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As promiaed, here is my "quickie" trip report for a trip we took last weekend to a family funeral in Baltimore:
We got to the Winter Park AMTRAK station approximately 1 PM on Thursday, May 26. The AMTRAK status charts had been showing an on-time arrival for #98, the Silver Meteor all morning. Our friend Karl dropped us off the station, then he waited with us for the train to pull in. The train arrived about 10 minutes late and we found our 3 coach seats immediately. I had not ridden coach for overnight travel for several years, but that was all that was available on this day, and since we were going to a family funeral, we did not have the option to change days. My wife Jan and I got seats together, and Jan’s daughter Melissa got a seat across the aisle from us. Our first order of business was to stop in Sanford at the site of the old (now torn down) AMTRAK station, next to the Auto Train, to fix a stopped up toilet on our train. The lavatory pumpout truck was waiting for us, the crew did their thing, and we were back on the road again in about 10 minutes, but we maintained an average of 10 minutes late the rest of the trip. We sat in the lounge car a while, and had made 8:15 reservations for dinner, since that was the only available time by the time the steward came through the coaches to take reservations.
As the evening went on, our car became increasingly warm, until it was almost hot. Several people asked the attendant to fix it, and he repeatedly said he will when he has a chance, but that the control to fix it was on the BOTTOM of the car outside -- ????????? Really? Sounds rather inefficient (can someone clarify that for me please?) He finally got out in either Savannah or Charleston to fix it, and over the next several hours, our coach then became engulfed in almost Arctic air for the rest of the night! I guess he “fixed” it…………
We went to the dining car at 8:15, after the Savannah stop, for dinner, and I recognized the dining car crew we had as one we have had before, who were very inefficient and slow a few years ago, and still are. By 8:15, there was already a line developing in the dining car, and no one at any of the tables appeared to be anywhere near ready to settle their checks and leave to make room for the next serving. So we opted to eat in the lounge car and got microwaved hamburgers for dinner instead.
Sleeping in coach – all I can say is I now know why I haven’t slept in coach overnight on trains for about 20 years. I am not 30 any more, and needless to say, sleeping in coach was very uncomfortable for me. My wife had the window seat, so at least she could put her head on a pillow in the corner by the window, and Melissa had a double seat to herself most of the night, until another passenger boarding in Petersburg at 4 AM approached her and actually lifted her feet up and moved them so he could sit in the seat next to Melissa. Add to that, one of the “dimmed” ceiling lights was shining directly into my face all night, and the Arctic air in the coach got no warmer.
We got to Washington a few minutes late, had breakfast at McDonald’s in Union Station, then soon boarded NE Regional Train #184 for BWI. We found seats directly in front of one of the doors. Since this was such a short trip (only 25 minutes), I was not sure whether anyone else on the train was going such a short distance, and I saw no crew around for the first 20 minutes of our trip, which put us way past New Carrollton already. I began to look for crew to make sure someone could open the doors for us at BWI, found no one, but as I walked back to my seat, a conductor had appeared by my wife and stepdaughter, at least to take our tickets. We stopped at BWI, however, and no crew were around, so we went to the doors behind our seats – and the doors opened automatically for us! I had not ridden on the NEC for a few years, and had forgotten about that. So we got out at BWI, took the AMTRAK/MARC shuttle to the BWI Airport terminal, then another rental car shuttle to the rental car lot to get our car – I had hoped Enterprise would be able to pick us up directly at the BWI train station, but “no can do.” And while we were waiting for the FREE shuttle, several BWI taxicab drivers offered to take us directly to Enterprise for $15 each, selling the fact that it would be only one taxi ride, and not 2 shuttles. We politely turned them down.
We attended the funeral for my wife’s favorite aunt, spent time with the cousins, then on Sunday, May 29, we headed back the same way we had gone up. We turned the car in to the rental car folks at BWI, took the shuttle to the terminal, and the shuttle to the BWI AMTRAK station. We were originally booked on NE Regional #143, which departs BWI at 12:55, not knowing if there would be any other family activities on Sunday morning. There weren’t any, so we got to BWI early and changed our reservations to Train #153; which left BWI 2 hours earlier; however, since it was the day of the train departure, I had to pay an additional $30 or 40 for the earlier train. And while we were waiting for the train at BWI, the same taxi drivers were there, now offering to take us all to Washington DC for $50 with “no waiting, and only ½ hour.” We again tuned them down. At Washington, we checked into the Acela Lounge, since we had booked sleepers on the way home, stored our baggage, then did the traditional walk to the Capitol Bldg, and then did lunch at the Thunder Grill in Union Station.
We came back home on Train #91, the Silver Star. We had 2 roomettes -- Jan & I were in room 7 and Melissa had her own room across the aisle from us, Room 8. The train arrived in Washington well ahead of schedule and we soon boarded from the Acela Lounge. We got settled, and the train left WAS and ALX on time, but then we began following freight traffic and soon found ourselves 15 minutes to 1/2 hour behind schedule. We stayed in the rooms most of the afternoon and made dinner reservations for 6:30. On this train, dinner went much more smoothly. We got to the diner at 6:30 and only had to wait a couple minutes for our table, and had a good meal. I had the steak, which was fairly good, Jan had seafood, I believe, and Melissa had the vegetarian dish. We got off the train at the smoking stops, Richmond and later at Raleigh, then went to bed fairly early. I took the top bunk in our roomette, and Jan took the bottom bunk. I slept better than I had in coach going north, and we maintained 15 minutes to half an hour late all night. In the morning we awoke between Savannah and Jacksonville, then had breakfast in the diner at the Jacksonville stop. Things went smooth – no additional delays or problems, and we arrived back at Winter Park only ½ hour late or so, and our friend (and “pet sitter”) Karl picked us up.
All in all, it was an enjoyable train trip, although I am not sure my stepdaughter is going to turn into as much of a “train riding fan” as my wife and I!
Posts: 2428 | From: Grayling, MI | Registered: Mar 2002
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So sorry for the loss of your aunt, Mr Rich. Sounds like your southbound trip, at least, was pretty pleasant.
I suppose of the many people I know use the train to get to BWI, most use the MARC train, not Amtrak, in that direction.
Posts: 2642 | From: upstate New York | Registered: Mar 2004
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20/20 hindsight is of course so great, Rich; but I would simply have rented the auto from one of the several outlets at Union Station and have avoided the "grief" you apparently had to live with @ BWI. There is no station anywhere that has the choice of rental companies offered at WAS (Stamford has a choice of two).
Coach? well you all "survived"; not sure if I would have. To put it mildly, someone would have to have a "gun to my head" in order for me to try it out.
Melissa joining the "never again' cadre?; this is why I simply will not recommend Long Distance train travel to anyone (I guess if I knew regular overnight Greyhound riders that might be one thing, but I don't) - even though my personal overall of the LD experience is "more positives than negatives'; for even when "things" go "reasonably well' as it appears to be the case on this journey, there still are "things' that will occur in any 24 hour journey in which a "non-aficionado" will be of quick mind to hold "hey; this could have been over in done in about six hours".
Of course the "flip side" for Melissa; Mom's popping; you get what you get - and based upon two recent stays, Detroit and Indy, in one month - Westin is a "heads up" luxobrand (don't know about Marriott's "luxo" Renaissance which I'll be trying out for the first time in Pittsburgh next week, but I think Westin beats out Marriott full-service - not by much though when considering the great stay I had at Salt Lake City last year).
Posts: 9976 | From: Clarendon Hills, IL USA (BNSF Chicago Sub MP 18.71) | Registered: Apr 2002
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Thanks for the trip report, and yes there is a reset switch and/or circuit breaker for the A/C compressor underneath the car as well as the thermostats so when it is "hot outside, it is cold inside" and visa versa in the winter.
Posts: 332 | From: Long Island, NY USA | Registered: Jan 2004
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Sounds like a good trip, Rich, except for maybe the coach part.
I'm sure you got a glimpse of our fine town at 12:50 am!
GBN - don't remember the number, but I do recall thinking on a trip last summer that the number of rental car agencies in 30th st. station was about the same as DC. Hopefully these new urban intermodal transit centers that seem to be springing up will offer better rental car choices for rail passengers outside the NEC.
Posts: 2397 | From: Camden, SC | Registered: Mar 2006
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Thanks for the trip report, Rich. It's interesting to read about the east coast trains, as I have never traveled aboard Amtrak anywhere east of Chicago (except Acela). I've ridden almost every route between the left coast and there, but once we move east, I don't know much about it. The one common theme that I seem to read about with the east coast trains is that the crews are much more hit-and-miss then trains that are crew'd in Los Angeles. Some of the best crews I've encountered have been on 3/4 and 11/14. In 2006, I did a big loop of the USA and was on Amtrak trains for 8 days in a row. I took the Coast Starlight to Eugene, Cascades to Portland, Empire Builder to Chicago, Southwest Chief to Los Angeles, and Coast Starlight back home. It was so easy to tell which crews were Chicago and which were Los Angeles.
Also, I'm sorry to hear about the loss in your family.
Posts: 2355 | From: Pleasanton, CA | Registered: Apr 2007
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Gil -- I don't know if Melissa is in the "never again" group -- she wasn't THAT upset! As far as rental cars at WAS, it was bad enough driving between BWI and Severna Park, MD (Annapolis area) several times, including getting lost once and ending up in the Baltimore Tunnel, and that is why we chose not to subject ourselves to having to drive around DC, especially on a holiday weeekend..... I imagine the rental car rates from Washington DC are much higher than from BWI (our car for 3 days was <$100), and there are quite a wide variety of rental cos. at BWI -- all the majors are there.
We stayed at the Westin in the BWI "hotel district," and it was a very nice hotel.
Posts: 2428 | From: Grayling, MI | Registered: Mar 2002
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