On the whole, I found my last trip good, despite the high winds in Nebraska when coming home (I won’t repeat most, if any, of what I have already posted on that matter).
As usual, I had a bedroom each night (I do not plan to ever again spend a night in a coach; the last time for that was in 1989 when my wife and I went from Memphis to St. Louis–after the sleeper had been discontinued on that route). I have, of course, become quite accustomed to the Superliner bedrooms, and I have some acquaintance with Viewliner bedrooms (I have even spent two nights in a room H in Viewliners, and they have a little more floor space than A or B).
From Salt Lake City to Chicago was good, leaving here an estimated few minutes late (I was already in my berth), and arriving almost half an hour early. Meals in the diner were as I expected–I could wish for more variety, but…
Timekeeping varied.; a few minutes late when arriving in Washington from Chicago; 25 minutes late leaving Charlottesville for Meridian; 27 minutes late arriving in Atlanta (54 minutes late in Gainesville); 41 minutes late arriving in Birmingham; and 1:49 late arriving in Meridian (we we held above Tuscaloosa to meet #20–and when we reached East Tuscaloosa, we had to wait until a car that was sitting on the track was removed); so we were 1:49 late in reaching Meridian. Along the way from Atlanta, we met three run-throughs with UP power on the point.
Going back to Washington, we were delayed here and there–leaving Meridian 55 minutes late,
How many days did the entire trip take?
I left early in the morning of Tuesday, 3 April, and returned (12:05 late) Sunday morning, 15 April.
Johnny- It looks like you’ve ridden a lot of Amtrak trains over the years. What would you say are the biggest changes you have seen in your travels?
I would say that the biggest change has been in passenger equipment–Superliners, Viewliners, Acela and other NE corridor cars, and various other day trip trains.
Also, ticketing has changed greatly. When Amtrak came into operation, it relied on the tariff system that had been in effect for many years, and I took advantage of the then-existing tariff for Chicago-California travel (you could buy a Chicago-San Francisco round trip ticket and go directly and back or take a great circle tour via the AT&SF, SP, and Great Northern–plus a Los Angeles-San Diego and back side trip.
Also, unless you needed reserved seating or sleeping, you could buy a ticket and use it on any train before it expired. Now, you need to buy a ticket for a specific day and time for most trains.
There was much variety in diner fare–and now there is little change from train to train. Indeed, after a day’s meals on one train, you hardly need to look at the menu found on the next train. I remember my meals between New Orleans and Los Angeles in 1980–the last train with a full diner I rode before the horrible change that came either the next year or the year after. Thankfully, the diner situation has improved since the spring of 1982. I had to pay when served, and the menu was the same in diners on all trains with diners.
I have met with very few unsatisfacory on-board service crews in recent years; perhaps there is better training now–though last fall, as I was coming into Chicago the attendant did not ask if I wanted the two bags I had in my room taken down, but another passenger offered to carry on