Chicago Legacy Club Possible Closure - June 2019 or sooner

[crescent-zephyr]

But a station like Chicago Union, NY Penn, Seattle, LA, etc. would need a mix of both correct? Which is what they have (well... not Seattle but the others).

 

[PVD]

Absolutely. What I've been trying to say is that because the numbers of commuter/corridor folks are so high, and they need to be moved in and out expeditiously, stations need to reflect that mix, and a station that is using its space more for the benefit of much smaller numbers of LD passengers at the expense of the primary users would be a failure. That in no way means that stations should not try to do their best for everyone.

 

[MARC Rider]

Which is probably exactly the scenario unfolding. Commuter passengers are a different animal from LD passengers, It's one of the things railfans often have trouble coming to grips with. The beautiful stations of the past, no matter how glorious they were, just may not be the most appropriate way to move thousands of people to and from work.

I'm a daily commuter who finds the glorious stations of the past (through which I travel every day) to be quite appropriate for my commute.
Since the latest trackwork started, and i now need to take a MARC train that gets me into WAS a half hour before I need to be there, I've become a regular at the Club Acela, where I read the paper and have a cup of coffee before I go out and brave the Metro. By the way, most of the patronage at the Club Acela are Corridor riders (regional and Acela), not long distance riders.

How do you get in there without a qualifying ticket? You Select Executiveect or something?

Not quite that posh. I'm Select Plus from riding NERs home a couple of times a week when I work late. It was a lot easier when you got 100 tqp no matter how cheap the ticket. Plus a few junkets to New York or Philly per year, and my Acela ski trip to Boston. And maybe one or two long distance trips per year. It doesn't yake that much to go over the top.

 

[MARC Rider]

When started riding trains in the 1960s I don't remember there being special lounges for sleeper or first class passengers. And my home station was Philly 30th St, which had a lot of long distance and parlor car business. Did any of the pre Amtrak RRs offer first class lounges. I was always under the impression that Amtrak set the up, along with Guest Rewards, to emulate airline practices.

 

[MikefromCrete]

When started riding trains in the 1960s I don't remember there being special lounges for sleeper or first class passengers. And my home station was Philly 30th St, which had a lot of long distance and parlor car business. Did any of the pre Amtrak RRs offer first class lounges. I was always under the impression that Amtrak set the up, along with Guest Rewards, to emulate airline practices.

I believe you are correct. As far as I remember, there were no first class lounges or Guest Rewards programs in pre-Amtrak days. Heck, there were only a couple of trains that offered showers -- The Broadway Limited and the Crescent -- and that was only for occupants of "master rooms."

Dining car meals were also extra. They weren't included with the price of a sleeping car ticket.

 

[Bob Dylan]

Yep, I don't ever recall seeing a Lounge in Stations before Amtrak,but I do remember when the Red Carpet was rolled out @ GCT when Sleeper passengers boarded the 20th Century Ltd.

Also, there were "Ladies Lounges" in the Major Stations, but as I never was in one, am not sure what was inside?

I seem to recall that Canada had Special Lounges for "First Class" Passengers in Montreal and Toronto.Not sure about other Countries?

 

[railiner]

Most commuter's that I know, make a dash to catch their train (or perhaps an earlier one) everyday, and only find themselves "lingering", when there is a service disruption of some sort...

But maybe that's just a "New York thing"....

 

[OlympianHiawatha]

Chicago too. The sign of a good rail commuter is his or her ability to arrive the platform just moments before the doors close and know exactly what car and seating area to head to.

 

[cpotisch]

Chicago too. The sign of a good rail commuter is his or her ability to arrive the platform just moments before the doors close and know exactly what car and seating area to head to.

Having ridden the subway for 16 years, which believe it or not, does have schedules, I've gotten pretty good at that. Unfortunately, doing so saves you two or three minutes in the absolute best case scenario.

 

[crescent-zephyr]

But all of the large commuter stations do have food and drink services for these commuters. Someone is keeping all of those mediocore pizza and Europa delis open! (Referring to NYP with that one).

 

[Ryan]

Chicago too. The sign of a good rail commuter is his or her ability to arrive the platform just moments before the doors close and know exactly what car and seating area to head to.

Having ridden the subway for 16 years, which believe it or not, does have schedules, I've gotten pretty good at that. Unfortunately, doing so saves you two or three minutes in the absolute best case scenario.

Commuter rail headways are very different than Subway headways.

Also, I don’t think that the time you spent being pushed in a stroller counts as relevant subway riding experience.

 

[Bob Dylan]

Chicago too. The sign of a good rail commuter is his or her ability to arrive the platform just moments before the doors close and know exactly what car and seating area to head to.

Having ridden the subway for 16 years, which believe it or not, does have schedules, I've gotten pretty good at that. Unfortunately, doing so saves you two or three minutes in the absolute best case scenario.

As Ryan pointed out, Subways,are a different Kettle of Fish than Commuter Rail although they have some things in common.( Locals vs Express,Rush Hour vs Non Rush Hour,Directional Scheduling etc)
I try to avoid the Thundering Herds in LAX,CHI,NYP and currently GCT, when riding Amtrak during Rush Hours since the Stations become a ZOO as Commuters head Home/To Work.

 

[cpotisch]

Chicago too. The sign of a good rail commuter is his or her ability to arrive the platform just moments before the doors close and know exactly what car and seating area to head to.

Having ridden the subway for 16 years, which believe it or not, does have schedules, I've gotten pretty good at that. Unfortunately, doing so saves you two or three minutes in the absolute best case scenario.

Commuter rail headways are very different than Subway headways.

Also, I don’t think that the time you spent being pushed in a stroller counts as relevant subway riding experience.

Fine. 10 years.

 

[Ryan]

That addresses the easy half of the critisism.

How much of your life have you spent commuting via commuter rail?

Having done so for about 5 years, I can tell you it's pretty important to arrive 3 minutes early vice 3 minutes late for a train home when the next one doesn't leave for a half hour.

 

[cpotisch]

That addresses the easy half of the critisism.

How much of your life have you spent commuting via commuter rail?

Having done so for about 5 years, I can tell you it's pretty important to arrive 3 minutes early vice 3 minutes late for a train home when the next one doesn't leave for a half hour.

He said "most commuters that I know". I didn't know he was specifically talking about commuter rail. People commute to work on the subway, so I assumed that people commuting on the subway fit here. Apologies for missing the context.

 

[Mystic River Dragon]

As someone who is routinely early (and who thus unintentionally annoys her routinely late friends

), I see it from the early bird side--it makes sense to me as a commuter to take the train before the train I really want to catch. My commuter rail (NJ Transit) being what it is, it is almost definite that they will try to make you miss a connection somewhere along the way, and the only way to fight it is to take the earlier train (which will then be late, but early enough for you to connect to the one you really planned to

).

What I really don't understand are the Princeton Junction commuters going to New York. Many of these people must have good jobs with large salaries, but they don't have common sense enough to add five extra minutes into their morning so they won't have to rush? Or don't have the patience to wait for the next train, which is just a few minutes behind the one they are running to get?

Maybe it's a Type A versus Type B thing--it sure is nice and quiet around here after they've gotten their trains and we Type B people have the whole place to ourselves!

 

[railiner]

Railroads, subway's, buses, sidewalks...in New York, during the commute period...its very apparent how the term "rush hour" got coined....

 

[ainamkartma]

I am not coming down in favor of utilitarianism in design, but there is a nostalgic note in many people that tends to ignore the fact that these stations need to move thousands of people i short periods of time. Their primary purpose is not what it used to be. Grand Central is one of the most beautiful public spaces, but it isn't a place where people sit and wait for trains anymore. The retail space is more geared towards a commuter and local worker crowd.

But Grand Central was never designed as a place to sit and wait for trains, or at least it wasn't famous for that aspect of its design. It was praised largely for the innovations in its design that allowed it to efficiently serve thousands of commuters during the rush hours.

Ainamkartma

 

[PVD]

Grand Central used to serve many more longer distance passengers. It was how you went towards Albany or New England...

 

[cpotisch]

I am not coming down in favor of utilitarianism in design, but there is a nostalgic note in many people that tends to ignore the fact that these stations need to move thousands of people i short periods of time. Their primary purpose is not what it used to be. Grand Central is one of the most beautiful public spaces, but it isn't a place where people sit and wait for trains anymore. The retail space is more geared towards a commuter and local worker crowd.

But Grand Central was never designed as a place to sit and wait for trains, or at least it wasn't famous for that aspect of its design. It was praised largely for the innovations in its design that allowed it to efficiently serve thousands of commuters during the rush hours.

Ainamkartma

It used to have dozens of benches and waiting areas in the main concourses. And as PVD said, it was also a major LD train hub.

 

[the_traveler]

But Grand Central was the prestigious station of NY Central, for their trains including the 20th Century Limited!

 

[ainamkartma]

Grand Central used to serve many more longer distance passengers. It was how you went towards Albany or New England...

Of course, but from day one of its existence its traffic was dominated by commuter passengers. According to "Grand Central Terminal" (Schlichting, 2001), "Commuter traffic... came to exceed [long distance] passengers by a considerable margin" between 1900 and 1913, when GCT opened, and commuter traffic "grew exponentially" after the opening of the new terminal.

GCT was designed as a combined long distance and commuter terminal from its first inception. The commuter business greatly surpassed the expected levels.

Ainamkartma

 

[Seaboard92]

I actually just made a list of 1952 departures out of Grand Central.

Here are the All Pullman trains

20th Century Limited (Chicago)

Commodore Vanderbilt (Chicago)

Detroiter (Detroit)

Cleveland Special (Cleveland)

Montreal Limited (Montreal)

Other long distance trains

Southwestern Limited (St Louis)

Knickerbocker (St Louis)

Ohio State Limited (Cincinnati)

Wolverine (Chicago via Detroit)

Empire State Express (Cleveland/Detroit)

Advance Empire State Express (Buffalo)

Easterner(Chicago)

Pacemaker (Chicago)

And so many other trains from across the Midwest.

Once I get my map completed would anyone be interested in the 1952 Official Guide imputed on a Google satellite map with routes, stations, and departure time?

 

[railiner]

I actually just made a list of 1952 departures out of Grand Central.

Here are the All Pullman trains

20th Century Limited (Chicago)

Commodore Vanderbilt (Chicago)

Detroiter (Detroit)

Cleveland Special (Cleveland)

Montreal Limited (Montreal)

Other long distance trains

Southwestern Limited (St Louis)

Knickerbocker (St Louis)

Ohio State Limited (Cincinnati)

Wolverine (Chicago via Detroit)

Empire State Express (Cleveland/Detroit)

Advance Empire State Express (Buffalo)

Easterner(Chicago)

Pacemaker (Chicago)

And so many other trains from across the Midwest.

Once I get my map completed would anyone be interested in the 1952 Official Guide imputed on a Google satellite map with routes, stations, and departure time?

You really should add the New Haven long-haul's to that list...destinations as far as the Maritime's....

 

[Seaboard92]

I actually just made a list of 1952 departures out of Grand Central.

Here are the All Pullman trains

20th Century Limited (Chicago)

Commodore Vanderbilt (Chicago)

Detroiter (Detroit)

Cleveland Special (Cleveland)

Montreal Limited (Montreal)

Other long distance trains

Southwestern Limited (St Louis)

Knickerbocker (St Louis)

Ohio State Limited (Cincinnati)

Wolverine (Chicago via Detroit)

Empire State Express (Cleveland/Detroit)

Advance Empire State Express (Buffalo)

Easterner(Chicago)

Pacemaker (Chicago)

And so many other trains from across the Midwest.

Once I get my map completed would anyone be interested in the 1952 Official Guide imputed on a Google satellite map with routes, stations, and departure time?

You really should add the New Haven long-haul's to that list...destinations as far as the Maritime's....

I'm sill weeding myself past the New York Central's network. And that is a huge task. Let me fetch a link to the work in progress map.