Conference 7.286::railroad

We boarded the Crescent at Gainesville, GA on Friday, April 4th, around 9:10pm,
about 1/2 hour late.  We took coach up to DC and then hung around Union Station
for about an hour and then caught the 11:15 am train to Boston.

From South Station we jumped on the Red Line, then Green Line, then Blue Line 
to the airport and caught the Avis Shuttle bus to the rental car (no need to
get on the Massport bus).

We vacationed for 4 days (and dropped the rental car off in Nashua)...

We were dropped off at the Ailwife (sp?) station and rode the Red Line back in
to South Station on Thursday morning, the 10th.  We were at South Station by
6:30am, in plenty of time to catch the 7:15am to Penn Station, New York.

In New York we hung around the Metro Lounge, but did pop outside to see the 
Post Office and snap a few pictures.  At a little before 3pm we went down to
the trains and found our two Viewliner sleepers for the trip back to Georgia.

With a few well placed tips to the porter, I managed pick up a package at the
Charlottesville, VA train station.  We met by brother-in-law on the platform
with the box and the porter stored it for us over night.

The Crescent arrived on time Friday morning and we had 3 days to relax at home
before school and work today.

I have a bunch of station arrival/departure times we jotted down during the
trip I'll enter here in a few days.

Dave

I forgot to mention they seemed to have upgraded service for the first class
passengers.  On the return trip of the Crescent, they gave all four of us a
little felt bag with 2-3 chocolates in them.  The bag has the Crescent logo 
on them.

They also gave us 2 key fob/flashlights and free plastic checkers for the
fold-out table/checker/chess board in the rooms.  And finally, my wife and I
both received a 6"x4" 'little black book' with a 1997 calendar, notepad and
Rand McNally pocket City Atlas inside.  The cover has the Crescent logo and
on the iside is a little map of the route it takes.

These little gifts were an unexpected suprise!

Dave

 
Just returned from a (Boston section) Lake Shore Limited->Cal Zephyr to
Oakland, Ca round trip.  Departed Boston Sat Apr 5, arrived Oakland (Jack
LOndon Square) Tues Apr 8..left Boston right on time at 3:30PM and were
pretty much on schedule for the whole trip..arriving Union Station 
at 1:04PM (1 hour late due to the switch to Daylight Savings time).  Had
plenty of time for a nice lunch with a friend who lives in Chicago, then
hopped on the Zephyr to Oakland.  Switch problems caused some delays 
between Chicago and Mt Pleasant, Iowa and at one point we were about
an hour or so behind.  Made it about 20 minutes late to Denver, and 
were about 10 minutes late arriving in Oakland the next day.

Talked to a lot of folks on the train who were saying that the Pioneer
section (to Seattle) will be pulled and the Zephyr returned to daily
operation beginning in May..later conversations on the return trip
indicated that the crews on the Pioneer were handing out souvenier
glasses..

The return trip left Oakland on time (9AM 4/14) and we were on time
much of the way until just east of Salt Lake City where freight traffic
slowed us down and we wound up about 40 minutes late to Denver.  We had
a scheduled 1.5 hours in Denver, however they managed to get us in,
remove 2 private cars that were tacked on in Sparks, Nev, attached
the cars from the Pioneer and send us out at 8:35PM only 5 minutes
behind.  We were right on time into Omaha, then east of Omaha freight
traffic (rerouted because of floods up north) slowed us down.  We
arrived in Chicago at 5:30PM vs the scheduled 4PM, allowing 30mins
to catch the Lake shor to Boston.  That wound up being delayed as
problems with the heating/air conditioning in some of the cars held us
up, but we left 30mins late.  I fell asleep after Toledo and missed
a problem that set us back 2.5 hours.  Apparently a bridge which was
raised somewhere between Toledo and Sandusky Ohio couldn't be lowered
and we had to wait for that to be fixed..we wound up about 2.5 hrs late
to Boston, though the Albany switching crew did a magnificent job
in trying to get us out of there quickly.  Amtrak provided free lunches/
soft drinks after Albany.

On both LSL trips the Boston sections were packed, and when the NY sections
arrived, it was a full train.  The Zephyr was also quite full on both
trips.  This was the second time I've taken this round trip and I loved
every minute of it, despite the delays.  I just wish Amtrak would remember
that the people in the seats are CUSTOMERS and not people intent on 
interrupting their train ride.




Jim

 I'm convinced that it should be a law that all American citizens take
at least one cross country train trip every 4 years or so if for nothing
else than to be "forced" to get to know some of their fellow citizens..Every
trip I've ever made has resulted in meeting some truly fascinating people,
I'd never have had the opportunity to meet otherwise.




Jim

> trip I've ever made has resulted in meeting some truly fascinating people,
> I'd never have had the opportunity to meet otherwise.

  This is an important point that a lot of people don't think about. Amtrak
promoted this factor in their ads for a while. Remember the magazine ad in
which a passenger deliberately missed his destination stop by several hours
so he could continue a conversation with someone he had met on board?
  There are very few opportunities for chance encounters like this with people
on other modes of long-haul transport. 

 I can see doing that (missing a stop).  A gentleman got on the train in
 Sacramento, CA and took the seat next to me (Eastbound).  Eventually we
 got to talking and I found that he was 73 years old, hadn't taken a train
 since being shipped off from Boston to WWII, had recently (February 12)
 lost his wife of 48 years and was enroute to Boston then Hyannis to visit
 his brother. He was nervous about the connection in Chicago and then the
 bus connection to Hyannis.  I assured him that I'd be happy to help him 
 through Chicago and then to his bus in Boston, and we spent the rest of
 the trip talking about everything from WWII to General Patton, to his
 20+ years as a Boston Police officer.  It was delightful.  When we arrived
 in Albany 2+ hours late, he needed to call his brother to tell him of the
 late arrival, and he couldn't deal with the pay phones (not as easy as they
 used to be) and I called for him on my credit card..we arrived in Boston
 and I helped him over to the bus station (as we arrived in South Station he
 pointed out the very spot he said goodbye to his mother as he left for WWII)
 and made sure he was set.

 And that's just one of the people I talked to on this trip.  I could write
 a book about the people I spoke to.  A man and his 2 sons who were on
 vacation in Washington DC and who decided "for the heck of it" to take
 the train to Boston and then to Chicago (leaving his wife to drive their
 car back to Wisconsin), a couple of retired folks from Mississippi who
 had gone from New Orleans to LA to Seattle, back to Oakland and were heading
 home, an elderly lady taking a similar trip, stopping off in various places
 for a day or 2..


 What a shame if this form of transit were to disappear.


 Jim

    Shame about the Pioneer.  My wife and I took it from Chicago to
    Pocatello Idaho a couple of years ago for a trip to Yellowstone.
    After the Zephyr splits off with most of the passengers in
    Denver, the half empty dining car on the why to Idaho was quite 
    pleasant.  We had a long talk with the conductor and other crew 
    members.  Learned quite a bit of interesting railroad folklore.
    
    				-John

 Sad indeed...I'm kind of kicking myself for not buying a couple of the
 "Pioneer" hats they had for sale on the Westbound California Zephyr a couple
 weeks ago.  The loung car attendant was rather surprised that he had them.


 I've recently written my Senators/Congressperson and President regarding
 Amtrak funding.  Expecting predictable canned responses.



 Jim