Early morning etiquette advice

[julieandrews]

At the end of October, I'm going to be taking the train from Chicago to NY via Pittsburgh. This means getting off in Pittsburgh at 5:30 am. I was going to go coach, but I was wondering how does getting off from coach at such an ungodly hour affect the other coach passangers? For example, can an attendant wake me at say 5am as if I set an alarm, it's going to wake everybody else too? If I had someone sitting beside be, I guess I should offer to sit on the aisle seat if I'm not already there so I don't have to wake them up to get off the train. What usually happens in these situations? Thanks!

 

[RailFanLNK]

Do you have a cellphone with an alarm that vibrates that you can stick into a pocket of your shorts or jeans? I have never asked for a specific time to be awaken, but in Lincoln NE its a service stop where they change out the engineers so there's about a 6 minute layover (which is long in Amtrak vernacular) and they wake you right when you are pulling into the station. Something I ALWAYS do when de-training at such an odd hour is have everything in its place. I mean nothing stuck in the seatback other than my bottle of water. I don't have stuff "here" and stuff "there" and stuff "downstairs" etc. I have everything at my fingertips packed and ready to lift off the luggage rack or the overhead bin and walk off the train.

Your going to pimp yourself out of a fairly decent place to sleep (the window) if you feel like thats a big deal to sleep on the aisle. I'm not asking you to be rude, but you will have to wake someone up to climb over them wether you are detraining or getting up in the middle of the night to go to the bathroom. So to me, to give up the window seat (if you have it) so you don't wake someone up isn't worth it. Remember, the person you wake up once or twice during the night is going to be someone you will probably never see again. The only thing I keep in the seatback other than my water is my bungee cord that I use to stap my pillow to my suitcase as it rolls down the aisle of the train. I also stick my blanket that I'm using into the pillow and then bungee cord that to my carryon as I walk through the train or leaving the train station. If you are on Superliner equipment, there's a downstairs, on viewliner equipment there's only one level.

 

[BillyJo]

I just did this same route last week.

Just so you know, our ENTIRE coach car was filled with people getting off in Pittsburgh. For some, it was the end of the line, for others, they were going to transfer to the Pennsylvanian, like you will be.

The conductor came through about 15 minutes before we got to the station, and woke everyone up. I was already awake, so it wasn't a big deal. Now, I don't know how many PGH people will be on your train, but there were a ton on mine, so this really wasn't an issue.

Good luck!

 

[wayman]

in Lincoln NE its a service stop where they change out the engineers so there's about a 6 minute layover (which is long in Amtrak vernacular)

Well, medium--I wouldn't say "long" since there are several half-hour scheduled stops But since the vast majority of stops are two minutes or less, yes, Lincoln is still notable for having plenty of extra time.

Most of the time, when I'm drowsing but not quite asleep, I've observed conductors or car attendants waking passengers about ten to fifteen minutes in advance of their night-time stops, based on walking through the train and looking at everyone's seat-checks.

 

[the_traveler]

I took the CZ a few years ago RNO-SLC. At that time, arrival into SLC was ~3:30 AM. The CA woke me up at about 3:15 AM to tell me that SLC was in 15 minutes. (SLC is an extended time stop.)

I've also boarded in the middle of the night.

 

[julieandrews]

I took the CZ a few years ago RNO-SLC. At that time, arrival into SLC was ~3:30 AM. The CA woke me up at about 3:15 AM to tell me that SLC was in 15 minutes. (SLC is an extended time stop.)
I've also boarded in the middle of the night.

Ok, that sounds all very good then. Thanks everyone!

 

[socalsteve]

I took the CZ a few years ago RNO-SLC. At that time, arrival into SLC was ~3:30 AM. The CA woke me up at about 3:15 AM to tell me that SLC was in 15 minutes. (SLC is an extended time stop.)
I've also boarded in the middle of the night.

Ok, that sounds all very good then. Thanks everyone!

The other bit of good news is that the eastbound CL seems to be a bit late getting into Pittsburgh. It was an hour late when I was on it (in sleepers, though) a couple weeks ago. That extra hour of sleep was very nice!

And yes, there will be a trip report coming whenever I can get off my lazy a** and do it.