First, suppose we decide we would rather shorten the distance we travel in order to give us more time to visit our destination. We might decide we would like to get off at Altoona, for example, rather than travel all the way to Lancaster. Can we do that, and will we be able to board the return train using our Lancaster-Cleveland tickets? What is involved in making such arrangements? Again, the tickets were purchased through RailSale, if that has any bearing on it.

I know it is impossible to know exactly what the consist will be, but I would love to see some pictures of what the various coaches are like, inside and out. Any ideas where I might find that sort of thing?

The trains are listed as having "Cafe" cars. What kinds of offerings do they have, and how reasonable (or unreasonable)is the pricing? Along those lines, is it considered poor etiquette to bring along snacks and eat them in your coach seat?

Finally, my wife has a problem with sitting for long spells. Is it all right just to wander occasionally, to stretch your legs?

Thanks in advance for your answers, and I will appreciate any suggestions you might offer that will make our first Amtrak experience even more enjoyable.

Alan

From searching the web, I have not found any site that indicates the types of coaches that are used on various trains. I have found a few travelogues that included the consist of the train when the author rode it, but I don't know whether or not the consist stays pretty much the same over a period of several months. From one of those, it would appear that the Pennsylvanian probably uses Heritage coaches, and I did find a couple of pics of the interior of one.

I have read numerous comments that trains 43 and 44 often run very much behind schedule. Any comments on that?

There were only twelve passengers -- which made me Passenger 13. As one crew member noted, "Not many people seem to know about this train."

The mighty Pennsylvanian is primarily a freight train. So although it takes something like 19 hours to travel its full route (Philadelphia-Chicago or Chicago-Philadelphia), it has no sleeping cars.

In fact, my train was equipped with only two lowly coaches. Both were fairly forlorn examples of their breed.

The first coach was a spectacularly unrefurbished Amfleet II. It had musty, flat-as-a-pancake orange seats and footrests that only "sort of" worked. The duct-taped toilets were a particularly nice "extra touch."

The second coach was a somewhat newer Horizon that was colder than a meat locker. Its blue vinyl seats had no footrests and less leg room than the Amfleet's. But they gave better back support. The windows were larger, too, without the view-blocking vertical divider common to other Amtrak cars.

And my favorite feature? The Horizon's main ceiling lights. They didn’t seem to be functioning at all.

The Horizon, in fact, served as my own private car for the final three hours of the trip (I was the only passenger riding in it). Let me tell you, there's nothing spookier than sitting alone in a pitch dark rail car as it rolls through Indiana at midnight. Very Stephen King.

The Pennsylvanian also had an elderly Amfleet Café car. The counter attendant looked as if he hadn't had a customer in years. The train also had engine problems, recurring hose problems, and a conductor who was clearly having an extremely bad day (picture Jack Nicholson in "The Shining").

I don’t know if the Pennsylvanian is always so entertainingly weird. Unlike my trip, yours will be entirely in daylight.

But I thought it was great. For me, the experience was almost nostalgic -- very similar to riding on pre-Amtrak trains during the late '60s, when American passenger rail was truly going down the toilet.

I suspect that some railfans (particularly those who've only ridden deluxe trains like the Coast Starlight, Southwest Chief, Pacific Surfliner, Cascades, and Empire Builder) might find the Pennsylvanian slightly disturbing.

I loved every minute of my trip, though. So will you. Just keep in mind that the Pennsylvanian is a throwback to an earlier era. It's not deluxe. And it's not a typical Amtrak train.

Oh...and you might also want to pretend that it's 1968.

The food selection in the cafe is somewhat limited. As I recall, a Pepsi is $1.50, water is $1.75, juice is $2.00. Hot dogs are $2.50, personal pizza is $3.00. They have some 'specialty' sandwiches for close to $6.00. It is also perfectly okay to bring your own food on board. Just try to refrain from spicy/smelly food which some people just seem to love to eat in enclosed spaces...

If you've already purchased your ticket, you will have to re-book them if you want to make a change. This will more than likey cost more. But, if you simply want to get off the train one stop earlier, and return from that station as well, I don't see a problem. Just make sure the car attendant or conductor knows you will be de-training before your stop so they won't be looking for your at your original stop.

The seats in the coach cars have metal foot rests at the base of the seat in front. These are released by the metal tab next to the foot rest. There is also a leg rest that pops up from under your seat. This is done by the black round plastic knob by the arm rest. The seat reclines with the metal push button also on the arm rest.

Sit on the right for the Altoona curve going east and on the left when going west.

What number is 1-800-AMTRAK?

After you board be sure to wait for the conductor or an attendant to take your tickets before walking about the train. The conductor should give you a seat check, a tag which is placed above your seat. This shows others that the seat is occupied when you are away, and identifies your destination for the attendant, so don't remove it. This is standard procedure on reserved trains. I assume it applies to this one.

You may take your own food on board and eat it at your seat. I believe there are some health regulations which prohibit you from taking your own food to a cafe or dining car.

I rode on some Amfleet cars way back in 1976 (!). My only lasting impression of them was that they were less roomy than Heritage coaches (which I rode long before they were called Heritage) or Superliners.

My standard advice to first-timers is to expect to have fun, but don't expect perfection. There are bound to be some glitches along the way. Please report your experiences when you return.

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Trust God, love your neighbor, and never mistake opinion for truth.
-Mr. Toy

I suspect that a train like the Pennsylvanian is assembled from whatever's in the yard that day, with little concern for "quality" or consistency. One some runs, you might find yourself sitting in a relatively nice refurb. On others, you'll get Amtrak's version of Rent-A-Wreck.

I thought the Pennsylvanian was funny and interesting. But that's just me. Other people might not have been so amused.

People in this forum sometimes complain about dirty or substandard cars on, say, the Empire Builder or City of New Orleans. Take a few rides on the more obscure eastern trains, though, and you'll never complain again. The difference between west and east is often that extreme.

The main thing to remember when riding any Amtrak train is:

quote:

---

Originally posted by Superliner:
....you guys must be spoiled with the Coast Starlight with its nice crew and Pacific Parlor, new Surfliners, and the Cascade Talgo.

---

Well, perhaps its because Amtrak out west has finally gotten itself into the 1980s! Or it may be an east-west cultural thing.

But I remember when the Starlight was staffed with indifferent and sometimes cranky people.

------------------
Trust God, love your neighbor, and never mistake opinion for truth.
-Mr. Toy

Dave, thanks for the detail on the cafe car pricing and selections, as well as the little things that might not be so obvious, like footrests, legrests, and recliner controls. And thanks, too, for the reminder about which side of the car to sit on for the horseshoe curve. I'd sure hate to be looking out at the side of the mountain, rather than that beautiful view out the other side!

Mr. Toy, thanks to you for helping me understand about the seating arrangements, and why they are as they are. That will help us deal with the train crew, too, since we now understand the process better.

Perhaps the best advice was that which seemed to pervade all of your postings - that we should go at this with a sense of humor, not expecting perfection. The attitude one goes in with has a lot to do with how one feels about any new experience, and you kind folk have prepared us well for this adventure.

We're not going until late next month, but I will be sure to give you a report about the experience after we get home (not using all the correct technical terms, I'm sure, but I'll do the best I can. By the way, how do you pronounce "consist"? Is the accent on the first or second syllable? See what I mean?).

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Trust God, love your neighbor, and never mistake opinion for truth.
-Mr. Toy

I ordered the RailSale tickets online (the only way they CAN be ordered, if I understand it correctly) a little more than a week ago. We still have a few weeks before we travel, but I would have expected the tickets to arrive by mail before now.

Does anyone have any experience with this who could give me a better idea of what to expect - or when to push the panic button and start calling telephone numbers?

You should be able to check the status of your reservation on line to make sure they were actually made. As a last resort, call 1-800-USA-RAIL and have them check.

I guess patience is a short suit with me...

I got home from work this afternoon, and wouldn't you know it, there were two envelopes in the mailbox - one with tickets outbound and the other with tickets for the return trip.

Actually, I did receive confirmation via email from Amtrak after I placed the orders. The comment on the confirmations was that Amtrak would send the tickets "shortly", and I guess that was what led me to expect them earlier than this.

As I said, patience is one of my short suits!

Thanks for your reply, regardlessof the fact that I have the tickets. It contained good information for me to file away.

Every week or so I'd take them out and flip through the stack (about 25 tickets) just for reassurance...:-)

I do have some pictures of the trip on our web page:
http://www.mindspring.com/~dburden/train_2000.html

I promise I'll finish the story and get it posted soon...

I will be faithfully watching for that write-up, so don't let us down! If it begins to compare with the quality of your photographic record it will be well worth reading.

Anyway, enjoy your trip! I just completed a trip from New York down to Atlanta and back aboard the Crescent. The service was good, the food was good, and I finally got to try a Viewliner sleeper! I had never been in a sleeper before, so it was a cool experience. Our train got into Atlanta 15 minutes early, and on the return trip we were right on time!

When we board the train, which is reserved coach seating, will someone show us our seats, and if so, who? Will we be offered a choice of where to sit?

Get there at least 1/2 hour before scheduled departure time. An hour is good to rest and relax before boarding.

You will be told where to stand on the platform based on your ticket class and destination. The car attendant will meet you at the door (possibly the conductor, depending on how many cars they are loading). The car attendant will direct you to the proper car and may assign seats or not, depending on how they do things.

There really is no security involved, although at the bigger stations they only let ticketed passengers on the platforms. This makes the whole boarding process less stressful which is one of the main reasons to take the train in the first place!

Once you get on board, stow your luggage and find your seat, you'll be rolling along the tracks....

In fact, you'll find that the current boarding procedure is surprisingly "Mayberry, USA."

There's no check-in ritual at the ticket window. If it's a nice day, simply wait outside on one of the benches near the tracks.

As the train is coming in, the station manager will wander out, then unhook a little barrier chain so you can cross the three closest sets of tracks to reach the main platform. There's no rush, so take your time. The platform itself is a "low level." You'll climb a couple of short steps to enter the car.

Unless your train has been commandeered by a clown convention that day, you'll be able to sit where you want. Eastern conductors tend to be pretty casual in that respect.

If you have a choice of empty seats, try out several and pick the most comfortable. There's no need to sit on a deflated old pancake if there's a seat with newer cushions two rows back.

As Mr. Toy mentioned above, the conductor will take your ticket and place a seat check/destination card above your seat (so he can keep track of who's headed where). Should you decide move to a different seat, be sure to take the card with you. When you're only temporarily leaving your seat, leave the card alone.

If my own "Pennsylvanian Odyssey" and other recent reports are any indication, your train will have two coaches at most. My conductor didn't care which car I sat in, the Horizon or the Amfleet. So to get my money's worth, I spent time sitting in both!

Many years ago, for a brief time, I lived in a southeastern suburb that had honest-to-goodness train service right into the old Cleveland Union Terminal. That was quite an experience, let me tell you, riding to work in one of those cars. Not at all like riding the Rapid Transit.

In view of the frequent negative comments that appear regarding the attitude of Amtrak employees, particularly in the east, I have to share an experience I had this past Saturday. My wife and I got up early and went down to watch the train come into and depart from the station, just to "get the lay of the land". The train was about 10 minutes late, and after it arrived it sat in the station for quite a while. We stood outside, near the station, watching the whole time, and it was a very brisk morning, with a stiff breeze coming in off the lake. After the train backed out (there was some problem with a switch, we were later told), and after we had waited another 5 minutes or so for it to come back through, we decided we would leave. My wife headed for the station to visit the comfort facilities there, but a gentleman told us the station was closed. It dawned on me that since there were no more trains that day, and that the station is open all night to serve the Lake Shore Limited, the fellow was more than ready to head for home. With a smile, however, and without our asking again, he walked up to the door and unlocked it, then waited around until we were ready to leave. All the while, he engaged me in very pleasant conversation, and there was no feeling at all that he was resentful of having to stay even later for people who were just there to watch the train.

If that is indicative of a "poor" attitude on the part of Amtrak employees, I'll take a "poor" attitude every day!

Just thought it should be mentioned.

Again, folks, thanks for all your advice and information, and I will post a trip report after we get back.