Dumb question for an old-timer like me. I note the westbound SL leaves NOL 11:55 a.m. May I assume the diner will be all open and ready for business very quickly after departure?
Lunch on the Sunset Limited
- Thread starter Bill Haithcoat
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had8ley
Engineer
Bill;
Last time I rode they had first call after passing over Central Avenue and hitting the Huey Long bridge. Hope that's still the case as I'm riding next week !
stlouielady
Lead Service Attendant
One of these days I'm going to take the train out of NOL just so I can travel over that bridge! I flew into Baton Rouge ltwo weeks ago, and took highway 190 over to Opelousas, and went right under it! What an awesome train ride that would be! I believe we pretty much paralleled the tracks the entire drive. Made me anxious to ride.....
had8ley
Engineer
Sorry...you rode under the Governor Oscar K. (OK) Allen bridge in Baton Rouge. It is a freight (at this time) only operation and I don't think you would like the ride. The KCS (L&A) and the UP use it at the present time. It is single track with NO walkway on the north (upriver) side. The Huey P. Long runs from Jefferson, LA (Jefferson Parish to Avondale, LA (West Jefferson Parish) which is about 75 miles down river from Baton Rouge. There was a pax train called the Houstonian that used to run from Houston to New Orleans via the Baton Rouge bridge. It ran over the old MOP (Missouri Pacific) to Baton Rouge and then over the old Iliinois Central to NOUPT.
George Harris
Engineer
The OK Allen bridge is similar in concept to the Huey P Long, but a smaller version of it. As had8ley says, one track only. Still has two lanes cantileverd off each side. The KCS train that ran New Orleans to Kansas City also used it, so you had four passenger trains over it each way into the early or maybe even to the mid 1960's. That is, 2 NO - KC and 2 NO - Houston. In the same time frame, the Huey P Long also carried four passenger trains each way, 2 SP trains to Los Angeles and 2 T&P trains to Ft. Worth. Also 2 on each line in the reverse direction.
stlouielady
Lead Service Attendant
Oh, really? Oopsie then. I know we crossed, by car, over the Huey Long Bridge; guess that only applied to the road bridge and not the rail bridge. Never mind then; I'm just confused... :blink:
In '04 I was already in the diner for the ride over the bridge. Killer views on a really clear day!
Glad to hear we will be served right away.
The whole reason for the question was the way breafkast is often delayed until Slidell on the northbound Crescent. Which leaves right at the breafkast hour, just as the Sl leaves right at the luncheon hour.
The whole reason for the question was the way breafkast is often delayed until Slidell on the northbound Crescent. Which leaves right at the breafkast hour, just as the Sl leaves right at the luncheon hour.
had8ley
Engineer
You're not confused; the bridge was authorized by Huey who didn't live to see it open. I believe there's a sign to that effect on the east side of the river. I promise you the Huey P. Long bridge is in suburban New Orleans.
had8ley
Engineer
Bill~ you've been lucky on #20 as most of the time we don't get a first call (in the sleeper) until Picayune or further up the line. The worn out excuse is that the commissary doesn't supply the train until almost departure time. I've got the deed to the Huey P. Long if they're interested.
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G
Guest
Guest
The story seems different on every Crescent ride. I've gotten on at Hattiesburg and been told breakfast was past, other times, it's available. How much time passes between Slidell and HBG? In all fairness, the attendant did ask if he could get me anything.
While this patch of the Crescent route is being discussed, why is there such side to side movement on it somewhere between HBG & Meridian?
had8ley
Engineer
To answer your first question; the carded time into Hattiesburg for #20 is around 9:30 a.m. What most of the NYP based diner crews do is try and shove everyone who wants to eat into one seating then they sit down with their breakfast. I don't think a lot of them went to Polly Manners classes either. It's about 1'15" between Slidell and Hattiesburg. Were people still seated eating when you boarded or was the crew chowing down?
To answer your second question I think it has to do a lot with the volume of traffic on this section of track, how long it has been since it was tamped and how fast the train you are on is moving. Maybe George Harris could share some insight into this one.
G
Guest
Guest
had8ley
The experience has differed on each trip from HBG and I can't really say if the train was ontime arriving because I don't pay much attention to that detail. The station staff at Hattiesburg are very entertaining and we are usually, "visiting" (in the old Southern description of that word) to pass the time... One trip, the sleeper attendant excused himself to go eat and told me it was still open. He and other employees were animatedly talking in the other end of the diner and I sat on the end close to the sleeper. That sounds like your description. Another time, the attendant said it was past breakfast and asked if there was anything he could get for me.
On other trips I've wandered into the diner and asked if they were still serving and generally gotten a "what would you like, doll" type question and they get it. (Let me add, I'm an upfront tipper in the sleeper and they're generally not overwhelmed in the diner.)
On the manners issue (and I'm no maven)... I can't tell who is who in the food crew. One broad based (polite description) man, definitely not from the South, was spread across a table in the diner with his paper. He briefly looked up, muttered, "sit where you fit". The black lady near him told him, "I told you that one of these days you're going to get in trouble saying that". She seemed Southern. Another trip had a food crew with receipts strewn all across a table with a heated argument about something. Southerners don't talk to one another like that unless they're about to duke it out.
There's a hilarious female teenager who travels this stretch back and forth to her grandmother's. She asked me "why do they act like that?"
So, I don't know what to expect on that stretch but know that lunch arrives so quickly with its big portions that it's not bothersome to skip breakfast.
The swaying definitely gets my attention.
The experience has differed on each trip from HBG and I can't really say if the train was ontime arriving because I don't pay much attention to that detail. The station staff at Hattiesburg are very entertaining and we are usually, "visiting" (in the old Southern description of that word) to pass the time... One trip, the sleeper attendant excused himself to go eat and told me it was still open. He and other employees were animatedly talking in the other end of the diner and I sat on the end close to the sleeper. That sounds like your description. Another time, the attendant said it was past breakfast and asked if there was anything he could get for me.
On other trips I've wandered into the diner and asked if they were still serving and generally gotten a "what would you like, doll" type question and they get it. (Let me add, I'm an upfront tipper in the sleeper and they're generally not overwhelmed in the diner.)
On the manners issue (and I'm no maven)... I can't tell who is who in the food crew. One broad based (polite description) man, definitely not from the South, was spread across a table in the diner with his paper. He briefly looked up, muttered, "sit where you fit". The black lady near him told him, "I told you that one of these days you're going to get in trouble saying that". She seemed Southern. Another trip had a food crew with receipts strewn all across a table with a heated argument about something. Southerners don't talk to one another like that unless they're about to duke it out.
There's a hilarious female teenager who travels this stretch back and forth to her grandmother's. She asked me "why do they act like that?"
So, I don't know what to expect on that stretch but know that lunch arrives so quickly with its big portions that it's not bothersome to skip breakfast.
The swaying definitely gets my attention.
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