Trainmans daughter
OBS Chief
The day after Christmas, my 11 year old granddaughter and I set out on our much anticipated trip to Virginia to visit my son and his family in Spotsylvania. We hadn't seen them in 2 1/2 years and her "cousin time" and my 'grandkid time" was way overdue.
Was started our journey in Oroville CA on a plush California Amtrak bus to Sacramento where we boarded the California Zephyr. The trip through the Sierras and the Rockies was beautiful. I have never traveled this route in the winter, so had never seen the Colorado River frozen. The Mississippi River was also mostly frozen, and we observed about 50 bald eagles sitting on the ice at the water's edge waiting to catch fish.
We arrived in Chicago on time, but I had factored in an overnight stay there in case there had been delays making problems with our connection to the Capitol Limited. We stayed at the station long enough to meet Sarah Z briefly as she and Brent waited for their connection to take them home to Michigan. After a hair-raising taxi ride to the Chicago Hilton, we spent a comfortable night and visited Shedd Aquarium the next day before catching the Cap Ltd to DC and a regional train to Fredericksburg.
We spent the next few days having a great time with our family in Virginia. Miki went squirrel hunting, ate venison for the first time, played "red-neck hockey", and had snowball fights with her cousins.
We left Virginia on Sunday 1/5 and met my ex-daughter-in-law in DC. We spent the rest of Sunday and most of Monday doing the touristy thing in DC. Then it was time to head to Union Station to begin our trip home.
And this is where the adventure really begins! If our trip was ice cream, the eastbound trip would be vanilla--pleasant, but not spectacular. Our return trip would be rocky road with extra nuts!
It started in the Club Acela when the nice lady handed us each $25 cash explaining that it was to compensate us for the dinner we would NOT be receiving on the train that evening. Seems the Cap was stuck in Pittsburgh and would be turned there. We would be bused to Pittsburgh to board it. That's when Miki learned the term "Bustitution" Although we were scheduled to leave WAS at 4:05, we didn't leave until after 8pm and arrived at Pittsburgh around midnight. Our luggage was coated with ice and the temperature was below zero with a windchill factor of -28 or so. About 2 hours later, we were on our way! Sort of.........
We pulled out of the station, much to my relief, and then stopped. Then started, then stopped. Hmmm. Seems like the weather was playing havoc with the equipment. In Cleveland, we were stopped for well over an hour due to a broken air hose and I suspect a crew that had timed out. We just kept getting later and later.
Meanwhile, about 7am I check my email to discover a message informing me that our connecting train #3 had been cancelled! Oh dear! I called the number provided and was told that since that segment was AGR, they couldn't help me, but transferred me to someone that could. Well, no....they couldn't either. I was told nothing could be done till I arrived in Chicago. I called customer relations and was told the same thing. Did I mention that each of these calls was proceeded with l-o-n-g periods of "your call is very important to us. Please hold and you call will be answered in the order it was received"? Sometimes, after holding 10-15 minutes, the line would go dead and I'd have to start over again.
That's when I finally got smart and turned to you guys. After I posted my dilemma under "But did she ever return" I got so much help. Thank you all so much. I was advised to keep trying the AGR connection until I got someone who knew what they were doing and would change my reservation mid-trip. I finally got that person and obtained the last room available on the following day's SWC with connection to the Coast Starlight. Whew!
In the SSL, I overheard a conversation between 2 young men, one being Amish. Apparently, the Amish man was worried about missing his connection and having to spend the night in a Chicago hotel. The other man told him, "Just think.....all that electricity! And a television!" It was hilarious.
Snow was filtering through the door downstairs, building up, and forming a giant icicle. Wish I'd taken a picture. Two ladies were to disembark in Elkhart, IN. They packed up their bags, went downstairs, and waited for the attendant to open the door at their stop. The problem began when the door wouldn't open. Apparently, the conductor didn't get the message and signaled the engineer to proceed. When the train started up, our attendant started yelling "Stop this train! You're gonna have to back up!" but the train just kept gaining speed. Oops! The ladies took it all in stride, got off in South Bend, and were given a free taxi ride back to Elkhart.
As we were approaching Chicago 8 hours behind schedule, our conductor made the announcement "We will be arriving in Chicago in about an hour if all goes well......which I don't expect"!
Walking to the Amtrak area of Chicago Union Station, the realization hit me that most of the population of North America was trying to get out of Chicago. It was a mess! Those of us that had already rebooked and needed vouchers were sent to a separate room which was packed! Although there were about 6 booths for agents, only ONE person was there. The process was agonizingly slow as nothing is computerized. The poor agent calculated how much each person was due for food/taxi money and wrote out a voucher. Then she filled out a hotel voucher and patiently explained the process to each person. The voucher then had to be taken to the ticket counter which had a line extending back to the Great Hall. Of the 14 or so ticket counter stalls, only 3 were manned (or womaned). I was in that line for an hour and a half.
Of all the stuff that happened on this trip, this is my only complaint. The weather related problems were out of Amtrak's control. Amtrak employees dealt with these problems with courtesy and professionalism. My problem is with management. As soon as it became clear that there were problems with delays and cancellations, all available staff should have been called to the station to help with the avalanche of passengers needing help.
Anyway, after a comfortable night spent in a spectacular hotel in Chicago on Amtrak's dime and savoring a delicious Giordano's pizza before boarding #3 the next day, the rest of the trip was fairly routine..........except for the medical emergency in Lamy, the police action in Albuquerque which resulted in several passengers being escorted off the train for credit card fraud, the mooning event by some bicyclists north of Vandenberg on the CS (you'd think spandex would make this difficult, if not impossible), and another police action in Fullerton to arrest a guy for theft in coach. Upon arriving in LA, the conductor made his usual "thank you for traveling with us" announcement and added, "Thanks to the coach passengers who helped us crack the case. You know who you are".
Also, I got to meet a fellow AU member, CollegeAgeTrainFan, a really nice guy making a circle trip of the country on a rail pass. I hope he writes a trip report. He had some really interesting stories to tell.
Our train arrived in Chico 24 hours and 14 minutes later than originally planned. We had a wonderful trip, and my granddaughter will remember this trip forever. She now knows what gate dragon, kindergarten walk, bustitution, and various other terms mean. She has seen the best side of America and some of the finest people on the planet because of train travel.
Was started our journey in Oroville CA on a plush California Amtrak bus to Sacramento where we boarded the California Zephyr. The trip through the Sierras and the Rockies was beautiful. I have never traveled this route in the winter, so had never seen the Colorado River frozen. The Mississippi River was also mostly frozen, and we observed about 50 bald eagles sitting on the ice at the water's edge waiting to catch fish.
We arrived in Chicago on time, but I had factored in an overnight stay there in case there had been delays making problems with our connection to the Capitol Limited. We stayed at the station long enough to meet Sarah Z briefly as she and Brent waited for their connection to take them home to Michigan. After a hair-raising taxi ride to the Chicago Hilton, we spent a comfortable night and visited Shedd Aquarium the next day before catching the Cap Ltd to DC and a regional train to Fredericksburg.
We spent the next few days having a great time with our family in Virginia. Miki went squirrel hunting, ate venison for the first time, played "red-neck hockey", and had snowball fights with her cousins.
We left Virginia on Sunday 1/5 and met my ex-daughter-in-law in DC. We spent the rest of Sunday and most of Monday doing the touristy thing in DC. Then it was time to head to Union Station to begin our trip home.
And this is where the adventure really begins! If our trip was ice cream, the eastbound trip would be vanilla--pleasant, but not spectacular. Our return trip would be rocky road with extra nuts!
It started in the Club Acela when the nice lady handed us each $25 cash explaining that it was to compensate us for the dinner we would NOT be receiving on the train that evening. Seems the Cap was stuck in Pittsburgh and would be turned there. We would be bused to Pittsburgh to board it. That's when Miki learned the term "Bustitution" Although we were scheduled to leave WAS at 4:05, we didn't leave until after 8pm and arrived at Pittsburgh around midnight. Our luggage was coated with ice and the temperature was below zero with a windchill factor of -28 or so. About 2 hours later, we were on our way! Sort of.........
We pulled out of the station, much to my relief, and then stopped. Then started, then stopped. Hmmm. Seems like the weather was playing havoc with the equipment. In Cleveland, we were stopped for well over an hour due to a broken air hose and I suspect a crew that had timed out. We just kept getting later and later.
Meanwhile, about 7am I check my email to discover a message informing me that our connecting train #3 had been cancelled! Oh dear! I called the number provided and was told that since that segment was AGR, they couldn't help me, but transferred me to someone that could. Well, no....they couldn't either. I was told nothing could be done till I arrived in Chicago. I called customer relations and was told the same thing. Did I mention that each of these calls was proceeded with l-o-n-g periods of "your call is very important to us. Please hold and you call will be answered in the order it was received"? Sometimes, after holding 10-15 minutes, the line would go dead and I'd have to start over again.
That's when I finally got smart and turned to you guys. After I posted my dilemma under "But did she ever return" I got so much help. Thank you all so much. I was advised to keep trying the AGR connection until I got someone who knew what they were doing and would change my reservation mid-trip. I finally got that person and obtained the last room available on the following day's SWC with connection to the Coast Starlight. Whew!
In the SSL, I overheard a conversation between 2 young men, one being Amish. Apparently, the Amish man was worried about missing his connection and having to spend the night in a Chicago hotel. The other man told him, "Just think.....all that electricity! And a television!" It was hilarious.
Snow was filtering through the door downstairs, building up, and forming a giant icicle. Wish I'd taken a picture. Two ladies were to disembark in Elkhart, IN. They packed up their bags, went downstairs, and waited for the attendant to open the door at their stop. The problem began when the door wouldn't open. Apparently, the conductor didn't get the message and signaled the engineer to proceed. When the train started up, our attendant started yelling "Stop this train! You're gonna have to back up!" but the train just kept gaining speed. Oops! The ladies took it all in stride, got off in South Bend, and were given a free taxi ride back to Elkhart.
As we were approaching Chicago 8 hours behind schedule, our conductor made the announcement "We will be arriving in Chicago in about an hour if all goes well......which I don't expect"!
Walking to the Amtrak area of Chicago Union Station, the realization hit me that most of the population of North America was trying to get out of Chicago. It was a mess! Those of us that had already rebooked and needed vouchers were sent to a separate room which was packed! Although there were about 6 booths for agents, only ONE person was there. The process was agonizingly slow as nothing is computerized. The poor agent calculated how much each person was due for food/taxi money and wrote out a voucher. Then she filled out a hotel voucher and patiently explained the process to each person. The voucher then had to be taken to the ticket counter which had a line extending back to the Great Hall. Of the 14 or so ticket counter stalls, only 3 were manned (or womaned). I was in that line for an hour and a half.
Of all the stuff that happened on this trip, this is my only complaint. The weather related problems were out of Amtrak's control. Amtrak employees dealt with these problems with courtesy and professionalism. My problem is with management. As soon as it became clear that there were problems with delays and cancellations, all available staff should have been called to the station to help with the avalanche of passengers needing help.
Anyway, after a comfortable night spent in a spectacular hotel in Chicago on Amtrak's dime and savoring a delicious Giordano's pizza before boarding #3 the next day, the rest of the trip was fairly routine..........except for the medical emergency in Lamy, the police action in Albuquerque which resulted in several passengers being escorted off the train for credit card fraud, the mooning event by some bicyclists north of Vandenberg on the CS (you'd think spandex would make this difficult, if not impossible), and another police action in Fullerton to arrest a guy for theft in coach. Upon arriving in LA, the conductor made his usual "thank you for traveling with us" announcement and added, "Thanks to the coach passengers who helped us crack the case. You know who you are".
Also, I got to meet a fellow AU member, CollegeAgeTrainFan, a really nice guy making a circle trip of the country on a rail pass. I hope he writes a trip report. He had some really interesting stories to tell.
Our train arrived in Chico 24 hours and 14 minutes later than originally planned. We had a wonderful trip, and my granddaughter will remember this trip forever. She now knows what gate dragon, kindergarten walk, bustitution, and various other terms mean. She has seen the best side of America and some of the finest people on the planet because of train travel.
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