My wife and I left Chicago for Springfield, MA on Saturday Night Sep. 17th. We had roomette #6 on Viewliner "Bay View," on train #48 The Lakeshore Limited.
When we arrived at Union Station we were greeted by Mary, who was very welcoming, checked us in, gave us our lounge pass, and then helped us check our luggage.
This was my first time in the newly refurbished 1st class lounge and I grew to like the set-up as the evening went on. Instead of a large open hall, it is now divided into areas with little wall dividers that makes it much less noisey and enables one to hear announcements easily. As my wife and I settled in, we watched several lines form as people came in from eastward trains. While it became a little tense at times, Mary and Herb (who joined her)handled the crowd with great aplomb and generous loads of humor.
As each train was announced, one of them would cruise through the lounge to make sure everyone had heard. At 7:45pm, our boarding for train 48 was announced and we headed for our sleeper. Because things moved so fast I could only count:
2 Genesis Units 1 Baggage Car 3 Viewliner Sleepers 1 Dining Car 1 Cafe/Lounge 4 Coaches
At 7:55pm, the Conductor announced that we would be waiting for the late Cal Zephyr as a number of passengers were booked for our train. At 8:30pm, we finally high-balled.
Upon our boarding, we were greeted by Wallace, who introduced himself, explained all the controls of our rommette, was willing to sign us up for dinner (we declined), and got a time from us to set up our beds.
He came back at 9:30pm, and we jumped into bed after that...my wife in the lower and me in the upper. "Bay View" certainly had a powerful back and forth sway as we moved along and it took my wife and myself awhile to fall asleep.
Posts: 171 | From: Aurora, Illinois | Registered: Jun 2005
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I came to at 4:30am, and looked out my viewliner window...we were in Cleveland. After sitting for 20 minutes, we promptly backed out of the station for about 2 miles and then sat and waited for 3 frieght trains in a row to pass us, then we headed east.
At 6:00am, my Wife and I got up, showered and then headed to the Diner. Sparsely populated, we had a table to ourselves and enjoyed breakfast while watching the sun come up. The food was excellent, and the Staff was very friendly and animated.
Posts: 171 | From: Aurora, Illinois | Registered: Jun 2005
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When we came back from breakfast our beds were made, and we enjoyed the rest of the morning: reading, crossword puzzling, and watching the beautiful scenery go by. We were, however, surprised by the amount of freight zipping by our windows every few moments.
By lunch we were 2 1/2 hours down and ate with a gentleman who was hoping to get to Uttica NY to see his kids play pop warner football.
Posts: 171 | From: Aurora, Illinois | Registered: Jun 2005
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By Uttica we were still 2 1/2 hours down and then the fun began. After offloading the Uttica bound passengers, we proceeded to go backwards for about a mile and sat for 1 hour. Wallace came on and announced: "trackwork," and that we might not move for another hour. No sooner did he say this than we went backwards again for about a mile, changed rails, and then headed East. Lots of trackwork was being done, about 7-8 miles of it.
After that we cruised along pretty quickly and encountered nary a freight train. We arrived in Albany, still 2 1/2 hours down. And then it was train transfer time. A quick walk across the platform brought us before the surliest 2 conductors I have ever met. One actually was cursing at passengers as they struggled to hear his directions for boarding the train.
Amazingly, we left within 20 minutes, but about a mile out of the station, the engine died and there we sat for an hour, waiting to be rescued. When the rescue engine arrived, it tied on and proceeded to go...you guessed it, Backwards!
When we arrive in the station, one of the conductors made an announcement that I have never heard before: "because we have a new engine, we do not have the proper paperwork to proceed east on this CSX line, so we need to get new federal paperwork filled out." He may have been telling the truth, but everyone on the train burst into laughter at this explanation. Add to the already late problem: filthy stinking toilets, and a snack bar that had next to nothing, and to say the least, the natives were restless! (You think that with us being 3 hours late they could have checked the engine to make sure it was working, maybe cleaned the toilets, and supplied the snack bar...seems they had enough time).
After 30 minutes, we finally cruised from Albany and headed down the road. With no further interruptions, we arrived 5 hours late in Springfield, where our friends picked us up and we headed for New Hampshire, another 1 1/2 hours down the road.
First half of trip scorecard:
Train #48 -equipment clean and comfortable, although showing it's rough edges. B -Amtrak Staff, Friendly, Curteous, and Caring A
Train #448 -equipment, dirty, smelly, and not working F -Amtrak Staff, rude and discurteous F
So that was the first half of my trip, more tomorrow!
Posts: 171 | From: Aurora, Illinois | Registered: Jun 2005
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A surly conductor swearing at you is absolutely inexcusable. Be sure and let Amtrak know about it.
Posts: 76 | Registered: Jul 2005
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I concur with Mr. Forman329. A conductor, or any crew member for that matter, has no business venting his displeasure at the riders. Having worked in a customer service position before (retail seafood sales), this sort of behavior wouldn't be tolerated, and would result in immediate termination from my employer. You don't address the paying clientele in a cross manner, with the exception of dealing with a unruly or disruptive passenger.
I would certainly contact Amtrak, and let them know all of the details: Train number, date, time, persons involved, etc.
-------------------- "Travel is fatal to prejudice, bigotry, and narrow-mindedness, and many of our people need it sorely on these accounts. Broad, wholesome, charitable views of men and things cannot be acquired by vegetating in one corner of the Earth all one's life." Posts: 506 | From: Wisconsin | Registered: Mar 2002
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Your half-backward trip leaves me moderately hopeful for my trip next week since I'm only going as far as Albany. On 3 previous trips I was 5, 7, and 6 hours late into Rochester, so being 2-3 hours late into Albany sounds great!
Posts: 122 | From: Milwaukee, WI USA | Registered: Jun 2004
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I would certainly contact Amtrak, and let them know all of the details: Train number, date, time, persons involved, etc.
Contact them even if you don't know the name of the conductor; when I called to complain about two conductors on a Regional train a few months ago, they seemed to know the ones I was talking about.
Posts: 76 | Registered: Jul 2005
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quote:Originally posted by jgart56: I came to at 4:30am, and looked out my viewliner window...we were in Cleveland. After sitting for 20 minutes, we promptly backed out of the station for about 2 miles and then sat and waited for 3 frieght trains in a row to pass us, then we headed east.
That's exactly what happened to us on the same route.
Agreed - complain to Amtrak customer service about rude staff.
Posts: 64 | From: NYC (NYP) | Registered: Aug 2005
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I did keep all of my ticket stubs and will be sending them a letter in the next few weeks...I would like to do it sooner, but I have to head east for a 10 day convention for my employer on Monday (flying this time). Would you believe that neither of the rude conductors was wearing his nametag? Wonder why?
Posts: 171 | From: Aurora, Illinois | Registered: Jun 2005
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I recently had a phone call from Amtrak Customer Service about a letter I'd written complimenting the Coast Startlight crew for doing a great job under difficult circumstances. The agent who I spoke with said she felt I deserved some compensation for the lateness of the train (which I'd not asked for) and I just got a $35.00 travel voucher.
I really believe there is an effort being made to improve service levels and have some accountability.
Frank in Sunny SBA
Posts: 2160 | From: Santa Barbara, CA, USA | Registered: Oct 2003
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I heard that your surly conductor was transfered to FEMA. Anyhow, reading some of these travel logs I get the feeling that when traveling in the Frieght lines its like getting in a car and driving to Manhatten in rush hour, no matter how smooth your trip is going you just know there will be a back up just around the corner.
Posts: 516 | From: New Haven, CT USA | Registered: Feb 2005
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