ORL-WAS-CHI-DEN
Train 98 Silver Meteor was a bit late out of Orlando, but not too bad. The station was pretty crowded because the 97 southbound Silver Meteor was running very late. I was the first to board in car 9810 and Billy my SCA made a joke about how heavy my suitcase was. It was pretty heavy – among the contents was a six pack of soda. After I settled in by cleaning my roomette with Clorox wipes, I went to the dining car for lunch. I sat with a couple from New Jersey who were on their way home from visiting relatives in Tarpon Springs. After lunch, I met up with Jeff (OTownDog) in the lounge. We chatted for a while and even though I am old enough to be his mother, we had a few things in common. Unfortunately for Jeff, due to a reservation problem, he was in coach during this part of his trip. He was able to secure a 6:30 dinner reservation (the same as mine) and we agreed to have dinner together.
At dinner, we sat with an elderly couple from Rhode Island that was on their way home from visiting relatives in the Orlando area. Our LSA was very efficient and accommodating. At lunch, I had learned that all of the dinner entrees contained garlic (to which I am allergic). The LSA suggested that I have the chicken fingers from the children’s menu, which I did. Dinner was fine. I slept as well as I ever sleep on the train. We were running early, so I got to breakfast just before 6:30am and was seated with a woman who works for the federal government working on the prevention of Medicare fraud. She was returning from a conference in Charleston and we had a very interesting and enlightening conversation.
I spent part of my WAS layover in the Acela Lounge (with no a/c, but the wifi was working). Four of us were boarded on the Cardinal on time. I had splurged (and made my reservation 11 months in advance) and was in Bedroom B – my favorite on a Viewliner. It was a little shabby, but there was a chair and everything seemed to work.
I had a very pleasant, albeit fattening, lunch in the diner/lounge. I ate at noon and all but 2 of the tables were taken. By 1:00pm, the other 2 tables were occupied. The service was ok. The server told us what the lunch special was “Chicken -------,” but when asked what that was, she said she did not know. I am sure it was not anything I would have ordered, so her lack of knowledge did not bother me, but might have annoyed other passengers. I had a hamburger and peanut butter chocolate pie for dessert. I later learned that our server was a trainee.
The scenery was fabulous. This was my first time on the Cardinal and I am so happy that I arranged my trip so I could travel on this train. The ride was a little rough, but worth it.
My SCA was Jeremy, who was very nice. I did not see a lot of him since I was all the way at the front of the one sleeper and he was in the back, but he tried to answer most of my questions. He had not been on the Cardinal for a year and did not remember exactly where the New River Gorge was located. He has been on the CONO most recently.
I had dinner with the same women with whom I ate lunch. We learned each other’s names and a lot more about each other. I sat with Joan, an elderly woman whose husband recently died, and who had not traveled by train since the war (WWII) and Judy who is in her 60’s and is a former high school counselor. We had been told that in order to get a good seat for dinner, you should go at 5pm, which we did. We stayed until after 7pm. I was unable to eat any of the entrees again, so I had salad, roll, vegetables and beer. Joan and Judy each had the salmon, which they said was excellent – they also commented that they could taste the garlic in the sauce. I found out that Judy will be returning from CHI to WAS on the Capitol Limited the same day I will be returning.
During our dinner, an incident occurred in the lounge half of the diner. A man, who was drinking, was coming on and getting abusive towards a young woman. She became afraid and sat and the table next to ours. Judy talked to her and tried to calm her down. The conductor phoned the police and the police met the train at the next stop, Hinton, West Virginia, which, in my opinion, is in the middle of nowhere. Prior to the incident, we were about 40 minutes late. After the incident, we were about an hour late. I was able to see New River Gorge in daylight (sort of), but it was a little too dark for a good photo.
While I was at dinner, part of the back rest in my bedroom fell down (probably during a rough section of track). I showed it to Jeremy and he attached it again, but suggested that I should sleep with my head under the other section of the couch. I like to sleep facing the window, but I slept with my head next to the window – just in case. Fortunately, nothing fell on me during the night.
Around 9pm, I decided to go for a walk on the train. I passed through the one sleeper, the diner/lounge, then 3 coaches. When I returned to go back to my sleeper, I was unable to get into the diner/lounge. The door was locked because the attendant was taking a break (until 10pm). I had a bit of a panic attack, but found a coach attendant who let me into the lounge. The next morning when I went for a walk, I checked to make sure that the door would not be locked.
Joan and I were ready for breakfast at 6:30am, the time that we were told that the diner would open. They were running late, so we waited in the lounge until we were seated at 6:50am. Breakfast was good. We arrived in CHI a little late. I walked with Joan to the Metropolitan Lounge and there was no line (one of the advantages of arriving on a small train with only one sleeper). We checked our luggage in the lounge and I showed Joan around the station and then we went outside so she could see Willis Tower. I later left Joan in the lounge and I went for a walk in search of grocery store. As a result of 2 sets of bad directions, I did a lot of walking before I found a store. I bought Greek yogurt and some fresh fruit and ate it in the lounge. Jeff, who had traveled from WAS to CHI on the Capitol Limited (and then did a lot of walking around Chicago), met up with me and Joan in the lounge.
Boarding the California Zephyr went smoothly and efficiently. I found my car 530 and my bedroom E. The SCA, OC, had placed a tablecloth on the little table in the room, together with a flower. I was a little disappointed that my room was facing “backwards,” (the chair was facing forward). I was also surprised that I was in the last car on the train. I learned that I was in the Denver car, which stays in Denver, and it is always at the rear so it can be easily detached. My car was not full and OC offered to move me to bedroom D, which had the couch facing forward. I took him up on the offer. Only three of the 5 bedrooms were occupied. Two couples of Swedish tourists were in the other 2 bedrooms. I think about ½ of the roomettes were full and none of the downstairs rooms were occupied. I thought OC did a fabulous job (and let him know with my tip). He has been with Amtrak for 27 years and his usual route is the Empire Builder to/from Portland. He said he was used to being in the last car of the train. The ride was a little rough, but not too bad. Although I was told that our sleeper, Superliner 2, is older than the viewliner sleeper that I was in the night before, the bedroom in the Superliner 2 was in much better condition. It was much cleaner and not at all shabby looking. I do not know if OC seemed so much better because there were not a lot of passengers or he is good all the time. (I am a tea drinker, and OC brought me hot water at least 3 times during the trip).
One benefit of being in the last car is to be able to look out the back of the train. It was especially great to look out while we were backing into Denver. The Assistant Conductor was in the back doing his conductor stuff. I was standing not too far behind him, watching and listening. It was great fun.
We arrived in Denver about 1-1/2 hours late at Union Station (not a temporary station). My hotel is virtually across the street from the station which was very easy. I hope I am able to hear the whistle on the eastbound CZ when it comes through later today. I plan to take the CZ westbound Monday morning and anticipate writing part 2 of my trip report in the near future.
Train 98 Silver Meteor was a bit late out of Orlando, but not too bad. The station was pretty crowded because the 97 southbound Silver Meteor was running very late. I was the first to board in car 9810 and Billy my SCA made a joke about how heavy my suitcase was. It was pretty heavy – among the contents was a six pack of soda. After I settled in by cleaning my roomette with Clorox wipes, I went to the dining car for lunch. I sat with a couple from New Jersey who were on their way home from visiting relatives in Tarpon Springs. After lunch, I met up with Jeff (OTownDog) in the lounge. We chatted for a while and even though I am old enough to be his mother, we had a few things in common. Unfortunately for Jeff, due to a reservation problem, he was in coach during this part of his trip. He was able to secure a 6:30 dinner reservation (the same as mine) and we agreed to have dinner together.
At dinner, we sat with an elderly couple from Rhode Island that was on their way home from visiting relatives in the Orlando area. Our LSA was very efficient and accommodating. At lunch, I had learned that all of the dinner entrees contained garlic (to which I am allergic). The LSA suggested that I have the chicken fingers from the children’s menu, which I did. Dinner was fine. I slept as well as I ever sleep on the train. We were running early, so I got to breakfast just before 6:30am and was seated with a woman who works for the federal government working on the prevention of Medicare fraud. She was returning from a conference in Charleston and we had a very interesting and enlightening conversation.
I spent part of my WAS layover in the Acela Lounge (with no a/c, but the wifi was working). Four of us were boarded on the Cardinal on time. I had splurged (and made my reservation 11 months in advance) and was in Bedroom B – my favorite on a Viewliner. It was a little shabby, but there was a chair and everything seemed to work.
I had a very pleasant, albeit fattening, lunch in the diner/lounge. I ate at noon and all but 2 of the tables were taken. By 1:00pm, the other 2 tables were occupied. The service was ok. The server told us what the lunch special was “Chicken -------,” but when asked what that was, she said she did not know. I am sure it was not anything I would have ordered, so her lack of knowledge did not bother me, but might have annoyed other passengers. I had a hamburger and peanut butter chocolate pie for dessert. I later learned that our server was a trainee.
The scenery was fabulous. This was my first time on the Cardinal and I am so happy that I arranged my trip so I could travel on this train. The ride was a little rough, but worth it.
My SCA was Jeremy, who was very nice. I did not see a lot of him since I was all the way at the front of the one sleeper and he was in the back, but he tried to answer most of my questions. He had not been on the Cardinal for a year and did not remember exactly where the New River Gorge was located. He has been on the CONO most recently.
I had dinner with the same women with whom I ate lunch. We learned each other’s names and a lot more about each other. I sat with Joan, an elderly woman whose husband recently died, and who had not traveled by train since the war (WWII) and Judy who is in her 60’s and is a former high school counselor. We had been told that in order to get a good seat for dinner, you should go at 5pm, which we did. We stayed until after 7pm. I was unable to eat any of the entrees again, so I had salad, roll, vegetables and beer. Joan and Judy each had the salmon, which they said was excellent – they also commented that they could taste the garlic in the sauce. I found out that Judy will be returning from CHI to WAS on the Capitol Limited the same day I will be returning.
During our dinner, an incident occurred in the lounge half of the diner. A man, who was drinking, was coming on and getting abusive towards a young woman. She became afraid and sat and the table next to ours. Judy talked to her and tried to calm her down. The conductor phoned the police and the police met the train at the next stop, Hinton, West Virginia, which, in my opinion, is in the middle of nowhere. Prior to the incident, we were about 40 minutes late. After the incident, we were about an hour late. I was able to see New River Gorge in daylight (sort of), but it was a little too dark for a good photo.
While I was at dinner, part of the back rest in my bedroom fell down (probably during a rough section of track). I showed it to Jeremy and he attached it again, but suggested that I should sleep with my head under the other section of the couch. I like to sleep facing the window, but I slept with my head next to the window – just in case. Fortunately, nothing fell on me during the night.
Around 9pm, I decided to go for a walk on the train. I passed through the one sleeper, the diner/lounge, then 3 coaches. When I returned to go back to my sleeper, I was unable to get into the diner/lounge. The door was locked because the attendant was taking a break (until 10pm). I had a bit of a panic attack, but found a coach attendant who let me into the lounge. The next morning when I went for a walk, I checked to make sure that the door would not be locked.
Joan and I were ready for breakfast at 6:30am, the time that we were told that the diner would open. They were running late, so we waited in the lounge until we were seated at 6:50am. Breakfast was good. We arrived in CHI a little late. I walked with Joan to the Metropolitan Lounge and there was no line (one of the advantages of arriving on a small train with only one sleeper). We checked our luggage in the lounge and I showed Joan around the station and then we went outside so she could see Willis Tower. I later left Joan in the lounge and I went for a walk in search of grocery store. As a result of 2 sets of bad directions, I did a lot of walking before I found a store. I bought Greek yogurt and some fresh fruit and ate it in the lounge. Jeff, who had traveled from WAS to CHI on the Capitol Limited (and then did a lot of walking around Chicago), met up with me and Joan in the lounge.
Boarding the California Zephyr went smoothly and efficiently. I found my car 530 and my bedroom E. The SCA, OC, had placed a tablecloth on the little table in the room, together with a flower. I was a little disappointed that my room was facing “backwards,” (the chair was facing forward). I was also surprised that I was in the last car on the train. I learned that I was in the Denver car, which stays in Denver, and it is always at the rear so it can be easily detached. My car was not full and OC offered to move me to bedroom D, which had the couch facing forward. I took him up on the offer. Only three of the 5 bedrooms were occupied. Two couples of Swedish tourists were in the other 2 bedrooms. I think about ½ of the roomettes were full and none of the downstairs rooms were occupied. I thought OC did a fabulous job (and let him know with my tip). He has been with Amtrak for 27 years and his usual route is the Empire Builder to/from Portland. He said he was used to being in the last car of the train. The ride was a little rough, but not too bad. Although I was told that our sleeper, Superliner 2, is older than the viewliner sleeper that I was in the night before, the bedroom in the Superliner 2 was in much better condition. It was much cleaner and not at all shabby looking. I do not know if OC seemed so much better because there were not a lot of passengers or he is good all the time. (I am a tea drinker, and OC brought me hot water at least 3 times during the trip).
One benefit of being in the last car is to be able to look out the back of the train. It was especially great to look out while we were backing into Denver. The Assistant Conductor was in the back doing his conductor stuff. I was standing not too far behind him, watching and listening. It was great fun.
We arrived in Denver about 1-1/2 hours late at Union Station (not a temporary station). My hotel is virtually across the street from the station which was very easy. I hope I am able to hear the whistle on the eastbound CZ when it comes through later today. I plan to take the CZ westbound Monday morning and anticipate writing part 2 of my trip report in the near future.
