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CRF 2012: Reports from Chicago


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#1 KevinKorell

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Posted 13 July 2012 - 06:45 PM

Use this thread to report on our activities in Chicago, including Saturday night after arrival, Sunday, and Monday. This can also include any side trips you (or I) may take while in the area before heading home.


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#2 KevinKorell

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Posted 21 July 2012 - 07:23 PM

So here we now are in the Chicago area. We had a small welcoming committee on hand when Train #4 arrived in town. Then we went off our separate ways to check-in at various hotels, situated all over Chicagoland, including out by the airport, Evanston, and in the Loop and Near Northside. We will re-convene in the morning first for our CTA riding, then Metra round trip to Kenosha, and while at the latter, riding the streetcar loop.


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#3 KevinKorell

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Posted 22 July 2012 - 11:16 PM

Our report from today is that everything went as planned. There was a service disruption (previously announced by CTA but brushed off by me until reminded of it this weekend) which resulted in the Pink Line being rerouted like the Green Line (thus we had to board it on the opposite platform at Lake/Clark Transfer). In the end it was a positive since we didn't have to ride clockwise around the whole loop and instead left it early despite a long wait for the train. For our CTA riding we were a little ahead of schedule, and our Metra Kenosha round trip was on time despite an automated announcement on the way north that we were running late. We got to ride the Kenosha Streetcar 2-1/4 times around. We had a nice pizza dinner handled by a great waitress at Kaiser's Pub. And the fears that had me resume biting my nails despite recent oral surgery, remained unrealized as everyone got dinner and made the return train in Kenosha. It was a great day in Chicago, not only the comfortable weather, riding trains with friends, and me getting some suntan, but from my point of view, this group now aced the entire CTA, and finished one more Metra line in its entirety. And tomorrow for our final official Fest activity, we will complete yet another Metra line.


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#4 amtrakwolverine

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Posted 23 July 2012 - 12:37 AM

I bailed on the pizza diner since no one hooked up with me and didnīt want a meatball sandwich which is what i would have gotten if I went to the pizza place solo. Went to subway instead and the guy behind the counter goes ``sup essay`` Got a pizza sub foot long which had too much sauce.

Edited by amtrakwolverine, 23 July 2012 - 12:40 AM.


#5 KevinKorell

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Posted 23 July 2012 - 10:40 PM

And now it's time for a report from the final day of the Fest. Today's sole activity was a round trip on the Metra SouthWest Service (SWS) line. Like the UP-North Line we rode yesterday, we had ridden a part of it before, and were now returning to get the line in full. In the case of the SWS line, the Manhattan extension beyond Orland Park-179th Street didn't exist when we last rode the line, back in 2005 as part of the Eagle RailFest event.

We had 11 people on this segment of the Fest, all of whom rode this line in its entirety both directions.

Once the trip was over, so was the official part of our Fest. We have people on eastward trains right now headed for home on the East Coast, and two more including myself will be going home on different trains tomorrow. For those who remained behind in the Chicago area, we have people taking side trips to South Bend on the South Shore Line and Milwaukee on Amtrak's Hiawathas.

As always, your impressions of the Fest are always appreciated, as I may not have recalled everything correctly or at all. Please feel free, even after you get home, to post your thoughts in the appropriate thread for each segment of the Fest, whether it's Chicago, Albuquerque, or the trains we took in between or to get to and from home.

My next update will follow my own homeward long distance trip.


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#6 amtrakwolverine

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Posted 23 July 2012 - 10:59 PM

Went on the MKA side trip with KK. We picked the wrong car.Bunch of drunks in front off us using their I-phones to produce belching noises etc and kept the LSA marty busy with beer orders. No quit car on todays 339.He never came by with the cart so me and misty starved all the way to the hotel.

Edited by amtrakwolverine, 23 July 2012 - 11:01 PM.


#7 KevinKorell

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Posted 23 July 2012 - 11:29 PM

Those folks looked like a group who knew each other possibly from a workplace. Since this is a mere 1-1/2 hour trip and given the scheduled Chicago departure time they could very well be daily commuters. The guy who served them seemed to already know they wanted beer and what kind. Still they were loud and obnoxious even before they were wasted. Their group seemed get larger as the trip wore on, as more friends came up and stood in the aisle. We might as well have been in a bar, and that's where this activity should have been going on, not on a public train. I also never saw a cart come down the aisle, so it's a good thing I went and had a small dinner before departure.

Yup this situation cried for a Quiet Car, not that it would have been possible to find a seat there given the heavy passenger load and the non-reserved nature of the train. It might very well have had one, since we did not walk through every coach.


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#8 KevinKorell

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Posted 24 July 2012 - 05:22 PM

We had 4 people on the Milwaukee run this morning, and the southbound trip was the first we saw that was right on schedule. We then decided to kill our time by riding Metra Electric to University Park and back, though Misty had to short turn to be back in time to make her southward train. That's it from Chicago!


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#9 amtrakwolverine

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Posted 25 July 2012 - 02:22 AM

i got into a fight with the stupid red cap In the chicago metro lounge. Misty came in the room on a day pass with me has her guest. since we were both leaving that day on 2 different trains we decided not to confuse the attendant and just say Chicago was the end point. So the attendant put wait on the lounge ticket instead of a train number. When I went to store my bags the the red cap asked how long to hold them I said I was leaving on 354. He got upset and said that the ticket does not say that and I need to check in with the attendant even though I already did. I decided to go elsewhere in the lounge and he tried to stop me even though I was legally in there and had checked in. So I told misty and KK "the jacka** in there won't let me store my bags cause the ticket says wait not 354" and he overheard me left his post and got confrontational with me. The red cap was a tall black guy I think his name was Steve also. if he would have let me store my bags like I wanted there wouldn't have been a issue. he had no right to leave his post and get In my face that's not his job. when I did not call him that to his face I was not even talking to him when I said it. he just overheard me. Our Steve also confronted the red cap and told me to write a letter to amtrak Which I will do. I posted this story on amtraks facebook page though also for the heck of it but left names out except for the red caps name.

Edited by amtrakwolverine, 25 July 2012 - 03:34 PM.


#10 jis

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Posted 25 July 2012 - 09:07 AM

Not faulting you at all, but just using this as an example of the importance of creating what I call "consistent story boards" so as to minimize the chances of getting into altercations.

Since the lounge card said wait, a consistent story board to present to the guy at the baggage place would have been something like "I'll be leaving at such and such time". Afterall, he really does not need to know your life's plan beyond the stay at the lounge. :)

What happened in this case is that the story presented to him was in his mind inconsistent with the story presented at the checkin counter, and he decided to do something about it, though he did not have any particular reason to. I'd simply not give him a chance to know enough to get excited about it. Share only as much info as is absolutely essential and no more. Only the proposed time of departure is essential, not the means of departure in this case.




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