When a passenger train is delayed

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crabby_appleton1950

crabby_appleton1950

OBS Chief
Joined
Jan 8, 2015
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652
Location
Albuquerque, NM
A little while back there apparently was a freight derailment that caused the SWC in both directions to be late by hours.

In the example of the #4 which should arrive in Albuquerque from L.A. by noon, that delay would have gone well past lunch.

Would roomette passengers who were to get off in Albuquerque receive a free meal due to that delay?
 
Yes. If you are on the train during a meal period, you get that meal.
 
I may be wrong, but I seem to recall that all very delayed passengers get a free meal, coach and sleeper.

It may depend on the extent of the delay, but there is some "stew" that is used emergency rations,

and food is sometimes brought to the train from outside... I have had both stew and kentucky fried chicken.

Vegetarians tend to get forgotten in emergencies!

Ed :cool:
 
caravanman said:
I may be wrong, but I seem to recall that all very delayed passengers get a free meal, coach and sleeper.

It may depend on the extent of the delay, but there is some "stew" that is used emergency rations,

and food is sometimes brought to the train from outside... I have had both stew and kentucky fried chicken.

Vegetarians tend to get forgotten in emergencies!

Ed :cool:
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You are correct, Ed, but I believe that only applies if the train is exceptionally late arriving at its terminus. The times I have been on the Empire Builder and it was six to fourteen hours late, the meals were served the last evening when the train should have already arrived in CHI, but was still enroute. Pax detraining in MSP did not receive the meal on the six-hour late EB, but I believe the fourteen-hour late EB served the evening meal wayyyyy out! The first time I was in coach, and I received the Dinty Moore beef stew with green beans. The second time I was in sleeper, and we were allowed to order off an abbreviated menu (no steaks, LOL).

I have been on many late trains, and if in sleeper, you are indeed entitled to any meal whose time arrives while you are on the train.
 
We got to experience the Amstew over rice in October when the Capitol Limited was delayed by hours into Chicago. They finally got around to serving it around 1 p.m. It wasn't too bad, but then, other half and I hadn't eaten since breakfast at 6 a.m., so just about anything would have been palatable by then.

Just curious -- does anybody know if coach passengers get free Amstew if the train is really late?
 
Yep, they'll feed everyone, but Sleeper pax get priority on any regular Menu items. Coach folks would get Amstew if everything is gone in Diner which it usually I'd by the end of a LD Route!
 
When I was on a 30 hour late EB they gave comp meals to all pax after we had the bus bridge to the EB on the other side of the derailment. So all pax (sleeper and coach) had dinner and breakfast. Then they busted out Amstew for all pax for lunch. For dinner before arrival into CHI we got KFC.

Prior to the bus bridge coach pax did not receive any comp meals but we were also stopped at a station in Glasgow Montana for dinner, overnight and breakfast. That town had a grocery store and a McDonald's.
 
It's been a few years, but on our trip from NO to LA on the Sunset Ltd, we ended up being 8+ hours late into LA due to leaving employees on a station, freight train priorities, dead engines and hitting a car on the tracks. The coach passengers were given a free lunch from the lounge car (I think it was delivered to the coach cars) so all the sleeper passengers could take over the diner. We were served the stew, sausages and rice in plastic bowls with plastic ware.

On the next leg of that same trip, the Coast Starlight from LA to Seattle, the train was delayed at just about every stop by computer problems. We also had a delay at San Jose to find and remove a passenger who had threatened another passenger. We ended up being 12+ hours late so had an extra night on the train in the family bedroom!

Dave
 
CHamilton said:
AU member Anderson is partial to MREs, but there are lots of other portable food options.
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Note that the FRH (Flameless Ration Heater) MRE's come with makes as a by product flammable hydrogen gas when it heats up, so it's use on federal public transportation is prohibited.

Of course if you have a Roomette, you have more privacy, and you may be the only one knowing that a FRH was used to heat your MRE entrée and/or MRE hot beverage.
 
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FrensicPic said:
jimhudson said:
Yep, they'll feed everyone, but Sleeper pax get priority on any regular Menu items. Coach folks would get Amstew if everything is gone in Diner which it usually I'd by the end of a LD Route!
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AmStew...Dinty Moore?
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I had the AmStew and yes is is Dinty Moore(mine was served over rice) on a late CZ into Emeryville last August. I liked it and actually prepare it at home.
 
crabby_appleton1950 said:
CHamilton said:
Definitely, bring emergency food. AU member Anderson is partial to MREs, but there are lots of other portable food options.
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Can MREs be bought without buying a case full?
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Yes, but they cost more per meal buying them in smaller quantities.

There are the US military MRE's and there are Civilian MRE's.

A 'case' of the military MREs is 12 meals, but the military MREs come in 24 varieties so there is an A case and a B case.

http://www.mreinfo.com/us/mre/buying-mres.html
 
That's what I have them for here in rural Iowa.

I buy the military MRE's and I eat 1 of them each month or so, so I turn over my inventory at the rate of about 12 MREs per year.

When I get down to having 6 - 8 left I buy another case but eat the oldest ones in inventory first.

My last case was MREs from 2012 (A case - menus 1- 12) so I'll be looking for 2013 or 2014 meals for my next case.

Date Codes
 
If you buy MRE's, be sure and take a look at the dates on em. Contrary to popular belief, they do have a shelf life, and do degrade over time. Will still be safe to eat, but may not be as palatable. Often the ones sold at surplus stores, are already close to, or over their shelf life, (which is why they were sold as surplus to start with...if they were still good, they'd still be sitting on a military base somewhere!)

I would suggest for longer term storage, buy the civilian versions, which haven't sat around a mil base for months or years already, and will last a little longer. And please don't use the heaters on the train, they stink.
 
I have a travel kettle, so providing there is a power socket, I can always treat myself to porride... and after some some Amtrak meals, porridge is a treat!

As to the Donner party, here in the UK, the food you guys call "Gyro's", are honestly known as Doner Kebabs.... Yuk!

Ed :cool:
 
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