Carbondale - Chicago - St. Paul

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crescent-zephyr

Engineer
Joined
Oct 21, 2015
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Heading up for the #261 steam excursion this weekend.

Arrived Carbondale IL Amtrak station at 7:10 am. The train arrived about 7:15, and the Conductors just motioned to start boarding. No kindergarden walks, no gate dragons, just passengers boarding a train. Train departed exacty on time at 7:30 AM. Always nice to see the small towns of America waking up. In the fields I saw deer, red tailed hawk, and perched in a tree a majestic bald eagle. Also saw the CN diesel yard, with a locomtive turning on the turntable. Along the way.... We picked up several prisoners just out of jail. Literally the officer dropped them off at the train station. More got on along the way. They were a bit loud in the coaches, and using a lot of language. I'm pretty sure this has sold me on business class on most future trips. at some point I went to the lounge. Got a water and a hummus and pretzels. The crew were all fine, all looked professional and made good announcements. None were overly friendly, but none were rude either. Conductors announced each stop and announced delays. We had minor delays for track work, and then about 10 minute or so stop for South Shore trains ahead of us. We arrived in Chicago about 35 minutes late at 1:35. So I went straight for the metropolitan lounge to board the empire builder, departing at 2:15. The agent (very nice lady) said the builder was delayed in the yard but to not leave the lounge since they would bring it in to board as soon as it was ready. I got some coffee and enjoyed a last look around at the metro lounge. They announced boarding about 2:00, I was in the Portland Sleeper so I didn't have a far walk at all. I nestled into my Roomette and we departed at 2:19, amazing how they boarded the entire train in that short amount of time! Cameron was the attendant. Very nice... Said he would bring dinner if I wanted it, or Ice, or more water, etc. Since I didn't have time to grab lunch in Chicago, I took the earliest dinner seating at 5:00. Really nice LSA named Mark, and the waitress was Donna. Donna was awesome! Very friendly and made everyone at the table smile. Had the crab cakes. Not as good as the crab cakes from a few years ago, but they were good. Mashed potatoes were a little bleh even for Amtrak standards but still edible. I really liked the new chocolate dessert. A bit Rich, but quite good. Huge improvement over the chocolate pudding from the fall menu.

Conductors out of Chicago were very friendly. Announced a delay for track work, and clearly and friendly announced the smoke breaks.

The Mississippi River was lovely at sunset. Saw 2 more bald eagles and a few deer here as well.

Arrived in St. Paul exactly on time at 10:00. The Amtrak agent was personally welcoming everyone to St. Paul at the top of the escalators.

Over all a great trip. The sleeper on the builder was $70 more than coach. I knew I wanted to have dinner so that means only $40 more and I got easy boarding in Chicago and the nice comfy room. Well worth it.
 
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