trainman74
Conductor
With my cousin getting married in Philadelphia on October 4, I decided I would fly across the country to get there, and then return via Amtrak.
I'd never taken any of the East-Coast-to-Chicago trains, but I wanted to experience a Viewliner sleeper for the first time and wanted full dining car service, so the Lake Shore Limited was my only choice for that leg of the trip. Amtrak.com wouldn't provide that as an option from Philadelphia, so I made an Amtrak Guest Rewards roomette redemption from New York to Van Nuys (Lake Shore Limited to Southwest Chief to Pacific Surfliner), and then separately purchased a Northeast Regional coach ticket for Philadelphia to New York.
A couple of weeks before the trip, I went to the Van Nuys station to make use of the QuikTrak machine to print out the "e-ticket receipts" for the trip, figuring those would be easier to show to ClubAcela and Metropolitan Lounge attendants than my phone.
I did some non-Amtrak train riding in Philadelphia -- taking SEPTA commuter rail from the airport to 30th Street Station, and then using the Market-Frankford subway line to get around for the next couple of days. My hotel, the Kimpton Hotel Monaco, was just a block south of the 5th Street station.
Sunday morning, October 6th, I checked out of my hotel and took the subway back to 30th Street Station. I crossed the street into the station and walked to the very opposite corner and up the stairs to the ClubAcela, which I was entitled to use as a same-day sleeping car passenger, even though I'd be leaving Philadelphia in coach.
The club was pretty much empty when I got there at about 9:30, but a number of other people had arrived by about 35 minutes later when the attendant found me to let me know that it was time to go downstairs. He sent a group of about 5 or 6 down one elevator for a southbound Acela, and then sent me down in the next elevator over. "It's usually not this busy on a Sunday morning," he said. I shrugged.
Northeast Regional 152, PHL-NYP
I stood on the platform for a couple of minutes, seeing the Acela arrive on the next track over, and then my train pulled in. I walked a couple cars forward from where I was standing, ending up in the Quiet Car, but that was fine with me. Almost every pair of seats had one person in it, but I found an unoccupied pair near the front of the car. The train pulled out on schedule at 10:12 A.M.
When he came to scan my e-ticket, the conductor said "good morning" a little too loud, I thought, for a Sunday morning Quiet Car. Nobody shushed him, though. The wi-fi seemed to be working well, although I wasn't really overtaxing it, just looking at a couple of blog posts.
Arrival at Penn Station was on time at 11:45 A.M., and I made my way upstairs and across the Amtrak concourse, threading my way through the masses of humanity standing around waiting for their track number to be posted, eventually arriving at the ClubAcela. As was the case in Philadelphia, it was nearly deserted at this time. I put my luggage -- a suitcase and a backpack -- in the luggage room, as I was meeting a friend for lunch.
My friend arrived via LIRR at about 12:10 P.M., and I met him outside the club after he called me to let me know he was there (I told him, "You could have just poked your head into the club"). We ate at a nearby restaurant called Pennsylvania 6 -- obviously, the name is inspired by the Hotel Pennsylvania's phone number, although it's not located in the Hotel Pennsylvania building.
After lunch, I invited my friend to wait for his return LIRR train as my guest in the ClubAcela, but the timing worked out (for him) that he was able to get right on a train that was just about to depart. So I returned to the ClubAcela alone -- by this time it was about 1:55 P.M. and it was considerably more full than when I'd left -- and watched football on my phone.
Boarding for the Lake Shore Limited was called at about 3:30 P.M.; I didn't need a Red Cap, so I just got my luggage out of the room and joined the line of people following the Amtrak escort back across the concourse to the departure track.
More to come...
I'd never taken any of the East-Coast-to-Chicago trains, but I wanted to experience a Viewliner sleeper for the first time and wanted full dining car service, so the Lake Shore Limited was my only choice for that leg of the trip. Amtrak.com wouldn't provide that as an option from Philadelphia, so I made an Amtrak Guest Rewards roomette redemption from New York to Van Nuys (Lake Shore Limited to Southwest Chief to Pacific Surfliner), and then separately purchased a Northeast Regional coach ticket for Philadelphia to New York.
A couple of weeks before the trip, I went to the Van Nuys station to make use of the QuikTrak machine to print out the "e-ticket receipts" for the trip, figuring those would be easier to show to ClubAcela and Metropolitan Lounge attendants than my phone.
I did some non-Amtrak train riding in Philadelphia -- taking SEPTA commuter rail from the airport to 30th Street Station, and then using the Market-Frankford subway line to get around for the next couple of days. My hotel, the Kimpton Hotel Monaco, was just a block south of the 5th Street station.
Sunday morning, October 6th, I checked out of my hotel and took the subway back to 30th Street Station. I crossed the street into the station and walked to the very opposite corner and up the stairs to the ClubAcela, which I was entitled to use as a same-day sleeping car passenger, even though I'd be leaving Philadelphia in coach.
The club was pretty much empty when I got there at about 9:30, but a number of other people had arrived by about 35 minutes later when the attendant found me to let me know that it was time to go downstairs. He sent a group of about 5 or 6 down one elevator for a southbound Acela, and then sent me down in the next elevator over. "It's usually not this busy on a Sunday morning," he said. I shrugged.
Northeast Regional 152, PHL-NYP
I stood on the platform for a couple of minutes, seeing the Acela arrive on the next track over, and then my train pulled in. I walked a couple cars forward from where I was standing, ending up in the Quiet Car, but that was fine with me. Almost every pair of seats had one person in it, but I found an unoccupied pair near the front of the car. The train pulled out on schedule at 10:12 A.M.
When he came to scan my e-ticket, the conductor said "good morning" a little too loud, I thought, for a Sunday morning Quiet Car. Nobody shushed him, though. The wi-fi seemed to be working well, although I wasn't really overtaxing it, just looking at a couple of blog posts.
Arrival at Penn Station was on time at 11:45 A.M., and I made my way upstairs and across the Amtrak concourse, threading my way through the masses of humanity standing around waiting for their track number to be posted, eventually arriving at the ClubAcela. As was the case in Philadelphia, it was nearly deserted at this time. I put my luggage -- a suitcase and a backpack -- in the luggage room, as I was meeting a friend for lunch.
My friend arrived via LIRR at about 12:10 P.M., and I met him outside the club after he called me to let me know he was there (I told him, "You could have just poked your head into the club"). We ate at a nearby restaurant called Pennsylvania 6 -- obviously, the name is inspired by the Hotel Pennsylvania's phone number, although it's not located in the Hotel Pennsylvania building.
After lunch, I invited my friend to wait for his return LIRR train as my guest in the ClubAcela, but the timing worked out (for him) that he was able to get right on a train that was just about to depart. So I returned to the ClubAcela alone -- by this time it was about 1:55 P.M. and it was considerably more full than when I'd left -- and watched football on my phone.
Boarding for the Lake Shore Limited was called at about 3:30 P.M.; I didn't need a Red Cap, so I just got my luggage out of the room and joined the line of people following the Amtrak escort back across the concourse to the departure track.
More to come...
Glad you enjoyed the Viewliner Roomette, I agree with the Top Bunk being the Way to Go even when Traveling by Yourself! And 8400 was a Bonus, much as I'll miss the Heritage Diners, the New Ones will be Much Better Overall for the Crews and the Passengers! Look Forward to the Rest of Your Trip Report!
