I have finally posted my photos from my trip a few weeks ago. My goal was to get from Phoenix,AZ to St. Louis and get some train riding and family visits in along the way. My route was Phoenix, to Atlanta, to New Orleans, to Chicago and then to St. Louis.
I started with a "red-eye" flight from Phoenix to Atlanta. I arrived in Atlanta at 5:30AM and with the help of folks on this forum, I used the MARTA system to find my way to the Amtrak station. So far the trip had gone flawlessly. When I arrived at the Amtrak station I learned that the Crescent was running 5 hours late! Fortunately the Amtrak folks let me store my bags at the station free of charge while I got to explore Atlanta. I found a nice restaurant for breakfast and later had lunch before the Crescent finally arrived about 2:00PM. The Atlanta station was nice! The Amtrak workers were very accommodating considering the long delay. They setup a table of coffee, juice and donuts in the morning and provided a snack pack of Subway sandwiches, chips and a soda around noon. I learned later from my car attendant that someone had left an abandoned car on the tracks in North Carolina and the train hit it. Apparently the bell on the lead engine was damaged and subsequently had to be replaced with another engine. This accounted for the 5+ hour delay into Atlanta. I upgraded to a Viewliner bedroom (from the roomette). It was nice, but as others have mentioned on this forum, they are starting to show their age. A full section of the local newspaper was jammed in the door between rooms to stop the rattling.
My late arrival into New Orleans caused me a little anxiety. My hotel room was secured with a credit card, however after talking to them on the phone, their system resets at 1:00AM and those who have not checked in may have the reservation deleted. After assuring them I would be there, they worked around the computer reset situation. I arrived at 1:30AM and settled in for well needed sleep.
The next afternoon I walked over to the New Orleans Union Passenger Terminal. I had lunch at the station. They have a Subway sandwich shop and BBQ fast food restaurant. It was interesting that at the BBQ restaurant you ring a bell for service and one of the Subway employees comes over and provides service.
The City of New Orleans left on time. This was my first voyage north-bound on "The City". I had travelled south previously. In addition to the Cross Country Cafe, this run had a sightseer lounge! My car attendant pointed out that it was odd, but a welcome addition on this trip. The train ran on-time the entire route
I arrived in Chicago the next morning and spent the day with my brother who came up from Central Illinois. We were treated to a double-header between the Cubs and Cardinals at beautiful Wrigley Field. We stayed at the new La Quinta hotel which just opened recently. It is only 3 blocks from Union Station and was really nice.
The next morning I walked over to Union Station to take a Lincoln Service train down to St. Louis. I have come to enjoy the Business Class service between Chicago and St. Louis. The few extra dollars is worth the larger seats and extra space. I arrived into the new St. Louis Amtrak station ahead of schedule. The next couple days I spent at the MLB All Star festivities. My nephew met me for the Home Run Derby and I met other friends for the All Star game the next evening.
I concluded my train riding after the All Star game by taking a short 45 minute trip to Alton, IL to spend a couple days with my sister and family. Other than the 5 hour delay in Atlanta to start the trip, everything else went great!!
For those of you who may be baseball fans, you can find those photos at: http://www.mlbtour.net Posted by sojourner (Member # 3134) on :
Thank you for your trip report; and how exciting that you got to the All-Star game!
I am glad you got a sightseer lounge on your City of New Orleans. I wish we had one when we took it both ways in March!
Posted by smitty195 (Member # 5102) on :
Thanks for the interesting trip report! I must say, I'm impressed with how the Amtrak agents at the Atlanta station handled things. I have waited in many Amtrak stations throughout the system on extremely tardy trains, and I have never seen them do any such thing as you experienced. I wonder if this is something new that Amtrak will pay for if a train is "x" hours late? I think that's great---I hope they do that in other places as well.
It's a shame that the Viewliners have become so used and abused in such a short amount of time (for a railroad car). I wonder why that is? The Superliners only started to look like that after about 20 years---not the 12 or so which I think is the age of the Viewliners. It is sort of funny how people come up with different items to shove into little openings and crevices to stop the rattling. I think I've seen almost everything over the years. I still prefer to use the official repair tool of Amtrak: duct tape. Posted by palmland (Member # 4344) on :
Interesting trip, Mr. Meyer. What did you think of the cafe car on CONO?
Of course 40 years ago you could have done Atlanta to St.Louis overnight on the very nice 'Georgian' operated by the NC&StL/L&N.Your trip would have been overnight rather than two days. Maybe someday we can return to those more civilized times - at least as far as train travel goes.
Glad you got to see the All Star game. We just took a quickie trip to see the Myrtle Beach Pelicans lose to the Wilmington Blue Rocks. Can't beat minor league baseball - especially when the Braves' Tim Hudson is doing a rehab assignment.
Posted by a meyer (Member # 4954) on :
Palmland, This was my third experience with the Cross Country Cafe. My first experience was on the SB CONO. I wasn't impressed at all. It always seemed crowded with people waiting for seats or to purchase in the cafe half.
My second experience with the CCC was oddly enough on the Southwest Chief? Last Christmas my Empire Builder trip got cancelled with all the bad weather they had along the route. This was also when I was reading about frozen equipment in Chicago. I had the option to wait 3 days to take the Empire Builder or leave the next day on the SWC to get back to the West coast. I chose the SWC. Apparently at the last minute, they substituted a CCC for the regular diner. I remember the diner crew telling me in-between meals that they were a little lost since none of them had worked a CCC before.
My third experience was this last trip on the CONO. I much preferred it to my first experience. Most people congregated in the lounge and the CCC operated much more efficiently, IMHO.
Andy
Posted by notelvis (Member # 3071) on :
Great report -
I'm glad the Atlanta MARTA to bus to Amtrak worked for you. Atlanta's Amtrak station is in an interesting little neighborhood which I've enjoyed several times now and probably will again since a loophole in the Guest Rewards program charges 20,000 points for a Charlotte (or Washington for that matter) - Chicago roomette and only 15,000 for an Atlanta - Chicago roomette.
I agree that the Amtrak staff in Atlanta does good work. I think you would have really liked that station in, say, the mid-1970's before I-85 was widened into the 10 or 12 lane behemouth it is today. The little courtyard outside the station was much larger then and there were a good number of trees and flowering bush type things......very Atlanta.
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