Some three decades ago, I began commuting from Charlottesville to Washington, DC, in particular to George Washington University. Being a train buff- and with an accommodating schedule- my trips were via the famed Southern Crescent. This glorious train made the round trip between DC and New Orleans.
It didn’t take me but two trips to realize that, instead of taking my assigned seat, I could meander over to the dining car and enjoy my sojourn there. (Yes, it did mean I had to wait about 10 or 15 minutes for the dining car to open up for the morning, but it was worth it. The chairs in the dining car were more comfortable than the assigned seats and the view of the sunrise was stupendous.)
The meals were glorious. Freshly cooked sunnyside eggs, pancakes, French Toast,and more. With real china and real silverware. It was like taking a trip back in time, when railroads were the king of travel voyages- and hadn’t been usurped by air travel.
The staff were attentive and friendly. After a week or so, I knew the whole crew. And, one day they (finally) asked me why I never touched the monkey dish holding this white stuff. I told them I had no idea what it was, so it meant I wouldn’t eat it. They found out that if they made it with butter (and not bacon fat), I could eat grits. Which is exactly what they did each morning just for me.
The evening return had, of course, a different menu. Scrumptious fish was one of the usual choices. Except one day, the fish choice was swordfish. Which meant I couldn’t partake. The staff cooked me up an omelette with vegetables- and from then on, when the fish didn’t start with fins and scales, that omelette would be ready for me in the dining car.
The crew of the Crescent and I became good friends. And, that friendship continued up until the Southern Railway relinquished its passenger traffic. (They were the last rail line to do so- long after every one else had dumped their passenger traffic onto Amtrak.)
That happy state of affairs ended rapidly. Within two weeks, the silverware disappeared- to be replaced with cheap plastic stuff. Within a month, the food fare became limited. Tablecloths went from white linen to plastic disposable.
Thankfully, so did my tenure at George Washington. So, I no longer cared how badly the dining fare got. (My two daughters- on their five or six trips a year- brought their own food on board.)
But, just the other day, I found out that Amtrak is now killing the dining cars on all of its trips east of the Mississippi. That covers the Crescent (Manhattan to New Orleans), the Cardinal (another old Southern Route, now between Manhattan and Chicago), the City of New Orleans (Chicago-New Orleans), and the Silver Meteor (New York to Miami). The Silver Star (also NY to Miami) gets a one year reprieve from this change. (Don’t get me started about the p…poor food along the Northeast corridor- the only segment of Amtrak that is profitable.)
I also understand that the Crescent meals have already been “improved”. With boxed meals and no dining cars. What a surprise that the passengers demanded far more hot food options. (Like a microwave will improve the fare.) It seems our choices will be five prepackaged hot meals- but no boxes. And, it may also be served the way New York Air did their shuttle- by grabbing your food before or as you board.
If you are like me and want the dining cars to stay, you can try using this petition. (I don’t hold out a lot of hope for those change.org requests.)
They are changing the meals on the Auto Train, too, effective January 16. Yikes-I had no idea what exactly was going to happen. The dreaded ‘Yo improve our service….”
I only took the Auto Train once, bringing back my mom’s car for my brother. (Yes, he was unwilling to retrieve it. And, I was the executor.) My daughters and I had a grand time on the journey, but I am pretty certain we brought our own food along. So, I never sampled their meals. Good luck on the “improved” fare!
Why didn’t they keep the dining car options? Good things should be continued.
Instead of improving the dining car to increase usage, they simply elected to discontinue it.
I’ve only ridden the train twice. But it’s not surprising that they’d reduce service in order to “improve service.”
Yeah. Someone has perverted logic, Camilla.
How nice that they altered the menu to you, too bad it was short lived. I’ve only been on a train once from Albany to NY and it was so long ago I don’t even remember anything abou it.
I am still romantic enough to believe in train travel- just not the way Amtrak is running it. For example, we need to rearrange the DC-NY corridor to have about 4 run in express mode with no stops, and then the rest stopping at various (but not all stations) so the trip only takes about 2 hours or less. (Amtrak covers the rest of the stations by having local trains waiting at a station (say Baltimore) to fill in the trip to Wilmington and Philly, with one waiting at Penn Station to cover Newark and Edison (NJ). Everyone reaches their destination quicker!