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 entlemen, here is good news if you’re a potential guest on the GrandLuxe Express—don’t bring a tux or a suit, and leave your ties at home. "Country-club casual" is the dress code on board. A golf shirt and a blazer are as dressed up as you'll need to get.
Oct. 24, 2006. The sleek blue, cream, and gold train, formerly called the American Orient Express, exceeded our expectations on a positioning run departing Seattle. With a sightseeing side trip to San Francisco, it was on the way to Denver for seasonal maintenance and repairs at the Colorado Rail Car facility nearby.
This particular itinerary, called "The Golden Rail Club Express," was not in the brochure, and was a special departure for past guests. Passengers stepped right into a world of plush carpets, walnut paneling, and glorious flower arrangements. An attentive staff member helped each of us to our rooms.
We unpacked in our Grand Suite in the Charleston sleeper. There was a sofa on one side, an overstuffed chair in a luxurious fabric, and a table. The satin-finished wood paneling revealed many cupboards and drawers for storage. A sink was adjacent to the private water closet (toilet annex) and a separate shower, which were in an attached enclosure.
At dinner, tables in both dining cars were set with white linen, silver, and china. Tiny lamps lent a warm and intimate atmosphere. Cleverly folded napkins arranged in the empty wine glasses suggested good things to come.
After supping upon Roma Roasted Tomato Soup garnished with a chiffonade of fresh basil and followed by Cold Water Lobster Tail served on a bed of Saffron Rice Pilaf with a saute of Julienne Vegetables, then kissed with a Peach Beurre Blanc, there was time for good conversation. Passengers were still basking in the GLE’s ambiance late into the evening.
Around midnight, back in our room, we discovered that Craig, our night attendant, had prepared a bottle of chilled champagne and an assortment of chocolates. Soon he delivered fresh blueberries, crunchy French bread, and gourmet cheese.
He advised us to call on our in room phone when we were ready to have him make our two lower fold-down beds, and we pulled out of the station heading south and were rocked to sleep with the comforting sounds of the wheels’ clickety clack.
The first person we encountered on the way to breakfast was an onboard mechanic, one of three on this trip. This is a reassuring prospect on any train, especially one with 50- to 60-year old rolling stock.
Both wood-paneled dining cars had tables arranged for four passengers on one side, and two on the other. We joined a couple who were on their 15th trip on this train.
Later, in the Seattle club car, Thomas Weakley, author of a letter of commendation that GLRJ used in its brochure, was chatting with other guests. At the time the brochure was published, he mentioned that he had recently taken his 13th trip aboard the train. But by now, he was on his 15th journey.
"I already have trips 16 and 17 booked," he admitted, "and my brother and sister-in-law will be coming along, too."
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The company had asked him to describe what a typical trip is like, and his letter stated:
"First off, let me say that there is no such thing as a typical trip. Every one is as different as the other passengers you meet along the way. But there are things I know I can look forward to. For instance, every night I find the next day’s schedule and a chocolate on my pillow. In the morning, the porter brings coffee to my room before I choose between a simple continental breakfast in the lounge car, or a complete breakfast made to order in the dining car. Then we get off the train to tour the local area."
[Author’s note: one can often arrange to stay on board if you’d rather skip the motor coach tours.]
"Not a day goes by that I don’t learn something I didn't know... I always have time before or after dinner to enjoy a cocktail and listen to the pianist in the lounge car."
Along with the kudos were some minor complaints. One passenger thought the recently refurbished bedroom interiors in the Charleston sleeper had beds less comfortable than did the old AOE; another said his bed next to the window had a metal bar in the center where it unfolded, like his mother-in-law’s sofa bed.
GLRJ people did their best to deal with some deferred maintenance issues they encountered when they purchased the consist in May. Many of the air-conditioning units were replaced during scheduled stopovers on the summer itineraries.
Dick Johnson, both a PTJ reader and a past passenger, was involved in a discussion about how likely the train is to run on time:
"In the U.S., the GLE usually runs as an Amtrak special with Amtrak locos and engineers (plus "pilots" on non-Amtrak routes). Therefore, there’s really no more expectation of ‘on time’ than if it were a scheduled Amtrak train. However, there’s usually lots of wiggle room built into the GLE routes, and more often than not the train serves as the hotel at the various destinations, so getting to a particular stop on the route isn't much of a priority."
Johnson likes to sit in the dome car after dark and watch the signal lights change. "The two full domes that the GLE uses were ex-Great Northern cars from the Empire Builder [one was actually a Chicago, Burlington & Quincy-owned car.—ed.], both of which AOE purchased from Amtrak in about 2001," he explained.
Another Golden Rail passenger/PTJ reader we met on board, Richard Luckin, has ridden the train nine or ten times. On his most memorable trip, he recalled, "We were rambling through Montana, alongside a summer storm with huge black thunderheads and lightning strikes. We were sitting upstairs in the dome where they were serving lunch, in the equivalent of a moving five-star restaurant, dry, comfortable, and happy.
"Adding the dome was a huge plus for this train. I had a chance to ride on the old 20th Century Limited when our [GLE's] train’s round-end observation car, then called the Sandy Creek, was in the consist. And here it is now, restored to better-than-new condition, and renamed the New York. The GLE, while capturing the nostalgia of the vintage passenger trains, is a lot more comfortable and luxurious than the trains of the 1940s and 1950s ever were." |
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Luckin produced the DVD "Dome Car Magic" featuring Rocky Mountaineer Vacations and the Alaska Railroad as well as GLRJ. He also designed and supplied china to the AOE, and now that the train’s name has been changed, is repeating the process using the GLE logo.
PTJ Intercity columnist Karl Zimmermann has ridden the GLE and its predecessors some two dozen times. He’s the author of The GrandLuxe Express: Traveling in High Style, a new book to be released in October 2007 by Indiana University Press.
Interesting lectures are offered on these trips. Zimmermann, a rail historian, gave several. One was about the history and development of the railroad dining car, another was "The California Zephyr and the History of the Dome Car."
His favorite trip took place about ten years ago when the AOE was meandering eastbound through Colorado.
"An unseasonable snowstorm began dusting the crags of Glenwood Canyon, and became a blizzard by the time the train reached the Moffat Tunnel. The train went through into Denver without a hitch. But then we had to wait two days before the airlines could fly us home," he recalled.
"I've found the onboard experience generally very good on my trips, and the dinner menus have become more adventurous."
"Are railfans potential passengers?" we asked.
"The first question I ask when I meet someone on this train is, ‘Have you taken a train trip recently’ and most people haven’t. Enthusiasts are a pretty small niche—out of 100 passengers, maybe five or ten are serious railfans. Yet many riders do have a railroad worker in their family history, such as a father who worked for the Union Pacific."
Robert Klara, writing an article for the August 7, 2006 issue of Brandweek Magazine, pointed out:
"The Rail Cruise—as the travel industry terms it—is an old idea that’s new again... not as a way to actually get somewhere, but as a high-end vacation. Today, there are roughly 15 posh, long-distance trains operating around the world. In the United States, however, there is only one.
"There are tens of thousands of train enthusiasts in the U.S., [yet] this demographic does not constitute GrandLuxe’s prime target... instead the company has bought ad space in Sunset, National Parks, and American Heritage."
And that brings us to the question: Do PTJ readers book upscale train journeys?
There is indeed a theory among sales and marketing people in the travel business —with which Luckin and Zimmermann agree— that most rail enthusiasts (that means you!) are either not willing, or able, to spend money on an expensive train vacation.
But we believe that the new PTJ readers are atypical, and do plan to incorporate train trips into their lifestyle.
Now that we've introduced you to other PTJ readers who were on board the GLE, and revealed some of their firsthand experiences, we’d like to hear from you. Perhaps you see an upscale rail trip in your future —even sleeping car trips on Amtrak and VIA Rail Canada have become quite expensive. But if train travel is in your blood, you'll find a way.
Please e-mail your comments to us at accentontravel@juno.com, or call Sylvia at 1-800 347-0645. We'll publish the results in a future column. |
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