R
railfangns
Guest
I departed GNS on Tuesday Jan 9.The train was due in at 658am but due to a delay at Danville VA
the crescent didnt arrive until 9 am.The caretaker at the station was a bit grumpy telling me my
bags were not tagged correctly but i had amtrak tags on all of them and got upset because i
bought a Dr Pepper in a bottle and sat it on the bench to allow it to settle before i opened it.I didnt
want it to spew up on everything so i kept my drink sealed up till i got on the train.We were over
2 hours late getting into Birmingham and got further delayed because we had to let several freight
trains pass us and train 20 was there also.It was dark before we got to Meridian and we had more
freight trains delay us and we arrived in New Orleans at 11 pm.I traveled in coach.
I departed New Orleans Wednesday at 1155am in a roomette going to San Antonio Tx. The trip
across the Huey Long Bridge was nice i could see lots of damage left by Katrina.We suffered a
little freight traffic but arrived into Houston early and departed there on time and the sunset
arrived into San Antonio 20 minutes late at 320 am.The San Antonio station seats got hard
before we went out at 7 am on.
The Texas Eagle was a route i had never taken before so i got a bedroom and was pleased
with it.The dining car crew doesnt got on board till Austin so my train attendant brought
everyone in our car a nice continental breakfast. It had a bowl of cerial,a carton of milk,
a blueberry muffin,a cup of yogurt and a roll.I hoped UP would keep us on time but it
was the BNSF who stuck us in a hole. They had a freight train break down in Fort Worth
delaying us 3 hours and there was a freight train derailment near Dallas but it was cleaned up
before we got there but due to heavy Up freight traffic we didnt make up any time and we were
3 hours late getting into Chicago.
We boarded the Capitol limited around 6 pm almost an hour before our 705 pm departure.I had
a roomette which was comfortable for an overnight trip.I didnt like the Capitols new diner-lounge
car there is not enough room for 4 adults to eat at 1 table,but i liked the capitols expanded menu
which allows you to purchase food until later in the evening.We were only 30 minutes late
getting into Washington DC.
After spending 2 days sightseeing in our nations capitol i returned to Union Station Monday
afternoon. I had them hold my bags and caught a movie at the Phoenix theatres Union Station 9.
It used to be a AMC theatre but i guess another chain bought it from AMC. I traveled coach home
on the crescent because amtrak wanted around $250.00 for a roomette.I ate diner at Mcdonalds
in union station to save money i know food is high on the train.My coach was full untill we got
into Charlottesville VA but many passengers detrained there so there was room to spread out
across both seats.In fact after Clemson SC i was the only passenger left in the coach so the
attendant moved me up to the next car.The Crescent was around 10 minutes late getting into
GNS having to make 2 stops due to the short platform here.Between WAS and CVS i had 2
female conductors a first for me in my many trips on amtrak.Overall great trip, good food and
great train attendants on every train.I think every train i rode except the capitol had the same
menu i wish they would rotate them so you would get something different on each train.
Grumpy was the only bad employee i encountered during the whole trip and the station agents
at NOL SAS CHI WAS were friendly and curtious.I used the magnolia lounge in NOL it was nice.
Only thing i wished they offered snacks and drinks like the one in Chicago union station.
the crescent didnt arrive until 9 am.The caretaker at the station was a bit grumpy telling me my
bags were not tagged correctly but i had amtrak tags on all of them and got upset because i
bought a Dr Pepper in a bottle and sat it on the bench to allow it to settle before i opened it.I didnt
want it to spew up on everything so i kept my drink sealed up till i got on the train.We were over
2 hours late getting into Birmingham and got further delayed because we had to let several freight
trains pass us and train 20 was there also.It was dark before we got to Meridian and we had more
freight trains delay us and we arrived in New Orleans at 11 pm.I traveled in coach.
I departed New Orleans Wednesday at 1155am in a roomette going to San Antonio Tx. The trip
across the Huey Long Bridge was nice i could see lots of damage left by Katrina.We suffered a
little freight traffic but arrived into Houston early and departed there on time and the sunset
arrived into San Antonio 20 minutes late at 320 am.The San Antonio station seats got hard
before we went out at 7 am on.
The Texas Eagle was a route i had never taken before so i got a bedroom and was pleased
with it.The dining car crew doesnt got on board till Austin so my train attendant brought
everyone in our car a nice continental breakfast. It had a bowl of cerial,a carton of milk,
a blueberry muffin,a cup of yogurt and a roll.I hoped UP would keep us on time but it
was the BNSF who stuck us in a hole. They had a freight train break down in Fort Worth
delaying us 3 hours and there was a freight train derailment near Dallas but it was cleaned up
before we got there but due to heavy Up freight traffic we didnt make up any time and we were
3 hours late getting into Chicago.
We boarded the Capitol limited around 6 pm almost an hour before our 705 pm departure.I had
a roomette which was comfortable for an overnight trip.I didnt like the Capitols new diner-lounge
car there is not enough room for 4 adults to eat at 1 table,but i liked the capitols expanded menu
which allows you to purchase food until later in the evening.We were only 30 minutes late
getting into Washington DC.
After spending 2 days sightseeing in our nations capitol i returned to Union Station Monday
afternoon. I had them hold my bags and caught a movie at the Phoenix theatres Union Station 9.
It used to be a AMC theatre but i guess another chain bought it from AMC. I traveled coach home
on the crescent because amtrak wanted around $250.00 for a roomette.I ate diner at Mcdonalds
in union station to save money i know food is high on the train.My coach was full untill we got
into Charlottesville VA but many passengers detrained there so there was room to spread out
across both seats.In fact after Clemson SC i was the only passenger left in the coach so the
attendant moved me up to the next car.The Crescent was around 10 minutes late getting into
GNS having to make 2 stops due to the short platform here.Between WAS and CVS i had 2
female conductors a first for me in my many trips on amtrak.Overall great trip, good food and
great train attendants on every train.I think every train i rode except the capitol had the same
menu i wish they would rotate them so you would get something different on each train.
Grumpy was the only bad employee i encountered during the whole trip and the station agents
at NOL SAS CHI WAS were friendly and curtious.I used the magnolia lounge in NOL it was nice.
Only thing i wished they offered snacks and drinks like the one in Chicago union station.