Paul CantrellWow, the crew on this Amtrak has an unusually high asshole quotient.
Rail travel in the US is such a disappointment.
If anybody has the Secret Amtrak Complaint Line and wants to help me return the headache for some dudes running a dining car with unnecessary police vibes, let me know
The snack car person is singlehandedly redeeming the whole crew with her salty good humor and utter disregard for the petty tyranny going on upstairs
Train food refrigerator broke. They had to throw away a bunch of food. No more meals from the kitchen.
No problem! Crew just ordered 30 pizzas to be delivered to the next train stop
(That’s as we were crossing the CA/NV border, west of Reno)
In other news, neighbors inform us that golf-ball-sized hail shattered one of the storm windows on our house back in Minneapolis. This train ride has been a real roller coaster! (mercifully only in the figurative sense…so far)
Pizza’s going to be a long time coming: conductor told snack car person she’s on her own parceling out those 30 pizzas to the passengers.
We asked if we could help her out somehow. She said yes: really enjoy those slices when you finally get them
Traveling by plane in the US, the dominant feeling is •extraction•. You can just feel the distant MBAs spending untold sums to squeeze every last drop of blood out of you.
Traveling by train, the dominant feeling is •disinvestment•. It’s not efficient. It’s barely functioning. The crew is always teetering on the edge of social-emotional breakdown trying to hold the operation together within a system designed to destroy it.
UPDATE: The crew appear to have started speaking to each other, and have a tight pizza operation up and running like they’re a WWII submarine crew. WE HAVE PIZZA. It is entirely edible.
T. Thorn Coyle 🖤 (@[email protected])
@[email protected] I was once on the train from Paris to Frankfurt. We were barreling through gorgeous countryside when lunch arrived. Lunch was served in a clever box that unfolded into a placemat. Inside was a small green salad, a dish of pasta, some protein I don’t recall, and a covered glass of wine. I turned to my partner and said, “I hate the US.”
The pizza is all served on single-use Amtrak-branded plastic plates. Snack Car Hero Lady informs me this is a COVID countermeasure. Me: ?!? Her: Because less touching the plates. Me: ??!??!? Her: Yup
In the meantime, we’re in a crowded coach car with what appears to be at best light external ventilation. (We are the weirdos wearing masks here, of course)
The observation car here is utterly frigid, though still approximately 2000 degrees warmer than my parents’ sleeper car. This may explain where the snack car’s refrigeration went.
My mother is surviving these frigid conditions thanks to a truly superb personal space heater. The space heater also happens to be the trainbow photographer: my daughter
The boaters and rafters in this area frequently observe a custom with passing Amtraks that has earned this stretch of the Colorado the nickname “Moon River”
Passing the town of Rifle, CO. There is a miserable cesspool alongside the track here, perhaps the very one from which Lauren Boebert emerged
New crew, new conductor full of chipper commentary, and suddenly it’s a whole different train ride. The petty authoritarians may come and go, but the train will outlast them all.
Looking out the ceiling window of the observation car, s t r a i g h t u p the walls of the canyon. Dizzying.
Looking out the other side of the train, across the canyon, there is scale, context. But here, we can hardly see left or right — only straight up. Every few feet bring a new world.
There is no way of seeing a place quite like seeing it by train. “Slipping through the landscape,” my mom says.
My daughter became obsessed with capturing The Moon (see upthread) in slo-mo video. We warned her it’s late in the day and besides the train had probably already passed that area, but she remained glued to the window, hawklike, and it was as if her tenacity willed The Moon back into existence.
UPDATE: Parent phone now holds an extensive collection of blurry butt videos
chris martens@inthehands children and the moon are notable co-conspirators
Jenna Pederson (she/her)@inthehands ooh I love that phrase. It’s perfect.
Gen X-Wing@inthehands Mad Max, on rails!
mazianni@inthehands Seems a bit insulting to the cesspool...
T. Thorn Coyle they/them@inthehands I’m sorry that the poor choices made by generations of greedy, shortsighted people is directly impacting you in this moment.
@thorncoyle
Thanks, that’s graciously said. But hey, I’m used to being alive on this earth! We’re finding our joy along the way.
Thanks, that’s graciously said. But hey, I’m used to being alive on this earth! We’re finding our joy along the way.
skry@inthehands Thats nuts. I’ve wanted to travel on #amtrak but won’t do it if I can’t open a window. Science matters.
@skry
Definitely no open windows allowed on the cross-country lines. Honestly I’d feel fine about I if I knew what the ACH rate in these cars is like. Not nearly as crowded us a plane or bus — but if they’re recirculating the air…
Definitely no open windows allowed on the cross-country lines. Honestly I’d feel fine about I if I knew what the ACH rate in these cars is like. Not nearly as crowded us a plane or bus — but if they’re recirculating the air…
@inthehands WWII submarine makes me think of Das Boot.
Good luck.
@breadbin More Yellow Submarine vibes here, tbh. And thanks!
@inthehands *phew* good.
⁂ Fish Id Wardrobe@inthehands @breadbin "Certainly was … carrying on …"
I was once on the train from Paris to Frankfurt. We were barreling through gorgeous countryside when lunch arrived.
Lunch was served in a clever box that unfolded into a placemat. Inside was a small green salad, a dish of pasta, some protein I don’t recall, and a covered glass of wine.
I turned to my partner and said, “I hate the US.”
Catherine BerryThat is a brilliant summation. Thank you!
Michal Měchura@inthehands In Europe, air travel feels the same ("I am here to be milked") but train travel does not. Taking the train here is (usually!) a smooth, dignity-restoring experience. And about twice as expensive.
Simon Anderson@inthehands the storm was sudden and lots of heavy rain here on Bde Maka Ska. Only a little hail here though, I guess we got lucky. Sounds like an amazing train journey!
Here's a photo of the clouds reflecting the sunset over Lake of the Isles tonight to remind you of home:
@Futur1st
Thanks!! Tell the lakes we’ll be back soon, bringing word from their cousins in the Sierras and the Rockies.
Thanks!! Tell the lakes we’ll be back soon, bringing word from their cousins in the Sierras and the Rockies.
CyDamn that's a beautiful landscape. Couldn't ever see that if you weren't riding the train. Almost makes how gimpy the trains are these days worth the trouble.
I'd sure rather be on a train than trying to hike through all that dusty scrub.
I'd sure rather be on a train than trying to hike through all that dusty scrub.
Dr. Brad Rosenheim has moved!@inthehands Oh that sucks. The dining car is like the only saving grace for Amtrak. Without that, it's like a pretty decent train for the 1930's.
@Brad_Rosenheim Yeah. I mean, I feel for the folks trying to make these trains run within a system designed to kill them. But seems like the one thing they can still offer that planes can’t is a sense of gracious ease. If Amtrak’s not a relaxing luxury, what is it?
Pseudo NymLots didn't have police vibes, it just didn't have a diving car at all. After our evening flight, at dinner time. That messed with our plans. Glad I had a bag of nuts to share with family until we got to destination
@pseudonym
Amtrak is ver much BYOF, no matter what their marketing says
Amtrak is ver much BYOF, no matter what their marketing says
Shae Erisson@inthehands makes me so angry
@inthehands I want to take Amtrak from Alabama to Seattle, but a week is too much
Michael Porter@inthehands @Brad_Rosenheim Oh, come to Canada…
@MichaelPorter @Brad_Rosenheim For a better experience, or to learn how good I have it?
@inthehands @Brad_Rosenheim Our intercity passenger rail regularly gets delayed because there’s only one track and fright trains have priority…
The LRT in Ottawa was an enormous success… at convincing people they’d be better off taking they cars to work…
Every time I heard that Biden would go to work via Amtrak I would think, “How is that even possible?”
@inthehands @Brad_Rosenheim I’m not going to fix that typo 😄
@MichaelPorter @Brad_Rosenheim Ah. Exact same problem with fright trains here. But at least LRT here in MSP and several other places is quite good.
Re Biden: the Acela line that runs up the East Coast is apparently a whole other beast in terms of speed and reliability.
@inthehands @MichaelPorter My last great train adventure was pre-kids. I went to a conference in San Francisco from New Orleans. I had a roomette on the way out, but if I had it on the way back it would have been more expensive than a plane ticket and my university would not have allowed it. Everything went without a hitch, but the train only ran three times a week, so don't miss it! We left on a Wednesday at noon and I arrived in San Francisco near midnight Sunday morning (Saturday night). Coming back, I had to overnight in Los Angeles and meals were not included with a first class ticket. Overall it added 7 days of travel to a 5 day conference, which is why I haven't done since kids were born. Maybe next time I will go with them - they are old enough now!
@Brad_Rosenheim @MichaelPorter
That sounds magical. There’s a lot to be said for slow travel!
Amtrak with a family has a lot going for it. Observation car is where it’s at. My advice: pack lots of your own food, bring things to help you sleep comfortably, fully expect it to be 0-12 hours late, and embrace the idle time!
Threadbane@inthehands
Like being in a Third World country.
Like being in a Third World country.