I started to paste in thre report of the final leg of my outbound trip, and it disappeared. So if you see duplicates, I apologize. --Auntie C
AUNTIE C's ADVENTURE JUNE 2015
(these first bits will appear in each post -- scoll down to get to the new stuff)
ORL to WAS = Orlando, Fla., to Washington, D.C., on Silver Meteor 98; sleeper car roomette
WAS to CHI = Washington to Chicago, Ill., on Capitol Limited 29; sleeper car roomette
CHI to PDX = Chicago to Portland, Ore., on Empire Builder 27; sleeper car roomette
PDX to EUG = Portland to Eugene, Ore, on Coast Starlight 11 coach seat
return trip
EUG to SAC = Eugene to Sacramento, Calif., on Coast Starlight 11; sleeper car roomettte
SAC to CHI = Sacramento to Chicago on California Zaphyr 6; sleeper car roomette
CHI to WAS = Chicago to Washington on Capitol Limited 30; sleeper car bedroom
WAS to ORL = Washington to Orlando on Silver Meteor 97; sleeper car roomette
I'll not mention cars or rooms until after I've completed that leg of the trip. Nor do I intend to give the full names of Amtrak crew members -- the nametags state first initial and last name, but they tend to introduce themselves by first name.
GLOSSARY OF TERMS
I picked these up from other trip reports, and will post atop each of mine to remind myself what terms I should use, adding as I learn more. (Then I'll forget and fail to use them.)
LSA-D lead service attendant - diner
TA-SC train attendant - sleeper car
TA-C train atendant - coach
waiter - other service attendants in diner car, as I'm not sure what the official name might be (I will probably end up calling most all diner staff something else, as I did not notice nametags on either attendant during the first leg of my trip -- likely under the aprons.) Non-gender specific.
Red Cap staff member at stations who helps travelers get to and from trains, the club lounges and, I assume, the outside world. Non-gender specific.
INTRODUCTION
I am a 45-year-old Floridian visiting relatives in Oregon after about five years with little contact and no other big vacations. I'm introverted, so comments about struggling to chat with other passengers should be viewed as my own hangup, not any character flaws on their parts.
I've taken two-plus weeks off work for this, my first Amtrak rail journey, to attend a life event for my niece -- hence my chosen moniker for this forum.
I trust the more knowledgeable members of Amtrak Unlimited will correct any errors I make in describing particuars of the trains, stations or other aspects of rail travel. Thanks in advance, and while I won't take such corrections personally, I also won't likely thank you individually.
My primary audience for this are my parents. Dad's a steam train enthusiast in theory, but as Mom doesn't travel well, they don't take vacations, either. I hope my descriptions help them travel vicariously with me to visit their only grandchild a continent away.
I do not intend to post photos, mostly as I can't figure out how to downsize the images my iPad takes with its cracked screen.
I'll slug all my posts with "Auntie C" this or that, for ease of finding (or avoiding) them.
FORMAT
I'm compiling these trip reports from emails I send to a handful of kith and kin, taking out the duller bits (I hope). For the first leg, I started typing while on the Silver Meteor, so real-time intrusions into the narrative are separated by ellipses and perhaps time signatures. If I continue to type as I go, this format might persist. It makes sense to me, an you are welcome to stop reading if it does not appeal to you.
My Bluetooth keyboard, as I discovered in my first email, tends to double some characters. I doubt I'll be diligent in proofing, so please forgive typos.
LEG 4; PDX to EUG, Coast Starlight, aisle seat 14, did not note the car number -- maybe 10? 11?
1:54 p.m. Pacific time friday, June 5, at the staation in Portland.
This train haas wifi at least in the station. Yay!
I bought a $6.50 prepackaged (but fresh) egg salad sandwich from the shop in the station, sat and ate it while chatting with a sleeper-car passenger moving from New York to Los Angeles. She said the Coast Starlight is supposed to have its own lounge car for sleepers -- I look forward to learning more on my return trip next week.
I walked out when the sleepers got work to board at the front of the train, rolling my cases past two or three seepers, a parlor car, the diner a coach car to reach an attendant who assigned me to seat 14, an aisle upstairs.
Across the aisle from me is a veteran traveler in University of Oregon Ducks gear, who helped my seatmate find the water dispenser, and is pointing out where to go for other lost travelers. She knows what she's doing, having brought boxed snacks and stri[s of packaged jerky. I'm sure, if I have questions, I'll be able to ask her.
I hope to stay awake, probbbably will watch my screen if I tire of the view past my seatmate. Veteran traveler explained to me the coach seats on lower levels are more spacious, but are for mobility-impaired passengers first and tend to fill up faster than the upper level. Everyone's slip of paper, whatever its color, states their three-letter destination code: EUG for Eugene; KFS for Kalamath Falls station; LAX for, I presume, Los Angeles; SAC for Sacramento; more I cannot guess. Efficient system.
Placing my cases on the lugggage racks at the entry, I stowed my pillow's carry-case under the seat and my purse on the overhead shelf. There seems to be plenty of leg room for me, with a table and footrest folding down from the back of the seat ahead of me. Width-wise, I'm wider than it by a pudge or two. I'll survive the three-plus hours. (Update: My typing would have been much more comfortable had I realized the fold-down table can then slide closer to one's lap. I was typing at arm's length, not so comfortable.)
2:12 p.m., some artistic graffiti on the freight cars slowly pulling past the station. Still can't read it, but the artists tried for color and perspective shading.
2:28 p.m., three or more Navy ships are side by side on the river as we leave Portland -- here for the Rose Parade, someone said, or Fleet Week. More ships/boats lined the waterway.
C.J. the parlor car attendant announced he was going on lunch break, but mentioned the prices of the cheese tray and something else, and that the movie theater on the lower level will show "Big Hero 6" for sleeping-car passengers. Veteran traveler Sam said coach passengers may go to that car to purchase food at meal times, but are not allowed for the movie or the wine tastings. The menu announced for the diner car included chicken something, a dish I'd not seen on other trains.
As we head south out of Portland, we're on a superhighway of rail lines, with freight cars on tracks to either side.
The wifi must have been at the station, as I cannot find it now the train is moving.
9:26 a.m. Saurday, June 6, 2015, at home of relatives in Eugene, Oregon
Ahh, a bed wider than I am! A shower I can move around in, and that does not itself move! Space to open both suitcases AT THE SAME TIME! Amazing. One appreciates the common things in life after experiencing nonstandard living conditions.
I still find myself listing gently to the left this morning, but I am less woozy when I sit still. I anticipate all landsickness to be gone tomorrow.
So, it turns out I am reluctant to describe my travels when sitting next to someone who could read them as I go. Not that my seatmate seemed the sort. I poked at offline games during the three-ish hours of travel, as the wifi I celebrated disappeared after leaving the station. I guarded seatmate's gear when she went to the parlor car to ppurchase food, she watched mine when I investigated the toilets.
I attribute much of the friendly sense of community to veteran traveler Sam, who offered to share her own soft drinnks, water and food with nearby passengers, took photos with us all and kept checking with her own seatmate to make sure she was OK during the trip. Sam had an aisle seat, and donned a hoodie in the frigid car to nap, so she could pull the hood over her eyes -- smart. This position would have blocked in her seatmate, had the woman desired to leave her window seat, so Sam's communication was smart -- and something I, the hermit, wwould never think to do.
Views as we moved south through the Willamette River Valley showed fields and farmland, industrial backsides and some charming-looking shops in the towns we passed. I rememeber Ladybug Cholocates, though not where it was -- I must have still been hungry after the egg-salad sandwich.
The commmunication from the train crew was good. C.J. the parlor car attendant (TA-PC, maybe?) and the dining car steward LSA-D Angelina (or a similar A-name?) explained how the parlor car seating differs from diner: the communitt seating policy on diner cars has one sitting wherever an open seat is available if the party is fewer than four. This is how I got to meet and be social with so many other travelers. In the parlor car, which I did not walk up to view, one may dine privately. LSA-D Angelina arrived in my coach car parhaps an hour after she annnoucned she was walking all cars to take diner reservations. She'd gone through a lengthy explanation over the PA about C.J. starting in one sleeper car for lunch reservations that day and running out of room, so they would begin at the other end of the three sleeper cars for dinner rez, to be fair.
Good to know, but not something the coach passengers cared about. Perhaps the PA system cannot be configured to make announcements for a specific subset of cars.
I liked that she announced the prices of all entrees, as that's something the coach passengers would want to know when deciding whether to spring for a $25 steak dinner. My seatmate, it seems, had considered the diner until hearing the cost of meals. But I wonder if the sleeper-car passengers found all that talk dull.
I barely saw the TA-C for my coach car during my trip.
TOILET TALK
Because coach cars do not offer the shower/changing room, they can fit in more toilets on the lower level. Same compact dimensions as the Superliner sleepers, though I noted a sign on the sink counter reminding patrons not to smoke. Two flaps lead into the same trash bin: one labeled trash, and the other something like "soiled diapers and sanitary napkins."
The unit I used was clean and well-maintained, though the door latch was a bit tricky -- it popped open slightly when the bolt was not fully slotted into place.
ANOTHER VOLUNTEER
Eugene was the first "fresh air and smoke break" stop since Portland, so I had time to pull my cases off the lower luggage racks and navigate the stepstool down to the station alnding without feeling I was delaying the train. I bid goodbye to seatmate and Sam, who'd asked me to braid her shoulder-length hair after I'd failed to braid my own -- I did not want to risk slapping seatmate in the face repeatedly as I ssorted out the segments of hair to start the braid.
Rolling my gear toward the station, I was greeted by a man in a well-used conductor's cap, who gave his name (I forgot it, sorry) and explained he was Eugene Station's volunteer. He opened the door for me and pointed the way to the spot for baggage claim, and we chatted a bit while I waited for others to pick up their cases.
He told me our train had run a bit late, and the final train of the night was due in some hours late, so he'd stay on from when he reported for duty at maybe 8:30 a.m. until it arrived about 9 p.m. As my train reloaded to move on, he called out "All aboard!" then explained to me he was also the "all aboard" caller.
I liked him, and gave him a train pin, then showed my baggage claim slip to the station attendant. My case has arrived on the 2 p.m. Thruway bus, it seemed.
All set, I sat on a bench outside the front of the station briefly until my ride arrived. Now I'll spend a few days with relatives and friends before beginning my rail adventure back to Florida. If I can repack properly, I hope to check one of my two carry-ons for the return trip, reducing the bulk I'll keep in my roomettes.
I said it in a prior post, but I'm happy my choice to explore Amtrak has turned out so well. If I used this mode of transportation more frequently, I could pick up the jargon to use more properly, and perhaps develop the jaded attitudes of a seasoned traveler.
As it is, you're stuck with my gosh-wow enthusiasm and ignorance of the mechanical details, such as what engine(s) pulled the train or how long the, um, consist? was.
Thanks for reading. If I have time in between family events, I'll try to respond to comments on my trip reports.
AUNTIE C's ADVENTURE JUNE 2015
(these first bits will appear in each post -- scoll down to get to the new stuff)
ORL to WAS = Orlando, Fla., to Washington, D.C., on Silver Meteor 98; sleeper car roomette
WAS to CHI = Washington to Chicago, Ill., on Capitol Limited 29; sleeper car roomette
CHI to PDX = Chicago to Portland, Ore., on Empire Builder 27; sleeper car roomette
PDX to EUG = Portland to Eugene, Ore, on Coast Starlight 11 coach seat
return trip
EUG to SAC = Eugene to Sacramento, Calif., on Coast Starlight 11; sleeper car roomettte
SAC to CHI = Sacramento to Chicago on California Zaphyr 6; sleeper car roomette
CHI to WAS = Chicago to Washington on Capitol Limited 30; sleeper car bedroom
WAS to ORL = Washington to Orlando on Silver Meteor 97; sleeper car roomette
I'll not mention cars or rooms until after I've completed that leg of the trip. Nor do I intend to give the full names of Amtrak crew members -- the nametags state first initial and last name, but they tend to introduce themselves by first name.
GLOSSARY OF TERMS
I picked these up from other trip reports, and will post atop each of mine to remind myself what terms I should use, adding as I learn more. (Then I'll forget and fail to use them.)
LSA-D lead service attendant - diner
TA-SC train attendant - sleeper car
TA-C train atendant - coach
waiter - other service attendants in diner car, as I'm not sure what the official name might be (I will probably end up calling most all diner staff something else, as I did not notice nametags on either attendant during the first leg of my trip -- likely under the aprons.) Non-gender specific.
Red Cap staff member at stations who helps travelers get to and from trains, the club lounges and, I assume, the outside world. Non-gender specific.
INTRODUCTION
I am a 45-year-old Floridian visiting relatives in Oregon after about five years with little contact and no other big vacations. I'm introverted, so comments about struggling to chat with other passengers should be viewed as my own hangup, not any character flaws on their parts.
I've taken two-plus weeks off work for this, my first Amtrak rail journey, to attend a life event for my niece -- hence my chosen moniker for this forum.
I trust the more knowledgeable members of Amtrak Unlimited will correct any errors I make in describing particuars of the trains, stations or other aspects of rail travel. Thanks in advance, and while I won't take such corrections personally, I also won't likely thank you individually.
My primary audience for this are my parents. Dad's a steam train enthusiast in theory, but as Mom doesn't travel well, they don't take vacations, either. I hope my descriptions help them travel vicariously with me to visit their only grandchild a continent away.
I do not intend to post photos, mostly as I can't figure out how to downsize the images my iPad takes with its cracked screen.
I'll slug all my posts with "Auntie C" this or that, for ease of finding (or avoiding) them.
FORMAT
I'm compiling these trip reports from emails I send to a handful of kith and kin, taking out the duller bits (I hope). For the first leg, I started typing while on the Silver Meteor, so real-time intrusions into the narrative are separated by ellipses and perhaps time signatures. If I continue to type as I go, this format might persist. It makes sense to me, an you are welcome to stop reading if it does not appeal to you.
My Bluetooth keyboard, as I discovered in my first email, tends to double some characters. I doubt I'll be diligent in proofing, so please forgive typos.
LEG 4; PDX to EUG, Coast Starlight, aisle seat 14, did not note the car number -- maybe 10? 11?
1:54 p.m. Pacific time friday, June 5, at the staation in Portland.
This train haas wifi at least in the station. Yay!
I bought a $6.50 prepackaged (but fresh) egg salad sandwich from the shop in the station, sat and ate it while chatting with a sleeper-car passenger moving from New York to Los Angeles. She said the Coast Starlight is supposed to have its own lounge car for sleepers -- I look forward to learning more on my return trip next week.
I walked out when the sleepers got work to board at the front of the train, rolling my cases past two or three seepers, a parlor car, the diner a coach car to reach an attendant who assigned me to seat 14, an aisle upstairs.
Across the aisle from me is a veteran traveler in University of Oregon Ducks gear, who helped my seatmate find the water dispenser, and is pointing out where to go for other lost travelers. She knows what she's doing, having brought boxed snacks and stri[s of packaged jerky. I'm sure, if I have questions, I'll be able to ask her.
I hope to stay awake, probbbably will watch my screen if I tire of the view past my seatmate. Veteran traveler explained to me the coach seats on lower levels are more spacious, but are for mobility-impaired passengers first and tend to fill up faster than the upper level. Everyone's slip of paper, whatever its color, states their three-letter destination code: EUG for Eugene; KFS for Kalamath Falls station; LAX for, I presume, Los Angeles; SAC for Sacramento; more I cannot guess. Efficient system.
Placing my cases on the lugggage racks at the entry, I stowed my pillow's carry-case under the seat and my purse on the overhead shelf. There seems to be plenty of leg room for me, with a table and footrest folding down from the back of the seat ahead of me. Width-wise, I'm wider than it by a pudge or two. I'll survive the three-plus hours. (Update: My typing would have been much more comfortable had I realized the fold-down table can then slide closer to one's lap. I was typing at arm's length, not so comfortable.)
2:12 p.m., some artistic graffiti on the freight cars slowly pulling past the station. Still can't read it, but the artists tried for color and perspective shading.
2:28 p.m., three or more Navy ships are side by side on the river as we leave Portland -- here for the Rose Parade, someone said, or Fleet Week. More ships/boats lined the waterway.
C.J. the parlor car attendant announced he was going on lunch break, but mentioned the prices of the cheese tray and something else, and that the movie theater on the lower level will show "Big Hero 6" for sleeping-car passengers. Veteran traveler Sam said coach passengers may go to that car to purchase food at meal times, but are not allowed for the movie or the wine tastings. The menu announced for the diner car included chicken something, a dish I'd not seen on other trains.
As we head south out of Portland, we're on a superhighway of rail lines, with freight cars on tracks to either side.
The wifi must have been at the station, as I cannot find it now the train is moving.
9:26 a.m. Saurday, June 6, 2015, at home of relatives in Eugene, Oregon
Ahh, a bed wider than I am! A shower I can move around in, and that does not itself move! Space to open both suitcases AT THE SAME TIME! Amazing. One appreciates the common things in life after experiencing nonstandard living conditions.
I still find myself listing gently to the left this morning, but I am less woozy when I sit still. I anticipate all landsickness to be gone tomorrow.
So, it turns out I am reluctant to describe my travels when sitting next to someone who could read them as I go. Not that my seatmate seemed the sort. I poked at offline games during the three-ish hours of travel, as the wifi I celebrated disappeared after leaving the station. I guarded seatmate's gear when she went to the parlor car to ppurchase food, she watched mine when I investigated the toilets.
I attribute much of the friendly sense of community to veteran traveler Sam, who offered to share her own soft drinnks, water and food with nearby passengers, took photos with us all and kept checking with her own seatmate to make sure she was OK during the trip. Sam had an aisle seat, and donned a hoodie in the frigid car to nap, so she could pull the hood over her eyes -- smart. This position would have blocked in her seatmate, had the woman desired to leave her window seat, so Sam's communication was smart -- and something I, the hermit, wwould never think to do.
Views as we moved south through the Willamette River Valley showed fields and farmland, industrial backsides and some charming-looking shops in the towns we passed. I rememeber Ladybug Cholocates, though not where it was -- I must have still been hungry after the egg-salad sandwich.
The commmunication from the train crew was good. C.J. the parlor car attendant (TA-PC, maybe?) and the dining car steward LSA-D Angelina (or a similar A-name?) explained how the parlor car seating differs from diner: the communitt seating policy on diner cars has one sitting wherever an open seat is available if the party is fewer than four. This is how I got to meet and be social with so many other travelers. In the parlor car, which I did not walk up to view, one may dine privately. LSA-D Angelina arrived in my coach car parhaps an hour after she annnoucned she was walking all cars to take diner reservations. She'd gone through a lengthy explanation over the PA about C.J. starting in one sleeper car for lunch reservations that day and running out of room, so they would begin at the other end of the three sleeper cars for dinner rez, to be fair.
Good to know, but not something the coach passengers cared about. Perhaps the PA system cannot be configured to make announcements for a specific subset of cars.
I liked that she announced the prices of all entrees, as that's something the coach passengers would want to know when deciding whether to spring for a $25 steak dinner. My seatmate, it seems, had considered the diner until hearing the cost of meals. But I wonder if the sleeper-car passengers found all that talk dull.
I barely saw the TA-C for my coach car during my trip.
TOILET TALK
Because coach cars do not offer the shower/changing room, they can fit in more toilets on the lower level. Same compact dimensions as the Superliner sleepers, though I noted a sign on the sink counter reminding patrons not to smoke. Two flaps lead into the same trash bin: one labeled trash, and the other something like "soiled diapers and sanitary napkins."
The unit I used was clean and well-maintained, though the door latch was a bit tricky -- it popped open slightly when the bolt was not fully slotted into place.
ANOTHER VOLUNTEER
Eugene was the first "fresh air and smoke break" stop since Portland, so I had time to pull my cases off the lower luggage racks and navigate the stepstool down to the station alnding without feeling I was delaying the train. I bid goodbye to seatmate and Sam, who'd asked me to braid her shoulder-length hair after I'd failed to braid my own -- I did not want to risk slapping seatmate in the face repeatedly as I ssorted out the segments of hair to start the braid.
Rolling my gear toward the station, I was greeted by a man in a well-used conductor's cap, who gave his name (I forgot it, sorry) and explained he was Eugene Station's volunteer. He opened the door for me and pointed the way to the spot for baggage claim, and we chatted a bit while I waited for others to pick up their cases.
He told me our train had run a bit late, and the final train of the night was due in some hours late, so he'd stay on from when he reported for duty at maybe 8:30 a.m. until it arrived about 9 p.m. As my train reloaded to move on, he called out "All aboard!" then explained to me he was also the "all aboard" caller.
I liked him, and gave him a train pin, then showed my baggage claim slip to the station attendant. My case has arrived on the 2 p.m. Thruway bus, it seemed.
All set, I sat on a bench outside the front of the station briefly until my ride arrived. Now I'll spend a few days with relatives and friends before beginning my rail adventure back to Florida. If I can repack properly, I hope to check one of my two carry-ons for the return trip, reducing the bulk I'll keep in my roomettes.
I said it in a prior post, but I'm happy my choice to explore Amtrak has turned out so well. If I used this mode of transportation more frequently, I could pick up the jargon to use more properly, and perhaps develop the jaded attitudes of a seasoned traveler.
As it is, you're stuck with my gosh-wow enthusiasm and ignorance of the mechanical details, such as what engine(s) pulled the train or how long the, um, consist? was.
Thanks for reading. If I have time in between family events, I'll try to respond to comments on my trip reports.
It _is_ nice to know such a feat can be accomplished, though -- thanks.
