After the gathering while waiting for the Autumn Special, I took a few days to visit a friend in Monroe, NC.
The Carolinian is gently scenic, nothing spectacular, forests and streams between interesting small towns with beautiful buildings in various conditions of abominable to nicely restored. I got the last seat between Alexndria and Kannapolis, NC. My seatmate and other nearby passengers were all genial. But the real star was our attendant, Linda Lattimore.
Linda worked non-stop: Lysol the commodes and floors, politely head off coach passengers, get people on and off the train, clean the carpet (How often do you see that?!), offer cold drinks, offer hot drinks, Lysol all "touch" surfaces like trash door, repeat. There were no phone calls, no relaxing in her seat, no snack breaks except for announced crew meals, no idle conversations with other crew members in the cafe car or vestibule, no nothing but managing her car and her passengers. The crew changed before I got off and the new attendant would have been decent except for coming after Linda. I sincerely hope she went home with the pocket-full of tips she deserved. When we asked Linda her name (to tell Amtrak about her), Linda gave us very useful business cards that included Amtrak contact info.
Linda didn't just serve us on board, she also is building at least one young Amtrak fan. At one stop she told the conductor, "Wave at Billy, over there at the end of the platform." And to his credit, the conductor waved.
This paragraph is for Swadian. One trip we took from NC was the Blue Ridge Parkway up to Roanoke, home of N&W 611 at the Virginia Museum of Transportation. They have a pretty interesting bus room. Somebody there must like buses because those exhibits were better organized and better labeled than the trains, cars, planes, or carriages.
After NC I took the Carolinian back up to Washington, business class again. This train was booked solid with passengers going to a temporary stop at the state fair near Raleigh (code NSF). The attendant was good, but not exceptional like Linda. The freight in front of us had mechanical problems so dispatch put us on the "wrong" track to get in front. Besides the delay, Salisbury passengers had to be taken to a nearby grade crossing to board. The scanner was more lively than usual.
In Washington I rented a car for a week and am previewing the fall colors before the excursion Saturday. Today I caught the northbound Adirondack with dome at Ticonderoga and the southbound at Port Henry. The Rouses Point depot was falling apart my last time through but someone has spent a lot of money on it and it looks great. Actually, the whole town has seen significant infrastructure improvements and looks great. It is still only a quarter mile from the depot to the waterfront, where the only year-round motel is, a great turnaround spot for people who can't enter Canada.
The Carolinian is gently scenic, nothing spectacular, forests and streams between interesting small towns with beautiful buildings in various conditions of abominable to nicely restored. I got the last seat between Alexndria and Kannapolis, NC. My seatmate and other nearby passengers were all genial. But the real star was our attendant, Linda Lattimore.
Linda worked non-stop: Lysol the commodes and floors, politely head off coach passengers, get people on and off the train, clean the carpet (How often do you see that?!), offer cold drinks, offer hot drinks, Lysol all "touch" surfaces like trash door, repeat. There were no phone calls, no relaxing in her seat, no snack breaks except for announced crew meals, no idle conversations with other crew members in the cafe car or vestibule, no nothing but managing her car and her passengers. The crew changed before I got off and the new attendant would have been decent except for coming after Linda. I sincerely hope she went home with the pocket-full of tips she deserved. When we asked Linda her name (to tell Amtrak about her), Linda gave us very useful business cards that included Amtrak contact info.
Linda didn't just serve us on board, she also is building at least one young Amtrak fan. At one stop she told the conductor, "Wave at Billy, over there at the end of the platform." And to his credit, the conductor waved.
This paragraph is for Swadian. One trip we took from NC was the Blue Ridge Parkway up to Roanoke, home of N&W 611 at the Virginia Museum of Transportation. They have a pretty interesting bus room. Somebody there must like buses because those exhibits were better organized and better labeled than the trains, cars, planes, or carriages.
After NC I took the Carolinian back up to Washington, business class again. This train was booked solid with passengers going to a temporary stop at the state fair near Raleigh (code NSF). The attendant was good, but not exceptional like Linda. The freight in front of us had mechanical problems so dispatch put us on the "wrong" track to get in front. Besides the delay, Salisbury passengers had to be taken to a nearby grade crossing to board. The scanner was more lively than usual.
In Washington I rented a car for a week and am previewing the fall colors before the excursion Saturday. Today I caught the northbound Adirondack with dome at Ticonderoga and the southbound at Port Henry. The Rouses Point depot was falling apart my last time through but someone has spent a lot of money on it and it looks great. Actually, the whole town has seen significant infrastructure improvements and looks great. It is still only a quarter mile from the depot to the waterfront, where the only year-round motel is, a great turnaround spot for people who can't enter Canada.
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