Trains Editor Carl’s pick: Riding on the City of New Orleans
Name of train: Amtrak City of New Orleans
The route: Chicago-Memphis-New Orleans
Duration: 19 hours
The adventure: A rail industry convention in New Orleans in April 2023 provided an opportunity to ride a train I mostly knew about thanks to the country-folk song “City of New Orleans,” written and first recorded by Steve Goodman, then covered by Arlo Guthrie in 1972 and Willie Nelson in 1984.
With a severe weather outbreak causing massive train delays, our City was an hour delayed in departing Chicago which, given the chaos Amtrak was then experiencing, seemed pretty good. We were moving by 8 p.m., and dinner was served at 9:30, a bit late, I thought. Amtrak’s Eastern routes feature something called “Flexible Dining,” meaning no dining car. Instead, a Cafe car is tacked on for the sleeping car passengers to make their selections from a limited menu of microwaveable disappointment. They were out of my first choice, Baked Ziti with Meatballs, so I opted for Thai Red Curry Street Noodles. It was edible.
Superliner Roomettes are tiny, but the pair of seats make down into a narrow, but comfortable bed. I wrapped up in a blanket and let Amtrak rock me to sleep. For a little while, at least. At 1 in the morning, a woman boarded with her children and, standing outside my room, began barking orders. “Aiden! You’ll have to sleep with Kendal! These rooms are not what I pictured them being!” It seemed to take an inordinate amount of time and bellowed instructions to get that family sorted out and settled.
Bright and early I was in the Cafe car for breakfast and a view of Memphis. I had a microwaved omelet, tough and chewy as an egg-flavored pencil eraser. “Just the way I like it!” said nobody, ever. It was a low point.
The highlight was relaxing watching America roll past. There is nothing like riding a train. Especially on this line. In the waning days of the Illinois Central the track through Mississippi was in rough shape. Canadian National took over and spent a ton of money. All the signals and all of the grade crossing equipment looked brand new and we were sailing along at a steady 79 mph on glass-smooth track.
After a long ride through the swamps, which I rather enjoyed, we pulled into New Orleans Union Station 3 hours late, thanks to our crew going dead on hours in the middle of Mississippi and a long wait for a van to deliver replacements. This was another hangover from the severe weather disruption; it upset Amtrak’s crew schedules.
The station sees a respectable number of passenger trains: the daily City of New Orleans, the New York-Atlanta-New Orleans Crescent and the thrice-weekly New Orleans-Los Angeles Sunset Limited.
I would do it again and, since New Orleans is a big convention city, I might have to. The schedule is handy, leaving Chicago in the evening and arriving in New Orleans in mid-afternoon. The northbound departs in the afternoon and arrives in Chicago in the morning. Roomettes are fine for one person.
Insider tips: On my way to the train station, I stopped at our neighborhood hardware store for foam earplugs. As it happened, my assigned roomette was an elderly, but reasonably clean, transition dorm car (roomettes upstairs, crew quarters below) coupled directly behind the train’s lone General Electric P42. Although long in the tooth, that locomotive certainly had a robust air horn. I was able to sleep a bit thanks to those earplugs.
Many hotels are located on Canal Street, about a mile from the station. If you want to avoid taxis, the city’s famed streetcars serve the Amtrak station with a route that rolls down Canal, where many streetcar routes converge. I purchased a one-day pass from the operator for $3. Save your pass — it’s good for 24 hours after issuance so you may be able to get in another ride or two.
Check out David Popp’s pick if you haven’t already.
