CL: dinner out of Chicago?

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PetalumaLoco

PetalumaLoco

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Jun 27, 2008
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Leaving for the east coast tomorrow: CZ/CL/Regional to Connecticut.

I forget, will we be served dinner on the CL leaving Chicago?

Thanks!
 
If you are in a sleeper, and if #6 arrives in enough time, you should go to the Metropolitan Lounge and get a dinner reservation before you board.

They start serving before the train departs.

If #6 is late enough that you can't get a reservation from the lounge, you will have to see the LSA in the dining car once you board.
 
Thanks guys. I vaguely remember how it works, it's been a couple of years and a few trains since I last did the CL.
 
At Chicago the CL boards around 5:45 PM. Dinner starts being served shortly thereafter. I recall that this past June we were seated around 6 or 6:30 PM. The dinner and the service was very good, although you dine in a CCC that has the weird seating arrangement not in a diner. We were seated at one of the traditional four seat tables but in those CCC cars you never know which way you will be facing. All in all not a bad dining expereince.

Make sure that you board via the metrolounge. You board early and it saves a walk through a very crowded terminal.
 
When you first enter the Metropolitan Lounge, they offer you a dinner reservation. If you get the 1st one, you can be eating even before the CL departs Union Station!
cool.gif
 
I don't know, but since sleepers are given 1st choice at times, you may be stuck with the later times. And don't forget that with the time zone change, you will lose an hour shortly after you depart. So I think they serve until like 9 or 10 PM ET!
 
I just returned from an eastbound trip on the CL. The dining car was unable to handle the demand for dinner with the capacity of the CCC car arrangement, and they finally closed at 10 pm. The same was true westbound, breakfast left some people without a meal before closing time into Chicago.
 
librarian said:
I just returned from an eastbound trip on the CL. The dining car was unable to handle the demand for dinner with the capacity of the CCC car arrangement, and they finally closed at 10 pm. The same was true westbound, breakfast left some people without a meal before closing time into Chicago.
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They need to prioritize meals for sleeper passengers and offer coach passengers dinner upon availability. The price of dinner is already in the price of our tickets. If you go back to way back when the Brodway limited ran two diner cars on the Chicago run. Today we don't even have a diner on the CL but an oddball CCC car. Beech Grove was supposed to have a real diner ready for the CL this year but so far nothing has become available. It would be nice if we knew someone who works at the Beech Grove facility to get an update on how the refurbishment process is going. The guy who thought of the CCC idea deserves a pie in his face.
 
I guess it IS a bit of sleight of hand on Amtrak's behalf.. they make a lot of fuss about the train facilities on their website, but nowhere can I find information warning that you might not be able to buy dinner, nor breakfast.. I think they should warn people to take their own food in coach!

Eddie :cool:
 
A bit of a side-track here, but when did the CL get the CCC? I thought they still had the full dining car on that train.
 
caravanman said:
I guess it IS a bit of sleight of hand on Amtrak's behalf.. they make a lot of fuss about the train facilities on their website, but nowhere can I find information warning that you might not be able to buy dinner, nor breakfast.. I think they should warn people to take their own food in coach!

Eddie :cool:
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and can you imagine being on a 27 hour overnight run without the benefit of any meals? I tell you this is terrible.
 
dlagrua said:
Beech Grove was supposed to have a real diner ready for the CL this year but so far nothing has become available. It would be nice if we knew someone who works at the Beech Grove facility to get an update on how the refurbishment process is going. The guy who thought of the CCC idea deserves a pie in his face.
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As of July 15th, out of the 20 Superliner cars scheduled to be returned to service, 8 have been returned to service. That includes 2 of the 4 dining cars scheduled for restoration. But my understanding is that all 4 diners are needed before the Capitol will loose the CCC's.

I have no info on just where in the process the remaining 2 diners are.
 
AlanB said:
dlagrua said:
Beech Grove was supposed to have a real diner ready for the CL this year but so far nothing has become available. It would be nice if we knew someone who works at the Beech Grove facility to get an update on how the refurbishment process is going. The guy who thought of the CCC idea deserves a pie in his face.
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As of July 15th, out of the 20 Superliner cars scheduled to be returned to service, 8 have been returned to service. That includes 2 of the 4 dining cars scheduled for restoration. But my understanding is that all 4 diners are needed before the Capitol will loose the CCC's.

I have no info on just where in the process the remaining 2 diners are.
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Good to hear that progress is being made but from the info that you provided it sounds like the 2 compeleted diners are moving West. Hopefully the CL will get their diner on the next release.
 
I don't remember whether it was an announcement or just the expectation that the CL would get its diner back some time ago. But then there was that coffee pot incident in the Oakland yard and no more talk of a restored diner on the CL. I have no idea whether there is a connection or not.

By the way what is the status of that unfortunate diner?
 
PaulM said:
I don't remember whether it was an announcement or just the expectation that the CL would get its diner back some time ago. But then there was that coffee pot incident in the Oakland yard and no more talk of a restored diner on the CL. I have no idea whether there is a connection or not.

By the way what is the status of that unfortunate diner?
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It was stated by Amtrak that the plan was to take those 4 diners and use them to restore full dining car service on the Capitol Limited. The CCC's currently on the Cap were to then be transferred to the Empire Builder. The CCC's would replace the Sightseer Lounge on the Portland section of the train so as to provide full hot meals for the sleeping car passengers between Spokane and Portland. The Sightseer Lounge would become part of the Seattle section of the train so as to provide full cafe service for that section of the train between Spokane and Seattle. This would eliminate the need for the LSA to run a quasi-cafe service out of the rear booth of the dining car.

The additional dining capacity created by this move on the Empire Builder would also allow Amtrak to add a second Portland sleeping car and possibly even a third Seattle sleeper to increase the trains overall capacity.

Haven't heard about the 2 dining cars that have caught fire since those plans were first announced and I have no idea if they need to be fixed before the above plans can be set in motion.
 
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It is now February, 2011. Is the CL eastbound using the real dining cars or the lounge-type car I see you folks referencing?
 
John King said:
It is now February, 2011. Is the CL eastbound using the real dining cars or the lounge-type car I see you folks referencing?
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Lounge-type. I've never had a problem getting served meal on the Capitol Limited, whether in coach or sleeper. Admittedly I usually take the earliest seating available!
 
John King said:
It is now February, 2011. Is the CL eastbound using the real dining cars or the lounge-type car I see you folks referencing?
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We haven't heard any news about the CL going back to a full dining car so I'll assume that the cafe car is still being used to serve all meals. Adding that multipurpose CCC car to the Amtrak fleet was one of the worse mistakes that Amtrak ever made. As the kitchen downstairs is virtulaly the same, they should be able to refurbish all of the interiors with full capacity dining car seating but will they?
 
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