"To Niagara in a sleeper . . ." Overnight train questions

Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share
21

I took the train form San Diego to Chicago, then from Chicago to Washington D.C. I was in the Navy this was 1993, newly married, and traveling alone, I wanted the sleeper car. The Navy paid for my ticket, I paid for the sleeper car.

I felt safer since I was traveling alone (I didn’t want people bothering me), in the sleeper car, I think it was a 3 to 4 day ride.

I was used to sleeping in a rack on board ship, so it was easy sleeping in the rack on the sleeper car. The porter wanted to help me with the rack, and I’m like I’ve been in the Navy sleeping in a rack, I’m used to it, he was impressed. I brought a little pillow and blanket. Being in the Navy, you like your own things with you, and I was very good at packing.

The sleeper cars have accommodations for 2 people, I paid for mine, so I was the only occupant. I locked myself in, it was great, and quiet, I had the top rack as a bed and the lower rack as a sofa, there is a small bathroom, no shower, but you can freshen yourself up, take your toiletries, soap, perfume, lotion, etc.

When you get the sleeper car, the porter will bring you coffee, or hot water for Tea, I brought my own Teas. They also bring you a paper. Since you fork over the money for the sleeper, you get your meals provided. I usually missed Breakfast sleeping in, but I caught Lunch and Dinner, the food is really good. I brought snacks, and water if I needed, I would by sodas on the train.

I brought Wine, in the little bottles, drank wine, read books, listened to music, it was awesome. I liked traveling on the sleeper car, I would do it again, highly recommended.

22

Of course, it all depends on what time of day you take your trip - there’s a Philly to Charleston run, that leaves in the morning and gets in at nine. Quite often, if you aren’t going to overnight on the train, they will try to NOT sell you the sleeper seats, so they can be available for people who are actually going to be sleeping on the train.

Viewliner sleepera are interesting, as the upper berth also has windows to look out of (not true on superliner sleepers). As stated earlier in this thread, sleeper arrangements can be viewed on line at theAmtrak Website.

23

HAhahahaha. Boy, I feel old . . .

I’m looking forward to the train ride more than the vacation! A far cry from flying, which I hate (not as much as I hate airports, though). Mom and I will certainly cough up the cash for a nice sleeper car (thanks for the link, Lsura, which I bookmarked). We’ll probably take one of the trains that leaves Phila. 7:00 P.M.-ish and arrives 7:00 A.M.-ish.

Slainte, we’re looking at the week of Oct. 21–25, though that is still tentative. Depends on work, etc.

Now to get me a hot water bottle full of gin, and some silky men’s pyjamas, for stepping out of my upper berth and onto Rudy Vallee’s face . . .

24

No advice to give, but this has been helpful for me to lose my romantic notions about husband and I taking an overnight train to D.C. instead of flying.

Eve, I so envy you going to Charleston! Hot, burning envy! Even if the architecture was total crap and the people were rude (believe me, they are NOT) the food alone would be enough to make me green with envy.

Do you, perchance, need advice on accomodations? Prior to my wedding, I checked out a few hotels and such.

25

Eve, you have caused me to perform my first intentional thread hijack! You brought to mind my earliest childhood memory.

Had to be about late 1944 or early 1945 - I was about 2 years old. My Dad was in the Army stationed in Little Rock and my Mom and I rode a pullman from St. Paul to visit him. I don’t remember the visit, just the ride in the upper berth. The chug chug of the steam engine, the gentle rocking of the car, and the click clack of the wheels. I didn’t sleep much because it was all so new and exciting. My Mom must have been exhausted by the time we arrived.

I love trains.

26

Eve, if your visit doesn’t include a weekend stay over, we Charleston Dopers may have to make it dinner instead of brunch (we’re all career ladies) ;). Have you and/or your Mother ever been to Charleston before? We do have some great restaurants & charming history but we are a far cry from NYC and its culture.

Feel free to e-mail me if you need any information. I’m sure skerri would be equally happy to help.

The timeframe you mentioned should be lovely; not sweltering hot and not too chilly either.

27

Dinner sounds lovely, Slainte. We’ll probably arrive Monday morning and leave Friday afternoon, to give us vacation-decompression time at both ends.

I’m ordering a copy of Charleston Then and Now, so I can do some pre-trip reading on the burg.

28

It appears that you are off to a good start, Eve. Let us know when your plans are more firm and we’ll try to get that (smoke-free) DopeDinner together.

29

So we were up in Moosonee where the railhead touches the arctic ocean. We asked the fellow at the station if the Little Bear Freight had a sleeper car where we could spend the night before making the trip down to Cochrane the next day. He said yes, and led us to the sleeper.

Now the sleeper looked an awful lot like a boxcar to us. Big wide door on the side. Nothing on the inside but a floor covered with dust. But who were we to argue. We stacked our canoes and gear at one end, and lay out our blankets at the other.

Come the middle of the night, some oaf clambered in, singing “What’s high in the middle and round on the ends - - O-HI-O - - that’s me from Tennesee.” He lay down beside the stacked canoes, and promptly started snoring as only a very large, very inebriated person can. Shortly thereafter, the stack of canoes came tumbling down on him.

The next morning, we complimented the stationmaster on the fine sleeper car accomodations, and asked him if we might board the passenger car for our journey. He led us to a an enclosed railcar with windows one could open, lateral wooden benches lining the sides of the car, and outdoor platforms at either end. Rolling stock from the early part of the century. We locked down the sleeper car door, with Ohio inside, boarded the passenger car, and had a lovely day’s journey southward.

30

Exactly how Amtrak trains come to a stop!

All I have to add is, beware the Thanksgiving weekend! Back in the eighties I made a short hop (Boston-NYC) on Amdreck which turned out to be the worst rail trip of my life. They were short equipment and had to put out just about any passenger car that had the proper number of wheels, and even at that I wondered.

31

Exactly how Amtrak trains come to a stop!

All I have to add is, beware the Thanksgiving weekend! Back in the eighties I made a short hop (Boston-NYC) on Amdreck which turned out to be the worst rail trip of my life. They were short equipment and had to put out just about any passenger car that had the proper number of wheels, and even at that I wondered.

32

Jodi gave an excellent description of the Seattle-to-Montana trip. Mrs. R, the two Little Rs, and I took a trip from Seattle to Malta, Montana, a couple years ago.

One thing is, Jodi’s description is definitely colored by crankiness. Although our physical experience was identical, we found everything charming; Mrs. R and I sat in our little compartment, looked out the window, talked, read; the Little Rs had their own compartment and they loved that.

The upper berth is about the same proportions as a coffin, and Mrs. R didn’t like it much. I’m pretty much nerveless and didn’t have any trouble; but if you get a choice sleep in the lower.

The coach seats (cheaper ticket) didn’t look very desirable to me. One nice thing is that it isn’t like a bus or plane, where you’re clamped into place for hours; you can get up and stretch your legs any time you want.

The dining car was very nice, white linen tablecloths and sassy waiters. Our ticket included food; there were three (?) seatings for each meal and a porter came around beforehand handing out tickets for the seatings so that everyone didn’t rush the dining car at once.

All in all, it was a very pleasant experience and we wouldn’t hesitate to travel that way again. It was more expensive than a plane (our tickets cost about what a plane trip plus a night at a hotel would have), but we really enjoyed it.

33

Thanks, all . . . This is the only vacation Mom and I will be taking this year, so we will shell out the cash for the biggest, cushiest sleeper car we can get. I’ll give Mom the lower, in case she rolls out (she’s a bit more breakable than I am). Looking forward to it! The trip, that is, not Mom rolling out of her berth.

Can anyone recommend a nice B&B in Charleston? Centrally located and good for two characters straight out of an Anita Brookner novel (the middle-aged spinster traveling with her elderly mother)?

34

This one is on the battery
Meeting St.
This one is said to be haunted by a ghost who fancies the ladies :wink:

If these don’t work for you there are tons more.

35

On second thought, you may want to skip the haunted one… I just read this:

36

Hmmmm . . . A Yale man, huh?