Date: Fri, 4 Sep 2015 13:41:27 -0500
Reply-To: mcneely4@COX.NET
Sender: Vanagon Mailing List <vanagon@gerry.vanagon.com>
From: Dave Mcneely <mcneely4@COX.NET>
Subject: Re: Amtrak Auto Train
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Again, no experience with the car train, but did take Amtrak on the southern Oregon to LA leg. It has been 13 years now, so take it for what it's worth.
Our intention was to take the train from Klamath Falls (after taking a rental car from Portland to Crater Lake, then to Klamath Falls) all the way to Oklahoma City.
The trip from Klamath Falls to LA was right on time, and we knew it would take 24 hours. That was ok. We had booked first class Klamath to Fort Worth, then a day train coach (the only thing offered) on to OKC. We were denied our first class boarding at LA because the previous day's run LA to San Antonio was cancelled and all passengers moved to our train. We were put in coach instead. We were told we would get a refund, still be allowed shower and dining car privileges, and be given a first class berth at Yuma. Then the train left LA four hours late without explanation. On the outskirts of town it ran over a truck on the track. Four more hours. We were not allowed to shower, were allowed in the dining car after all first class passengers had gone ahead of us, and never got a berth. Sitting on sidings to let freights pass cost eventually another five hours. Waiting for a relief crew at Deming New Mexico because the crew had overstayed its allowed work time cost two more hours. We got into El Paso almost a full day late. Meanwhile, the Maitre d' had gotten into a cursing and physical fight with an irate passenger. She was irate because she did not like the food in the dining car.
At El Paso all passengers booked to Fort Worth were put on a bus, which took 19 hours to make what should have been a 12 hour drive in a car to Fort Worth. We were given peanut butter crackers, the kind sold in vending machines, and soft drinks (coke and orange) in lieu of the dining car dinner we'd paid for, and told that if we wanted anything else to eat we could buy it in the convenience stores where the bus made rest stops for the driver.
At Fort Worth, we found we had missed the train to OKC for that day, and would have an overnight, at our expense. So, we rented a car, and went to the ticket booth to cash in the tickets to OKC. The clerk told us it would cost us thirty something dollars to do that. I put the tickets in my pocket, drove home, and called Amtrak Customer Service. I was offered, instead of the refund I'd been promised in LA when I was not allowed in first class, vouchers for an equivalent amount of future travel. Really.
That was not acceptable, and after several phone calls and letters, eventually we were given a full refund, and vouchers on top of that. We took the vouchers and gave them to our daughter, who was living in Davis, CA and working in Berkeley at the time, with convenient day train service.
Believe it or not, we have ridden Amtrak since. We rode the day train from OKC to Fort Worth and back for a four day stay, and everything worked as it was supposed to.
We hear that the big problem is the particular train we were on, the Sunset Limited that runs LA to New Orleans via San Antonio, El Paso, and Tuscon, and that other trains operate better than that. We actually have considered making another long distance Amtrak trip, but so far have not gotten up the nerve. Maybe we will take the train from Spokane to Seattle, but it leaves Spokane at midnight.
mcneely
---- Dan N <dn92610@GMAIL.COM> wrote:
> I never put my van on the Amtrack but one thing for sure... it slow... very
> slow...
>
> our daughter lives in Souther Oregon, we live in Southern California... one
> hour and 15 minutes by plane - 13 hours by car - 24 hours by Amtrack...
--
David McNeely
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