for his passengers and was constantly cleaning. The only bad news is that he is retiring in November. That will be a HUGE loss for Amtrak.

The dining car crew and food was the best we had on the whole trip. Our two servers, Vincent and N. Smith (that is what her name tag said) were AWESOME. Pleasant, hardworking, professional and friendly. The food, which was the same as our outbound trip, was also prepared so much better. The steaks were perfect (and I let the chef know at a stop).

This train was a GREAT way to end our trip.

A few noteworthy things…

I woke up in Kansas City (we were a couple hours late by then) to feel us hooking up some cars to the rear. Was not able to find out what they were until La Junta. They were two private cars from Patrick Henry Creative Promotions. They were the nicest looking private cars I have seen in a long time. They were going Kansas City to Los Angeles.

We had slow order after slow order through Kansas/Colorado/New Mexico. The engineer commented it was hard to see the grass through all the weeds of slow orders. I am guessing these slow orders are permanent until either the states pay up to fix the track or the train is rerouted.

About 30 miles from our stop in Lamy, the power went out on the train. Turns out our second locomotive totally died. The engineer informed the dispatcher we were down to one engine and had the extra cars so it would be slow going (we were currently in an uphill area). Sure enough, we kept losing more and more time going slow. I saw online that a BNSF unit was added at Albuquerque. I guess the protect unit was not available.

We arrived about two hours late and headed home to Amarillo.


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## Bob Dylan (Jul 9, 2014)

Sounds like an overall nice trip except for the bad food ( have you tried the chicken/Maple sausage? Better than the Pork by far)the Mechanical Problems(I totally agree about the Rehabbed Is being Superior to the IIs) and the Lazy Attendant!

Its always a shame for us, but good for them, when the hard working old timers retire! Institutional Memory is Important to all organizations! Did you see the Post about Greyhpund moving into the Raton Station? With Joe Boardman on a VIP Tour of Kansas with BNSF Execs, perhaps a deal is being cut on the SWC Route? I'm all for the transfer to the Southern Transcon Route because of the cost to maintain and rehab the Raton Pass route! Think you are too since your crib is in Amarillo! LOL


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## printman2000 (Jul 9, 2014)

jimhudson said:


> Did you see the Post about Greyhound moving into the Raton Station?


I saw someone say that, but have not seen anything official about it. I also have my doubts as to it having anything to do with the reroute.

Any yes, the reroute would benefit me quite a bit.


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## oregon pioneer (Jul 9, 2014)

Nice trip report, pretty detailed for being all from memory!


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## printman2000 (Jul 9, 2014)

A couple details I just remembered...

Rene on the Southwest Chief told me Amtrak no longer provides them with the styrofoam coolers. He had to buy and bring his own. The attendant on the Capitol Limited did not have any ice either and said they do not provide it. Looks like more stupid cutbacks. Rene also said they are not giving him less bottled water.

On the Cardinal, I was in the sleeper with the crew. They all used black duct tape to hold their doors closed when they were not there. the best thing about that is I could tell when my sleeper car attendant was in his room if I ever needed him.


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## Railroad Bill (Jul 9, 2014)

Enjoyed reading your trip report and sorry so many things went wrong. I believe a friend of mine was on your Cap Ltd #30 that day. He and his son were taking a trip to DC after I promoted riding Amtrak to them. Needless to say, they were not impressed with the time delays and the general poor service they received.  And my other friends were on the CZ last month during the rockslide trip west of Denver. They eventually flew from Denver to San Francisco after the train was delayed so long they would miss their granddaughter's birthday party if they took the Wyoming detour. 

It is difficult to continue to recommend Amtrak to local friends when these things continue to occur. Some are not Amtrak's fault, but it really doesn't matter to people who see trains as an antiquated form of travel. :unsure:


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## printman2000 (Jul 9, 2014)

Railroad Bill said:


> Enjoyed reading your trip report and sorry so many things went wrong. I believe a friend of mine was on your Cap Ltd #30 that day. He and his son were taking a trip to DC after I promoted riding Amtrak to them. Needless to say, they were not impressed with the time delays and the general poor service they received.  And my other friends were on the CZ last month during the rockslide trip west of Denver. They eventually flew from Denver to San Francisco after the train was delayed so long they would miss their granddaughter's birthday party if they took the Wyoming detour.
> 
> It is difficult to continue to recommend Amtrak to local friends when these things continue to occur. Some are not Amtrak's fault, but it really doesn't matter to people who see trains as an antiquated form of travel. :unsure:


You know, I was thinking about if I should call customer service to get some vouchers for the delays. But for some reason, I am okay with them. At least we did not miss a connection.


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## printman2000 (Jul 9, 2014)

One more detail I forgot to mention, I made a point to thank one of the conductors on the Capitol Limited (whose clothes were very dirtied) for his hard work to get us going again. He seemed surprised and appreciative of my appreciation.

Towards the end, i heard him say something on the radio about almost dying. I assume her meant when the cable apparently blew up on them. The other crew said they were never going to here the end of it!


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## printman2000 (Jul 9, 2014)

Okay, another detail I totally forgot to mention. I met our very own City of Miami in Charlottesville when we made the stop on the Cardinal. It was nice to meet a member on this trip!

Sent from my iPad using Amtrak Forum


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## Bob Dylan (Jul 9, 2014)

printman2000 said:


> Okay, another detail I totally forgot to mention. I met our very own City of Miami in Charlottesville when we made the stop on the Cardinal. It was nice to meet a member on this trip!
> 
> Sent from my iPad using Amtrak Forum


I've met lots AUers all over while riding Trains, were everywhere!!!


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## AmtrakBlue (Jul 9, 2014)

I met CofM at CVS on my way to the Gathering last Oct.


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## GG-1 (Jul 9, 2014)

printman2000 said:


> One more detail I forgot to mention, I made a point to thank one of the conductors on the Capitol Limited (whose clothes were very dirtied) for his hard work to get us going again. He seemed surprised and appreciative of my appreciation.
> 
> Towards the end, i heard him say something on the radio about almost dying. I assume her meant when the cable apparently blew up on them. The other crew said they were never going to here the end of it!


Aloha

Well when one deals with 440V BIG sparks and smoke is easy. what is hard is not being part of the smoke and spark.

Glad you enjoyed the trip.


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## greatcats (Jul 11, 2014)

Speaking of Raton, I intend to take the bus from Denver in October back to Flagstaff and was pleased to see that the departure time from Denver has been moved from 5:30am to 6am. I wonder if this has something to do with arrangements in Raton. The Amshack there is the usually closed ticket office. The otherwise vacant Santa Fe station still had the waiting room and rest rooms open , the last I knew. The ticket office used in the summer is a trailer like building


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## SarahZ (Jul 11, 2014)

printman2000 said:


> The funniest thing was the when they were backing the locos to connect to the train, the conductor was calling out feet. “Thirty feet”, “Twenty feet”, “Ten Feet” then RIGHT after he said 10 feet we felt the bang. Obviously he was closer than 10 feet when he said it. *The Engineer said “Come on, man.”*


That part made me laugh pretty hard. I would have said the same thing. ^_^


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## Bob Dylan (Jul 11, 2014)

greatcats said:


> Speaking of Raton, I intend to take the bus from Denver in October back to Flagstaff and was pleased to see that the departure time from Denver has been moved from 5:30am to 6am. I wonder if this has something to do with arrangements in Raton. The Amshack there is the usually closed ticket office. The otherwise vacant Santa Fe station still had the waiting room and rest rooms open , the last I knew. The ticket office used in the summer is a trailer like building


IINM there was a post that Greyhound was moving into the old Santa Few Station in Raton??!!!
And are you riding the Bus All the way to Flagstaff from Denver or catching the Chief in Raton ???

Next thing we know you'll be joining SH on the Dog Forum!!! LOL


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## greatcats (Jul 11, 2014)

The plan is to take the bus to Raton, then the train to FLG. I Have A $250 voucher because if my negative remarks I made to Amtrak a few months back and decided that it will nicely cover a roomette.


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## Bob Dylan (Jul 11, 2014)

greatcats said:


> The plan is to take the bus to Raton, then the train to FLG. I Have A $250 voucher because if my negative remarks I made to Amtrak a few months back and decided that it will nicely cover a roomette.


Smart choice Eric!!!


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