greatcats
Engineer
I awoke in my hotel in Princeton, NJ about 5 am to learn of the terrible wreck in Philadelphia at a location that I had passed through on Train 42 less than six hours before. My thoughts and prayers are with those involved in this accident; the pictures of the mangled cars on TV just now are disturbing, to be sure.
Here is a report of my eastbound trip on three trains which went pretty well. Sunday morning at home in Flagstaff my alarms woke me at 3:10 am. Train 4 was running on time! I bade the kitties goodbye and drove downtown to Flagstaff station and left my luggage with one of our friendly agents, and parked the car about a half mile away at a friend's home. ( I don't trust taxis to pick me up at my house early in the morning! )
Returning to the station, agent Justin informed me that the train was now late, at first thinking that it was freight congestion around Williams. A little while later in a phone call with the conductor of Train 4, we learned that the train had hit an elk, a not surprising event in our Ponderosa forests. It took them awhile to inspect the equipment and it arrived Flagstaff about an hour late and we departed at 5:45 and proceeded normally to Albuquerque. Upon further inspection it was determined that the middle coach of three had two flat wheels from the emergency stop at Williams and that it was not safe to continue. While having lunch we pulled forward and backed up and deposited the defective coach on a side track and then reassembled the consist. Later in the trip the coaches became overcrowded and at least one passenger was accommodated in a sleeper. The padding in the schedule enabled us to make up most of the lost time.
Probably the most outstanding feature of this trip was my car attendant, Justin Delaet, an employee with only a year and a half of service. He should be held up as a good example of how to provide service in a sleeping car. This bundle of energy continually looked after his passengers and the care of the car. The two of us got into involved discussions on various topics and I've offered to give him and his wife one of my personalized Grand Canyon tours.
The dining car was looked over by Maureen, a rather boisterous lady who ran a pretty good operation. Her two servers were an older man who was friendly, but only moved at one pace - slow - and a young lady who was working her first trip in a diner. She was rather tentative, but having waited some tables in my work history, I can sympathize. Justin was often in the diner helping her out. The quality of the food these days has been discussed to death. I am not thrilled with the quality of the food, but most of it was passable to fairly good, so will say no more. I skipped lunch on the second day, as the cuisine gets boring.
We had made up time, but were delayed at Fort Madison by an extremely long freight train in our way and then the opening of the swing bridge over the Mississippi. This resulted in a Chicago arrival only 25 minutes late. Track work has been performed recently in Kansas and in my view the ride across the track in Kansas was considerably improved over previous bucking bronco trips. I slept quite well this night.
Upon arriving Chicago I checked my bags at the lounge, went for a stroll through Greektown and walked across the Chicago River to Wacker Drive and had a fine dinner of sushi and sake. Returning to the station, I aksed for the redcap to take me to the coaches, as I wanted to stake out a claim before the mob. I use a CPAP breathing machine and found a seat right behind the upper stairs, which was perfect. But then the coach attendant announced that the outlets in the car were not working. She and the conductor fiddled with the circuit board, to no avail, so I schlepped my stuff up two cars and set up house in the rear row. It was announced that the train was sold out, but no seatmate materialized for the entire night. However, for some reason I was unable to sleep more than a few winks on this portion of the trip, something that I did quite well in coach a few weeks ago from Los Angeles to Flagstaff. Our car was pretty full, but there was no problem with rowdy, noisy passengers. One thing I noticed on this train was that the snack bar was located in the CCC dining car, not in the Sightseer lounge car, which was open upstairs, but the downstairs was closed off. Since I was unable to sleep, it was an interesting ride as we sped eastward through the night. I would hesitate to travel to stations like Waterloo, Indiana and Alliance, Ohio, unless I had someone to meet me in the dark of night who knew the area, with stations with minimalist facilities. Approaching Pittsburgh, a very professional conductor came to my seat to make sure I was ready to get off. ( after a fiasco at Flagstaff a few weeks ago, when the passengers were awakened when the train stopped in the station! ) Train 30 arrived about 55 minutes late at 6 am, which was the result of some small delays and waiting for the westbound 29 to clear the stop at Alliance. Other than the lack of sleep, a good trip.
I have not taken the train from or to Pittsburgh in many years - I believe the last time was in 1982, when it was still in the grand old PRR waiting room. The current station, which does resemble a bus station like Mr. Hudson says, is not a bad place. The addition of some green plants in the waiting room gives it a bit of atmosphere. The huge decrepit train shed with some of the tracks removed is a reminder of what a busy place this once was. I boarded the Pennsylvanian, Train 42 and rode the last of six cars, Business Class. The extra fare for a few sodas and coffee is debatable, but it was spacious and not crowded. A young man who is a doctor performing his residency in Brooklyn, New York and a native of Puerto Rico was across the aisle, and the two of us had extended friendly discussions. The former PRR mainline now operated by Norfolk Southern certainly handles much freight, but the scene of the unused railroad facilities and old towns in decline is somewhat depressing.
The scenery, with its heavy greenery and rivers, is pleasing, in stark contrast to where I live in Arizona. Much construction work was going on at Harrisburg station, with makeshift high level platforms. The train arrived Philadelphia on time, changing engines and reversing direction, which I had to explain to some of the other passengers. Less than half an hour later, I disembarked at Trenton, walked across the platform and took a NJ Transit train ( my former employer ) to Princeton Junction, hailed the one taxi waiting there and picked up a rental car. So, all the connections across the country worked as advertised.
The TV at this moment has now announced there have been six fatalities in last night's wreck at Philadelphia, which is indeed solemn and sobering news. It does not speak well for the durability of Amfleet cars.
Here is a report of my eastbound trip on three trains which went pretty well. Sunday morning at home in Flagstaff my alarms woke me at 3:10 am. Train 4 was running on time! I bade the kitties goodbye and drove downtown to Flagstaff station and left my luggage with one of our friendly agents, and parked the car about a half mile away at a friend's home. ( I don't trust taxis to pick me up at my house early in the morning! )
Returning to the station, agent Justin informed me that the train was now late, at first thinking that it was freight congestion around Williams. A little while later in a phone call with the conductor of Train 4, we learned that the train had hit an elk, a not surprising event in our Ponderosa forests. It took them awhile to inspect the equipment and it arrived Flagstaff about an hour late and we departed at 5:45 and proceeded normally to Albuquerque. Upon further inspection it was determined that the middle coach of three had two flat wheels from the emergency stop at Williams and that it was not safe to continue. While having lunch we pulled forward and backed up and deposited the defective coach on a side track and then reassembled the consist. Later in the trip the coaches became overcrowded and at least one passenger was accommodated in a sleeper. The padding in the schedule enabled us to make up most of the lost time.
Probably the most outstanding feature of this trip was my car attendant, Justin Delaet, an employee with only a year and a half of service. He should be held up as a good example of how to provide service in a sleeping car. This bundle of energy continually looked after his passengers and the care of the car. The two of us got into involved discussions on various topics and I've offered to give him and his wife one of my personalized Grand Canyon tours.
The dining car was looked over by Maureen, a rather boisterous lady who ran a pretty good operation. Her two servers were an older man who was friendly, but only moved at one pace - slow - and a young lady who was working her first trip in a diner. She was rather tentative, but having waited some tables in my work history, I can sympathize. Justin was often in the diner helping her out. The quality of the food these days has been discussed to death. I am not thrilled with the quality of the food, but most of it was passable to fairly good, so will say no more. I skipped lunch on the second day, as the cuisine gets boring.
We had made up time, but were delayed at Fort Madison by an extremely long freight train in our way and then the opening of the swing bridge over the Mississippi. This resulted in a Chicago arrival only 25 minutes late. Track work has been performed recently in Kansas and in my view the ride across the track in Kansas was considerably improved over previous bucking bronco trips. I slept quite well this night.
Upon arriving Chicago I checked my bags at the lounge, went for a stroll through Greektown and walked across the Chicago River to Wacker Drive and had a fine dinner of sushi and sake. Returning to the station, I aksed for the redcap to take me to the coaches, as I wanted to stake out a claim before the mob. I use a CPAP breathing machine and found a seat right behind the upper stairs, which was perfect. But then the coach attendant announced that the outlets in the car were not working. She and the conductor fiddled with the circuit board, to no avail, so I schlepped my stuff up two cars and set up house in the rear row. It was announced that the train was sold out, but no seatmate materialized for the entire night. However, for some reason I was unable to sleep more than a few winks on this portion of the trip, something that I did quite well in coach a few weeks ago from Los Angeles to Flagstaff. Our car was pretty full, but there was no problem with rowdy, noisy passengers. One thing I noticed on this train was that the snack bar was located in the CCC dining car, not in the Sightseer lounge car, which was open upstairs, but the downstairs was closed off. Since I was unable to sleep, it was an interesting ride as we sped eastward through the night. I would hesitate to travel to stations like Waterloo, Indiana and Alliance, Ohio, unless I had someone to meet me in the dark of night who knew the area, with stations with minimalist facilities. Approaching Pittsburgh, a very professional conductor came to my seat to make sure I was ready to get off. ( after a fiasco at Flagstaff a few weeks ago, when the passengers were awakened when the train stopped in the station! ) Train 30 arrived about 55 minutes late at 6 am, which was the result of some small delays and waiting for the westbound 29 to clear the stop at Alliance. Other than the lack of sleep, a good trip.
I have not taken the train from or to Pittsburgh in many years - I believe the last time was in 1982, when it was still in the grand old PRR waiting room. The current station, which does resemble a bus station like Mr. Hudson says, is not a bad place. The addition of some green plants in the waiting room gives it a bit of atmosphere. The huge decrepit train shed with some of the tracks removed is a reminder of what a busy place this once was. I boarded the Pennsylvanian, Train 42 and rode the last of six cars, Business Class. The extra fare for a few sodas and coffee is debatable, but it was spacious and not crowded. A young man who is a doctor performing his residency in Brooklyn, New York and a native of Puerto Rico was across the aisle, and the two of us had extended friendly discussions. The former PRR mainline now operated by Norfolk Southern certainly handles much freight, but the scene of the unused railroad facilities and old towns in decline is somewhat depressing.
The scenery, with its heavy greenery and rivers, is pleasing, in stark contrast to where I live in Arizona. Much construction work was going on at Harrisburg station, with makeshift high level platforms. The train arrived Philadelphia on time, changing engines and reversing direction, which I had to explain to some of the other passengers. Less than half an hour later, I disembarked at Trenton, walked across the platform and took a NJ Transit train ( my former employer ) to Princeton Junction, hailed the one taxi waiting there and picked up a rental car. So, all the connections across the country worked as advertised.
The TV at this moment has now announced there have been six fatalities in last night's wreck at Philadelphia, which is indeed solemn and sobering news. It does not speak well for the durability of Amfleet cars.
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