Just a short trip report on our first trip out of our new home in Greenville, SC on our new “home” train the Crescent.
I have been monitoring the Crescent’s timeliness for over a month so I was not surprised to receive a delay notice from AMTRAK on Wednesday evening. As the evening passed the delay increased. Ultimately, the Crescent arrived at 1:46 AM on Thursday morning. We were greeted by our LSA, Lester, who advised that our beds were made and breakfast would be served starting at 6:30 AM.
We quickly stowed our gear, set up our extension cord etc, went bed and slept well through the night awakening promptly at 6:30 AM. ( must be the power of suggestion!), and went to breakfast.
We had the pancakes ( my wife brought the real maple syrup). We were joined by a nice couple from Greensboro, NC and had an enjoyable time visiting with them.
We returned to our roomette and enjoyed the trip through the Shenandoah Valley and on into Washington DC where the Diesel engine was switched out for an electric one.
Shortly after leaving DC , it was announced that the dinning car would be open for lunch ( here the lateness of the train worked in our favor because if on time, the train would have arrived in Wilmington before lunch).
In any event, we went to the diner and were seated with another pleasant couple from Tuscaloosa Alabama. My wife and I both ordered our favorite the mussels along with a bottle of white wine to both flavor the mussels, as well to accompany our lunch. We asked for a small salad to share. Our waiter advised that they had no small salads but only entree salads but he would see what he could do. Along with our mussels, our waiter brought a small salad and an extra bowl so we could share it. When I asked him about it, he said he was able to make it. (I presume he made it from an entree salad).
Shortly after, finishing our lunch, we went back to our roomette, got our things together and arrived at our destination Wilmington arriving approximately 2 hours late.
During the trip, I was able to have extensive discussions with various employees who shall remain unnamed for obvious reasons.
All employees were very unhappy with what is happening with the diner (this is really an understatement). Further, they seem to be very concerned about the future of the LD trains.
With respect to the Crescent in particular, and it lack of on time performance, they blamed it on NS. They say it is so bad that if they are 2 hours late, they deem it as on time!
All in all, we enjoyed the trip. The lateness didn’t bother us, we expected it, but didn’t like having to wait until 1:45 AM to catch it. We are much spoiled by our former 9:11 AM time to catch the Silver Meteor in Deerfield Beach but I guess we will adapt!
I have been monitoring the Crescent’s timeliness for over a month so I was not surprised to receive a delay notice from AMTRAK on Wednesday evening. As the evening passed the delay increased. Ultimately, the Crescent arrived at 1:46 AM on Thursday morning. We were greeted by our LSA, Lester, who advised that our beds were made and breakfast would be served starting at 6:30 AM.
We quickly stowed our gear, set up our extension cord etc, went bed and slept well through the night awakening promptly at 6:30 AM. ( must be the power of suggestion!), and went to breakfast.
We had the pancakes ( my wife brought the real maple syrup). We were joined by a nice couple from Greensboro, NC and had an enjoyable time visiting with them.
We returned to our roomette and enjoyed the trip through the Shenandoah Valley and on into Washington DC where the Diesel engine was switched out for an electric one.
Shortly after leaving DC , it was announced that the dinning car would be open for lunch ( here the lateness of the train worked in our favor because if on time, the train would have arrived in Wilmington before lunch).
In any event, we went to the diner and were seated with another pleasant couple from Tuscaloosa Alabama. My wife and I both ordered our favorite the mussels along with a bottle of white wine to both flavor the mussels, as well to accompany our lunch. We asked for a small salad to share. Our waiter advised that they had no small salads but only entree salads but he would see what he could do. Along with our mussels, our waiter brought a small salad and an extra bowl so we could share it. When I asked him about it, he said he was able to make it. (I presume he made it from an entree salad).
Shortly after, finishing our lunch, we went back to our roomette, got our things together and arrived at our destination Wilmington arriving approximately 2 hours late.
During the trip, I was able to have extensive discussions with various employees who shall remain unnamed for obvious reasons.
All employees were very unhappy with what is happening with the diner (this is really an understatement). Further, they seem to be very concerned about the future of the LD trains.
With respect to the Crescent in particular, and it lack of on time performance, they blamed it on NS. They say it is so bad that if they are 2 hours late, they deem it as on time!
All in all, we enjoyed the trip. The lateness didn’t bother us, we expected it, but didn’t like having to wait until 1:45 AM to catch it. We are much spoiled by our former 9:11 AM time to catch the Silver Meteor in Deerfield Beach but I guess we will adapt!
