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I have returned to my home in Toronto after a two week 7600 mile North America Rail Journey on Amtrak and Via Rail. I’ll try not to make this report too long, but I did ride six trains through two countries, 13 states, five provinces and four time zones.
With my North America Rail pass I purchased sleeping car passage on Amtrak’s Lake Shore Limited (roomette) Buffalo to Chicago, Texas Eagle (bedroom) Chicago to Ontario California, Coast Starlight (bedroom) Los Angeles to Seattle and Via Rail’s Canadian (double bedroom) Vancouver BC to Toronto. I travelled coach on Via Rail’s General Brock Toronto to Niagara Falls Ont., and business class Seattle to Vancouver BC.
Departing Toronto on time on the 19th of Dec/05, the under two hour ride to Niagara Falls was uneventful where I connected by limousine to Buffalo’s Depew Station. I had earlier called “Julie” seeking information on w/b #49 only to be told that times could not be provided due to a very late-running train. Oh horrors, I imagined waiting hours and hours at the depressing Depew station stuck in the middle of a railway freight yard. But 49 turned out to be only 40 minutes late, so what’s going on with Julie? About twenty minutes before the train’s arrival a very nice lady conductor collected the tickets in the station, and asked everyone for photo-ID. The first and (so far) only time that I have been asked for ID.
It was announced that no passengers were to board until told by train staff (I think they had to pull up the train as it was a long way down the platform for coach passengers). However the nice lady conductor personally escorted me to my sleeper much to the annoyance of the coach passengers. (Pleased to see there are still some privileges afforded the first-class). We departed Buffalo at 12:35 am on the 20th. Once in my roomette, #2 car 4912, I could tell that the maintenance of these Viewliners leaves something to be desired. There was almost no heat, some of the lights failed to function, no hot water and virtually non-functioning shower (a bit of tepid water in a shower with valves, drains etc. not working properly). The next morning my attendant moved me to bedroom “A” but it was no warmer. Better luck in the dining car where I had a polite crew and an excellent cooked serving of eggs and bacon. “Cooked” was not to found on the Texas Eagle—more on that later. Except for the falling-apart viewliner equipment, I was pleased with this train and its crew.
Train 49 arrived on the 20th of Dec around 12:30 pm, three hours late, which was fine by me since the Texas Eagle, #421 was due to depart Chicago at 3:20 pm, which we did right on time. I had Bedroom “E” in car 2130 the only sleeper on the train and usually the last car, except for the Christmas season an extra coach was added and later dropped in St. Louis. Amazingly the Texas Eagle ran on time or early almost everywhere except for California where UP (unlimited parking according to the conductor) detained us for over two hours. However I only arrived two hours fifteen minutes late in Ontario. As for on board services, the Texas Eagle was the worst of the Amtrak trains. My two sleeping car attendants were obviously bored with their jobs and only performed the required basics. However I guess I should be grateful that I had my bed pulled down and my luggage taken. This particular sleeping car (no name) was an old Superliner I, but at least everything worked. The toilet, hot water, lights etc. Now for the dining car: entirely re-heated or microwaved fare. Mostly awful. For dinner I had a lump of steak that was passable, for breakfast no cooked eggs just a re-heated omelette. But for lunch I was surprised to see that soup was offered something I hadn’t seen on Amtrak for some years. So I ordered the chicken with barbeque sauce and the soup. For some reason the chicken was served first consisting of a scrawny drumstick and an equally scrawny thigh along with a paper cup of mixed corn. After this particular delight, I was served The Soup! Imagine my shock when the waiter plunked down a can, yes a can of Campbell’s Chicken Noodle Soup. I didn’t even receive a soup spoon let alone a bowl. For the coach passenger they would have charged $4.00 for this atrocity. In my most imperious Lady Bracknell voice I said “please remove that.” I then departed the dining car or should I say Fred’s Beanery. I do hope this appalling new “service” is not a trend that will spread.
I am pleased to report that things improved after we hooked up with the w/b Sunset limited departing San Antonio on-time at 5:40 am. We had a real dining car with real cooked food. No complaints here although there was just one waiter in the dining car, which is why only eight tables were being used. The food was acceptable, and our one waiter was a very jolly fellow who looked near retirement. I recall that I had on one night a rather mediocre steak with a fair amount of gristle. No soup, thank God, just the usual limp Amtrak salad. They were also offering some sort of turkey special that I did not try.
The Sunset from New Orleans had just a transition sleeper, a diner, Superliner lounge, two coaches and the through coach and sleeper from Chicago. I don’t understand why Amtrak cannot find a proper sleeping car for New Orleans passengers. I looked into the transition sleeper and all they had were about 24 roomettes (I’m not sure of the exact number) and no bedrooms. A rather poor choice for passengers on that line. Speaking of coaches, those of us in the Chicago sleeper were spotted on the end of the train which meant we had to traverse three coaches and the lounge every time we wanted to use the dining facilities. After a few days the coaches had all the ambience of something from the remoter regions of Bangladesh. Surely it can’t be that difficult for Amtrak to spot the sleeper ahead of the diner as they do on most of their other trains.
Upon arrival in Ontario at 10:45 am on the 23rd (only 2 ½ hours late) I was surprised to see that a taxi was waiting and I would not have to call one (not an easy task given that my Canadian cell phone would not work in the U.S., notwithstanding the promises of my cell provider). I was driven to the nearby Ontario Airport where I rented a Hertz car for my long drive across the desert to Las Vegas. I spent Christmas with my family including my poor mother who is suffering from the early stages of Alzheimer’s.
On the 27th of December I rented another Hertz car to drive to Los Angeles where I stayed overnight at the downtown Marriott prior to the next day’s departure of the Coast Starlight for Seattle. As for my adventures on the Coast Starlight, Cascade and The Canadian, I will post as Part II at a later time.
notelvis Member # 3071
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Great trip report so far. I'm concerned that the 'Texas Eagle' may be the future of dining car service. I would add that in July I was aboard your end of train sleeper El Paso - St. Louis and the 'Eagle' picked up an extra coach in St. Louis for the ride to Chicago also. That might be standard rather than just holiday time frames.
train lady Member # 3920
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David, with the way things go in DC I'd venture to say H S not only has your phone bugged and all the info on computers they even know what color Kleenex you like. Of course all this is then bugged by various other agencies since they do not seem to like to share. I guess they were never taught in 1st grade to share.
notelvis Member # 3071
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quote:Originally posted by train lady: Of course all this is then bugged by various other agencies since they do not seem to like to share. I guess they were never taught in 1st grade to share.
Or to play fair and always tell the truth either. But I digress.
UncleBuck44 Member # 2049
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royaltrain and notelvis,
The Texas Eagle always drops off a coach in St. Louis on the way to San Antonio and then picks it up on it's way up to Chicago the next morning.
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