Letters: Train trips, post-vacation tips

Let’s not get sidetracked

I read “Make Tracks” by Karl Zimmermann [June 20] with great interest because my wife and I made a long train trip about seven years ago. Unlike Zimmermann, however, we were able to compare Amtrak with ViaRail, Canada’s passenger rail service.

On the Coast Starlight from Southern California ( Oxnard) to Seattle, we found the train crew to be surly and even rude. On ViaRail’s route from Vancouver to Toronto, the crew was polite and friendly. They truly made us feel as if we were their guests.

Because Union Pacific owns most of the tracks, we had to stop on sidings to let freight trains pass. We were five hours late to Seattle.

In Canada, the first train to reach a siding pulls over to let an approaching train pass; this included freight trains stopping to allow our passenger train to continue.

Amtrak and ViaRail offered quite different dining experiences. We had the same menus every day on Amtrak, but different menus on ViaRail. We had no complimentary wine tasting on Amtrak, but daily tastings on ViaRail. My overall impression was that Amtrak is attempting to close down by discouraging long-haul passengers while ViaRail is attempting to grow.

David E. Ross, Oak Park

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Zimmermann painted a starry-eyed lover’s picture of crosscountry Amtrak travel. Here’s the spurned suitor’s version.

The 1970s coach on our recent Sacramento-to-Chicago trip was tired and grimy. At a cost of $250 a night for my family’s lodging (cost of food and separate ticket deducted), the amenities were well below the mental image that kind of price generates. Any romantic notion of being rocked gently to sleep by the train’s motion should be disabused. The train lurches, rocks and rattles. For the bed, think park bench and firm foam pad.

For our trip, Amtrak issued a $700 travel voucher for running out of food, enduring a late-night bus ride to a dicey hotel because of track problems and arriving 13 hours late. If Amtrak is still government subsidized, federal deficit cutters should start here.

Mike Hix, Redlands

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I enjoyed Zimmermann’s article. I did travel from the Norfolk, Va., area to eastern Ohio in October 2005 and had a great time. Mid-autumn foliage and the sights of Virginia, Maryland, West Virginia, Pennsylvania and Ohio were fantastic. The dining car was an adventure. I had dinner with three other gentlemen, one from Israel, one from Louisiana and one from Great Britain. A very enjoyable dinner, I assure you.

C.A. Leeson, Chesapeake, Va.

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Thank you for the section devoted to trains and railroads. What a treat for those of us who love trains to see some of our favorites touted (Karl Zimmermann on traveling crosscountry on Amtrak) and some tempting ones to try (April Orcutt on classic train cars). Trains are national treasures. If you try one, you’ll want to try another.

Kathleen Harris, Santa Monica

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I couldn’t disagree more with Larry Levine’s description of the Coast Starlight in his letter of June 27. He does not state the dates of his trips on the Starlight, but I suspect his unfortunate experience is several years old. Before our 2008 trip, I searched Amtrak’s historical records for actual departure and arrival times at Seattle and Los Angeles and found them to be generally within an hour of the published schedules, and this turned out to be our own experience. We had a roomette that, although not commodious, was comfortable, and service and food were excellent.

Now Amtrak makes it easier to find their on-time performance at https://www.amtrak.com; it shows 93% for this route.

I do agree with his statement that the U.S. doesn’t have much of a commitment to rail travel. However, he isn’t helping the cause by denigrating what is probably the finest rail experience in the U.S.

Ed Sowell, Placentia

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Fixing those after-vacation blues

Re: “When the Vacation Bubble Bursts” by Araina Bond [June 13]: We found out a long time ago that there’s a real letdown upon returning from a vacation. To counteract “vacation depression,” here’s what we do:

1. Buy CDs of your destination’s local music.

2. Buy a bottle or two of its good local wine. At home, leave them on display to trigger your memory of the trip.

3. Buy wine or Champagne glasses etched with something memorable from the trip: the Peninsula Hong Kong, the double-headed eagle from Russia, the coat of arms of the city of Moscow, the Union League of Philadelphia — any inscription that reminds you of the trip.

4. Return on a Friday or Saturday. Don’t tell anybody. Relax and recuperate from jet lag.

When we sit down for dinner, I ask my wife,

“Where do you want to go tonight?” How about Istanbul? Or maybe St. Petersburg? Or Cape Cod? Or Dubrovnik? Start the CD, break open a bottle of your “imported” wine, pour it into the souvenir wine glass and, bingo, you relive the trip over again.

Last but not least, start planning for your next trip!

Roy Moffett, Rancho Cucamonga