Chicago to Kansas

After a delicious lunch at Blackbird with Noelle, I returned to the Metropolitan Lounge at Union Station to wait for the Southwest Chief, train #3. To my surprise, the lounge was PACKED! There were barely any seats available. I picked up my bags from the redcap room so that I could work on uploading some photos to the blog (which I accomplished!). The Metropolitan Lounge has free wifi, so that was a big plus.

At about 2 pm, forty five minutes before our scheduled departure, all of the sleeping car passengers on my train were instructed to come up to the front desk and turn our tickets over to the conductor. He pulled our tickets and handed us our stubs right there. We then waited by the gate for a few minutes and then were escorted to the platform by an agent at about 2:15 pm. This is before they boarded any of the coach passengers.

SWC Superliner Train (stopped in CO)

This train, like most trains departing from Chicago, is comprised of Superliner cars. These cars are different from the Eastern trains because they are double decker. The superliner cars do not fit through the tunnels going into NYC, so they are only used on routes that do not include NYC.  I missed the consist of the train while boarding as I was carrying all my luggage, and didn’t stop to take any pictures of the cars, but I will grab some pictures at one of our longer stops during the daylight hours. My car was the second sleeper up from the dining car. I think we are carrying two full sleepers and a trans-dorm. The trans-dorm car is used for sleeping quarters for the crew. Behind the dining car there is also a lounge car. The lounge car has comfortable chairs and windows all across the top of the car for better views.

Bedroom D on the South West Chief, Car 0331

My superliner bedroom seems to be a smidge wider than the viewliner sleeper, but it might just be an optical illusion. This car also appears to either be older or to not be as updated as my viewliner sleeper. I think it is a superliner II car. The sink just sprays water in all directions when the button is pushed, and the controls for the lights don’t seem as intuitive or nice as on the viewliner. Additionally, the fixtures in the bathroom look a little older and the towel compartment is underneath the sink instead of to the side of it. However, it is still plenty comfortable for me. There is plenty of floor space and I even have room for all of my bags up here. The only thing I don’t like is that the long sofa in my bedroom faces backwards, so in order to sit forward I have to sit on the little chair. This is just luck of the draw, as some other bedrooms are mirror images of mine and one never knows how the cars will be placed on the train until you board.

Forward Facing Chair in Bedroom D

Sink & Toiler/Shower Combo in Bedroom D

Toilet/Shower Combo in Bedroom D

Crossing the Mighty Mississippi River at Sunset

While I sat on the train in Chicago’s Union Station, I pulled out my scanner to listen to all of the train chatter. I was able to hear the staff discuss testing the air brakes on our train, and listen to commands given between dispatch and multiple different engineers. I also heard some chatter between redcaps. We departed on time to the minute, and I watched as the urban landscape changed way to suburbia. We rode past McMansions with tidy yards, and eventually that gave way to some farmland. I counted many, many red barns, silos and even what looked like a few grain elevators. The conductor made an announcement as we crossed the Mississippi, and I got a few good pictures there as well.

Marina on the Mississippi River

Paddleboat Casino on the Mississippi

Sightseer Lounge Car, Superliner Train

I decided to head over to the lounge to see if the view would be better, plus I keep getting wafts of a sewer/methane type smell from my bathroom in my sleeper. I got a soda ($1.75 from the lounge café) and chose an empty seat. A college aged girl sat down next to me and struck up a conversation. She wanted to go to law school. Ha. She was very excited about the fact that she didn’t currently have any student loan debt, and I congratulated her on that feat. She was studying political science. I decided to be nice and not go on a diatribe about the evils of law school :), although I did encourage her to actually spend one year working in a law firm before going to law school.

I then headed back to my room for another hour or so before dinner. I had made a reservation for a 6:30 pm dinner when I first boarded. On this train, the crew in the diner made announcements over the loudspeaker and called groups by time when they were ready for us in the dining car. I was seated at a table with two other folks traveling by themselves. The gentleman sitting next to me did not say one word during dinner except to order his food, but I struck up a nice conversation with the woman across from me who was traveling back home after visiting her sister. She had two daughters, ages 27 and 29, and “she wanted to know all about me, and my hobbies, my favorite food and my birthday.” (bonus points if you can name the song that my quote is from!)

Dining Car, Southwest Chief, set for dinner

Amtrak Roll & Salad, Menu on the SWC

For dinner I decided to mix it up so I ordered the special, a barbecued beef brisket. I also received the standard Amtrak salad and roll. These rolls are even the same ones that they serve on Acela. They must be special Amtrak rolls! The brisket was OK – a little fatty, and it was served with some really salty mashed potatoes and some green beans. I ate all of it, and then even had carrot cake for dessert. I feel like I need to go for a run with all of the food in my stomach. At one of our long stops I am definitely going to need to walk up and down the platform a few times to make up for all of this food!

Farmland from Southwest Chief (Illinois or Kansas)

At some point during dinner the farmland turned a little bit to rolling fields, but now it is dark out and I can’t tell if it is fields or woods outside. I wonder if the landscape will have changed over by the time I wake up tomorrow.

Room made up for Bed

After dinner, I returned back to my room. I was surprised to see that it had not yet been made up for sleeping, but I’ll find the attendant in a little bit to turn it over for me. Considering all I have done today is sleep, eat, sit on a train, and go out to lunch, I am pretty tired. I’ll probably try to wake up early again tomorrow to watch the sun rise.  Also, I know you all want pictures, but I can’t upload them to the blog over the MIFI. Hopefully I will be able to put some more up when I hit Los Angeles, or even some sort of longer station stop that might have wifi access.