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Guest_Lee12Bee
Guest
I can now say I've been on a train, and I loved it! We had a great adventure going from Dallas to Washington DC. I've read several travel reports on this website and while my report might not be as structured with times and official information, it will be enthusiastic. 
We live outside of Dallas and we rode the DART train to Union Station. I've ridden the DART several times, but never with lots of luggage. Luckily we got on the train at the end of the line so we were able to lug all of our stuff on and get it stowed away without having to get in people's way.
We rode the Texas Eagle out of Dallas. It was a couple of hours late getting into Dallas. I heard a couple of reasons why it was late. We were told that there was a power line down and it affected the computer system that controls the track switches. The Texas Eagle came from out west and they were late getting into San Antonio. The passengers ended up having to be bussed from San Antonio to Dallas and as soon as their bus got to the station we were able to leave. The excuses sounded plausible to me...hey I was just excited about my upcoming adventure.
The first night we were in a roomette. It really wasn't that bad, the chairs were plenty big and the beds were comfortable. We had a laptop with us so we spent our time watching movies and reading. The only downside was not having a private bathroom, but it wasn't that big of a deal. We enjoyed meeting people in the dining car. A few were the unfortunate souls that had to ride the bus and they weren't too thrilled with trains at the time, but we understood their frustration. Luckily we met the nicest man who rode trains all the time and he enthusiastically told us about train travel. Initially, I was a little concerned about having to dine with strangers, but that ended up being one of the best parts of our trip. We met so many nice folks who we wouldn't have met had we not been placed together at the same table. By the time we got to St. Louis it was beginning to snow. I'm a life-long Texan, and I haven't seen much snow in my life, so I enjoyed the experience. We got into Chicago a couple of hours late, but we were there in plenty of time to catch our train to Washington. Actually our train out of Chicago was very late getting out, we didn't get out of the city until nearly 9:00pm, but they let us get on the train and we ate while we were waiting. The snow was really coming down by this time, and we had to wait for our crew to get their eight hours of rest. We had a room for our trip to Washington and it was very nice and roomy. We had a wonderful room attendant, Carmel. She was very patient with a few grumpy passengers and was very helpful to us. We rode on the Capital Limited and it was in better shape than the Texas Eagle. We didn't see much that first night, but I was enchanted by the scenery the next day along the Ohio and Allegheny Rivers. The scenery seen from a car or plane doesn't compare with the scenery seen from a train. (Of course I won't mention the scenery outside of downtown Dallas, Chicago or Washington DC) We were very late getting into Washington DC. We were supposed to get in around noon and we didn't get there until after 9:00pm. We were staying in Rockville, Maryland, the last stop before DC, but we were going to ride the train into DC and pick up a rental car there so we would be able to get around Rockville, and drive back to our hotel. Carmel watched the time and told us that the car rental place would be closed in Union Station by the time we would get there, so she had us get off in Rockville and told us to just catch a cab to our hotel. Needless to say we were tired and felt a wee bit stranded at the Rockville station. We called our hotel and they said it was too late to send a shuttle out for us, so we called a cab (it was freezing and still snowing), but it never showed up. A guy got off the train when we did and his cab showed up and he graciously offered to drop us off at our hotel. The next day we caught the shuttle back to the train station and rode the Metro to Washington. We picked up our rental car there and after a day of sight seeing, we drove back to Rockville. We had to use the car to get around Rockville, but we would ride the Metro whenever we would go back into Washington. We became quite the Metro riders; I figured out the different lines pretty quickly, it was so easy! We had one strange thing happen while we were on the Metro. We were all crowding on and this guy stuck his foot in the door to keep it from closing. Well, it closed on his foot and the doors wouldn't open. He started screaming and I tired to help him pull the doors apart, but they wouldn't budge. Everyone around us came forward to try to help pull the doors apart. It was nice to see so many people trying to help him. The doors eventually opened and he tried sticking his foot back in the door again. I guess he didn't learn the first time!
We had a great time in Washington and we left to come home on a Friday. Our train left on time, around 5:30pm. We had a fun time visiting in the dining car again and we had an uneventful trip to Chicago. Our train attendant to Chicago was Jamal, and he was very nice too. We pulled into Chicago on time and parked ourselves in the lounge, waiting for a trip to Dallas. We did go out and sight see a bit in Chicago while we were waiting. We are big Chicago Bulls fans so it was fun to see what Chicago was like. We caught our train to Dallas and the only negative part of our trip happened on this leg of the journey. We left on schedule but we had to pull over for three hours. We were on the Texas Eagle again, and this train was showing a lot of wear and tear. We were in a sleeping room, and we could see through to the room next door though a crack in the connecting door. We hung up a coat to cover the crack between the rooms, but the older gentlemen in the other room was such a grump, all he did was scream and yell at his poor wife. Apparently she was the one who wanted to take the train, and he announced (loudly!) every few minutes about how long we had been sitting, and how stupid she was for wasting his money. We had a great attendant, his name was Joel, and he went out of his way to try to help the poor couple. We finally pulled out our laptop and put a movie on to try cover up his yelling. Oh well, it made me appreciate how kind everyone else was. We did have an interesting person on board who was in charge of the dining car. He'd make these flamboyant dinner announcements on the PA system. His name was Mr.Martin and he had a fun way of telling people NOT to sit down until he could seat them...We did loose three hours (waiting for freight trains again(?), but I have to give the Amtrak people credit, we made up most of the time. We pulled into Dallas only an hour late.
Well, that's my trip. I had a great time, and I'm ready to go again. I learned that you have to be flexible and not be on a tight schedule. We were fortunate that we didn't have to worry about catching a flight, a train or a ship like some of the people we heard about. Thanks for all the advice, it really helped!
We live outside of Dallas and we rode the DART train to Union Station. I've ridden the DART several times, but never with lots of luggage. Luckily we got on the train at the end of the line so we were able to lug all of our stuff on and get it stowed away without having to get in people's way.
We rode the Texas Eagle out of Dallas. It was a couple of hours late getting into Dallas. I heard a couple of reasons why it was late. We were told that there was a power line down and it affected the computer system that controls the track switches. The Texas Eagle came from out west and they were late getting into San Antonio. The passengers ended up having to be bussed from San Antonio to Dallas and as soon as their bus got to the station we were able to leave. The excuses sounded plausible to me...hey I was just excited about my upcoming adventure.
The first night we were in a roomette. It really wasn't that bad, the chairs were plenty big and the beds were comfortable. We had a laptop with us so we spent our time watching movies and reading. The only downside was not having a private bathroom, but it wasn't that big of a deal. We enjoyed meeting people in the dining car. A few were the unfortunate souls that had to ride the bus and they weren't too thrilled with trains at the time, but we understood their frustration. Luckily we met the nicest man who rode trains all the time and he enthusiastically told us about train travel. Initially, I was a little concerned about having to dine with strangers, but that ended up being one of the best parts of our trip. We met so many nice folks who we wouldn't have met had we not been placed together at the same table. By the time we got to St. Louis it was beginning to snow. I'm a life-long Texan, and I haven't seen much snow in my life, so I enjoyed the experience. We got into Chicago a couple of hours late, but we were there in plenty of time to catch our train to Washington. Actually our train out of Chicago was very late getting out, we didn't get out of the city until nearly 9:00pm, but they let us get on the train and we ate while we were waiting. The snow was really coming down by this time, and we had to wait for our crew to get their eight hours of rest. We had a room for our trip to Washington and it was very nice and roomy. We had a wonderful room attendant, Carmel. She was very patient with a few grumpy passengers and was very helpful to us. We rode on the Capital Limited and it was in better shape than the Texas Eagle. We didn't see much that first night, but I was enchanted by the scenery the next day along the Ohio and Allegheny Rivers. The scenery seen from a car or plane doesn't compare with the scenery seen from a train. (Of course I won't mention the scenery outside of downtown Dallas, Chicago or Washington DC)
We were very late getting into Washington DC. We were supposed to get in around noon and we didn't get there until after 9:00pm. We were staying in Rockville, Maryland, the last stop before DC, but we were going to ride the train into DC and pick up a rental car there so we would be able to get around Rockville, and drive back to our hotel. Carmel watched the time and told us that the car rental place would be closed in Union Station by the time we would get there, so she had us get off in Rockville and told us to just catch a cab to our hotel. Needless to say we were tired and felt a wee bit stranded at the Rockville station. We called our hotel and they said it was too late to send a shuttle out for us, so we called a cab (it was freezing and still snowing), but it never showed up. A guy got off the train when we did and his cab showed up and he graciously offered to drop us off at our hotel. The next day we caught the shuttle back to the train station and rode the Metro to Washington. We picked up our rental car there and after a day of sight seeing, we drove back to Rockville. We had to use the car to get around Rockville, but we would ride the Metro whenever we would go back into Washington. We became quite the Metro riders; I figured out the different lines pretty quickly, it was so easy! We had one strange thing happen while we were on the Metro. We were all crowding on and this guy stuck his foot in the door to keep it from closing. Well, it closed on his foot and the doors wouldn't open. He started screaming and I tired to help him pull the doors apart, but they wouldn't budge. Everyone around us came forward to try to help pull the doors apart. It was nice to see so many people trying to help him. The doors eventually opened and he tried sticking his foot back in the door again. I guess he didn't learn the first time! We had a great time in Washington and we left to come home on a Friday. Our train left on time, around 5:30pm. We had a fun time visiting in the dining car again and we had an uneventful trip to Chicago. Our train attendant to Chicago was Jamal, and he was very nice too. We pulled into Chicago on time and parked ourselves in the lounge, waiting for a trip to Dallas. We did go out and sight see a bit in Chicago while we were waiting. We are big Chicago Bulls fans so it was fun to see what Chicago was like. We caught our train to Dallas and the only negative part of our trip happened on this leg of the journey. We left on schedule but we had to pull over for three hours. We were on the Texas Eagle again, and this train was showing a lot of wear and tear. We were in a sleeping room, and we could see through to the room next door though a crack in the connecting door. We hung up a coat to cover the crack between the rooms, but the older gentlemen in the other room was such a grump, all he did was scream and yell at his poor wife. Apparently she was the one who wanted to take the train, and he announced (loudly!) every few minutes about how long we had been sitting, and how stupid she was for wasting his money. We had a great attendant, his name was Joel, and he went out of his way to try to help the poor couple. We finally pulled out our laptop and put a movie on to try cover up his yelling. Oh well, it made me appreciate how kind everyone else was. We did have an interesting person on board who was in charge of the dining car. He'd make these flamboyant dinner announcements on the PA system. His name was Mr.Martin and he had a fun way of telling people NOT to sit down until he could seat them...We did loose three hours (waiting for freight trains again(?), but I have to give the Amtrak people credit, we made up most of the time. We pulled into Dallas only an hour late.
Well, that's my trip. I had a great time, and I'm ready to go again. I learned that you have to be flexible and not be on a tight schedule. We were fortunate that we didn't have to worry about catching a flight, a train or a ship like some of the people we heard about. Thanks for all the advice, it really helped!
