>
> On Feb 27, 2008, at 3:51 PM, William Bross wrote:
>
> M. Adam Davis wrote:
>
>>>
>>> Because ?
>>>
>>>
>>
>> It was a night time ride, which may have made it worse.
>>
>> * The train was over two hours late for departure (nothing
>> interesting to do near or at the station)
>> * There were two people talking very loudly on their cell phones and
>> to each other for about 3 hours during the night who ignored the
>> impotent conductor's pleas to stop

I want someone to invent a new product.  It searches out the local  
cell phone transactions and inserts an annoying 'whine" into their  
conversations.
cc

>> * It was exceedingly slow - lots of 30mph sections of track
>> * Several hour or longer stops on side tracks while 'priority' trains
>> (such as coal and cargo trains) moved in the other direction
>> * Several other minor issues
>>
>> Suffice to say that while I was looking seriously at taking a train
>> vacation across the country prior to this trip, I think I'm going to
>> skip it.  Of course I doubt all, or even most, trips have these
>> problems, but it did leave an impression.
>>
>> I guess the biggest problem for trying again is that everyone I've
>> talked to about it decries Amtrak for many of these reasons.  Sounds
>> like James has had a different experience, and I'd certainly like to
>> hear better stories and perhaps experience the joy James finds in it.
>>
>> -Adam
>>
>>
> Adam,
> Sounds like a pretty 'typical' train ride to me.  Amtrak doesn't  
> get the
> right of way on anybody's tracks -- the people paying to have their
> freight moved get it.  Sitting on siderails is all part of the  
> process.
> Rude passengers, especially at night can be a real drag though.
>
> Last October, we took Amtrak from Cincinnati to Chicago to Los  
> Angeles,
> drove up the coast to San Franciso and returned home on the train from
> San Fransisco to Chicago to Cincinnati.  The trip was quite  
> educational
> and the scenery very interesting.  It really gave us an appreciation
> just how far away the west coast is from Cincinnati.  We arrived at  
> each
> destination early with one exception when we were about an hour  
> late on
> the first leg into Chicago.  The food on the trains was pretty decent.
> Now for the fun part....  We had our own sleeper compartment.  A nice
> place to sit and watch the scenery but quite cramped as sleeping
> quarters.  One night I was practically catapulted out of bed when we
> flew through a cross track about 60mph.  Track conditions on CSX were
> the poorest between Cincy and Chicago, then on the BNSF route to LA.
> Union Pacific tracks were by far the smoothest and those weren't so
> smooth.  Going through the mountains and changing elevation slowly  
> made
> my head feel like it was going to explode some nights.  As far as the
> shower is concerned -- you can clean the important parts but a nice
> leisurely soak ain't gonna happen.
>
> I found the trip educational, scenic and semi-relaxing.  There are  
> lots
> of little annoyances you have to overlook along the way but I'd do it
> again.  I was also told I'd be doing it by myself next time  
> though.  The
> wife got antsy sitting there all day.
>
> BB
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