Best place is Costco for good stuff and good prices! And they treat their employees good unlike Mega-Mart, Whole Paycheck etc!
Auto Train Cuts
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FormerOBS
Conductor
First, I'd like to say I'm glad Priller had a good trip. In my opinion, the real saving grace of the Auto Train through these changes has been the performance of the onboard service crews and the Chiefs, and Priller's comment that the service was "very good" bears that out. Since I recently retired from Auto Train onboard service, and since Priller travelled with my former crew, you can accept or reject that opinion as you wish. I can respond to some of the comments, but it seems that the new service level is a work in progress & subject to change. I would be curious as to the actual passenger counts on Priller's trip. That can make a big difference.
Since there was a fourth dinner seating in the sleeper diner, I am guessing the passenger count was high. When the fourth seating was first implemented, the menu had not yet changed. We were grilling steaks to order, and we were still using Corel "China" which had to be washed. Usually the first seating started on time, then the second started 15 minutes or so late, then the third was an additional 15 minutes late, and the fourth started 90 minutes after the third had started. Often, there was no time for dining car personnel to get a meal for themselves. As the menu has been simplified, it has become more practical (read "possible") to get the dinner seatings done within the shorter time frame. The food now is no longer cooked to order, but it is pretty good. Repositioning of the sleepers has brought about a dramatic increase in the number of meals served in rooms. This has eased some of the pressure on the upstairs diner crew, but has increased the work load for sleeping car attendants and the kitchen crews. There are times when the servers are ready, but the seating can't start on time because there is so much traffic through the diner due to sleeper attendants going to and from the diner to serve meals. The increased number of meals in rooms has sometimes made it possible to dispense with the fourth seating. Coach passengers who decide they want to eat in the sleeper diner make a difficult situation worse. Sometimes it's hard for the onboard staff to handle these situations diplomatically. A friend told me she recently asked a man for his meal coupon, and instead he flashed a badge. A badge does not create an additional seat in a diner that is already fully reserved. He said he was a security agent and she said that's fine, but he still needs a meal coupon. The situation ended with the passenger vowing to report her for something or other. When she told me this story, I told her (jokingly) that she should have told him "If you're Security, then make yourself useful by helping me keep these coach passengers out of the sleeper diner."
By the time I retired a couple weeks ago, we were still using linen table cloths for most meals. Slick, nonabsorbent butcher paper was tried unsuccessfully, and another softer, more absorbent paper table cloth was also tried. I recently talked to a dining car employee (not on the crew that travelled south on the 13th), and she said they had both cloth and paper tablecloths on their last trip, and the crew chose to use the cloth ones. When to use which tablecloths is a question that management has not addressed. As for the flowers, they are artificial, and have been so for years on the Auto Train.
The plastic plates are of high quality --- such high quality that passengers are sometimes incredulous when we have told them we throw them away. I personally have doubts about the wisdom of this, from an environmental standpoint. On the positive side, they make a tray of food much lighter to carry. The disposable plastic coffee mugs are a bit small and hard to hold, for a grown man with large fingers.
The sale of alcohol in the diner has created a few practical problems. Previously, the LSAD was better able to concentrate on direct service to the passenger; now the LSAD spends a lot of precious time just making change and ringing up sales.
The coach dining cars are located directly behind the engines for a very good reason: fumes and noise from the engines on the southbound run. Northbound, it's not so much of a problem because the car next to the engines is a transition dorm (crew car), and its end door is at a low level, where the fumes don't get so bad. But the coach diner has a high-level end door, and fumes were always a problem. This is lessened by the fact that those particular cars now run with their high-level end doors sealed shut. Additionally, it is very rare that the entire seating area of that car is used. Most coach passengers dine in the primary coach diner, closer to the working kitchen. The extra coach diner is for overflow when the passenger count requires it, and the end closest to the engines is rarely used. So if the coach diner were moved to the middle of the train adjacent to the sleeper diner, the coach passengers in the car closest to the engines would be subjected to engine noise and fumes throughout the trip. Other trains carry baggage cars to serve as a "buffer" between engines and occupied cars. No baggage cars on the Auto Train.
As for the sleeping car attendant who wasn't informed about four dinner seatings on that particular trip, that kind of miscommunication sometimes happens. Many of the recent changes have been implemented without accompanying written memos or directions from management, so the onboard crews are often winging it. But I know those folks, and you'll have to look pretty hard to find better.
Hope this addresses everybody's concerns. What I say here is based on my years of Auto Train experience, but I can't be too sure about the current situation. For that, I have to rely on occasional conversations with my former co-workers.
Since there was a fourth dinner seating in the sleeper diner, I am guessing the passenger count was high. When the fourth seating was first implemented, the menu had not yet changed. We were grilling steaks to order, and we were still using Corel "China" which had to be washed. Usually the first seating started on time, then the second started 15 minutes or so late, then the third was an additional 15 minutes late, and the fourth started 90 minutes after the third had started. Often, there was no time for dining car personnel to get a meal for themselves. As the menu has been simplified, it has become more practical (read "possible") to get the dinner seatings done within the shorter time frame. The food now is no longer cooked to order, but it is pretty good. Repositioning of the sleepers has brought about a dramatic increase in the number of meals served in rooms. This has eased some of the pressure on the upstairs diner crew, but has increased the work load for sleeping car attendants and the kitchen crews. There are times when the servers are ready, but the seating can't start on time because there is so much traffic through the diner due to sleeper attendants going to and from the diner to serve meals. The increased number of meals in rooms has sometimes made it possible to dispense with the fourth seating. Coach passengers who decide they want to eat in the sleeper diner make a difficult situation worse. Sometimes it's hard for the onboard staff to handle these situations diplomatically. A friend told me she recently asked a man for his meal coupon, and instead he flashed a badge. A badge does not create an additional seat in a diner that is already fully reserved. He said he was a security agent and she said that's fine, but he still needs a meal coupon. The situation ended with the passenger vowing to report her for something or other. When she told me this story, I told her (jokingly) that she should have told him "If you're Security, then make yourself useful by helping me keep these coach passengers out of the sleeper diner."
By the time I retired a couple weeks ago, we were still using linen table cloths for most meals. Slick, nonabsorbent butcher paper was tried unsuccessfully, and another softer, more absorbent paper table cloth was also tried. I recently talked to a dining car employee (not on the crew that travelled south on the 13th), and she said they had both cloth and paper tablecloths on their last trip, and the crew chose to use the cloth ones. When to use which tablecloths is a question that management has not addressed. As for the flowers, they are artificial, and have been so for years on the Auto Train.
The plastic plates are of high quality --- such high quality that passengers are sometimes incredulous when we have told them we throw them away. I personally have doubts about the wisdom of this, from an environmental standpoint. On the positive side, they make a tray of food much lighter to carry. The disposable plastic coffee mugs are a bit small and hard to hold, for a grown man with large fingers.
The sale of alcohol in the diner has created a few practical problems. Previously, the LSAD was better able to concentrate on direct service to the passenger; now the LSAD spends a lot of precious time just making change and ringing up sales.
The coach dining cars are located directly behind the engines for a very good reason: fumes and noise from the engines on the southbound run. Northbound, it's not so much of a problem because the car next to the engines is a transition dorm (crew car), and its end door is at a low level, where the fumes don't get so bad. But the coach diner has a high-level end door, and fumes were always a problem. This is lessened by the fact that those particular cars now run with their high-level end doors sealed shut. Additionally, it is very rare that the entire seating area of that car is used. Most coach passengers dine in the primary coach diner, closer to the working kitchen. The extra coach diner is for overflow when the passenger count requires it, and the end closest to the engines is rarely used. So if the coach diner were moved to the middle of the train adjacent to the sleeper diner, the coach passengers in the car closest to the engines would be subjected to engine noise and fumes throughout the trip. Other trains carry baggage cars to serve as a "buffer" between engines and occupied cars. No baggage cars on the Auto Train.
As for the sleeping car attendant who wasn't informed about four dinner seatings on that particular trip, that kind of miscommunication sometimes happens. Many of the recent changes have been implemented without accompanying written memos or directions from management, so the onboard crews are often winging it. But I know those folks, and you'll have to look pretty hard to find better.
Hope this addresses everybody's concerns. What I say here is based on my years of Auto Train experience, but I can't be too sure about the current situation. For that, I have to rely on occasional conversations with my former co-workers.
Always appreciate your posts! Boots on the ground and info from people who actually work on the trains is better than PR BS from Flacks in WAS trying to cover the *** of the Cut Squad and the Amtrak Suits!
If you don't mind, what was the life expectancy of the china on the Auto Train? I came across an off-hand mention that china cups had a life expectancy of ten trips on British Rail journeys and that got me to wondering if the price of replacing that was a major factor in Amtrak's decision and whether Amtrak had a differing life expectancy (I would expect shorter due to longer trips and worse track conditions).
FormerOBS
Conductor
I don't recall anyone ever telling me what the loss rate was for the China cups & plates, but I never thought it was very great. The plates were actually not china. China is a fired clay product; but those plates & bowls were Corelle, which is actually a type of glass. When it broke, it often shattered into hundreds of tiny, sharp pieces. I always said it was unsuitable for dining car service for that reason, and I understand somebody in the Company was looking into a replacement when the decision was made to go the disposable route. The cups were not made of the same material. They appeared to be fired clay. They would sometimes chip. If the chip was small and not around the lip, we would continue to use the cup. If British Rail got rid of every cup that got a small chip in it, then I can imagine 10 trips might be a reasonable figure; but I'm certain our dinnerware lasted a lot longer than that. Sorry I can't give you reliable numbers.
Allypet
Service Attendant
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FormerOBS, thank you for your service. You will be missed on the AT! I'm sorry that I'm not going to ride with you in July. Enjoy retirement!
I don't know the passenger counts, but there were 156 vehicles. Perhaps a rough estimate of passenger headcount could be estimated from that.
The 4 seatings were all exactly on time. The dining car staff was having their meals before the 9:00 seating. I don't think there were many passengers coming for the 9:00.
I do have to add that we so impressed with how friendly and efficient the entire crew was, we are now considering taking a longer CZ or EB trip next year. Turns out Amtrak is a pretty nice way to travel!!! Never knew!
Heading back north on the AT, on Friday. Looking forward to it.
FormerOBS
Conductor
You came south with crew 5. You'll be traveling north with crew 1. I've worked with all those folks & can tell you your northbound trip should be as pleasant as the southbound. Most of the crew members will be new to you, but you may see a few of the same faces if they are on the extra board or making an extra trip.
At most times of the year, the passenger count is about 2 passengers for each vehicle. In the summer time, the ratio changes because there are a greater number of relatively large families traveling in high-capacity vehicles (vans & SUV's). A 2 to 1 ratio means about 300 passengers. Since it's family vacation time, the total was probably more like 350-400 passengers.
On the Auto Train, the crew members generally share the same philosophy. It's best expressed as I used to tell new hires:
"You and I are stuck on this train until we get home two days from now. We can spend it having fun or we can spend it being miserable. I intend to have fun because I don't relish spending the next couple days being miserable. There is nothing about this job that precludes having fun. We can do the job safely, thoroughly, and correctly and still have fun doing it. If you don't want to have fun, I don't want to work with you, so I suggest you mark off now. If you do want to have a good time, I'm glad to have you here."
I never had a trainee take me at my word and mark off. I can't say I was always the best person to work with. I had my bad days just like everybody else in the world. But I always tried to be as upbeat as I could. I think you'll find that most of the Auto Train personnel feel as I always have. We always tried to make it an "open clique". Everybody was always welcome to join.
At most times of the year, the passenger count is about 2 passengers for each vehicle. In the summer time, the ratio changes because there are a greater number of relatively large families traveling in high-capacity vehicles (vans & SUV's). A 2 to 1 ratio means about 300 passengers. Since it's family vacation time, the total was probably more like 350-400 passengers.
On the Auto Train, the crew members generally share the same philosophy. It's best expressed as I used to tell new hires:
"You and I are stuck on this train until we get home two days from now. We can spend it having fun or we can spend it being miserable. I intend to have fun because I don't relish spending the next couple days being miserable. There is nothing about this job that precludes having fun. We can do the job safely, thoroughly, and correctly and still have fun doing it. If you don't want to have fun, I don't want to work with you, so I suggest you mark off now. If you do want to have a good time, I'm glad to have you here."
I never had a trainee take me at my word and mark off. I can't say I was always the best person to work with. I had my bad days just like everybody else in the world. But I always tried to be as upbeat as I could. I think you'll find that most of the Auto Train personnel feel as I always have. We always tried to make it an "open clique". Everybody was always welcome to join.
FormerOBS
Conductor
Just a little tidbit of information that will illustrate the fact that I'm gradually adapting to retirement (i.e., I have too much time on my hands). I
I went over a copy of the Auto Train seniority roster and counted up all the accumulated months of experience of all the onboard service personnel as of mid-March, 2014. This includes Onboard service only; no Mechanical or Station personnel, and no T&E crew. My totals may be slightly off because one of our Chiefs is not counted because the Chiefs' seniority roster is separate. There could be some periods of illness or approved extended leave that isn't accounted for, and it's possible I could have made some simple math errors. Anyway, as of mid-March, I counted a total of 2,076 years and eight months of total Auto Train service among the Auto Train onboard staff. In calendar years, that would take us back to the days when the years were all "B.C." According to that roster, the greatest seniority for an individual was 31 years, 4-1/2 months (5 individuals). There is also one chief who worked on other trains before the Auto Train was taken over by Amtrak. His total is around 36 years. I don't think the onboard staff includes any veterans of the original Auto Train, although we did have a few until a couple years ago. I'm pretty sure we still have some of the Mechanical staff who are veterans of Mr. Garfield's original Auto Train.
As I said, I obviously have too much time on my hands.
I went over a copy of the Auto Train seniority roster and counted up all the accumulated months of experience of all the onboard service personnel as of mid-March, 2014. This includes Onboard service only; no Mechanical or Station personnel, and no T&E crew. My totals may be slightly off because one of our Chiefs is not counted because the Chiefs' seniority roster is separate. There could be some periods of illness or approved extended leave that isn't accounted for, and it's possible I could have made some simple math errors. Anyway, as of mid-March, I counted a total of 2,076 years and eight months of total Auto Train service among the Auto Train onboard staff. In calendar years, that would take us back to the days when the years were all "B.C." According to that roster, the greatest seniority for an individual was 31 years, 4-1/2 months (5 individuals). There is also one chief who worked on other trains before the Auto Train was taken over by Amtrak. His total is around 36 years. I don't think the onboard staff includes any veterans of the original Auto Train, although we did have a few until a couple years ago. I'm pretty sure we still have some of the Mechanical staff who are veterans of Mr. Garfield's original Auto Train.
As I said, I obviously have too much time on my hands.
Ryan
Court Jester
That's awesome. You were truly a great asset to Amtrak, and hopefully all of those trainees are following in your footsteps.
Thanks for all of the information that you share here, as well.
Thanks for all of the information that you share here, as well.
FormerOBS
Conductor
Priller:
You should be getting to the Sanford station about now. Be sure to tell us about your return trip when you get to Lorton.
You should be getting to the Sanford station about now. Be sure to tell us about your return trip when you get to Lorton.
Aldi? Aldi? Is that a joke? How that chain even survives is beyond me! You want variety and depth of choice? Don't go to Aldi, it's kind of like a poor-mans Trader Joe's. "Don't like the brand of peaches they have? Tough cookies, you only have ONE choice."
I think Aldi is thee worst........ Their brand packaging is deceptive, their choices non-existent, and house brand quality is well, "not".
Ryan
Court Jester
Wegmans for life.
Green Maned Lion
Engineer
Their house brand quality is nonpareil.
I'm back! We were an hour late leaving Sanford. One of the sleeper cars had to be swapped out. From what I heard, none of the toilets were working and they were not able to isolate the problem. So, it had to be replaced. All of the sleeper attendants jumped in to get it ready. With some other movement delays, we ended up being 1.5 hours late getting to Lorton.
We had a fun sleeper attendant (Kevin) that kept things interesting.
Recall the passenger count being around 450. 13 passenger cars and 26 auto racks.
There were 3 sleeper dinner seatings vs 4 on the southbound last Friday. Some of the other passengers commented on how overworked the dining car staff seemed to be and gave them a lot of credit for the job they do.
There didn't appear to be coach passengers using the sleeper diner for breakfast this time. That helped with the breakfast rush.
No other cutback related changes to report.
Overall a good trip. Looking forward to the next one!
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FormerOBS
Conductor
Got a couple texts from a friend. As of about 2:30 pm yesterday (i.e., normally the beginning of boarding), the OBS crew in Sanford had not been given a definite word on whether the 5242 sleeper was being successfully repaired, or being cut out. It was after 3 pm when the switching was actually done to replace the car. All available OBS crew members helped to get the replacement car in shape. This was Crew 1, and they're very good (not to imply anything negative about crews 2 - 5). Departure was scheduled for 4 pm, and I know they didn't manage that, but I understand they were underway well before 5 pm.
There are 4 Kevins on the Auto Train seniority roster, so I don't know who that was, but they're all good guys.
I don't know who was working in the coach diner. Crew 1's regular upstairs sleeper diner crew consists of Debbie, Marc, Nancy, and Karen. I think all of them were there on this trip. Just for fun, I added up their total seniority. Between the four of them, they have 89 years and 5 months of experience working on the Auto Train. The "Junior" member of the group is Nancy, with 15 years, 9 months.
Chief Danny S. generally keeps things pretty well organized.
Glad you enjoyed the trip!
There are 4 Kevins on the Auto Train seniority roster, so I don't know who that was, but they're all good guys.
I don't know who was working in the coach diner. Crew 1's regular upstairs sleeper diner crew consists of Debbie, Marc, Nancy, and Karen. I think all of them were there on this trip. Just for fun, I added up their total seniority. Between the four of them, they have 89 years and 5 months of experience working on the Auto Train. The "Junior" member of the group is Nancy, with 15 years, 9 months.
Chief Danny S. generally keeps things pretty well organized.
Glad you enjoyed the trip!
I always rode the Southern
Service Attendant
Interesting. On our northbound trip in april we had 549 passengers and only 3 dinner seatings. So our crew did even more of an amazing job than I realized.
FormerOBS
Conductor
Depends on the differing ratios of coach passengers compared to sleeper passengers on those two runs. If the sleeper section was heavy & coach section light, that could explain it (less available seating in the sleeper diner). Also, there may have been more meals served in rooms when you travelled, freeing up seats so that the 4th seating wasn't needed. Hard to know without a more thorough breakdown of the numbers.
jis
Permanent Way Inspector
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Feeding 549 passengers in three seatings in two Diners is quite an amazing feat in my opinion. Kudos to the awesome crew for pulling such feats off on a day in and day out basis on the Autortrain.
I always rode the Southern
Service Attendant
jis
Permanent Way Inspector
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Administator
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That's 49 per seating (if all came to the Diner)! The chef had to produce that much food in the time covered by the four seatings even if a proportion of them were consumed in the rooms rather than in the Diner. That is a lot.... basically full capacity.
FormerOBS
Conductor
Lots of meals in rooms or at coach seats. No other way to do it. In any case, the kitchen staff has just as many meals to cook, no matter who serves them or where they are consumed.
jis
Permanent Way Inspector
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Administator
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Exactly! Must keep the SCAs quite busy. How are the at seat Coach passengers handled? They pick up their stuff at a counter in the Diner and take it back to their seat? Never traveled by Coach in the Autotrain and I guess it shows.
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