I have never ordered a national timetable through the mail before and would like to do so.
If I go to amtrak.com , do I use the CONTACT US portion of the site and make my request there ? If not, where and how ?
Also, how much time should I expect to pass before my timetable arrives ? If it may take a while I might be better off just going to my home station in Pittsburgh and picking one up there myself.
I like the idea of just ordering one by mail , however.
Posted by Gilbert B Norman (Member # 1541) on :
And it comes very quickly via priority mail.
Posted by Gilbert B Norman (Member # 1541) on :
From Marriott Courtyard Bowling Green KY (on the Route of the Floridian)--
Absolutely, positively the most painless way of obtaining the docuument.
Posted by George Harris (Member # 2077) on :
quote:Originally posted by Gilbert B Norman: From Marriott Courtyard Bowling Green KY (on the Route of the Floridian)--
Floridian, sir?
How about the Pan American, South Wind, and Humming Bird? any one of these three train had far more in the way of pedigree and ridership than the poor Rodney Dangerfield of trains that the Floridian was for almost if not all of its entire existance.
Posted by notelvis (Member # 3071) on :
Ahhhhhh - Bowling Green, KY.
I very nearly went to graduate school there at Western Kentucky University. I was stationed just an hour away at Ft. Campbell, KY and was looking for a nice place to invest my GI Bill dollars after getting out of the Army.
For a number of reasons, some legitimate, WKU finished runner-up to the University of Maryland in my grad school decision.
To stay Amtrak-related, I did have the good fortune to ride Amtrak's version of the 'South Wind' through Bowling Green three times during it's brief existance. I've not been to Bowling Green in over a decade now and I wonder if the old L&N passenger station still stands?
Posted by RRRICH (Member # 1418) on :
I just went to the Winter Park AMTRAK station this weekend to get some new spring-summer timetables, and was told that they aren't out yet (at least not to the WPK station), and that the new timetables aren't effective until May 10, I believe.
The last time I ordered an AMTRAK timetable through the web site, it took about 2 months to receive it.........
The AMTRAK web site has updated timetables on it for all routes, and you can of course print any ones you want.
Posted by MDRR (Member # 2992) on :
Actually May 12 is effective date on new schedules.
They are just now being distributed to stations, saw some in the office, having just arrived,on Saturday in Boston.
Posted by palmland (Member # 4344) on :
To digress a bit -
I hope Mr. Norman and Notelvis get to see the Bowling Green station. It is remarkable the restoration job that has been done there and well worth the effort to see it. In addition to the station, (which serves as a site for city offices, venue for wedding etc., and a library) they are assembling cars to resemble an L&N train.
This includes a President's Office Car, a 6-6-4 sleeper, a diner, baggage and an E-8, if memory serves. Shows you what a local community can do. Now if they only had an Amtrak version of the Pan American going through.
Notelvis, if you were in Ft. Campbell, I'm sure you got by the L&N station in Clarksville. That, and the agent there, was probably the cause of railroads being a career and a hobby from my days of visiting grandparents there every summer.
Posted by Geoff M (Member # 153) on :
I thought I'd order one from the UK. I can't remember whether I ordered it on 27th or 28th April but it arrived "par avion" this morning! It's the spring/summer timetable.
It's been a couple of years since I last had a timetable, so what's new to me is: - the map shows VIA Rail Canada routes - The NE corridor is now combined into the national book - Small maps show daylight and nighttime segments of routes - Full colour throughout - A lot more ads - Sunset Limited now runs to Orlando - not! Would be better to show on the map as a broken line rather than implying that it runs, only to find out on the schedule page that it doesn't.
Geoff M.
Posted by RRRICH (Member # 1418) on :
I guess it HAS been a while since you saw an AMTRAK timetable, Geoff!! Those features have been in the timetable for several years!!!!!!!
Posted by Geoff M (Member # 153) on :
Oh dear, maybe it's been longer than I thought! I don't have any of my old timetables to hand (they're still boxed up in the garage somewhere since moving house 18 months ago) so didn't have anything to compare with.
Geoff M.
Posted by Railroad Bill (Member # 5097) on :
My new Spring/Summer TT, Amtrak Vacations book, and a 2007 copy of Empire Builder Magazine?? came via Priority Mail yesterday. Took about a week. Just three more weeks until we are back on the train to CA. Yahoo!! Railroad Bill
Posted by sbalax (Member # 2801) on :
I got mine yesterday in less than a week.
Headed to SAN this morning to catch a cruise ship tomorrow.
Frank in Sunny SBA
Posted by Gilbert B Norman (Member # 1541) on :
Bowling Green was simply an overnight stop for me on a drive earlier this week from Atlanta to Michigan City IN.
All I saw of the town was along US231 from I-54 to the Marriott Courtyard that was adjacent to a Convention Center near the airport. After the "bad stay' I had at a Fairfield (I still think Ms. Train Lady, residing farily near Marriott's World HQ, will hear the howls after I get through with 'em) in Marion IL, I scrubbed same at BG in favor of the Courtyard (which is an excellent brand).
At Breakfast (it is "pay' @ Courtyard), I was chatting with the hostess; Her other half has a management position at the Corvette plant "people still want 'em; we're not going anywhere'. 'What else is in town?' I asked, "Well we have a large University here'.
No mention one way of the other about CSX as an employer of note.
Oh, and here is my 'blast' at Marriott when they sent me an "e-survey' regarding my stay at that Marion IL Fairfield:
The Lobby computer was gone "oh, we have to get it fixed...' was the reply.
Room air conditioner so noisy I could not sleep without a pill; night curtains did not completely close.
Your Breakfast selections were "ugh"; I know it was "comp" and Fairfield is your "economy' brand, but the "other guys' do far better in that area.
My biggest gripe was your rate. For some reason someone made the decision to apply "special event' pricing which includes blacking out Senior Citizen rates. I really can't gripe on this point because "I knew it going in" and could have chosen to stay elsewhere. But when I observed that the hotel was at best half full, I wondered who dropped the ball on this one?
Oh and the "special event" it was a quilting convention in Paducah KY - 50 miles away.
But to conclude positively, two other stays on this trip were at Courtyards (Roswell GA and Bowling Green KY) - and all at both properties were "just fine'. I much prefer your Courtyard brand - and am prepared to pay for it (Roswell was "points", but BG was "pay").
I guess I should note that my preferred "econobrand' is Holiday Inn Express. Save the Restaurant and Bar (often of questionable quality), they offer the same comfort level as full-service Holiday Inns.
Finally, I'm not sure what I will do when I visit friends who live on the perimeter of Fort AP Hill VA (they're both retired Marines). The closest major brand hotel to them is on the South Side of Fredericksburg and is - a Fairfield (it was OK on prior stays - and I'm not into making 'boycott statements' in this life).
Posted by Geoff M (Member # 153) on :
Reminds me of a choice "discussion" I had with the manager of a four star hotel in Birmingham (UK) when the reservation I had made with them apparently wasn't good enough. Seems they'd allocated more rooms than they actually had - I know that's an airline trick but that's the first time I've seen it happen at a hotel.
Naturally we upgraded to a better hotel. Funnily enough, like Mr GBN, it was a Holiday Inn Express (I think these are classed as two star), which by all accounts was far better than the four star "service with a snarl" - and half the price. Most HIEs I've stayed at have been a good quality, either recently built or recently refurbished, and the staff always seem happy to help with anything.
Interesting that it's taken under a week for international delivery but "about a week" for domestic. Perhaps they send them out in bulk once or twice a week and I happened to catch it at the right time in the "cycle".
Geoff M.
Posted by smitty195 (Member # 5102) on :
GBN--Thanks for that AmLink on ordering timetables. I placed my online order to Amtrak on Monday (the 28th), and today I received my packet. It got here almost faster than the California Zephyr makes it's trip across the country!
Regarding hotel complaints....a little off-topic, but what the heck.....I frequently go to Vegas (for fun, not business), and a few months ago and I had some negative experiences at the Venetian. This is one of only three 5-Star hotels on The Strip (the other two are Four Seasons, located on top of Mandalay Bay, and Bellagio). Because of Venetian's 5-Star status and my excellent experiences in the past, this one particular visit was pretty rotten. I wrote a complaint letter to them, but remained very polite and cordial. Well, they sure do know how to take care of their guests, and I have been given the red carpet treatment from them ever since----and I am not a high-roller (just lots of blackjack). After my letter, I was invited to come back for free, with a high dollar credit on any hotel charges including in-suite dining (that's what they call room service at Venetian, since it's an all-suite hotel, and is also in the Guinness Book of World Records as having the largest standard accommodations of any hotel), and they sent up several gifts to my room while I was there. After coming back from that trip, I got another letter in the mail inviting me to come back any time, as often as I'd like, between now and June 30th to stay at Venetian or Palazzo for free. I'm still in shock on that one, and just took advantage of free trip #1 this week. They put me in a Rialto Suite (1,100 square feet) with a primo Strip view. I think I'm a customer for life with them---it's an incredible property. And now that the Palazzo is open, this is the largest hotel in the world (Venetian, Palazzo, and Venezia are all the same hotel).
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