Recent content by ThayerATM

Asking the crew sounds like the magic answer. One time, on the LSL, we were past Buffalo, when the train made an unscheduled stop. Our car attendant knew we were smokers, and had evidently mentioned it to the Conductor. When the train came to a stop, she said: "Come with me. The Conductor's...

I figured that since train 280 runs between Niagara Falls and New York City, there must be a crew change somewhere. But the timetable for the Empire Service (280) shows only one time for eash station. No "Ar" or "Dp" times. Where do I find a more detailed timetable? That layover of 15...

Since you, and Guest_Guest, and Savoirfaire have painted such a good picture of Business Class on train 280, it sounds like it'll be a pretty enjoyable leg of the trip --- almost as good as the The Traveler's private car. :lol: BTW, I did forget to ask: Are there any smoking stops between...

Well, I seem to still have even more questions. :rolleyes: Even in Business Class... 1) Is there a lounge car on train 280, or are are all cars simply coach class or business class seating? Not counting the engine. :lol: 2) When boarding, has Amtrak already pre-assigned our reserved seat...

Thanks for that suggestion, Alan. As I've gotten older, I don't think up these great ideas as quickly as I used to. :lol: Penfield is about nine miles from the ROC station, and it would not be difficult at all to drive to the station the day before, and check the luggage. We'll do that...

This question is buried kinda deep in the thread, but is it possible to check luggage when taking Train 280 (Empire Service) out of ROC? It looks like checked luggage is not allowed on Train 280, although I don't see why it couldn't be put on Train 48 that comes through at 10:08am, bound for...

Now, that's a great idea. We ordinally take a sleeper, but I suppose they'd have most of the bodies cleaned out of business class by 5:30 in the morning. :lol: Five 30 in the morning is not a problem. :cool: And it would certainly be a pleasure to avoid that overnight in New York City on...

I like the way you think. :cool: The problem is that I won't know which NYP to ROC reservation to use 'till I'm in NYP that day and the train's either on time, or late. <_< That puts me inside the one-week window where all I'd get is a voucher --- not a refund. :lol: But I'm going...

Thanks Ryan. Looking at the train status history gives me one picture. Looking at the OTP times posted by Amtrak since last Sunday, a somewhat different picture is painted. Still, both samplings are too small to be statistically significant. I'll continue to track train 20 into NYP for a...

Although I haven't asked anyone at Amtrak yet, I kinda figured it was a guaranteed connection too. What we'd really like to avoid is all the "hanging out" in NYP waiting for the next day connection, and/or being dropped into coach on an alternate train. I think the Lake Shore Limited (49) is...

We're planning a trip from Rochester NY to Atlanta GA, then back. The trip down to ATL looks pretty straighforward, although it does involve the obligatory overnight in New York City. When I examined the trip back, I saw that the Crescent (train 20) is scheduled into NYP at 1:46pm and the Lake...

This past Tuesday (9/6/2011) at 2:00 PM I canceled our reservations for our trip on trains 49-5-14-8-48. The full refund was credited back to my AMEX card this morning (Thursday 9/8/2011). It hasn't even been a full 48 hours. I'm happy with Amtrak's fiscal performace, but definitely not with...

Last time I had to do that (June 2009), it took about a week for it to show up at AMEX. I'm about to do it again (CHI to EMY later this month). Hopefully things haven't changed much. :unsure:

You gotta be kidding! :unsure: At 11:00 AM the guy was already so drunk that he didn't realize that he was still on the train? :ohboy: When we took the Empire Builder in '09, Minot was a "fun" stop that took a lot longer than the scheduled 20 minutes. With any luck we'll be on it very...

Then what's the purpose of the stop in Minot. Are they taking on, or discharging passengers? Are they changing crews? Are they servicing the train?