Major Amtrak trip coming up

[DRGWfan]

After spending a few days in Miami for a shindig I will be traveling home to Seattle via train, I will travel from Miami to DC on the Silver Metoer spend a couple days in DC then the Capital Limited to Chicago spend a few days there visiting Rochelle and the illinois railway museum and the then Empire Builder home. I have a few questions 

1. What can i expect from the viewliners on the meteor and what is food service like.

2. I have heard that the Meteor carries a diner and an Amfleet cafe car is this true.

3. What can I expect from the capitol limted, ie whats the food like etc

BTW: I aready know what to expect from the Builder so no questions there 

[TomDiehl]

1.  The Roomettes and Bedrooms are close to the same size as their counterparts, whether you're talking about a Viewliner or Superliner. The biggest difference is the Roomette in the Viewliner has a toilet and sink where on the Superliner the Roomette passengers use a common one down the hall or on the lower level. I'm not sure if it was a difference in the track of the host railroads on the trains I rode (Empire Builder 2 years ago and Crescent last week) or the cars themselves, but the Viewliners seem noisier and rougher riding than the Superliners (comparing Bedrooms in each).

2.  Like the Crescent, it probably runs a heritage dining car. The meal service was good, just like it was on the Empire Builder 2 years ago, sort of like you'd find in a better restaurant. The Amtrak timetable only lists a Dining Car for the Silver Meteor, no Cafe Car.

3. The Capitol Limited uses Superliner equipment and it's an overnight trip from DC to Chicago. Sleeper service is available and I recommend it. The food quality and selection seems pretty constant over all the Amtrak trains I have been on (unfortunately only a few so far). The example I usually give is from my trip 2 years ago on the Empire Builder. I gained four pounds on that trip.

[DRGWfan]

1.  The Roomettes and Bedrooms are close to the same size as their counterparts, whether you're talking about a Viewliner or Superliner. The biggest difference is the Roomette in the Viewliner has a toilet and sink where on the Superliner the Roomette passengers use a common one down the hall or on the lower level. I'm not sure if it was a difference in the track of the host railroads on the trains I rode (Empire Builder 2 years ago and Crescent last week) or the cars themselves, but the Viewliners seem noisier and rougher riding than the Superliners (comparing Bedrooms in each).

2.  Like the Crescent, it probably runs a heritage dining car. The meal service was good, just like it was on the Empire Builder 2 years ago, sort of like you'd find in a better restaurant. The Amtrak timetable only lists a Dining Car for the Silver Meteor, no Cafe Car.

3. The Capitol Limited uses Superliner equipment and it's an overnight trip from DC to Chicago. Sleeper service is available and I recommend it. The food quality and selection seems pretty constant over all the Amtrak trains I have been on (unfortunately only a few so far). The example I usually give is from my trip 2 years ago on the Empire Builder. I gained four pounds on that trip.

Thanks for the reply, on the amtrak website it says lounge serviceis offerd aboard silver metoer, I assuming its an amcafe 

[AmtrakRider]

It was when I rode the star a couple years ago. 

I'm hoping to find out for myself in short order . . .

[rustycoupler]

 you can expect to be sitting watching freight trains pass you by. from florida to dc freights have priority. it took me twenty four hours     to get to get to orlando ,sanford from baltimore, dont waste your time fly.  

[TomDiehl]

 you can expect to be sitting watching freight trains pass you by. from florida to dc freights have priority. it took me twenty four hours     to get to get to orlando ,sanford from baltimore, dont waste your time fly.  

This is good advice....if you don't mind being crammed like sardines in a thin aluminum tube rocketing through space (hope you don't get a seat next to a fat guy ). The scenery gets a bit boring, the tops of the clouds look pretty much alike.

If you have the time, the train is a much more civilized way to travel. More relaxed, you can easily get up and move around, walk back to the Dining Car for meals, and the only time you take your shoes off is to relax in your room, not to be poked and prodded to get on the plane.

[AmtrakRider]

After spending a few days in Miami for a shindig I will be traveling home to Seattle via train, I will travel from Miami to DC on the Silver Metoer spend a couple days in DC then the Capital Limited to Chicago spend a few days there visiting Rochelle and the illinois railway museum and the then Empire Builder home. I have a few questions 

1. What can i expect from the viewliners on the meteor and what is food service like.

2. I have heard that the Meteor carries a diner and an Amfleet cafe car is this true.

3. What can I expect from the capitol limted, ie whats the food like etc

BTW: I aready know what to expect from the Builder so no questions there 

 

I just completed the Meteor and Capitol segment of your trip, and you may be interested in the following:

1. The Meteor arrived in Washington less than 20 minutes late; it made good time all the way and stopped for freights only three times. 

2. There is a cafe car and a diner on 98.

3. The bulk of the sleeping cars ran at the front of 98 but at the back of 29.

4. I didn't check out the Dining car on 29, but they had full calls for dinner and the menu listed was similar to those I heard on the Zephyr yesterday and today.  The sightseeing car seemed newer than those on the western trains I have ridden so far.

5. For those interested, I also rode the Zephyr (5) down into Western CO today.  They are running late, as usual, but at least two of the stops were for UP crews to get off the road and another three in CO alone were for freights.  I must say the scenery is worth the trip, and even to a certain extent the delays.  I am going to post some of the pictures of the train trip to a website and post the link here for those interested.

ALL THREE of the trains I rode this week ran at near or full capacity.  At one point last night the Zephyr had to seat passengers in the lounge car and then find them spots in the coaches as other passengers detrained. 98 was completely full by the time it got to Jacksonville.

In summary, though, I'd like to say that overall Amtrak's service and ontime performance has improved in many ways.  There also seems to be a fair number of young employees who are bringing new life and verve to what they do.  Amtrak needs to pay more attention to customer needs and concerns so they can continue to build on this improvement.