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Westbound Home from the 2010 National Railway Historical Society Convention

After I finished at the Strasburg Railroad, I drove Pennsylvania 741 East to Gap and turned south onto Pennsylvania 41, taking that into Delaware. At Avondale, Pennsylvania, there was a detour due to a large accident but it did not cost me that much time.

At Hockessin, Delaware, I found Pennsylvania Railroad 0-6-0 60 built by the railroad in 1903. In 1952, it was sold to Cemline Corporation in Hamarville, Pennsylvania then in 1982, was donated to Historic Red Clay Valley Incorporated.

The Baltimore and Ohio Hockessin station. After that brief stop, I took Delaware 48 directly to Wilmington and the Amtrak station, parking the rental car in the same spot from where I originally picked it up and called Hertz to tell them their car had been returned. A representative came out to help me with my bags to the station, we settled up and afterwards, I found out where to stand on the platform for my Business Class ride to Washington, DC at 1:30 PM then went up to the platform to wait for my train to start the trip home.

Acela Express 2164 to Boston arrived and departed.

Acela Express 2117 to Washington DC also came and went.

Northeast Regional 176 arrived on time just before my train.

I boarded the Business Class car and started working on the Virginia Museum of Transportation. In no time, we were arriving at Washington Union Station where I detrained, went to Club Acela and accessed the Internet until it was time to be taken out to the train. My Red Cap loaded me and my luggage onto a cart and drove me out to the waiting Capitol Limited.

This train had P42DC 48, 125 and 513, baggage 1730, transition 39013, sleepers 32012 and 32062, diner 37012, lounge 33002 with coaches 34073, 34063 and 34003. I had Room 7 in 32062 with Jameel as my Sleeping Car Attendant. We departed right on time and were off to Chicago as I worked on the stories the whole trip except when I had a 5:00 PM dinner reservation. I was seated with a gentlemen going to Toledo in this Diner Lite car and had a really good and tasty steak, along with key lime pie. The low point of that meal was that there were no dinner rolls and the crew said it was the second time that Chicago forgot to put them on the train. I enjoyed Sand Patch Grade until it became dark at the summit and I finished the Cass story before calling it a night.

7/1/2010 I awoke in eastern Indiana and went to the dining car and was seated with a father and his young son on their way to Chicago. It turned out that this little guy beats his dad at chess whenever they play. I had French Toast and some crispy bacon then worked on the Strasburg story, finishing it before we arrived at Chicago 17 minutes late, at 9:02 AM, ending a nice trip on the Capitol Limited.

I went to the Metropolitan Lounge and stored my luggage, uploaded all the stories and the few missing pictures before I checked them all then went up to Gold Coast for a pair of Char Dogs. I waited for the corrections to arrive via e-mail from Winston Walker, who proofed all four stories then I put them up on my website as well as Trainorders.com. With time to myself, I applied for a job at Carr Intermediate and now would wait to see. The conductor took my ticket and I told him where my 1,250,000th rail mile would be taking occuring tonight, 3.1 miles west of WB Jct at Milepost 391.8 of the BNSF Marceline Subdivision. The crew then led all the passengers out to board the train.

This train consisted of P42DCs 16 and 190, baggage 1710 and 1211, transition 39034, sleepers 32006 and 32005, diner 38046, lounge 33023 with coaches 34005, 34133, 34136 and 31010. I had Room 12 in the 32005 sleeper with Rachel as my Sleeping Car Attendant. I hoped to relax all the way to Los Angeles and we departed Chicago on time and headed to Naperville as I watched a movie. West of Naperville, we were running alongside a westbound BNSF coal train when our brakes locked up and would not release. We sat while the crew tried to come up with a solution. Finally on the move, I went to the dining car at 5:00 PM and was seated with a gentleman from Charlestown, West Virginia and another man making his Amtrak trip, going to Fullerton.

I enjoyed another excellent steak and vanilla ice cream for dessert. At the end of dinner, we reversed two-tenths of a mile then switched tracks which now made it at Milepost 391.4 on the BNSF Marceline Subdivision. I watched "Rock n' Roll High School" which took me past Galesburg, where we departed at at 7:25 PM {5:53 PM} and headed to the Cameron Connection to enter the old Santa Fe line. The next stop after crossing the Mississippi River was Fort Madison. I put on another movie then the train stopped just short of the Mississippi River bridge and after it closed, we proceeded towards it.

The sunset along the Mississippi River along the Illinois side.

The Mississippi River looking upriver.

The Mississippi River, Fort Madison and sunset.

Looking downstream at the Mississippi River. The train made a longer-than-normal fresh air break at Fort Madison and I learned that a male passenger tried to climb out of the window in the door in an attempt to kill himself. The car attendant stopped him and called for help over the PA system. We departed Fort Madison and I called Bob Cox, finally reaching him, and we continued non-stop to La Plata. After that I called it a night as I would reach my 1,250,000.0 rail mile while I slept tonight.

7/2/2010 I awoke at 6:25 AM somewhere in central Kansas and went to the dining car for a breakfast of French Toast and bacon then returned to bed and did not get up until 10:00 AM. I shaved and changed my clothes just before we arrived at La Junta then took some fresh air on a warm late morning with a gentle breeze blowing. The train left at 10:35 AM {8:30 AM} and made its way to Trinidad.

The train leaving La Junta.

Santa Fe 2-6-2 1024 built by Baldwin in 1921 at the west end of La Junta. I read the Pueblo Chieftain newspaper before I worked on the August Orange County Railway Historical Society program then received a 11:30 lunch reservation so the meal would be eaten while climbing Raton Pass. We paused at Trinidad before making the assault on Raton Pass. I had lunch of an Angus beef burger and vanilla ice cream as we passed through the Raton Tunnel then took fresh air at Raton. We became the first train to pass through the multiple washout area since it occurred nine days ago and I walked to the rear coach and would be at the rear door until we cleared them all.

Looking to where we had just travelled as the clouds built while we ran across the High Plains.

Passing through a truss bridge.

French, New Mexico is where they wyed Train 3 to turn it into Train 4 which would wait for the buses from Albuquerque. Thank God I did not have to be bussed.