Boarding at an unstaffed station

[Widfara]

I will be catching #1 at NIB Saturday (tomorrow). At least, I earnestly hope I will . When I de-trained last Monday, I was the only passenger to get off. The station was locked up and the surrounding area was completely deserted. The train was running late, so it idled only long enough until I got off, even though it had been earlier announced as a smoking/stretch stop.. I was in coach, in the last car of the train. The sleeper cars were far in the distance, well beyond the end of the platform (one coach, one sightseeing/cafe car, and one dining car before getting to two sleepers).

What is the protocol for boarding in such situations? I do not expect there to be any ground crew around, and given my prior experience, it's possible no passengers will be de-boarding. I'll be standing on the platform with my bags in sight, so I hope someone (conductor or engineer) sees me and stops the train. I have comical visions of hearing a toot of the horn as the train majestically rolls by without stopping. sounding one final toot as I watch it round the bend down the line. Maybe I should hold up a big card the says "LA' with a hitch-hiker's thumb on it.

Joking aside, is there anything I should be doing to be able to board my sleeper car from the platform? I have a confirmed reservation, so I presume the conductor will know that someone will be boarding the sleeper car I've been assigned to.

Thanks for any helpful advice (or even some additional (?) humor!).

I got on the westbound Empire Builder at Sandpoint, Idaho, at midnight, more or less in July 2020, the only one boarding. I was on the manifest, I stood by the station building in the light, and just prayed that this monster looming into sight would stop for me.
The train stopped with the door of the Portland sleeper right where I was standing. I was greeted by name, went to my room, my bed was made up already, and I woke at daylight to see the sights.
Our two-story trains are impressive enough in daylight; at night, wow!
As one who still, at 73, opens wardrobes in thrift stores hoping for a sight of Narnia, I can relate that my thoughts were of dragons as the train rumbled into view.

 

[AmtrakMaineiac]

When I used to commute into boston on the Downeaster, there was one unstaffed that always caused issues.

WEM

It is unstaffed, but there is a very nice station. Problem is, the station sits about 100 feet behind the platform, not connected.

At least once a week, the train would stop and load up the passengers on the platform.... then as it pulled away, someone would come running out of the station, waving frantically. It was both hilarious and sad.

The design of that station really irritated the conductors. People thought they could wait in the station UNTIL the train arrived, but it was just too far away. You really needed to wait on the platform, and the conductors had ZERO patience for this. SO they would not wait and leave them.

That said, in all the times I saw this happen, maybe twice the engineer actually backed up the train. This doesn't really relate to the OP, but its still an interesting story

While Wells is unstaffed, there is usually a volunteer there to help people.. I happen to know the gentleman that does this as he is also a volunteer at our Trolley Museum and I'm sure he would make sure people are out of the platform when they need to be.

 

[AmtrakBlue]

While Wells is unstaffed, there is usually a volunteer there to help people.. I happen to know the gentleman that does this as he is also a volunteer at our Trolley Museum and I'm sure he would make sure people are out of the platform when they need to be.

I’m an unofficial ambassador at the Newark, DE station. The is no signage for Amtrak once you’re in the parking lot. The new station is only open when SEPTA is there, which is before 9 am and after 3:30 pm weekdays. Northbound Amtrak trains arrive between 9 and 3:30. (Except Friday when there’s an extra one). And the southbound trains are in the evening but on the other side of the tracks.
Even if pax could go in the station, Amtrak trains are not displayed on the boards.
The platform is under an overpass to the back right of the station, aka not noticeable to the people in the parking lot.

Eventually there will be a high level platform serving both directions with a bridge from the upper level of the station. My guess is that is probably 2 years from now.

 

[BCL]

While Wells is unstaffed, there is usually a volunteer there to help people.. I happen to know the gentleman that does this as he is also a volunteer at our Trolley Museum and I'm sure he would make sure people are out of the platform when they need to be.

I wonder how it works at other stations. There’s no Amtrak staffing at the Richmond, California station, but I’d think BART employees get asked all the time about Amtrak. They do close off the entire station after BART stops operation. It might be easy to miss the entrance or elevators, so that might be something they do as a courtesy. Fremont, CA has a waiting room but I’ve never seen who opens or closes it.

But there a bunch that are just open platforms without any gates.

 

[TheCrescent]

If you board at a flag stop or otherwise are the only passenger boarding, and you board through a car that’s not the car where you seat or room is, does the crew scream at you for boarding through another car, as the crew does in the Northeast?

 

[joelkfla]

If you board at a flag stop or otherwise are the only passenger boarding, and you board through a car that’s not the car where you seat or room is, does the crew scream at you for boarding through another car, as the crew does in the Northeast?

I assume the conductor tells the engineer where to spot the train based on his manifest. I've been on trains with my scanner where the conductor was talking to the engineer telling him, "one more car length ... half a car length ... that's good!"

And only the relevant door would be opened and attended.

 

[jis]

I assume the conductor tells the engineer where to spot the train based on his manifest. I've been on trains with my scanner where the conductor was talking to the engineer telling him, "one more car length ... half a car length ... that's good!"

And only the relevant door would be opened and attended.

My experience is that flag stops and short platform stops are boarded and disembarked through specific designated doors that are attended by crew. All doors or even more than one door does not open to give one the freedom to try to irritate the crew

 

[BCL]

My experience is that flag stops and short platform stops are boarded and disembarked through specific designated doors that are attended by crew. All doors or even more than one door does not open to give one the freedom to try to irritate the crew

I've seen that at staffed stations with a platform capable of accommodating the full length if there weren't too many passengers. Or staffed stations that aren't staffed 7 days a week.

 

[ehbowen]

As one who still, at 73, opens wardrobes in thrift stores hoping for a sight of Narnia, I can relate that my thoughts were of dragons as the train rumbled into view.

I think you might enjoy reading a trip of imagination which I penned for another forum. Here it is.

 

[Stremba]

OP, I would just use the Amtrak train status tool (available on the Amtrak app or website) and check the estimated arrival time for your train. Then jus make sure you are on the platform ready to board at least a few minutes prior to that time. The train might leave if you try to wait inside the building until the train arrives (assuming your station has one). If you are trackside, though you should not have any problem

 

[HP_Lovecraft]

I happen to know the gentleman that does this as he is also a volunteer at our Trolley Museum and I'm sure he would make sure people are out of the platform when they need to be.

I am 100% sure he would. But obviously WEM sees 10 amtrak trains a day, and he can only volunteer for a percentage of those. But on cold days, people will linger in the station, but the poor design located far from the platform is just a problem. POR has a sorta similar disconnected station, but in that scenario, they don't allow anyone on the platform until its time to board, since its a staffed station.

I love the Trolley Museum though. For one of my kids, we had his 6 year birthday party there. It was great, party was right on that silver subway car. The only quirk was that we invited everyone in his preschool class, and I didn't expect parents to just drop off there own kids and leave.... The trolley museum is NOT a playground!

haha

 

[AmtrakMaineiac]

I've seen that at staffed stations with a platform capable of accommodating the full length if there weren't too many passengers. Or staffed stations that aren't staffed 7 days a week.

That happens at Brunswick ME which has a full length high platform but generally the crew only opens one door on one of the coaches, sometimes they will also open a door on the BC end of the cafe car for any BC passengers. The station is usually not too busy, except when Bowdoin College lets out for a break then it can get crowded.