From: M00209@MBVM.Mitre.Org
Subject: Re: My Amtrak Vacation
Organization: The MITRE Corporation, Bedford MA 01730
Date: Mon, 17 Aug 1992 18:32:35 GMT

In article <1992Aug14.212907.17098@donner.SanDiego.NCR.COM>
sheldon@.SanDiego.NCR.COM (Steve Sheldon) writes:
 
>
>                        My Amtrak Vacation
>
...  Most deleted to conserve bandwidth....
>
>The next  day, because we  were still 4 hours  late, we connected
>with  the "Pioneer"  in  Ogden, rather  than  the "San  Francisco
>Zephyr" in Salt Lake  City.  The passengers for  stations between
>Salt Lake City and Denver were  transported in a small van that I
>saw in the SLC station parking lot.
>
GREAT!  You got some now-freight-only mileage between SLC & Ogden!
>
>Aside  from our bad  experience on the  Desert Wind/San Francisco
>Zephyr,  all our other  Amtrak trains were more  or less on time,
>and  we arrived  back  in  San  Diego within  5  minutes  of  the
>advertised  time.  Other parts of the trip were also interesting,
>but this is getting too long.  Would I make such an extended trip
>on Amtrak again?  No.
 
Sounds like your "Desert Wind" experience was a real comedy of errors and a
disaster scene!  This of course is not "normal", but then, what is?  You
really didn't lose anything but a few hours sleep, since you had planned to
stay in Chicago anyway, but other passengers obviously weren't so fortunate.
In three major trips on Amtrak in the last three years, my wife and I have
encountered several late trains, but none quite as bad as your experience,
and none causing us to miss any connections.  The worst performers, being
VERY late at least on two separate occasions, were the "Cardinal" and the
"Texas Eagle".  In the latter case, when we rode from LA to Dallas, the train
was so late (about 6 hours) arriving San Antonio that they had sent the SA-
originating cars on ahead on the proper schedule and the through cars from LA
ran as a second section.  The result was that some seats became available as
people got off, and Amtrak actually got in touch with some people who were
wait-listed and invited them to take this second section, and some did.  A KFC
lunch, courtesy of Amtrak, was provided at Temple TX as the diner had gone on
the first section.  The crew said they would do the same for dinner, but we
got off in Dallas, so don't know exactly what happened.
 
Later on the same trip, we attempted to ride the "Texas Eagle" from Saint Louis
to Chicago.  It was blocked some place in AR behind a freight derailment, and
Amtrak provided chartered busses at Saint Louis to take people to Chicago on
schedule.  As I wanted the mileage (not having ridden it since a ride in the
GM&O's classic heavyweight parlor car back in '61), we opted to wait for the
afternoon train.
 
Your experience provides yet another instance of the truth of the well-known
axiom, "Late trains get later".   This type of experience, though, in the
opinion of both the Mrs. and me, just adds to the "fun" of train travel, and
would in no way inhibit our desire to do it again!
 
 
Len Bachelder        Archives Committee, Boston and Maine RR Historical Society
MITRE Corp.           Secretary, Massachusetts Bay Railroad Enthusiasts
Bedford MA 01730      Member, 470 Railroad Club
<M00209@mbvm.mitre.org>
 
"Amazing love, how can it be that Thou, my God, should'st die for me!"
                                                 - Charles Wesley