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According to NARP's December newsletter, Amtrak has loosened its policy on where you can consume personal food you bring on board.
You may now eat your own food on the upper level of Sightseer Lounge cars. Personal food is still banned from the lower level, the diner, and from single-level lounge cars.
------------------ "Good ideas are not adopted automatically. They must be driven into practice with courageous patience." -- Hyman Rickover The Del Monte Club Car
dilly Member # 1427
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I've often spotted passengers eating non-Amtrak food in Sightseer Lounges. The only time I noticed a crew member have a problem with it was on the Southwest Chief, when a family of inbreds plunked a cooler onto an empty seat and refused to move it when another passenger asked to sit down.
I'm far too classy to smuggle food into a diner. But I occasionally bring stuff into the single level cafe cars when they're not crowded, simply because the curtainless windows provide a better view.
On a fairly empty Empire Service train last week, I headed to the cafe car to inhale a very nice Subway sandwich I'd purchased on my way to Penn Station. I was the only passenger sitting in the booths. The counter attendant didn't bat an eye.
Then again, I did buy a soft drink, some snacks, and a cup of coffee -- which he kept offering to refill throughout the remainder of my trip.
[This message has been edited by dilly (edited 01-25-2005).]
travelplus Member # 3679
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I'm glad Amtrak changed their policy so now one can bring on some elaborate picnics. European trains let you bring food onboard. So Amtrak is behind the times with the strict policy. Anyways this is a great move for those who do not want to spend loads of money i.e coach passengers.
Geoff Mayo Member # 153
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European trains don't in general have a lounge car, so it's not a valid comparison. Only posh excursion trains might do, like the Orient Express - and I doubt they let you bring your sarnies into the dining cars.
Letting you eat your own food upstairs is a good compromise, especially for families that want to eat together, don't want to get crumbs on their coach seat, etc.
Geoff M.
Gilbert B Norman Member # 1541
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Bringing your own food is a tradition as old as railroads. As noted, it also is quite prevalent in Europe.
During the sixties, when I was able to travel on all the major Western Routes (the MILW got away from me), it seemed to me that more Coach passengers than not 'brought their own". Somehow, I'll bet more than one Pullman passenger did same.
The practice has also spread to air travel, considering that I think you have to fly overseas in order to be fed nowadays.
However, I recall that at one time Amtrak experimented with Snack Bar prices either meeting or beating 'roadside MickeyD's'; today, it appears they only meet 'Food Court MickeyD", and FAIK, could be approaching "sports arena' prices. The apparent rationale was they could keep the cars cleaner and lessen the possibility of one having to be withdrawn for a "cycle" in the event a fumigation was necessary away from the periodic E-cleanings.
Pojon Member # 3080
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Eat your own food at your seat in coach and nobody will bother you!
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Michael Christiansen Member # 3604
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The reason given 2 weeks ago, preventing eating in the lounge, was FDA regulations. Which is just a polite way of saying NO. Though with the way it was worded, and based on what I witnessed, I thought it applied only to the lower level of the lounge car -- where the snack bar was. -mike
Charles Reuben Member # 2263
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I bought a roommette on the Southwest Chief a few weeks ago.
My attendant called the people who stayed in coach "the chicken people" because he noticed that they had a way of leaving chicken bones under the seats after they left the train.
It has been some time since my attendant actually worked the coaches. He had been working the sleepers for some time now but the name still stuck in his brain: "chicken people."
As a dedicated and experienced chicken person, I must say that there have been very, very few occasions in which I have actually eaten food at my seat. 95% of the time I ate it in the observation and nobody ever hassled me.
It makes no sense to me at all why anybody would want to eat food at their coach seat. Not only does such behavior strike me as rude as talking on a cell phone (the wafting aroma of food can't help irritate other people who might be hungry) but the consumption of food creates crumbs (as well as chicken bones, I suppose) and that has a way of gathering bugs, vermin and other unpleasant critters.
The only thing I will consume at my seat is tea and wine. Everything else is consumed in the observation car.
Of course, these days, having reached an age of reason, I eat in the diner and cafe. Quite frankly, I'm tired of living like a refuge.
By the way, if you don't have anything better to do, I invite you to visit my website and sign my guestbook. This week, the subject is "skateboard parks." www.freewebs.com/chucksville
[This message has been edited by Chucky (edited 01-31-2005).]
dilly Member # 1427
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quote:Originally posted by Chucky: He called them "the chicken people" because he noticed that they had a way of leaving chicken bones under the seats after they left the train.
Unfortunately, slobs have a habit of becoming even more slovenly when riding trains. For some reason, the Crescent and the New York-to-Florida trains seem to be particularly favorite haunts for onboard litterers.
I've boarded Amtrak coaches that looked as if they'd been caught in the crossfire during a food fight. I've also spotted some of those aforementioned chicken bones under the seats -- along with enough KFC packaging to close a landfill. Extra crispy anyone?
JONATHON Member # 2899
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I've seen people leave a cramped Superliner bathroom with rappers of an entire meal in there wake
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