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CRF 2012: Reports from Fest-bound trips


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#11 steve4031

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Posted 17 July 2012 - 02:45 PM

I had a great breakfast with Roz at the drake. Then returned to my home to park the car. We walked two blocks to thorndale red line station. redline train came within moments. At Fullerton we switched to a waiting Brown line train. We got off at Quincy wells and walked over to Starbucks. Roz went to her class and I went to cus. Piotr was already there waiting in ml.

#12 KevinKorell

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Posted 18 July 2012 - 09:50 PM

It was not an official part of the Fest, but we have enough people and memories to recount. Overall, our Lake Shore Limited trip was good. The two sleeper attendants who took care of our group were great. Not excellent like we would later find on the Chief, but they were there for us when needed. David was in the 11 car, and Jay was in the 12 car. We had the first dinner seating out of New York, and with an even 4 people we took up just one table. One bonus was the prototype Viewliner diner, and another was a great crew aboard it. Our waiter for both meals was Brian. He did a good job considering the car was fairly crowded. But the real show there is the other waiter, Alex, who twirls his body his tray around, turning his job into an acrobatics display, which is impressive considering the motion of the train. The LSA, on the other hand, seemed to limit his participation to a supervisory role.


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#13 saxman

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Posted 19 July 2012 - 10:52 PM

I came from LAX on the Southwest Chief. Before I had done some riding in California on the San Joaquin and Coast Starlight. I had a roomette, and was right across from the attendants room so it was easy for me to ask for stuff when I needed my bed down and up. Despite leaving on time from LAX we quickly lost time and ended up over an hour for most of the ride. We arrived into ABQ at 12:10 pm, right at lunch. My SCA was nice enough to get me a to go order from the diner, so I enjoyed my Amburger at the Amtrak station in ABQ. Later I headed to my hotel and then met the rest of the group when they came in.

#14 EdFindlay

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Posted 20 July 2012 - 07:45 AM

Barely got any sleep on the 67, New York crew decided to wake everyone up for a ticket check and to warn us multiple times at each station that the train was packed. As if having little sleep was bad enough the weather was pitch black, gloomy, and was pouring in NewJersey making for a bad night I should have listened to my gutt and Kevin's lead and bought some sleep aid medicine If I am not at CUS greeting the group after some railfanning it's due to the need for sleep overriding the need to ride trains and say hello

Edited by EdFindlay, 20 July 2012 - 07:47 AM.


#15 KevinKorell

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Posted 20 July 2012 - 08:28 AM

Barely got any sleep on the 67, New York crew decided to wake everyone up for a ticket check and to warn us multiple times at each station that the train was packed. As if having little sleep was bad enough the weather was pitch black, gloomy, and was pouring in NewJersey making for a bad night

I should have listened to my gutt and Kevin's lead and bought some sleep aid medicine

If I am not at CUS greeting the group after some railfanning it's due to the need for sleep overriding the need to ride trains and say hello

Good luck on the Cardinal. I doubt they will wake you at every station on that train as they did on the Regional, but do plan on having a seatmate. especially since you are getting on at Washington rather than New York. There is usually a bit of turnover on that train's journey since very few do the entire trip.

They do re-checks of ticket stubs on all Regionals through New York, as the new crew takes over. Each crew has their own system of giving out the seat checks, so the new crew coming on duty at NYP has to see where you are going to know how to mark or punch the seat check to their liking. Sometimes the crew going off even collects them all so the new crew can start from scratch.

See you in Chicago. By the timetable you should be there first.


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#16 nashscan

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Posted 20 July 2012 - 08:14 PM

just got into the Miami Airport Hilton. Tomorrow starting at 0700 hours I will be flying to JFK then LAX and finally ORD.
Preston from Nashville

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#17 MistyOLR

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Posted 20 July 2012 - 09:37 PM

Dude, no wonder you're getting to ORD so late! heh At this point, I'm as packed as I can be (suitcase is ready, backpack is waiting on the computer - that's not getting shut down till about 15 minutes before I'm out the door), and about 6 and a half hours away from the taxi to get me to STL. It's going to be sort of interesting taking the STL-CHM-CHI bus/train combination, if only because it's something I haven't done previously. In what seems to be turning into a RailFest tradition for me, I am planning on charging my phone before leaving the house, so I know I'm good for whatever internet my attention span may demand before reaching train 390 (If I'm heading out of STL and know I'll have outlets, I'll usually just wait to charge it in transit). My alarms (yes, multiple, as a precautionary move) are set for 3:45 AM, 4 AM, and 4:15 AM :) First one I'll probably "ignore", second is when I'll start to get ready.

Technicalities suck and legal name changes are a mess after it happens.

#18 amtrakwolverine

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Posted 20 July 2012 - 09:46 PM

I'm also pretty much all packed. Will leave home about 4:30am and walk a mile to the bus stop. Bus comes at 5:12AM and gets to the station around 5:25AM train leaves at 6:21AM. Looking forward to seeing everyone this is my 2nd time attending the fest.

Edited by amtrakwolverine, 20 July 2012 - 09:47 PM.


#19 nashscan

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Posted 21 July 2012 - 04:37 PM

just landed at LAX. leaving for ORD in less than two hours!
Preston from Nashville

Nashville needs Amtrak!

#20 EdFindlay

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Posted 21 July 2012 - 04:50 PM

CSX West Virginia tried their hardest to delay the Cardinal somehow we made up well over an hour of delay in kentucky and Indiana even before the Indianapolis padding took a chunk away. I did have to sit next to someone and he wasn't too pleased that they were not letting people move to open seats when they were vacated farther along the line in Virginia...they wouldn't even let him have one of the open elderly and disabled seats in the rear of the car despte being elderly himself. Most of the trip he was in the lounge but when it was time for bed he was very grumpy and caused the two of us to each only get about six hours of sleep at most. We had a nice bonus thanks to a CSX delay- we were allowed to step outside in Thurmond, WV while CSX did an inspection before letting us pass...




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