Sleeping Car Attendant Hall of Fame?

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I have had Tom (Finnegan) on the Lake Shore Limited and nominate him.

I have actually had him three times and each time his service, attitude and availablity was outstanding.
 
Slightly off thread but close enough!! How dose Amtrak select a crew for each train? Ive riden

the cz eb swc roundtrip in sleeper and for the most part had great crews but once on

the cz and once on the swc it seemed the whole crew was sub par, was this on purpose

or just the luck of the draw? Dose Amtrak try to mix good ones and poor ones (crews)

based on performance or dose that hve nothing to do with it!

Trainfan
 
It is based on a combination of seniority, location, and personal choice. Based on seniority crews bid to the routes they want, that's the first way the great and most experienced ones get where they are. The second, of course, is the crew base. The LSL obviously won't have a LAX based crew--
 
Of the three I have been on I would rate the EB 1 SWC 2 CZ 3 as far as the quality

of personel on the crew>

Trainfan
 
Man, I've had my share of good SCA's.

1. Reggie Howard on the CZ, reminds me of a very tall Linc from the Mod Squad.

2. Ephram from the SWC. Top notch, didn't bug you much but was always there.

3. Nathan Lamar on the CZ. Brought candies and his own magazines for the passengers in the SC.

4. His last name was Maldanaldo and he was from El Salvador. I can't remember his first name (Julio ?) and he was on the CS. I can't pick a #1, but Reggie Howard treated my family (I had only been dating Brenda for 7 months) and Brenda's daughters so well on thier first train trip. That trip would have been the best but the return crew on the 6 was the biggest bunch of jackasses I had ever seen working on ANY train.

5. Jim (not Hudson) :giggle: on the Texas Eagle. I had a "Amtrak virgin" with me on that trip and the guy is from NJ. We were all together Christmas weekend and my buddy from NJ was telling about 15 people how great Amtrak was. Part of this was because of the service we got from Jim.
 
What a great thread this is! Probably one of the best I have ever read on AU.

Sorry, I haven't ridden a sleeper in recent years that I could nominate anyone, but it is a pleasure regardless to hear about employees taking pride in their craft and rendering superb service.

Keep this going! Perhaps it should be a 'sticky'? :)
 
I have encountered many good, some average, and one bad. But I have had the absolute joy of two exceptional SCA--both of which were on the CZ. Lawrence (#6) and Janelle (#5) made our trip a real treat. It was obvious they both loved their jobs and their guests. You can bet that Amtrak heard about them from me.
 
Ryan said:
ALC_Rail_Writer said:
Though my all time favorite is Lou.
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Older black gentleman, grey hair? Thin guy, not too tall?
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You just described a half-dozen Amtrak OBS I have been with, but no-- Lou is white, balding, paunchy and very friendly. He played "Conductor" on the Good Morning America special. During 07-08 he worked the CL. He has been on board corporate trains, working on the Beech Grove when Boardman took it out to LA, once.
 
On our recent trips on the Silvers (Star going North and Meteor going South) we had excellent service from our SCA's. Jay McDonald served us on the Star and Preston Ross served us on the Meteor. They both had great attitudes and Preston volunteered to do above and beyond. They made the trip a pleasure!
 
I am very new to train travel, but my "Maiden Voyage" (I have forever been converted, no more airplanes for me!) occured 12/27/10, a simple trip from Indianapolis to Chicago, but by the time I actually booked, the only thing left was a Roomette. Being new to the whole 'train' experience, I was a little nervous, but those fears were immediately relieved by SCA OWEN ---, on the CARDINAL.

I confessed that this was my first train ride, and OWEN was like a little schoolboy, eager to show off HIS train! After the 'nickel tour' Owen suggested a nap before breakfast. Owen knocked on my door at 7:30a to wake me up, AND delivered a wonderfully fresh, hot cup of coffee along with the wake-up.

I arrived back at my room after breakfast, (which had been converted from night to day quarters). An hour later, OWen appeared at my door, with yet ANOTHER fresh, hot cup of coffee. OWEN did everything necessary to convert this plane traveler to a TRAIN traveler. I am planning 6 more trips this year, and unless I have to travel over a large body of water, I don;t intend to EVER get back on a plane!

THANKS OWEN!

And yes, I DID send AMTRAK a letter about Owen's wonderful performance. As an employer, this is the kind of guy I would love to have on my own personal hospitality staff. Hospitality workers that treat the business as their own, and make you feel like one of the family are hard to come by.

Diana in Indiana
 
I had to bump this thread back to the top.

My SCA from the 830 car 17-19 March was wonderful. The number of ways she went out of her way to assist is too numerous to list here.

One comment I overheard was when a passenger asked if he could access his bag in the lower level storage area. The SCA went down and brought a rather large bag up to him. He said that the bag was heavy. The SCA said " Don't worry, if I can throw hay, I can carry this little bag.

WAY TO GO!!! Dorothy Biro!!

Amtrak is getting a letter about the execptional service from both Dorothy and the Dining car staff. I took the time to get all of their names from the LSA.

Anastasia Salazar and the Dining Staff. My complments.
 
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Marcie on the Crescent, at age 68, gets my vote. It's not because of her age but I'm sure she could blow smoke rings around most of the younger crowd without even trying. She knows what each guest needs and anticipates each person's needs. Five star, for sure. :hi:
 
I do not remember this fellows name... But I beleive he was the Dining Car Attendant on the Lake Shore Limited's Full Heritage Diner. He seemed to be the man in charge. He wore an apron and held the coffee pot. The passengers in the Diner were so happy with him, they were giving him a firm handshake right at the table over breakfast. The man was VERY proud of his diner, and was extremely knowledgable about it. I was telling my family how important a full heritage diner was, and how excited I was to have breakfast in one, and this gentleman comes up to the table right next to ours and begins to tell many stories about the Golden Age of Railroading and the future of high speed rail, and well as information about the very Diner we were having breakfast in. He knew the date it was built (1954 or so) and even the original train it was on, pre amtrak. Even though we were not sleeping car passengers, we were treated 1st class all the way. I suppose I was lucky we had breakfast right when the diner opened just outside of cleveland (eastbound). In fact, I think all the passengers in the diner were just hopping on board from cleveland like us. It seemed like the sleeping car passengers hadn't awakened yet. But the point is, a great dining car attendant (is this the name of the position?).
 
We just rode the EB both ways for the first time. Paul was an excellent SCA. Very attentive and friendly. Realy went out of his way when we told him we were first timers.

On the way back we had Isaac. Little different style, not quite as friendly, but certainly more than adequate.
 
Just got back from a trip on the SL/TE and had two very good SCAs. Brian did a nice job in the 0130 Sleeper, and Cynthia was very pleasant and attentive in the 2230 Sleeper.
 
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Guest said:
Just got back from a trip on the SL/TE and had two very good SCAs. Brian did a nice job in the 0130 Sleeper, and Cynthia was very pleasant and attentive in the 2230 Sleeper.
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Isnt it funny how often the same names show up in this Catagory! :cool: The MIAs/the Lazy and the Couldnt Care Less types aren't usually named but hopefully they, along with these Excellent OBS, are given a shout out to Customer Relations! :lol:
 
Henry on the Southwest Chief was a great SCA. He welcomed us, and made sure we knew how to work everything in the roomette, he helped out in the dining car, and he was even in the Sightseer Lounge on the microphone giving a "travelogue". Hope we see him again on our next trip!
 
I decided to pull the responses together into one post. Everyone on this list has at least one vote; more if indicated. (I'm sure I made an error - my apologies)

Auto Train

Champagne

California Zephyr

Rob?/Bob?

Richard

Reggie Howard

nathan Lamar

Julio? Maldanaldo

Lawrence

Janelle

Dan Foley

Capitol Limited

Darrel

Cardinal

Owen

Coast Starlight

George

Crescent

Marcie

Empire Builder

Stan

Stephanie (5)

Bonnie (2)

Chris

Gul (3)

Paul (2)

Lou

Lake Shore Limited

Tom

Silvers

Vic

Josef

Marsha

Kirk

Jay McDonald

Preston Ross

Southwest Chief

Bobby

Sharon

Victor Krall (2)

Sean

Ephram

Henry

Sunset Limited

Ken

Brian (2)

Texas Eagle

Ross

Jim (3)

O.C. Smith

Cynthia

Unknown

Dorothy Biro

Anasatasia Salazar (LSA)
 
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