had8ley
Engineer
I honestly have to say that our trip to New York on #20 was one of the best, and at the same time one of the worst Amtrak trips ever. Sounds crazy but here we go. We boarded at Slidell into the 2010 car, Sunset View, Car # 62043.The consist was the usual two mules, bag, three coaches, lounge, diner and two sleepers carrying the markers. We walked into the room to find a filthy and stained carpet, the attendant call button ripped off the wall and the hallway wall had some sort of sticky glue behind the bunk ladder. (I found out the hard way by backing into it.) But.. we had the most superlative car attendant that I can remember. His name was Romadel and he said he had 36 years with Amtrak. I have never met him before this trip and often wonder how we have missed him as we usually travel in the sleepers.
We had diner #8550 and the chef really put out some groceries all the way to NYP. We picked up an extra SA in Birmingham; surprisingly the train was a sell out. Coming into Birmingham was when all the fireworks went off. Our room became unbearably hot which is not unusual for the H rooms. Romadel tried to re-set the compressor to no avail. I offered to take my wife and grand-daughter to the lounge car to cool off. Wrong brake shoe breathe; as soon as I opened the lounge car door the smell of someone's Bourbon Street all night beer blast hit us. There was no one in the car and for good reason. I know of no animal that smells that bad !!! We retreated to the diner where we were curtly informed by the NYP based crew that they were not serving and we could not sit in the diner. Rather than argue (and you never win with a NYP crew) we went back to our room. The next day I walked the coaches and discovered the reason for the sell out status. Kids were going to Washington and New York for spring break.
Dinner was delightful as the sun was going down and our car had started to cool off. I really felt for the diner crew as there were about 150 pax getting on board in Atlanta. After a few night caps we woke up around Greensboro and admired the mountains that we don't have in Louisiana. Funny thing; I headed to the shower early thinking I would have first shot. Well someone had stuffed the biggest suit case I've ever seen into the shower room. I thought I'd be polite and leave it lay. Another major blunder; there's hardly enough room with no extra baggage in the way to get in and out of the shower. It took me at least twice as long to get in and out of the room dressed decently enough to go the length of the car to our room.
We decided to do breakfast in the room and were glad as many of the VA and D.C pax were already seated. Romadel was a prince and saw to our every need. We got off at Washington and watched a very efficient engine swap (are you listening Albany?.) We blasted away at about 110 but were told we could do 125 if we didn't have the diner and the bag. Don't know the validity of that one! We arrived at NYP early and were grateful to be in the Big Apple safe and early to boot. I went to the baggage room to check my infamous folding chair back to Hammond, Louisiana and the blushing beauty behind the counter tells me, "We don'ts have no printed bag tags for there so we don'ts go there." Oh well, another day at Amtrak...
We had diner #8550 and the chef really put out some groceries all the way to NYP. We picked up an extra SA in Birmingham; surprisingly the train was a sell out. Coming into Birmingham was when all the fireworks went off. Our room became unbearably hot which is not unusual for the H rooms. Romadel tried to re-set the compressor to no avail. I offered to take my wife and grand-daughter to the lounge car to cool off. Wrong brake shoe breathe; as soon as I opened the lounge car door the smell of someone's Bourbon Street all night beer blast hit us. There was no one in the car and for good reason. I know of no animal that smells that bad !!! We retreated to the diner where we were curtly informed by the NYP based crew that they were not serving and we could not sit in the diner. Rather than argue (and you never win with a NYP crew) we went back to our room. The next day I walked the coaches and discovered the reason for the sell out status. Kids were going to Washington and New York for spring break.
Dinner was delightful as the sun was going down and our car had started to cool off. I really felt for the diner crew as there were about 150 pax getting on board in Atlanta. After a few night caps we woke up around Greensboro and admired the mountains that we don't have in Louisiana. Funny thing; I headed to the shower early thinking I would have first shot. Well someone had stuffed the biggest suit case I've ever seen into the shower room. I thought I'd be polite and leave it lay. Another major blunder; there's hardly enough room with no extra baggage in the way to get in and out of the shower. It took me at least twice as long to get in and out of the room dressed decently enough to go the length of the car to our room.
We decided to do breakfast in the room and were glad as many of the VA and D.C pax were already seated. Romadel was a prince and saw to our every need. We got off at Washington and watched a very efficient engine swap (are you listening Albany?.) We blasted away at about 110 but were told we could do 125 if we didn't have the diner and the bag. Don't know the validity of that one! We arrived at NYP early and were grateful to be in the Big Apple safe and early to boot. I went to the baggage room to check my infamous folding chair back to Hammond, Louisiana and the blushing beauty behind the counter tells me, "We don'ts have no printed bag tags for there so we don'ts go there." Oh well, another day at Amtrak...
:lol: 
