5/14/12

After a filling breakfast, we boarded Tri-Rail for the short trip down to FTL to catch #92 north. Here at FTL was (I think) the only real negative of the entire trip! At the station, Jim asked the baggage handler outside where do the sleepers stop. His answer (and it is a direct quote), "I can't tell you. I need to see your tickets before I answer, because you are not on my manifest!" 3 things are wrong with this! #1) Why could he not tell us to wait? I know the Star only has 2 sleepers, and only the door between them is opened. All we requested was do we wait at the end of the platform, near the end or 1/4 of the way back. #2) We did not want to check any baggage, so why did he need to see our tickets? #3) He did not know our names (we never did show our tickets - even though he came find us again), so how was he so sure that we were not on HIS manifest? (Yes, he will be reported!) We boarded #92 (without his help we found THE open door - the station agent even announced over the PA where to wait and didn't even ask to see our tickets) and headed north again. I chose #92 in order to do the TPA dogleg for the 1st time.