An Amtrak Tour

[Chops]

So, during my hiatus, I did check off a "Bucket List" item (those things I would like to enjoy before kicking the bucket) or two, in rapid succession. One was to take a long train trip by Amtrak, the national passenger service in the USA. A number of people warned me it would be arduous, but I found it to be entirely pleasant and traversed roughly 1600 miles, as the crow walks, from El Paso to Los Angeles by overnight sleeper accommodation and thus from LA to Seattle, Washington largely along the Pacific coast by regular coach, as the sleepers were sold out. In the sleeper, an unparalleled rest was enjoyed. The coach, with the broad, reclining seats was not half bad. Better than first class in an aeroplane. The dining coach was charming and the cuisine robust. I had hauled along a number of books to pass the time, but they largely were left unopened as the scenery was remarkable. One gets to see America from roadbed that was carved out during the 1880's, thus being a sort of time travel.

If one has the time, one can purchase a ticket that allows ten destination departures for thirty days for about BPS 388.

[Mountain Goat]

That is great.

I have never really had much success yrying to sleep on the train and I worked them for almost 9 years. We had plenty of early morning empty stock services where, as a guard, I had time spare for a snooze (Driver had to stay awake!), but try as I did I was never able to sleep.... BUT I do admit that later on on one early shift sitting in the back cab on the drivers seat (Second mans seats were often in a bad state of repair) where I had a lengthy stretch between stations and had no new passengers so I could relax, and I found myself waking up to hear the continual sound of the horn of the train (Was a class 153).
Puzzled, My initial thoughts were "Why is the driver doing that with just the one tone?"
I realized that it was me! I had fallen forward in my snooze onto the horn! (The driver puzzled why for the last mile or two I was sounding the horn! Haha). Must have woke most of the nearby residents up with the few houses that were near the line! Was the only time I really found myself really asleep.
Had a few drivers fall asleep and the train would do a stop when the "Dead mans brake" came in and stopped the train.
Arriva back them had altered the shifts when they took over the franchise to get the most from the staff, and it really showed as they eliminated the shorter "Recovery" shifts that the previous company had in place to avoid such occurances as we would often go straight from a week of lates into a week of earlies every other week, and these recovery 5 to 7 hour shifts added here and there to the rostering link really did make a difference. Arriva lengthened the other shifts to the max and eliminated the recovery shifts which gave us more rest days in theory, but in practice, when one reached those rest days, the company would pester staff several times a day to work them until staff like me gave in and worked them, which eventually played its toll.
I handed in my notice after mental pressures caused initially through lack of sleep along with other pressures started taking effect (Though did not know it was mental at the time. Just knew I had to quit as had suicidal thoughts as a "Way out" of the situation and caught myself about to jump off a train, where fortunately a passenger unknowingly brought me back to my senses by hammering on the cab door. Also had my mind "Bouncing" between long and short term memory, so I knew my only way out of the situation was to quit.

But yes. Sleep... Found I could not really sleep on a train. You must be one of the lucky ones who can!

[Chops]

Most interesting observations. One gets fatigued enough, then one will nod off no matter how awkward or angular the physical position is. Don't know much of British railway lore in this respect, but North American railways I full of dreadful collisions from personnel simply lapsing in unconsciousness. Generally, the Class One Carriers now permit crews to sleep whilst parked on sidings waiting interminable hours for a passing train. Humans are not machines, and the unrealistic demands placed on crews results in calamity.

Driving a lorry many moons ago, there were a number of times I felt as if I was drunk from fatigue and would collapse wearing all my gear upon the first bed I came upon.