Dining Car Mishaps

[Sbaitso]

I always find my trips to the dining car to be some of the biggest adventure on my extremely limited rail trips. They do tend to provide some of the best memories of the trips.

On my last trip, somewhere in Virginia just after going over a nosebleed high bridge, a perfectly sweet and innocent looking retired lady launched the contents of her coffee cup at me as the train jumped what felt like several feet in the air. As the coffee sailed through the air, time froze for an instant and our eyes met. I'm sure the look on my face was as priceless as the look on hers. Thankfully the coffee wasn't hot and almost all of it landed on the table just in front of me. I still can't help but smile when I think about it.

I spend a good portion of the trip plotting my journey, yet I always manage to time it to match the worst set of tracks the train will encounter. As I stumble out of the car the train always seems to return to a steady glide and I mutter quietly to myself.

What kind of dining car adventures have others experienced?

 

[jphjaxfl]

I have been traveling by train for over 60 years and eating in Dining Cars since I was 4 years old. I have never had any sort of mishaps in the Dining Car even on the roughest trackage. I have always been amazed at how well the Dining Car wait staff handle their trays on rough track. The Penn Central track that the Floridian operated on between Chicago and Louisville was some of the worst with many 10 MPH slow orders. The coffee cups could never be more than half full to prevent spillage. Many times when the track was rough the Dining Car staff would warn passengers and do things to prevent mishaps.

 

[daveyb99]

How about the 'mishap' that cut staff and cooks........

 

[OlympianHiawatha]

I always find my trips to the dining car to be some of the biggest adventure on my extremely limited rail trips. They do tend to provide some of the best memories of the trips.

On my last trip, somewhere in Virginia just after going over a nosebleed high bridge, a perfectly sweet and innocent looking retired lady launched the contents of her coffee cup at me as the train jumped what felt like several feet in the air. As the coffee sailed through the air, time froze for an instant and our eyes met. I'm sure the look on my face was as priceless as the look on hers. Thankfully the coffee wasn't hot and almost all of it landed on the table just in front of me. I still can't help but smile when I think about it.

I spend a good portion of the trip plotting my journey, yet I always manage to time it to match the worst set of tracks the train will encounter. As I stumble out of the car the train always seems to return to a steady glide and I mutter quietly to myself.

What kind of dining car adventures have others experienced?

At least she didn't launch the contents of her stomach

A couple years ago I fell target to a glass of orange juice that flew off the server's tray on a bump, but luckily most of it missed.

 

[Guest]

My diner memories are of all the various people I have shared meals with from all over the world!My favorite food adventure was leaving CHI on the Texas Eagle and a lady seated with me ordered the steak, the waiter told her "We're out, just served the last one!" This was the first meal (dinner)served heading SB out of CHI and we were in the diner in the early setting with perhaps five other passengers! :blink: :lol:

 

[rrdude]

As a waiter on board Amtrak, in the summer B4 the Superliners were introduced, the AC was out on the Chief, and it must have been near 100 degrees. We had every door or vent open, but it was still unbearable. As I was placing a customer's ice tea on the table, a couple of beads of sweat fell off my forehead, directly into his glass. I started to pull the glass back, to bring him a new one, but before I could, he grabbed it, and literally gulped it down. I'm guessing he didn't see the sweat.....

I nervously looked around, but no one else seemed to have seen it, or if they did, they didn't make eye contact with me.

That's the summer I also learned about the "5 second rule" in the kitchen, working as a prep cook....... :lol:

 

[yarrow]

That's the summer I also learned about the "5 second rule" in the kitchen, working as a prep cook....... :lol:

i think i know what the "5 second rule" is but i had better have you explain it to be sure

 

[Tony]

In reading thru this, I have to wonder if the answer has changed, with Amtrak changing to disposable tableware. I mean, were the old glass glasses, with their thick and heavy bottoms, less likely to spill or tip when a track bump is hit, than today's plastic glasses.

 

[Tony]

That's the summer I also learned about the "5 second rule" in the kitchen, working as a prep cook....... :lol:

i think i know what the "5 second rule" is but i had better have you explain it to be sure

Don't heat any dinner for more than 5 seconds in the microwave, for those "impatient" passengers? :help:

 

[had8ley]

Way back in the Dark Ages (not of rail service though) I was sitting in a cafe-diner on the Pittsfield line of the New Haven RR coming back from summer camp. I had just one dollar to my name and I ordered accordingly. I think I netted some pancakes and milk for my money with a dime left over for a tip(I was maybe 8 years old.)I took one sip of the milk and it was sour. The rest of the campers and counselors got restless and headed back to the coaches. I sat there and enjoyed a hot chocolate that the waiter insisted I have in place of the bad milk. Although it was late August that hot chocolate tasted awful good and I made it last a long way. Wish I had $5 back then as the waiter would certainly have it in his pocket when I left the diner as we entered the Park Avenue tunnel.

 

[Rail Freak]

Way back in the Dark Ages (not of rail service though) I was sitting in a cafe-diner on the Pittsfield line of the New Haven RR coming back from summer camp. I had just one dollar to my name and I ordered accordingly. I think I netted some pancakes and milk for my money with a dime left over for a tip(I was maybe 8 years old.)I took one sip of the milk and it was sour. The rest of the campers and counselors got restless and headed back to the coaches. I sat there and enjoyed a hot chocolate that the waiter insisted I have in place of the bad milk. Although it was late August that hot chocolate tasted awful good and I made it last a long way. Wish I had $5 back then as the waiter would certainly have it in his pocket when I left the diner as we entered the Park Avenue tunnel.

Nice memory, thanx for sharing!

RF

 

[ROSEMARY]

That's the summer I also learned about the "5 second rule" in the kitchen, working as a prep cook....... :lol:

i think i know what the "5 second rule" is but i had better have you explain it to be sure

Don't heat any dinner for more than 5 seconds in the microwave, for those "impatient" passengers? :help:

no, anything dropped on the floor can be eaten as long as it does'nt lay there for longer than 5 seconds

 

[PetalumaLoco]

That's the summer I also learned about the "5 second rule" in the kitchen, working as a prep cook....... :lol:

i think i know what the "5 second rule" is but i had better have you explain it to be sure

Don't heat any dinner for more than 5 seconds in the microwave, for those "impatient" passengers? :help:

The substance of the rule is that if food falls on the ground, it may be safely eaten as long as it is picked up within five seconds.

Don't you believe it! E.coli can't tell time!

 

[Shanghai]

I was traveling on the Cardinal with my wife. We were having dinner with another couple. I was sitting on the

outside of our side of the table. Suddenly, the train hit a bump and I went flying to the floor - still holding my

fork!! I was able to get back into my seat and finish my dinner.

 

[Crescent ATN & TCL]

My diner memories are of all the various people I have shared meals with from all over the world!My favorite food adventure was leaving CHI on the Texas Eagle and a lady seated with me ordered the steak, the waiter told her "We're out, just served the last one!" This was the first meal (dinner)served heading SB out of CHI and we were in the diner in the early setting with perhaps five other passengers! :blink: :lol:

Not sure about the Texas Eagle, but there is a cook on the Crescent that cooks a certain number of everything and when they are gone they are gone until the next meal. He is also the one that likes to play with cooking methods and can end up with some very bad food. The worst time was when he tried to turn the baked chicken into fried chicken. He is also notorious for over using the microwave...

 

[had8ley]

Yep...that's a NYP based crew so you fortunately won't catch "Dangerous Dan" on the TE. Unfortunately, the diner is the only car on the Crescent that is NYP based; all the rest of the OBS crew is NOL based.It only takes one yo-yo to burn a rare steak~ been there with him and never got another 'cause he didn't cook anymore :angry2:

 

[Tony]

Don't heat any dinner for more than 5 seconds in the microwave, for those "impatient" passengers? :help:

The substance of the rule is that if food falls on the ground, it may be safely eaten as long as it is picked up within five seconds.

Don't you believe it! E.coli can't tell time!

I guess my little joke flopped. :huh:

 

[RRrich]

Way back in the Dark Ages (not of rail service though) I was sitting in a cafe-diner on the Pittsfield line of the New Haven RR coming back from summer camp. I had just one dollar to my name and I ordered accordingly. I think I netted some pancakes and milk for my money with a dime left over for a tip(I was maybe 8 years old.)I took one sip of the milk and it was sour. The rest of the campers and counselors got restless and headed back to the coaches. I sat there and enjoyed a hot chocolate that the waiter insisted I have in place of the bad milk. Although it was late August that hot chocolate tasted awful good and I made it last a long way. Wish I had $5 back then as the waiter would certainly have it in his pocket when I left the diner as we entered the Park Avenue tunnel.

What camp??? Mother was affiliated with the Jayson Camps (Owaissa & Monterey) and I am leaving by train to see her in PIT Tuesday

 

[had8ley]

Way back in the Dark Ages (not of rail service though) I was sitting in a cafe-diner on the Pittsfield line of the New Haven RR coming back from summer camp. I had just one dollar to my name and I ordered accordingly. I think I netted some pancakes and milk for my money with a dime left over for a tip(I was maybe 8 years old.)I took one sip of the milk and it was sour. The rest of the campers and counselors got restless and headed back to the coaches. I sat there and enjoyed a hot chocolate that the waiter insisted I have in place of the bad milk. Although it was late August that hot chocolate tasted awful good and I made it last a long way. Wish I had $5 back then as the waiter would certainly have it in his pocket when I left the diner as we entered the Park Avenue tunnel.

What camp??? Mother was affiliated with the Jayson Camps (Owaissa & Monterey) and I am leaving by train to see her in PIT Tuesday

Camp Cranwell; it is now a golf resort on Route 20 about 4 miles outside the town of Lenox, about 10 miles south of Pittsfield.. It was also a Jesuit boarding school that closed in 1975 and sat idle, all 500 acres and a beach at Laurel Lake, for about 10 years. I graduated from the boarding school that they ran in the winter and spent 10 years there between camp and school.I would go home to Scottsdale,AZ by train and never knew the routing until my grandfather showed up with a book full of Pullman tix.If I could just turn the clock back to those drawing room days and stewards decked out in the diners inviting you to come enjoy a meal with them.

 

[Cho Cho Charlie]

I took one sip of the milk and it was sour.

Had that happen on Amtrak. :giggle:

 

[supergrandmother]

On my cross country trip earlier this summer, I was having dinner with 2 elderly ladies (a good bit older than me and I'm 60+) and a single gentleman. Won't mention the name of the train because it might give away the identity of the two ladies. Anyway, during dinner they mentioned that they had already consumed a couple of glasses each of an alcoholic beverage AND they ordered a half bottle of wine to drink with dinner. It took us a while to eat because they were so funny! :giggle: :giggle: By the time we finished dinner and they had finished their wine, it was pretty obvious that they were both "lit"! :giggle: The track was fairly rough at that point so as we all prepared to leave the diner, the gentleman offered to walk the ladies back to their sleeper. I was really glad that he did because I'm not sure they could have made it even if the train was sitting still. Not really a mishap there....really a near miss... if he had not walked them back. I don't think I enjoyed a meal more than that one during my 12 days on the train.

 

[AlanB]

I've not seen a waiter loose/drop anything in all my travels, but I've certainly seen more than one glass of something either fall over from a bump or get knocked over by a passenger. I also watched once as my then 4 year old niece meticulously buttered and prepared her bagle on the Auto Train years ago. She probably spent 5 minutes getting that bagle ready to her satisfaction. She lifted up the half to take her first bite when we hit a big bump. Her bagle sailed right out of her hand and landed butter side down on the floor. Needless to say she was devastated for a few minutes at the loss of her prized bagel.

Now twisting this slightly the other direction, coming out to the west coast last Thursday, we had a waiter on the LSL who was a nimble as I've seen seen on a train. It was almost like watching a ballet as he weaved up and down the aisle with his tray full of food and drink. And he'd be dramatically waving his tray around in exagerated circles. More than one person cringed anticipating getting drenched, but he never spilt a drop.

Equally important is the fact that he was polite to a fault, always smiling, seemed to enjoy his job, and he provided excellant and timely service.

 

[caravanman]

One of the most entertaining servers I encountered was an African American guy called Red.. he was on my very first long distance Amtrak train, the Zephyr, and had us all very entertained with his witty banter and jokes.

Among the least happy meals was on the Texas Eagle.. We had missed the connection from Los Angeles, and so were bussed to catch up with the train. On the bus I was sat in front of a lady who coughed and sneezed over the back of my head the whole journey! Catching the train and heading for the diner, the attendant asked me to sit opposite this same lady. I just point blank refused, and the attendant sat me elsewhere.. but he sat the wierdest man ever next to me.. I think it was his punishment!

A trip report of that first journey can be found here..!

Cheers,

Eddie