Day 1 - Crescent and Capitol Limited

The weather was great for travel today and I’m off to a good start.

The Crescent arrived in Manassas about 40 minutes late, which is not unusual.  The train departed from New Orleans at 7:00 AM yesterday morning.  They lost almost an hour around Birmingham, due to freight traffic congestion.  At boarding, the coach attendant gave me a Seat Check with my seat assignment.

Coach seats on the Long Distance trains are a pretty comfortable recliner type seat with extending leg rests.

Coach seat on the Crescent

At Washington Union, I had lunch then hung out in the Acela Club which sleeper-class passengers have access to.

Club Acela at Washington Union Station

Amtrak Factoid:  Except for the Northeast Corridor between Washington, DC and Boston, Amtrak operates on tracks owned and operated by the freight railroads (Norfolk Southern, CSX, etc).  There is an "Amtrak Priority" Federal law.  However, sometimes poor dispatching, by the freight railroads, or freight traffic congestion delays Amtrak.

Travel Tip:  You can see the historical Amtrak On Time Performance times at these websites.  Use this information to help with planning your trip, especially for planning connections.

http://www.amtrakdelays.onlineschedulingsoftware.com/
http://www.dixielandsoftware.net/Amtrak/status/StatusPages/
http://juckins.net/amtrak_status/archive/html/history.php

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30 minutes prior to departure, a Acela Club agent escorts sleeper passengers to the train.

We boarded on time.  The Sleeping Car Attendant came by and gave me a rundown on how things work.  Shortly thereafter a Service Attendant from the Dining Car came by and took my dinner reservation.

Bedroom in daytime configuration

Toilet / Shower combo

Supply storage next to your sink

The farms and mountains in Maryland and West Virginia provide some great scenery to pass the time.  Especially at sunset.

Dinner was really good and a much different experience from the Auto Train.  The Auto Train is geared towards "feeding the masses".  It has 3 diner cars that need to serve 500 - 600 people.  Tonight they seated about 4 tables at a time and it was a much slower pace.   I had the flatiron steak, which was really pretty tasty, along with a side salad and cheesecake for desert.

Afterwards I checked out the Sightseer Lounge car.  It's was nice enough, but the view from my bedroom is just fine and very comfortable.

Sightseer Lounge

Had my bed made and will just relax for a while and watch a movie on my laptop.

Nighttime configuration

                                           (be sure to continue down for more)