Friday, February 23, I set off on a ten-day journey to the west coast and back.
The long-and-short of it (not getting into too much detail, simply because I don't feel like it, and I don't have all of my notes within reach):
3(23): The train departed Chicago one minute late (we were right behind train 5(23) which held for connections off of a really late 351). Following train 5 cost us a few minutes per station through Illinois, but we were on time leaving Kansas City.
The following morning, we were still on time until we reached Colorado. We had reduced our speed due to heavy winds, which then caused us to be about 20-30 minutes late at Lamar. However, shortly after departing Lamar, we had to stop completely because wind gusts had exceeded 65 mph (there were various unconfirmed rumors on the train that winds reached as high as 90 mph). We sat there for five and a half hours before the winds died down enough for us to move. While we were sitting, the winds were so strong that the train actually was rocking as if we were moving (I was sitting in the lounge car, and looking at the door to the lounge, the motion really was similar to that of a moving train).
The lounge windows iced up pretty quickly, and if you touched the windows, you could feel the wind pushing up against the glass (they did flex ever so slightly).
I had lunch in the diner while we were sitting still, and we started moving just as I was getting up to leave. While we sat there, the crew died (sitting for 5 1/2 hours will do that, especially if the crew change point is the next stop). A freight crew (and a couple of freight engines, one UP and one BNSF) came to operate our train into LaJunta, where the next crew would take over.
That crew had been on duty since their normal start time (since we were on time and so close to the crew change point, their call time hadn't been set back). So, they didn't quite make it to Albuquerque. By the time we got to ABQ, most of the vendors that set up shop when the train arrives had already gone home (I think there was one jewelry stand left). I wasn't too concerned, though, as long as we arrived in LAX by 2 pm the next day.
The 5.5 hour delay was actually our only significant delay along the entire route (excluding the few minutes lost following the Zephyr). I think we only stopped once for a freight train. Anyway, as we traveled through California, the crew handed out snack packs which are a part of a new service recovery program for when trains are late. The snack pack included a dried fruit trail mix, a granola bar (I think), and some cheese and crackers.
Our arrival into LAX was at 12:49, just 4.5 hours late (not bad, considering how long we'd been delayed in Colorado).
This gave me plenty of time to ride trains 578 and 591, a round trip to San Diego on the Pacific Surfliner, on which a friend of mine was working as one of the crew. In San Diego, I met another friend who lives down there, and we rode the San Diego trolley between trains.
I spent Monday February 26 riding the LA Metro system (buses and trains), took a ride down to Santa Monica and back, took photos, etc. Not the typical "touristy" stuff one does in LA (since not many people would consider the LA bus and rail system to be a "tourist attraction" like I would).
Tuesday, February 27, I rode the Coast Starlight to Oakland, connecting to the Thruway bus to San Francisco. The ride up the coast was quite enjoyable, especially in the Parlour Car (which had received a new coat of paint). We were only nine minutes late into Oakland, the least late that train has been into Oakland in the measurable past (as measured by the handy "Amtrak Train Status" page that a member here put together). It certainly qualified as a good trip.
Wednesday and Thursday were spent riding San Francisco's transit system, including diesel buses, trolley buses, streetcars, and cable cars. I also spent part of Thursday riding BART to Oakland, taking photos of some Amtrak trains around Jack London Square, and walking into what apparently passes for downtown, before heading back.
Friday, I started my homeward journey by riding an Amtrak Thruway bus from San Francisco to Emeryville, and taking train 6(2) back home. We departed on time, but immediately lost time due to slow orders and interference from other trains.
We met the southbound Starlight (using the same trainset that I had ridden north on a few days earlier) in Sacramento, so passengers making that connection just barely made it.
While we did stop a few times in between stations, most of our time was lost due to slow running. We lost about an hour between Reno and Winnemucca, without ever stopping for another train.
I don't know where we lost time during the night, but we were about 2 hours late out of Winnemucca, and were 3 to 3.5 hours late out of Salt Lake City.
We maintained about 3.5 hours late through the entire ride through the Rockies and into Denver. We stopped for some unknown (to me) reason outside of Denver (I can't remember if this was before or after we went through the Moffat Tunnel), so we weren't able to make up time given through schedule padding.
Our departure from Denver was 3.5 hours late, but we lost more time through the night (I don't know where), and were over 4 hours late traveling through Nebraska the next morning. We lost additional time at station stops (it seemed like every other stop was a smoke stop, and the conductors appeared in no hurry to try and make up for lost time). We were five hours late through Illinois, but thanks to an hour of padding, got into Chicago four hours late (7:08 pm vs. 3:05 pm scheduled).
As we were approaching Chicago, the conductor was announcing to passengers what to do about their connections. She said that folks traveling to Michigan (Wolverine, train 354 scheduled out at 6 pm) could take a chartered van or spend a night in a hotel at Amtrak's expense, and go out the next day. Passengers traveling to Indiana (Hoosier State, train 850 scheduled out at 5:45 pm) had the same choice (with Greyhound instead of a chartered van). Passengers connecting to train 30 (due out 7:05 pm) were told that the train was leaving from track 26, and we would come in on 16. So, passengers making that connection should get off the train, enter the station, turn right, head over to track 26, etc. So, we entered the trainshed at 7:06 pm pulling into the station, and guess what train I saw pulling away?
As it turned out, the Hoosier State was late in departing anyway (it didn't get out until 7:55 pm), so passengers heading that way got their train ride instead of a Greyhound ride or a hotel room.
Overall, it was a very nice trip, despite the poor OTP of both my westbound and eastbound trains (though the westbound delay was clearly beyond anyone's control). The only complaint I submitted to Amtrak was the way the snack packs were handled on the Zephyr. The lounge car LSA announced as we approached Burlington, IA, that any coach passengers that hadn't received a snack pack should head to the lower level of the lounge car to get one. Nothing was mentioned for sleeping car passengers. When she made the "last call" for snack pack service, I went back and got one anyway (even though the first announcement specified coach passengers). As I walked back, my sleeper attendant was chatting with the dining car crew. I figured that someone should have come up to the sleepers to hand out those snack packs, as they had been handed out to coach passengers (on the Southwest Chief, I was sitting in the lounge when they handed them out, so I don't know how sleeper passengers were handled on that train). Many folks in my sleeper missed out on the snack packs since nobody had told them they existed.
Normally, I'd write a more detailed report, but I don't particularly feel like it this time, so I've just noted some of the highlights of the trip. I may get a chance to upload some photos sometime in the next couple of years.
The long-and-short of it (not getting into too much detail, simply because I don't feel like it, and I don't have all of my notes within reach):
3(23): The train departed Chicago one minute late (we were right behind train 5(23) which held for connections off of a really late 351). Following train 5 cost us a few minutes per station through Illinois, but we were on time leaving Kansas City.
The following morning, we were still on time until we reached Colorado. We had reduced our speed due to heavy winds, which then caused us to be about 20-30 minutes late at Lamar. However, shortly after departing Lamar, we had to stop completely because wind gusts had exceeded 65 mph (there were various unconfirmed rumors on the train that winds reached as high as 90 mph). We sat there for five and a half hours before the winds died down enough for us to move. While we were sitting, the winds were so strong that the train actually was rocking as if we were moving (I was sitting in the lounge car, and looking at the door to the lounge, the motion really was similar to that of a moving train).
The lounge windows iced up pretty quickly, and if you touched the windows, you could feel the wind pushing up against the glass (they did flex ever so slightly).
I had lunch in the diner while we were sitting still, and we started moving just as I was getting up to leave. While we sat there, the crew died (sitting for 5 1/2 hours will do that, especially if the crew change point is the next stop). A freight crew (and a couple of freight engines, one UP and one BNSF) came to operate our train into LaJunta, where the next crew would take over.
That crew had been on duty since their normal start time (since we were on time and so close to the crew change point, their call time hadn't been set back). So, they didn't quite make it to Albuquerque. By the time we got to ABQ, most of the vendors that set up shop when the train arrives had already gone home (I think there was one jewelry stand left). I wasn't too concerned, though, as long as we arrived in LAX by 2 pm the next day.
The 5.5 hour delay was actually our only significant delay along the entire route (excluding the few minutes lost following the Zephyr). I think we only stopped once for a freight train. Anyway, as we traveled through California, the crew handed out snack packs which are a part of a new service recovery program for when trains are late. The snack pack included a dried fruit trail mix, a granola bar (I think), and some cheese and crackers.
Our arrival into LAX was at 12:49, just 4.5 hours late (not bad, considering how long we'd been delayed in Colorado).
This gave me plenty of time to ride trains 578 and 591, a round trip to San Diego on the Pacific Surfliner, on which a friend of mine was working as one of the crew. In San Diego, I met another friend who lives down there, and we rode the San Diego trolley between trains.
I spent Monday February 26 riding the LA Metro system (buses and trains), took a ride down to Santa Monica and back, took photos, etc. Not the typical "touristy" stuff one does in LA (since not many people would consider the LA bus and rail system to be a "tourist attraction" like I would).
Tuesday, February 27, I rode the Coast Starlight to Oakland, connecting to the Thruway bus to San Francisco. The ride up the coast was quite enjoyable, especially in the Parlour Car (which had received a new coat of paint). We were only nine minutes late into Oakland, the least late that train has been into Oakland in the measurable past (as measured by the handy "Amtrak Train Status" page that a member here put together). It certainly qualified as a good trip.
Wednesday and Thursday were spent riding San Francisco's transit system, including diesel buses, trolley buses, streetcars, and cable cars. I also spent part of Thursday riding BART to Oakland, taking photos of some Amtrak trains around Jack London Square, and walking into what apparently passes for downtown, before heading back.
Friday, I started my homeward journey by riding an Amtrak Thruway bus from San Francisco to Emeryville, and taking train 6(2) back home. We departed on time, but immediately lost time due to slow orders and interference from other trains.
We met the southbound Starlight (using the same trainset that I had ridden north on a few days earlier) in Sacramento, so passengers making that connection just barely made it.
While we did stop a few times in between stations, most of our time was lost due to slow running. We lost about an hour between Reno and Winnemucca, without ever stopping for another train.
I don't know where we lost time during the night, but we were about 2 hours late out of Winnemucca, and were 3 to 3.5 hours late out of Salt Lake City.
We maintained about 3.5 hours late through the entire ride through the Rockies and into Denver. We stopped for some unknown (to me) reason outside of Denver (I can't remember if this was before or after we went through the Moffat Tunnel), so we weren't able to make up time given through schedule padding.
Our departure from Denver was 3.5 hours late, but we lost more time through the night (I don't know where), and were over 4 hours late traveling through Nebraska the next morning. We lost additional time at station stops (it seemed like every other stop was a smoke stop, and the conductors appeared in no hurry to try and make up for lost time). We were five hours late through Illinois, but thanks to an hour of padding, got into Chicago four hours late (7:08 pm vs. 3:05 pm scheduled).
As we were approaching Chicago, the conductor was announcing to passengers what to do about their connections. She said that folks traveling to Michigan (Wolverine, train 354 scheduled out at 6 pm) could take a chartered van or spend a night in a hotel at Amtrak's expense, and go out the next day. Passengers traveling to Indiana (Hoosier State, train 850 scheduled out at 5:45 pm) had the same choice (with Greyhound instead of a chartered van). Passengers connecting to train 30 (due out 7:05 pm) were told that the train was leaving from track 26, and we would come in on 16. So, passengers making that connection should get off the train, enter the station, turn right, head over to track 26, etc. So, we entered the trainshed at 7:06 pm pulling into the station, and guess what train I saw pulling away?
As it turned out, the Hoosier State was late in departing anyway (it didn't get out until 7:55 pm), so passengers heading that way got their train ride instead of a Greyhound ride or a hotel room.
Overall, it was a very nice trip, despite the poor OTP of both my westbound and eastbound trains (though the westbound delay was clearly beyond anyone's control). The only complaint I submitted to Amtrak was the way the snack packs were handled on the Zephyr. The lounge car LSA announced as we approached Burlington, IA, that any coach passengers that hadn't received a snack pack should head to the lower level of the lounge car to get one. Nothing was mentioned for sleeping car passengers. When she made the "last call" for snack pack service, I went back and got one anyway (even though the first announcement specified coach passengers). As I walked back, my sleeper attendant was chatting with the dining car crew. I figured that someone should have come up to the sleepers to hand out those snack packs, as they had been handed out to coach passengers (on the Southwest Chief, I was sitting in the lounge when they handed them out, so I don't know how sleeper passengers were handled on that train). Many folks in my sleeper missed out on the snack packs since nobody had told them they existed.
Normally, I'd write a more detailed report, but I don't particularly feel like it this time, so I've just noted some of the highlights of the trip. I may get a chance to upload some photos sometime in the next couple of years.
