Now this day I got to put all my prep work into a practical application and just SEE how good I am. You NEVER KNOW how well anything will work until you actually do it/see it/feel it/taste it, right?
RIGHT!
An outline of the trip for October 25-29 2012 from Fullerton to Albuquerque:
The Amtrak Southwest Chief Train #4 originated in LA at LAUS (Los Angeles Union Station) and its second stop was where I picked up the train at 18:50 hours in Fullerton (FUL).
This train is considered LD aka Long Distance.
Traveled overnight, stopped at Riverside, San Bernardino, Victorville, Barstow, Needles, Kingman, Williams Junction, Flagstaff, Winslow, Gallup, then where I got off, at Albuquerque. (Station acronyms are RIV, SNB, VRV, BAR, NDL, KNG, WMJ, FLG, WLO, GLP, and ABQ)
The train actually goes across country and terminates in Chicago.
I stayed in ABQ until Monday afternoon, where I caught the Amtrak Southwest Chief Train #3 at 16:45 hours and again travelled all afternoon and night until arriving at FUL at 06:34 hours. The westbound train ends at LA Union Station (their acronym is LAX).
I had a huge rolling piece of luggage, a office 'wheelie' piece of luggage, a large black bag, a square lunch bag, and my purse. At the door, the TAC told me to grab any seat upstairs. I told him that I was a lower coach seat passenger. He looked surprised, checked my paperwork, and said, "Oh yeah, my bad, have a seat anywhere here down below'. Nice kid. I was a little worried about getting all my stuff on, but Barry and the Train Attendant-Coach (TAC) helped me. I put the big whompin' piece in the luggage area then went back to a seat.
I choose the far back seat row because it looked like there was a lot of space to put my stuff. I WAS RIGHT-there was a LOT of space behind my seat!
ONE thing I didn't realize is that since the seats face the door, that last coach where I sat had the seats facing the REAR!!! Weird. If I'd-a seen the diagram a little more closely (see below) I would've noticed that. DUH.
Information gleaned from online forums and appropriate for the first day;
The Assistant AC that's on the train from LA to Kingman got my printout and scanned it in. Pretty cool.
ABOUT SEATING:
Since I was on the lower level, I was told I could take any seat.
**UPPER LEVEL COACH people are more restricted, depending on where they get on during the train's trip. The train personnel have a manifest or list of everyone's name, where they're going, etc. Getting on at one of the first two-three stations, people can sit where they want to. Getting on farther down the line, seating gets chancy AND the train folks like to group people according to where they'll get off down the line. When I got on at ABQ, again, I could take any seat on the lower level, since that's what I chose when I got my ticket. People going westbound, though, were assigned seats and you'd better NOT stray from those seats! The train folks had everyone laid out, again, depending on the passengers departure station, and so grouped them accordingly. How do they group them? How do they KNOW?
For upper level coach, each passenger that gets on has their ticket or e-ticket scanned by the Ass't Conductor's iPod, and the passenger's seat is logged in. A colored piece of paper with a seat number goes above that passenger's seat. Each passenger will then show up in a seat on a schematic of that coach car. Say one coach car has people that got on at La Junta, Colorado & will have most of those people getting off at Flagstaff if the train is going westbound; if someone comes onto the train at ABQ and is going to Flagstaff, they'll be directed to a certain coach CAR and given a colored piece of paper with a seat number. All those people in coach upper who are getting off at the same station will pretty much be together. When the train is fuller than normal, the assigned seating is important to the train folks and woe be to you if you change it without telling anyone!
Below is my 'workstation'. See the little silver square things at the top of the pic and at the left of the pic? Those are little clip-on lights from Costco, 4 to a package. HANDY when the lights are out and EVERYBODY else has crashed!
THE 'CONSIST'aka all the CARS & WHERE THEY ARE ON THE TRAIN
Consist: The combination of railroad cars and locomotives, which together comprise a particular train.
For an LD train such as the Southwest Chief, (long distance, usually over 500 miles) the consist can be:
Lead Engine
Trailing Engine (these engines are STRONG suckers, P42DC engines made by GE. Theoretically, one engine COULD pull the whole train, but two is safer in case one conks out. It's rare, but it happens. When you pull out from the station, you can BARELY feel you're moving! Sometimes you'll look out the window and realize you've already left the station. I slept through 3-4 station stops, the train was so smooth.)
Baggage Car
Sleeper Car
Sleeper Car
Sleeper Car
Dining Car
Lounge Car (this one has a Cafe on the bottom level, a small bar on top, and the observation windows up top)
Coach Car
Coach Car
Coach Car (I was always directed to go to this last Coach car)
Depending on the season there could be 2 Coach cars or 4 coach cars, but it's usually 3. In summer and during the holidays, it's 3 and maybe 4, depending on the manifest with pre-sold tickets. In slack periods i.e. right after school begins until the Thanksgiving holiday, there'll usually be two coach cars. Some people can complain about there being a totally UNUSED coach car at the end of the consist, when everyone else is bunched up in the other coach cars, practically sitting on each others' laps. That coach car COULD (and probably is) a car that was being moved from point A to point B, but was not ready for passengers and in fact could not be used by passengers. There might not be enough crew to handle that extra car as well. Hey, they're union, they have VERY strict rules about what they can and can't do. I have the train personnel manual, so I know not so much what they can't do, but especially what they CAN do. Just LET SOMEONE try to swing their weight around and tell me what they can't do when I KNOW that they can! (didn't happen on this train, BTW)
EVERYTHING is upstairs on the upper levels, except the snack/food Cafe area where you can buy snacks, drinks etc. and the lower sleepers. They have a few booths for sitting in the lower are cafe, but for the most part, everything's up above.
You can only change cars on the upper level, so eventually, you have to climb those narrow stairs to go up to where all the fun is!
Notice on the diagram below that the coach car is on the top: the upper level coach is first, then below that is the lower level. Unfortunately this DOESN'T show that the lower level coach seats were facing the OPPOSITE way. The lower level coach seats are numbered 78-90.
The Train Attendants are supposed to go and ask people if they want to eat in the Dining Car, but they don't-you have to go and see when you can get a reservation, or ask the TA to get you a reservation.
The Lounge Car is the one with the domed windows, lots of 'em, with the feel of a wide, airy space (during the day, anyway. At night, you might find people sleeping on the floor where the fixed seats are)
Changing the subject, now:
ACRONYMS AND TERMS
The following titles have been shortened to reflect common usage:
• LSA refers to Lead Service
Attendant, EIC (Employee-in-Charge) and Steward.
(LSA positions consist of LSA-Diner, LSA-CafĂ©/Lounge and LSA-Cart)• TA refers to Train Attendant who assists passengers in either Coach or Sleeping Cars.
• SA: Service Attendant - serves food and beverages to Dining Car passengers..
• TAC refers to Train Attendant-Coach
• TASC refers to Train Attendant-Sleeping Car
FS: Food Specialist
AC Assistant Conductor
Big 'O' is the Conductor, the BOSS, the main man.
'Fouling the Main' or 'Fouling the tracks'-Something on the tracks up ahead that keeps the train from going on
Big 'E' the Engineer
Power the locomotive
4(25) The train number and date it left
High Ball: A term used by the Conductor to indicated to the Engineer to proceed at maximum authorized speed. (Origin – A “High Ball” was a type of signal used on early railroads to control train movements. When the track was clear ahead, the station agent would hoist the “ball” to the top of the wooden pole (via a rope and pulley system). The ball being high on the pole, “High Ball”, indicated to the Engineer that the train could proceed.)
Ticket Lift: The initial
collection of tickets by the Conductor.
Ticket Sweep: When
the operating crew checks the ticket receipt of every passenger aboard the train to ensure the collection of all revenue tickets.
Manifest: Report that
displays the number of passengers riding on a specific date and includes other pertinent information.WYE: A 'Y' that a train can use to turn around.
SSR: Special Service Request - Request for special assistance or service by a passenger that appears on the manifest.
Special request codes are as follows:
• ENST - On-board en suite room request
• HCPS - Disabled seating request• KSML - Kosher meal request
• LIFT - Wheelchair lift at station is required
• LOWR - Lower level seating required (Superliner)
•
• MAXO- Maximum occupancy exceeded in sleeping car accommodations
• MEDA - Passenger has medical condition
• OXYG - Passenger will be traveling with oxygen
• REFG - Ice & container requested to chill medicine or food
• SEAT - Special seating other than lower level
• SMLS - At-seat/in-room meals requested
• SPML - Special meal other than kosher
• VIPP - Very important passenger
• WCHR- Wheelchair
• OTHS - All other types of requests
So....
I get on, stow my stuff and there's already 6 people on the lower level from LAX (an acronym for LAUS) and there's ONE window seat at the very back. This is a VERY good thing because there's a nice amount of space behind the far back seats for my stuff, just in case someone comes to sit with me-I don't have to put stuff in the overhead, I can go back and forth.
Turns out no one else gets on the lower level for the rest of the trip.
Now, when I start on a trip, I IMMEDIATELY get hungry, so within 1 hour of departing, I was tearing into the tuna that Barry had put into my lunch container. YUM YUM YUM YUM OH, how that man can COOK!!
Small note-it got kinda stuffy because there's no direct air and there isn't one of those 'air' thingys like the airlines have.
I don't know why, but the lights went 'way down around 8 PM. Maybe ONLY for the people in lower? The median age was around 78 and I pulled down that average. Get my drift?
I ate, I drank my sodas, I watched out the window, I got bored around 1 AM, so I went upstairs to check out everything.
Saw people sacked out on the floor in the Lounge Car (aka the viewliner, we used to call it the 'Dome Car', went into the dining car area and talked to the Ass't Conductor Amanda. VERY nice young lady, ended up seeing her a few days later on Saturday in costume at a Halloween party that my daughter and her boyfriend were invited to, just down the street from their house!!
I made a deal with myself to have breakfast at dawn in the dining car. THAT sounded like something that people would envy, and it certainly didn't sound bad to me! I knew what I was going to order because menus were in the seatback areas. Continental b'fast. I love saying it on Facebook..."Yeah, I just had breakfast in the Dining Car on the Amtrak Southwest Chief at dawn". Sounded elegant!
I knew sunrise was going to be at around 6:35 AM and we'd be between Winslow and Gallup, so I set my alarm for 6 AM, woke up, did the face wash stuff, shuffled down to the dining car and it was only 1/3 full.
So we get into ABQ, and I see this elegantly-uniformed Conductor-type person cross the tracks and go into my coach car. He thinks I didn't see him so he could surprise me; right, hey dude, I'm a MOM and your girlfriend is my daughter, so don't EVEN try to surprise me! He grabbed my big bag, walked me to the car where Jackie was, and then split because he works the ABQ-La Junta run.
Some of the things that DIDN'T happen that I expected to happen were:
- I expected someone to announce reservations for dinner. Didn't happen. Oh well, I had food.
- I expected the conductor to come in and at LEAST poke his head in. Didn't happen, but Amanda the A.C. did. (the conductor DID bring onboard another couple on my return trip, but only because he brought them on and then poked his head in another time and asked about them. Probably someone he knew).
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