Wednesday July 20 I boarded The Crescent in ATL to travel to WAS the next day. Left WAS Thursday night, returned to ATL Friday mornng.
Boarding in the tiny ATL station is usually a joke. Not enough staff to take care of everything. There were two people on duty, so far as I saw. Let's just say that one guy knew how to make good clear announcements, the other person did not. Too bad the "good one" did not make all announcments. As it is, boarding passengers are standing there not understanding that people are getting off first. Then there is a "stampede " urge and everybody starts going downstairs at once, too early. Oh well,
Oh yes, while standing there the guy immediately in front of me went through the motions of dropping his ticket and bending over. While I did not think anything about it at the time, I think a guy behind me was standing very close---I sort of think they were pickpockets, creating a diversion. Fortunately I keep my wallet in my front pocket, my chiropractor told me to do that years ago. But I did not think of that possibly being a diversion to pick my pocket until we were already out of the station.
Train left ATL about one hour late, got to DC next a.m. two hours late. Comng back we left WAS only one or two minutes late but got to ATL just under two hours late. Guess it was all or mostly freight interference. ( I don't have scanners, etc).
I had prime rib going up, t-bone steak coming back, french toast and sausage each way. I would give the food about 90%.
Had a nice dining car companion for breakfast n.b. He was from San Diego, his very first trip east. He had traveled the Sunset Ltd from LA to NOL, arrivng only four hours late. He was not upset about that.
I gave him some tips on where he would see most of the important landmarks of Washington from the train. I find people who have never been East always appreciate that.
A good personal note for me. The train stops in Danville, Va., in the dark in both directions. My sister went off to school in Danville 50-plus years ago for her first year of college. I had always wanted to see the town in daylight. I guess it is a testimony to the Crescent's USUAL punctualtity that this is the first time the n.b. has been late enough for me to be awake and see what I could of Danville. Did not recognize a thing of course, how could I expect to, but at least I got to see.
Of course I have recognized the station all through the years, could see that in the dark, of course. We never used the Danville station for travel back then when my sister was in school, not that convenient of a trip from Chattanooga. She usually took the bus or car. It is just, of course, that I always wanted to see the train station anywhere where we spent any time. Imagine that!!
The dining car crews were quite good; the room attendants were very, very average. Kind of disappointing. Didn't fail to do anything, really, just sort of had "attitude" I guess you would say.
Going north in the morning we got vague rumors about "some kind of new trouble in London." Nothing specific. I had fears of wide spread searches, etc As we all now know it was, fortunately, not as serious as it had been a couple of weeks before. But there were some moments of uncertainty , esp. as we sat there waiting for a freight but it kind of made you wonder.....why are we REALLY sitting here.........once off the train, I could not see any signs of beefed up security. Maybe I overlooked them. .
There some was construction in Club Acela, as Alan had alerted me to earlier but it was good and snacks and food were now available. No problem leaving my overnight bag there durng the day. Business as usual
Guess that about concludes my report. It was a good trip, mostly, and all for free, all on earned mileage guest rewards. I hope there are many more miles to come.
Oh there is this--almost forgot. Going north the attendant did do something special, he pulled down one of the pillows from the upper so I had three pillows. That way I could really see out at night without raising my head. The way one did in old fashioned roomettes. And the way one does in the upper berth of today's viewliner roomettes.
Boarding in the tiny ATL station is usually a joke. Not enough staff to take care of everything. There were two people on duty, so far as I saw. Let's just say that one guy knew how to make good clear announcements, the other person did not. Too bad the "good one" did not make all announcments. As it is, boarding passengers are standing there not understanding that people are getting off first. Then there is a "stampede " urge and everybody starts going downstairs at once, too early. Oh well,
Oh yes, while standing there the guy immediately in front of me went through the motions of dropping his ticket and bending over. While I did not think anything about it at the time, I think a guy behind me was standing very close---I sort of think they were pickpockets, creating a diversion. Fortunately I keep my wallet in my front pocket, my chiropractor told me to do that years ago. But I did not think of that possibly being a diversion to pick my pocket until we were already out of the station.
Train left ATL about one hour late, got to DC next a.m. two hours late. Comng back we left WAS only one or two minutes late but got to ATL just under two hours late. Guess it was all or mostly freight interference. ( I don't have scanners, etc).
I had prime rib going up, t-bone steak coming back, french toast and sausage each way. I would give the food about 90%.
Had a nice dining car companion for breakfast n.b. He was from San Diego, his very first trip east. He had traveled the Sunset Ltd from LA to NOL, arrivng only four hours late. He was not upset about that.
I gave him some tips on where he would see most of the important landmarks of Washington from the train. I find people who have never been East always appreciate that.
A good personal note for me. The train stops in Danville, Va., in the dark in both directions. My sister went off to school in Danville 50-plus years ago for her first year of college. I had always wanted to see the town in daylight. I guess it is a testimony to the Crescent's USUAL punctualtity that this is the first time the n.b. has been late enough for me to be awake and see what I could of Danville. Did not recognize a thing of course, how could I expect to, but at least I got to see.
Of course I have recognized the station all through the years, could see that in the dark, of course. We never used the Danville station for travel back then when my sister was in school, not that convenient of a trip from Chattanooga. She usually took the bus or car. It is just, of course, that I always wanted to see the train station anywhere where we spent any time. Imagine that!!
The dining car crews were quite good; the room attendants were very, very average. Kind of disappointing. Didn't fail to do anything, really, just sort of had "attitude" I guess you would say.
Going north in the morning we got vague rumors about "some kind of new trouble in London." Nothing specific. I had fears of wide spread searches, etc As we all now know it was, fortunately, not as serious as it had been a couple of weeks before. But there were some moments of uncertainty , esp. as we sat there waiting for a freight but it kind of made you wonder.....why are we REALLY sitting here.........once off the train, I could not see any signs of beefed up security. Maybe I overlooked them. .
There some was construction in Club Acela, as Alan had alerted me to earlier but it was good and snacks and food were now available. No problem leaving my overnight bag there durng the day. Business as usual
Guess that about concludes my report. It was a good trip, mostly, and all for free, all on earned mileage guest rewards. I hope there are many more miles to come.
Oh there is this--almost forgot. Going north the attendant did do something special, he pulled down one of the pillows from the upper so I had three pillows. That way I could really see out at night without raising my head. The way one did in old fashioned roomettes. And the way one does in the upper berth of today's viewliner roomettes.
