Part III:
Sat 7/31-Mon 8/02 SWC#4 FUL-GBB Roomete#4/Car 0430 Superliner II (Vermont)
Consist of train: 2 engines/bag car/TransDorm/2 Revenue Sleepers/Diner/Sightseer Lounge/3 Coaches. SCA:Fred-very efficient/professional-quite but a very good SCA!
Due to the late arrival and full train all the early dinner reservations were taken, Fred had gotten us a 9:30PM, only one available! Car in good shape,clean,everything works! We get established, roll out through the surburban/industrial sprawl that is LA as it grows dark! When the diner call comes we make our way to the full diner, the LSA, Moses, welcomes us and sits us with an Australian couple touring the US vis train, I always find Aussies interesting and so a good conversation was conducted as we rolled through the night enjoying a nice steak cooked just right! Only desert was ice cream (HD Vanilla or Chocolate),the early diners ate all the rest! The servers were very efficient, helped each other out, Amtrak will certainly get a kudoo from me on this diner!After diner, which continued service until 1100PM according to the OBS,we visited awhile in the Lounge with the Aussie couple, then said goodnight and headed back to our room for showers and a good nights sleep as we rolled across the desert on a cloudy,dark night!We had flipped for the coffin bunk @ the start so it was my turn up top! Wokeup during the Flagstaff,Az stop, we were 1 hours down! Sun rising through clouds revealing a very wet and green outside, never have i seen it this green and wet in the desert, this would last all the way to Albuequrque!
Found there was flooding all over AZ and NM and more rain on the way!
Had a great breakfast in the diner, chilled out with coffee and juice and the Sunday paper in the lounge as we rolled through Winslow (didn't see the Eagles!) :lol: ,Gallup and into Albuequrque only 15 minutes down, fast running across a green and flooded desert!Not many Indian vendors on the platform as a previous trip report mentioned, bought some Diet Cokes in the Station (when does the damn Pepsi contract run out Joe? :help: ),walked around in the cool air (for August in the desert) loaded up and rolled out on time! Forgot to mention we had a large contingent of Boy Scouts filling up two coaches and hanging out in the Lounge on the way to Philmont in Raton.Talked with several of their leaders, most were city boys going to their first camping/hiking adventure, will stay 2 weeks, then go home on the Chief!Had lunch as we rolled up the line to Lamy/Las Vegas and heading for Raton. Interesting to see the old rail car that has become a diner and the one that a family evidently lives in on the other side of the station there! Upon reaching Raton,where it became green again and all the streams running, the Boy Scouts got off, busses were waiting, and a group heading for KCY and CHI got on!Great news, the toilets worked fine, no failures on this trip!
Through Raton tunnel, into Colorado and on up the line into Trinidad and a brief air/smoke stop in LaJunta.After leaving La Junta we had dinner (Salmon for me/Buffalo meatloaf for Stacy,I had it last year on the EB,spicey but good!),then a couple of nightcaps in the lounge and off to bed to hopefully sleep through the rough tracks that make up Western Kansas! Sleep well for awhile (my turn on the bottom)until the absolute roughest tracks Ive ever experienced woke me up! Seems like it lasted until we pulled into Dodge City,KS (couldnt see Boothill, it was too dark!)thenb slept until we entered the yards in KCY, stopped for fuel, a quick shower, then into the Beautiful Union Station which unfortunately cant bee seen from the platform,watched the morning River Runner roll out for STL,then out of KCY through the Industrial yards through Mo. (first time in La Plata, saw the famous train lookout from trainweb fame)across the really flooded and very wide Mississippi into Iowa and on into Illinois as we rolled through the wet corn and soybean fields, very green and wet!Rolled into Galesburg right on time, unloaded, tipped Fred and went into the station to await the Thruway Van for SPI, a 2 hour layover! We went and ate (no checkeluggage but the agent let us put our stuff behind the counter)on Seminary Street in a nice little cafe, arrived back in time to see #6 roll in 2 hours down, quickly unload and highball out to CHI! At 2:30PM the Van rolled in, a 10 passenger again, there are now 10 people plus luggage waiting to catch this shuttle to SPI, Amtraks gonna hear about this, we are jammed in like sardines for the 2 1/2 hour trip, the driver told us that the Big 15 pax Van is "in the shop"! Very uncomfortable ride through Peoria and the Corn fields, pull into SPI Station on time, unload and find out that the TE#21 will be 1 hour late due to freight congestion North of here! Large crowd in the station, A Lincoln train heading North to Chicago loads, only about 15 of us left for the Eagle.
Mon 8/02-Tue 8/03 TE#21 SPI-AUS Room#4/Car2120 SuperlinerI(rehabbed! :wub: )
Finally it chugs in 1 hour/15 down, we make the loooong walk to the front of the train, greeted by our SCA Tony, put our bags in the downstairs rack, up to room#4 of the revenue sleepr, a full train with the following consist: 1 engine,TransDorm,Revenue Sleeper, a remodeled Superliner I, best Ive seen on the Eagle!CCC,Sightseer Lounge, 4 coaches, the STL Coach,321 will be cut out in STL. Tony had us a 6;30PM diner res so to the diner,I had the Veggie Pasta,Stacy the Salmon!
Rolled into St. Louis only 30 minutes down as it grew dark,pretty sight across the River and the cardinals are playing in the new Stadium! Cant wait to come back in Oct. for the gathering!Dwell time of 45 minutes, load up and roll out into the night! My turn up top again, we hit the sack early, sleep all the way to Texarkana which is unusual for me, must be tired!
A shower, breakfast as the sun comes up in the piney woods of East Texas, then hanging out in the lounge car reading the paper as we roll towards the metroPlex, take an air break in Longview, busses and vans pick up the Houston and Shrevport pax, then roll on to Mineola and into Dallas on time! Step off into a blowtorch HOT day (lots to be said for California cool! ), head on out on time for FTW where we back in, spend a good hour, the guy who sells hotdogs and cokes is not outside the station, must be too hot or Subway doesnt want the competition!See the Heartland Flyer with its Bio-Diesel engine on the siding, we roll out as the conductor tells us that #22,the NB TE is running two hours down!Having a late lunch, Angus burgers and tea with vanilla HD, will skip the early supper @ 4PM which I still find ridiculous! :angry: #22 rolls by as we are in Cleburne,on down the line to McGregor (passed Crawford, they say George II is @ the Ranch),as supper is announced, then into Temple for a quick stop, on to Taylor for another brief stop and high ball through RoundRock, down an almost deserted MOPAC (must be too HOT! to be out! :lol: )and into the Austin Station right on time! Unload, grab a cab and head home, a Grand trip over too quickly, time to dream and plan the next one, something so called "normal people" can never understand! A wonderful trip, 40,500 AGR points with rebates=What a Deal! Beautiful memories= PRICELESS!! :wub: :excl:
Sat 7/31-Mon 8/02 SWC#4 FUL-GBB Roomete#4/Car 0430 Superliner II (Vermont)
Consist of train: 2 engines/bag car/TransDorm/2 Revenue Sleepers/Diner/Sightseer Lounge/3 Coaches. SCA:Fred-very efficient/professional-quite but a very good SCA!
Due to the late arrival and full train all the early dinner reservations were taken, Fred had gotten us a 9:30PM, only one available! Car in good shape,clean,everything works! We get established, roll out through the surburban/industrial sprawl that is LA as it grows dark! When the diner call comes we make our way to the full diner, the LSA, Moses, welcomes us and sits us with an Australian couple touring the US vis train, I always find Aussies interesting and so a good conversation was conducted as we rolled through the night enjoying a nice steak cooked just right! Only desert was ice cream (HD Vanilla or Chocolate),the early diners ate all the rest! The servers were very efficient, helped each other out, Amtrak will certainly get a kudoo from me on this diner!After diner, which continued service until 1100PM according to the OBS,we visited awhile in the Lounge with the Aussie couple, then said goodnight and headed back to our room for showers and a good nights sleep as we rolled across the desert on a cloudy,dark night!We had flipped for the coffin bunk @ the start so it was my turn up top! Wokeup during the Flagstaff,Az stop, we were 1 hours down! Sun rising through clouds revealing a very wet and green outside, never have i seen it this green and wet in the desert, this would last all the way to Albuequrque!
Found there was flooding all over AZ and NM and more rain on the way!Had a great breakfast in the diner, chilled out with coffee and juice and the Sunday paper in the lounge as we rolled through Winslow (didn't see the Eagles!) :lol: ,Gallup and into Albuequrque only 15 minutes down, fast running across a green and flooded desert!Not many Indian vendors on the platform as a previous trip report mentioned, bought some Diet Cokes in the Station (when does the damn Pepsi contract run out Joe? :help: ),walked around in the cool air (for August in the desert) loaded up and rolled out on time! Forgot to mention we had a large contingent of Boy Scouts filling up two coaches and hanging out in the Lounge on the way to Philmont in Raton.Talked with several of their leaders, most were city boys going to their first camping/hiking adventure, will stay 2 weeks, then go home on the Chief!Had lunch as we rolled up the line to Lamy/Las Vegas and heading for Raton. Interesting to see the old rail car that has become a diner and the one that a family evidently lives in on the other side of the station there! Upon reaching Raton,where it became green again and all the streams running, the Boy Scouts got off, busses were waiting, and a group heading for KCY and CHI got on!Great news, the toilets worked fine, no failures on this trip!
Through Raton tunnel, into Colorado and on up the line into Trinidad and a brief air/smoke stop in LaJunta.After leaving La Junta we had dinner (Salmon for me/Buffalo meatloaf for Stacy,I had it last year on the EB,spicey but good!),then a couple of nightcaps in the lounge and off to bed to hopefully sleep through the rough tracks that make up Western Kansas! Sleep well for awhile (my turn on the bottom)until the absolute roughest tracks Ive ever experienced woke me up! Seems like it lasted until we pulled into Dodge City,KS (couldnt see Boothill, it was too dark!)thenb slept until we entered the yards in KCY, stopped for fuel, a quick shower, then into the Beautiful Union Station which unfortunately cant bee seen from the platform,watched the morning River Runner roll out for STL,then out of KCY through the Industrial yards through Mo. (first time in La Plata, saw the famous train lookout from trainweb fame)across the really flooded and very wide Mississippi into Iowa and on into Illinois as we rolled through the wet corn and soybean fields, very green and wet!Rolled into Galesburg right on time, unloaded, tipped Fred and went into the station to await the Thruway Van for SPI, a 2 hour layover! We went and ate (no checkeluggage but the agent let us put our stuff behind the counter)on Seminary Street in a nice little cafe, arrived back in time to see #6 roll in 2 hours down, quickly unload and highball out to CHI! At 2:30PM the Van rolled in, a 10 passenger again, there are now 10 people plus luggage waiting to catch this shuttle to SPI, Amtraks gonna hear about this, we are jammed in like sardines for the 2 1/2 hour trip, the driver told us that the Big 15 pax Van is "in the shop"! Very uncomfortable ride through Peoria and the Corn fields, pull into SPI Station on time, unload and find out that the TE#21 will be 1 hour late due to freight congestion North of here! Large crowd in the station, A Lincoln train heading North to Chicago loads, only about 15 of us left for the Eagle.
Mon 8/02-Tue 8/03 TE#21 SPI-AUS Room#4/Car2120 SuperlinerI(rehabbed! :wub: )
Finally it chugs in 1 hour/15 down, we make the loooong walk to the front of the train, greeted by our SCA Tony, put our bags in the downstairs rack, up to room#4 of the revenue sleepr, a full train with the following consist: 1 engine,TransDorm,Revenue Sleeper, a remodeled Superliner I, best Ive seen on the Eagle!
CCC,Sightseer Lounge, 4 coaches, the STL Coach,321 will be cut out in STL. Tony had us a 6;30PM diner res so to the diner,I had the Veggie Pasta,Stacy the Salmon!Rolled into St. Louis only 30 minutes down as it grew dark,pretty sight across the River and the cardinals are playing in the new Stadium! Cant wait to come back in Oct. for the gathering!Dwell time of 45 minutes, load up and roll out into the night! My turn up top again, we hit the sack early, sleep all the way to Texarkana which is unusual for me, must be tired!
A shower, breakfast as the sun comes up in the piney woods of East Texas, then hanging out in the lounge car reading the paper as we roll towards the metroPlex, take an air break in Longview, busses and vans pick up the Houston and Shrevport pax, then roll on to Mineola and into Dallas on time! Step off into a blowtorch HOT day (lots to be said for California cool!
), head on out on time for FTW where we back in, spend a good hour, the guy who sells hotdogs and cokes is not outside the station, must be too hot or Subway doesnt want the competition!See the Heartland Flyer with its Bio-Diesel engine on the siding, we roll out as the conductor tells us that #22,the NB TE is running two hours down!Having a late lunch, Angus burgers and tea with vanilla HD, will skip the early supper @ 4PM which I still find ridiculous! :angry: #22 rolls by as we are in Cleburne,on down the line to McGregor (passed Crawford, they say George II is @ the Ranch),as supper is announced, then into Temple for a quick stop, on to Taylor for another brief stop and high ball through RoundRock, down an almost deserted MOPAC (must be too HOT! to be out! :lol: )and into the Austin Station right on time! Unload, grab a cab and head home, a Grand trip over too quickly, time to dream and plan the next one, something so called "normal people" can never understand! A wonderful trip, 40,500 AGR points with rebates=What a Deal! Beautiful memories= PRICELESS!! :wub: :excl:
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