Train ride from Pontiac to San Diego
This is definitely a mixed bag...some of the stuff really sucked, some went OK....I took Amtrak from Pontiac to San Diego to lug my bass (a 3/4, upright/string bass) home.
My train was supposed to leave Pontiac at 6:40AM (Wed), it left around 6:50 or so - the train was parked just down the tracks from the station, I guess it was too much effort to get the damn thing going on time. Then, we got stuck for an hour at the MI/IN border because of switch/computer problems (Norfolk-Southern's problem according to the PA announcement); we wound up getting into Chicago an hour late. I sat in the back row and there was a nice big gap between the wall and the back seats, so I just leaned my bass against the seatback next to me and that worked fine.
The train that we were supposed to use to go from Chicago to LA was very late getting into the station, we wound up being about an hour late leaving. We made up the time Thursday night (not many stops). Friday afternoon, we left Lamy, NM and around 3:15pm MDT, there was an annoucement over the PA system, "immediate assistance to the forward sleeper cars", then a few minutes later, an announcement asking for anyone with medical training to the sleepers (they repeated this twice in about 5 min, or so). Eventually, we stopped around 3:30 or so at a place where we could meet an ambulance. The train then went forward about a mile or so (different place to meet the ambulance? Confusion?), then back to the original place. We sat there for about 20-30 min waiting for the ambulances that finally showed up, then about 15-20min later, a medevac helicopter showed up, waited for about 5-10 min and then left without taking anyone. The ambulances eventually left, and not in a big hurry, either. The rumor mill says that a guy had a heart attack and died (he was with his wife on the train). We eventually went back on our way after waiting for about 1 hr totalled up. We got into Fullerton around 9:15am (roughly 1hr behind schedule), where I jumped off and got on the SD bound train.
On the CHI-LA train, The bass sat in the seat next to me (actually on the floor) - there was room enough for the beast even with the seat infront of it leaned all the way back. Meals in the dining car were pretty good, and a little bit high-priced, but not too bad, considering the captive audience pricing. Despite what the Amtrak website said, there weren't any plugs in the coach car at all, so I lugged my laptop and DVDs for nothing. I did find a place to charge my phone, so I kept it charged, but the place where the plug was wasn't condusive to watching DVDs, so I read "Homicide" by David Simon (the book that the TV series was based on) - cover to cover.
On the Fullerton-San Diego train, I put the bass in the vertical bike rack (actually just a couple of hooks) - I leaned the bass against the wall and bungee-corded the bass to the hooks so it wouldn't fall, and that worked out OK.
I can't say that I'm 100% (or even 50%) sold on taking Amtrak again for a long-haul. It's great for commuter stuff, and the train to SD was fine.
My train was supposed to leave Pontiac at 6:40AM (Wed), it left around 6:50 or so - the train was parked just down the tracks from the station, I guess it was too much effort to get the damn thing going on time. Then, we got stuck for an hour at the MI/IN border because of switch/computer problems (Norfolk-Southern's problem according to the PA announcement); we wound up getting into Chicago an hour late. I sat in the back row and there was a nice big gap between the wall and the back seats, so I just leaned my bass against the seatback next to me and that worked fine.
The train that we were supposed to use to go from Chicago to LA was very late getting into the station, we wound up being about an hour late leaving. We made up the time Thursday night (not many stops). Friday afternoon, we left Lamy, NM and around 3:15pm MDT, there was an annoucement over the PA system, "immediate assistance to the forward sleeper cars", then a few minutes later, an announcement asking for anyone with medical training to the sleepers (they repeated this twice in about 5 min, or so). Eventually, we stopped around 3:30 or so at a place where we could meet an ambulance. The train then went forward about a mile or so (different place to meet the ambulance? Confusion?), then back to the original place. We sat there for about 20-30 min waiting for the ambulances that finally showed up, then about 15-20min later, a medevac helicopter showed up, waited for about 5-10 min and then left without taking anyone. The ambulances eventually left, and not in a big hurry, either. The rumor mill says that a guy had a heart attack and died (he was with his wife on the train). We eventually went back on our way after waiting for about 1 hr totalled up. We got into Fullerton around 9:15am (roughly 1hr behind schedule), where I jumped off and got on the SD bound train.
On the CHI-LA train, The bass sat in the seat next to me (actually on the floor) - there was room enough for the beast even with the seat infront of it leaned all the way back. Meals in the dining car were pretty good, and a little bit high-priced, but not too bad, considering the captive audience pricing. Despite what the Amtrak website said, there weren't any plugs in the coach car at all, so I lugged my laptop and DVDs for nothing. I did find a place to charge my phone, so I kept it charged, but the place where the plug was wasn't condusive to watching DVDs, so I read "Homicide" by David Simon (the book that the TV series was based on) - cover to cover.
On the Fullerton-San Diego train, I put the bass in the vertical bike rack (actually just a couple of hooks) - I leaned the bass against the wall and bungee-corded the bass to the hooks so it wouldn't fall, and that worked out OK.
I can't say that I'm 100% (or even 50%) sold on taking Amtrak again for a long-haul. It's great for commuter stuff, and the train to SD was fine.
posted by Andy in San Diego and Elsewhere at 9/12/2005 09:43:00 AM
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