Where in the US is AlanB

[AlanB]

Next we go by Grass Lake. Basically everything that you see across the road up to the far tree line, is part of the lake. However, thanks to the grass growing in the lake, it's hard to actually see all the water in the lake.

An interesting rock formation.

A small stream rushes by.

The snow capped peak to the right is Mt. Scott, which was formed after the eruption of Mt. Mazama.

The snow cap just to the left of Mt. Scott in the above photo is what's left of Mt. Mazama. On the other side of that snow cap, is one of our nation's most famous National Parks, Crater Lake. The lake was also formed as a result of Mt. Mazama basically blowing its top off.

This is Upper Klamath Lake, one of the largest freshwater lakes, west of the Rockies.

 

[gswager]

The picture that shows 180 degrees slope after the coast is located just north of San Luis Obispo. This cropland is part of Cal Poly which I've attended.

The huge tree with wide trunk is an oak tree.

 

[Anthony]

Didn't know your uncle was a railfan :lol:

 

[Bill Haithcoat]

Neat report! Neat shots!! Neat neat Neat

What a great way to begin a Monday morning, find all this.

Thanks a lot.

 

[AlanB]

Well sadly I didn’t get a chance to update everyone from Portland, since thanks to UP, we were late into Portland. So by the time I caught up on my moderating duties, emails, and such, it was time for bed.

Where UP really killed us, and it was totally unnecessary was during our decent down from the mountains into Eugene. The first time that UP cost us time was at a meet with a freight train. Now I do understand that that is their business, but here’s the problem. The freight was too long for the siding, so it remained on the main and we pulled into the siding. Almost as soon as we had cleared the switch behind us, the freight started moving forward so as to clear the switch ahead of us and back onto the main.

All of this worked perfectly and was well choreographed. The problem was that after the freight cleared the switch, the UP dispatcher didn’t seem inclined to bother lining the switch and setting up the signal for us. So for close to 20 minutes after the freight had cleared the switch, we sat there for no reason. The engineer tried to wake up the UP dispatcher both by cell phone and by radio, but nothing seemed to work.

Finally as I mentioned above, 20 minutes later without a word from the dispatcher the signal suddenly cleared and we were able to proceed. Our second run in with I assume the same dispatcher, occurred a few more miles away still going down the mountain. This time we just sat at a red signal, with nary a freight train in sight. Again it took repeated phone calls and radio calls, before the signal mysteriously cleared itself about 10 minutes later, without any answer or reason from the dispatcher. :angry:

We had a few other slowdowns for meets after that, but thankfully no more stops either for meets or for mysteriously red lights. Even so, we had no hope of regaining any of our lost time. This of course meant that where they could, the conductors were trying to hurry up whenever possible at the reaming station stops. Consequently, despite two warnings prior to reaching Eugene not to stray far from the train (it’s a smoking stop), not 5 minutes after we left Eugene the station master was on the radio telling our conductor that we’d left someone behind. They made arrangements to collect the unfortunate’s things and turn them in at Seattle, his ultimate destination.

I have no idea what arrangements, if any were made to get this individual to Seattle though. After all we were too late into Eugene for him to have caught the last Thruway connection to Portland. So I’m guessing he spent the night in Eugene or had to rent a car on his own. We finally made it to Portland 4 hours and 8 minutes off the advertised, at 7:48 PM. In checking with Amtrak, I learned that the train finally made it to Seattle at 12:12 AM, three hours and 42 minutes late.

I’m so glad that I had elected not to go all the way to Seattle, as I would not have wanted to go looking for my hotel at that hour. As it was, we walked the 15 blocks or so to our hotel and were fast asleep by 11:00 PM, after I did some online work.

 

[AlanB]

Having run ourselves ragged with early morning risings for the last three days, we slept in a bit Sunday morning. Consequently I never got to ride the lightrail in Portland, since we were too late on Saturday night to go riding like I had planned. Oh well, it gives me an excuse to return sometime in the future.

After catching breakfast in the hotel, we walked back to the train station. I did get to see a lightrail train go by as we were walking, but that is as close as I got to one. After checking in to get our seat assignments, with no ID check here (once again no consistency in Amtrak policy on this matter), we sat down to wait for boarding, which was to start in about 10 minutes.

Silly me however, I forgot all about the Metropolitan Lounge until we started walking out. Had I remembered it, we could have used the lounge to relax in for a bit. Again, there’s always next time. Business Class of course boards first, before coach, so we were sent out through one set of doors, while the coach passengers waited in a rather long line at yet another door.

I’ve never quite understood the logic of standing in line for 30 minutes to be the first to board the train, when you already have an assigned seat. :huh:

In any event, we left PDX right on time at 12:30 PM. This was the one train that had bothered me during the booking process, since it only gives a 45 minute window to connect with the Empire Builder out of Seattle. You might ask, “Why didn’t I take train #500 earlier that morning?” I wanted to and in fact requested that train during the booking process. However, I was told that Amtrak considers train #506 to be the connecting train. So if I wanted the earlier train, I would either have to pay for it with more points or buy the tickets separately from my main reservation with AGR.

So I choose to take 506. You may also ask, “Why didn’t I just take the EB straight out of PDX?” Yet another fair question. Answer, because the sleeper was sold out and because it gave me an excuse to ride my first Talgo train ever.

I had been reassured by someone on the Coast Starlight that I’d be ok with this connection, and of course it is Amtrak’s guaranteed connection. But that didn’t help my heart as we got later and later at each subsequent station. At Kelso, I saw both the conductor and the engineer walk towards the rear of the train. Never did find out why or hear anything on my scanner about that, but it delayed us at least 5 minutes there.

We lost still more time in a meet with the southbound Coast Starlight. Once again at Olympia the engineer walked towards the rear of the train. I couldn’t tell how far, since we were in the first car, but it’s never a good thing when your engineer isn’t in the cab. Then for the coup-de-tat, bridge #14 had opened for a boat and had trouble closing. This cost us another 12 minutes, before the bridge tender locked things by hand and issued the necessary paperwork for both us and southbound sister train #507 to pass the red signals and cross the bridge.

While we were waiting for the bridge, the engineer took a call from Seattle asking that the conductor encourage anyone on our train heading for Edmonds to detrain and ride the EB to Edwards, as they had oversold the train out of Seattle. The oversell was due to the Mariners game that was expected to end prior to the departure of northbound Cascades train #516. This of course started to reassure me that we would make the connection, but I wasn’t 100% certain about what I had heard on the radio.

So when one of the conductors came through to tell those detraining in Tacoma that their stop was coming up, I took the opportunity to mention to him our little dilemma. He assured me that we would make it in time and if not, that they would hold the EB for connecting passengers. He also told me that the EB would be on the other side of the platform that we would arrive on, making it a simple cross platform transfer. By the time we reached Tacoma we were 41 minutes late.

Our conductor did indeed make an announcement about the oversold #516 prior to our arrival; however she misunderstood the message and encouraged all people traveling to Everett to switch over to the EB. As an after thought, she also encouraged those traveling to Edmonds to do the same. The later was what she was supposed to have encouraged, not the former.

We finally did arrive in Seattle, with just minutes to spare at 4:36, 36 minutes late on a window of 45 minutes. We detrained and quickly crossed the platform, walked about two cars forward to reach our sleeper and boarded it. As it was, the EB would still leave 2 minutes late because of the late running Talgo, but that’s another chapter. :lol:

 

[AlanB]

Sorry that updates have taken so long, but I've not been as fortunate with getting cell phone signals on the EB as I was on the SW Chief. The last two installments were written a while back, but I only managed to get them posted at Minneapolis.

Hopefully I can get caught up in CUS later today and get some more pictures up.

 

[AlanB]

As I mentioned in our last episode, thanks to the late arrival of Cascades #506 and several connecting passengers, train #8 the eastbound Empire Builder left 2 minutes late at 4:47 PM. For this leg, as well as our next, we’re back in a roomette. Our home this time would room #14 on the lower level of the 30 car. This would be the only leg where we didn’t have to walk through another sleeper to reach the dining car.

Our ride up the shoreline was largely uneventful, although I did manage to catch yet another glimpse of a Sounder train; my first had come just a bit earlier when we had waited on one for a few minutes just out of the Tukwila station. Of course technically, my first real sighting of a Sounder train came a few years ago when I saw one and later rode on one being leased by VRE. :lol:

Shortly after making our stop in Edmonds, we made a right hand turn starting our eastbound journey and headed into a tunnel taking us off the shoreline. Shortly on the heals of that, was the Everett station, which is where I saw the Sounder sitting on the adjacent track.

After Everett the first few miles seemed rather flat, but then we started our long climb up into the mountains to reach Steven’s Pass in the Cascade Mountains. To save climbing all the way up to the top of the pass, we pass through the 7.79 Cascade Tunnel, which according to the onboard guide is the longest tunnel in the US. It was completed in 1929 and sits 4,061 feet above sea level.

Had we gone through Steven’s Pass proper, we would have needed to climb yet another 500 feet higher. The tunnel eliminated the need to climb those extra feet. The train also follows the Skykomish River for much of the 65 miles from Everett to the top of the mountains. Hopefully time will permit my posting some photos from the Metropolitan Lounge in Chicago later today.

We took dinner at the 6:30 seating and for the first time on our trip, tried the old style of dining car food and service. The service was just fine and with one exception, all in the dining car were very nice, polite, and pleasant. One waitress, while always polite to the patrons in the car, seemed a bit gruff when she was in the service area. At time she even was telling the LSA what to do. I’m not quite sure why he didn’t tell her to stop it, since he seemed perfectly capable of doing his job and running the crew.

Perhaps he just felt that it was easier to not fight with her. She wasn’t unpleasant like I said and was very efficient; I just got the impression that she was a know-it-all who thought that she should be in charge. We were only served by her once. Most of the time we were served by Clasina (I hope that I spelled that correctly), whom I thought was doing a very nice job considering that she had just rotated back to dining car service from sleeper service and she was on her 8th day of work in a row.

Jason the LSA/dining car steward quickly came to know his regulars and was always wonderfully polite and pleasant. He kept all passengers informed of dining car hours, when there was a waiting list, calling those on the list to the diner, and generally keeping the show running smoothly.

I probably should have tried the Salmon shank that they had as a special the first night out as a comparison, but instead I opted for the turkey medallions. They were a bit dry, but otherwise ok. Everything else was just perfect on the plate. My mom opted for the steak and was quite pleased with her choice. We both had ice cream for desert. By the way, I forgot to mention that the Coast Starlight also had ice cream. Both only had vanilla, which was fine by me as I’m not a chocolate fan.

Shortly after dinner we reached Wenatchee, just as the sun was setting. We then continued on through the night to our next stop at Ephrata. Shortly after Ephrata, we turned in for the night. I did wake up for our stop at Spokane, but didn’t get up to look out or note the times.

 

[AlanB]

Ok, time for a few more pictures while my feet are on terra-firma.

One of 22 tunnels that the CS runs through on its decent out of the mountains prior to arriving in Eugene. We had just exited the tunnel when I snapped this.

The mountains around us as we decend on the CS.

Our train turns onto a bridge to cross the Willamette River and head into the Portland station. This is a very unique bridge as it is a bi-level bridge. Amtrak and freight trains use the lower level, while cars and Tri-Met's Max light rail trains use the upper level. Making things even more unique, is the fact that the lower level can be raised for small boats, without opening the upper level. Larger boats of course require that both levels be raised.

A gentlemen with whom we had lunch with, told me that UP has been trying to sell this bridge to the city of Portland. They've gone as low as one dollar trying to unload the bridge, but the city won't take the offer.

The track side of Portland's station.

The street side of Portland station.

For a short period of time, the Talgo's run right in the median of an interstate highway as they run north to Seattle.

 

[AlanB]

Our late arriving Talgo, parked next to the Empire Builder.

The head end of our Talgo, parked in Seattle next to yet another Talgo trainset.

A southbound Sounder sits at Everett.

As we approach the Cascades for our climb, a farmer plows his field.

The Skykomish River largely parallels our route up into the mountains.

As night falls the EB pauses at Wentchee.

 

[AlanB]

We cross the Wenatchee River, just as the last of the light fades from the sky.

I believe that these are called the Ribbon Falls, but I'm not 100% sure. If anyone knows better, please correct me. They are located in the Rockies.

Some snow capped peaks in the Rockies.

The red boxes are a BNSF freight that we are passing during our climb into the Rockies.

Here's us actually passing the freight train.

The rear of the freight has two helper's tacked on and has just emerged from a snow shed. Sorry about the reflection of people inside the Sightseer Lounge.

One final shot of the freight train that we passed, framed by a very tall mountain.

The monument that marks the Continental Divide. This is the point where all streams and rivers flow in opposite directions.

 

[AlanB]

Just an odd rock formation that I saw.

Track equipment was just being started up at East Glacier, waiting on us to leave, so that they could get out and start working.

We've reached the plains, where they plant the fields in sections. This is done in part because of the lack of rain (they average about 10 to 15 inches a year), and in part to prevent overuse of the soil and plant disease.

I forgot to write down where I saw this exhibit, although I think it was at Havre.

Another interesting rock formation.

 

[AlanB]

Morning broke with us approaching Whitefish, Montana. We got dressed and headed for the dining car, only to discover that he was full. Mind you the diner wasn’t actually at capacity as there were empty tables, but I guess that he felt too many had been seated at one time and it was overwhelming the kitchen. So we left our name with name on the list with Jason and returned to our car for a few minutes.

Less than 10 minutes later, Jason was calling our name and we returned to the diner. I of course had my usual, RR French Toast. Other than the fact that the bread used seemed thinner, I could detect no difference from the French Toast on the SDS trains and the turkey sausage was equally good on both.

We called at Whitefish, slightly late, but nothing serious. We also picked up a Rails and Trails guide there. So right after breakfast, we went into the lounge car to listen to his guided tour. Much like the guides on the SW Chief, it was interesting to have him pointing out things that we might otherwise have missed, and to hear his take on certain things.

He was quite surprised that come Essex, the only flag stop on the EB’s route, we did not stop. There was no one onboard who wished to detrain there, no one on the manifest wishing to get on, and no one in sight to the engineer. The guide mentioned that in 17 trips so far this year that he had made on the EB, this was the first time that he blew by that stop.

It’s a beautiful trip through Glacier National park, especially with the guide pointing out things. For example the continental divide and its monument marking the spot, how the streams and river flow in different directions from that point, the Izaak Walton Inn in Essex where guests stand out on the front porch to wave at the passing passenger trains (he even encouraged us to wave back), to goats on a hillside. And through it all is the simple majesty of the mountains.

Lunch saw me eating the Angus burger and I couldn’t tell the difference between the SDS version of the burger and the old/EB way of doing things. My mom had the Quiche Lorraine, something that she also had on the SW Chief. She too couldn’t find any difference between the SDS version and the EB version. We finished things with more Amtrak ice cream.

Since we had hit the great plains east of the mountains, before we had went to lunch, we headed back to our room. I managed to get some more on my report written, even though I was unable to post much of it. Just past Malta a freight train that we passed radioed us to tell us that the ditch light on the conductor’s side was not working. This would get fixed at Minot.

Just around 3:00 PM or so I went back up to the dining car to take in the wine and cheese tasting. This one was a bit more elegant than the two I participated in, when we were back on the Coast Starlight.

The Coast Starlight used plastic glasses for the wine (this despite the fact that they used real wine glasses for dinner), and poured both the reds and the whites into the same glass as we went along. For those who may not know, putting a red in the same glass (even an empty one) as a white is a big no-no. I personally wasn’t upset, since I considered the fact that we were indeed on a moving train. Also we had to go and get our own cheese and crackers.

On the EB, they used real wine glasses at the wine tasting, and they gave us two glasses one for the whites and one for the reds. They also already had a plate of cheese and crackers on every table, so one did not have to serve your self. What I did find odd is that they made no mention, at least that I heard, of our being able to buy a bottle if we liked it. On the Coast Starlight, mention was made more than once that you could buy the wines, and many people did, myself included.

None of the above is intended as a complaint, as I think that it is nice of Amtrak to do something like this, I’m simply making the comparison for others to learn from. Frankly I’d love to see this idea expanded to some of the other trains, as it provides a nice afternoon interlude. By the way, the EB served only wines from Washington State, while the CS served wines from California.

For dinner we took a 7:00 PM reservation, since there was no 6:30 tonight. I decided that pasta seemed like the right thing for tonight, so I had the tri-color tortellini. This was quite good IMHO. Mom tried the turkey medallions and had the same comment that I had, they were a bit dry. I went back to my favorite desert, cheese cake with strawberry topping.

Returning to our room after dinner, we watched the sun set from our windows, while I continued typing reports and my mom read her book. As a general rule, we were never more than 15 to 20 minutes behind schedule at any point during the day. Shortly after Rugby came and went, we decided that it was time for bed.

We hadn’t seen Tom (our attendant) since he had checked in with us about an hour before, and I for one don’t like the call bells, I just feel that they are too impersonal. So I decided that I’d head to the bathroom, take care of business and brush my teeth. Upon my arrival, I noticed that the last person had not bothered to flush, or at least that’s what I thought initially.

However, I quickly realized that it probably was not the last person’s fault, since pushing the button only released a small amount of water. It did not however, invoke the vacuum system to suck out the water and waste. I quickly brushed my teeth anyhow just to get that done and then dropped my stuff in our room and went in search of Tom since I knew that this could quickly become a big problem.

When Tom saw me coming he immediately assumed that we were ready for bed. I confirmed that, but also gave him the bad news about bathroom #2. So we returned to the lower level of our car, whereupon he tried what I had tried, with the same dismal results. Tom then proceeded to open the circuit breaker panel and reset the breaker for the vacuum system hoping that would help. Another quick test by me quickly proved that it did not.

At that moment someone in bathroom #1 proceed to successfully flush his toilet, so there was some consolation there that at least it wasn’t the entire vacuum system that was down. But it didn’t help the problem in bathroom #2. It was at that point that Tom mentioned that room #3, the one on the same side as the shower was also out of commission. Apparently that room had failed almost immediately after our departure from Seattle. I had just never noticed that it was locked.

Reluctantly Tom did the only other thing he could do, lock room #2 and hope that whatever the problem was, would not spread to the two remaining toilets that were working room #1 and the upstairs bathroom, which I believe is room #4.

Tom then proceeded to quickly make up our beds for us, thanked me for alerting him to the problem, along with the bit of help that I provided. Mom and I then got ready for bed and drifted off to sleep, even as I noted that we appeared to be running on stick rail, not welded rail.

 

[tp49]

Alan, I was thinking that maybe a couple of the pictures you identified as Salinas station might be San Jose as they look an awful lot like Diridon Station. I could be wrong since I've never been to Salinas though.

You were within 6 blocks of my place when you came through Sacramento, although from the report you were probbaly asleep and late. If you ever swing through town let me know and I'll take you to the California State Railroad Museum.

 

[Trogdor]

Alan, I was thinking that maybe a couple of the pictures you identified as Salinas station might be San Jose as they look an awful lot like Diridon Station. I could be wrong since I've never been to Salinas though.

Funny you mention that. I thought I remmebered that large tree being in Santa Barbara. However, I'll admit that it's been a couple of years since I've been out that way.

 

[GG-1]

Aloha Alan

The Display is at the Haver Station just pased the end of the building

behind the tree.

 

[AlanB]

Morning broke for us sometime after we had passed through St. Cloud, MN. I don’t think that I actually work up for it, but we were up probably within a half an hour of passing through St. Cloud. So we headed off for our final Superliner breakfast, where once again I had my favorite RR French Toast. For some reason, this time around it was a bit tough to cut through, but otherwise still enjoyable.

We arrived into the Twin Cities, Minneapolis – St. Paul early, while we were just finishing up breakfast. The early arrival allowed me to get a few minutes outside, after leaving the dining car, so that I was able to collect the number of the 808 car that gets added here. I was also able to take some pictures of some old rail equipment sitting at the station.

I made the poorly timed choice of taking a shower shortly before La Crosse, WI. and therefore missed our crossing of the Mississippi, although I did hear the bridge as we went over it. :lol:

A little while later, just after 12:00 PM, I headed up to put our name on the waiting list for lunch, but got lucky and snagged the final two seats left in the diner, despite Jason having just announced that he had started the waiting list. So I quickly ran back to the sleeper to get my mom, and off we went for our final lunch in a Superliner Diner. We both had the ham and Swiss cheese sandwich. It was nothing special to write home about, but it was also nothing terrible. But it did provide me a break from the Angus Burger, which I suspected would be my final Amtrak meal tomorrow.

Columbus came and went, but required a triple spot with its short platform vs. our long consist. I also noticed someone coming out of bathroom #2, which greatly surprised me since it had been down last night. After finding Tom, I asked him if the crews in MSP had managed to fix it for him. He told me that using a trick that I won’t describe in room #3, he and the conductor managed to get room #2 back online. Room #3 however still remained out of service.

The remainder of our trip was uneventful, although I did get a quick glimpse at the new station for the Milwaukee Airport. When I last rode the Hiawatha service, this station did not exist. We passed our westbound sister shortly before our arrival into Glenview, and then it was off to our final stop, Chicago Union Station. We arrived into CUS 12 minutes early. Thanks BNSF!

After giving Tom a nice tip for his efforts in taking care of us, we rolled our bags into the station and right into the Met Lounge. We checked in at the desk, and then checked our bags with the redcap manning the room. A quick trip upstairs to the newsstand so that my mother could by a book, she’d read the one’s that she’d brought from home. I picked up the new Trains while in the store.

Then it was back to the lounge to relax for a few hours, as neither of us felt like walking around the city. Plus the weather was threatening and we really didn’t have all that much time, unlike our first visit to the Windy City. I got some posting done from the lounge, as well as trying to play catch-up on my BB reading. And that brings us to our final train.

 

[MrFSS]

Here is the new Milwaukee Airport Station.

They need to cut their grass.

 

[AlanB]

They need to cut their grass.

I think in an effort to save money, an Amtrak manager furloughed the cows that are normally in charge of that duty. :lol: :lol: And they probably hired another manager just to make sure that they didn’t come back to work unexpectedly. :blink:

 

[AmtrakFan]

I think that is suppose to be Prarie Grass actually because it looked like it hadn't been trimed last time I rode on the Hiawahta.

 

[mama to a toddler train fan]

Alan, I enjoyed the details of the transfer immensely. It feels as if I were there, you wrote it so well.

Me too! I have been savoring this travel log over the past couple of days which is giving me an even greater feeling I am there too! Excellent writing skills! Thanks also for pointing me here Alan!

 

[Anthony]

Alan,  I was thinking that maybe a couple of the pictures you identified as Salinas station might be San Jose as they look an awful lot like Diridon Station.  I could be wrong since I've never been to Salinas though.

Funny you mention that. I thought I remmebered that large tree being in Santa Barbara. However, I'll admit that it's been a couple of years since I've been out that way.

The Moreton Bay Fig Tree at SBA is far larger

http://www.dotphoto.com/go.asp?L=calbirdma...&AID=974764&G=Y

 

[mama to a toddler train fan]

And now for a few pictures.




Ever wonder what the middle of the Raton tunnel looks like?  Wonder no more.   :lol:

A flash doesn't help to much either.

LMBO!! Love the pictures!

 

[AlanB]

Ok, now that I’ve left everyone sitting in the lounge for the last two weeks, with my apologies here is the final installment of my report.

While we were sitting in the lounge, the Capitol Limited left on time, which helped to empty the lounge considerably. Around 6:30 or so I’d say, I didn’t note the time, an announcement was made for all passengers planning to ride the City of NOL, to come up to the front desk. It appears that they were having trouble with the dining car and that there was some doubt as to whether the train would leave CHI with a diner in the consist or if its departure would be delayed due to the problems.

In any event, all passengers holding sleeping car tickets were given money to go upstairs and buy themselves dinner, as it would not be served on the train out of CHI. I never did hear if the CONL left with a working diner or not.

Right around 7:00 PM when I expected them to start calling for our train, an announcement was made telling us that our train was not yet in the station, so boarding would be delayed a bit. Just about 7:10 or so, I could hear them backing our train in on the scanner. So there was still hope of an on time departure, even if our dinner would be a bit later than expected.

Around 7:15 they made a call for those riding the CONL and escorted them out to their train. Almost immediately after that group left, they made the announcement for our train. For reasons that I didn’t understand, train #50 still had not been called when we left. It was almost like they were boarding in reverse order, with the trains scheduled to leave first, being boarded last. I suppose that the Cardinal had no sleeping car pax in the lounge, which might also be why it wasn’t announced.

Regardless, we followed the attendant out to track #22 and boarded the 11 car, our home for our final night on the rails. We met our attendant outside the car who collected our tickets and once again in a useless gesture, proceeded to ask for my ID. We then quickly settled into our room, storing our luggage in the cubby hole above the hallway. I still find the design of the Viewliner bedroom to be superior to that of the Superliner.

I can only hope that if there is to be a new Superliner Sleeper built in the future, that they can find a way to incorporate some of the Viewliner’s better features. On the other hand, the Sightseer lounge and Superliner diners still retain the advantage over their single level counterparts. On the other hand, the Viewliner’s are sadly showing the wear and tear, no doubt caused by years of lack of maintenance.

I had hoped that we’d quickly be sent to the dining car, as it was getting late in the evening. However, when our attendant came around to introduce herself and talk about the room, she did not send us right back to the dining car. So we remained in our room, where around 7:35 I heard the south gate talking with the Glass House about holding the CONL for the connecting Texas Eagle. Initially there was no mention of our train, but within a few minutes it was confirmed that they were going to hold #48, #50, and #58 for train #22 to connect.

Our conductor reminded them that delaying us could break the connections in Detroit. The reply was that was a risk that they were willing to take, as it was added at that point that we were also going to hold for #6 too. Apparently both the Eagle and the Zephyr were running quite late. So even though the South gate had cleared us as far as boarding passengers were concerned, we weren’t going anywhere for a while. Around 7:45 our attendant came by to tell us that we could head for the dining car and our dinner. We had the good fortune to be sat with two people that we already knew from the EB, having taken a meal with them on that train.

Approximately around 8:00 PM or so, I heard the Eagle over the radio and knew that it was approaching. Sure enough train #22 pulled in a moment later on track 26, and it was being pulled by lone P42 #22. I just love it when they mange to do that. The connecting passengers were quickly routed to their correct trains, but that still left us waiting for train #6. I’m not sure if the Glass House actually realized just how late #6 would be. I heard later from someone on the train, that they had been told that they would arrive right around 8:00 PM, but then they ended up behind yet another freight train.

This kept them from arriving until 8:30 PM, well past the departure times of all the holding trains. To make things worse, we waited for two passengers who needed to claim their bags from the baggage check. Why Amtrak couldn’t have found a way to get that done at trackside is beyond me, unless the passengers didn’t tell anyone before stepping off of #6. I actually think that I know who it was too, as they were the last people that I saw board our train and into our sleeping car no less.

They had huge suitcases too, ones that were clearly over Amtrak’s size limits and I bet over the weight limits, and of course were in everyone’s way all the way to NY. Why they didn’t check their bags to NYP, I’ll never know. Of course their big bags weren’t the only problem; the three ladies had two young kids with them. Kids that they made little effort to restrain, keep from screaming, or otherwise bothering the rest of the car. It was like they expected Amtrak to baby sit for them, while they relaxed.

All of the connecting pax and the luggage transfer/pickup from baggage claim inside the terminal, led to our departure being 1 minute shy of an hour late from CUS. It was an hour that sadly we would never get back and an hour that would cost us dearly.

Returning to dinner, we landed one of the unrefurbished Heritage diners. Thankfully we had a very good crew on our train. Both SA’s we polite and pleasant, and the LSA was exceptionally nice and hard working. She had a very pretty, but unusual name, one that I’d never heard before and sadly can’t recall at this point, and this despite my having asked her how she pronounced it. I really wish that I could remember, as I’d love to give her credit for her well run diner.

Since she knew that both my mom and I, as well as the two ladies that we were seated with had come off the EB, she was of course curious as to what we thought about the new SBS concept and food, especially by comparison to the traditional service on the EB. Our dinner companions as well as my group were quite pleased with both the service and the food. I had a delicious piece of Cajun Catfish, it may well have been the best fish that I had during my trip, although that Salmon on both the CS and the Chief was also very good.

Our companions told her that they thought that she and her crew were doing just fine and had no complaints. I of course got into a bit of a discussion with the LSA, and my dinner companions on the idea’s that I’ve expressed elsewhere in this thread, that this entire SBS idea isn’t really going to save Amtrak money. While she of course wasn’t going to stick her neck out, just in case I was some sort of spy or her manager was listening, I could tell that she was pleased to see that I had figured out that SBS is not the answer towards saving money on food service.

In any event I digress, after a wonderful dinner, it was topped off by cheesecake for everyone at the table, strawberry topping for all but my mom who opted for chocolate topping. Our companions finished first and started their long walk back to the 12 sleeper where they were located at. It was their hope to reach their room before we started moving since one has a slight mobility issue, but I suspect that they only got to the 11 car, before we were underway.

Mom and I returned to our room about 10 minutes later as we were already speeding past the outer suburbs of Chicago. An unwelcome surprise greeted us when we opened our door, only to find that our attendant had already made up our beds for us, even though it wasn’t even 9:00 PM CDT. Yes, very shortly we would be into EDT, which would cost us an hour. But neither of us was anywhere’s close to being ready for bed.

So I quickly started undoing her handy work, returning our room to its daytime configuration. I had already placed the mattress up on the top bunk, returned that bed to it’s fully up position and was working on the first seat when she came by and saw what I was doing. Her comment “Oh, you weren’t ready for bed yet?” To which we both replied in the negative.

While I’ll grant you that there was little left to do, she didn’t offer to finish the other seat and she didn’t exactly seem pleased. I don’t know if she wasn’t happy because she was worried that we’d call her to do it all again later, or if she was wondering who I was and how I knew what to do.

Our room back the way we wanted it, I settled down for some computer work, while mom pulled out her book. Just after we passed Elkhart running 1 hour and 7 minutes down, we decided that with the time change, as well as our early wake up calls the past few days to get more daylight riding time, we should turn in. Since she hadn’t seemed happy earlier with my resetting the room, I didn’t even bother to push the call button. I don’t really like doing that anyhow, just a pet peeve for me.

So I kicked mom out into the hall and quickly made up the room. Then I briefly shut the door, took care of business, changed, and climbed up into my favorite Amtrak bunk. I just love the Viewliner upper bunk with its extra windows as well as its extra headroom, important for someone just shy of six feet tall.

 

[AlanB]

I woke the next morning around 6:20AM, noting that we had stopped, but unsure what stop we were actually at. I did make note of the time we started moving, 6:23, knowing that I would figure out what stop that had been. Turned out it was Cleveland and we were now over 2 hours late. About 6:45 or so, we woke up for good, got dressed and headed off for the diner in the hopes of getting breakfast before they got too busy.

The diner was filling up, but there was still room for us at that point. We probably got there about 7:00 or so and within 15 to 20 minutes of that, they were full. However, before anyone else came, which would have meant waiting list, a couple of tables left and they were able to keep seating people. Erie, PA. came and went while we were at breakfast at 7:53. It’s the first time that I’ve ever seen the Erie station on the LSL; I’ve never been awake at this point on any of my other rides on the LSL.

So like my mom, at this point I was seeing scenery that I’d never seen before. I had my usual traditional RR French Toast and just like the last day on the EB, this one came out of the kitchen a bit tough. Again it was still hot and delicious; it just didn’t cut very easily. In fact, for the first time on my trip, I actually cracked the plastic plate trying to cut it. I suspect that it was a combination of things, as these tables have a heavy padding that doesn’t support well when you push down, plus I was probably just bit too heavy handed, as well as the tough French Toast.

An elderly gentleman at the table immediately behind us collared the new manager that Amtrak has hired to ensure that SDS doesn’t save any money, oh sorry, I meant to say that he was hired to make sure that the reduced crew still does their jobs. :lol: In any event, the man who was probably at least 60 was complaining to the manager that whoever had designed the tables was an idiot and should be fired, as he had banged his leg on the table legs.

He even requested a different table after his initial arrival, because he had hit his legs there too. On and on he went to this manager about the poor design of the car and that Amtrak should get this fixed and fire the man who designed it. I finally turned my head and told him that the manager he was talking to hadn’t even been born, he looked about 30 to 35, when the car we were in was designed and built.

I went on to say that I’d be shocked if the designer of that car still worked in the industry and for that matter was still alive. But regardless, who ever designed and built that car was not working for Amtrak at that time. This shut him up for a while, but he did grumble once more at the manager on the way out of the diner. I again heard him complaining later at lunch to his table companions, but I didn’t bother to correct him again as this time at least he wasn’t actually blaming Amtrak for the poor design. He was only complaining that it was a stupid design.

I was pleased to see that upon our return to our room that our attendant had made up the beds and such. I broke out the computer again to try and get some writing done in the hope that I could post the prior update when we got to Buffalo. Our deficit was two and ½ hours upon departure from BUF, thanks to some track work between Erie and Buffalo. I sadly wasn’t quite ready with my update, but did manage to get some other web work done while I had a connection.

Approximately 15 to 20 minutes out of Buffalo we came to a stop thanks to single tracking ahead due to track work. We sat for maybe 5 minutes before a freight train heading west went by us. CSX then moved us up one signal, but was unable to get the switch that we needed to use to cross over, to operate. So there we sat for another 25 minutes while they cleared the work crew off of the track ahead of us, since they couldn’t cross us over.

In the meantime we were lapped by an Empire Corridor train heading east, whom they crossed over at the switch behind us. Finally, track work cleared temporarily, we started heading east once again. Rochester comes next and we would loose still more time here. This time though it would be thanks to our inefficient US Customs agents.

We would loose another 30 minutes here thanks to US Customs boarding the train to look for someone. Let’s just think about how this makes sense. First, the LSL never crosses the boarder. Second, if someone did slip over the boarder, well guess who failed to stop them in the first place? So what do we do, we delay over 200 people because we didn’t do our jobs properly. Simple common sense would be to put a few agents on the train, release the train and allow the agents to search the train while it moves onto the next station.

Arrangements could have been made to take the agents and anyone that they might find, off at either the next station or even at a crossing in some town down the line. But no, we give our agents the power to delay 200 citizens and/or legal residents so that they can fix the mistake that they made in the first place. Makes sense to me. Not.

So finally cleared by customs on a train that doesn’t need to go through customs, we left Rochester now down almost 4 hours. With still more track work and the associated slow orders, we continue to loose even more time between Rochester and Syracuse. I don’t recall our actually needing to stop, thankfully, but it still costs us. Our departure out of Syracuse now finds us running 5 hours late.

From Syracuse to Albany things would by and large stay status quo. Shortly before arriving in Schenectady we passed through yet another work zone, where the engineer noticed that the bell was no longer working on the lead engine. So he leaned on the horn a bit more going through that work zone. Then coming into SDY, we had to take the siding track, since there was another Amtrak train coming west on the single track out of Albany.

So after doing our station work, we had to pull forward to the limits of the siding, so as to clear the switch behind us. Without clearing that, they couldn’t get the west bound into the station. So he was holding outside the station waiting for his high ball into the station. Once he got into the station, they were then able to setup the switch to get us out of the siding and on our way. Thankfully, this dance didn’t take too long, as all the station work including a double spot, as well as waiting for the line to clear only took 9 minutes.

From there it was a straight shot into Albany with no further delays. Our arrival into Albany saw us at basically 4 hours and 50 minutes down. The northbound Ethan Allen was just pulling out from the other side of the platform, as we were pulling in. The Ethan of course forced the connecting train to Boston, #448, to the far platform, instead of the opposite side of the center island platform. Therefore every connecting pax had to haul their stuff up stairs and then back down to the other platform. Sitting in front of the Boston section, was a P32 AC-DM motor that would become our power for the rest of the run.

It still amazes me that Albany continues to be one of the slowest places to change power. The inbound conductor had of course warned all of us on the PA, not to venture into the station as the crews would try to hurry things up and get us out of the station as fast as possible. At Albany, at least in my experience as fast as possible means that they will take the exact amount of time allotted on the schedule. Sure enough, they took every one of the 30 minutes allotted in the schedule.

I’ve seen Silver Service train have engines changed as well as freight cut off, both in DC and in Philly, and when a train is late 90% of the time those crews seem to get things done in less time than the schedule allows. So I’m not sure why Albany can’t seem to figure out how to do things faster, but they still can’t. While not the sole reason, the delays encountered at Albany with combining and/or breaking apart the LSL, did contribute to 448 becoming a stub train instead of running though.

Within a few minutes of our arrival, the P32 pulled down on the mainline to await the P42 engines being cutoff our train. This of course cleared the Boston section and about 15 minutes after our arrival, it was on its way to Boston. Just prior to the Boston section’s departure, the P42’s that had pulled us all the way from Chicago rolled by on the track between the two sections of the LSL.

Finally, with our new P32 engine on the head end and power restored to the train, we pulled out of Albany 4 hours and 48 minutes late. Our ride down the Hudson was uneventful by and large, although we did get held a few minutes at Poughkeepsie to wait for a Metro North train.

The ride down the Hudson was of course as beautiful as ever. This is without a doubt one of the most scenic trips in the Northeast on an Amtrak train. Unfortunately our view was a bit hampered thanks to the low angle of the sun, which of course was due to our lateness. It really put a crimp on picture taking, since trying to get an angle where the sun didn’t shine directly into the lens was very tough.

Cutting off Metro North on to the Empire Line was also uneventful. We did however slow down and eventually stop at the last interlocking before the Empire tunnel, the tunnel built between Penn Station and what was the old Westside freight line that created the Empire connection. The Empire connection is what allowed Amtrak to start running trains to/from Albany into Penn Station. Prior to this connection, all trains to/from Albany went into Grand Central Station.

Within a few minutes a northbound Empire Corridor train emerged from the tunnel. Several minutes later though, we were still sitting there waiting for the signal. The engineer had to call PSCC on the radio to wake them up and remind them that we were sitting there. A short move brought us into the tunnel, or at least the front half of the train made it in, I’m not sure about the rear half.

We paused there again for a few minutes awaiting switch alignments, a crossing NJT train, and for another train to clear our intended platform. Our long Amtrak journey was over when we finally came to rest on track #8 in NY’s Penn Station at 8:30 PM, 5 hours and 5 minutes late.

Upon detraining I tipped our attendant, as overall she had done her job well, even if she had been a bit premature in dropping our beds. In fact she even offered to take a picture of the two of us, although sadly it didn’t come out too well with the bright sunlight behind us as we rolled down the Hudson.

I made my mom wait with the luggage for a minute, while I ran up to the head end to get the baggage car’s number, the only number I was missing from the consist. I had managed to collect all the rest along the way. Then it was upstairs and a mad dash for the subway, so as to get my mom to the next departing bus back to PA. We managed to get there just about 5 minutes before they started boarding and with just about 10 minutes to spare before it departed.

Despite the lateness of our arrival, sleeping car passengers were left to fend for themselves regarding dinner. There was no mention, at least none that we heard, of any provision for us. The diner certainly was not setup to serve dinner, as I walked through it to take a few pictures of it. The café was open for a while, but I’m not sure just when that was closed down and again there seemed to be no allowance for sleeping car passengers.

Thankfully we had a few snacks, and we’d had a later lunch since we were running so late. But still, it was bad enough for me as I’d be home by 9:30, even worse for my mom however as she wouldn’t get home to Pennsylvania till after 11:00 PM.

After watching my mom board her bus, it was back to the subway for me, where a short 30 minute ride on the #7 subway had me back home. And with my arrival home came the end of a wonderful two weeks of train riding around the US and its incredible natural beauty.

I’m of course already ready for my next trip, this despite late trains, the uncertainty of SDS (which thankfully proved not to be a disaster), derailments ahead of us, and an unscheduled bus ride. Sadly I don’t have either the points or the time to set off on yet another trip right away. But there’s always next month or the one after that.