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Does anyone have any stories to recount about being "en route" on Thanksgiving? I'm wondering if Amtrak has any special menu offerings for the day in its diners, like turkey with all the trimmings. Pre-Amtrak stories always welcome, also.
Posts: 1530 | From: Ocala, FL | Registered: Dec 2006
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I haven't personally been on the train during Thanksgiving, but I've heard they do have some type of turkey dinner. Nothing really fancy though.
-------------------- Matt Visit gallery for photos of our train layouts Posts: 579 | From: San Bernardino Subdivison | Registered: Dec 2001
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One time I was on the Broadway Limited on Thanksgiving and we stopped in Lancaster, PA for dinner with all the trimmings on an Amish farm. (Just kidding!)
-------------------- Everybody has to believe in something. I believe I'll take the train! Posts: 230 | From: Ithaca, New York | Registered: May 2009
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Last Thanksgiving Day I was on the California Zephyr between Reno & Denver. They had a turkey dinner consisting of turkey, gravy, stuffing, mashed potatoes, mixed vegetable and ,of course, pumpkin pie for dessert. I believe they had some left over and offered it the following day for lunch.
Andy
Posts: 120 | From: Arizona | Registered: Mar 2007
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Hey dns8560 -- do we see here the next segment of your fantasy story? You could have yourself ending up at an Amish farm on Thanksgiving and running into Ophelia again, or maybe even the dude in the fedora hat -- or better still, why not end up in a diner on the Capitol Ltd on Thanksgiving Day with Ophelia again.......
Happy Thanksgiving,all!
Posts: 2428 | From: Grayling, MI | Registered: Mar 2002
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The Friday after Thanksgiving six or seven years ago my wife and I did a round-trip joyride on the Cardinal from Charleston, WV to Clifton Forge, VA.
The train was still superliner-equipped at the time. There had been a recent dusting of snow and the scenery was magnificent. The lasting memory of that trip though was sitting in the lounge car with my wife about 1:30pm and the dining car steward came through offering left over chicken pot pies (gratis) which would otherwise have been thrown out.
We accepted the offer as we had not had lunch yet and had planned to visit the diner only for dinner on the return trip.
Best chicken pot pie I've ever had!
-------------------- David Pressley
Advocating for passenger trains since 1973!
Climbing toward 5,000 posts like the Southwest Chief ascending Raton Pass. Cautiously, not nearly as fast as in the old days, and hoping to avoid premature reroutes. Posts: 4203 | From: Western North Carolina | Registered: Feb 2004
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Last year on the Crescent I enjoyed the Thanksgiving turkey dinner on the Saturday of the weekend.
Posts: 255 | Registered: Nov 2001
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I've not been aboard at Thanksgiving, but have been aboard 3/4 at Christmas.
Nothing special at Christmas.
Got home from a trip on 5/6 in 2000 on Dec 31st. From the crew, the orders were out for that evening. Trains were to take siding at 930PM Eastern and hold until equivalent of 0015 Pacific.
As we know now, nothing happened.
Posts: 1404 | Registered: Oct 2001
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Has anyone, besides me, ever wondered what ever became of all supplies that the "Survivalists" put by against that Day. The cans of food, jugs of water, and "must have" gadgets and tools.
Probably long forgotten about, like "bomb" shelters that were built in the cellars or back yards in the fifties.
Dee
Posts: 460 | From: North Central CT | Registered: May 2004
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Has anyone, besides me, ever wondered what ever became of all supplies that the "Survivalists" put by against that Day. The cans of food, jugs of water, and "must have" gadgets and tools.
Probably long forgotten about, like "bomb" shelters that were built in the cellars or back yards in the fifties.
Dee
I believe those supplies were 'bought up' at bargain prices on eBay by folks now living in Idaho who are continuing their preparations to live 'off the grid'.
-------------------- David Pressley
Advocating for passenger trains since 1973!
Climbing toward 5,000 posts like the Southwest Chief ascending Raton Pass. Cautiously, not nearly as fast as in the old days, and hoping to avoid premature reroutes. Posts: 4203 | From: Western North Carolina | Registered: Feb 2004
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PullmanCo, the wife & I were on #5 on December 31, 1999. We stopped at Provo UT about 10:30 pm (MT) and stayed there until after 12:30am. We got to see the fireworks from the sightseer car and all of us were given Amtrak 2000 horn whistles.
We proceeded west at or below 60 mph until we met up with #6 eastbound, then we were allowed to get back to track speed. I do not remember meeting up with any freight traffic on the 31st or 1-1-00.
Posts: 1418 | From: Houston, Republic of Texas | Registered: Jan 2001
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In the days of "full staffing" in the diners, absolutely it happened...special menus were worked up for the passengers, especially on the Sunset. Crews were even luckier, as they kept some special items to be eaten by the crew after regular serving hours hours down in the "hole." The best T-giving meal I ever had was on a Sunset run, with the most senior Chef and cooks on the rosters- there was ham, chicken and turkey, 7 or 8 side dishes, greens, three or four different desserts including sweet potato pie, of course. These guys pulled out all the stops -- the passengers got awesome meals too that day, but not the "south Louisiana" Creole/Cajun Thanksgiving dinner that was down below decks... Posts: 588 | From: East San Diego County, CA | Registered: Oct 2004
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My wife and I enjoyed Thanksgiving dinner on the California Zephyr en route from Grand Junction, Colorado to Ann Arbor, Michigan a few days ago. Amtrak did offer a turkey dinner – sliced turkey, stuffing, mashed potatoes, cranberries, salad, and roll. I opted for the bison meatloaf that neither of us liked so it went mostly uneaten. My wife did share her turkey. It was fine and in the spirit of the season.
We were returning from a wedding in Las Vegas and drove through a little bit of Arizona and a bit more of Utah on the way to Grand Junction. In St. George, Utah we found both an In and Out Burger and a Five Guys Burgers and Fries – we were very surprised to find both in the same town. An Internet search today revealed that Five Guys has expanded much further west than I realized (or expected).
My two concerns in planning the trip were the possibility of snow problems in Utah or western Colorado and the taxi situation in Grand Junction. Neither materialized. We saw a little snow off to the side in some of the canyons, but nothing on the roadway. In Grand Junction, I was in a cab on the way back to the Holiday Inn Express within 20 minutes of calling the cab from the airport where I returned the rental car Wednesday evening. That evening, we arranged for the hotel to call for a cab for 10 am Thursday morning. It arrived at 9:59.
Union Pacific treated our train very well. There were at least six times that I noticed freight trains waiting on a siding for us to pass. The only time we had to wait for a train was just beyond Glenwood Springs where we waited for the westbound Zephyr. We arrived about 40 minutes early at Denver and finally about 25 minutes early at Chicago.
In all, an uneventful and enjoyable trip
Posts: 6 | From: Ann Arbor, Michigan | Registered: Jan 2009
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Thanks much for the encouraging news about taxis in Grand Junction. Perhaps the situation there is becoming more reliable.
-------------------- David Pressley
Advocating for passenger trains since 1973!
Climbing toward 5,000 posts like the Southwest Chief ascending Raton Pass. Cautiously, not nearly as fast as in the old days, and hoping to avoid premature reroutes. Posts: 4203 | From: Western North Carolina | Registered: Feb 2004
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I was on the Sunset, #2 Friday evening and the turkey dinner was still being offered. I opted for the BBQ pork ribs since I hadn't tried them before.
According to one of my table mates who had the turkey, I should have chosen that.
Andy
Posts: 120 | From: Arizona | Registered: Mar 2007
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