Trip Report: November 27 - December 21, 2001
by Ted & Sylvia Blishak
28 DAYS ON THE RAILS
NEW YORK TO SEATTLE
Thursday, Friday, Saturday, December 13, 14, 15, 2001
While waiting in the Acela Club, a young man of about twelve approaches us to proudly display autographs of Harry Belafonte and David McCollough. Both had just been in the lounge minutes before we arrived, and had boarded a southbound Acela Express for Washington. So Acela Express is used not only by travel agents from Klamath Falls, but also by the rich and famous.
The Red Cap assists us down the maze of elevators to the platform where Three Rivers is awaiting for passengers to board. (One advantage of using a Red Cap is that they know how to get to the right platform in complex stations.) We have Deluxe Bedroom B in Viewliner sleeper "Southern View". Some of the interior details are different from that of "Morning View" and "Evening View," otherwise it is the same room that we had enjoyed on our Eastbound trip.
The "Three Rivers" is really quite a comfortable train when traveling by sleeper. The Café car is adjacent, so there are no long walks. The car attendant is the same nice lady who assisted us from Chicago to Pittsburgh last week, so we have an old friend on board. Lunch is served in the Café car soon after leaving New York. Our car attendant keeps us supplied with bottled water, ice cubes, mints, apples, and chocolate chip cookies.
The "Three Rivers" reaches Philadelphia after two hours of running, compared to 70 minutes for Acela. We stop here for about thirty minutes while some Material Handling Cars are attached. The direction of running is reversed here in Philadelphia, so our locomotive is pulled off, and a new one couples on to the opposite end of the train. Evening falls early at this time of year, so we miss seeing Horseshoe Curve. We spend an enjoyable evening visiting with my mother trains are a great venue for conversation. She, thrilled with the train rides and cultural events we have shared, detrains in Pittsburgh as we continue on to Chicago and Seattle.
Our arrival in Chicago the next morning is thirty minutes ahead of schedule. It is raining cats and dogs. Sylvia has been looking forward to visiting the Cleopatra exhibition at the Field Museum of Art, just one of several museums available to passengers with a few hours between trains. We deposit our luggage at the overheated, but not crowded, Metropolitan Lounge.
Armed with an unscaled street map and Gore-Tex jackets we start off on foot, but after a mile, we stop at an El station to gauge our progress. Sylvia spies a Chicago transit map on the sidewalk. I pick it up and learn that we are only about one third of the way to our destination, but a #146 bus will take us right there. Just then a bus pulls up to the corner and stops. It is a #146. We are at the Field in five minutes, where we spend an hour and a half immersed in the well-documented historic events of Egypt and Rome 2,000 years ago. High points are a piece of papyrus with Cleopatra's handwriting, and a statue of her.
After the exhibition, there are no busses in sight, and there is no protected bus waiting area (it's still raining), but there is a cab line.
Travel Tip: When visiting a new city, if you are a walker, bring your own street map, such as the detailed maps available from the automobile club. Plot your route before starting a long walk and measure the mileage to make sure you can make it in the allocated time. If it is raining, or your time is limited, just take a taxi.
After a delicious lunch in the upper-level Food Court at Union Station, it is time to board the Empire Builder. When the Red Cap asks if we need assistance, we, in unison, say "Yes!" and he takes our bags to Deluxe Bedroom B in Car 730.
Travel Tip: On the Empire Builder heading west, sleeping cars 730 and 731 are called the Seattle cars and are located next to the diner. Car 2730 is the Portland car and is at the end of the train next to the Material Handling Cars. You will have a long walk through several coaches and the lounge café before you find the dining car. The train splits in Spokane and you have no choice of sleepers if you are going on towards Seattle or Portland. However, if you are traveling between Chicago and Spokane, your knowledgeable travel agent will book you in the 730 or 731 car.
One of the nicest things about the Empire Builder at this time of year is that the trip can be uneventful. The food is good, the scenery is not dramatic, and you can just laze away the days. The trackage on the Soo Line between Chicago and St. Paul is smooth and quiet. Beyond St. Paul, we are on the Burlington Northern, and we begin to rock and roll. The weather turns cold for the first time on our journey and snow appears on the ground in northern Minnesota.
On the second day, we cross North Dakota and Montana, traveling hundreds of miles without a major city. We arrive at every station ahead of schedule, then wait for the advertised departure time. This gives us plenty of opportunity to get out on the platform to walk. After retiring on the second night, I awake upon arrival in Spokane to find that we have arrived on time. One and a quarter hours is allowed on the schedule to break the train into the Seattle and Portland segments. In Europe two men would accomplish this job in five minutes. I have seen it done. But we are in Spokane for nearly two hours and leave 45 minutes behind schedule. We never make up that time.
What happens in Spokane? We have been delayed in Spokane on every journey that we have made on the Empire Builder. While I can understand delays on the eastbound run (one segment will invariably arrive late), we all arrive at the same time on the westbound run. The train is arranged so that one uncoupling in mid-train breaks it into the Portland segment and the Seattle segment. The lead locomotive is uncoupled and hooks up to the Portland segment. There may be a split of boxcars required, so let's allow another five minutes. Then, boarding of passengers can be accomplished in ten minutes, for a total of twenty minutes. So why two hours here? Perhaps some reader familiar with Amtrak operational procedures can enlighten us.
We are told that on Sunday morning, breakfast will begin one hour earlier at 5:30AM and must be completed by 7:30AM so the crew can clean up the dining car and ready it for its 4:00PM departure to Chicago. This is a job that used to be done while the train was in the Seattle yards, but apparently Amtrak has found another way to reduce labor expenses, while only slightly inconveniencing its passengers. After all, we set our watches back one hour before retiring last night to compensate for the change from Mountain to Pacific Time. So when we wake up for a 5:30AM breakfast, we might say that it is really 6:30 Mountain Time.
I request a wake up call to allow us to answer the last call to breakfast at seven, but by the time we arrive at the dining car, all of the tables in one half of the car are filled. The other half is not being used by passengers, but is reserved for crew dining. We are given a number and sit down and have a nice chat with a sleeping car attendant who is enjoying his breakfast while we wait to be called. After a half hour we are called and share a table with a passenger who had boarded in Spokane last night and has also been waiting a half hour to be seated.
Half-way through breakfast, the nice lady dining car stewardess, who is wearing antlers and a flashing red Rudolph nose, asks the coach passenger if he will please settle his bill now. He replies that he has not finished his breakfast and would like to have a coffee refill. But she insists that he must pay now, because she has to eat too.
I can tell he is outraged, but he pulls out his wallet to pay while telling her, "Of course, I'm here for your convenience, so here is my money, now can you pour me some more coffee before you go off to have your breakfast!" Then, pouring more fuel on the fire, our waiter, who prior to this moment has been quiet, patient, and efficient, tries to smooth things over by explaining that Amtrak employees are human beings, not robots, and have to eat just like the passengers.
I could understand the outrage of this hapless coach passenger who is paying for his breakfast. Usually a meal is paid for after it is completed. I have breakfast before I go to work so that I don't get short-tempered with my clients because I am hungry or experiencing low blood sugar.
The dining car closed after we completed our meal at eight, and by eleven o'clock, only forty minutes behind, we arrive in Seattle. By 11:30AM we have claimed our checked bag and are checking in at the Sheraton Seattle.
NEW YORK TO SEATTLE: Sylvia's addition to the story:
Approaching Seattle: December 15, 2001
Before breakfast on the Empire Builder, we got to the dining car about a minute too late and were told we'd have to take a number and wait.
When Ted pointed out that the PA system wasn't working in our sleeping car and we'd missed the announcement, the dining car stewardess wearing antlers and a flashing red Rudolph nose agreed to let us sit in the unused half of the dining car.
Even though the lengthy wait for breakfast was somewhat tedious, when she eventually ushered us to a booth, the stewardess had remembered that we always ordered herbal tea. As a special, personalized touch, she had the hot tea already served and waiting for us before we sat down.
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