It has been posted here that the CONO typically runs with a Sightseer Lounge and without a Diner or Diner/Lounge. Since those don't have convection ovens, the "Flex" menu on the CONO is the same as the cafe menu. You can see that for yourself:
I just assumed it was the schedule change after re-negotiations with the host railroad to improve OTP.
I arrived on Oct 6 from CHI & the SCA will bring food to your room or you can eat in the observation car-either way the cafe food is nuked & not good - grilled cheese was awful - angus burger was over nuked & bread roll was hard. I must say the staff was friendly, although sometimes it was hard to find our room attendant.
Just returned from round trip CHI-NOL on CONO and was surprised to see cafe menu was replaced with FLEX again and diner car was back. SCA said switch occurred 11/22/24. Hard to believe but food actually wasn’t bad, breakfast omelet was surprisingly good. I make this trip 1-2 times a year and the crew, which can be hit or miss, were exceptional. Now if Amtrak could just fix the tracks on this route, it can be a really, really rough ride at times.
Amtrak has nothing whatsoever to do with track maintenance on the CONO route. It is owned, dispatched, and maintained by CN.
