Back to the way things were

[battalion51]

They'll be about a week late, but the Silver Service schedules look like they are going back to normal on 6/29 not 6/23 as originally anticipated. The bids are up for all jobs that touch 89, 90, 79, 80, 91, or 92.

 

[Superliner Diner]

Details on what changes constitute a return to "the way things were" are in this thread.

 

[Guest_Amtrak OBS Employee]

A little venting here........the title of this thread would mean more to me if things were back to what they "really" were. And that is the "Palmetto" operating all the way to MIA..... I miss my "Palmetto" job! OBS..

 

[AlanB]

A little venting here........the title of this thread would mean more to me if things were back to what they "really" were. And that is the "Palmetto" operating all the way to MIA..... I miss my "Palmetto" job! OBS..

Forget the Palmetto, I wish the the Silver Palm was back.

 

[Viewliner]

A little venting here........the title of this thread would mean more to me if things were back to what they "really" were. And that is the "Palmetto" operating all the way to MIA.....   I miss my "Palmetto" job!   OBS..

Forget the Palmetto, I wish the the Silver Palm was back.

I second that, it was great having three Florida trains with Viewliners and Diners each day...

 

[Guest_Amtrak OBS Employee]

Oh OK.......we'll go even further back. LOL. I miss my job in the diner on the "Silver Palm!" But my little coach job on the "Palmetto" was a "gravy" job! That's why I miss it, but I miss the old "Silver Palm," too. OBS...

 

[AlanB]

Oh OK.......we'll go even further back. LOL. I miss my job in the diner on the "Silver Palm!" But my little coach job on the "Palmetto" was a "gravy" job! That's why I miss it, but I miss the old "Silver Palm," too. OBS...

Hmm, now I have to wonder if I might have met you at least once. I rode the Palm at least 3 or 4 times in the years just prior to it's demise.

I was fortunate enough to have caught Doc at least 2 maybe 3 of those trips.

 

[Guest_Amtrak OBS Employee]

I was fortunate enough to have caught Doc at least 2 maybe 3 of those trips.

You very well may have. I wasn't on the "Palm" too long before it lost its diner and sleeper. It did look tacky in the last days when they integrated the "Business Class" Coach into the consist. It felt funny walking out of the crew car into the sleeper then into the business class coach then finally the diner. I was with Doc on the last trip #90 made to NYP from MIA with a diner. The crews usually came up on either #92 and back on #89, #90's crew went up and back on #91, and the "Meteor" (#98/#97) stayed with their train. We had a combined crew going home from NYP on #91. Train #89's crew had to work home with us on #91, though some of them deadheaded home on the shortened "Palmetto" the first day it ran. After that I went to the extra board for a while. Then I took the coach job on the "Palmetto" after they split the jobs up with MIA crewbase staffing it to SAV, and JAX crewbase staffing it on to NYP. That job was "gravy!"

BTW Alan, I worked with Doc my last trip. We came in Friday evening! OBS...

 

[AlanB]

OBS,

I never rode the Palm with a Business Class car, only when it had the sleeper and the diner. In fact I didn't even think that they had added the BC coach, until after the sleeper and the diner were pulled off.

Very interesting.

 

[AlanB]

I don't know if Doc would even remember me at this point, since I haven't seen him in at least two years. But I still have great respect for him, especially after seeing him deal with a totally unreasonable passenger. In fact I rather suspect that it was on the Palm that this happened.

A lady from coach, came in for breakfast with her two kids. For one of her kids, she ordered eggs over easy. When the poor waiter brought the food, she promptly yelled at him that the eggs weren't cooked properly. So he returned to the kitchen with the plate and several minutes later returned with a new plate of food.

Again, she cut into them and once again yelled and I mean that litterally, not figuratively, at the waiter that the eggs weren't cooked. They were still soft and somewhat runny on the inside. She told him that her kid could get sick from eating uncooked eggs. (I almost felt like pointing out to her that the Amtrak menu recommended fully cooking your eggs, but that eggs over easy didn't mean fully cooked.) So again he returned the plate to the kitchen and tried yet a third time. She was still unsatisfied and once again proceeded to yell at him.

Now I know that he was not just returning with the same plate, since each time she cut open one of the eggs, yet when he returned with a new plate, the eggs were once again pristine. During all of this, Doc was off in the lounge car dealing with some problem there. He returned just prior to this lady yelling at the poor waiter for the third time.

Doc of course intervened in this situation immediately, trying to placate this unreasonable women. I almost had to laugh, but Doc had the cook prepare only the eggs for the fourth time. Doc then carried the plate of eggs only, out to the lady for her inspection, before returning to the kitchen for the rest of the food that belonged on the plate. Doc couldn't see wasting all the rest of the food on the plate for a fourth time, for what was obviously IMHO an insane passenger.

Now someone please correct me if I'm wrong, but I've always thought that one ordering eggs over easy expects to get eggs that are runny, when one cuts into them. If you want eggs that aren't runny, then one should either order scrambled or eggs over hard. Yet this lady asked for eggs over easy, I heard her order, and wasn't satisfied until Doc brought her eggs over hard.

However, I still give kudo's to Doc, for coming back into the dining car to an irate, almost insane women and keeping his cool. He was polite, he was professional, he was apologetic (even though he didn't need to be, as she was wrong), and he still managed to keep the customer semi-happy in the long run.

The lady of course left without so much as a thank you, much less a tip for the poor waiter. I however, went and thanked Doc for his professionalism. By the way, the poor waiter somehow managed to keep his cool too, at least in public. I suspect that poor Doc got an earful back in the kitchen, but at least out in the pax area of the car, all Amtrak employee's demonstrated true professionalism.

 

[battalion51]

This doesn't apply to a lot of the Chef's I know with Amtrak, but my sister who works at Fridays has this to say about their Chef's, "I don't think I've ever met a group as surly and unhappy as our cooks." That seems to be the industry standard. :lol:

 

[Amtrak OBS Gone Freight]

Here's an udate regarding schedules of the "Silver Service" trains, my sources indicate effective around the 1st of August! I haven't seen the actual agreed or proposed CSXT schedules yet, so I may be a little off. I will post otherwise when I do! But the following IS in the works!

The NB "Meteor" is supposedly returning to its 7:00 AM departute out of MIA. The NB "Star" is supposedly going to depart MIA around 11:00AM.

The SB "Meteor" is supposedly going to continue at its current departure out of NYC.

The SB "Star" is supposedly going to depart NYC around 11:00 am.

OBS...

 

[lepearso]

This doesn't apply to a lot of the Chef's I know with Amtrak, but my sister who works at Fridays has this to say about their Chef's, "I don't think I've ever met a group as surly and unhappy as our cooks." That seems to be the industry standard. :lol:

I agree that Amtrak chefs are a cut above. Since my sister owns a restaurant, and I know how bad it can be dealing with the public, I am reluctant to complain about anything.

I remember one meal I ordered on the CZ. When the waiter came to my table and called out what was on my plate, I told her that was probably someone else's plate because it wasn't what I ordered. She checked the other tables and suddenly found out that my order had been processed incorrectly.

I offered to take the plate that she brought out so that she wouldn't have to resend the order. Her reply was "Oh no...the chef insists that we get every order correct, and he would want to me to resend your order and get it right for you."

That's the kind of service I really appreciate, and in return I'm sure that the dining car crews appreciate passengers that are flexible and understanding.

 

[battalion51]

Here's an udate regarding schedules of the "Silver Service" trains, my sources indicate effective around the 1st of August! I haven't seen the actual agreed or proposed CSXT schedules yet, so I may be a little off. I will post otherwise when I do! But the following IS in the works!
The NB "Meteor" is supposedly returning to its 7:00 AM departute out of MIA. The NB "Star" is supposedly going to depart MIA around 11:00AM.

The SB "Meteor" is supposedly going to continue at its current departure out of NYC.

The SB "Star" is supposedly going to depart NYC around 11:00 am.  

OBS...

AWESOME!!!! It would make sense to go back to these schedules (hard concept to grasp I know), but it does. Currently FDOT is trying to have a mid-day window at (the Beautiful) New River for uninterrupted construction on the new flyover. Currently the Star comes through in the middle of that window (if they leave MIA on time :lol: :lol: :lol: ). This would be good for all parties involved obviously since it creates longer layovers for OBS in NYP, and for the MIA boys in TPA. Be interesting to see how it all shakes down.

On a seperate note, I got some video of the Meteor cruising through Boynton Beach today, they had a B/O'd baggage car, so an Amfleet I MU Cafe was the bag car. I can only imagine how many explitives the Conductor working bags let fly when he saw that as his bag car. h34r:

 

[Viewliner]

Here's an udate regarding schedules of the "Silver Service" trains, my sources indicate effective around the 1st of August! I haven't seen the actual agreed or proposed CSXT schedules yet, so I may be a little off. I will post otherwise when I do! But the following IS in the works!
The NB "Meteor" is supposedly returning to its 7:00 AM departute out of MIA. The NB "Star" is supposedly going to depart MIA around 11:00AM.

The SB "Meteor" is supposedly going to continue at its current departure out of NYC.

The SB "Star" is supposedly going to depart NYC around 11:00 am.

OBS...

Thats great to hear, I prefered the old schedules, but I still want to see the Meteor leaving NYP at 7:00 PM, it was great to have that evening departure out of NYP in my opinion, so one could go to work (or in my case school) during the day and still be able to leave the same night. Any idea if that would ever return as the schedule, especially since it probably was better for same-day equipment turns at Sunnyside.

 

[battalion51]

The problem with that is, for now, it interferes with the work down here. By the time an ON TIME Meteor hits the bumper they've already gone back to work for the evening. I have a hard time seeing FDOT swallow that pill.