New York- San Francisco East Coast-West Coast Train Travelogue Completed

To begin, why such a long title? Deserves a little explanation. Including enough key words to get captured in google search for 'train travel East Coast West Coast'. ( I have assumed there are and will be travellers like me )

Readers interested only in the travelogue can skip to the 'Preparation' paragraph. Others who have all the time in world can continue reading.

Why this assumption? Is it because it is too adventrous or creative for lesser mortals to undertake? No, but there are few prerequisites for one to undertake such a journey. And all of them have to be fulfilled.

1. You have too much time and do not know what to do with it. (I am waiting for my work permit to come from USCIS. This will take 3 months during which i am supposed to behave like a parasite. Just Suck from your Host)

2. You should have friends/relatives on the other side, which was West Coast in my case, to host you for the break. (I am thankful to Kirti and Suman in advance for the hospitality they will show. Lest, they change their mind after reading the blog)

3. You should have an earning benevolent partner to sponsor your trip. (I thank my wife Pallavi for picking up the tab)


Preparation

Preparation begins with looking for cheapest train travel route. Amtrak, the USA rail, covers the entire length and breadth of US. However, there are no direct trains from New York to San Francisco. As my host site is at San Mateo I have to travel an extra leg of journey.
The route I chose was New York-Chicago-Emeryville-San Mateo. Also one can choose for type of seating from chair, coupe and others. Fairly detailed with pictures at the Amtrak site http://www.amtrak.com/. My obvious choice was Chair seating. No donuts for guessing why. Cheapest option. $154 for the complete journey. This fare was promotional as i booked about a month in advance. There are promotional fares always available on Amtrak. The trick is also to travel on weekdays rather than weekends. Avoid holiday breaks and long weekends. (Fulfilling the above mentioned traveller criteria i am sure one can do that). Interesting to know that i would have paid lesser if i had flown.
Once the ticket is booked on the internet you get a reservation number. Before the travel use this number to get printed tickets. The tickets can be printed at any Amtrak station on the vending machines. I got it printed at Penn Station, New York. One has to mention the reservation number on the machine and swipe any credit card. This card need not be the one used to book tickets.
Preparation also includes packing grubs for the journey as it will be almost 4 days of journey. Dining services are available on the board but i preferred packing some for me primarily to save money and secondarily to hedge myself against generally available non vegetarian and boiled food.

And the final part of preparation is to keep a photo identity card ready for the travel. Foreigners should preferably carry passport.

DAY 1: 16th April 2007


4:00 pm: I have reached Penn Station (the Amtrak station of New York) an hour in advance. However, the platforms to trains are assigned only 15 minutes in advance and so i have some time to roam around.
I have made myself comfortable standing in the common waiting area. The place is very crowded as it is shared both by NJ Transit and Amtrak.
The train is 15 minutes late due to the heavy rain yesterday night. 5 other trains have been cancelled but 49 Lakeshore Ltd. (my train) will run with the delay.

4:45 pm: I am into the train now. The conductor has assigned boggies to the passengers depending on their final destination. I will go till Chicago in this train which is also the last stop. The interior is plush. There are very few passengers in the compartment and like everyone else i have occupied 2 seats.

Few observations of the car interior

• The train seats are arranged in a 2 by 2 fashion with decent leg spaces. Also the overhead bins are suitably designed to accommodate any knapsack.
• There are plug points at few seats and travelers carrying laptop etc. and in need of frequent charging should take one of them. They are mostly towrds the center of the car.
• There are pillows available in the car.
• There are drinking water taps near the washrooms.
• There is a luggage storage area in the car at the entrance.
• There is an unreserved lounge car that has chairs facing the windows. The windows in this car are not tainted. There is also a small dining place here. (This is different from the Dining Car for Breakfast, Lunch and Dinner)

5:00 pm: The train has pulled out of the station. We are moving along the Hudson river. The outside looks shabby with badly maintained factory walls obstructing the river view. I hope this ends soon and i get to write something better later.

5:20 pm: The train has picked up speed now and the factory walls have also been left behind. I get a better view of the city and the river now.

'Possession of an Umbrella on or about the track is prohibited' (At Croton-Harmon, NY, I wonder why?)

5:45 pm : The dining car attached to the train serves breakfast, lunch and dinner. For dinner the attendant has come to book the tables. As I am carrying enough stuff for today I shall try out the train dinner tomorrow.

I haven’t encountered a single Rail-Road crossing yet.

6:00 pm : Train has reached Albany and will have a 20 minute stoppage. This is for the crew change and for the Boston cars to join us. This is also the first ‘smoking station’. As the train is ‘no smoking zone’ the stations with long stoppage times have been designated as smoking stations and conductor announces in advance about such stations.
My car is now full house with the passengers joining us at Albany and an ex navy guy has taken the seat next to me.

8:00 pm: I am having my dinner- Cauliflower and Parathas. The guy next seat seems to be startled with the smell and is moving his head restlessly.

8:45 pm: I have finished my dinner and the man next seat has surprised me telling that the smell of the dinner was great. I have apologized to him for not offering him. His name is Tom and this ex navy personnel has traveled all across Mumbai and Karachi. But he hasn’t heard of Mumbai.


10:00 pm: Contrary to my expectation of a silent car with periodic gossips, the car is full of life and is noisy.

It’s snowing outside! Unusual for this time of the year


10:30 pm: Zzzzzzz………




Day II: 17th April 2007

7 am: I get up to a strong sun. Outside view suggest we have descended to plain from a hill.

I see the first goods train. Conrail!!

7:30 am: The toilet is not very user friendly. The occupant before me had locked himself in for almost half an hour. When he came out all sweating and swearing warned me to be careful about the latch. In his 30 minutes stay inside 25 minutes were spent trying to unlock.

8:05 am: I am back to my seat. The last 10 calls of the dining car lady have been saying ‘last call for breakfast’. I am munching on my home made stuff and contemplating sharing it with Tom.

8:45 am: I have shared ‘Haldiram Bhujia’ with Tom and the packet invariably has gone to the guy next to him and the lady next. But, with only a spoon each, all of them are scouring their mouth with water and juice. They will continue doing this for next 15 minutes with intermittent admiration for my endurance.

9:00 am: Now my partners are feeling better and having a guess at the ingredients of the ‘Real Hot Stuff’. With no one coming close to the ingredients used, I have decided to offer them again but no one seems to be interested. All of them are busy sucking juice.

9:30 am: I can see green fields till the horizon. I am seeing such a stretch after a long time.
One of the victims has recovered and is able to talk now. He has credited his faster recovery to his father’s 4 years stint in India as a missionary. He knows mango Shake, Pakoda, Sheek Kabab and King Fisher beer. His father can speak Telgu.
We have reached Indiana and the time zone changes to central time now.

I see a Rail Road Crossing.

9:45 am: The conductor has announced that train is running late by 50 minutes. We will reach Chicago at 10:17 am. The train is not moving for now. Good I have 5 hours between the 2 trains.

10:20 am: We have entered Union City, Chicago. The station is huge. The local subway Metra is also in the same vicinity.
The huge Union City station has enough indulgence to keep one occupied for 3-4 hours. There is a food court having Pizza Hut, Mcdonalds, a Mexican eatery and few others. How can I miss the ubiquitous Chinese chains! The shopping mall inside is sufficient to satisfy buying greed.

10:45 am: I have come out of the station and am having a sandwich at an Italian restaurant. The coffee has come gratis.

11:30 am: I am back to the Union City premise and discovered a bar and a restaurant here. From the book store here I will buy a novel and a newspaper.

12:52 pm: Waiting at terminal C South gate I have got into a discussion with an old lady sitting next to me. The topic is “Youthful Essence” advertisement on the lobby television. The product claims to hide ageing. She has warned me against using it because ‘it peels off the layers of skin. Most of the Americans are too eager to use anything like this product (especially New Yorkers) but too lazy to return the products for refund in case of dissatisfaction. This is the economic model of such fly by night companies.’

1:50 pm: The train has left the station on time. The overhead light at my seat has refused to change its status from on to off. Looks like I am to be the guy in the 'focus'

Train announcement: Please walk with your legs apart as train may have lateral movement

2:45 pm: After finishing all my home cooked sandwiches (for a fear they will go stale) I have decided to have a look at the Lounge car. The only thing I am missing right now is a team to start playing cards. Nothing can be more ideal place for card playing than this Lounge car.

A brief profile of the co-passengers. Almost 60% of the crowd is comprised of senior citizens. In remaining 40% are short distance travellers and a family or two of vacation travellers.

4:32 pm: As the novel is getting boring I have decided to catch up with some sleep. But, my mobile phone is not there. I am frantically looking for it everywhere and even in this temperature controlled car there are streaks of sweat on my forehead. I am searching my where I am sure its not there. I am trying to keep myself cool by saying that you talked on it few minutes back and it has to be in train somewhere.

4:40pm: I have asked a guy in the car to call up on my number. He calls up and says the ring is going to voice. But, the mobile was not configured for voice messages and then i realise that I have given him my landline number. He has generously called up on my mobile now and someone by name Bob has picked it up saying its in the lounge. The car conductor has already come to my seat figuring something is wrong at my seat. I got my mobile back.

5:20pm: We have crossed Mississippi river. Its nice to see these rivers, which till now had only been a quiz question in Geography classes. The train has come to halt at Burlington. A very old city and quite evident from bricked houses. Modern US is using plywood for house construction.

7:10pm: I have met a Brazilian who wants to visit India . He is quite interested in the castle made for a girl and costed 1 billion dollar. Tajmahal.


Day III: 18th April 2007

7:15am: Its a bright sunny day. Many passengers left during night and now all of us have 2 seats each. The toilet here is better and also has a dressing room.

7:35am: I have just realised after checking my mobile that we have entered a different time zone now. Mountain time!! On the left side of the train is a terrain and right side has a city.

There are 4 time zones in US

7:45am: We have reached Denver. We are into Colorado state now. I expect to come across the famous Colorado river soon.



8:45am: The train has left Denver. Denver is a junction for many important destinations. For nature lovers, change your train here for Colorado Springs. Even from the train i can see snow capped mountains, waterfronts and fishing & boating.

I am amazed and shocked by the amount of car junk spread all across USA.

9:35am: The current track is through valleys, passed and tunnels. The lounge is full of people clicking on their cameras.

1:30pm: We are cruising along the river Colorado. So far, this leg of the journey has nothing been short of mesmerizing. Place is full of springs and lakes. We are nearing Glenwood Spring.
There are houses even in mountains. The houses have huge campuses, few broken cars, few good cars, horses and dogs.

4:10pm: We have reached Grand Junction, Colorado. This station is unique as this has a fruit and juice stall on the platform.
The station also marks the end of state of Colorado. We will be entering Utah very soon.

6:00pm: From trees we moved to shurbs and now grasses. The surrounding has a very desert type look. The place can be of interest for travellers interested in rock erosion and rock cut out formations. On my right at the Green Station there is a hill eroded and gives the look of a warship carrier.

11:00pm: We have reached Salt lake City, Utah after crossing lot of mountain passes. The train moved really slow in this leg and i presume Salt Lake City is on high altitude. The city is bright and looks good.

Day IV: 19th April 2007

7:20am: The outside is full of snow. We are into the state of Nevada (of Las Vegas fame) and currently crossing the famous white Nevada desert. The timings have changed to Pacific time.


8:45am: We have been standing at Winnemucca, NV for almost an hour now. The conductor has informed that we will have to wait for crossing of 3 trains.

1:20pm: We have crossed Truckee, CA. The place is of Lake Tahoe fame. (I will soon be back to Lake Tahoe). It has been raining in the stretch beyond Reno, NV.

1:25pm: The train has stopped and is moving back to Truckee. Apparently, someone has suffered a stroke and required immediate medical attention. By the time we have reached the station (10 minutes), there is already an ambulance on the platform!

The tracks in this area were laid as back as 1868

2:05pm: We are crossing the vast Sierra-Nevada mountain range.


2:15pm: There is slight snowfall outside and amazing view in the lounge car. On my right I see the famous Lake Donner. We will soon witness the famous Donner pass and the Donner tunnel.

5:25pm: We are running late by 4 hours. I should have been home by now.

7:10pm: I see a harbor on my left with ships and steamers. The train is crossing the bridge amid announcement of reaching the final station Emeryville.


Epilogue

I reached San Mateo that rainy day. Next ten days were spent eating, playing, car drives and visit to Lake Tahoe and casinos of Reno.