chertling
Lead Service Attendant
This trip started differently than most... Since my mother totaled her car, I agreed to let my parents borrow mine for the weekend. So, instead of departing from Kansas City (less than 4 miles from my house) I departed instead from Lawrence, KS. I didn't even do this when I lived in Lawrence, due to the fact that the train takes SO LONG to cover the relatively short distance between the two cities.
I arrived at the Depot at about 5:15, knowing the train was slightly behind schedule, but wanting to check out the interior of the station. There has been a lot of talk about the city purchasing and rehabbing the depot, and I wanted to see first hand what the condition of the building was. Unfortunately, the volunteer responsible for opening the building apparently overslept. He wasn't there to unlock the building until about 5:40 (for a 5:49 AM scheduled departure) Do any of the other un-staffed stations have some sort of timed locks??? It would be nice if passengers could get into the building. Thankfully, the weather was nice, so the wait outside wasn't too bad.
As for the depot itself, I am not a huge fan of mid-century architecture, but I agree that it is unique and needs to be preserved. Most of the issues could probably be addressed with a coat of paint and new furniture, but I understand there are some ADA and roof issues as well.
A programmable thermostat for the AC would be nice as well... so it would be nice and cool when the passengers start arriving. It was a little stuffy inside.
Another nice addition would be some sort of status indicator... yes I know that LRC isn't a widely used stop, but hopefully that will change if the Heartland Flyer is extended to KC. Even something as simple as a computer refreshing a train status web page every few minutes would be a nice addition. I relied on Amtrak's .mobi site for the status of our train... however even it did not update when the train departed Topeka.
We finally departed Lawrence around 6:10 AM... a little late, but certainly acceptable. There were three of us who boarded in Lawrence that morning, and about eight who de-trained.
It was nice to experience new rails... seeing the Lawrence-KC portion of the trip by rail as opposed to by car was a new experience for me, even though I have covered the rest of the SWC route between KC and Chicago several times.
One thing about the Lawrence-KC portion of the trip that I feel could be improved is the refueling stop. I know the infrastructure for refueling is easy to get to in the Argentine yards... but a 25 minute refueling stop there (as opposed to refueling during the scheduled dwell 5 minutes away in Kansas City) really adds un-necessary time to the schedule. If there was some way to move the refueling stop to KC Union Station, I think we would see more eastbound passengers from Topeka and Lawrence.
After departing KC, I headed straight for the the dining car... after my trip this spring, I will never miss a chance at Railroad French Toast. After "Wait(ing)..................... to be seated" (yes, it was him) the service was friendly and prompt. Not quite to the same level as Octavia on the CL this spring, but she set the bar very high.
The trip to Chicago was fairly uneventful... I wasn't paying very close attention to the schedule, preferring instead to relax, listen to music and the scanner and watch the world fly by outside the window. I had the misfortune of getting a car without outlets.... but I knew enough to find a seat close to where the "hidden" power outlet would be. Once the sun came up, I was able to locate the outlet, which was directly behind my seat!
I had lunch in the Snack Car... I didn't catch the name of the attendant there either, but she was very friendly. She was also the Snack Car Attendant on the first leg of my trip this past spring and provided similar wonderful service then as well.
I lucked out and had an empty seat next to me the whole time (allthough the train was quite crowded after Galesburg) and we arrived in Chicago almost 20 minutes early!
After day checking my bags and riding the Brown Line to Sedgewick and meeting up with friends for dinner, drinks and a show (Second City's "Training Center".... they sucked!) I made the mad dash back downtown to catch my train to the burbs. Brown Line back to Merchandise Mart, a mad dash for the hotel where I day-checked my bags and a cab ride to Ogilvie (since I only had 15 minutes til departure) and I managed to catch the 10:30 Metra UP Northwest train to Arlington Heights. I only had a few minutes to check out Ogilvie... but it seemed to be a well organized and modern commuter station. Add on a nice waiting room and it would be a functional inter-city rail station.
It was dark, and I was tired.... so I didn't get to admire much of the scenery leaving Chicago, but the ride to the burbs was far from boring. A few stops into the ride, at Irving Park, I noticed that the platform was FULL of people in matching t-shirts. The ramp to the platform was also "wall-to-wall people" Once they started boarding the train, it was clear that they were all drunk! Aparantly, I got caught in the middle of a "Train Crawl" (If The AU Gathering is like this, I think I need to make some travel plans!!!) The train was standing room only! I was starting to worry that I might not be able to work my way to the exit at my stop (despite being the closest upper level seat to the door) I thought there was going to be a fight when the conductor came through the car asking the participants to throw away their beer (apparently this was one of the weekends where you couldn't drink on Metra) Thankfully, most of the group got off at Des Plaines and the rest of the trip to Arlington Heights was quiet.
After getting ripped off by the cabbie heading from Metra to my hotel (He took a 5 mile trip and stretched it into nearly 10) I checked in and got ready for the next day's festivities.
Sunday was spent at the hotel and wedding site.... a good time was had by all!
Monday morning, it was time to start the trip back home... As we all had quite a late night at the reception AND afterward in the hotel lobby, I figured my friends wouldn't be awake early enough to get me to to the Metra station for my 11:37 AM train. So, I threw my backpack on and walked... it was only 3.5 miles, but as is often seen in suburbia, sidewalks were an afterthought in some areas.
I rode the Metra North-Central line from Buffalo Grove to Chicago... this trip was a lot quieter than my ride out to the burbs on the UP Northwest.
I had PLENTY of time to spare in Chicago... and I spent most of it wandering around CUS and the surrounding area. As usual, the northern waiting room was overflowing with the impending departure of the EB. The southern waiting room wasn't in much better shape either. Amtrak needs to find a way to increase the size of the waiting area. I think I may have found a workable solution! Use the Great Hall as Amtrak's waiting area.... expand the Metropolitan Lounge into the areas currently occupied by the north and south waiting rooms. Continue using the current "to trains" walkway for arrivals and to get between the ticket window and waiting area. Then, for departures, utilize two gates, one each at the north and south ends of the great hall. The lower level exits at the north and south ends of the great hall currently exit to a service ramp. If this was fully enclosed, it could serve as a boarding concourse connecting the waiting area to the platforms.
Once it was time to depart, my tickets did raise a few eyebrows.... When I originally bought my tickets, the plan was to use KC Union Station, like usual. However, as I noted earlier, my plans changed and I started/ended my trip in Lawrence, KS instead. It was cheaper to just buy a separate ticket for LRC-KCY and KCY-LRC, rather than rebook the whole trip (which wouldn't have been in the low bucket)... so there was a good deal of confusion as to which car I should be seated in. When we finally got it worked out, I found my seat and got comfortable. On the return leg, I was in a refurbished car... so there were outlets at each seat.
We left Chicago on time and sped through the suburbs... I had a neighbor from Naperville to La Plata who was returning home after visiting her grandkids.
I had dinner in the snack car.... another cheeseburger. I was tempted to try the flat iron "pot roast" in the diner, but I had already spent WAY too much money.
Bruce, our car attendant, had quite the sense of humor... as we crossed the Mississippi, he came on the PA and told everyone we were crossing the Hudson... which earned him a few laughs. On the last leg of the trip, he finally realized I was a bit of a railfan. I usually don't make a big deal about being an Amtrak fan... I hide my scanner in my bag and connect my headset in a way that I can both listen to music from my phone and the scanner at the same time. But at one point when Bruce paused in conversation with another passenger, blanking on the name of the railyard we were in (Argentine.) I spoke up and blew my cover
h34r: After that he got pretty talkative. I appreciated the conversation, but by that point I was dead tired. I would have enjoyed our conversation a lot more if it had started two hours earlier. -_-
Speaking of Argentine, we stopped to refuel there as scheduled.... couldn't they just pull a diesel tanker up to KCY to refuel there, or move the service stop to the yard instead of dwelling at KCY for 30 minutes, only to be followed 5 minutes later by a 25 minute stop for refueling?
We arrived 30 minutes early into Lawrence, which begs the question of whether that much padding REALLY needed, given the padding/dwell already in place at KCY??? Given recent articles in the Lawrence Journal-World on a live music series at the depot this past summer, specifically targeted to westbound SWC passengers during the layover, it seems like this is a common occurrence rather than an exception to the rule.
Between the padding at Lawrence and the refueling at Argentine, the schedule really discourages people traveling to/from Lawrence/Topeka and points east.
All in all, it was a great trip! I can't wait for my next excursion next month. Sadly, due to the timing of the Cubs Game's first pitch, we will be flying to Chicago... but at least we will be taking the train back!!!
I arrived at the Depot at about 5:15, knowing the train was slightly behind schedule, but wanting to check out the interior of the station. There has been a lot of talk about the city purchasing and rehabbing the depot, and I wanted to see first hand what the condition of the building was. Unfortunately, the volunteer responsible for opening the building apparently overslept. He wasn't there to unlock the building until about 5:40 (for a 5:49 AM scheduled departure) Do any of the other un-staffed stations have some sort of timed locks??? It would be nice if passengers could get into the building. Thankfully, the weather was nice, so the wait outside wasn't too bad.
As for the depot itself, I am not a huge fan of mid-century architecture, but I agree that it is unique and needs to be preserved. Most of the issues could probably be addressed with a coat of paint and new furniture, but I understand there are some ADA and roof issues as well.
A programmable thermostat for the AC would be nice as well... so it would be nice and cool when the passengers start arriving. It was a little stuffy inside.
Another nice addition would be some sort of status indicator... yes I know that LRC isn't a widely used stop, but hopefully that will change if the Heartland Flyer is extended to KC. Even something as simple as a computer refreshing a train status web page every few minutes would be a nice addition. I relied on Amtrak's .mobi site for the status of our train... however even it did not update when the train departed Topeka.
We finally departed Lawrence around 6:10 AM... a little late, but certainly acceptable. There were three of us who boarded in Lawrence that morning, and about eight who de-trained.
It was nice to experience new rails... seeing the Lawrence-KC portion of the trip by rail as opposed to by car was a new experience for me, even though I have covered the rest of the SWC route between KC and Chicago several times.
One thing about the Lawrence-KC portion of the trip that I feel could be improved is the refueling stop. I know the infrastructure for refueling is easy to get to in the Argentine yards... but a 25 minute refueling stop there (as opposed to refueling during the scheduled dwell 5 minutes away in Kansas City) really adds un-necessary time to the schedule. If there was some way to move the refueling stop to KC Union Station, I think we would see more eastbound passengers from Topeka and Lawrence.
After departing KC, I headed straight for the the dining car... after my trip this spring, I will never miss a chance at Railroad French Toast. After "Wait(ing)..................... to be seated" (yes, it was him) the service was friendly and prompt. Not quite to the same level as Octavia on the CL this spring, but she set the bar very high.
The trip to Chicago was fairly uneventful... I wasn't paying very close attention to the schedule, preferring instead to relax, listen to music and the scanner and watch the world fly by outside the window. I had the misfortune of getting a car without outlets.... but I knew enough to find a seat close to where the "hidden" power outlet would be. Once the sun came up, I was able to locate the outlet, which was directly behind my seat!
I had lunch in the Snack Car... I didn't catch the name of the attendant there either, but she was very friendly. She was also the Snack Car Attendant on the first leg of my trip this past spring and provided similar wonderful service then as well.
I lucked out and had an empty seat next to me the whole time (allthough the train was quite crowded after Galesburg) and we arrived in Chicago almost 20 minutes early!
After day checking my bags and riding the Brown Line to Sedgewick and meeting up with friends for dinner, drinks and a show (Second City's "Training Center".... they sucked!) I made the mad dash back downtown to catch my train to the burbs. Brown Line back to Merchandise Mart, a mad dash for the hotel where I day-checked my bags and a cab ride to Ogilvie (since I only had 15 minutes til departure) and I managed to catch the 10:30 Metra UP Northwest train to Arlington Heights. I only had a few minutes to check out Ogilvie... but it seemed to be a well organized and modern commuter station. Add on a nice waiting room and it would be a functional inter-city rail station.
It was dark, and I was tired.... so I didn't get to admire much of the scenery leaving Chicago, but the ride to the burbs was far from boring. A few stops into the ride, at Irving Park, I noticed that the platform was FULL of people in matching t-shirts. The ramp to the platform was also "wall-to-wall people" Once they started boarding the train, it was clear that they were all drunk! Aparantly, I got caught in the middle of a "Train Crawl" (If The AU Gathering is like this, I think I need to make some travel plans!!!) The train was standing room only! I was starting to worry that I might not be able to work my way to the exit at my stop (despite being the closest upper level seat to the door) I thought there was going to be a fight when the conductor came through the car asking the participants to throw away their beer (apparently this was one of the weekends where you couldn't drink on Metra) Thankfully, most of the group got off at Des Plaines and the rest of the trip to Arlington Heights was quiet.
After getting ripped off by the cabbie heading from Metra to my hotel (He took a 5 mile trip and stretched it into nearly 10) I checked in and got ready for the next day's festivities.
Sunday was spent at the hotel and wedding site.... a good time was had by all!
Monday morning, it was time to start the trip back home... As we all had quite a late night at the reception AND afterward in the hotel lobby, I figured my friends wouldn't be awake early enough to get me to to the Metra station for my 11:37 AM train. So, I threw my backpack on and walked... it was only 3.5 miles, but as is often seen in suburbia, sidewalks were an afterthought in some areas.
I rode the Metra North-Central line from Buffalo Grove to Chicago... this trip was a lot quieter than my ride out to the burbs on the UP Northwest.
I had PLENTY of time to spare in Chicago... and I spent most of it wandering around CUS and the surrounding area. As usual, the northern waiting room was overflowing with the impending departure of the EB. The southern waiting room wasn't in much better shape either. Amtrak needs to find a way to increase the size of the waiting area. I think I may have found a workable solution! Use the Great Hall as Amtrak's waiting area.... expand the Metropolitan Lounge into the areas currently occupied by the north and south waiting rooms. Continue using the current "to trains" walkway for arrivals and to get between the ticket window and waiting area. Then, for departures, utilize two gates, one each at the north and south ends of the great hall. The lower level exits at the north and south ends of the great hall currently exit to a service ramp. If this was fully enclosed, it could serve as a boarding concourse connecting the waiting area to the platforms.
Once it was time to depart, my tickets did raise a few eyebrows.... When I originally bought my tickets, the plan was to use KC Union Station, like usual. However, as I noted earlier, my plans changed and I started/ended my trip in Lawrence, KS instead. It was cheaper to just buy a separate ticket for LRC-KCY and KCY-LRC, rather than rebook the whole trip (which wouldn't have been in the low bucket)... so there was a good deal of confusion as to which car I should be seated in. When we finally got it worked out, I found my seat and got comfortable. On the return leg, I was in a refurbished car... so there were outlets at each seat.
We left Chicago on time and sped through the suburbs... I had a neighbor from Naperville to La Plata who was returning home after visiting her grandkids.
I had dinner in the snack car.... another cheeseburger. I was tempted to try the flat iron "pot roast" in the diner, but I had already spent WAY too much money.
Bruce, our car attendant, had quite the sense of humor... as we crossed the Mississippi, he came on the PA and told everyone we were crossing the Hudson... which earned him a few laughs. On the last leg of the trip, he finally realized I was a bit of a railfan. I usually don't make a big deal about being an Amtrak fan... I hide my scanner in my bag and connect my headset in a way that I can both listen to music from my phone and the scanner at the same time. But at one point when Bruce paused in conversation with another passenger, blanking on the name of the railyard we were in (Argentine.) I spoke up and blew my cover
h34r: After that he got pretty talkative. I appreciated the conversation, but by that point I was dead tired. I would have enjoyed our conversation a lot more if it had started two hours earlier. -_-Speaking of Argentine, we stopped to refuel there as scheduled.... couldn't they just pull a diesel tanker up to KCY to refuel there, or move the service stop to the yard instead of dwelling at KCY for 30 minutes, only to be followed 5 minutes later by a 25 minute stop for refueling?
We arrived 30 minutes early into Lawrence, which begs the question of whether that much padding REALLY needed, given the padding/dwell already in place at KCY??? Given recent articles in the Lawrence Journal-World on a live music series at the depot this past summer, specifically targeted to westbound SWC passengers during the layover, it seems like this is a common occurrence rather than an exception to the rule.
Between the padding at Lawrence and the refueling at Argentine, the schedule really discourages people traveling to/from Lawrence/Topeka and points east.
All in all, it was a great trip! I can't wait for my next excursion next month. Sadly, due to the timing of the Cubs Game's first pitch, we will be flying to Chicago... but at least we will be taking the train back!!!
