- Joined
- May 26, 2012
- Messages
- 356
I've never attempted a trip report but I'm giving it a stab here. Last week I went on a seven day trip which involved six nights on the train and one night in a hotel. On Friday August 9th I got onto the CS in Simi Valley heading for Portland. Noticed right away that I was not going to be on the ocean front but decided it was because I was on the Mount Shasta side and that seemed ok to me. Plus since I live in the area it isn't that tough for me to take a trip to see the sights. Beautiful day for a train ride and nothing too eventful to report except whenever I'm near the prison up there I have to smile because I used to work with a guy that whenever anyone would ask him where worked for such and such years he'd say 'I was in the Lompoc area at that time' and later we realized he meant he was locked down. Trip proceeded as it should and I had a good SCA (Patty) and things were smooth. When we stopped in Emeryville I went to look out the window to see how close the Hyatt is to the station because I'd like to stay there before starting a CZ trip one day. Lo and behold here comes a man down the steps who looks familiar and I asked 'are you Charlie Hamilton?' and he said yes he was so I introduced myself to him. I had looked over the trips to see if anyone from AU would be on 'my trains' so I did know to keep an eye out for him and knew what he looks like from pix from a trip that he had posted at some point. He had no warning that a big old gal would approach but he was great about that. Things went along as they should on the overnight and ran into some rain in Eugene and then again in Portland where I changed trains to the 28.
Had a couple of funny things happen on the 28 considering that I was only on the thing for about 15 hours. Was drinking my little sparkling wine when the SCA Charles came by to ask if I wanted chicken, beef or shrimp for dinner. Requested chicken and he showed back up to tell me he only had shrimp left and asked if I was allergic and said if I was he'd get me a hamburger. Well with the threat
of the hamburger I agreed I'd take the shrimp but if you're like me you don't just eat shrimp at the drop of a hat. It's like you gotta plan ahead to have it or something. Anyway I took it and I'll be darned if it wasn't good. Those cold suppers out of Portland are different from the usual Amtrak food.
We were somewhere between Wishram and Pasco and there was a huge electric storm. I'm not great with science and/or weather so I wasn't really sure what I was looking at but it was big and went on for more than three hours. When I saw the first huge bolt I thought they must have a heck of an international airport there at Wishram to be having so much light on the runway. The sky was just lighting up and then there would be lightening bolts that were massive and I was intimidated so when Charles walked by I asked him about it figuring it is his route and I wanted him to tell me he was used to seeing this happen. But he didn't give me that comfort and instead he said 'I'm from Chicago and I've never seen anything like this before!' Yay. It turned out that there was a lot of rain somewhere past Spokane because they held the 08 for about two hours because of flash flooding down the line.
The next morning I moved from the 28 section at the back to a car towards the front and I preferred it because it was downstairs and I like to be able to step off at stops and that makes it easy. But of course you're near Room 15 down there and with it being summer and that being the family room...yup. I was thinking uhoh but I should not have prejudged them because even though it was a family of five they were great. They had rooms 15 and 11. I heard one of the children discussing cello and French lessons so I figured out that they were not troublemaking kids.
My rookie mistake...We stopped in Williston ND which is supposed to be a fuel and water stop so I stepped away from the train for a few minutes and when I looked back I realized that every door except one was already closed and locked. My heart was racing (as well as my feet) and I rushed and got into that coach along with another dummy like myself. We were the last two in except for the car attendant. It was upsetting and I guess I missed the announcement about 'you better stay train side as we will leave you'. Then the dang thing pulled out of Williston a couple of miles and sat on a track for quite some time-I think it was two hours. The SCA said a freight train engine broke down and blocked us. I told him how I almost missed the train and he said in that particular case they would have come back to pick me up but how embarrassing would that be! Whew.
The next morning when I woke up I assumed we were in Minnesota but we still in SD. At some point we were running six hours late into Chicago and that's how the coach passengers ended up getting stewed for dinner. They started dinner st 4:30 for the sleeper cars and then started moving coaches through for the stew and rice. The SCA mentioned that the LSAs kind of like to be able to write 'Service Disruption' on their paperwork and that they've passed out all the Pepsi, water, etc. so they don't have to count everything so closely.
When we arrived in Chicago we were just about six hours late and I decided I'd use a redcap for the first time in my life. When I stepped off the train there was a guy wearing a red cap, with the words Amtrak and Red Cap embroidered on it and he had a red cap cart as well. I knew I was going to ask 'Are you a red cap?' and as hard as I tried to stop myself from saying those words they came out. Geez. He agreed that he is indeed a Red Cap so I got into the cart. There were a couple of other gals that were pretty flustered by their situation and they got in as well and he took them to where they would be catching their buses. The conductor had given instructions after we left Milwaukee so folks knew whether they'd be taking a bus, staying overnight or if their train had been held and as I recall they held two trains. Those trains were waiting on adjacent tracks to ours.
I wasn't concerned because I had a reservation to stay the night over at the Hyatt at McCormick Square. The red cap hailed a cab for me and I was on my way thanks to his 'hauling and hailing'. When I was checking in I requested my points go to my AGR and not to Hyatt's guest rewards. The clerk said I was the first person he had ever had who asked for AGR. Then he said they had quite a few people coming over from Amtrak to stay the night because of a train being so late. I knew what he was referring to there.
The next day I checked out at noon and went straight to the Metropolitan Lounge to wait for the TE. Oh a thought about the Hyatt McCormick for those going to the gathering. I was surprised but the taxi fare was $10.35 going over and $10.45 the next day back to the station. I thought that was super reasonable. Of course I wasn't going during any rush hour but still...it is Chicago.
Got into the TE and we were running late for the 1:45 departure. At 2:20 we got this announcement 'Ladies and gentlemen we have a new engine. We are running checks and balances and should be on the way soon-however we are still boarding'. Pulled out at 2:59 to the announcement of 'Obviously this will impact us between here and St. Louis. After that our time is padded'.
I had never been to St. Louis so went up to the lounge car to be sure I could see the Arch and the Cardinals were playing so everything was lit up beautifully. The next day I woke up in the Ark section of Texarkana and I enjoyed the conductors during that part of the trip. They were super folksy and gave explanations of what we were passing by and I actually appreciate that because then you know what you're looking at.
Stepped off in Fort Worth and took a look at that beautiful station. It felt really muggy to me so I stepped right back on. A guy with a guitar got on there and was in the room across from me and he got his guitar right out and of course I thought 'Oh boy he's gonna play etc.' Worrying about something like that made me know I'm getting old now! But he played so beautifully that I hated when he stopped to take a little nap and then he got off in Austin anyway. I told him I loved his music and he said if he wasn't getting off there he'd play all night for me. I remembered the lesson about not judging a book by its cover!
Made it to San Antonio and that's where my happy little AGR trip took a nasty turn. Got a new SCA who was a super bully to the entire car. First thing in the morning she got on the mike and told us the bathrooms were filthy and she had spent the whole night cleaning the dirty car. None of that was true and she had been sleeping all night in the room across the hall anywy. About half an hour later she got back on the mike and said she found a paper towel on the floor and would lock the bathrooms down if they were not kept clean! Then a lady in the next room asked her to bring breakfast to her and the SCA said that just because you're downstairs doesn't mean you're handicapped. She proceeded to ask one man how old he was and he said '87' and she told him she had a 94 year old who made it to the dining car and he could too. The man had a cane and could barely get up the one step into the train. Wow. Plus the lady who had asked for breakfast came on in a wheelchair and took a good 20 minutes round trip to the restroom!! Besides which-we all have the right to request meals at our seat/accommodation. The 87 year old man did stick up for himself and say 'Believe me if I could get up those stairs I'd be up there!!' It was awful. She wound up bringing us meals but it was an ordeal coping with her. I considered asking if there was a room available in a different car that I could move to but decided to let it go.
Made it to LA and realized it would not be easy to stay in the room until 6:30 the way it is advertised! Too much noise. Caught a local train and headed for home...
I have never had a crappy SCA so that was a new experience right there. But I did have five and four of them were just great!!
Had a good time and wish I could leave again tomorrow.
Had a couple of funny things happen on the 28 considering that I was only on the thing for about 15 hours. Was drinking my little sparkling wine when the SCA Charles came by to ask if I wanted chicken, beef or shrimp for dinner. Requested chicken and he showed back up to tell me he only had shrimp left and asked if I was allergic and said if I was he'd get me a hamburger. Well with the threat
of the hamburger I agreed I'd take the shrimp but if you're like me you don't just eat shrimp at the drop of a hat. It's like you gotta plan ahead to have it or something. Anyway I took it and I'll be darned if it wasn't good. Those cold suppers out of Portland are different from the usual Amtrak food.We were somewhere between Wishram and Pasco and there was a huge electric storm. I'm not great with science and/or weather so I wasn't really sure what I was looking at but it was big and went on for more than three hours. When I saw the first huge bolt I thought they must have a heck of an international airport there at Wishram to be having so much light on the runway.
The sky was just lighting up and then there would be lightening bolts that were massive and I was intimidated so when Charles walked by I asked him about it figuring it is his route and I wanted him to tell me he was used to seeing this happen. But he didn't give me that comfort and instead he said 'I'm from Chicago and I've never seen anything like this before!' Yay. It turned out that there was a lot of rain somewhere past Spokane because they held the 08 for about two hours because of flash flooding down the line.The next morning I moved from the 28 section at the back to a car towards the front and I preferred it because it was downstairs and I like to be able to step off at stops and that makes it easy. But of course you're near Room 15 down there and with it being summer and that being the family room...yup. I was thinking uhoh but I should not have prejudged them because even though it was a family of five they were great. They had rooms 15 and 11. I heard one of the children discussing cello and French lessons so I figured out that they were not troublemaking kids.
My rookie mistake...We stopped in Williston ND which is supposed to be a fuel and water stop so I stepped away from the train for a few minutes and when I looked back I realized that every door except one was already closed and locked. My heart was racing (as well as my feet) and I rushed and got into that coach along with another dummy like myself. We were the last two in except for the car attendant. It was upsetting and I guess I missed the announcement about 'you better stay train side as we will leave you'. Then the dang thing pulled out of Williston a couple of miles and sat on a track for quite some time-I think it was two hours. The SCA said a freight train engine broke down and blocked us. I told him how I almost missed the train and he said in that particular case they would have come back to pick me up but how embarrassing would that be! Whew.
The next morning when I woke up I assumed we were in Minnesota but we still in SD. At some point we were running six hours late into Chicago and that's how the coach passengers ended up getting stewed for dinner. They started dinner st 4:30 for the sleeper cars and then started moving coaches through for the stew and rice. The SCA mentioned that the LSAs kind of like to be able to write 'Service Disruption' on their paperwork and that they've passed out all the Pepsi, water, etc. so they don't have to count everything so closely.
When we arrived in Chicago we were just about six hours late and I decided I'd use a redcap for the first time in my life. When I stepped off the train there was a guy wearing a red cap, with the words Amtrak and Red Cap embroidered on it and he had a red cap cart as well. I knew I was going to ask 'Are you a red cap?' and as hard as I tried to stop myself from saying those words they came out. Geez. He agreed that he is indeed a Red Cap so I got into the cart. There were a couple of other gals that were pretty flustered by their situation and they got in as well and he took them to where they would be catching their buses. The conductor had given instructions after we left Milwaukee so folks knew whether they'd be taking a bus, staying overnight or if their train had been held and as I recall they held two trains. Those trains were waiting on adjacent tracks to ours.
I wasn't concerned because I had a reservation to stay the night over at the Hyatt at McCormick Square. The red cap hailed a cab for me and I was on my way thanks to his 'hauling and hailing'. When I was checking in I requested my points go to my AGR and not to Hyatt's guest rewards. The clerk said I was the first person he had ever had who asked for AGR. Then he said they had quite a few people coming over from Amtrak to stay the night because of a train being so late. I knew what he was referring to there.
The next day I checked out at noon and went straight to the Metropolitan Lounge to wait for the TE. Oh a thought about the Hyatt McCormick for those going to the gathering. I was surprised but the taxi fare was $10.35 going over and $10.45 the next day back to the station. I thought that was super reasonable. Of course I wasn't going during any rush hour but still...it is Chicago.
Got into the TE and we were running late for the 1:45 departure. At 2:20 we got this announcement 'Ladies and gentlemen we have a new engine. We are running checks and balances and should be on the way soon-however we are still boarding'. Pulled out at 2:59 to the announcement of 'Obviously this will impact us between here and St. Louis. After that our time is padded'.
I had never been to St. Louis so went up to the lounge car to be sure I could see the Arch and the Cardinals were playing so everything was lit up beautifully. The next day I woke up in the Ark section of Texarkana and I enjoyed the conductors during that part of the trip. They were super folksy and gave explanations of what we were passing by and I actually appreciate that because then you know what you're looking at.
Stepped off in Fort Worth and took a look at that beautiful station. It felt really muggy to me so I stepped right back on. A guy with a guitar got on there and was in the room across from me and he got his guitar right out and of course I thought 'Oh boy he's gonna play etc.' Worrying about something like that made me know I'm getting old now! But he played so beautifully that I hated when he stopped to take a little nap and then he got off in Austin anyway. I told him I loved his music and he said if he wasn't getting off there he'd play all night for me.
I remembered the lesson about not judging a book by its cover!Made it to San Antonio and that's where my happy little AGR trip took a nasty turn. Got a new SCA who was a super bully to the entire car. First thing in the morning she got on the mike and told us the bathrooms were filthy and she had spent the whole night cleaning the dirty car. None of that was true and she had been sleeping all night in the room across the hall anywy. About half an hour later she got back on the mike and said she found a paper towel on the floor and would lock the bathrooms down if they were not kept clean! Then a lady in the next room asked her to bring breakfast to her and the SCA said that just because you're downstairs doesn't mean you're handicapped. She proceeded to ask one man how old he was and he said '87' and she told him she had a 94 year old who made it to the dining car and he could too. The man had a cane and could barely get up the one step into the train. Wow. Plus the lady who had asked for breakfast came on in a wheelchair and took a good 20 minutes round trip to the restroom!! Besides which-we all have the right to request meals at our seat/accommodation. The 87 year old man did stick up for himself and say 'Believe me if I could get up those stairs I'd be up there!!' It was awful. She wound up bringing us meals but it was an ordeal coping with her. I considered asking if there was a room available in a different car that I could move to but decided to let it go.
Made it to LA and realized it would not be easy to stay in the room until 6:30 the way it is advertised! Too much noise. Caught a local train and headed for home...
I have never had a crappy SCA so that was a new experience right there. But I did have five and four of them were just great!!
Had a good time and wish I could leave again tomorrow.
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