I worked as a dining car waiter on Amtrak in the summer of 1975, based out of the Chicago crew base. I was looking for a summer job after my first year of law school and a classmate whose husband was a steward on the dining cars told me that Amtrak hired workers every summer. I was on the "extra board," which meant that I didn't have a regular run but was assigned to whatever run needed additional staff at a given time.
It was a great job. I got to see the country and meet lots of interesting crew members and passengers, and I learned a lot. I went on most of the runs radiating from Chicago, going to Seattle, Denver and Los Angeles in the west, Minneapolis, St. Louis, Detroit, and Cincinnati in the Midwest, New York (on the Broadway Limited) and Washington in the east, and New Orleans and Houston to the south.
I don’t have any readily available photos of myself from 1975, so I’ll use a few photos of current Amtrak employees.
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| Jackie, dining car attendant on the Sunset Limited |
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| Attendants on cafe car on Amtrak Cascades |
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| Conductor on Pacific Surfliner |
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