Trip Report: November 8 - December 10, 2006
by Ted & Sylvia Blishak
31 Day Grand Tour on Amtrak and the Mississippi Queen
November 29 to December 3
Pittsburgh to Greenville , SC
Greenville, SC , is about as far away from Klamath Falls as is possible in the continental USA . On Amtrak it takes four days and five nights to make the journey. Air would be faster, if we flew, but we gave that up in 1995. Driving the Interstate Truckway System would be intolerable. If there were no Amtrak long distance trains, we would never see our grand children unless they came to the West Coast. Our son is an aeronautical engineer and is a member of the same elite, but migratory, worker class that Ted used to be in when he was an electronic engineer. So we must visit them wherever they happen to live.
Wednesday, November 29. 720am. A good-news day! USA Today's headline story is about Amtrak and its recent ridership increases. The article is positive and informative, and should get more people off the road and out of the air for the upcoming holidays.
Amtrak's “Pennsylvanian” departs Pittsburgh for Philadelphia. Three Amfleet coaches and a combination Amfleet snack bar and Business Class car. We have two seats in the updated Business Class section, which has been greatly improved since our last trip on it two years ago. The seating is now two and one, the seats are richly upholstered in maroon leather, and there is added legroom. The snack car attendant is also the Business Class attendant, and he provides us with complimentary newspapers, coffee, and soft drinks. We pay for our sandwiches, which are quite good, although micro-waved. We always book our clients in Business Class, where it is available, for day trips on Amtrak.
The Business Class seats are in the rear section of the car, the snack bar in the center, and the booths for four in the front section. We set up an office in one of the booths, and since Sprint Broadband is available for most of the route (except for the heart of the Allegheny Mountains) we are able to work with our laptop online for most of the trip.
Pennsylvanian Cafe Business Class Car
There is a smoking stop in Harrisburg, the capitol of the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania. This is the beginning of the newly upgraded line to Philadelphia, permitting a maximum speed increase from 90mph to 110mph. Apparently this increase applies only to trains pulled by electric locomotives, as the schedule of the “Pennsylvanian” was lengthened by 10 minutes after the upgraded line was dedicated. Our diesel locomotive continues on to Philadelphia 30th Street Station, where it heads into the platform and uncouples. Then an electric locomotive is attached to the rear of the train to pull it backwards into New York Penn Station.
A retired Pennsylvania Railroad GG-1 electric locomotive is on display at the Harrisburg Station, as a reminder of how once these mighty engines pulled PRR trains up and down the Northeast Corridor beginning in the 1930’s at up to 110mph. No American company was able to duplicate this 1930 performance, which is why Amtrak purchased so many Swedish locomotives in the 1980s to replace the GG-1.
GG1 4859
Enola Yards, just north of Harrisburg, on the Susquehanna River, is a giant container facility. We could observe the world’s largest fork lift picking up containers from double stack container cars and placing them on the ground, or on truck beds. As we stood on the Harrisburg platform, an eastbound double stack speed through the station on a bypass track, heading for Enola.
On our last trip into Philadelphia (on one of the many Harrisburg, PA, to Philadelphia local Amtrak trains), upon arrival the lights turned off and the crew left the train, stranding us and our extensive luggage on board. After offloading our bags we found only stairways leading to the station, and no redcaps were to be found. Finally an Amtrak ground crew employee, sensing our plight, advised us where to find the elevator to the station and the Acela Lounge.
On this trip I put in a Special Service Request (SSR) for Red Cap assistance, and we were met by a Redcap with an electric cart. He took us all the way into the Acela Lounge and promised to return at a specific time with our luggage to assist us in boarding the “Crescent” to Greenville, SC.
The Amtrak Travel Agent Service Center is located in the Philadelphia Station office building, and we were met by our Sales Rep, Marilyn Machette, who took us on a tour of the Service Center , introducing us to all of the representatives whom we had been talking with for years, but had never met. Now we can put faces on the voices at the other end of the line.
Amtrak Service Center Personnel
I hope none of our readers out there depend on “Julie-the-Amtrak Automaton”, but if you do, I can advise you that the Service Center, available only to travel agents, can resolve issues that would make Julie babble incoherently. Try calling Accent on Travel USA at 1 800 347 0645. Our service fees are worth it, as all of our clients will attest. (End of commercial!)
Our Redcap appears in the Acela Lounge on schedule, takes us to the “Crescent”, and loads all of our baggage on Viewliner Sleeper 1910, Bedroom A. There is no extra baggage storage on the Viewliner Sleepers, so everything goes into the room. There is plenty of luggage space in the Bedrooms, but if you are traveling in a Roomette, there is very little space and you should check most of your luggage except for your overnight case. We always have to have a larger room, because we must carry our office everywhere with us.
Our previous journeys on the “Crescent” have been marred by overheating in our room, but on this trip the temperature was a perfect 71° F. We respond to the first call for dinner leaving Washington, DC, then turn in afterwards, as our arrival into Greenville is scheduled for 4:54am, and in our experience, the Norfolk Southern has always delivered us there on time, in spite of our preference for sleeping in.
Thursday, November 30, 4:54am. We indeed arrive on time, but Enterprise Car Rental in downtown Greenville does not open until 8:00am, so the Greenville Amtrak Agent called a taxi for us. We are taken to the Westin Poinsett Hotel, a grande dame, lavishly restored property in the center of downtown Greenville . The bellman put our bags in storage and we enjoy the Christmas decorations in the classic lobby while waiting for the 6:30am opening of the dining room.
If you have been reading our trip reports you know that we favor Westin Hotel dining, and the Poinsett was no exception. A buffet with made to order omelets, crisp bacon, fried potatoes, cheese blintzes, fresh strawberries, and pots of steaming hot rich coffee. The list goes on and on. The cost, only $12.50 per person.
The super efficient white shirt and tie Enterprise people picked us up at 8:15am and we rented a Pontiac Grand Prix at a low weekend rate of $17.99 per day. The Grand Prix was low too, and took some contortionism to climb into, but once inside, the driver's seat had plenty of legroom.
Our family lives in Simpsonville, about 20 miles southeast of Greenville , where we checked into the Days Inn, just a mile from their home. We set up our office command post in our room, and enjoyed four wonderful sunny days of visits with family and friends in South Carolina . The weather was mild, the landscape green, and flowers in bloom. No wonder they enjoy their winters down here!
Sunday night, and our return arrives all too soon.
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