I'm happy to report, given all the changes to service especially back East, all well with the Empire Builder following my first ride there in 2 years.
Full-service diner (and old menu) in place. No ice in the sleeper -- you have to go to the lounge car for that, altho the attendant will fetch it for you on request -- and no more complimentary wine or wine parties. Otherwise, sleeper service as good as ever (Kleenex, water, etc.).
I'd sure change back the ice service -- c'mon! -- but otherwise, everything's OK on the LBJ.
dakotafred I'm happy to report, given all the changes to service especially back East, all well with the Empire Builder following my first ride there in 2 years. Full-service diner (and old menu) in place. No ice in the sleeper -- you have to go to the lounge car for that, altho the attendant will fetch it for you on request -- and no more complimentary wine or wine parties. Otherwise, sleeper service as good as ever (Kleenex, water, etc.). I'd sure change back the ice service -- c'mon! -- but otherwise, everything's OK on the LBJ.
C&NW, CA&E, MILW, CGW and IC fan
Well I am saying this not knowing the electrical capacity of a sleeping car or a HEP circuits on a train but...........
I would think Amtrak could buy small ice makers from Manitowoc Ice Machine, Inc and wire them into the Sleepers to save on trips back and forth. Ice water in the dry AC environment or dry heat environment is probably a popular commodity year round in a Sleeping Car. We are not talking a huge amount of money here.
schlimm dakotafred I'm happy to report, given all the changes to service especially back East, all well with the Empire Builder following my first ride there in 2 years. Full-service diner (and old menu) in place. No ice in the sleeper -- you have to go to the lounge car for that, altho the attendant will fetch it for you on request -- and no more complimentary wine or wine parties. Otherwise, sleeper service as good as ever (Kleenex, water, etc.). I'd sure change back the ice service -- c'mon! -- but otherwise, everything's OK on the LBJ. Well, that's pretty good news! LBJ?
Sorry about the obscurity of that "LBJ" -- just dating myself again.
At the height of the president's so-brief honeymoon period, the press (and public) were treated to many visits to the famous ranch. A country musician, Lawton Williams ("Fraulein," "Geisha Girl"), was inspired to take up his pen, and had a national hit with the ditty, "Everything's OK on the LBJ."
Among the duties of an employee at the station in Salt Lake City is that of taking bags of cruahed ice to the diners on #5 and #6--apparently no ice maker at all on board. I have ridden with him as he goes out to handle baggage and tend to his other duties--such as taking me to my car.
Johnny
dakotafredSorry about the obscurity of that "LBJ" -- just dating myself again. At the height of the president's so-brief honeymoon period, the press (and public) were treated to many visits to the famous ranch. A country musician, Lawton Williams ("Fraulein," "Geisha Girl"), was inspired to take up his pen, and had a national hit with the ditty, "Everything's OK on the LBJ."
Oh, I was a young adult around that time myself. However, my tastes in pop music never included country, so I had never heard of Lawton Williams until now.
I received a personal letter from LBJ. It read: The President of the United States, ... You are hereby ordered for induction into the Armed Forces of the United States....
"Mom! 99 is blowing for 16th Street. Dad will be home soon."
glad to hear it, I just rode City of New Orleans and no hot meals southbound except for breakfast, choice of 3 sandwiches for dinner leaving Chicago and same 3 for lunch next day. Northbound did have a hot meal, but no chef or kitchen. It worked out well, at least it was food and better than cafe car would have, no ice water in sleeper either, just coffee and water bottles and no newspaper either. I remember reading the Minot news after our stop there.
Fat chance getting ice makers in sleepers when there aren't any in the diners or lounges. All ice is brought aboard at station stops. That said, the styrofoam coolers with ice that we were used to and appreciated, couldn't have cost much.
There are no styrofoam ice containers on the Coast Starlight either. A sleeping car attendant told me they were removed for reasons of sanitation. Passengers would stick their hands into the ice to fill cups and so on. Dirty cups and dirty hands.
My memory may be wrong, but it seems to me that when there were coolers in the sleepers, there were also scoops in the coolers--yet some people preferred to scoop ice with the cups and not with the scoops. You can wonder: how stupid can such people be?
It is rather difficult to keep styrofoam clean.
I have bought tickets for a cross-country trip in January, and am wondering about the on-time performance of the Empire Builder.
I take the train from Seattle to St. Paul, where I will visit my brother for a few days. I then go from St. Paul to New York on the Empire Builder and Lake Shore Limited. This is a five-hour connection in Chicago, but I do not know how on-time the Builder tends to be in January. There is a Megabus that departs St.Paul Union Station an hour before the Builder, and it is cheap to buy tickets as a contingency. (I say "tickets" because there is a one suitcase per person limit on the bus, and I have an extra suitcase with comfort supplies for my roomettes on the trains...).
Also, after reading Brian Schmidt's blog post about coach travel on Amtrak, I am wondering if I shoul get a roomette from St. Paul to Chicago. Is coach travel really that miserable, bearing in mind that this will be the second morning this train has been en-route?
"Make no little plans; they have no magic to stir men's blood." Daniel Burnham
Maglev, since you asked:
1. On the principle that it's better to be safe than sorry, I'd buy the bus tickets as insurance. The day of the journey I'd check to see how the EB is running and then decide which to use. Missing a daily train, like the LSL, is just maddening.
2. Yes, coach is that miserable. Spring for a roomette and its "free" meals. Sleep in a bed, not a seat. Enjoy your ride in peace and quiet.
3. In January anything could happen. Have a bunch of movies and stuff downloaded onto your laptop.
Okay, I just called Amtrak and (for $107 extra) have booked a roomette. I am not inexperienced with Amtrak sleeper travel, but my last cross-country trip by train in coach was in 1978. The trains, other riders, and I have all changed quite a bit since then...
I have been on I-94 in between Madison WI & Minnesota in the winter doing 10 mph and having white knuckles after a snow/sleet storm watching cars and trucks stuck in the median. I suspect that Megabus annulls its runs on those days. Coach can be tolerable for an eight hour day trip when you are not wanting to sleep. The EB has its sightseer car to watch the world go by. Megabus does not have the best safety record and is a bus. Train coach seats are very superior to bus seats. Pay attention to the weather between Minneapolis and Chicago and good luck. Let us know how you did.
Maglev Okay, I just called Amtrak and (for $107 extra) have booked a roomette. I am not inexperienced with Amtrak sleeper travel, but my last cross-country trip by train in coach was in 1978. The trains, other riders, and I have all changed quite a bit since then...
Roomette is comfortable but tight on space when the lower bed is made. If your traveling by yourself the lower bed is better because you can look out the window when the train stops. I forget where the community shower is but if you get up before 5 a.m. you can be the first in it and avoid the mess as more and more people use and abuse it's condition. You can always sleep some more after you shower.
The scenery between St. Paul, MN and La Crosse WI is pretty nice even in winter.
Also if it was me.......screw the bus buy a one way air ticket between St. Paul and Chicago, its less than $100 on American Airlines at this point and I have to say with my experience of flying January is a slow time for business so the planes will still be primarily empty then.
CMStPnPAlso if it was me.......screw the bus buy a one way air ticket between St. Paul and Chicago, its less than $100 on American Airlines at this point and I have to say with my experience of flying January is a slow time for business so the planes will still be primarily empty then.
I may have to take back my advice about the Megabus twixt St. Paul & Chicago. CMStPnP may have the best idea for this leg of your journey: fly.
From an experienced sleeper traveler on Amtrak.
Except for a washroom on the upper level by the stairwell, all of the facilities are at one end of the lower level (just before you reach the "accessible room"). The dressing room/shower is next to the vestibule, and the washrooms are beyond it, on both sides of the aisle.
I get up in time to be cleaned and dressed when the diner is opened for breakfast, whether I have a bedroom or roomette, so I do not have to wait either to use the shower or for a seat in the diner.
In a standard sleeper, roomettes 1-10 are in the upper level and 11-14 are on the lower level. All the passenger roomettes (1-10) in the car with accomodations for the on board service crew are on the upper level (I think the third digit in this car's reservation number is "4;" the third digit in the number for an all-passenger + the attendant car is "3").
Oh, yes; someone mentioned being able to look out the window when the train is stopped--there is nothing prohibiting a passenger from looking out when the train is in motion. I spent one night in the upper in a Viewliner roomette--and I forgot to look out its window while I was up there. I did glance out the upper window when I spent a night in an upper in the UP's "American Sailor (6-6-4), back in '66.
NKP guyI may have to take back my advice about the Megabus twixt St. Paul & Chicago. CMStPnP may have the best idea for this leg of your journey: fly.
American Airlines will refund money on a nonrefundable ticket purchase if you have a suitable reason.....thats always been the case. Most people see nonrefundable ticket and never attempt a refund. As a business traveler sometimes that is forced to use nonrefundable, they have always credited me the ticket value for use on a future ticket as long as it was a once in a while event......I'm guessing.
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