posted
My son and I arrived at the Pittsburgh Amtrak Station about 8:45 pm, thanks to a neighbor who takes us the 45 miles. The 1950s Greyhound Station that formerly sat across Liberty Ave. is now gone, to be replaced by a new station and parking garage being constructed by the City. One poor woman in the train station, having hugged her luggage from the temporary bus station, and joined the dozen people that had arrived on the Pennsylvanian and will wait 4 hours + to continue on the Capitol Ltd to Chicago.
This is our annual summer trip, my 17 year old son and I have taken a train trip since he was 6. This year it is a round trip on the Capitol Ltd and Zephyr to Sacramento and back.
In checking before leaving home, the Capitol had departed D.C. on time, was slightly late at Harpers Ferry. Of course, the Pittsburgh Station staff report nothing, and make no announcements, so I called Julie on my cell phone. She "didn't know" and reported a likely "significant delay." About 10:30, Engineers and a Conductor appear and disappear into the "secret door" so I knew the Capitol would be coming eventually.
Shortly thereafter, the station staff stick a handwritten sign simply saying "12:50" over the 11:33 signboard for the Capitol, which would be normal time these days.
The Engineers and Conductor emerged from their door at 12:15 am and went upstairs, and people in the Station followed. The train arrived at 12:30 am, and left 15 minutes later.
I had splurged when I made reservations in March and booked a roomette for the whole trip. We were one of the two boarding sleepers in Pittsburgh, our beds ready, and the Attendant said breakfast would begin at 6:30 am EST, no reservations. This was the case our whole trip, reservations were made for lunch and dinner only.
We watched the lights of Pittsburgh as we headed westbound along the Ohio River, turning inland at Rochester/Beaver, Pa. I awaken at stops, and Alliance, Ohio was 1 hour late, and the usual 1 person boarding with the local Police watching. When I awoke at Cleveland, we were now 90 minutes late with quite a crowd waiting anxiously.
Toledo Passenger Terminal was a full 2 hours down, and my son awoke from a sound sleep ready for breakfast, our first train meal since all the changes.
Speeding across the flatlands west of Toledo, we went to breakfast at 7:00 am EST to find only 8 people eating. We were quickly seated by a pleasant staff, ready with hot coffee in a double paper cup. I explained to our seating companions who "Bob Evans" is, that it is a restaurant franchise in the Eastern U.S. originating in Gallipolis, Ohio. The offering on the breakfast menu from Bob Evans was good according to my son, I had the omelet. Everything was good, I had no complaints the whole trip except for tough green beans on the Zephyr. People seem surprised that toast isn't available in the diner, but toast disappeared several years ago to my recollection.
We returned to our sleeper roomette which the Attendant had made up while we were eating, and enjoyed a couple of rounds of card games across Indiana. Our sleeper contained "late sleepers" and the Attendant was knocking on doors by 9:00 am EST so no one would miss breakfast, which seemed to linger longer than normal due to our 2 1/2 hour lateness.
This was our first trip with a scanner, and we heard many exchanges across Indiana about freight congestion. They mentioned that we were ahead of the Lakeshore which was even further behind schedule. The frustration level was apparent on the scanner, but a professional level of communication took place.
At Chicago, we pulled onto the wye to remove 3 material handling cars, and backed into Union Station at 10:45 am CST (just realized these should be Daylight Savings Time). As we were backing in, our Attendant commented on the lack of car maintenance (cleanliness) but said, "we are still running..."
We went into the Station and checked into the Metropolitan Lounge and dropped our luggage and went to the restaurant/bar in the older part of Union Station for a great lunch, and a walk outside for a short time.
We returned to the Lounge about 12:45 pm for our 1:50 departure on the Zephyr. Shawn noted that we were "low maintenance" passengers after listening to the whining and complaining about this n' that, which I agreed. Many times that doesn't help on a train trip, you get better service with honey.
Next report is departing on the Zephyr.
Posts: 76 | From: Steubenville, OH | Registered: Oct 2004
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posted
Fantastic trip report so far. I can't wait for the next installment about the California Zephyr. Nice comment on how some customers can be high maintenance. I think that with all travel industry people you get more with honey.
Cheers, David Z
Posts: 39 | From: Chicago | Registered: Jul 2005
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