August 10, 2008

Since the westbound Southwest Chief through La Plata stops at 8:06 p.m., I basically had all day to enjoy Macon County, before heading home. 

First, I went to the Lookout and cut some saplings that Steve had mentioned were blocking the TV camera shot of passing trains.  The TV projects the image on Channel 43 on all Depot Inn & Suites room TVs.  Cutting the saplings reminded me of my days as a kid in Southern Indiana clearing fence rows on our family farm along the B & O.  Luckily, I had only about 5 saplings to cut!  While working around the Lookout, BNSF Freights were in high gear heading both ways:

La Plata, Missouri.  The Depot Inn & Suites provided transportation of me and my luggage, including the addition of a case of West Winery, Macon, Missouri, over the luggage I brought.

Leavin' on a Late Train, Don't Know When I'll Be Back Again

The train was about an hour late (scheduled for 8:06 pm), but I knew from previous experience that the jovial crew of rail fans that collect at the Amtrak Station Office each evening would provide entertainment and conversation to make the time pass quickly.  The fellows were playing with a remote controlled, twin engine airplane in the grassy field across the tracks from the station, and that was entertainment enough.  I did have a few minutes for computer work on this report and pictures which is what I'd do on the train anyway, so the arrival time was not critical.

The La Plata Amtrak Station is somewhat of a social gathering point at arrival and departure time for the Southwest Chief.  Local folks check the time of arrival by dialing 1800 USA RAIL and telling "Julie" the train number and station.  Since it was late, the people wanting to say goodbye knew they had time to drop by the station.  To my surprise, Bob Cox, Show-n-Off Photography in La Plata, stopped by as well as Depot Inn & Suites owners Kelly and Tom Marshall.  It was just like having family to say goodbye to me as I embarked on my 1,932 mile trip back to California.  There was one other passenger boarding on this Sunday night, and he was headed to San Diego to a Conference.

The problem with the train overshooting the Platform.

As was typical, the train overshot the platform (whose fault is it when this happens?).  My ticket was for a roomette in the Transition Car, the first car past the 2 locomotives and the baggage car, and they knew this, so why would they pull up with the Transition Car past the platform.  I drug my bags to the west end of the platform and the conductor came to me, walking through the ballast, and said, "Just put your bags on this car and we'll get you a room in this car."  (Bad suggestion.)  They had a passenger in the room they wanted me to move to, who would get off in Kansas City, but they would have to make up the room, and check to see if the room was sold anywhere between Kansas City and Los Angeles before I could move there.  I went to my Room 18 in the Transition Car with my computer and continued to work.

The adjacent sleeper car attendent came to my room and asked, "Are you the one who wants to move to the next car?"  (Would it be worth explaining all the above paragraph to her, including the fact that I had no intention of moving, but the female Conductor had suggested it because of the missed spot and my luggage being in the next car...Jeez)  The attendant said, "We'll have to wait  until we get to Kansas City....."

That room move would be fine, but we didn't get to Kansas City until midnight and I didn't know which room I would be sleeping in.  As I stepped off in Kansas City, from the Transition Car, the lady Conductor stepped off at the end of her shift, and I asked, which room will I be in?  She looked at me like she didn't know what I was talking about.  Sometimes Conductors make decisions that are most conventient for them rather than the passenger.  My suggestion to her in La Plata to, "Just help me across the ballast with my luggage and I'll be in the right car." was the right decision as I see it.   Right for me, that is, not Easy for the Conductor.

I saw the adjacent sleeper car attendant and told her, "Why don't we move my luggage to this "40 Transition Car" and I'll use my assigned room, 18.  I helped her accomplish this and told her I'd like my bed made up.  We left KC and I got to bed about 12:30, knowing that we would lose an hour in the night moving from the Central Time Zone to the Mountain Time Zone, and there would be noise in the hallway of employees going to work, so I could, at best, get 6 hrs. sleep.  As it turned out, the tracks in Kansas, I had learned from my trip east, are so rough, you literally have to hand onto your berth or you'd be thrown out! 

So my night's sleep was actually a series of naps between knocks.