How I Wake Up: Stephen Gardner's Amtrak mornings

⏰ Wake-up time: 5am-ish.

🎸 Morning ritual: Scan operational report of Amtrak — were the trains on time? Any disruptions? — and, sometimes, sneak in a few minutes playing bass or guitar.

• You might not know Gardner got into the D.C. punk scene while growing up as a teenager in Arlington.
• In the 1990s, he founded the band Chessie, named after the former Chesapeake & Ohio, Baltimore & Ohio, and Western Maryland railroads. "Locomotive ambience and post-rock caboosery" is how Pitchfork described a 2001 album.

🥛 Breakfast: A big glass of kefir with fruit or toast.

🛵 First activity: Walk or ride a red Vespa to the train station to catch an early Amtrak to Union Station in Washington.

🚆 Train time: Not a quiet car guy. "I might be on phone calls," he says, and touring the cars to see the average rider experience.

• "I'm always in coach. The virtue is most of my customers don't recognize me. I get to hear unfiltered what's happening."

🪄1 wish: "I would like to have us start some more service out of Atlanta."

Check out more morning rituals:

• Metro General Manager Randy Clarke
• Framebridge's Susan Tynan
• Celebrity baker Kareem "Mr. Bake" Queeman