Posted on 06/24/2010 5:54:43 AM PDT by Willie Green
Waiting for a thrice-a-week Amtrak train should be slightly more comfortable by February.
Travelers should find a nice, brick gabled roof and benches for seating. The open, modern design borrows from the train depots of yesterday.
Just don't go there too far ahead of the train with a full bladder. The design for the new $1.2 million station near 11th and West Cedar streets lacks restrooms.
The new Beaumont station - paid for with federal stimulus money - is a variation of the design other cities are getting, Amtrak spokesman Marc Magliari said.
Some of those designs have lavatories; others don't.
It all depends on ridership levels. Beaumont's low passenger count means the new facility - without restrooms - meet's Amtrak standards, Magliari said.
"In any case, it's a significant improvement over the current, minimal facility in Beaumont," Magliari said.
Looks like I misread the title. I thought it said “bathroom station”. The “less” makes all the difference.
I kid you not. When you flushed, you could see daylight and the tracks go by. There was some sort of motion activated fanlike device which actually chopped the stuff up so it would be spread out for easy decomposition. It did two good things:
And the homo community is crestfallen, too.
Same with the upper Yangtze river boats in the mid 70s. There was a hole in the fantail and flowing water down below. Guess where our water at the Guest House came from?
I cannot image that Amtrak hasn’t degraded to the point where you go behind a screen with a bucket.
??Yeah! We all get to be Africans! Piss where we want, enjoy the smells, flies and disease of the big city!
“
It will still smell of urine, even without any toilets. Just like the NYC subway.
“
And the Los Angeles Metro as well.
I know what you mean. My wife and I got on the Amtrak train at 1 a.m. in SLC. We had been assured that the train was running on schedule. But we waited four hours for the train to leave the station. During that time, we were not allowed to use the restrooms on the train itself. Nor were we allowed to get off the train to use the restrooms in the station.
(By the way, Amtrak insisted that the train was on time because half the train was on time. We waited for the cars from the Bay Area to be joined to the cars from Los Angeles. No matter. The LA cars were on time, so the entire train was considered to be on time.)
The rest of the trip was no better. The Amtrak crew was surly. They exhibited the worst Must-I-Help-You attitude I have seen outside the Department of Motor Vehicles. Later, when the supplies ran out, the crew disappeared entirely.
Never again.
Amen to that.
$1.2 million? For 300,000 I can get three bedrooms and 1 1/2 baths! I think I’m beginning to see why they can’t turn a profit.
$1.2m slab of concrete—sounds like Amtrak.
Japan, on the other hand, is now one of only about three countries in the world where tap water is supposed to be safe to drink anywhere in the country. The others are the United States and Switzerland.
Actually, if this is the proposed station, it looks quite attractive, compared to a lot of stations I’ve seen.
As for the lack of toilet facilities, if you’re going to have them, you’re going to need someone to CLEAN and maintain them at regular intervals, and over time, that will add up to more than the cost of the station itself.
Completely understandable why they’ve chosen to exclude them from a station that is clearly intended for light travel.
The solution, though, is easy:
Just put a couple of plastic port-a-potties in the parking lot, and have them cleaned every week or few days. Put them in a “fenced enclosure” if their presence on the lot would be considered unsightly.
Far, far better than nothing at all!
Queers do not associate with bums and winos unless there are comfortable stalls!
I though the kind that visited public restrooms didn’t care.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.