Amtrak Empire Service (New York State)

Railjunkie wrote:A chef or waiter just cant bump to the cafe car just because they no longer have a train to work. One has to have previous rights as an LSA to work a cafe car.

OK Mr. Junkie, a Lead Service Attendant LSA must be qualified, including a background check, to handle cash.

Now if an SA or FSA chose to qualify and was successful, would his Date in either of those preceeding Classes prevail?

If he chose not to qualify and was "displaced to the street" would he be eligible for RRUI and/or (what used to be) C-2?

Gilbert B Norman wrote:

Railjunkie wrote:A chef or waiter just cant bump to the cafe car just because they no longer have a train to work. One has to have previous rights as an LSA to work a cafe car.

OK Mr. Junkie, a Lead Service Attendant LSA must be qualified, including a background check, to handle cash.

Now if an SA or FSA chose to qualify and was successful, would his Date in either of those preceeding Classes prevail?

If he chose not to qualify and was "displaced to the street" would he be eligible for RRUI and/or (what used to be) C-2?

Im pretty sure the date would be date of hire to the specific craft. A new hire of sorts even though you might have 20 years on the RR. Now if one had previous time in craft and wanted to go back you could with full rights. It happens all the time with OBS crews. The people who are sweating this are the folks who never cross trained. I did talk to a couple of crew members on the LSL a few weeks, the chef was gong to Mia.and I think the steward was going to follow both are short timers. They were not sure about the C-2 agreement.

On Friday, the Ethan Allen was boarding on the track next to my homeward-bound Crestwood semi-express. Got me to thinking: when was the last time Rutland, VT was the terminus of a regularly-scheduled service from GCT? Has to be close to 70 years ago.

Racing dates at Saratoga Raceway are July 20th - September 3rd, except Tuesday's this year.
The Ethan Allen and Adirondack are often sold out, especially on Fridays, Saturdays and Sundays.

Ridgefielder wrote:Got me to thinking: when was the last time Rutland, VT was the terminus of a regularly-scheduled service from GCT? Has to be close to 70 years ago.

Quite possibly, never. Back in the heyday of railroading, to get to Rutland from Grand Central, you'd go up the New York Central Harlem Division to the end of the line at Chatham and have to switch to a Rutland Railroad train. I'm not sure there was ever a direct train from GCT (or NYC for that matter) to Rutland. Snow trains would go up the New Haven and head to Vermont, but again, the rail lines they took wouldn't go directly to Rutland. A connection would've had to been made somewhere (Bellows Falls from NH/B&M, Chatham from NYC).

The connection between the Rutland and points east and south was Troy and not Chatham. The last trains over this route ended in 1953. Chatham had local or mixed service but I don't they really had a good useful connection with the Harlem at Chatham at least not in any timetables that I have.
Through coaches and on the night train sleepers too ran via Troy.
Noel Weaver

The Rutland would send Milk trains to Chatham,the "Rut Milk" was the hottest Express train on the Harlem line to the NY City's dairy plants.

JimBoylan wrote:Perhaps the unused Dining Car crews from the Lake Shore Ltd. could be used to restore Café service on Hudson Valley trains. This might help Amtrak's Railroad Unemployment Insurance Act (RUIA) rates.

There's no need for this. There's no lack of cafe cars. All trains that terminate in Albany have them, in part because that's where business class sit.
They simply don't staff them.

I think you missed that he was saying "crews" not "cars."

Greg Moore wrote:

JimBoylan wrote:Perhaps the unused Dining Car crews from the Lake Shore Ltd. could be used to restore Café service on Hudson Valley trains. This might help Amtrak's Railroad Unemployment Insurance Act (RUIA) rates.

There's no need for this. There's no lack of cafe cars. All trains that terminate in Albany have them, in part because that's where business class sit.
They simply don't staff them.

IF cafe service was restored to ALL Empire service trains, the jobs would be put up for bid. Chances of this happening is about the same chance as being struck by lightning.

ryanov wrote:I think you missed that he was saying "crews" not "cars."

Oh, you're right. Oops.

My father grew up near the Harlem Division and he always called the milk train from Chatham "The Midnight Rutland."

BAR

I made the connection between GCT and NYP on Wednesday (8/11) by subway and it took only around 15 minutes after I detrained from The Adirondack until I was at NYP. I took the #7 to Times Square and then the #1 to NYP. Amtrak had printed cards available which offered directions for three options for the transfer: subway, taxi, and walking. On the back of the card there was also a map showing the route for those who chose to walk. Nice of Amtrak to provide directions but I would have preferred a dedicated bus like they had years ago.

BAR

I believe the S shuttle train is slightly more direct when making such a move.

During many times of day, you'll be moving far more slowly on a bus.

It is.

It's also fewer flights of stairs than the 7, which is in a tunnel below the Shuttle. That definitely matters if you're hauling luggage.