greatcats
Engineer
About three weeks ago I posted " Eastbound Across Canada " from Vancouver to Jasper to Toronto, which overall was great. The following report has to do with the Maple Leaf, Silver Star and Capitol Limited. I designed this six week trip between my summer job I had driving tour buses in Ketchikan, Alaska to my next assignment being a volunteer for three months at Hawaii Volcanoes National Park, which will start December 1. On the morning of Oct. 20 I made my way with large backpack and roller bag to Toronto Union Station and boarded the Maple Leaf. There was nothing too remarkable about this trip, other than it ran as intended. I was in the Business Car, applying a refund from another trip earlier this year. I was curious as to how this involved Customs procedure would work. The train crew and snack bar attendant changed at Niagara Falls, Ontario. The train then ran slowly across the Niagara River Bridge, stopped and then back into the single track that is the Niagara Falls, New York station. Customs boarded and the entire procedure takes nearly two hours, which apparently is necessary at heavy travel times, but we only had about 75 on board. About 20 or so passengers were taken into the station for additional questioning. Thankfully, my Customs inspection was brief and I remained on the train. The long wait was also eased by the friendly and helpful conductor, Todd. The train departed on time at 12:35pm and I had the cranberry salad and the freebie soda, which was quite good. I left the Maple Leaf at Rochester ( on time ) and took a cab to Hertz at the airport. I had decided to rent from here, as it arrived in the middle of the day, rather than wait until after dark to obtain a rental at Albany.
I was provided a very reliable Toyota Corolla with GPS, the first time I have ever used it, which I drove over 3,400 miles. I stayed the first night in Saratoga Springs, New York, and proceeded to visit family and friends over the next three weeks in Vermont, Maine, Massachusetts, New Jersey, North Carolina and Georgia, plus visiting Monticello in Virginia and three days in Key West. The car was turned in at Tampa. Only I devise itineraries like these, but most of it was time well spent.
Last Thursday afternoon I took the streetcar from where I was staying in Ybor City ( Tampa ) to the stop .4 miles from the Amtrak station. This is a beautiful restored building and the agents were friendly. The platforms, however, look like a boneyard, with platforms for I believe seven tracks, but only one is used. The Silver Star backed in early and I boarded my sleeper with Rolando as my attendant. He has less than one year's service and is a native of Honduras. Rolando is a fine gentleman and very conscientious. The dining car, however, was freezing. It is a nicely refurbished car and the food and service were fairly good, but even the staff were wearing coats as they served meals! During the night south of Savannah, the train went into emergency twice and the power went off. This is disturbing to me, as I sleep with a CPAP machine and when the pressure goes off, it completely disrupts my sleep. Arrival in Savannah was over an hour and a half late, the power went off again, but then the problem seemed to be resolved, but it was not a good night. Otherwise, the trip on the Silver Star was fine. We had been two hours late, but made up over an hour of that time and I got off at Alexandria, Virginia, 50 minutes late. Amtrak hired a good man when they hired Rolando.
I took Metro up to Crystal City to meet my friend from Arizona who flew in from Phoenix and is joining me this week. We stayed in a hotel in that area the first night and then moved to a nice hotel near Dupont Circle. I am sorry to say that the Washington Metro system is falling apart, a system of which I used to think highly. Entire banks of escalators out of service and ticketing machines and gates malfunctioning. I will give credit to the employees for trying to be helpful, but this once great system now leaves something to be desired. My friend and I are both named Eric and we had a fine time in Washington attending the National Symphony at Kennedy Center and being present at Washington National Cathedral, this being the first service open to the public since the earthquake in August. The building is sound, but much damage was done to the intricate stonework and there are places at ground level where columns that have shifted are visible. The exhibit that has been set up on this is titled " Though the Earth Be Moved. " This Cathedral is one of my favorite places and I was present there in 1990 when it was completed.
On Monday afternoon my friend and I made our way to Union Station to board the Capitol. The young lady in the Acela Lounge, Lenee ( spelling? ) was a sweetheart. But then we encountered a sour note upon arriving at our sleeper. The attendant, whose name I will not mention here, and I tried later to make peace with him and who partially redeemed himself, was very rude and handled a simple situation badly. I approached him and said I was in Roomette 5 in Car 2900 and that my companion had a coach ticket. By this I meant that my friend had paid the coach fare when I added him to my original reservation, which I had made sure was booked properly. This man became belligerent and said that my friend had to walk back to the coaches and speak to the conductor and that he was not going to let him on the train. Bad move, Mister! My friend has obvious physical disabilities and he was not about to haul himself back down the platform. So then he asked to see our tickets, which read that my friend was in a roomette, but not specifying which one. This was no problem. So why didn't he just ask to see the tickets in the first place, instead of being rude to both of us? He was wrong, but I tried to appease him so that the rest of the trip would be pleasant, which it was. ( I gave him my minimal tip the next morning, for which he thanked me. ) Our sleeper was fine. The dining car, which I mentioned in another thread last night about the crab cakes, was a fine operation. A young lady named Ada was in charge, and it was a well run diner. The unpopular CCC car is gone and we had a regular Superliner diner. Our night in the sleeper was comfortable, with no power outages. We had been running early, but had some slow running behind freights, so the arrival in Chicago was 14 minutes late. Except for the previously mentioned boarding situation, the Capitol was very enjoyable.
We are here in Chicago attending two Chicago Symphony concerts and........for those of you in Chicago, the excellent organ recital at Rockefeller Chapel of the University of Chicago at 4:30pm on Tuesday, reached by METRA. Tomorrow my friend will fly out and this writer will board the Empire Builder to Portland, where my car is currently parked. I have not ridden this train since 1990, and of course look forward to riding across the Great All American West. I expect the power to go out at Spokane. Once per night is acceptable, more than that becomes irritating. I will describe that trip in a few days. Thanks for reading.
I was provided a very reliable Toyota Corolla with GPS, the first time I have ever used it, which I drove over 3,400 miles. I stayed the first night in Saratoga Springs, New York, and proceeded to visit family and friends over the next three weeks in Vermont, Maine, Massachusetts, New Jersey, North Carolina and Georgia, plus visiting Monticello in Virginia and three days in Key West. The car was turned in at Tampa. Only I devise itineraries like these, but most of it was time well spent.
Last Thursday afternoon I took the streetcar from where I was staying in Ybor City ( Tampa ) to the stop .4 miles from the Amtrak station. This is a beautiful restored building and the agents were friendly. The platforms, however, look like a boneyard, with platforms for I believe seven tracks, but only one is used. The Silver Star backed in early and I boarded my sleeper with Rolando as my attendant. He has less than one year's service and is a native of Honduras. Rolando is a fine gentleman and very conscientious. The dining car, however, was freezing. It is a nicely refurbished car and the food and service were fairly good, but even the staff were wearing coats as they served meals! During the night south of Savannah, the train went into emergency twice and the power went off. This is disturbing to me, as I sleep with a CPAP machine and when the pressure goes off, it completely disrupts my sleep. Arrival in Savannah was over an hour and a half late, the power went off again, but then the problem seemed to be resolved, but it was not a good night. Otherwise, the trip on the Silver Star was fine. We had been two hours late, but made up over an hour of that time and I got off at Alexandria, Virginia, 50 minutes late. Amtrak hired a good man when they hired Rolando.
I took Metro up to Crystal City to meet my friend from Arizona who flew in from Phoenix and is joining me this week. We stayed in a hotel in that area the first night and then moved to a nice hotel near Dupont Circle. I am sorry to say that the Washington Metro system is falling apart, a system of which I used to think highly. Entire banks of escalators out of service and ticketing machines and gates malfunctioning. I will give credit to the employees for trying to be helpful, but this once great system now leaves something to be desired. My friend and I are both named Eric and we had a fine time in Washington attending the National Symphony at Kennedy Center and being present at Washington National Cathedral, this being the first service open to the public since the earthquake in August. The building is sound, but much damage was done to the intricate stonework and there are places at ground level where columns that have shifted are visible. The exhibit that has been set up on this is titled " Though the Earth Be Moved. " This Cathedral is one of my favorite places and I was present there in 1990 when it was completed.
On Monday afternoon my friend and I made our way to Union Station to board the Capitol. The young lady in the Acela Lounge, Lenee ( spelling? ) was a sweetheart. But then we encountered a sour note upon arriving at our sleeper. The attendant, whose name I will not mention here, and I tried later to make peace with him and who partially redeemed himself, was very rude and handled a simple situation badly. I approached him and said I was in Roomette 5 in Car 2900 and that my companion had a coach ticket. By this I meant that my friend had paid the coach fare when I added him to my original reservation, which I had made sure was booked properly. This man became belligerent and said that my friend had to walk back to the coaches and speak to the conductor and that he was not going to let him on the train. Bad move, Mister! My friend has obvious physical disabilities and he was not about to haul himself back down the platform. So then he asked to see our tickets, which read that my friend was in a roomette, but not specifying which one. This was no problem. So why didn't he just ask to see the tickets in the first place, instead of being rude to both of us? He was wrong, but I tried to appease him so that the rest of the trip would be pleasant, which it was. ( I gave him my minimal tip the next morning, for which he thanked me. ) Our sleeper was fine. The dining car, which I mentioned in another thread last night about the crab cakes, was a fine operation. A young lady named Ada was in charge, and it was a well run diner. The unpopular CCC car is gone and we had a regular Superliner diner. Our night in the sleeper was comfortable, with no power outages. We had been running early, but had some slow running behind freights, so the arrival in Chicago was 14 minutes late. Except for the previously mentioned boarding situation, the Capitol was very enjoyable.
We are here in Chicago attending two Chicago Symphony concerts and........for those of you in Chicago, the excellent organ recital at Rockefeller Chapel of the University of Chicago at 4:30pm on Tuesday, reached by METRA. Tomorrow my friend will fly out and this writer will board the Empire Builder to Portland, where my car is currently parked. I have not ridden this train since 1990, and of course look forward to riding across the Great All American West. I expect the power to go out at Spokane. Once per night is acceptable, more than that becomes irritating. I will describe that trip in a few days. Thanks for reading.
