I was welcomed aboard by the sleeper car attendant and shown to the room — or was it a coffin with seats? I did not pace it off for there is no room to pace but estimated 30 square feet. There are two seats that recline a little, a big window, a sink that folds down and supplies hot and cold water and “ice water” I didn't try. A desk folds out, folds open from under the window with a chess board inscribed in it. A toilet for midgets is under the sink, directly beside one seat. I had my worries about using it. The room had a few lights individually controlled and a thermostat that worked, room for me and another non-supersized person facing each other. Curtains could cover the three windows onto the narrow passageway. A “shower” was at the end of the car. It looked much like a vertical sarcophagus and, the train bouncing and swaying, I did not avail myself of the cleanliness I so desperately wanted.
There were also bigger rooms (with bigger price tags) in the car. They have more space and gathered families. I, alone, would have liked the space but not the 100% additional price.
The blogging traveler will revel in the power outlet that ran my laptop. I had remembered to put movies on the hard drive and could relax with a good one although I should have planned for North by Northwest or Keaton's The General. There was no wireless connectivity, intermittent cellular service.
There is a dining car and the food is better than it might be but not as good as it should be, the car about 65 F, the tables too close to the benches for the super-sized Americans who tried to share my table but couldn't fit. Fittingly we talked of their world of working in a hog processing factory. Like dog owners, they had grown similar to the 32,000 hogs a day their factory butchered. The food was better than the Marriott's restaurant the other night when I was too tired to walk out in search of anything else. The hospitality, service, and room were so good that I regard the hotel restaurant as something for which I should have known better.
Article comments
1 - RNB
Passenger rail carries less than 1 percent of the intercity travel in the U.S. That's not a transportation mode, it's somebody's hobby.
2 - Mark Saleski
wow, really great stuff howard.
reminds me of shorter (and far less scary) version of paul theroux's The Old Patagonia Express
3 - Elvira Black
Hey Howard--good stuff. My b/f and I took Amtrak twice from NYC to Wisconsin. What a schlep, and the route was not very scenic. The second time I brought a ton of sandwiches for the road because the sandwiches etc cost a fortune. We didn't travel in "style" but I noticed that the supposed "sleeper" seats were identical to the regular ones. I guess you got the real deal though.
The conductors can be rude and unhelpful. You're right about the lack of security--one time we went right after there was a big announcement that Amtrak would be checking security more closely but apparently not.
My b/f went out to Ohio recently by plane to visit his folks, and though it was a short trip it was hellish nonetheless. He is very hesitant to ever take a plane trip again after that ordeal.
But it sounds like you had a relatively "pleasant" time of it in exchange for the extra bucks.
4 - Howard Dratch
Thanks for the comments. Mark: time for me to read the Theroux. Elvira yest it did have a "relatively" pleasant time. In the morning I board the Silver Star for the return.
I posted a similar article on my own blog, 7 Color Lagoon which garnered a wonderfully informative comment by Jim L. It is really worth the read for more of the Amtrak passenger rail situation from the keyboard of a real railroad man. I hope he will also post it here.
RNB. You may be right about the percentage of travel by rail but that could mean that there is a lot of room for the country to go back to the future.