Trip report-MDW-EWR then silver service to and from Florida plus Brightline

[Steve4031]

My Brightline experience is impressive. The customer service is Excellent. I needed help sorting the parking out. An employee spent 20 minutes helping me in west palm beach. I did not have the code for the free parking included in select. She gave it to me and waited patiently while my smart phone decided to be not so smart. I had to turn off and on and not use safari to get the parking website to work.

The lounge is nice but the seats are not comfortable like in club Acela so napping is difficult to impossible. The Ac works well in west palm beach. Not so well I’m Miami. The eating options address millennial preferences and not much else.

The train itself is impressive. Those seats were comfortable and I did inadvertently nap on the way to Miami. The bathrooms are clean and high tech. It will be nice to have equipment like this in the Midwest. I wonder how the technology will work in the harsh MidWest weather conditions.

With all the people working in the stations it is hard to see Brightline making money easily. But they are producing an amazing product. There are non rail fans riding and using the trains. The first timers liked it.

The seat selection through the app is flexible. I changed my seat assignment after boarding the train when I saw that the seat I had selected was not a full window and not on the side I wanted.

 

[jis]

Steve, the Viaggio Comfort cars from which the Brightline cars are derived, appear to have worked fine in Austria in the form of their Railjets, up in the Alps, and in Central Europe in general, for several years now, through their winters. So unless they managed to screw something up badly, they should do fine in the winter here. Fingers crossed though since about these things one can never tell for sure until the proverbial fat lady sings. Recently Ceska Drahi (Czech Railway) ordered a bunch of Viaggio Comfort cars too.

 

[Steve4031]

This morning was a poor effort on my part. Slept in because I stayed up late working on a class assignment that I had procrastinated on. It was poor judgement to sleep until 10. I finished breakfast at 11. At this point things started to go wrong. The Lyft driver did not come to the front door of the hotel because the driver did not want to go through a gate. By the time I figured this out and walked up there the driver had left. Walked back to get a taxi. Made it with 15 minutes to spare.

 

[Steve4031]

Steve, the Viaggio Comfort cars from which the Brightline cars are derived, appear to have worked fine in Austria in the form of their Railjets, up in the Alps, and in Central Europe in general, for several years now, through their winters. So unless they managed to screw something up badly, they should do fine in the winter here. Fingers crossed though since about these things one can never tell for sure until the proverbial fat lady sings. Recently Ceska Drahi (Czech Railway) ordered a bunch of Viaggio Comfort cars too.

I am most concerned with Amtrak’s maintenance practices in Chicago. The enclosed vestibules will be great in the winter. No drafts and drifting snow.

 

[Steve4031]

The Silver Star left Miami on time and has steadily lost time all afternoon. The main culprit was a stop and sit because of high winds and storms. The SCA came and advised the passengers. The Amtrak App also advised me of the delay. A first. Total delay is about 80 minutes.

91 is 3 hours late and probably just departing Tampa. We met 97 as I was typing this post.

 

[pennyk]

A lot, if not most, of Florida is experiencing severe storms this afternoon. My guess is by the time 92 eventually passes through Orlando, the storms will be east of here. Be safe.

 

[Steve4031]

My first meal on the Silver Star. The hot dog was decent. Of course you can’t ruin Doritos and a twixt bar. They do not have the cheese filled pretzel nor the pepperoni and cheese pretzel period. Both discontinued. The buffalo chicken tender may get a try later.

The flexibility of going and leaving when you want is a trade off for the ambience of the diner. I prefer the diner because dinner is usually an event that entails meeting new people and you usually spend 45 minutes to an hour there. I was only in the snack car for 20 minutes. No table mates.

The SCA is pleasant. Earlier when she saw that I had put the seats together to nap she offered to put the bed down. I explained how I’m up and down. But I appreciated the touch.

 

[Rail Freak]

How late does the hot dog stand stay open in Orlando?

 

[Steve4031]

How late does the hot dog stand stay open in Orlando?

I did not know there was one. The train is almost 2 hours late now. So if there was one it would be closed.

 

[Steve4031]

The hot dog was good. But I’m back at it again. Buffalo tenders were ok. Not that many so supplemented by cheese and pepperoni tray.

 

[pennyk]

How late does the hot dog stand stay open in Orlando?

I believe they pack up after the last Meteor comes through (either 97 or 98) depending on timing. I have never seen them at the station when 92 is there.

 

[Steve4031]

I slept well last night. Woke up at 8. We just left Hamlet last night. Still 2 hours late.

 

[Steve4031]

This was breakfast on the Silver Star. I ate two because I just did not want Doritos for breakfast. I’m not hungry. I do miss the pancakes I normally get. But I would take this over the food service on the LSL.

A compromise would be for Amtrak to replace the Amfleet lounge cars with viewliner diners and have the same food service on the Silver Star. Obviated full service diner is best, but if that can’t be done put the viewliners to use.

 

[Steve4031]

92 is running right behind 80. 80 stops in Selma-Smithfield and Wilson. 92 does not. Would be nice if we could overtake 80 between here and Rocky Mount. Not sure what will happen. I’ll keep you posted.

 

[Steve4031]

Ultimately we arrived in Washington at 4:30. We never caught up to 80 as far as I could tell. The dispatcher was kind to both trains and kept us moving along.

The lounge car set up worked in that there was enough food and that it tasted ok. There were no surprises. The crew only as pleasant. The sca post on the Star has to be one of the hardest obs positions on Amtrak imho.

 

[Steve4031]

Today I’m at Union Station ready to catch 2250. I’m in first class. Upgraded using 48 upgrade certificate. The staff in the Washington CA are consistently helpful and polite. Asked for my name rather than waited for me to pull out my ticket.

 

[Dakota 400]

Today I’m at Union Station ready to catch 2250. I’m in first class. Upgraded using 48 upgrade certificate. The staff in the Washington CA are consistently helpful and polite. Asked for my name rather than waited for me to pull out my ticket.

I was impressed with the Amtrak staff at Washington. Both the Club Acela personnel and the Red Caps were pleasant, helpful, and efficient.

 

[Steve4031]

Arrived in New York on time. Pizza Suprema is closed on Easter Sunday. I had lunch at Shake Shack. I also got my lesson plans done so no worries for tomorrow.

Caught the 2:55 NJT to Newark airport. The train was packed. I do not think all the cars were open. I was happy to have a seat.

At the airport I got through security and boarded my Southwest Airlines flight with no problems.

 

[Steve4031]

Landed and collected my bag from checked luggage. The flight was typically full but it was in time. So SOuthwest did it’s job.

 

[jis]

Caught the 2:55 NJT to Newark airport. The train was packed. I do not think all the cars were open. I was happy to have a seat.

Corridor trains are often packed even with all cars open. Though at 2:55pm it is a possibility that all cars were not open since it is supposedly a lighter period.

 

[daybeers]

Thanks for your great report! I hope to go down to DFB in Florida sometime soon to visit a friend and will definitely take Brightline then. How bad are the prices now?