Traveling with Mom and Dad TE and CONO

[ScottR]

Advice for the TE and CONO early Aug (next month)

I’ve convinced my 80 year old parents to go on their first train ride (I am their first born son at 60 And a true rail fan). They no longer want to fly or drive, so train it is. I’m flying back from Cali to meet them. We are booked leg 1 from hometown station Longview TX to Chicago on the Eagle, as they haven’t been to Chicago and want to go.

Now I know there is no SSL or Diner on this trip, so they will miss the best part of taking the train, but THEY don’t know that. We have two rooms…a bedroom for them, and even though I booked a roomette, I am assigned the family bedroom. My experience is only in a roomette, so for the veterans here

1. neither is going to be able to get to the top bunks, so that will be me up there if required…I’ve slept in the top bunk of a roomette a few times, so I know what I’m in for!
2. can two people really fit into the bottom bunk of a bedroom sleeper…even if they really love each other after 60 years of marriage?
3. If not, I’m thinking the optimal arrangement here is for mom to take the lower bunk of the bedroom/family room and for dad to take the lower bunk of the other, and for me to take the upper bunk of the bedroom since it seems from what I have seen peeking into it on prior trips it is bigger.

any advice?

The second leg, after a night in Chicago at the venerable Palmer House, is the CONO to New Orleans. Here we have a bedroom and a roomette. Again, I think dad in the bottom roomette and mom in the bottom bedroom (or vice versa), and me in the top bedroom bunk gives everyone the most space.

Does the CONO have a diner and a SSL? I know both TE and CONO will be serving flex but would at least like mom and dad to see anSSL and experience a dining car on this their first and probably last train trip. Wish it was on a western train but alas they live in East Texas so the Eagle is it.

We will spend a week in NOLA with the rest of the family and then they will complete the big triangle trip with my brother driving them back to Longview. They haven’t been out of their house in a year and a half and are so looking forward to this. So am I.

I just hope to optimize it and give us the best train experience, so advice is welcome.

 

[Cal]

Two people could squeeze into the bottom bunk in a bedroom, but it'd be quite tight. I think it's best for them to each sleep in the bottom in separate rooms.

CONO has a CCC I believe, and it should have an SSL as well as I don't think they ever lost it due to axle counts.

I hope you have a great trip.

 

[me_little_me]

When we were younger (in the early '80s), we could fit in the bottom bunk. Forty years later, gravity has taken its toll on the both of us and that wouldn't work at all.

The Family room is bigger than a bedroom.

 

[cassie225]

So nice and you are with them, sounds like a great trip.

 

[niemi24s]

You say you've already booked two sleeper rooms and have been assigned a Bedroom and a Family Bedroom?

If so, are you aware the Family Bedroom is on the lower floor and all the Bedrooms (except for the Handicapped/accessible Bedroom) are on the upper floor of a Superliner Sleeper car?

 

[Rasputin]

I don't like to be discouraging but thanks to Amtrak management decisions, the Texas Eagle and the City of New Orleans are about the poorest trains in the system (still not as bad as the Boston section of the Lake Shore.)

It is just too bad that you couldn't work up a better itinerary but I guess it is what it is and you may not have much flexibility. I guess if it was at all possible I suggest considering going to New Orleans or San Antonio and taking the Sunset to Tucson or LA. At least your parents could see what a real train was like.

 

[Sidney]

I don't like to be discouraging but thanks to Amtrak management decisions, the Texas Eagle and the City of New Orleans are about the poorest trains in the system (still not as bad as the Boston section of the Lake Shore.)

It is just too bad that you couldn't work up a better itinerary but I guess it is what it is and you may not have much flexibility. I guess if it was at all possible I suggest considering going to New Orleans or San Antonio and taking the Sunset to Tucson or LA. At least your parents could see what a real train was like.

A shams there is no Sightseer car on the Eagle. I remember my first long distance trip and I was delighted discovering the SSL car over thirty years ago. There was a SSL on the Eagle pre pandemic? Where did it go.? Dumb move if it is retired permanently. It's the only place Coach passengers can go.

 

[ScottR]

I don't like to be discouraging but thanks to Amtrak management decisions, the Texas Eagle and the City of New Orleans are about the poorest trains in the system (still not as bad as the Boston section of the Lake Shore.)

It is just too bad that you couldn't work up a better itinerary but I guess it is what it is and you may not have much flexibility. I guess if it was at all possible I suggest considering going to New Orleans or San Antonio and taking the Sunset to Tucson or LA. At least your parents could see what a real train was like.

Ive been on all three before, and sadly I agree. they are in East Texas so it’s the Eagle either north to Chicago or South to San Antonio, then on to NOLA. I considered the Sunset To NOLA from San Antonio but that is a city they have lived in and are familiar with…Chicago is a place they have never been.

 

[ScottR]

You say you've already booked two sleeper rooms and have been assigned a Bedroom and a Family Bedroom?

If so, are you aware the Family Bedroom is on the lower floor and all the Bedrooms (except for the Handicapped/accessible Bedroom) are on the upper floor of a Superliner Sleeper car?

Yes I am aware of that. In a way I’m glad since as as soon as we get on the train in Longview we can go to the family bedroom, get situated and then slowly make our way to the upstairs bedroom when we get back underway. I’m a little wary of them negotiating those stairs…