I arrived at the venerable and newly renovated Union Passenger Terminal in downtown New Orleans for 1:00pm on 8/22/05. The boarding of train #58, City of New Orleans, commenced at 1:20pm. There were lots of people in the waiting room, half of which seemed to be heading on 58 and half of which were awaiting the very late train #1 from Orlando to continue its journey west. I made sure that I was one of the first passengers in line so that I could pick out the perfect seat for my 19-hour ride to the Windy City. Stepping outside, I was directed to the last coach on the train. The trains consist today was as follows:
I was in the only Superliner 2 in the consist, so I was kind of happy about that. I found the pair of seats with the a/c plug and got settled in. At 1:45 the conductor announced that we would be waiting until train #1 arrived from Orlando since they had sixty connecting passenger! He said it shouldn’t be more than twenty minutes or so. Well twenty minutes ended being nearly an hour, since the Sunset didn’t pull in until 2:15pm, just about 4h55m late. Apparently the train sat still for an hour and a half in between Bay St. Louis and New Orleans waiting for one freight train to clear. Ouch!
Anyway, after all the bags and connecting passengers got loaded, we were out by about 2:38pm, just shy of an hour late. There were around twenty five passengers in my coach (passengers going to Chicago and Homewood only), the coach in front of ours probably had forty passengers in it at least, and the one ahead of that probably had around thirty. All of the sleepers were sold out. Overall it was a decent load for a midweek day. We made good time until we approached Orleans Junction near the New Orleans airport, where the Head End Power went out for about fifteen minutes. It came back on after our southbound counterpart train #59 flew past us, right on time. The engineer had to be doing 80+ as we skirted Lake Ponctchartrain. Our crossing of Pass Manchac indicated out beginning of slow orders (for the heat, perhaps?) all the way until Hammond. I’m fairly certain we weren’t going much faster than 25mph, which caused us to arrive into Hammond just about two hours behind schedule. At least eight to ten passengers got on board here, mostly for Chicago.
Once we left Hammond, we still had the slow orders for maybe a few miles, than we finally got rolling. It was then pretty much all 79mph through the state of Mississippi that evening. We arrived in Jackson under a very ominous sky at close to 7:30pm. I had a 7:30pm reservation for dinner in the diner so I made my way up there after watching the dozen or so people board the train here. The tables were not ready yet for the 7:30 group, and in fact all eighteen of us didn’t get to enter until 8:05. Not a big deal, what’s the hurry? To kill time I talked to a guy in the lounge car who was going to St.Louis by way of Carbondale. He didn’t seem to mind the two hour, middle-of-the-night bus ride from Carbondale to St. Louis…more power to you sir! Upon entering the diner I was seated next to a twenty year old guy who was on his way from Pensacola, FL to Kalamazoo, MI. He was a semi-pro BMX racer. So of course he filled me in on the contests that he had won and what new tricks are on the horizon for future tournaments. The two people across from us drove 140 miles from Jennings, LA to catch the train in Hammond to get to Chicago.
The dinner was good even though a couple of the selections were sold out – no more steaks or chicken. I settled for the eggplant ravioli which was good, and the quantity was amazingly huge. I decided to skip dessert since they didn’t have apple pie on this menu, and I didn’t really feel like cheesecake or ice cream. I left the diner at around 9:20 and headed back to my coach to do some reading. Also, I made it a point to listen to Arlo Guthrie’s version of “City of New Orleans” several times. We pulled into Greenwood shortly after I returned to my seat, and a few people boarded my coach here. Also several people jumped out for a quick smoke, or tried to at least. I don’t think they made it out the train since we were late. I was guessing that we’d make it to Memphis for midnight or close to it, since we were making up some time slowly but surely. Well wouldn’t you know, I fell asleep and woke up as we were stopped in Memphis – right at midnight. We pulled out at 12:13am and I decided to call it a night for good.
I slept pretty well overall. I probably got five hours of solid sleep. I found the track in Nebraska to be far worse than the track in this area. I woke up a few times throughout the evening to gaze out the window…I was trying to catch our crossing of the Ohio River but I slept through it. I eventually woke up for good at 6:10am to a gorgeous sunrise over the Illinois farmland. Just moments later we passed through Effingham. We had made up more time overnight, and our arrival into Chicago was announced at an estimated 9:40am. At around 7:00 I hit the Sightseer Lounge once more and bought an apple juice and a ham and egg muffin thing. It was nothing amazing but it hit the spot. The dining car had a huge waiting list and I was too tired to fight that. The countryside in this area of the state is pretty surreal, nothing overly scenic, but it was nice in its own way.
A large number of passengers boarded in Champaign, thirty at least, at 7:15am. We made our scheduled stop at Kankakee (I got a great picture of the station) at 8:18am, and Homewood at 8:57am. About a dozen passengers got off in Homewood. Once we left there I got my things together and prepared for our arrival into Chicago. Soldier Field came into view at around 9:25am, and I got a good picture of it. Finally I spotted the impressive Chicago skyline as we made our way over the St. Charles Air Line to position ourselves to back into the terminal. After backing through the coach yards we came to stop on track #18 at 9:50am or right at fifty minutes behind schedule. We had made up roughly an hour and ten minutes after leaving Hammond the previous day, which is pretty darn good in my book.
Overall it was an excellent ride, and as usual, it ended all too soon. Our coach attendant was very professional and friendly. She seemed to really enjoy her job. Also it was good to see a fairly full train, to prove Norman Mineta’s theory that “nobody rides trains” to rest yet again. Just guessing there were probably 160+ passengers. It seemed like at least several people got on at even the smallest stops. Small town America supports Amtrak service. But of course we all know that. It’s unfortunate that the big wigs in office don’t.
After sitting in the Great Hall for around fifteen minutes, I decided to take a walk to go find the Boeing headquarters, which I had seen on my last trip here, but didn’t get to go to it. Sure enough, I found it with ease. It was maybe a ten minute walk, and a nice one at that, walking past the Chicago River and seeing all the people hurrying to get to meetings. I spent some time in the Boeing store and bought a few things, then, after receiving excellent directions from the store attendant, I made the walk to Dearborn Ave with my ultimate destination being Harry Caray’s restaurant, otherwise known as my Graceland. I’ve been a huge Cubs fan and a Harry Caray fan for a long time. I had visitied this restaurant previously but it was eight years ago. It was well worth a trip back. I had a few cold Old Style beers, which I’ve never had before, and munched down on a nice big burger. I took my time and enjoyed that lunch believe you me. Finally at about 12:30 I left and walked back to Union Station, but I took a different route this time, which took a few more minutes, but I got to see some more of the city. I picked up my bag from the baggage lockers and made the short walk to the Clinton CTA Blue Line station for the fifty minute ride to O’Hare. I arrived at ORD at 2:00pm for my flight back to New Orleams, which didn't turn out as well as I had hoped, since I had an aircraft downgrade from a Boeing 777 to an MD-80. It was a bad end to an otherwise great trip, but American Airlines takes the blame, Amtrak was excellent as usual!
Posted by vline (Member # 1132) on :
Thankyou Nativeson for a very interesting report on a 'yet to do' journey in your country's South. Sure beats a boring midweek in my office in Wintry Melbourne, Australia.
Mike in Australia.
Posted by sbalax (Member # 2801) on :
NativeSon--
Thanks for the great trip report. Nebraska? I'd bet you meant Kentucky unless they decided to go the long way around.
Just out of curiosity, who flies 777's from ORD to MSY?
Frank in dark, cool SBA
Posted by NativeSon5859 (Member # 2993) on :
I was talking about last summer when I took the Zephyr from EMY to CHI. The track was very rough east of Denver through the night...eastern Colordao and much of Nebraska was pretty rough stuff.
Well I was flying a 777 from ORD to DFW to connect to MSY. Instead I just flew ORD-MSY on a MD-80 since I didn't want to put up with connecting in DFW nonsense.
Posted by Gilbert B Norman (Member # 1541) on :
Nice report, Mr. Native Son--
Oh well, guess I'm getting old when I read of NOUPT as the "venerable old NOUPT" - I remember reading reports of it being built and a News Photo in TRAINS when it was opened during 1954!!!
But then, there was a radio news report this morning addressing the demographics of the entering college freshman class. The reporter noted that for over half their lives the President has been named George Bush!!!!
Posted by sbalax (Member # 2801) on :
Now that is scary!
Thanks for the link, Mr. Norman. Great pics!
I stand corrected, NativeSon. I reread that part of your report and understand your Nebraska reference.
Again, thanks for the trip report. I wish more people would take the time to post them.
Frank in cool, cloudy SBA
Posted by Geoff M (Member # 153) on :
Nice report. Makes me want to come back and ride one of my favourite trains again!
Geoff M.
PS - I got another B777 when I really wanted the scheduled MD11 in Brazil. Some people are never happy!
Posted by sbalax (Member # 2801) on :
You'd better ride those MD11's while you can. They are slowly being sold off and turned into freighters. It's sad they never really reached their potential. The DC10 was always a favorite aircraft of mine but the aging design and fuel consumption just can't compete in today's economy.
Frank in still sunny SBA
Posted by jgart56 (Member # 3968) on :
Thanks for the trip report Native Son,
The City of New Orleans has always been one of my favorite Amtrak trains. My wife and I hope to enjoy another trip to the "Big Easy" on it next year!
Posted by Trainut (Member # 4052) on :
Just read your report, it was great. You said you found the seats with the AC plug. Can you tell me where those seats are, as I need the plugins for my C=Pap breathing device. I posted asking where they were located, but still don't know. Any information would be helpful. Thanksin advance, Trainut
Posted by Geoff M (Member # 153) on :
quote:Originally posted by sbalax: You'd better ride those MD11's while you can.
Oddly enough, I can fly Varig's MD11 without leaving Europe. They fly Sao Paulo - Paris CDG - Amsterdam, with the CDG-AMS leg being open to any passengers, there are extremely few passengers, it's far cheaper than Air France or KLM (from 69 Euros one way), plus you get a snack service as well.
Going back to the track quality, I remember a couple of years ago getting shaken awake with the track through southern IL - it was that bad! Perhaps it's been improved since.
Geoff M.
Posted by sbalax (Member # 2801) on :
Interesting routing and good to know. Thanks, Geoff.
Frank in SBA
Posted by NativeSon5859 (Member # 2993) on :
Traiunut, I think it was seat 52. It was maybe two or three seat rows behind the stairs on the upper level, on the left side if you're looking towards the back of the car. Hope that helps some.