# A Tale of Two Limiteds



## Green Maned Lion (Mar 6, 2008)

We got up about 4:25 in the morning, and left the house around 5:30, with my dad driving us to the station. This saved us the slightly sticky problem of parking for three or maybe four days in a lot designed for commuters. Since the station is just a block from my dads weekend office, it wasn't that much of a problem. We ate breakfast at Dunkin' Donuts because Starbucks apparently doesn't open until 6:00 on Saturdays. We brought them with us on the train. Audrey had a jelly donut, I had a bacon, sausage, egg, and cheese on a croissant. The NJT train ran its usual 3-4 minutes late into New York Penn station.

We went to the ClubAcela lounge and checked in without hitch- to my surprise. I don't know, I was expecting more of a problem. Maybe I am giving Amtrak's employees too little credit for CS in my mind, too much credit for bureaucracy. It sure seemed that way at the end of this trip. Anyway, the lounge was pretty nice- a heck of a lot nicer than the regular waiting area in Penn. The food was ok, as, to my shock, was the coffee. The soda was too watery. Both me (23) and my girlfriend (18) take the old Toys'Rus campaign to heart- we don't wanna grow up. So we were both enthralled by the electronic shoe polishing machine.

The lounge attendant, true to her word, called us for the Regional, which I will now refer to as the _Nutmeg State_, because thats what it was called prior to Regionals losing their names, about 5 minutes before the train was tracked on the main board. This managed to confuse Audrey because we went to the proper track and the escalator was still set in the "UP" mode and people were still disembarking. We boarded the _Nutmeg State_ first and managed to find some side by side seats. I was glad to find out that my big roller bag containing our sleeping bag, pillows, and clothes fit into the overhead rack. It didn't on the Comet V we took into Penn.

I forgot how fast 125 mph can be. Especially when passing another like-speeded train. The trains we occasionally passed going in the opposite direction managed to scare Audrey because of how quickly they appear and disappear. We checked out the Cafe car during the long ride between Wilmington and Baltimore. The seats seemed to be decorated in the striped brown colour of early Amtrak Cafes. Didn't they have a Capstone refurbishment for the Amfleet Cafes? What happened to them? Checking OTOL it says they were stored... why?

The _Nutmeg State_ pulled into Washington early, which was nice. We checked out stuff into the ClubAcela lounge and went out exploring the station. I was thinking of eating lunch at Thunder Grill like I had once when my mother and I went to DC for a vacation. I guess I forgot how expensive it was. We ended up eating at this chinese/cajun (interesting combination, no?) place in the food court. It was actually quite good. We explored the heck out of the station. It really is a beautiful station, perhaps the nicest inside of the still-extant great stations.

We went back to the lounge to await boarding the _Capitol Limited_. The food wasn't really food- just some pretzels and goldfish. The soda wasn't watery, but it was kinda flat. It really is a nice lounge- I'd say its nicer than the one in New York. The called the _Capitol Limited_ sleeping passengers for early boarding, and we went. The train was sitting on the track, dwarfing all the other trains. There was a few PV cars to its left, and we also managed to catch a glimpse of _Beech Grove_ on the way to the train. To our disappointment, an obnoxious old bat from the lounge who felt a need to butt into our conversations and try and solicit my girlfriend and I to help her with things either she or redcaps should be doing and her husband, came with the group.

The train was all painted in Phase V paint. The two sleeping cars were refurbished Superliner Is. We were in Roomette three of car 2900, which was 32042. The consist was actually very interesting.

There were, of course, 2 P42s. I failed to get the number. Here is the rest of the consist:

F59PHi Sounder V40

Bombardier Bi-level, Sounder 102

Bombardier Bi-level, Sounder 103

Heritage Baggage Car 1754 (converted to mail only, originally a coach)

Transition Sleeper 39037 (Superliner II)

Sleeper 32007 - _Canyonlands_ (Superliner I, Refurbed 6/14/06)

Sleeper 32042 - _Wrangell-St. Elias_ (Superliner I, Refurbed 2/15/06)

Diner 38010 (Superliner I)

Sightseer Lounge 33047 (Superliner II)

Coach 34116 (Superliner II)

Coach 34139 (Superliner II)

So question for anyone who wants to answer it: What the heck were the Sounders there for? And why were they being referred to as "VRE" cars? They were in Sounder paint.

Anyway, the inside of the sleeping car was gorgeous. Elegant, luxurious feeling. Much nicer than the comfortable-but-institutional look of Superliner IIs. Our car attendants name was Larry, a hard working, nice guy who easily earned his tip. Unfortunately, the aforementioned annoying old bat was in the room across from us. She constantly was bugging us. I don't mean chatting with us- although she did some of that. She complained about the draft in the car, asked me to fix it, tried to get us to close our door, tried to get Larry to raise the already high temperature, and finally had the gall to try and insist that we turn off our light because she wanted to go to sleep (at about 7:30, by the way).

Larry then came up to her and told her that it is wholly inappropriate to ask us to do that, and to please refrain from doing so. She then started bugging him for everything under the sun. Every 5 minutes, "LARRY! LARRRRRYYY!!!!!!" Eventually he stopped responding to her. Despite all the things he did for her, I never saw her give him a tip. Anyway, they were the kind of old couple where both of them were deaf. She wanted to get Larry, and was cold. Her husband was hot, in the upper bunk, in his underwear, and didn't want the cover because he was hot. He kept telling her he was half naked and please close the curtain. She kept telling him she needed Larry.

The were still going at this when we got back from the lounge around midnight. I got sick of listening to it and around 12:15 I leaned into her room and said, "Madam, could you please shut up?" She looked shocked and appalled. Her husband was trying to hide his snickering. I then closed her door for her (loudly), and my girlfriend and I went to bed. Her door later opened. They slept with it open. God knows why.

We spent most of the day in the lounge, though. My girlfriend was kinda bored and disinterested until we set foot in the Sightseer Lounge. After that, her whole perspective on the train in general changed. I was glad. She enjoyed the scenery, and the bantering going on between three increasingly drunk southerners with thick accents (who didn't know each other). I'll admit, it was a riot. I took tons of pictures. I'll post them in an album later and link them.

We went to dinner. Let me explain a bit about our dinner situation. My girlfriend has to major talent areas- art, and cooking. She enjoys being in the kitchen and doesn't mind spending all day cooking something. So we both have jaded tastes that tend to find most restaurants wanting. I have yet to have a breakfast that really compares to either her eggs benedict with fresh hollandaise, or even more so, her poached eggs _Burgundian_.

We both had the flat iron steak for dinner. The salad was pretty good to my tastes, my girlfriend didn't like it. We were both very favorably impressed with the steak, however. I like my meat rare, and when I say rare, I like it bloody in the middle. They made it rare. For desert, my girlfriend ordered ice cream. I ordered the chesecake (Amtrak's cheesecake is one of my favorite deserts ever. I don't know why.) ala mode. They didn't charge me for my ice cream, and even gave me a plastic spoon so I could take it back to my room. On top of that, she told me something I didn't know. I left the tip-slot on the receipt blank because I figured they'd prefer cash. She pointed out to me that I should make a point of zeroing that because some people apparently write fake tips in there. I was charged for the shrimp cocktail, of course.

We were seated with a pair of unrelated gentleman, some southern dude who was riding the train for the first time, and a seasoned Amtrak rider. We got into a fascinating conversation with the latter, and ended up staying there for about an hour and a half in conversation. The other guy got bored and left early.

Breakfast was acceptable. My girlfriend had the french toast, which she said was mediocre. I had a belgian waffle, which tasted frozen and bland. The coffee was, once again, surprisingly drinkable. The stuff in our sleeping car was most emphatically not. We both slept very well. This leg of the trip was good. We arrived about an hour and forty minutes late, partially because of freight traffic, partially because of a failed traction motor in our number 2 engine.


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## Green Maned Lion (Mar 6, 2008)

Chicago was great too. We took the Metra to see a friend in Westmont. It is kind of telling how old and decrepit these old Budd cars are. I mean, in comparison to our local commuter service. The oldest cars are about 20 years old here, and those are planned for retirement in the near future. We have the newest and most advanced electric and diesel engines in the country. The old bi-levels were ancient pulled by an equally ancient F40. We ate at Girodano's for dinner. Thanks for the excellent recommendation, the food was exquisite.

We looked for LaSalle St. Station. Sad. Is that all thats left of it? Union Station was also kind of sad, especially how worn the steps are, and how many things are boarded up or in disrepair. The Metropolitan lounge, however, was nice- if sparsely populated in the seat department. Seriously, it looked like it could hold twice as many seats and still seem spacious.. The toilet seats were interesting, as were the hand driers. AND FINALLY SOME LOUNGE IN AMTRAKS SYSTEM KNOWS HOW TO MAKE A PEPSI.

We were sent out to the _Lake Shore Limited_ at about 9:00. We found a nice seeming pair of seats, except for a broken overhead light, and staked them out. As a sort of preview of things to come, our coach attendant managed to forfeit her tip in the first 5 minutes. I wanted to run up to the Lounge car and buy myself something to drink as a night cap. So I asked if it was open. She didn't know. I said I would go check and she told me I should wait for the conductor to check my tickets, as he might miss me. I asked her if the conductor was going to be checking tickets before the doors closed. She once again didn't know. And she was rude, obnoxious, and brusque about it. I would not have liked a "no", I'll admit. But a No is an answer that I can accept. There is no reason in gods green earth why she could justify an "I don't know". I didn't confront her or anything. I just made a note not to tip. Blech. Her name was Joanne. Anyone know her?

After sitting for a few minutes, I went up and got myself a bottle of Cognac anyway. And gee, I didn't miss the conductor, even. After the tickets were collected, my girlfriend and I got out our pillows and sleeping bag. I went to the bathroom, and put my ear muffs and eyeshade on. And tried to go to sleep. There was some buffoon in the row directly infront of us who somehow felt it was acceptable to talk at full volume. I tried to ignore him.

At about 2 AM he was still talking, full volume. I got fed up and leaned over the seat. I then said, as politely as I could, "Excuse me, I'm trying to sleep. Do you mind if you could lower your voice a few notches?" He then proceeded to sass me, pretended to pull down a fake shade, and told me I didn't exist. Then he started SINGING. Our coach attendant further lost her tip by ignoring this. I wouldn't mind so much during the day, or even before midnight. But after 2AM? He shut up around 2:30 and went to sleep on the floor with his legs in the aisle. I really should have gone and complained to a conductor; a crew member told me as much when I was telling the story anecdotally later in the trip.

I didn't sleep well, once it came. The bouncing, banging, and jolting was a bit much for me. The Amfleets really have a rough ride. My girlfriend and I both had aches in muscles we didn't know we had when we woke up. Breakfast announcement was what woke us up and we rushed to breakfast. My girlfriend had the continental, which she deemed tolerable. I had the french toast, which was good- she said it was better than the first days french toast. The coffee was once again drinkable.

Heading back to the coach a lot more awake now, I noticed that we had an Amfleet lounge that actually was a lounge. In that it had the old lounge-style seating. I dropped my girlfriend into one and ran back to get my camera, scanner, pen, and notebook. We spent the rest of the day in there. Our conductors in the morning were a large african-american lady who was brusque at first and then lightened up as we started to chat.. The other was a large blonde lady with a very cheerful temperament. I didn't get their names.

Taking advantage of the fact that I wouldn't have to drive for another day, I broke a rule of mine and started drinking early, myself. Not that I got drunk or anything. I think I had 3 drinks that day?? Anyway, it was fun. The cook from the diner lounge got a bit surley when I tried to photograph the build plate on the lounge car. He became friendlier later in the trip, though. The Cafe attendant, Tim, was pretty nice too. A nice group of guys, the crew and OBS of this train, our coach attendant excepted. We had fun chatting them up.

We went for lunch at 1:30 and were sat by ourselves. The hamburgers were awful. I mean plain out awful. However, the experience reminded me that the backbone of Amtrak isn't its cars, its food, or its amenities, but its people. It is an impressive waitress who can make a pleasant experience out of a bad meal, and this one could. I had noticed some plates in the garbage, and thus asked if I could take the one I had been eating on home as a souvenir. I have strange tastes in souvenirs, ok? She gave me a stack of both large and small new plates. Nice of her.

We continued chatting up the crew until Schenectady when they went and got ready for the Albany change. At which point we met a new, and very interesting, person. He actually had been sitting behind us in our coach. He showed up in the lounge and started chatting with us. Fascinating person. Apparently, he doesn't have a home, but travels around the country by train in transit to visiting each of his three daughters, who are located on routes served by the Chief, Builder, and Lake Shore. We talked with him until Albany, when I went out to photo graph the consist:

Consist

P42DC 111

P42DC 130

Heritage Baggage 1252

Viewliner 62014 - _Imperial View_

Viewliner 62003 - _Bay View_

Diner-Lounge 28022 - South Bend Club (Rebuilt 9/07)

Lounge 28011

Coach 25020

Coach 25058

Coach 25117 - this was taken from the door and it looked like it had been a 1 at one point.

After Albany, the lounge was briefly closed. We got back together with the guy we were talking to and we talked all the way into New York Penn. An interesting thing was we both got off of NJT at the same stop.

It was a good trip, but I don't think I want to do Amfleet coach again. Any suggestions or advice?


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## PRR 60 (Mar 6, 2008)

Very nice report!

I think overnight coach travel on Amtrak is an acquired taste, and I am not in any hurry to acquire it. It certainly is nice to be able to retreat to the privacy of a room once in a while. Interesting characters can be fun in small doses, but not as overnight companions. I've never ridden in an Amfleet II LD coach, but if they ride anything like Amfleet I, I can understand the comfort issue. Superliner Coaches ride better, but it is still coach.

How did Audrey enjoy the trip? My wife tolerates Amtrak long distance travel only because she knows I like it. Our Amtrak LD trips are few and far between. I do not want to press my luck.


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## Green Maned Lion (Mar 6, 2008)

She doesn't like coach, and she refers to sleeper beds as "pieces of cardboard with felt over them", but otherwise she really enjoyed it, such that she is allowing me to look into booking another one. Since she happens to be the one whose thriftiness allows us to save any money at all, that is saying something. She wrote a journal, which I will eventually photograph and post on here.


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## AlanB (Mar 6, 2008)

Green Maned Lion said:


> Anyway, the lounge was pretty nice- a heck of a lot nicer than the regular waiting area in Penn. The food was ok, as, to my shock, was the coffee. The soda was too watery. Both me (23) and my girlfriend (18) take the old Toys'Rus campaign to heart- we don't wanna grow up. So we were both enthralled by the electronic shoe polishing machine.


I'm betting that they were having serious problems with that soda machine, as I was just in the lounge yesterday and noticed that the old machine was sitting outside the entrance and inside was a workman hooking up a brand new machine.

And I'm still laughing over the picture of you guys at the shoe polishing machine. :lol:



Green Maned Lion said:


> The lounge attendant, true to her word, called us for the Regional, which I will now refer to as the _Nutmeg State_, because thats what it was called prior to Regionals losing their names, about 5 minutes before the train was tracked on the main board. This managed to confuse Audrey because we went to the proper track and the escalator was still set in the "UP" mode and people were still disembarking. We boarded the _Nutmeg State_ first and managed to find some side by side seats.


That's one of the nicer perks of the lounge, is the fact that they usually make the announcement before everyone outside knows where to line up, so if you don't dawdle you can usually be at the head of the line.



Green Maned Lion said:


> We checked out the Cafe car during the long ride between Wilmington and Baltimore. The seats seemed to be decorated in the striped brown colour of early Amtrak Cafes. Didn't they have a Capstone refurbishment for the Amfleet Cafes? What happened to them? Checking OTOL it says they were stored... why?


The Capstone program was cancelled before all the AMF I's made it through the program.



Green Maned Lion said:


> It really is a beautiful station, perhaps the nicest inside of the still-extant great stations.


They did a beautiful job restoring that station years ago.



Green Maned Lion said:


> So question for anyone who wants to answer it: What the heck were the Sounders there for? And why were they being referred to as "VRE" cars? They were in Sounder paint.


Sounder had brought equipment several years ago, that due to delays in getting various lines up and running, it couldn't use right away. So they leased the excess equipment to LA's Metrolink and VRE to help cover the costs of having purchased the equipment. Now that more of the Sounder lines are up and running, and more are to come on line soon, they are taking back their equipment as the leases expire. No doubt this equipment was being returned to Seattle via Amtrak.

Thanks for the report.


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## gswager (Mar 6, 2008)

AlanB said:


> Sounder had brought equipment several years ago, that due to delays in getting various lines up and running, it couldn't use right away. So they leased the excess equipment to LA's Metrolink and VRE to help cover the costs of having purchased the equipment. Now that more of the Sounder lines are up and running, and more are to come on line soon, they are taking back their equipment as the leases expire. No doubt this equipment was being returned to Seattle via Amtrak.


It's off-topic, but I am wondering when the leases on Sounder trainsets for Metrolink and VRE will be expired?


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## AlanB (Mar 6, 2008)

gswager said:


> AlanB said:
> 
> 
> > Sounder had brought equipment several years ago, that due to delays in getting various lines up and running, it couldn't use right away. So they leased the excess equipment to LA's Metrolink and VRE to help cover the costs of having purchased the equipment. Now that more of the Sounder lines are up and running, and more are to come on line soon, they are taking back their equipment as the leases expire. No doubt this equipment was being returned to Seattle via Amtrak.
> ...


I'm not sure about Metrolink, but those cars and the engine the GML saw on his train represented the last of the Sounder equipment that VRE had. VRE orginally leased 3 trainsets in 2001. Two sets have already been returned, and the last set consisting of one engine and 6 cars was removed from service some time in February.


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## Green Maned Lion (Mar 15, 2008)

Overdue Photos. I've posted some of the nicer ones. The rest can be found here. by the way, they are in order by number. I have no clue why they screwed up the order on the website.







This is just a stunning picture. I took this on the _Capitol Limited_






We got one of the refurbished Superliner 1 cars. 32042, _Wrangell-St. Elias_ to be precise. Its a beauty, let me tell ya.






A Norfolk Southern loco and a B unit. I didn't know they used GP b-units anymore. I would have figured the flexibility would negate the cost of the cab.






Amtrak's Chicago Yards, as taken from the Sears Tower






Chicago Union Station, likewise.






My endlessly patient girlfriend, _*IN*_ the Sears Tower






It's rare to find grand staircases anymore, and this is definitely an example.






I guess this didn't get restored. The wear, a testament to the number of people who passed here.






A grand station, its disrepair is sad.






A grand gateway from an era where this station served as a monument to the ego of the Pennsylvania Railroad and the others who helped build it.


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## Green Maned Lion (Mar 15, 2008)

I bet some of you wonder what is behind the black curtain at CUS? Well, now ya know. Sad, isn't it?






My girlfriend writing in her journal for this trip. I'll post that soon. 0






The _Lake Shore Limited_, with an unusually unified consist, for a single level long distance. Why didn't they make Amfleet sleepers?






Yes, virgina, there is lounge seating on single level trains. Its just rarer than a decent President.






Some dude whose purpose I couldn't ascertain told us this was from a derailment that resulted in some fireworks. I don't know what the guy did. He had no radio, but seemed to be crew more than OBS.






A build plate on an Amfleet! It hasn't been stolen yet!






I just think this is a pretty picture/


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## MrFSS (Mar 15, 2008)

Thanks for sharing. I enjoyed seeing the pictures.


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## GG-1 (Mar 15, 2008)

Aloha and Mahalo for sharing the pictures.


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## Dan O (Mar 15, 2008)

nice pics. I hope to be in Chicago in a few months too.


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## PRR 60 (Mar 15, 2008)

Great photos. They are a step above the "point out the window and shoot the pretty mountains" shots. You obviously put some thought into the shots and the results show it. I got a kick out of "reflections". That is a creative way to make the best of the difficulty in taking decent shots from the Sightseer.


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## Green Maned Lion (Apr 15, 2008)

Audrey's Journal

And here, now, a month overdue, is my girlfriends account of the trip photobucketed directly from her journal. Keep in mind it was written on-the-fly and has some confusion in it. Also my girlfriend wrote it "uncensored" so, while I can't imagine it would offend most people, I wouldn't read it if you are among the more easily offended. Also, it is posted backwards in photo-bucket, so to move ahead in the account, you need to hit the previous arrow.


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## Joel N. Weber II (May 31, 2008)

Green Maned Lion said:


> A Norfolk Southern loco and a B unit. I didn't know they used GP b-units anymore. I would have figured the flexibility would negate the cost of the cab.


Are you sure that b-unit has a diesel and isn't a Slug?


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## chuljin (Jun 1, 2008)

I quite enjoyed this report, thanks!



Green Maned Lion said:


> We ended up eating at this chinese/cajun (interesting combination, no?) place in the food court. It was actually quite good.


Reminds me of a restaurant near OXN (where I often go on just-for-the-hell-of-it or just-for-a-train-ride trips) called 'Thai Peru'. I examined the menu outside and, true to its name, has Thai and Peruvian food, also an interesting combination.  I like both, so it's strange I've never eaten there. The very next time I go, then.


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## Green Maned Lion (Jun 1, 2008)

Ok, its a slug.


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