Passenger Trains > Should this Forum's name be changed to the Food Network?

Been lurking/ reading with some interest for awhile while not reading the Nostalgia & History Discussions.  Many weeks pass by with threads that focus on train food more than passenger trains in general. Almost an obsession with some folks?

It just sems to me that if your complaints want to be taken seriously, the name calling, belittling, personal attacks etc... are worst possible way to go about effecting the change you seek. I'm not preaching. I hope things imrove the way you'd like them to.

I'm not a soothsayer so I don't know what the future holds. I don't ride the trains, they don't serve the area where I live any longer or go to the region I'd like to travel to.  I'm retired and taking it easy watching 'em roll by...



Edited 3 time(s). Last edit at 10/12/19 09:06 by Molino.

+1

All for a new whine network.

i find people's SUGGESTIONS as to how long distance trains should be operated (funding, food, etc.) interesting and the reason i belong to and CHOOSE to participate on a discussion board...........

66

Articulated very well, gets a +1 from me. Notice that I never said whining is a bad thing, if done right it's an interesting expression of thoughts with an emphasis. There's a number of posts that simply say that if you don't agree with me then your obviously wrong. It's been the demise of many 'discussion' boards that whittle down to one or two agreesive know it alls, er... contributors.

We have a mix of hobbyists, observers, photographers also people wanting to learn, we need to encourage contributors. I've also learned to 'focus' on a few boards and avoid certain boards and contributors, what does that do to the value that I get from the site? The post title is pretty obvious, don't like it then choose not to click on it.

Molino Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
>...
> It just sems to me that if your complaints want to
> be taken seriously, the name calling, belittling,
> personal attacks etc... are wost possible way to
> go about effecting the change you seek. I'm not
> preaching. I hope things imrove the way you'd like
> them to.
>...
 



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 10/12/19 09:09 by TCnR.

I was beginning to wonder when I noticed the mod's name was Gordon Ramsay..

Food is an important part of long-distance trains. Unlike an airliner, where a variety of foods are available in the big terminals and domestic flights involve one meal at most, Amtrak riders may have as many as three three or more onboard meals. Providing a hot and healthy variety can be pretty important.  Some nostalgic riders equate meals in their past with four-star dining, which may or may not have been the case.  Dining car cooks did perform minor miracles at every sitting and were generally polished a professional. So, yeah, food is going to be a major point of contact between Amtrak and its passengers.  And yes, it's a real juggling act to balance costs and service.  As the traffic volume goes down, it gets harder.  The Cascades bistro cars are a success, but that's a relatively short run.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 10/12/19 11:19 by grahamline.

Congress requires that Amtrak get is food and beverage losses resolved. Dreaming about how things were in 1955 won't help the company and its employees address the issue.

Posted from Android

Given the vast sums of money wasted by this do nothing Congress, the tiny amount saved by Amtrak in the diners is less than a drop in the bucket. No one is suggesting five star dining is needed. But look what VIA does in it's diners. Even the lowly train to Churchill appears to have more varied and eatable selections than Amtrak is offering in their eastern train diners. 

C'mon, food's important -- especially to those of us who love to cook and who have spent part of our lives cooking for guests on the train.  If all you've experienced in dining cars is Amtrak food, I feel bad for you.

I say keep the comments, suggestions, and criticisms coming!

-John

"Mood Network" would be more all-encompassing.

andersonb109 Wrote:
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> Given the vast sums of money wasted by this do
> nothing Congress, the tiny amount saved by Amtrak
> in the diners is less than a drop in the bucket.
> No one is suggesting five star dining is needed.
> But look what VIA does in it's diners. Even the
> lowly train to Churchill appears to have more
> varied and eatable selections than Amtrak is
> offering in their eastern train diners. 

Yes, and Via loses millions of $CAN on those trains despite the excellent service. VIA could provide a cafe type service at lower cost and still retain most all riders on the Churchill train on it's slow trudge across the flat landscape of Manitoba.

jcaestecker Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> If all
> you've experienced in dining cars is Amtrak food,
> I feel bad for you.
>
> -John

Nonsense.

In Amtrak's early years I had many superb meals in Amtrak diners, notably the prime rib dinner - with apple pie ala-mode for dessert.  IIRC at that time every dining car had a chef in charge that was a graduate of the Culinary Institute of America (CIA).  It showed.  The food was very good.

Asking a taxpayer (esp. in a state where there is no passenger service), what percentage of a steak and potato should be subsidized by his federal income tax sure seems like it would be a tough question to have to ask.

 



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 10/12/19 12:09 by Molino.

Molino Wrote:
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> Asking a taxpayer (esp. in a state where there is
> no passenger service), what percentage of a steak
> and potato should be subsidized by his federal
> income tax sure seems like it would be a tough
> question to have to ask.
>
>  if every taxpayer expecting a refund would donate one dollar of same to Amtrak their poverty would end....the trains would be many the fares low the tracks gold plated......so I would even cough up two dollars.....

> Amtrak riders  may have as many as three three or more onboard meals.

The context of the recent debates is Eastern LD trains. The operative word in the quote is "may". A better word is "might". Even more accurately, "a very small percentage of Amtrak riders [in the east] have three or more".



Edited 2 time(s). Last edit at 10/12/19 15:15 by ctillnc.

Many years ago, I frequently rode NYNH&H RR trains to and from Stamford, CT and Boston. Often, I rode all or most of that 3+ hour trip sitting on my suitcase because they were fully booked. Most of the time, I rode the 4 pm Gilt Edge out of Boston and went into the dining car from couch to have broiled scrod and baked beans with a small silver pot of coffee somewhere around Westerly, RI. The NH dining cars, even in the 1960's, I believe had wood brick fired ranges in the galleys and I was always impressed by the good quality of the food produced on short order and presented with class. The NH, largely because of its sales of alcohol to its commuters was apparently making money on its food services right until the demise of the railroad. I have ridden most of the Amtrak long distance trains and VIA's Canadian and Halifax trains so I have been appalled by the downgrading of food service by the current Amtrak management since cost cutting it such a manner as to totally tick off a major portion of your customers is not generally considered to be good management. Far better to have enlisted its customer base to aggressively go after Congress and change the ridiculous mandate to make food service pay its way by 2020. As a long time and frequent Amtrak long distance passenger paying for sleeper accommodations, I would gladly pay for good meals served in those new dining cars with a reasonable serving staff. Charge for sleeper class commensurate with its costs and competition, allow everyone on the train to have meals in the dining car and charge reasonable fare for reasonable food: it should be doable for a nation which 50 years ago put a man on the moon!

Lackawanna484 Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> Congress requires that Amtrak get is food and
> beverage losses resolved. Dreaming about how
> things were in 1955 won't help the company and its
> employees address the issue.
>
> Posted from Android

and there it is:  until congress for some reason removes the requirement to resolve f&b losses, the dreams about food service from the 1955 era will remain dreams..........

66

ctillnc Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> > Amtrak riders  may have as many as three three
> or more onboard meals.
>
> The context of the recent debates is Eastern LD
> trains. The operative word in the quote is "may".
> A better word is "might". Even more accurately, "a
> very small percentage of Amtrak riders have three
> or more".

On paper yes, but the Chicago trains runs hours late routinely. 

Lackawanna484 Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> Congress requires that Amtrak get is food and
> beverage losses resolved. Dreaming about how
> things were in 1955 won't help the company and its
> employees address the issue.
>
> Posted from Android

And Congress is just as stupid and blind as Ariline Boy and his cronies, it's nearly impossible to eleminate the losses, railroads knew this before Amtrak, all this is is just another stupid dumb butt attempt to eleminate Amtrak, simple as that!