Passenger Trains > "Railfan's Bonus" courtesy of CSX

Finished a transcon trip on the CZ and Lakeshore last night at Worcester, MA....see http://www.trainorders.com/discussion/read.php?4,4083203 for the first part.  As ardent train riders we enjoy as much time on the rails as possible, so CSX and Amtrak did me a solid yesterday with three more hours of train riding than the schedule had promised :-)  OK, I doubt the rest of the passengers saw it that way, and I'll have to admit almost five hours to go less than 160 miles on Amtrak's sorry little Lake Shore connection can get a bit tedious - especially when spent waiting in sidings for opposing traffic.

A few notes and pictures:

- Phase I heritage unit 156 lead my CZ from Emeryville to Chicago arriving Sunday.  I didn't bother to check the power on the LSL until Buffalo on Monday morning, but was pleasantly surprised to find 156 was continuing to escort me cross country.  As has been the practice for the past couple of months, the LSL operated with a single unit CHI to ALB.  Ironically, stubby little 448 had two P42DCs, although in fairness this could well have been a unit swap to New Haven or the Downeaster pool.

- There's a separate post today on the downgraded food service offered in the LSL's "diner lite" Amfleet II....it's not a positive development.  On 48, which only serves breakfast and lunch, maybe it's adequate, but having this as the only option for dinner out of NYP on 49 is pretty bad.  It's not like the LSL is the Cardinal in terms of ridership - three sleepers and five coaches are packed, and the sleeper fares are very high.  If any single level LD train deserves a diner in the summer travel season it's this one.

- On the topic of food service, one way for Amtrak to deal with the deficit that so infuriates Rep. Mica would be to increase revenues.  But as every restaurateur knows, you can only bring in money when you're open.  I found it a bit curious that the LSL lounge car would close for "morning meal break" at 8:15am, presumably the height of the breakfast rush.  Similarly the CZ's bar closing time of 10:00pm seems awfully early - I'll bet quite a few beers and snacks could be sold later in the evening.  On 448 the conductor's announcement upon departure said the cafe would open shortly with a PA announcement....after none came 45 minutes into the trip I wandered up front anyway to find the attendant camped out in the "crew lounge" area (three tables in the Amfleet cafe).  Sure, he was open, but I guess the job is easier when the customers don't know that.

- Train 48's OBS crew was more proactive and professional than the CZ OBS crew.  Beds made up on boarding, switched over to day use while I was at breakfast. 

- Amtrak's second tracking of the Albany - Hoffman's passenger line is progressing, with a string of Herzog hoppers dumping ballast on newly-laid ribbon rail and concrete ties.  Interestingly, power for the ballast train included P42DC 198.  Maybe they're not in such scarce supply as reading Trainorders would lead you to believe.

- Lastly, timekeeping.  As my last two trips east on 48/448 have had delays of five and seven hours respectively, I guess I could view yesterday's three hour deficit as a positive trend.  It wasn't any one thing - we were OT out of Chicago, a half hour down at Cleveland and Buffalo, two hours by Albany and three into Worcester.  CSX track work seemed to be the main culprit, with long stretches of single track and slow orders while passing the track gangs.  In some ways my LSL experience typifies the problem with LD trains today.  CSX doesn't care that they can't get the train over the road on schedule, New York State apparently doesn't care that the rest of the Empire corridor trains are similarly impacted, and Amtrak certainly doesn't seem to care enough to make an issue of it.  Indeed Amtrak doesn't help the situation with 10-15 minute station stops at Buffalo, Rochester, Syracuse, etc.  This has happened pretty much every summer for years, so I guess we can say it's the new normal for the Lake Shore.

But with all that, I loved the trip.  Scenery was great, met lots of interesting people, and the accommodations were comfortable.  I'm not sure how the average traveler would take to all of the idiosyncrasies of Amtrak travel, but as a fan I'm ready to get right back out there.  It's just frustrating because we all know it could be better.

The pics:

1) #156 leading train 48 in the rain at Buffalo

2-3) The sad hulk of NYC's once-mighty Buffalo Central Terminal.  Every night until about fifty years ago, NYC switchers shuffled sleepers between trains to or from New York, Chicago, Boston, Toronto, Detroit, Cincinnati, St. Louis and many more places in the Northeast and Midwest.

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Must have been something to see "THE BUFFALO SHUFFLE". Hopefully  she will rise from the ashes....someday.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 07/26/16 13:11 by bluesboyst.

That crap about not announcing the opening of the diner and lounge car has become standard on 49 leaving New York.  Now that they once again sell tickets NYP to Albany on the LSL, I have ridden that segment several times since the beginning of the year. EVERY SINGLE TIME they have announced on the PA that there would be an announcement when the lounge and diner opened.  Every single time (5-6 trips now) they have not.

Each time, I have been one of only 4-5 people on the diner, and the only coach passenger.  Granted, it's early, maybe 5PM or so.  West of Albany, experience tells me that the diner will be quite crowded, and at least a few people will be turned away.  Maybe if they actually told people that the diner is available, they could sell some food south of Albany?



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 07/27/16 13:30 by march_hare.

Is this management's fault or a workforce that doesn't really want to work and this is a good way to accomplish that.  Unions will end up being the death of Amtrak as they raise costs, lower performance and demoralize management regarding their ability to actually "manage' things.

DavidP Wrote:
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>
> 2-3) The sad hulk of NYC's once-mighty Buffalo
> Central Terminal.  Every night until about
> fifty years ago, NYC switchers shuffled sleepers
> between trains to or from New York, Chicago,
> Boston, Toronto, Detroit, Cincinnati, St. Louis
> and many more places in the Northeast and Midwest.

There is an effort underway to restore Buffalo Central Terminal.  Here is some more information:

Buffalo Central Terminal

Right now I believe Amtrak is a rudderless entity.  There is a lame-duck President, and probably much of senior management is worried they may be let go once a new President comes in.  I am sure there is no management presence on any of the trains, and even if there was, I am not sure what good it would do since Boardman is probably not inclined to do much of anything other than the basics for the next month.  The new President, whoever it is, has many issues in front of them, but maybe, hopefully, one issue that can be addressed right away is what has been described in this thread, and that is crews doing the absolute minimum in terms of customer service, and in some cases, not doing anything at all.  This is a fix that requires no capital dollars, no congressional aprroval, etc.  It just means sending managers out into the field to get front-line employees to do what they are being paid to do.

they better get the food situation sorted out or else sleeper revenue will dry up slowly but surely

I remember the Buffalo Central Station from my "Dog Tired Tour" of 1977.  I went there from the Greyhound station to catch the TH&B train to Toronto (a pair of RDCs).  The place looked so forlorn, and I understand that less than a year later it was abandoned for passenger service in favor of the Depew Station.