When there is no water...the toilets do not flush! Someone on my train had watery poop/diareah (sp). And they used EVERY toilet on the car! So every toilet I opened had this mess in it and smelled horrible. What a health hazzard!
Here is another good one: they did not have cheese for the chilli..but they had grilled cheese sandwiches! ( I know Easy Riderish!) And then after we ordered the chilli with no cheese...they were OUT of chilli!
Doesn't Amtrak have the ability to simply add water to a car when stopped at a station along the route?
What I was told is train was late pulling into El Paso cause of busted toilet. When I went to use facilities right after we pulled out...this crappy crap (!) was in EVERY toilet!
I figured that there was STILL something wrong w/ toilets. But when only air came out of faucets and water fountains the next day, I asked about it. I wanted to jump off and go inside to go to restroom in San Antonio!
But there was no time for that I wa told. ( yes there was!). So this is when I heard someone left the shower running. There is only one stop between El Paso and San Antonio ( Alpine) and I do not know if they realized the situation yet as it was in the middle of the night.
I learned another thing....don't eat the chilli!
When I was last on the Sunset, somebody was supposed to empty the "honeybuckets" at El Paso. They didn't turn up, so they had to arrange for it to be done at San Antonio. Whether they can fill water there I don't know.
Geoff M.
I believe they add water at scheduled service stops en route. Don't know where that is on the Sunset. On the CZ I saw them adding water at Salt Lake City and again at Grand Junction.
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Trust God, love your neighbor, and never mistake opinion for truth.
-Mr. Toy
We did use another car! The pooper used all the toilets on the train! Using the other car was suggested by our car attnedent, but I think everyone else was doing the same as well.
-Fumes5
quote:
Originally posted by yummykaz:
Mr. Toy...We did use another car! The pooper used all the toilets on the train!
I assume that he was able to flush in those other cars so it was not as much of a problem. Those other cars had water, no?
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Trust God, love your neighbor, and never mistake opinion for truth.
-Mr. Toy
I am just telling you my experience. I have no idea why there was no water in other car. Maybe it was because everyone was going to that car to use toilets. Several of the lavatories on the train were permantly "occupied" or locked. This meant that people from all cars were searching for usable toilets. In my car 2 of the three toliets were unavailable. The other was revolting, I had to cover my face with a towel to use.
The one toilet upstairs had a line all the time.
The one available in cafe car area was disgusting as well.
So maybe paying the hundreds of dollars extra for a toilet in deluxe is worth it. But a lady in deluxe told me there was no water in her room.
In my opinion, there is no excuse for AMTRAK to neglect the maintainance of the Restroom facilities. Especially on long distance trains (CZ, EB, SWC, SL ETC) where passengers are on board for at least 24 hrs, it would be unreasonable for AMTRAK or any one else for that matter to expect anyone to have a good sense of humor due to the fact that they are unable to use the restroom on board the train.
When you have to go, you have to go. You simply CANNOT have a sense of humor when you have the urge to go and cannot because the restrooms are out of order. Im sure that you know that the longer you have to hold it, the more unconfortable you become.
It seems to me that the car attendant should be responsible for seeing that the restroom facilities in his area are always in working order. This would include keeping track of the water supply. It is a wonder that AMTRAK doesnt have a warning device that will alert the crew whenever the water supply falls below a certain level. We as paying passengers are paying good money to travel on the train.
I am sure that it would be fairly simple to install a warning device designed to alert the crew whenever the water level drops to a certain level.
I think that the water supply on any train should NEVER drop below the 40% level of storage capacity. Much like the fact that there is NO EXCUSE to run out of gas on the freeway, the same should hold true for the water supply on a train.
This is just my 2 cents to the discussion.
quote:
Originally posted by yummykaz:
..........When there is no water...the toilets do not flush!
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As far as I know, the chemical waste treatment system is completely separate from the potable water system.
On some roads HEP is either shut off or fails during a layover when the ambient temperature is below freezing. Since there is no HEP to heat the cars, pipes freeze and burst. Considering that all toilets were dead on the train in question this seems to be a feasible explaination. Was it cold when you took the trip?
Note that I am not making excuses for Amtrak. I'm just curious about what really happened.