The NARP meeting I'm attending at Los Angeles is not until Saturday, but everbody will be very interested to know that I managed to meet Amtrak CEO Joe Boardman as he arrived today to be the featured speaker at the meeting. In the course of this chance encounter we enjoyed a deep and meaningful exchange of ideas, and I have many interesting and important details to report.
Returning aboard Surfliner 785 from a very busy day of attending to highly important Amtrak Unlimited Official Business (namely riding trains), I detrained at Van Nuys, from where Alice, of the Patrick & Alice RailRiot 2000, would drive me home. Had never been to that station before, so took the opportunity to look around while Alice squabbled with the good-natured station guy about some voucher kinda crap.
As we were finally loading up her car and getting ready to go, I heard a train rumbling by. Told her "Hang on, I wanna see this freight." "Oh alright," she impatiently replied. Some people.
Turned around, and instead of a freight saw the telltale twin P42s of the southbound Coast Starlight, Train 11. Had figured it for a freight because it wasn't due in for another 56 minutes. Pretty good on time performance.
Strolling up to watch the stop evolution, I said to the nearby sleeper attendant, "Pretty good time. Good trip?" "Very good trip," he said with a smile. Looking over the train as Alice wheeled up, I noticed and observed to her "Look at that on the end. An Amfleet. This is the fourth strange consist we've seen today. Wonder what it's doing there." Sleeper attendant filled me in: "That's our president onboard!" "Boardman's on the train!?" That would tend to explain the OTP. "Yeah, that's the Beech Grove."
The helpful attendant returned to his onboard post, the highball was given, and the Starlight began pulling out for L.A.
Scolded Alice, "Don't just sit there, wave at the Beech Grove," which we both did. It was as the car passed that we spied Boardman, standing on the rear platform, grinning and waving back to us.
In that rare, fleeting moment, a melding of the minds came to pass:
"See you tomorrow, Mr. Boardman!!"
"Okay!!"
Never mind that in the cosmic intensity of the encounter I'd forgotten that today is Thursday, not Friday, and that tomorrow is Friday, not Saturday. Mere quibbles in the overall scheme of things.
Returning aboard Surfliner 785 from a very busy day of attending to highly important Amtrak Unlimited Official Business (namely riding trains), I detrained at Van Nuys, from where Alice, of the Patrick & Alice RailRiot 2000, would drive me home. Had never been to that station before, so took the opportunity to look around while Alice squabbled with the good-natured station guy about some voucher kinda crap.
As we were finally loading up her car and getting ready to go, I heard a train rumbling by. Told her "Hang on, I wanna see this freight." "Oh alright," she impatiently replied. Some people.
Turned around, and instead of a freight saw the telltale twin P42s of the southbound Coast Starlight, Train 11. Had figured it for a freight because it wasn't due in for another 56 minutes. Pretty good on time performance.
Strolling up to watch the stop evolution, I said to the nearby sleeper attendant, "Pretty good time. Good trip?" "Very good trip," he said with a smile. Looking over the train as Alice wheeled up, I noticed and observed to her "Look at that on the end. An Amfleet. This is the fourth strange consist we've seen today. Wonder what it's doing there." Sleeper attendant filled me in: "That's our president onboard!" "Boardman's on the train!?" That would tend to explain the OTP. "Yeah, that's the Beech Grove."
The helpful attendant returned to his onboard post, the highball was given, and the Starlight began pulling out for L.A.
Scolded Alice, "Don't just sit there, wave at the Beech Grove," which we both did. It was as the car passed that we spied Boardman, standing on the rear platform, grinning and waving back to us.
In that rare, fleeting moment, a melding of the minds came to pass:
"See you tomorrow, Mr. Boardman!!"
"Okay!!"
Never mind that in the cosmic intensity of the encounter I'd forgotten that today is Thursday, not Friday, and that tomorrow is Friday, not Saturday. Mere quibbles in the overall scheme of things.
