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Anyone ridden the Soutwest Chief (train 3) recently?

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Have taken the Southwest Chief on several occasions, the last one being Train 3 out of Chicago on Feb, 23, 2008. Had a wonderful experience with an outstanding dining car crew, the LSA and Chef being former Santa Fe employees who have both served on the Super Chief and El Capitan. The Chef really knew how to cook the steaks. A good sense of humor always goes a long way, which this crew certainly had. Had a so, so car attendant for the sleeper, a lack of wanting to do their job and complaining about having to put the beds down and up in the morning does not go over well with myself. My thought being, that is the primary part of them being there, if they make the beds, and come around once and a while during the day just to see if you need anything, now that to me, is what they are supposed to do, and if that is done, a decent tip will be given, if you have to make up your own bed because the car attendant is sleeping and no one can wake them up, then no tip should be given, just my own thought. The toilet in my room gave up working when we hit Kansas City, so that was not a great thing to have happen, but the occasional reset allowed use, just with careful timing. (As a side note, when I returned to Chicago to head out on the Lakeshore Limited, the Capitol Limited was delayed as the train I had on the Chief on the way out had made it back, and the toilets were still acting up, so they had to fix them)Arrived into Williams Jct. only a half hour late, so that was nice. Had a great time with the whole Grand Canyon Railway experience, stayed in Williams then took the train to the canyon the next day, highly recommend the Luxury class as having the open observation platform was really nice. Had a great time at the canyon with an over night stay. Three outstanding meals were had at the El Tovar as well. A good return trip to Williams, and then got on the Southwest Chief again to continue to Los Angeles.A less than exciting breakfast, but for me I like the french toast, with either bacon or pork sausage, coffee and an orange juice, so having to settle for a no choice breakfast of cereal, yogurt, a biscuit and fruit wasn't that great, but also understand why it is done that way, so I won't complain too much.Overall an outstanding trip on the Southwest Chief as usual, and on the overall trip HOM-CHI, CHI-NOL, NOL-NYP (Changed thanks to the NS to flight from MSY to ATL, then train ATL-NYP), NYP-CHI via the Cardinal for a change, CHI-WMA, Grand canyon railway experience, WMA-LAUPT, er LAX, still LAUPT to me, LAX-CHI via the Texas Eagle, CHI-BBY, BOS-WAS via Accela Express, WAS-CHI via Capitol Limited, CHI-HOM, with a flight back to Wisconsin the following day.As for your question on the connection, would recommend staying over night, always best to plan for the missed connection ahead of time so your whole trip doesn't get out of sync, or perhaps you would like the adventure of seeing how they would get you back on track, though I myself do not enjoy 30 people being cramped into a 15 passenger van plus luggage and am not a bus fan. I paid to take the train for a reason, again, just my thought.Hope you have a wonderful trip and share the details when you return.
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