Tag Archives: amtrak

Just a few words on America’s crumbling infrastructure . . .

Houston train station. Depot is the small building in the BG. This is the only platform. Note crumbling canopy similar to the one in Rochester.

Cleveland Amtrak station, waiting for the train. The depot is a small structure between the freeway and lakeside structures.

[youtube]http://youtu.be/U4CtltBrGyA[/youtube]

I know that infrastructure refers to much more than just train tracks and stations — however, that’s the most recent infrastructure I’ve had the opportunity to take a good look at.

Media is from recent train trip: Crumbling infrastructure all over, but I particularly noticed it in a few areas specific to train tracks, train stations and bridges. I’d have to say that most – but not all – of the train stations east of the Mississippi, from Toledo to Albany, were in some need of major overhauling. One thing I did notice were that the platforms and canopies (see pix and video clip – which I believe is Rochester, New York) are all the same vintage. To my uneducated eye, they look like they were likely built in the 1930s or 40s.

They all seem to be falling apart at the same rate.

One of the most embarrassing stations of all was Union Station in Washington, D.C., which has the same deal with the crumbling platforms. Luckily, they just announced an upgrade is on the way. Imagine you’re a businessperson from Europe on your first trip to D.C. from New York and this is your first impression of our nation’s capital? Kind of pathetic, compared to what you’re used to seeing in Western Europe or Asia.

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For me, the most disappointing of all was Houston, Texas, which is the nation’s 4th largest city, right there behind New York, Los Angeles and Chicago. The Amtrak station in Houston is a garbage-strewn wasteland of one crumbling platform stuck under a freeway. Again, I wonder if Houston’s city fathers and mothers really want that to be the first impression visitors get of their fine town when they roll in on the train?

My point with the post is not to vilify certain cities or regions (sorry Houston and Ohio) but to just point out what’s probably obvious to anybody anywhere in America these days: Yes, our infrastructure is crumbling, and falling behind the rest of the world. We have people who need jobs who could rebuild it; we have money available at the lowest interest rates in decades to finance it.

Why isn’t anyone in our government doing anything about this? Well, for one, I know the Republicans pretty much hate the trains. At least their candidate says he’d pull funding from Amtrak if elected. Yet the trains were full. I’d love to know your thoughts.

Not to be completely gloomy, there were some bright spots: NOLA’s completing a new light rail line, Los Angeles just opened a new light rail line, there were well kept up small town stations in places like Tuscaloosa and Meridian. And, there’s a new intermodal station in Milwaukee.

Amtrak Pass #4: NOLA and Sunset Limited back to Los Angeles

The Tucson station from the train window.

I think this is Benson, AZ.

Before dinner in the Dining Car.

I think this is Benson, AZ. . .

instagrammed photo of El Paso station

Another view of Alpine, with the Holland Hotel.

Alpine, Texas, from the train

Somewhere in Texas, no doubt!

The Alamo in DT San Antonio.

On the platform in Houston, TX

Houston DT from train

Cooter’s!

I liked the weatherbeaten look of this cottage

Shot of fountain with St. Charles streetcar in the bg

Corner of Dominican and Fern in NOLA

Real Nawlins Food.

Roof symmetry.

This made me laugh. Didn’t eat there.

Before an afternoon nap. Angel Heart, without the violence?

Audubon Park fountain.

I love the drama of the Spanish moss.

relocated slave quarters on the Laura Plantation

Another view. The guide said this house was abandoned after the Civil War.

Slaveowner’s retirement house, in ruins

Video, as well. Scroll down.

My final visit on this month-long trip with the train was to see my sister Kate and brother-in-law Dave Maleckar in New Orleans. It was a pretty quiet week – didn’t do too much, as I’ve been in NOLA a number of times and have pretty much maxed out the usual tourist sites – with the exception of seeing a plantation, which we did do.

The Laura Plantation is out on the River Road and a very interesting example of a Creole business plantation. An excellent tour, heavy on the history of Louisiana including the part before the USA got the Louisiana purchase, finally explaining to me what Creole really means. Highly recommended if you go down there and want to see one of the old places.

Other than that, just hung out and did a lot of walking around my sister’s neighborhood of Uptown (see photos, video) and visited with them. It’s been a very hard year for all, hard to believe it’s already 8 months since their daughter’s death (Alma Maleckar Bear). It was great to see them, as well as Alma’s husband David Bear. I took the Sunset Limited home to L.A.

And now, for the pros and cons of the train pass and Amtrak travel:

PROS

economical way to go: my 30-day pass cost $649.
Very relaxed way to travel – there’s no TSA. You don’t have to disrobe at the train station and there’s no groping. They actually do have food on the train (though you buy it, and it’s not cheap). There’s no traffic jams getting to an Amtrak station.
On time departures: every train I took left on time.
Clean and well-stocked restrooms: No train restroom I was in ever ran out of TP, soap, or towels, so unlike, for instance, the horrid and bitter end of a cross country flight where the restrooms resemble the final night of a decadent county fair.
Diversity: Face to face with your fellow man, any race, any age, any size and disposition. For a writer this is like filling up a dry well.
Helpful phone reservations: I had great experiences talking to actual booking agents on Amtrak, and it was speedy.
You see fascinating parts of cities and the countryside you would never see if you were driving (and, if you were driving, you should have your eyes on the road anyway!)

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Amtrak Pass #3: New York and the Crescent Train to New Orleans

The view outside during a big downpour.

Dakota, 72nd and CPW

I liked the look of this store in Greenpoint, Brooklyn

View of Manhattan from East River Ferry docks in Brooklyn

Williamsburg Bridge and view of the new WTC building being built (on right)

Another view of New York from Brooklyn

fooling around in the hotel room!

with my friend Neil Greenberg in New York

Waiting for the New Orleans train

Scared straight, I don’t want to be here.

View rolling into Philly station

Birmingham from the train.

I loved the look of this abandoned train car

Interesting building with “roots”

Had a great time in New York seeing friends (including Neil Greenberg, see photo!) and my aunt, though was only there for a couple of days which is too short.

The Amtrak Crescent goes from New York to New Orleans in about 30 hours. Major stops included Philadelphia, Wilmington, Washington, Charlottesville, Charlotte, Atlanta, Birmingham and New Orleans – plus a ton of smaller cities. Talk to me sometime about kids on trains, though! Earplugs, a great invention! I will say, though, this train was on time and had the best climate-controlled environment so far on my 30-day pass (read: it was not freezing on this train. Yay!)
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Enjoy the pix and the video – which includes clips from D.C. which include the Washington Monument, Sloss Furnaces in Birmingham (which those of you who know the “Ghost Hunters” shows will recognize) and pulling into Birmingham station itself. I liked that there was a truck parked there labeled “Dixie.” Indeed, I’ve arrived in Dixie. I’ll be here in New Orleans till Friday – more pix and videos coming.

Amtrak Pass #2: Milwaukee to Cleveland, also Hudson River Line

Shopping for pierogis! mmm.

The Cleveland Westside Market

Dan and Billy Hess

Saturday Cleveland Westside Market

Say “Urban Herb” 3 times really fast.

Ice cream for Brendan, Sophia, Julia, Billy and Dan!

My brother-in-law Dan Hess and sister Julia Arnold-Hess

Billy, Brendan and Sophia Hess

waiting for train to NY

Billy Hess, Jim Arnold, Sophia and Brendan Hess at Mitchell’s Ice Cream in Cleveland.

Arrived in Cleveland on the Lake Shore Limited early morning last Saturday, July 14 – there was an hour delay because of a vehicle “stuck on the tracks.” This wasn’t mentioned to us or announced until after we were once again underway – which I find really irritating. Yes, there were some passengers sleeping – but probably an equal number wide awake and wondering what the hell was going on.

I did get to sleep a bit once we got to Dan and (my sister) Julia’s home. Later, Dan and I went to the Cleveland Westside Market with their five-year-old, Billy Hess. Dan bought tons of stuff, including pierogis and sweets and fresh peanut butter, which I have now with me on the train!
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The next day I met Ed Kimble from L.A. at the Moca Coffee place on Clifton Boulevard and we went browsing at some of the gay places in Cleveland – which, I believe, are in Lakewood, Ohio. After that, I went bike riding to the ice cream store with the Hess kids. Later, Dan and Julia and I went to dinner at Zocalo, which is on the East 4th Street strip of restaurants and bars in DT Cleveland.

Monday afternoon we went to the Cleveland Museum of Natural History, where we took in the planetarium show and some exhibits. Finally, Dan made the exhausted crew his pierogis for dinner!

It was a wonderful visit in Cleveland. Now I’m in NYC seeing friends and family till Friday. Stay tuned for more!

Milwaukee Views

2239 Terrace Avenue, Milwaukee, where we lived in the 70s-80s. It’s for sale.

Quadracci from the Lake Michigan side

rumble under the highway

He had Frank Sinatra blaring from inside, so I stopped on my bike.

Some of Milwaukee downtown skyline and eastside buildings

What used to be the First Wisconsin Building, the tallest blg in the state, where I worked when I was in college.

Another view of the Quadracci

Quadracci Pavilion at the Milwaukee Art Center

Hard to believe my ten days here in Milwaukee visiting family is just about over, in fact, will be over at about 5 p.m. when I get on the Chicago train. Later this evening I’ll transfer to the Amtrak Lake Shore Limited which gets to Cleveland around 5:30 a.m. Saturday morning. Egad!

What’s in this post: pix of the Santiago Calatrava Quadracci Pavilion at the Milwaukee Art Center (the exterior) which now defines Milwaukee’s lakefront area. Also, took some video of the harbor from the Oak Leaf Trail (the bikepath) as well as near the Water Tower at North Avenue, where an old house of ours is for sale on Terrace Avenue. Sorry for the wind distortion on the Milwaukee Harbor clip. Also, I meant to say that the Hoan Bridge needs to be fixed or replaced, not the South Side of town!

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These are beautiful summer days full of sunshine. It’s what I’m used to in California, but very unusual for Wisconsin which is now suffering from “severe drought.” I hope it rains soon!

Amtrak Pass #1: Southwest Chief, Los Angeles to Chicago

Union Station, Los Angeles

Gallup Station, NM

Albuquerque Station

Southwest Chief at Albuquerque stop

A mountain, from the train somewhere in New Mexico

Raton, New Mexico station

another view of Raton, New Mexico

EMTs waiting for Shorewood July 4th Parade to start

The scouts getting on the train in New Mexico.

Started my 30-day Amtrak Rail Pass on Sunday, July 1. The first leg of my trip from Los Angeles took me on the Southwest Chief to Chicago and then on the Hiawatha to Milwaukee (more a commuter route, a very short 86 miles).

In short, train great, but hard to sleep. At least for me. A lot of the people I saw looked like they were out like a light, but this was not the case for me in my coach seat. It was pretty darn uncomfy for sleeping. Also, the A/C was cranked way up so although most of the landscape we passed through was burning up in record heat waves, it was freezing inside and I had to wear a sweatshirt.

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Enjoy the pix, some of which are Instagrammed; the video as well, and hopefully there will be more coming. I get back on the train July 13th: next stop, Cleveland.

Enjoying Los Angeles Arts and Culture Without a Car

La Cienega/Jefferson Station on the Expo Line

Step-by-step intrux on how to: How to Enjoy L.A. Arts and Culture Without a Car.

Thoroughly enjoyed this enlightening and entertaining story by Alissa Walker in the L.A. Weekly blog. It’s really a blog post about a book, Car Free Los Angeles and Southern California, by Nathan Landau, a transit planner.

Walker, who navigates L.A. every day car free, writes about Landau’s ideas as how they work for a skeptical resident as well as someone visiting or a casual tourist. Both authors emphasize how Los Angeles public transportation has and is being improved, seemingly on a monthly basis — for instance, this week (on Saturday, April 28) the Expo Line light rail opens. Not only will this be the first light rail link to the west side in 50 years, it will also take one to museums in Exposition Park and some nice restaurants in Culver City.

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I recently had the opportunity to show my brother and his family some sights of L.A. in one day – and we did make use of the Red Line subway for part of the trip. Sightseeing Goal: Staples Center. We didn’t need to park downtown, and we didn’t need to get on the Hollywood Freeway. That in itself, I’m sure, lowered my blood pressure a few points. Continue reading →

L.A.-Indio rail expansion plan might actually happen (?)

Desert Sun story on L.A.-Indio rail expansion plan

This is the main story in the Desert Sun this morning. I have been waiting for this – rail expansion between Palm Springs (Indio) and Los Angeles the entire time I’ve had this place out here (almost 10 years).

It just makes so much sense. There are no good public transport options between the Coachella Valley and the L.A. Metro area. Can I tell you how much I hate that drive?

There is a Greyhound Bus, but since they eliminated the downtown Palm Springs station they’ve made it oh-so-unbelievably inconvenient – you either have to backtrack to Indio (30 miles in the wrong direction) or get yourself out to the sandy, desolate and windblown train stop to pick up the bus.

Sandy, desolate and windblown station.

Then, it stops at every little bumf*** burg between here and the city, before finally terminating at downtown L.A.’s bus station – which isn’t even adjacent or walking distance to Union Station or any other kind of subway/bus terminal, making it even more complicated, time consuming and just plain stupid.

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No thanks.

In all my dreams of simple, efficient, fast and pleasant Southern California train travel I’ve never had the mistaken impression that someone would build the train line just for me. But I can tell you, I’d be a loyal and frequent customer! I learned to navigate L.A.s’ award-winning Metro system of light rail and buses and came to realize how much cheaper and less stressful my life would become the more I used it.

The era when the conventional wisdom about mass transit in L.A. – that you were either poor, stupid – or both – to use it, is long past. I believe it’s only a matter of time before trains connect all the urban areas of Southern California from Santa Barbara to the Mexican border and inland. I’d love to see it happen while I’m still breathing.