February 2, 2020:

 

            I got up and had breakfast. I then got dressed and went online. I then left and walked to St. Paul station. At St. Paul, I tried to buy a day pass but the machine was being stubborn and by the time I managed to get one, I just missing a Red line train which I intended to ride.

 

            While I was going to Downtown Plano, I boarded an Orange line train despite the fact it was only going as far as LBJ/Central station. The reason why the Orange Line only goes as far as LBJ/Central during off peak is that North of the station is a pocket track that allows the train to change directions without impacting service.

 

            When the train got to LBJ/Central, the train crew announced the train was out of service and that passengers had to leave the train. I got off and photographed the train.

 

 

            Despite the train crew making leaving the operator’s cab and checking the train, one person snuck aboard just before the train pulled out. I filmed the train leaving the station. I bet the operator would be surprised to see that she wasn’t the only one on the train when it got to the pocket track.

 

            The next Red line train arrived. I got on. We passed the train I rode into LBJ on. I bet when the passenger saw the train I was on speed past she wasn’t happy; assuming she was heading between Spring Valley and Parker Road.

 

            I got to Downtown Plano and got off. I photographed the mural I had seen back in September

 

 

            I then walked into Haggard Park. I photographed former Texas Electric Railway Interurban #360 on display in the park as well as other exhibits.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

            I saw that on other days people are allowed to tour #360. I’ll have to remember that if I come back to Dallas.

 

            I walked back to the Downtown Plano DART station. I photographed the next train when it arrived.

 

 

            I then rode to Union Station. I saw an eastbound Union Pacific freight train was passing through. I attempted to photograph the locomotives.

 

 

            I then left the station and walked two blocks west to Dealey Plaza. I photographed a statue for who the park was named after.

 

 

            I then took some pictures of Dealey Plaza and the area. This of course is where President Kennedy was shot in 1963.

 

 

 

 

 

 

            I then photographed a plaque with the speech President Kennedy would have given had he made it to where it was going instead of being shot.

 

 

 

            I then took a picture of the Grassy Knoll and a plaque on the Schoolbook Depository where the shooter presumably was.

 

 

 

            I then went across the street to the gift shop. After I left the gift shop I walked back to Union Station. I photographed a bus from OK Tours; the company that supplied the charter bus back in September to take me from San Antonio to Dallas instead of the Texas Eagle.

 

 

            I then photographed a streetcar on the new Dallas Streetcar line.

 

 

            I then rode the Blue line one stop east to the Convention Center station. I was going to ride another Proterra electric bus on route #749. Before I went to board a bus, I walked a couple blocks and photographed a wide open space. The reason I did is that I read that a high speed rail line is proposed to depart from there and head straight down to Houston. It will use trains like what Japan uses on their bullet train.

 

 

            I then walked back to the station. The Convention Center is built on top of a road and the DART line. As a result, where the road crosses the DART line has a level crossing where the gates actually fold when not in use because there isn’t clearance. I photographed the crossing and filmed a train passing through.

 

 

            The route #749 bus came. I photographed it before I got on.

 

 

            Like in September, I rode the bus to the Rosa Parks Transit Center. I got off and photographed the bus.

 

 

            I filmed the bus pulling away and took one more photo.

 

 

            I then boarded a DART light rail train and rode to St. Paul station. I walked over to the McKinney line and waited for the next car to arrive. The first car to arrive was #186; the Green Dragon. I photographed the car before I got on.

 

 

            The car departed and we passed car #369; Matilda. I attempted to photograph Matilda.

 

 

 

            I rode to the McKinney car barn and got off. I filmed #186 pulling away. I then walked to the car barn and found it was closed. I peered through the window and saw cars #636; Petunia, #189; Rosie, and #7169; Emma. I saw #754; Betty was still in the new barn across the street. I attempted to photograph Betty.

 

 

 

            I then made my way back to the streetcar stop. I saw #4614 heading in the direction of St Paul. However, I was unable to photograph it. I decided I would try later to ride it one more time.

 

            I got to the stop and waited. Matilda came. I photographed the car before I got on.

 

 

            I rode to Cityplace. I got off and photographed Matilda on the turntable and filmed the car being turned.

 

 

 

 

            I then walked a few blocks to Taco Bell and had lunch. After lunch I walked back to Cityplace station and boarded a train for Union Station. When I arrived, I saw Amtrak train #22, the Chicago bound Texas Eagle was in the station. I saw that its sleeping car was the last car on the train behind the coaches and not between the transition sleeper and the dining car. I saw a couple other railfans on the platform. We photographed the Texas Eagle.

 

 

 

            Just before the Texas Eagle departed, a Union Pacific freight train with several Herzog hopper cars passed. I filmed the Texas Eagle departing.

 

            The Eagle stopped shortly after passing me. It had stopped to let the Union Pacific freight pass. I photographed the Eagle and the freight train.

 

 

 

 

 

            I then caught a DART light rail train back to St. Paul and walked back to my hotel. I went online for a few minutes and decided that because it was warm enough to go for a swim in the hotel’s outdoor pool despite the fact it was February; got to love being in the south.

 

            After my swim, I decided to go try to ride PCC #4614 one more time. I walked to the McKinney stop. The first car to come was Matilda. I photographed the car.

 

 

 

            I then walked to the stop before because I knew #4614 would be the next car to come based on earlier today. When #4614 came, I photographed it.

 

 

            I rode #4614 to Cityplace. I got off and photographed the car.

 

 

            I then filmed #4614 being turned on the turntable and took some more photos of the car.

 

 

 

            When PCC #4614 departed Cityplace, I filmed the car pulling away. I took one last photo of #4614.

 

 

            I then went into Cityplace and photographed the unique incline elevator. I still have yet to see something similar in another location.

 

 

            I then went to catch a train. Someone at the station realized they had forgotten today was the Superbowl.

 

            When my train arrived, I rode to Park Lane station. I then boarded a bus and rode a few minutes and got off by an Arby’s restaurant. I had dinner and then walked to the bus stop and waited for the next bus to arrive.

 

            When the next bus arrived, I got on. I chatted with a passenger who after I told I was from Toronto, Canada asked if I wanted to move to Dallas because the economy was better. I declined.

 

            I rode to SMU/Mockingbird station and got off the bus. I just missed a train. I waited for the next train. The next train was a Red line train. I rode to St. Paul and got off and photographed the train.

 

 

            I then returned to my hotel and went online and worked on this report for a little. I watched the end of the Superbowl.

 

            I started to pack as I was leaving the next morning. I set my alarm for 5:30 am and called it a night.

 

February 3, 2020:

 

            I got up at 5:30 am and had breakfast. After breakfast I loaded my dishes into the dishwasher and ran it as per the instructions from Stay Alfred despite the fact the dishwasher was almost empty. I finished packing and followed the directions I received for checking out of my hotel.

 

            I then walked to the St. Paul station. I saw the next Orange line train was 15 minutes away. I went to use the fare machine but it was giving me problems. I ended up using the machine on the other side of the line. I still had time to get back.

 

            My train soon arrived and I got on. I rode to DFW Airport. It took just over an hour after leaving the hotel to get there. The sun came up while I was on the train.

 

            When I got to DFW Airport, I got off and photographed the train.

 

 

            I then walked to Terminal A and caught a shuttle bus to Terminal E where Delta flies out of.

 

            I checked in and cleared security. Less than 15 minutes after I had got off the shuttle bus I was past security and making my way to my gate which was nearby.

 

            I went online and photographed various planes.

 

 

            I photographed the Piedmont heritage jet. I had photographed it back in 2007 on my New York trip when it was operating for US Airways. It is now operating for American Airlines as unfortunately learned back in 2015 that American had taken over US Airways when I restored to flying with them.

 

 

            My plane soon arrived at the gate. I saw it was being followed by several fire trucks. I photographed my plane which was an Airbus A220 like I flew out of Dallas on back in September. However this time, I wasn’t flying to Detroit and changing planes there. Instead I would be changing planes at New York LaGuardia airport.

 

 

            The fire trucks didn’t seem to affect my flight. The passengers on the plane disembarked. I photographed the Piedmont heritage jet again.

 

 

            Boarding soon commenced. I learned that a couple tires had to be changed on the plane and they were changing them at the gate! I took a photo from the plane.

 

 

            The tire change was completed and we left on time. I photographed the Skylink train from the plane.

 

 

            We taxied out to the runway. I photographed an American Airlines Boeing 737.

 

 

            As the plane took off, I filmed the takeoff roll. I spent the flight watching the plane’s on board entertainment system. At one point we were flying over Knoxville, Tennessee.

 

            For the most part, we were flying in an east to northeast direction until we were south of Washington DC. Past Washington DC, we turned north and flew past Atlantic City and Philadelphia.

 

            Soon, we were approaching New York. I saw a New York subway train from the plane and attempted to photograph it.

 

 

            As we landed at LaGuardia, I filmed the landing. As we taxied off the runway, I took some photos.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

            We were soon at the gate. We were pretty much on time. I got off and photographed the plane.

 

 

            I then phoned home and let my dad know I was in New York. I obviously wasn’t going to look around because I had less than three hours before my connecting flight took off.

 

            I then had lunch in the terminal. After lunch I had a massage. I browsed a few shops and went online. I also worked on this report some more.

 

            After awhile the plane that would be my flight to Toronto arrived. I attempted to photograph it.

 

 

 

            This would be my shortest flight and the only flight of the four to be operated by Westjet. I would be flying on a Boeing 737-600. Boarding soon commenced. I had a window seat.

 

            Unlike Delta, Westjet is an airline that would otherwise fly the Boeing 737 MAX which has been grounded since March after two fatal crashes due to software problems. However, even if the problem had been fixed quickly and the planes were back on their pre grounding routes, I probably wouldn’t be on one. As the MAX jets are used for longer flights.

 

            Westjet’s in flight magazine has a two page spread showing the types of planes they fly including the 737 MAX-8. Last spring my friend Ian was flying to Amsterdam with his wife and one leg of their trip was on Westjet. In the in flight magazine, Ian had discovered someone had doodled on the 737 MAX illustration by depicting the plane on the image about to crash! I had wondered if this would be the same magazine or if the previous passenger would have struck again. However in my case, the illustration for the 737 MAX was not doodled on.

 

            The plane left early. I noticed the satellite TVs on the plane didn’t work on flights to the United States. The flight tracker still worked though.

 

            As we taxied out to the runway, I photographed an American Airlines jet behind us.

 

 

            As the plane took off, I filmed the takeoff roll. The satellite TVs on the plane still didn’t work.

 

            After awhile I could tell we were crossing into Canada. We crossed around Buffalo and Fort Erie. We later passed over St. Catherines and were flying over Lake Ontario. I thought we were going to land from the south but we came in over the east end of Toronto and turned west just north of Finch. From the plane I could make out Seneca’s campus by Finch and Highway 404.

 

            The plane flew near Wilson subway yard. I attempted to photograph the yard. It reminded me of how the first time I flew home from Dallas my flight flew above the yard. However the equipment in the yard has changed in the 11 years.

 

 

            As we landed, I filmed the landing. We soon were off the runway and parked at the gate. We had arrived 36 minutes early! I got off and photographed the plane.

 

 

 

            I then went to clear customs. I filled out a document on a screen. Once I was done, I was given a print out.

 

            I then had to take my printed slip to the main Customs hall. The Customs Hall was quite full, but the line moved quickly. Once I was through Customs, I went to the baggage claim.

 

            I then got my suitcase and met my parents. My mom had fortunately been tracking my flights and knew I was early. We left the airport and went home stopping at the Taco Bell I had lunch at when I returned from Sarnia before heading home.

 

Conclusions:

 

            Aside from my 4 ½ hour layover in Atlanta which wasn’t too bad, this trip was pretty close to perfect. It would have been nice if car #754; Betty had also run while I was in Dallas, but if I had to choose between 754 and 4614, I’d choose 4614 all the way!

 

            I’m glad I followed my hunch to ask for the 2^nd and 3^rd off from work instead of waiting to see if I would get those days off because I couldn’t have picked a better time to go weather wise.

 

            Having ridden #4614, I have now once again ridden all the PCCs that have operated regularly since 1996. There are presently 5 PCCs from the group that hasn’t operated regularly including car #4608 which briefly operated in Tucson.

 

            If I had to guess which of the five I would get to ride next, I would guess #4608 in Tucson once OPT builds their new line and gets the car running or if #4613 is restored in Dallas.

 

            Since I rode #4614, I’m not sure when I’ll return to Dallas. Chances are that if I do, it would be that McKinney restores PCC #4613 to operation, McKinney acquires a CLRV streetcar from Toronto, or if there is an event in the Dallas area I’m interested in attending.

 

            At this time, I’m not sure when my next trip will be. However with the pandemic it looks like it won’t be until 2021. Until next year…

 

Click to go home.