Joe H, how was your train trip?

Well, I took the Star rather than the Meteor to Ft. Lauderdale this year, although the trip was an extra 4 hours. I liked that the train left Philadelphia at 12:35 rather than 4:50. This gave me 4 hours to view scenery in Washington D.C. and Virginia before it got dark (from the right side of the train you can see the capital building as well as the Washington Monument after leaving the station). I also had looked forward to seeing new scenery, since this train goes to Tampa and back before heading south (hence the extra 4 hours). This was a bummer. The "scenery" was tiny poor-repair houses, as well as old rusty trailers...more depressing than interesting. Time-wise, the train was running 45 minutes late before the Tampa run, and 1 1/2 hours late after that run. We made up a half-hour, and arrived at Ft.Lauderdale 1 hour late (6:15 pm). I was fine with the cafe car since the Meteor no longer has a full-service dining car (I'm used to it on Boston runs). Also, like all my other trips, I had my own roomette. BTW, I switched my credit card to Amtrak last year, so this trip was free.

We are booked to fly home next week if American Airlines is still running. If not, we may use the rain, if running.

Eddie, you have yet to tell us in detail about the Meteor's "new" dining setup. 

Thanks for the nice writeup, Joe.  The trip sounds like one my wife and I should take.

Everybody has a slightly different interest in train travel.  For me, the Tampa side trip would have been quite interesting because I believe it to be the former Seabord secondary main line, non-block territory, on which the train was pulled by a 1935-era shovel-nose diesel, until that was retired, and then by a single E7A.  There was notable wreck on that line back around 1970, where the passenger train headed into a scrap yard through an improperly aligned switch (vandalism).  All this happened before Amtrak, of course.  I have always had a special interest in that line.

Joe, I did write about the food. It's in page 2 of the real trains forum.

eddie g posted:

Joe, I did write about the food. It's in page 2 of the real trains forum.

In addition to that:

Was it the "old" dining car with tables? How, and to whom, did you order a meal? Do they then put it in a microwave? Were there others eating in this dining car? Since this was available to sleeper car passengers only, I assume the meal was included in the ticket price.