Lake Shore Limited
Oct. 3, 2011, wasn’t just another day in the life of the Lake Shore Limited. That’s because just ahead of two New York Viewliner sleeping cars on eastbound train 48 out of Chicago was dining car No. 8400, on its first revenue run after a top-to-bottom refurbishment at Amtrak’s Beech Grove Heavy Maintenance Facility in Indiana. The car was one of three original Viewliner prototypes — the other two were sleeping cars — fabricated in 1987 for Amtrak as the Budd Co.’s last gasp in the intercity passenger car business.
The diner roamed the rails for years after its debut, only to be sidelined by its oddball, unmatched trucks and temperamental mechanical systems. That changed when Beech Grove received a large slice of $1.3 billion in American Recovery and Reinvestment Act funds specifically designated by the Obama Administration to rehabilitate sidelined Amtrak equipment.
The excitement was palpable as sleeping-car passengers filed in for a wine-and-cheese welcome before the 9:30 p.m. departure. What’s this? No dingy fluorescent lighting or tired upholstery? Dave Skillman, a Beech Grove engineer, was busy checking light intensity from the overhead and side LED lights his company had provided for the double-windowed car. He discussed the new HVAC system and other improvements that were meant to be a blueprint for an upcoming Viewliner II order that, at the time had, not been finalized.
But the main plaudits came from chef John Rivera and then-18-year Amtrak veteran server Alex Tamboni. They were busy stocking the new dining car’s generous storage space, including nine refrigerated cabinets and 24 overhead dry storage compartments. Rivera marveled at all of the kitchen’s counter space — separate prep and plating areas, which I was able to observe firsthand the following morning as breakfast service was concluding.
Tamboni had been a fixture on the Lake Shore, memorably recognized by his flamboyant thrusts of a large tray he insisted on using from kitchen to table even if there was only one plate to be served. He helped stock the chocolate-covered cream puffs in their own refrigerated tray at Chicago, but when serving them at lunch the following day decided to add strawberries and powdered sugar.
“Look, when we can do something special for our customers, we do it!” he insisted. Tamboni and lead service attendant Jeffrey Manning both noticed after breakfast and lunch how the Viewliner diner’s ambience was having a positive effect. “When passengers walk into the car from the coaches you see this ‘wow’ factor in their eyes,” Manning remarked. “Those dual windows make a great atmosphere.”
The Lake Shore Limited’s staff had kept customers happy despite aging hand-me-down dining cars, many over 50 years old. As that fleet shrunk, the New York-Chicago train was dealt the bottom of the barrel: Horizon and Amfleet I dinettes. But with the promise of a new fleet on the way, the 8400’s revenue debut represented a harbinger of hope for the enthusiastic Lake Shore onboard service crew sampling the snazzy diner for the first time.
Postscript
Alex Tamboni would continue his distinctive tray acrobatics until 2018, when his position was eliminated with the switch to “Flexible meals.” Ironically, he never had the chance to work any of the 25 Viewliner II diners on which the prototype was based.
“I had 25 years in, I was 62, I did a training trip as a coach attendant and absolutely hated it,” he told News Wire recently by phone from his home in Staten Island. “I have my pension and got a job at Target where I work 20 hours a week making $20 an hour to put a box on a shelf.”
Tamboni started as a waiter on the Broadway Limited in 1993 until the train was cut in 1995 and estimates he worked close to 1,000 round trips: about 400 each on the Lake Shore and New York-New Orleans Crescent, earning a living wage. “I was making $27 an hour when I left,” Tamboni reflects, “And I’d go back tomorrow — I loved that job and the people I worked with.”
Bouncing on the extra board between all three trains for seven years, Tamboni’s growing seniority finally entitled him to hold regular assignments while learning from the “masters.” He says the trademark swirling-tray “shtick” was fashioned from watching 20-year veterans like LeRoy Wilson and Gartrell Walton, also known as “Trigger.” That flair and cordial demeanor earned Tamboni service-award recognition from Amtrak’s volunteer Customer Advisory Committee in 2018, perhaps the last plaque it presented before being disbanded. His technique also caught the attention of two repeat celebrity passengers, singer Nancy Sinatra and actress Shirley Jones.
“Both of them asked me if I was on Broadway,” he remembers, “but I told them, ‘This is my stage, right here.’”
Read more about the Lake Shore Limited in the February (1,oooth) issue of Trains.
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