Ok, heres the report I've been waiting to show you~~~
--------------------------------------------- Trip Photos are being Developed, High qaulity! ---------------------------------------------
(April 5, The day before my big trip)
Today (THE 5th) I wake early to say good bye to my *** , Baby',, Amtrak dosnt allow pets,(see later in this report), After my *** is sent to be taken care of while I'm gone, I go to get ready. The 6th) Its about 2:PM, me, my cosin and mother leave for L.A., when we get there me and my cosin go to Alviera St. and look around, when its about half an hour to boarding, we go back into Union, and almost emeadyitly the anouncement is made for the South West Chief, After boardind the Conductor takes our tickets and says that were in the wrong car, so after we move to the next car, I am disapointed to see that this paticular SuperLiner, Coach 34031, had no apolsty! (carpet/matterial/wall or cieling decoration) The only pace that there was carpet was on the floor, the walls and cielling had an ugly gray paneling with these odd shaped ridges, each about a foot apart, and very anoying when they stick you in the leg, after a few minutes we pulled away from the platform, we backed up to coupel with the mixed box cars and Road-Railers. We had to make 2 trys to sucessfully coupel with the freight, after while going along Amtrak's yard, I watched the Genisis and F59PHI Locomotive in there yard go by and noticed that alot of Amtrak's Surfliner Coaches were not being used, yet Amtrak runs some Superliners on the Pacific Surfliner. I also noticed the Steam Locomotive that aways sits on a track sidding just south of the Round House, now with a cover over it(as the photos will show, There being developed at the moment) coming into Fullorton, (we only took about half an hour to get there) I watched the Station that I often visit go by as we pulled out. By then me and my cosin Miguel have gone to the Sight Seer Lounge to get away from our Coach, its plastic paneling reflected the lighting around making the Coach brighter and realy taking away its home-like comfterble feeling, this is what "convinced" me to go to the Lounge. In the Lounge it was allready getting dark, and crowded. Soon, the movie started (Cheaper By The Dozen) it was a kids movie, in other wise,*very boaring*, and in the movie, of all things, is a sciene with Amtrack SuperLiners, oh well. Mostly we were in line for snacks, In the lounge, I asked the atendent about soviners, he told me that the only thing Amtrak sells now was this cheap cap that had there symbol on it, and didnt even say there name. He showed it to me, it was cheap. But then I seen the Amtrak blanket in the corner and noticed it had the new Amtrak Logo on it, so I bought it, the only other Amtrak blanket I have is the one with there old Logo, the one I like. Then he told me about how Amtrak used to have nice soviners for the Cheif, and showed me his, it was a keychain of a Genisis Locomotive!, He also told me that they used to sell caps specificly for the Chief, I wish they would still sell those because they looked realy cool. later we just kinda snacked on some lite food and candy until the next movie started (Somethings Gotta Give) we got interested in the movie till Miguel said that down stairs a bunch old poeple were getting drunk! I had to see this for myself, so I went down stairs and there I seen qite a bit of old poelpe, ageing from 70 to 80 getting wasted! I was suprized when seeing this, infact soon as I got down stairs there was a little old lady downing a bottle the size of her head. Back upstairs, after the movie, we got loaded on Pepsi and junk food, so we staid up late. Then around 1:00am, we went back to our seats, I stayed up the whole trip.
April 7th) Its 4:00, I'm very tired, I wake my cosin and gather my stuff. When we pull into Williams.AZ Theres a small shutle waiting there for us, the person driveing was very nice person, he told us all about the area and some about the Grand Canyon Railway.
At the hotel we got there at 4:15 to find out our room was not ready, so we wait in the lobby for a few hours,, lots of fun there ay,, any way, at about 9 we left to explore the town, and ended up on the the 10:00 Grand Canyon Train, on the way out of Williams, I seen 3 of Amtraks old F40's!!!
One was being very heavily maintnanced I'm glad to see that Amtrak's old F40's are being put to good use and not rotting away on some siding like Amtrak's old GG1's. I watch some other X Amtrak Coaches (Hearitage Fleet)On bolth the Locomotives and Coaches of the X Amtrak Rolling Stock, you could see where the Amtrak letters are still showing through the spray paint, and on the sides in spray paint says GCR (Grand Canyon RailWay) all of them still in Amtrak phase 3 paint sheams.
When we get through about 2 hours of nothing we finnaly reach the Grand Canyon, then board the tour bus, and after days of sunlight, as soon as we get on the bus, it starts raining and hailing. the Grand Canyon was a big disapointment, and as soon as we got off the bus, the sun came out and heated up Arizona again. Its not what you think it is, its not so great, anyway after that the Train ride back was fun, The lounge car looked X Amtrak, never found out though. That nite in the hotel, the poeple above us were running around alot, and it was LOUD. They were so niosey, there were constantly running around, litterally, and you could actualy tell the differance in there foot steps between the adults and the children, and even worse, around 1:00am, they started standing on the furniture and jumping off it, and running even faster, then it got even more worse, the quit stoping when they got to the end of the room, instead of stoping, they just ran into the wall to stop and by then I could tell when one of em was stumbeling and fall, HARD, then when you'd hear a loud THUD and the furniter being shoved into the wall by them tripping into it,, by now, we have called the front desk 3 times and they keep getting louder, sou finnaly my cosin gets on the bed, starts bouncing, then one last hard jump, and socks his fist into the cieling!
Let me translate, Fist into cieling = SHUT UP
Well the Holiday Inn, said that they had the police throw them out at 2:00am. Thats what you get when you disturb tired and sleepy out-of-towners.
April 8th) I thought we would get some sleep by being able to sleep in, but then I'm told that because we got someones canclcelation, that we were leaving that day,, well, so much for spending 4 days,,
Well that day wasnt so great, we went into town and collect some soviners, looked through the gift shops, Oh, yeah, I forgot to mention, there were allmost no Afican Ameriacans any ware up there, in fact, I think me and my cosin were probably the ony Mexacans in that town, another thing, I noticed that they sold the confederit flag in shops, and confederit flag lisence plates to. And in th pizza hut near the hotel, run by all white poeple, instead of calling our order when it was ready, they just stuck it in some thing that keeps old food warm, and yet white poeple who made there orders after us, got there food before us, and there names were said loud and clear over the P.A., and I evan spelled out my name for them just to make shure they got it rite, mostly because the guy behind they counter didnt look like he was all there.. Mentaly.
9:00pm) Its time to leave, the shutle pulls up, and takes us to an other hotel where were told the South West Chief is giong to be late. Finally, they anounce the Amtrak reported there making there way from Flagstaff, and we board a big tour bus that says in its side: GRAND CANYON RAILWAY.. and on the door a sticker with Amtrak's new Logo and there name, after driveing through about 15 minutes of a pitch black dirt road, we finaly reach the Stationless platformless Amtrak stop. We wait in the cold, for some time, then here she comes, We finally board and then find out that the Train left someone and there *** on the Flagstaff platform, yet Amtrak had her lugage in the Baggage car so we have to wait another half hour for the the taxi to find its way through that dirt rode, an finally leave,
The ride home I stayed up the hole trip to.
April 9) Late the nite befor I noticed the Chief was running with the 3 Genisis+ one of Amtrak's Dash 8, and now that I'm a little more awake I'm more interested in getting its picture and road number. and did after getting off in L.A,
April 9, 8:something) I'm fighting keep from passing out asleep on the platform, taking photos of our Train and its Locomotives, heres our consist for the trip home--
Genisis 89 Genisis 87 Genisis 33 Dash-8 503 B 1228 TS 39009 S 32038 S 32083 D 38046 SSL 33025 C 31533 C 34113 C 35004 ------------------- The trip there -- C 34031 SSL 33033 Didnt get the rest, Sorry -
Well Thats My Trip, hope you enjoyed it
Like I said the photos are being developed, so I'll post them when there ready.
------------------ JONATHON D. ORTIZ
[This message has been edited by JONATHON (edited 04-14-2004).]
Posts: 989 | From: DIAMOND BAR CA. U.S. | Registered: Nov 2003
| IP: Logged |
I cleaned it up for you. Next time, type it up in Microsoft Word, let the spellcheck do its thing, and do a copy & paste onto this forum.
<begin Jonathon's trip report>
Today (THE 5th) I wake early to say good-bye to my doggy, Baby. Amtrak doesn’t allow pets, (see later in this report). After my doggy is sent to be taken care of while I'm gone, I go to get ready.
The 6th) Its about 2:PM, me, my cousin and mother leave for L.A., when we get there me and my cousin go to Alviera St. and look around, when its about half an hour to boarding, we go back into Union, and almost immediately the announcement is made for the Southwest Chief, After boarding, the Conductor takes our tickets and says that we’re in the wrong car, so after we move to the next car, I am disappointed to see that this particular SuperLiner, Coach 34031, had no upholstery! (carpet/material/wall or ceiling decoration) The only place that there was carpet was on the floor, the walls and ceiling had an ugly gray paneling with these odd shaped ridges, each about a foot apart, and very annoying when they stick you in the leg. After a few minutes, we pulled away from the platform and backed up to couple with the mixed box cars and Road-Railers. We had to make 2 tries to successfully couple with the freight. After a while, going along Amtrak's yard, I watched the Genesis and F59PHI Locomotive in their yard go by and noticed that a lot of Amtrak's Surfliner Coaches were not being used, yet Amtrak runs some Superliners on the Pacific Surfliner. I also noticed the Steam Locomotive that always sits on a track siding just south of the Round House, now with a cover over it (as the photos will show, There being developed at the moment) coming into Fullerton, (we only took about half an hour to get there) I watched the Station that I often visit go by as we pulled out. By then, me and my cousin Miguel have gone to the Sightseer Lounge to get away from our Coach, its plastic paneling reflected the lighting around making the Coach brighter and really taking away its home-like comfortable feeling, this is what "convinced" me to go to the Lounge. In the Lounge it was already getting dark, and crowded. Soon, the movie started (Cheaper By The Dozen) it was a kids movie, in other words *very boring*, and in the movie, of all things, is a scene with Amtrak Superliners, oh well. Mostly we were in line for snacks, In the lounge, I asked the attendant about souvenirs, he told me that the only thing Amtrak sells now was this cheap cap that had their symbol on it, and didn’t even say their name. He showed it to me, it was cheap. But then I saw the Amtrak blanket in the corner and noticed it had the new Amtrak Logo on it, so I bought it, the only other Amtrak blanket I have is the one with their old Logo, the one I like. Then he told me about how Amtrak used to have nice souvenirs for the Chief, and showed me his, it was a key chain of a Genesis Locomotive!, He also told me that they used to sell caps specifically for the Chief, I wish they would still sell those because they looked really cool. Later we just kinda snacked on some light food and candy until the next movie started (Something’s Gotta Give) we got interested in the movie till Miguel said that down stairs a bunch old people were getting drunk! I had to see this for myself, so I went down stairs and there I seen quite a few old people, ageing from 70 to 80 getting wasted! I was surprised when seeing this, in fact soon as I got down stairs there was a little old lady downing a bottle the size of her head. Back upstairs, after the movie, we got loaded on Pepsi and junk food, so we stayed up late. Then around 1:00am, we went back to our seats, I stayed up the whole trip.
April 7th) Its 4:00, I'm very tired, I wake my cousin and gather my stuff. When we pull into Williams. AZ There’s a small shuttle waiting there for us. The person driving was a very nice person. He told us all about the area and some about the Grand Canyon Railway. At the hotel we got there at 4:15 to find out our room was not ready, so we waited in the lobby for a few hours,, lots of fun there ay,, any way, at about 9 we left to explore the town, and ended up on the 10:00 Grand Canyon Train. On the way out of Williams, I saw 3 of Amtrak’s old F40's!!! One was being very heavily maintenanced I'm glad to see that Amtrak's old F40's are being put to good use and not rotting away on some siding like Amtrak's old GG1's. I watched some other ex-Amtrak Coaches (Heritage Fleet) On both the Locomotives and Coaches of the ex-Amtrak Rolling Stock, you could see where the Amtrak letters are still showing through the spray paint, and on the sides in spray paint says GCR (Grand Canyon Railway), all of them still in Amtrak phase 3 paint scheme. When we get through about 2 hours of nothing we finally reach the Grand Canyon, then board the tour bus, and after days of sunlight, as soon as we get on the bus, it starts raining and hailing. The Grand Canyon was a big disappointment, and as soon as we got off the bus, the sun came out and heated up Arizona again. Its not what you think it is, its not so great, anyway after that the Train ride back was fun, The lounge car looked ex-Amtrak, never found out though.
That night in the hotel, the people above us were running around a lot, and it was LOUD. They were so noisy, there were constantly running around, literally, and you could actually tell the difference in their foot steps between the adults and the children, and even worse, around 1:00am, they started standing on the furniture and jumping off it, and running even faster, then it got even worse, they quit stopping when they got to the end of the room. Instead of stopping, they just ran into the wall to stop and by then I could tell when one of them was stumbling and fell, HARD, then when you'd hear a loud THUD and the furniture being shoved into the wall by them tripping into it. By now, we have called the front desk 3 times and they keep getting louder, so finally my cousin gets on the bed, starts bouncing, then one last hard jump, and socks his fist into the ceiling! Let me translate, Fist into ceiling = SHUT UP Well the Holiday Inn, said that they had the police throw them out at 2:00am. That’s what you get when you disturb tired and sleepy out-of-towners.
April 8th) I thought we would get some sleep by being able to sleep in, but then I'm told that because we got someone’s cancellation, that we were leaving that day, well, so much for spending 4 days. Well that day wasn’t so great, we went into town and collected some souvenirs, looked through the gift shops, Oh, yeah, I forgot to mention, there were almost no African Americans anywhere up there, in fact, I think me and my cousin were probably the only Mexicans in that town, another thing, I noticed that they sold the confederate flag in shops, and confederate flag license plates too. And in the pizza hut near the hotel, run by all white people, instead of calling our order when it was ready, they just stuck it in some thing that keeps old food warm, and yet white people who made there orders after us, got their food before us, and their names were said loud and clear over the P.A., and I even spelled out my name for them just to make sure they got it right, mostly because the guy behind they counter didn’t look like he was all there, mentally.
9:00pm) It’s time to leave, the shuttle pulls up, and takes us to another hotel where we’re told the South West Chief is going to be late. Finally, they announce that Amtrak reported they’re making their way from Flagstaff, and we board a big tour bus that says on its side: GRAND CANYON RAILWAY.. and on the door a sticker with Amtrak's new Logo and their name. After driving through about 15 minutes of a pitch-black dirt road, we finally reach the Station-less platform-less Amtrak stop. We wait in the cold, for some time, then here she comes, We finally board and then find out that the Train left someone and their doggy on the Flagstaff platform, yet Amtrak had her luggage in the Baggage car so we have to wait another half hour for the taxi to find its way through that dirt road, and finally leave, The ride home I stayed up the whole trip too.
April 9) Late the night before I noticed the Chief was running with the 3 Genesis + one of Amtrak's Dash 8, and now that I'm a little more awake I'm more interested in getting its picture and road number, and did after getting off in L.A,
April 9, 8:something) I'm fighting to keep from passing out asleep on the platform, taking photos of our Train and its Locomotives,
Posts: 1418 | From: Houston, Republic of Texas | Registered: Jan 2001
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posted
Good Report! I enjoyed reading about all of the crazy things that happened to you guys. If you can post any of your pictures that would be great. -Coachclass www.geocities.com/coachseatsPosts: 78 | From: Des Moines, IA | Registered: Mar 2003
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posted
Sorry, Jonathon. I just went for the meat of your report. I wanted to read it, so I had to fix it first. After I fixed it, I figured, why let my work go to waste, so I posted it.
I'll be on the SW Chief May 2 & 3, so I was interested in your experiences.
Posts: 1418 | From: Houston, Republic of Texas | Registered: Jan 2001
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posted
Thanks for the report. Sounds like a pretty funky outing. I look forward to the photos.
I managed through the fone-etik spelling OK. We all have our talents and areas where we lack talent. Good communication skills are important to success in life, however, so I hope you'll work on it. Give it time and practice, and with the help of a spell-checker you'll get it eventually.
------------------ Sing to the tune of Humoresque: Passengers will please refrain, From flushing toilets while the train, Is standing in the station, I love you.
posted
I didn't think it was all that difficult to read, but it sounds like you didn't get any sleep for about 4 days - ah youth! Sorry you didn't like the Grand Canyon - maybe it was the weather. You need to try again in the sunshine.
Posts: 518 | From: Maynard, MA, USA | Registered: Sep 2000
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posted
Mr. Toy said it best. Your time and effort to record the trip may lose it's appeal with the spelling errors. Add a little polish on your future reports and you will do fine. Thanks for the report.
[This message has been edited by paulr (edited 04-12-2004).]
Posts: 32 | From: Redondo Beach, CA | Registered: Sep 2003
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posted
When Jonathan mentioned the lack of souvenirs (and Jonathan spelled that one better than my first try -'souvineers!') it made me think: 'Doesn't Amtrak make money on these things?' Why discontinue them? I have recently noticed many items on the posted menu are not stocked. The attendant told me they couldn't afford it. Remember when there was a 'regular' beer selection other than Bud?
As much as I hate the word privatization used in any context with passenger rail, I could not help but think any good entrepreneur would love to have a captive clientele who are willing to play high prices for a product, and would be willing to rent the space to do it.
Posts: 1572 | From: St. Paul, MN | Registered: Dec 2002
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posted
Interesting report of your trip. Glad to hear the F40's at the Grand Canyon Railway are being serviced. I took a pic of those F40's at Williams around the time they had just arrived. http://pages.sbcglobal.net/fdoti/_uimages/F40.JPG
Too bad you didn't like the Grand Canyon, but then there are just some people who don't like nature, so I can understand. The wierd panneling in the coach you refered to is sometimes called waffle walls. But I'd actually prefer this to the carpeting. Just imagine how dingy and dirty those carpeted wall panels are! I prefer something that is easy to clean and therfore I imagine actually is cleaned.
Sounds like an all around good trip though, and I'm glad the Chief didn't let you down.
[This message has been edited by Southwest Chief (edited 04-12-2004).]
Posts: 579 | From: San Bernardino Subdivison | Registered: Dec 2001
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One I couldnt get a photo of, was being very heavily maintnanced, all its side panels were onen and exsposed wireing and inside pulled out to be worked on
------------------ JONATHON D. ORTIZ
Posts: 989 | From: DIAMOND BAR CA. U.S. | Registered: Nov 2003
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posted
On the starlight in the Parlour car only they sell, key rings, playing cards, wine bags, and eye blank things for sleeping...All saying "coast starlight" except the playing cards there just the old amtrak ones. I bought the cards and the key ring..Only 3 for the cards and $5 for the "gold" key chain...I found out later that there are two of those though one with the coaststarlight "superior service" logo and another with the crew guy with a cup of coffee (new one) i got the new one but bought the old one on ebay
------------------ --Anton L. pillsbury09@excite.com AIM: pillsburyMN
Posts: 1082 | From: Los Angeles, CA. USA | Registered: Aug 2003
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posted
Its those engines, the Dash 8s that had the best painting on them before it was messed up by Amtrak.
Posts: 547 | From: St. Louis, MO, USA | Registered: Nov 2002
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posted
Wow, cool the FA's were running the Grand Cayon trains. I'm never there when the FA's are running. All I've ever seen running there is steam. And like that's a bad thing
BTW, which Superliner had the non operating door?
[This message has been edited by Southwest Chief (edited 04-21-2004).]
Posts: 579 | From: San Bernardino Subdivison | Registered: Dec 2001
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