The Second Annual Amtrak Unlimited Gathering

[AlanB]

I started my journey to the Amtrak Unlimited Gathering in LA by walking a few blocks from home to the Woodside LIRR station. After catching an inbound LIRR train at 10:52, I arrived in NY’s Penn Station about 11 minutes later. I collected my west bound tickets from a Quik-Trak machine using the new bar-coded confirmation pages from Amtrak.

Next was a quick visit to the Club Acela Lounge for a bathroom break and to learn what track Northeast Regional #125 would be on, as well as which end of the consist would have the business class car. Then upon leaving the CA, a quick visit to the Subway provided a lunch to carry onto the train.

With the rebranding of Regional to Northeast Regional, gone is the Club-Dinette car with its wonderful 2 & 1 faux-leather seating. We’re back to the traditional corridor 2 & 2 BC car.

The consist was:

909 AEM-7

44710 Amfleet I Metroliner coach

82583 Amfleet I Regional coach class

82597 Amfleet I Regional coach class

43365 Amfleet I Full dinette

82646 Amfleet I Regional coach class

82712 Amfleet I Regional coach class

21214 Amfleet I Amcoach

21118 Amfleet I Amcoach - unused.

At Metropark I was joined by Jishnu Mukerji, for the remainder of the ride to DC. Arrival

We then headed for DC’s Club Acela to await the departure of the Capitol Limited to Chicago. In the CA we met up with Mike Pace. Less than 15 minutes after our arrival, they started boarding our train. While walking out we agreed to try for a 6:30 diner seating in the CCC.

Jishnu and Mike were both in the 2900 sleeper, while I was in the 01 sleeper. After checking in with my attendant and then dropping my luggage in the room, I went back out onto the platform to write down the rest of the consist listing. I had managed to grab the engine numbers, as well as the baggage car, Trans/Dorm, and the first sleeper’s numbers as I pulled into WAS on the Regional. But I needed to get the rest of the consist, especially since we were deadheading a bunch of equipment back to Chicago.

In addition to the “normal” consist for the Capitol, we would be towing back some equipment sent down to DC for the 100th anniversary party. The consist for the CL follows:

182 P42 Engine

136 P42 Engine

1734 Baggage

39017 Superliner II Trans Dorm/Sleeper

32052 Superliner I Sleeper (refurbished)

32006 Superliner I Sleeper (refurbished)

37102 Superliner I Diner-Lounge (aka CCC)

33004 Superliner I Sightseer Lounge

31045 Superliner I Coach/Baggage

34027 Superliner I Coach

31032 Superliner I Coach/Baggage

32057 Superliner I Sleeper (refurbished) Deadhead

37000 Superliner I Diner-Lounge – Deadhead

39044 Superliner I Trans Dorm/Sleeper – Deadhead

Despite my making sure to be back onboard with plenty of time to spare, we nonetheless left DC late. We were five minutes late departing at 4:10 PM, thanks to Amtrak’s failure to load the baggage into the baggage car in a timely manor.

Shortly after departing from DC the conductor lifted my ticket, so I headed back one car to talk with Mike. While chatting with Mike, his attendant came by and lifted his ticket, as well as Jishnu’s. Shortly after, Jishnu came by Mike’s room, and since he had a bedroom, we all sat and talked in Mike’s room. We didn’t want to leave the sleeper until the LSA, a very nice man named Lawrence, came by to take our dinner reservations.

Just after Rockville, dinner res now made, the three of us adjourned to the Sightseer Lounge car for its superior viewing of the passing scenery. Our lounge was one that had apparently escaped all attempts at refurbishment, as it still had its original colors and furnishings inside, including chairs that still swivel.

We got into the lounge car just before Point of Rocks. This of course gave us time to view the old canal that parallels the tracks for many miles and set us up for the wonderful views as one pops out of the tunnel, onto the bridge across the river, and into the historic Harpers Ferry station. Next was Martinsburg, where work still continues on restoring the round house and other historic RR buildings. They’ve done a wonderful job too, considering the state of disrepair that had befallen those structures.

We remained in the lounge car despite the falling darkness, until we were called to our 7:00 PM dinner in the CCC. We had hoped for a 6:30 seating, but Lawrence had already given away all the three seater booths prior to reaching us.

The food itself was very good, but as I noted in another post, the CCC is quite simply the wrong car for this train. There isn’t enough seating capacity, especially with those goofy three seat booths with a table that’s too small for three, and the staffing level is simply horrendous. There is no way that this car can properly handle the crowds on this train with only one SA. Had our train been sold out, I’ve no doubt that they’d have been seating people for their included dinners at 11:00 PM.

And again, it wasn’t because the two man crew wasn’t trying. Lawrence and the SA (didn’t catch his name) were simply fabulous. They couldn’t have worked harder or moved any faster, at least not without having caused serious injury to themselves or perhaps a passenger.

Mike had the Chef’s Marketplace Special, crab cakes, while Jishnu and I had the catch of the day, rainbow trout. Everyone agreed that the food quality and selections has improved tremendously with this new menu. Especially when compared to the early days of SDS.

But again, a two man crew on this busy train just doesn’t work. I’m well aware that Amtrak is still trying to comply with that stupid Congressional mandate to cut food service losses, and quite honestly I don’t know what the answer is to make that happen, but I can tell you that the answer isn’t cutting the second SA off the Capitol Limited’s quasi diner.

After dinner, we all adjourned to our private quarters for the evening. I used the time to start writing this and to try and catch up on some internet reading when I could pickup signal.

 

[Steve4031]

Alan,

Enjoyed the trip report. Keep on railroading. You must be in the metropolitan lounge in Chicago right now. Enjoy your ride west today I'll still be at school.

 

[AlanB]

Steve,

No I posted the above from Trindad. Went through Chicago yesterday.

I'll try to get a further update up later tonight, cell phone signals willing.

 

[AlanB]

Thanks to several noisy car mates who somehow couldn’t conceive of the idea that many people might actually enjoy still being asleep at 5:00 AM, I found myself awake an hour and a half earlier than I had planned. Eventually I just gave up and got up at 6:00 AM and got dressed to head down to the dinner for breakfast.

We had decided the night before not to try to coordinate breakfast, but as coincidence would have it, we all ended up in the diner within about 10 to 15 minutes of each other. We were all at different tables, but we probably could have just planned on breakfast under the circumstances.

Most likely because of the early hour, Lawrence and the SA were better able to keep up with the demand. It may have gotten crazier after we left, but at least while I was still there, they were holding their own.

I noted the stop in Toledo while I was just lying in my bed that morning and Waterloo came and went while I was eating. So at that point we were running right on time. Sadly, and typically, it wouldn’t last.

We ran right on time until we were past South Bend. Just under 30 miles from the end of our 764 mile run, NS blew us out of the water. We were held two or three times, and the rest of the time we were moving at very slow speeds. This caused us to use up all of our padding and then some, with a late arrival into Chicago at 9:08 instead of the scheduled 8:40 AM.

Both Jishnu and Mike managed to get off before I did, so the next time I saw them was while checking into the Metropolitan Lounge. Also awaiting our arrival in the lounge was Robert Taburn. This meeting had been planned earlier, since Robert would unfortunately not be able to join us in LA for the gathering.

After dropping our bags off with the redcap manning the luggage room, we found a quiet corner to sit and chat until lunch time. Lunch was of course where else but, Giordano’s. Around 11:30 or so we set off from the lounge on our short walk to Giordano’s.

After lunch, Jishnu and I returned to the lounge to relax and get on the net for a bit, while Mike and Robert decided to see a few sights in town. I understand that they got a nice picture of the Empire Builder departing Chicago. When Jishnu and I got back to the lounge, it was packed. Despite Amtrak’s having nearly doubled the size of that lounge a few years back, there still wasn’t a seat to be had.

Once they called the passengers for the Eagle and the Empire Builder, we were finally able to get seats, even though the lounge was still on the full side. Sadly there is no way for Amtrak to further expand this lounge and I am grateful for the renovations a few years back that did expand things considerably.

About 15 to 20 minutes prior to our being called to line up for the trek out to our train, the Southwest Chief, Robert and Mike returned to the lounge. Robert had a ticket to join us at least as far as Galesburg, whereupon he would catch a train back to Chicago and eventually home so that he could go back to work the following day. Just as they reentered the lounge, we were all called up to the side desk where the conductor was lifting tickets. However, because Robert wasn’t actually booked in a sleeper, he didn’t want to take Robert’s ticket. Oddly enough though, he gave Robert permission to join Mike in his sleeper compartment, even though Robert only held a coach ticket.

So we all trooped out to our train and boarded the 330 car, we had all managed to snag rooms in the same car for this train, Mike in A, Jishnu in #2, and me in #3. Since those of us with sleeper tickets had already handed them over to the conductor, we only had to wait for the LSA to come by and give us a dinner reservation. Thankfully, she did that very quickly after our departure from Chicago, so we were free to head to the Sightseer lounge and relax there while enjoying the sights.

This time we were able to actually get a 6:30 PM reservation, like we had wanted the night before. Robert would be off the train before we ever went to dinner, so this worked out well as we could remain with him in the lounge until he left the train. We talked trains, watched the scenery, watched one girl fidget and put up a fuss with the conductor about the no smoking on board rule and the lack of a smoking stop before Kansas City, and at one point Robert had to chase down one of the conductors to actually surrender his ticket, since it hadn’t yet been collected and Robert wanted his AGR points.

Finally after dancing with some freight trains, one unscheduled stop to let a very late #6 go by, we were approaching Galesburg and it was time to say goodbye to Robert as he headed for one of the coaches to exit the train. Since we were a bit late getting into Galesburg, that left us with only about 20 more minutes to cool our heals, before being called into the dining car.

IIRC, Jishnu had a chicken enchilada which was the Chef’s Marketplace Special, Mike had the Flat Iron steak, and I went with the fish special Mahi-Mahi. Once again we all agreed that the food was quite good, hot, and tasty. This new menu remains in our opinions, a homerun for Amtrak’s food service. The crew here was also quite good and service was prompt.

Once again after dinner, we all headed for our respective rooms to retire for the night. I can’t speak for the others, but I was up until just after we left Kansas City. We left there late, having arrived a bit late, but in large part because we picked up over 100 new passengers in KC. This despite the fact that nobody rides trains.

It did seem to me however that the passengers were sent down a bit late, which didn’t help the matter. We probably still would have been a bit late, but that delay made us even later, pulling out at 11:07 PM instead of our scheduled 10:55. We had arrived at 10:26, so there really should have been enough time to board everyone.

And that closes out another day.

 

[MrFSS]

Well - as you guys were going from Raton down toward ABQ today I was at 35000 feet whizzing by at 500 MPH. I waved but I guess you didn't see me.

I'm in LA awaiting things to start tomorrow. Amtrak.com says you are supposed to be early tomorrow AM. Call me when you get in so we can execute plan A.

Tom

 

[GG-1]

Aloha

Assuming My Daughter goes to work on time, I will depart Fullerton on train 565 for LAUS at 9:17 Am arriving at 9:50. Can't wait.

Tom hope you had a good flight. Good to know we will soon be on trains.

Eric

 

[Rail Freak]

Hey all,

This is pretty cool reading all your reports as you go along. I can detect the excitement/fun as I read!

Enjoy Everyonel!!!!

 

[AlanB]

My second morning on an Amtrak train broke again at O’dark hundred, only this time it was my alarm clocking waking me up at 6:30 AM so as to beat the rush that would occur in the diner later on. I got in there at about 6:45 or so when it wasn’t even a quarter full. By 7:30 however, they were turning people away and telling them to come back later. I’m not quite sure why they weren’t doing a waitlist, but they weren’t.

Richard, the fine waiter we’d all had the night before, was once again my waiter for breakfast. Having had the cheese omelet yesterday morning, I went for the RR French Toast this morning. After breakfast I spent some time working on the net once again, catching up on my reading and other administrative duties.

Shortly after Trinidad, around 10 AM or so, I joined Jishnu in the SSL for the climb up to Raton Pass. With the leaves just starting to change it made for a very pretty display. Sorry, no picture of the tunnel this time guys and gals, but if you’re really curious just find my trip report from two years ago to see what it looks like. :lol:

The attendant from the 31 sleeper, Henry, went above and beyond the call of duty IMHO by grabbing the PA in the lounge car for a while to point out various sights along the way as we climbed up towards Raton pass, as well as some of the history of the pass and the surrounding area. During the summer months there is normally a Trails and Rails ranger to do this, but thankfully on this trip we had Henry.

Henry did a very good job considering that he had no script to read from like the Trail and Rails people. I suppose that it’s just possible that Henry’s heard their gig so many times that he’s now got it memorized, or perhaps he’s just done his homework. I don’t know which it is, but that doesn’t change the fact that it certainly isn’t in Henry’s job description to do this. Again, this was definitely above and beyond the call of duty, but from what I could see enjoyed and appreciated by all.

I don’t know that he wants the job, but Henry certainly gets my vote as someone who should be helping to train new attendants.

After passing through the tunnel, I headed back to my sleeper to take a shower. All nice and clean, I then spent some more time enjoying the sights out my window while writing up part 2 of this report, much like I’m doing now with part 3.

At 12:30, our appointed time, the three of us headed back to the dining car for lunch. This time we had Larry as our waiter. We’d seen him and actually spoken to him at dinner the prior night. He’s worked for Amtrak since it came into existence and it’s quite apparent that he still loves his job. He greets everyone with a smile, pours milk and coffee with a flair, and just generally works to make sure that everyone gets what they want and enjoys the experience of being in the diner.

I decided not to be adventurous and just went with the old standard, the Angus Burger with cheese. Jishnu however tried the special which was Chili Verde, accompanied by a small salad. Mike went with the sandwich of the day, initially advertised to us as ham and swiss, but upon arrival turned out to be chicken and swiss. Nonetheless Mike was happy with his lunch, as was Jishnu and once again the new menu choices impressed everyone.

Las Vegas came and went while we were eating, and just as we were finishing up our ice cream we came to a somewhat abrupt stop in the middle of no where. We hadn’t gone into emergency, but our engineer was certainly stopping the train faster than one would normally do so in an effort to maintain passenger comfort. This stop wouldn’t have thrown anyone to the ground, but if you weren’t holding on to something you probably would have stumbled a bit.

It turned out that we were running alongside a siding at Blanchard that sees occasional use. As we entered the passing zone on the main from the east, the signal at East Blanchard was clear. At the other end of the siding, West Blanchard, the signal was dark. Despite his quick action, the engineer was still unable to stop the train before half the train was through the interlocking.

The switch was set correctly, so thankfully no trouble there. But still it required raising the dispatcher for permission to proceed and that took a few minutes. Even after getting permission, we still had to run slow until we hit the next working signal. This delay put us into Lamy 7 minutes late. As we pulled in I could see Greg Swager (gswager) standing on the platform. He was waiting to board the 31 sleeper.

I couldn’t however find Craig Mashburn (printman2000) and his father in the crowd. Of course I didn’t know whether they were in coach or a sleeper, much less what they looked like, so that did make it a bit harder to spot them.

Just after pulling out of Lamy, I started hearing about the meet with our westbound sister train #4, which was running late. It should have arrived into Lamy before us, but instead would arrive after us. The meet was planned for Waldo, a non-CTC siding so our crew had to get permission to set the switches. The two trains crews also planned to quickly exchange a few things. Our dining car crew needed some more checks for the dining car, and the dining crew from #4 was apparently running low on lettuce and was begging for whatever we could spare.

Shortly after that, while still approaching the meet, it turned out that we had something else to give #4. Apparently one passenger wasn’t paying attention and just assumed that our arriving train at Lamy was #4, the train that they actually wanted to catch. So they were brought up to the dining car to await the exchange. The eastbound made it to Waldo first, so they were actually kind enough to set all the switches for us, leaving our crew to just make the exchange and go on our way without too much of a delay.

Just after the exchange, I walked up to the 31 car to find Greg and say hi, since I hadn’t seen him since the gathering last year. While I was chatting with him, the LSA from the dining car announced that she was about to head to the coaches to take dinner reservations. Jishnu, Mike, and I already had our reservation, having made it during lunch. But Greg didn’t have one, so he and I raced down to the dinner hoping to catch Pauline before she got to the coaches.

She had already left, but sitting in the diner was Greg’s attendant, the aforementioned wonderful Henry. Henry inquired as to what was the matter and we told him. Whereupon he informed us that he had Greg’s reservation already made. Only problem was he had a 6:00 PM reservation. Henry quickly switched it to 7:00 though, so that Greg could join with the rest of us.

After that we headed back to the sleepers and our respective rooms.

I’ll try to finish out the day, sometime tomorrow, but I want to get this part posted while I still have a cell phone signal. Not to mention that we’re running on time, which means an early arrival into LA tomorrow. Ouch! I hate early mornings.

 

[Steve4031]

This was an enjoyable use of professional planning time. :lol: Keep it coming Alan. This is great!!!

 

[Rail Freak]

I'm takin a trip without leaving the farm!!!

 

[had8ley]

I hope everyone has as enjoyable time getting to the Forum as you seem to be. I WILL be at the next one!

 

[Alice]

I hope everyone has as enjoyable time getting to the Forum as you seem to be. I WILL be at the next one!

We are also having a blast now that we are here! Besides the trains, this is a great group of people. Now I have to plan the best way to get east for next year, with enough time for overnight stops in several good places (like Altoona and No. Platte that I knew about before, and Chattanooga that I found out about today).

 

[Rail Freak]

I hope everyone has as enjoyable time getting to the Forum as you seem to be. I WILL be at the next one!

We are also having a blast now that we are here! Besides the trains, this is a great group of people. Now I have to plan the best way to get east for next year, with enough time for overnight stops in several good places (like Altoona and No. Platte that I knew about before, and Chattanooga that I found out about today).

What about Chattanooga? :unsure:

 

[had8ley]

I hope everyone has as enjoyable time getting to the Forum as you seem to be. I WILL be at the next one!

We are also having a blast now that we are here! Besides the trains, this is a great group of people. Now I have to plan the best way to get east for next year, with enough time for overnight stops in several good places (like Altoona and No. Platte that I knew about before, and Chattanooga that I found out about today).

What about Chattanooga? :unsure:

Probably the Tennessee Valley that runs steam, has a tunnel and uses a turntable and a real wye to operate. Quite an operation with specials on some rare mileage trackage, especially in the fall.

 

[rtabern]

Hey Alan... thanks for the "honorable mention" in your report... it was fun having lunch with you in Chicago on Wednesday and riding out to Galesburg. I wish I could have stuck with you and went all the way out to LA... but I don't think Mike would have liked me stowing away in his shower/toilet compartment for 2 days... hahaha. Hopefully you saw me standing there at the end of the platform as #3 rolled off into Iowa. I was treated to a nice parade of freight trains at Galesburg after you left (all the ones we passed between Princeton and Galesburg). I also hope there was atleast some sun for you when you crossed the Mississippi River.

Was the waiter, Richard, an older gentleman? If he's the one I am thinking of... he used to be an attendant on the Pacific Parlour Cars for years, but then decided to be a waiter when they pulled most of the PPC off in 2006. I've run into him a few times on the Southwest Chief when I do my daytrips out to Galesburg. He stood out to me because when I was going on #11 in August 2005, he did an excellent narration for everyone about Vandenburg Air Force Base and its history of railroads and World War II.

Have a great time in LAX.

If you are ever passing through Chicago again, drop me a PM on here and maybe we can get together again. (I am usually off on either Mondays, Tuesdays, or Wednesdays)

Rob

 

[amtrakwolverine]

nice report. time to start plaining for the next gathering. maybe around may has thats when i normally take my trips.

 

[Alice]

I hope everyone has as enjoyable time getting to the Forum as you seem to be. I WILL be at the next one!

We are also having a blast now that we are here! Besides the trains, this is a great group of people. Now I have to plan the best way to get east for next year, with enough time for overnight stops in several good places (like Altoona and No. Platte that I knew about before, and Chattanooga that I found out about today).

What about Chattanooga? :unsure:

Probably the Tennessee Valley that runs steam, has a tunnel and uses a turntable and a real wye to operate. Quite an operation with specials on some rare mileage trackage, especially in the fall.

I have a personal invitation from Bill, who I met at the gathering, to take me up the incline railway (http://ridetheincline.com/). Bill, if you read this, expect me to collect next fall!

 

[J-1 3235]

Richard, the fine waiter we’d all had the night before, was once again my waiter for breakfast.

Bill, Jishnu, and I met up with Richard again on the Sunset heading home. He was actually one of the coach attendants, but he graciously helped out in the diner, too.

Mike