I got back last week from a loop trip that involved the Capitol Limited, Southwest Chief, California Zephyr, and the Cardinal (as well as a rental car between Santa Fe and Denver).
Just some observations about the Amtrak service I received. In short, generally good.
1) I scheduled layovers in Chicago because I was worried about missing connections. I shouldn't have bothered. Both the Capitol Ltd. (westbound) and California Zephyr (eastbound) arrived in Chicago head of schedule. The trip was partly an AGR redemption, but instead of a 20,000 point 2-zone redemption for BAL-LMY or DEN-BAL, I did two one-zone redemptions CHI-LMY and DEN-CHI. I thus spent 10,000 more points than I needed, but when I made the reservations, I was worried about connections, and didn't want to be stuck with an unplanned delay. On the utbound trip, they would only check my bags to Chicago, so when I arrived in Chicago, I had to (1) wait until 10 AM to find the baggage person with the key to the storage closet (my bags arrived a day early), and (2) recheck them to Lamy. For some reason, the baggage guy had to check with a more experienced colleague, so I got a free tour to the lower level under the station where the baggage is sorted. In nay event, my bags made it to Lamy, also a day early. I had no similar problems eastbound, they checked my bags through, and they rode the Capitol, a day early and were waiting for me in Baltimore.
2) All sleeping car attendants on the 4 segments gave excellent service. The guy on the Chief seemed a bit distracted, but he was also taking care of the transdorm passengers (we had a full consist, even though it was supposedly during the "winter consist period."), and we also had the toilets go on the fritz somewhere in Kansas. However, that was fixed in La Junta. In any event, despite the distractions, he did what needed to be done, and also got me off the train at Lamy.
3) The reduced menu in the dining cars is sort of a bummer, though not a total disaster. The steak was excellent (I had it twice), my companions had the tilapia, which seemed like a good meal, and the vegetarian lasagna, about which they said good things. I didn't get a chance to see the chicken. The "light meal," an eye round roast, was the only dud. That particular cut needs a long braise if you're not serving it as rare roast beef. As served it was dry and tough. The veggies and couscous were good, though. The real lack of variety is manifest in the lunch offerings. I did with the hamburger for all my segments. Riding the Cardinal, I had some more variety, as the diner-lite offerings are different. Going east, I had 2 dinners. The "short ribs" were more like a beef stew, it was tasty, but the gravy was a bit watery. The "chicken cacciatore" was a good alternative, a grilled boneless breast with a tomato sauce. For breakfast, I had the blintz with french toast sticks, which I happen to like, even if others have slagged it here. Dining car service in all of the segments was quite good, we were served quickly without fuss. I guess there;'s an advantage to traveling during the slow season.
4) The staff at the Metropolitan lounge in Chicago seemed to be friendlier and a bit more customer oriented than I remember in past trips. They're still a but anal-retentive regarding the passes and such that the staff in the various Club Acelas back east don't seem to need to manage their lounges. On the other hand, I do like the free checked baggage storage in Chicago, which is not available in any of the Club Acelas.
5) The scenery over the Raton Pass was nice, but I think the run over the Glorietta Pass a bit later between Las Vegas and Lamy is more scenic. The whole run south of Trinidad was scenic indeed, and I did get to see some semaphores in action.
6) Denver Union Station was redone very nicely. It has the most comfortable waiting room I'v ever seen, which is to be expected because it's also the lobby of a fancy hotel. The only thing missing were waiters from the Terminal Bar circulating around to take your order. It will be interesting to see how the station will work once the commuter rail lines start up. I had to drive out to DIA to return my rental car, so I got to see the rail line, which looks more or less complete. Then I rode back on the RTD express bus, which took me right into Union Station.
7) It's not a real Amtrak trip if there aren't some delays -- The Chief was an hour late into Lamy, slow orders in western Kansas and eastern Colorado. The Cardinal, which was on time when we left Cincinnati, lost two hours somewhere in Kentucky due to a broken track causing a signal problem and a preceding freight train going though the problem area at 5 mph. Thus, I got home after 9 PM instead of 7, and some of the scenery between Charlottesville and Manassas was lost to the dark.
Just some observations about the Amtrak service I received. In short, generally good.
1) I scheduled layovers in Chicago because I was worried about missing connections. I shouldn't have bothered. Both the Capitol Ltd. (westbound) and California Zephyr (eastbound) arrived in Chicago head of schedule. The trip was partly an AGR redemption, but instead of a 20,000 point 2-zone redemption for BAL-LMY or DEN-BAL, I did two one-zone redemptions CHI-LMY and DEN-CHI. I thus spent 10,000 more points than I needed, but when I made the reservations, I was worried about connections, and didn't want to be stuck with an unplanned delay. On the utbound trip, they would only check my bags to Chicago, so when I arrived in Chicago, I had to (1) wait until 10 AM to find the baggage person with the key to the storage closet (my bags arrived a day early), and (2) recheck them to Lamy. For some reason, the baggage guy had to check with a more experienced colleague, so I got a free tour to the lower level under the station where the baggage is sorted. In nay event, my bags made it to Lamy, also a day early. I had no similar problems eastbound, they checked my bags through, and they rode the Capitol, a day early and were waiting for me in Baltimore.
2) All sleeping car attendants on the 4 segments gave excellent service. The guy on the Chief seemed a bit distracted, but he was also taking care of the transdorm passengers (we had a full consist, even though it was supposedly during the "winter consist period."), and we also had the toilets go on the fritz somewhere in Kansas. However, that was fixed in La Junta. In any event, despite the distractions, he did what needed to be done, and also got me off the train at Lamy.
3) The reduced menu in the dining cars is sort of a bummer, though not a total disaster. The steak was excellent (I had it twice), my companions had the tilapia, which seemed like a good meal, and the vegetarian lasagna, about which they said good things. I didn't get a chance to see the chicken. The "light meal," an eye round roast, was the only dud. That particular cut needs a long braise if you're not serving it as rare roast beef. As served it was dry and tough. The veggies and couscous were good, though. The real lack of variety is manifest in the lunch offerings. I did with the hamburger for all my segments. Riding the Cardinal, I had some more variety, as the diner-lite offerings are different. Going east, I had 2 dinners. The "short ribs" were more like a beef stew, it was tasty, but the gravy was a bit watery. The "chicken cacciatore" was a good alternative, a grilled boneless breast with a tomato sauce. For breakfast, I had the blintz with french toast sticks, which I happen to like, even if others have slagged it here. Dining car service in all of the segments was quite good, we were served quickly without fuss. I guess there;'s an advantage to traveling during the slow season.
4) The staff at the Metropolitan lounge in Chicago seemed to be friendlier and a bit more customer oriented than I remember in past trips. They're still a but anal-retentive regarding the passes and such that the staff in the various Club Acelas back east don't seem to need to manage their lounges. On the other hand, I do like the free checked baggage storage in Chicago, which is not available in any of the Club Acelas.
5) The scenery over the Raton Pass was nice, but I think the run over the Glorietta Pass a bit later between Las Vegas and Lamy is more scenic. The whole run south of Trinidad was scenic indeed, and I did get to see some semaphores in action.
6) Denver Union Station was redone very nicely. It has the most comfortable waiting room I'v ever seen, which is to be expected because it's also the lobby of a fancy hotel. The only thing missing were waiters from the Terminal Bar circulating around to take your order. It will be interesting to see how the station will work once the commuter rail lines start up. I had to drive out to DIA to return my rental car, so I got to see the rail line, which looks more or less complete. Then I rode back on the RTD express bus, which took me right into Union Station.
7) It's not a real Amtrak trip if there aren't some delays -- The Chief was an hour late into Lamy, slow orders in western Kansas and eastern Colorado. The Cardinal, which was on time when we left Cincinnati, lost two hours somewhere in Kentucky due to a broken track causing a signal problem and a preceding freight train going though the problem area at 5 mph. Thus, I got home after 9 PM instead of 7, and some of the scenery between Charlottesville and Manassas was lost to the dark.
