3rd Amtrak in 3 years: CHI - SFC, SFC-PDX-CBS

[dvdapex]

Wow, you are really a family of walkers!

Two things:1. I spend a few weeks in London each year and actually just got back a few days before leaving on our San Francisco trip. So, I had to double-check that you didn't call us a family of "******s"

2. Our first trip on the Amtrak was in 2012 and the first leg was to Glacier National Park. There was a ton of walking on theat trip and my daughter (who'd just turned 6 at the time) did NOT do well with all of the early mornings and the long walks. This year as we walked acriss the Golden Gate Bridge on our way to Sausalito, I said to her, "you've done a great job walking on this trip. You've done more walking on this trip than wheb we went to Glacier. I think you're ready for a return trip."

"A return trip? To where?"

"To Glacier."

"We're going to walk all the way to Glacier?!? How long is THAT going to take??"

 

[Green Maned Lion]

That arcade musuem is free, but it cost me a fortune. I loved it.

 

[dvdapex]

Got to have breakfast with my wife's cousin in Portland (we were going to meet for dinner last night but couldn't due to the delay). The train leaves in 35 minutes and I'm bricking it because we're at the Salt & Straw and not yet at the station. If Amtrak is on time and we miss this train, I'm never going to forget it!

 

[dvdapex]

Amtrak PDX eastbound left on-time with us (barely) on-board. First long-distance Amtrak train we've been on that's been on time!

 

[dvdapex]

After the first few hours, the Empire Builder already has better views than any part of the Coast Starlight. To be fair, there were visible signs of the drought's toll on the landscape in CA.

 

[CaliforniaMom]

Wow, you are really a family of walkers!

Two things:1. I spend a few weeks in London each year and actually just got back a few days before leaving on our San Francisco trip. So, I had to double-check that you didn't call us a family of "******s"

2. Our first trip on the Amtrak was in 2012 and the first leg was to Glacier National Park. There was a ton of walking on theat trip and my daughter (who'd just turned 6 at the time) did NOT do well with all of the early mornings and the long walks. This year as we walked acriss the Golden Gate Bridge on our way to Sausalito, I said to her, "you've done a great job walking on this trip. You've done more walking on this trip than wheb we went to Glacier. I think you're ready for a return trip."

"A return trip? To where?"

"To Glacier."

"We're going to walk all the way to Glacier?!? How long is THAT going to take??"

1. :blink:

2.

 

[dvdapex]

Just under a day into our return trip on the EB and:

1. We're only 15 minutes behind schedule.

2. Our SCA is like the Loch Ness monster. Some claim to have seen her, but I dont have any evidence that's convinced me she exists.

3. Quality Service is not high on any of the employee's priorities on this train. This morning at GPK we heard that there was a waiting list for breakfast. My son went down the six cars to put us on the list. After 45 minutes we realized that not only had we not heard our name called, we hadn't heard any announcements. I went hunting for our SCA (who was likely hanging out with bigfoot as I couldn't find her) while I sent my son to another car to see if he could hear announcements in that car. After a couple of minutes he came back saying they "last-called" us for breakfast.

When we went to the dining car, I told Carlo (didn't see the title on his badge, but he was wearing a suit coat and was likely "in charge" of the dining car) about not hearing any announcements in car 2830. "I'm sorry." was his reply. "No you don't understand. Those still in the car waiting to hear their names being called for breakfast won't hear it because the car is getting NO announcements." He said, "I'm really sorry." and walked away.

Our server got about 1/2 of our orders wrong and my wife had to remind him multiple times to bring stuff that cane with her order. When he'd had enough of that, he sat down next to another table and chatted with them until after we left the dining car.

When we got back to our rooms, the beds were put up even though we had the doors and curtains shut. So I guess our SCA does exist (at least at times we'd prefer she didn't).

My son said of this, "If the train gets us home on time for once it's worth the lack of service." My reply: "Well, you're certainly being conditioned to the new American Way, but why should a customer have to choose between the two?" "I don't know, dad."

 

[Bob Dylan]

Sounds like y'all got one of the few bad crews on this Builder!

Please call Customer Relations when you get home and report these slackers and indifferent clods! And tip accordingly!(the Invisible SCA gets zip and incompetent/ uncaring Diner Crew the same!)

 

[dvdapex]

For lunch, we were told by the SCA (over the loudspeaker) 15 minutes before the dining car opened to make our way down there and line up because the train is boring and as soon as the dining car opened, people would rush there and we'd not get lunch. I knew this was bs and we'd get waitlisted at worst, but my wife was panicking as she actually trusts people so down we went.

Of course when the dining car saw the line before they'd announced they were open, they were not pleased.

Our server said to us (as part of his small talk patter) that the train is boring as there's nothing to do but eat, sleep and look out the window. I was feeling extra sarcy so I replied, "boy you guys are selling the hell out of rail travel today." He looked confused. As confused as when he brought our meals and I pointed out that my son's burger was the only one without chips. "How did that happen?" "I don't know, but could you be a doll and get him some." I admit that at this point I was being a bit of a jerk since 1) our server was a man, 2) I recognize that calling any server "doll" is a bit much.

My minimum tip for breakfast is $5, lunch $5, dinner $10 and SCA $5/day. I've given $3 total in tips so far on this EB.

Oh I overheard my friend dining car Carlo speaking with a coach passenger regarding her bill.

She: I said I didn't want bacon for the burger. He brought it anyway and charged me for it.

Carlo: so the total is $3#.## minus 2.50 for the bacon. Wait. You did eat the bacon, though didn't you?

She: (stunned silence at the question)

Carlo: I guess I will take it off anyway.

 

[dvdapex]

How is it that Amtrak knows how long a crew has been on duty, knows the rules for how long they can be on duty, and knows about where that crew will be when it reaches that limit abd yet atill have a train full of passengers sitting still for hours waiting for the replacement crew??

The first time we took the EB we had to sit in Minot, ND for 6 hours in this situation. Hopefully, it won't be that long this time but there is no excuse for this level of poor planning.

 

[SarahZ]

Maybe you should ask Nessie.

 

[dvdapex]

Already 5.5 hrs late. Stuck outside Minneapolis / St Paul waiting for ANOTHER crew change.

The Phantom of the Sleeping Car struck again by putting our beds up again even though we had the doors and curtains closed.

 

[dvdapex]

Currently rotting outside of M/SP due to an investigation into "an alleged crewmember violation." That quote was announced by a manager over the PA. I personally heard specifics which, given the source, seem reliable, but I'm not going to post at this point.

 

[dvdapex]

Good or bad when it's announced that there's a sing-a-long in the lounge car to kill time.

 

[Rail Freak]

Good or bad when it's announced that there's a sing-a-long in the lounge car to kill time.

It depends on whether or not you go!!!

 

[SarahZ]

Good or bad when it's announced that there's a sing-a-long in the lounge car to kill time.

I consider that the tenth concentric circle of Hell, but your mileage may vary.

(The sing-a-long, not the delay.)

 

[dvdapex]

Turns out the issue outside M/SP (confirmed) was twofold: 1) an elderly woman (with Alz) tried to open the door. 2) while the conductor was assisting with that situation and on the phone to 911, the engineer ran through a red signal. Luckily, there wasn't anything coming from the cross direction... Anyway, since this was a violation of rules, the conducting crew had to be drug tested and the new crew was ordered so that we could move while waiting on the testing and results.

Once we got going, the very next stop, a "doctor or nurse onboard" was summoned to the dining car. Yay!

 

[dvdapex]

SCA has been around a bit this afternoon. I didn't actually realize who she was. Turns out I'd seen her hanging around the dining car every time we went for lunch or dinner.

Staff has been a little better today. I don't know whether it's "put on an extra happy face to deal with all of the frustrated travelers" or "there are several Amtrak managers who have joined the train due to the issues earlier" sort of thing. We had a "limited menu" for dinner, but still had steak as a choice (in contrast when we were similarly late going to SFC we had canned stew and rice). I went back to my normal tipping routine today.

Looks like the train will be 8 ish hours late. 6.5 of that has been in the last 24 hrs.

One story to tell: for our family of four, we get two roomettes across from each other. During the day we rotate who sits where, but at night, the kids sleep in the bunks and the adults sleep below. Last night my wife apparently had a hard time sleeping because it was too hot and had the door open and curtain partially open. This allowed her to witness - at around 1 am - a couple sneak in from coach into the bathroom to make the beast with two backs.

Kind if funny until one thinks of the condition of the bathroom at 1 am. *shudder*

 

[dvdapex]

Very ironic to see a Scott Walker campaign poster at the LaCrosse Amtrak station.

 

[dvdapex]

I tried to put pictures in the appropriate post, but just tiny thumbnails appear. So, I've shared my Flickr collection from this trip. I've got comments on each picture. I'm not really happy with doing it this way, but I've already spent a great deal of time trying to figure this out.

Here is the link to the collection: https://flic.kr/s/aHsk1GqLAn

 

[trainman74]

Unfortunately, Flickr has made some things less intuitive than they used to be. I take it you got to this point, but could only get the tiny thumbnails from it?

The portion that says "Square 75 x 75" is actually a pulldown menu that allows you to select a bunch of different sizes at which to share a photo. Here's one of your photos at "Large 1024 x 576":



20140727_150622.jpg by dvdapex, on Flickr