# whatever happened to the unticketed kid??



## suzrain (Aug 2, 2004)

So perhaps you remember that I was traveling on the CA zephyr from Chicago to Emeryville with two kids, one of them a 2-year old who had no ticket. Many of you gave me advice on what to do, which I thank you for. This is what happened:

The day of our departure I went to the station agent and begged him to sell me a ticket for the toddler. He said, "Why?" and I repied "Because he's two and it would make me feel more comfortable." If you remember, this is the same guy who told me not to buy the ticket originally because he thought my child didn't look two and he told us we'd be sharing a seat anyway due to the full train. So, he said, "I'm still not sure why you want to buy him a ticket!" Exasperated, I said "Because he's already two!!!!" To which he replied, "You mean he's ALMOST two." I just looked at him. It was a ridiculus argument anyway, because there were no tickets to be had.

The ride was pretty miserable since we were three people in two seats in coach (sleepers were sold out) and many of you probably know what traveling with a two-year old is like. They truly can't be expected to stay still for 50 hours in a seat.

Here's the question. This was our first time on Amtrak, so we weren't sure what to expect, so I'm wondering if these things are unusual. First, the train was 5 hours late somewhere around Salt Lake City. There were times that we were only traveling 25 mph or so through bare desert. At one point, the crew "deadlined"---reached their Federal allowed driving time limit and stopped in the middle of the desert in Utah for an hour and a half waiting for a relief crew, who drove up in a black SUV through the sand like something out of an action movie. While we waited there they let everyone get off and stand around in the hot desert on the side of the track! The dinner reservations were always 1 or 2 hours behind schedule, so if you were, like we were, in coach, you didn't get to eat until around 9:30pm. With kids that's rough. Then, because the train was so full and so late the snack bar and the diner ran out of food! There was an announcement made that all that was left were green salads and Gardenburgers in the diner. The snack bar ran out in the middle of the first day. I really felt for the stewards because it wasn't their fault and people were quite angry. Does this happen often?

Our return trip was somewhat different because we upgraded to a sleeper, but we had the same trouble with the dining car--7:00 reservation but not called until 8:30. Again we were 5 hours late but the sleeper (having a door to close) made all the difference. The sleeper was pretty shabby, though. It seemed like it hadn't been updated in the last 30 years or so---fabric was ripped, there was a lot of duct tape and the foam on the armrests was all corroded and picked at by generations of other kids.I'm just wondering if this sounds like a normal trip to those who are more experienced. On some level I enjoyed it, but would have enjoyed it much more alone, and will probably wait until my kids are older to do it again.

Oh, one other thing. How many agree that it would be so much more pleasant to ride Amtrak, whether you are a parent or not, if there was a kids' car--like a play area or even a big empty car for them to be loud and move around in? I wished for that often, and I imagine the annoyed passengers did too. It seems like if they can pull extra mail cars and whatnot, that they could stick an empty car on the end somewhere....just wondering.


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## AlanB (Aug 2, 2004)

Suzrain,

Sorry to hear about your mixed results on Amtrak. 

I find it funny in some sense that the agent fought with you over the ticket, but I guess that he thought that he was doing you a favor, by saving you money. There are many people who indeed would have been happy to save the money.

Nonetheless he should have respected and understood that you thought that the extra seat was more important than the dough, and just told you outright that the train was sold out.

Sadly, yes all to often derailments and/or other delays do happen an cause crews to go dead. There are certain things that are just beyond the control of anyone, like a derailment. However there are also other reasons for delays that sometimes shouldn't happen.

I'm a little surprised by the dinner lateness issues, as I've never been on a train where the diner fell that far behind on the scheduled times. I think the worst I've ever seen is about 15 minutes and that only happened once.

Being in coach however always does cause issues, as they offer the seatings first to the sleeping car passengers. As for running out of food with a large delay, it does happen. However, there really is no reason for it to happen. The cars are actually capable of carrying more food, but they don't always pack extra food into the car, since there is a shelf life to it.

As for the kiddie car, Amtrak actually does have one train that offers that, the Coast Starlight. It's a huge sucess too, but the idea has never spread beyond that train. Maybe if Amtrak ever gets proper funding it would spread.


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## engine999 (Aug 2, 2004)

Actually there is a kids car on the coast starlight. Im not sure to what extent it is, but it has a play area for them. Crews going dead on the law is not that uncommon, especially on up tracks. As for the dinning car it can vary, because it is hit and miss guessing the number of entres to order when stocking a train. Every train can fluctuaute with passanger loads so it is hard to correct that problem. Amtrak really should establish restocking points for the train enroute.


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## Guest (Dec 26, 2004)

A trip I made on the Texas Eagle turned into a 5-hour delay because we were in a crossing accident and, yes, the dining car and the lounge car ran out of food. However, when the train pulled into St. Louis, a fresh stock of food inventory was delivered, and the Dining Car re-opened for business shortly thereafter. I also recall being on the Empire Builder once when the dining car steward made a dash to a local store to buy several items for the chef in the dining car. I saw him walk back with arm loads of various items. So, it is not only possible for Amtrak to replenish food inventory en route, it actually happens in some cases. If a train is in the middle of a desert, there's not much they can do, in which case they need to increase the size of the inventory prior to departure, especially when the train in full!

A recent NARP report says that Amtrak is introducing a new program for training the staff that operate dining cars. It's entirely possible that some new practices are in order to prevent dining car closures due to inventory shortages.


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## cheapfurcoat (Dec 28, 2004)

Just be happy you _had__ a dining car!_


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## Guest (Dec 28, 2004)

Just be happy that you had a dining car!

http://forums.amtraktrains.com/index.php?a...ae09f7bcdac14a1


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