I will be detailing our trip at a later point this week but thought I would update our members on our Ultimate
Amtrak Adventure that we finished early this morning. As Jim may have related to you, our TE 21 was greatly delayed (2 hours late to St Louis via Detour Route) broken air hoses and train emergencies.. Then arriving into San Antonio at 6 am instead of 9:30pm the night before. More air brake problems, (train stopped 13 times with mechanical problems.. bad storms between Ft Worth and Austin) Passengers from all three SAS trains standing on the platform for nearly three hours while Amtrak decided which trains should leave?? No breakfast since they closed the diner to those of us standing outside. Arrival in New Orleans on #2 at 4:00am instead of 9:30pm the night before.
A nice on-time trip on the CONO back to Chicago
And the final straw was leaving CHI on time last night and then suffering an hour delay due to freight traffic into TOL, not bad... but just as we were two miles from CLE, a freight train hit and killed a pedestrian and we sat for three hours waiting for coroner, new crews, etc. Arrival into CLE at 6am instead of 1:45am.
Oh is the tale I have to weave but still groggy from these Amtrak train rides.
Positives: all crews were excellent , food except for the poor steaks on the TE was good..
restrooms were kept immaculate by the SCAs. Fabulous weather in NOL, three days in the mid 70s and no rain. Met some nice fellow passengers in the dining car. A great pair of art exhibits in Chicago and New Orleans. Tours of some plantations north of New Orleans.
After this trip, Claudia and I definitely need to regroup in our thoughts about Amtrak. As with some of the many irate passengers standing outside on the platform in SAS, it is difficult to understand how the Amtrak mindset works, but it rarely seems to demonstrate logic or the needs of its passengers. Glad we do not have another trip planned until August because it will be difficult to get my wife back on the train for a while Yes, many of the problems were "not Amtrak's fault" but nonetheless, Amtrak is at the mercy of events which they must address. Old equipment, (but dirty floors, broken doors and latches, inconsistent policies, all add up to negative experiences for those of us who try to keep making excuses for poor service by the company. If it werent for the nice employees we experienced, this might have been our last trip for awhile. More to come... RRB
Amtrak Adventure that we finished early this morning. As Jim may have related to you, our TE 21 was greatly delayed (2 hours late to St Louis via Detour Route) broken air hoses and train emergencies.. Then arriving into San Antonio at 6 am instead of 9:30pm the night before. More air brake problems, (train stopped 13 times with mechanical problems.. bad storms between Ft Worth and Austin) Passengers from all three SAS trains standing on the platform for nearly three hours while Amtrak decided which trains should leave?? No breakfast since they closed the diner to those of us standing outside. Arrival in New Orleans on #2 at 4:00am instead of 9:30pm the night before.
A nice on-time trip on the CONO back to Chicago
And the final straw was leaving CHI on time last night and then suffering an hour delay due to freight traffic into TOL, not bad... but just as we were two miles from CLE, a freight train hit and killed a pedestrian and we sat for three hours waiting for coroner, new crews, etc. Arrival into CLE at 6am instead of 1:45am.
Oh is the tale I have to weave but still groggy from these Amtrak train rides.
Positives: all crews were excellent , food except for the poor steaks on the TE was good..
restrooms were kept immaculate by the SCAs. Fabulous weather in NOL, three days in the mid 70s and no rain. Met some nice fellow passengers in the dining car. A great pair of art exhibits in Chicago and New Orleans. Tours of some plantations north of New Orleans.
After this trip, Claudia and I definitely need to regroup in our thoughts about Amtrak. As with some of the many irate passengers standing outside on the platform in SAS, it is difficult to understand how the Amtrak mindset works, but it rarely seems to demonstrate logic or the needs of its passengers. Glad we do not have another trip planned until August because it will be difficult to get my wife back on the train for a while
Yes, many of the problems were "not Amtrak's fault" but nonetheless, Amtrak is at the mercy of events which they must address. Old equipment, (but dirty floors, broken doors and latches, inconsistent policies, all add up to negative experiences for those of us who try to keep making excuses for poor service by the company. If it werent for the nice employees we experienced, this might have been our last trip for awhile. More to come... RRB
