3 Trains in 3 Days

[Bill Needles]

Sat Oct 15 - The Texas Eagle pulled into Taylor, Texas just north of Austin right on time at 11:30am. This was our first train trip and we were very anxious. It turned out to be a great trip. We were led to the last car which was our sleeper. Our attendant was very nice explaining our sleeper to us and we settled in for our trip. We went to the diner for lunch and it was very good. Angus Burger was nice as was the cheesecake for desert. All the meals on the train were very good. I cannot imagine taking a long distance train without the diner car, I probably would not do it. We arrived in Ft. Worth around 5pm. I took some great shots of the Ft Worth skyline behind our train. Eastbound from Dallas we had dinner, a very good steak and wine. We retired to our car and watched the sunset in East Texas. Our car was very clean and everything worked fine. There was plenty of room in the Roomette once you got used to it. I fell asleep somewhere in East Texas and woke up Sunday morning coming out of the Ozarks in North Missouri. We had a great breakfast of French Toast in our room and enjoyed the scenery all morning going thru St. Louis and up towards Chicago. I brought alot of reading material but found I spent most of the time just talking and enjoying the scenery. We arrived in Chicago about 2 hrs late. We checked into the first class lounge which was awesome! (thanks Alan) - we walked around Chicago for an hour or so and headed back to board our next train.

Sun Oct 16 - Capital Limited

The limited left on time at 5:30pm. We headed East and had a very nice dinner in the dining car around South Bend Indiana. I fell asleep somewhere East of South Bend and woke up Monday morning in Pittsburg. It amazed me I sleep thru Indiana and Ohio. The car was very quiet (of course some Ambien and Wine doesn't hurt either). We had breakfast in our sleeper in the mountains East of Pittsburg which was the prettiest part of the trip, lots of color in the trees in West Virginia and Maryland. This was the only part of the trip with frequent delays. We had planned an afternoon of sightseeing in D.C. but ended up 4 hrs late and only had a couple of hours to look around. Once again, the first class lounge was awesome, everyone was so nice.

Monday Oct 17 - The Crescent

Boarded the Crescent at 7pm. East coast single level cars were a letdown after to days on Superliners. I'm not a fan of having the toliet and sink in my car. It seemed to make it more cramped than the Superliners and I don't like the idea of no privacy and no other restrooms available in the car. We had a nice dinner in the dining car which was much nicer than the ones on the Superliners, very old fashioned looking. After a good dinner (although by this time we has spent three straight days on trains with the same menu and were getting a little tired of the same choices, I can only eat Steak so many times). We retired and I found the bunk more cramped in the car than the Superliner. We woke at 4am and got off the train in Greenville S.C at 5:20 am, only 20 min late.

OBSERVATIONS

1. Train travel is awesome! We were amazed how relaxing it was, no security hassles like the airports and so much freedom to move about

2. The overall condition of our trains was excellent. We were told the cars on the Capital Limited had recently been updated, the shower was nicer and the interior of the room fresher tho I found no fault with the car on the Texas Eagle

3. WINDOWS - Amtrak needs to clean the windows. There is no excuse for a train to have filthy windows when so much of the experience is looking out them. The Sightseerer lounge which I so anticipated on the Capital Limited was useless because of the filthy windows. We ended up looking out our sleeper window instead.

4. Employees - with the exception of one person in the Dining Car on the Texas Eagle, all Amtrak employees were exceptional in customer service.

We will certainly travel Amtrak again.....thanks, Bill and Jo Needles

 

[AlanB]

Thanks Bill for the report.

Glad you guys enjoyed the trip. I'm a bit surprised that you found the upper bunk in the Viewliner to be more cramped. While the bed might be slightly narrower than the one in the Superliner, there is a lot more head room in the Viewliner. I can actually sit up right on a Viewliner, whereas I can't sit up straight on a Superliner upper bunk. Plus you get the extra window too.

Oh well, everyone has their likes and dislikes. But I am glad that overall you had a nice trip.

 

[Bill Needles]

Alan, sorry, I was referring to the bottom bunk. My wife slept on the top bunk the whole trip. She did like the top bunk better in the Viewliner. I thought the bottom bunk was narrower and didn't like the sink and toliet right next to me. I would trade the toliet in the room for the extra elbow and storage room in the Superliner. Luckily, all the routes we plan to take in the future are out west so it is a mute point...Bill

 

[AlanB]

Ok, that I understand.

However you mentioned storage, did you notice that the Viewliner has a place for a medium sized suitcase above the hall? One needs to stand on the toilet to put your suitcase up there, but it gives you a lot more storage space.