PDX Metropolitan Lounge

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Looks like they've "downgraded" the cookies from when I was there. They had fantastic chocolate chunk cookies a few years ago.....so good that I swiped a few for my return trip east!
I agree... have been going LAX there for many years... not only did they have the big chocolate chunk cookies, but they also had raison cookies and they were really chewy and good. Also remembering a time or two when going through the old Chicago station lounge they actually served meaty sandwiches you could make a meal out of. They'd put 'em out and they would be gone in just a few minutes!
 
Also remembering a time or two when going through the old Chicago station lounge they actually served meaty sandwiches you could make a meal out of. They'd put 'em out and they would be gone in just a few minutes!

I never experienced those sandwiches you refer to, however, what I miss about the old lounge is those cinnamon rolls they used to put out at breakfast time. I wish they'd do that in the current lounge, but they don't have anything more than fresh fruit and oatmeal.
 
Really? I LOVE the Philadelphia Lounge, easily my favorite. I didn’t see anything special about the Portland lounge. Maybe I missed something.
Really? Philadelphia is easily my favorite! Only negative is after the remodel they don’t have luggage storage.

I love the overlook to the historic concourse below (RIP solari board), always has great snacks when I’m there and the lounge has elevators direct to the platform.

New York is New York. It’s busy and basic but gets the job done.

The only lounge I’ve yet to visit is Boston. South station is out of the way for me when visiting.

Yep, Philly's lounge is the best. That might also be due to the great staff it has., which includes their attention to keeping the snack area fully stocked.
 
And everyone forgets about the sleeper lounge in St. Louis, MO. Which is a small sterile room on the way to the platforms. But it does have free water. Portland has a great lounge in my opinion. They closed it recently for remodeling.
 
I think the days of self-serve buffets or snack bars may be gone with the wind...
If any food or beverages are offered, an attendant will serve them...

A different day and age has arrived whether we like or not.

One wonders why?
 
My last time in the PDX lounge was 2 years ago - I would have been there again in April but that trip was a casualty of the same thing as every other trip anyone had planned.

I remember it as a comfortable and uncrowded room with a nice view out the window. Drinks but no snacks. I camped out for a few hours sipping tea and enjoying the wifi while I waited for my hotel room to be ready when I got off an on-time 27.

@Dakota 400, no it wasn't there yet in 1990. I am guessing it appeared with the 1996 remodel, but could have been anytime from the mid-90s to early 2000s as the Cascades service levels increased.
 
The Portland lounge was a storage area and an office space when the station staff decided they needed a lounge as the connecting First Class traffic built up. Then the Talgoes attracted Business Class passengers. They fixed it up themselves and for a while it didn't even show in Amtrak listings. When I was last there (in 2019) staff told me that renovations were planned.

I've only had one rude experience there, when they closed earlier than advertised on a Thanksgiving eve. Luckily the waiting room snack bar stayed open till my Seaside Thruway bus left. Other times they've been great. They would let my 80's/90's year-old father drop in to visit with me when I was passing through. (And he can tell lots of Union Station stories back into the 1930's!)

I'll have to ask my dad, but I think the Portland lounge space was the coin-op amusement machine enclave before becoming a storage room. And before that, I think it was where the SP Red Electric passengers waited for their trains to Corvallis (Track One had catenary).
 
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Really? Philadelphia is easily my favorite! Only negative is after the remodel they don’t have luggage storage.

By no luggage storage, do you mean no luggage room with a red cap guarding the door like the old CHI lounge, or no spot where you can dump your luggage like all the rest, at least those I've been to: new CHI, WAS, LAX, PDX, and NYP?
 
By no luggage storage, do you mean no luggage room with a red cap guarding the door like the old CHI lounge, or no spot where you can dump your luggage like all the rest, at least those I've been to: new CHI, WAS, LAX, PDX, and NYP?

Nowhere to store luggage at all. The attendant was very nice but said that luggage storage was not offered, but that I could store it at the Amtrak baggage room for a fee.
 
PHL used to have cabinets where you could place your bags while waiting or while you go get something to eat in the station. However, those were removed during “the improvements“.

Any lounge that doesn’t have a place to put your bags, even unguarded – can’t exactly be the best Amtrak lounge in the United States in my opinion…
 
Well, I do like the extensive choice of drinks, the large snack options and the 4 elevators that go DIRECTLY to the platform from the Lounge.

I don’t know of any other Lounge where you can go directly from the Lounge to within 10 feet of your train without going into the station itself. (The closest was the old CHI Lounge going out the side door to the EB!)
 
Well, I do like the extensive choice of drinks, the large snack options and the 4 elevators that go DIRECTLY to the platform from the Lounge.

I don’t know of any other Lounge where you can go directly from the Lounge to within 10 feet of your train without going into the station itself. (The closest was the old CHI Lounge going out the side door to the EB!)
The couple times I have used the DC lounge I just went out a side door, down a nearby escalator, and there was our train (once it was the Crescent and once it was an Acela.)
 
The attendants at PHL are wonderful. They miss the baggage closets, too (removed, I believe, for “security” when they redid the lounge), but they have held my bag at the desk if I wanted to go down and get a snack or magazine. (The rule may be stricter, now—it’s been a while.)

The PHL lounge is especially good for people like me who have no sense of direction or, more important, for people who have not taken an LD train before and are afraid. (Some really
are!)

I have seen the attendant explain the procedure calmly and patiently to passengers on the verge of a panic attack because it is new and frightening to them.

And between the attendant walking through and calling out that they will be boarding at elevator 3 for train 97 and walking through again to make sure they have everyone, and the red cap appearing and saying “train 97!” and everyone else for train 97 lining up at gate 3 and saying to each other “ is 97, right?”—honestly, even I couldn’t get on the wrong train if I wanted 97!😁

After the red cap takes you down on the elevator, you get deposited on the platform and the red cap stays with you til the train comes in, explaining exactly where to stand if you are sleeper or coach.

It really is the smoothest and most helpful boarding procedure I’ve been through.
 
I seem to remember it being elevator 3 for 97, but again, it’s been a while—don’t all go lining up for elevator 3 on my word —wait for the attendant!😁😊
 
“This is 97,” not just “is 97.”—back to typing class.

Also, while I’m rambling, I will mention that there is just one bad thing about going on a sleeper on 97 from PHL: on the platform, the sleeper passengers get to wait in the one spot where there is a leak in the roof, so you have to dodge water on your head as you wait for your elegant roomette!😮
 
The couple times I have used the DC lounge I just went out a side door, down a nearby escalator, and there was our train (once it was the Crescent and once it was an Acela.)

That's what I recall could be done when I boarded the Silver Meteor. I used a Red Cap with his cart and after he collected us, we went through the side door, got onto his cart, and it was a short ride to the train.

WAS Red Cap service was excellent, I thought! Departing as well as arriving.
 
Are you sure? This is not '38', but it's ' old 97'...."

🤣


Oh Gosh railiner! This is my favorite song. Thank you for igniting memories! I got two other favs... City of New Orleans has so many versions I had a hard time figuring which one to post... but you gotta Arlo Guthrie... this has a great mix of the singer, restored and original shots. DO ENJOY!

 
The couple times I have used the DC lounge I just went out a side door, down a nearby escalator, and there was our train (once it was the Crescent and once it was an Acela.)
That is true, but it’s still like 50-100 yards to get to the escalator. From the PHL Lounge, you take the elevator from the Lounge, and when the door opens, you’re on the platform!

In DC, the Red Caps take you by cart to the lower level tracks by going way out to cross the tracks. Or if it’s bad weather (or if they feel like it), they can also go thru the luggage room! (I’ve had both.)
 
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