[?]

The Trip East to get to N&W 611 Trips 4/6/2016 and my 1,450,000 Rail Mile

After a great time at the La Plata 2016 Spring Railfan Event, I woke up and checked things online before John Green and I went to the closed Granma's Cafe on the La Plata Square then tried the Choo Choo Cafe which did not open until 8:00 AM. We went back to Room V and I showed him Winterail programs from this year as well as 2013, 2012 and 2011 then went to Choo Choo Cafe at the La Plata Pharmacy for breakfast on a rainy morning. I returned to my room and watched two episodes of "NCIS" before checking out of the Depot Inn & Suites for this visit then drove the rental car back to the station. I had one BNSF westbound grain train then the crossing gates went down and stayed that way for the reminder of my stay. I moved my bags out onto the platform, then heard the horn of an eastbound train and decided to photograph.

BNSF 4538 East came through La Plata slow but did not reset the crossing gates. Tom Anderson came down to see me off and it was good to talk with him before my train arrived one hour and six minutes late.

The Southwest Chief arrived and I was boarded in Superliner coach 34031 for the short five-hour trip to Chicago. I will write this story but will not take pictures as I have documented this route many times now. I put on my DVD of "Styx The Grand Illusion Pieces of Eight Live" and was watching it as the train crossed the Des Moines River into Iowa. We stopped at Fort Madison after I found some really good places to photograph trains in Iowa for future La Plata Railfan events. After that we crossed the Mississippi River into the state of Illinois to our next stop at Galesburg.

I had a lunch of Fully Cooked Buffalo-style breast chunk fritters with rib meat and a bag of pretzels from the cafe car which did the trick. At Cameron, we left the rails of the old Santa Fe for those of the former Chicago, Burlington and Quincy for the rest of the trip to Chicago. We were messed up by BNSF 5317 West that was on the crossover in front of us three miles east of Galesburg. It was at same point the Styx DVD finished. Next I put on Jeff Beck's video "Beckology Vol 3" DVD disc 2 for most of the rest of the trip to Chicago. This DVD took me through Princeton and Mendota, then Naperville and into the Chicago city limits where I packed up the computer. It had been a very good trip aboard the Southwest Chief. We arrived into the cloudy and wet Windy City of Chicago at 4:08 PM and Amtrak got me there for my connection to the Capitol Limited train 30 this evening.

I made my way off the train to the Metropolitian First Class Lounge. After I checked in and received a 7:00 PM dinner reservation, I went online and checked a few things then relaxed until the boarding of my next train on this eastward trip.

This version of the Capitol Limited had engines 43 and 821, Viewliner baggage car 61013, transition 39036, sleepers 32025 and 32054, diner 37012, lounge 33024 and coaches 34058, 34080 and 31027. I was in Room 4 of sleeping car 32054 with Larry as my Sleeping Car Attendant. We departed on time and headed out into a rainy evening. At 7:00 PM they called both 7:00 and 7:30 PM reservations to the dining car. The 37012 was one of the Diner Lite Cars Beech Grove rebuilt back into a standard diner at one end of the car. I was seated with a gentlemen going to Bristol, Tennessee, another going to Pennsylvania and a third going to Washington, DC. I had the steak and a chocolate mousse then returned to my room and put on part one of the Jeff Beck video "Beckology Vol. 3" DVD as the train rolled across Indiana. After that I made up my room for the night.

4/7/2016 I got up and went to the dining car for breakfast. Seated with my friend from last night, I enjoyed three pancakes and sausage. While I was out of my room, Larry made it up for day use and I returned as we were running along the Younghiogheny River.

The railroad bridge used to belong to the Wheeling & Lake Erie Railroad.

The Younghiogheny River.

CSX motive power at the CSX Connellsville yard.

I was once on that railroad bridge across the Younghiogheny River on the Southwest Pennsylvania Railroad Rare Mileage Trip using the Baltimore and Ohio RDC from the B&O Railroad Museum which my good friend Bart Jennings put on for all of us who rode those great and unique trips.

Views along the Younghiogheny River as the train continued rolling east towards Sandpatch Summit. I saw where CSX had removed the tunnels so double stack trains could use the route. So far we have seen a CSX auto train and a CSX single stack train.

The Casselman River. The train went under the old Western Maryland Railroad Meyersdale Trestle which my good friend Chris Parker and I walked across back in the days of the New Philadelphia, Ohio NRHS Convention trip. We rolled by the old Baltimore and Ohio Meyersdale station, new windmills are on the ridge to the right or south of the train. The train was closing in on Sandpatch Summit after which we went under the old Western Maryland Railroad trestle then ran along the old grade which now a hiking trail. We passed by where the old Sandpatch bridge was which has been replaced since Chris Parker's and my visit here. The train passed Sandpatch Summit then plunged into the Sandpatch Tunnel and descended the eastern grade of Sandpatch. Now I would just sit back and enjoy the ride down the grade to Cumberland.

The Narrows where Chris Parker and I rode the Western Maryland Scenic Railroad. We arrived in Cumberland and I detrained for a picture.

The Capitol Limited in Cumberland; we left here 24 minutes late.

Two pictures of Denver RTD's new electric railroad cars.

CSX SD40-2 8226, ex. Seaboard 8226, exx. Seaboard 3598, nee Louisville and Nashville 3598, built by Electro-Motive Division in 1977 at Cumberland. The train headed east to our next stop at Martinsburg.

A B&O postion light signal, one of the few I have seen left on this railroad.

The Potomac River.

The rail line that takes you to the Potomac Eagle Scenic Railroad which I highly recommed anyone to visit. I have been on it twice, once with Chris Parker on 7/15/2006 and the other during West Virginia Rail Festival 2010 on 6/27/2010 all the way from Romney to Petersburg; both excellent trips.

Our train would travel through the Hannock Tunnel which when you pass through, you go into and out of three states. You will enter in West Virginia, while inside you cross into Maryland then Pennsylvania, turning back south into Maryland where you stay upon exiting. The reason for that is Maryland has its slender neck of the panhandle here. We then rolled the miles east to Martinsburg.

A Maryland scene right before Martinsburg. I saw a Winchester and Western freight train crossing over us before we arrived.

The Martinsburg Amtrak station built in 1849.

Baltimore and Ohio freight house built in 1881. The train left Martinsburg at 11:32 AM {11:01 AM} and headed east to Harpers Ferry, our next stop on this trip.

Western Maryland baggage car 134 built by Barney and Smith in 1912 at Harpers Ferry before we arrived.

The Harpers Ferry station built in 1893. We departed at 11:58 AM {11:31 AM}.

The old Baltimore and Ohio bridge across the Potomac River which is still used by CSX today.

The Chesapeake and Ohio canal. The towpath is a bicycle trail that runs from Washington, DC to Pittsburgh. We ran slow to MP 39 where we crossed over before our next station stop at Rockville, from which we departed at 12:47 PM {12:21 PM}. From here we ran into Washington Union Station where we arrived at 1:15 PM {1:05 PM}.

The Capitol Limited in Washington, DC.

A Virginia Rail Express train was leaving for Broad Run. I went to Club Acela where I checked in, stored my luggage and headed out to find the brand new Washington Streetcar. I was pointed in the right direction and followed the signs, passing the rental car offices and bus bays then down a driveway to the street, crossing to the median where I found a waiting Washington Streetcar to ride.

My first two pictures of the DC Streetcar. It is a 2.2 mile streetcar line which after Union Station, stops east to 3rd Street/H Street, 5th Street/H Street, 8th/H Street, 13th Street/H Street, 15th Street/Benning Road, 19th Street/Benning Road and the last stop at Oklahoma Avenue/Benning Road. The DC Streetcars were built by United Streetcars.

After more than 50 years since streetcars last serviced the streets of Washington, DC, the District Department of Transportation is bringing them back. Launching in February 2016, DC Streetcar will facilitate travel for District residents, workers and visitors by complementing existing transit options and by creating neighborhood connections where they currently do not exist. The website DCstreetcar.com helps passengers stay informed about service for the H Street/Benning Road line including trip planning tools, rider tips and more.

The streetcar system in place today is rooted in a planning process that began several years ago to shape the future of transit in the city. The comprehensive District of Columbia Transit Improvements Alternatives Analysis studied gaps in transit and identified ways to better meet the needs of residents. Out of that, DDOT began focusing on expanding transit service with the DC Circulator, express Metrobus routes and streetcar. Planning is underway for additional segments through the District.

The map in the Streetcar of the present route.

The new car barn is being constructed.

The Streetcar that brought me out to the east end of the line at Oklahoma Avenue/Benning Road.

It leaves to go to where the operator will switch ends.

The Streetcar went to its layover spot.

You get a great show of the Washington Metro Subway from this station.

The new DC Streetcar Shop building is well underway. About ten minutes later the DC Streetcar started to return to the Oklahoma Avenue/Benning Road station.

My DC Streetcar returned to the Oklahoma Avenue/Benning Road station. Now sit back and take a ride looking backwards for most of the trip including a ten minute delay because of a fire truck and ambulance parking on the tracks rescuing person in a store.

This ends our trip on the DC Streetcar.

Two last views of the DC Streetcar. I walked back to Washington Union Station, retrieved my bags from storage at Club Acela and cleaned out my E-mail before writing the DC Streetcar story. I then relaxed until it was time to be taken out to my last train of this trip east.

This version of the Crescent has engines 148 and 512, Viewliner baggage 61017, Viewliner sleepers 62005 and 62002, diner 8531, Amfleet coach 25113, lounge 28024 and Amfleet coaches 25029, 25123 and 25058. I was in Viewliner Sleeper 62002 with William Singeton as my Sleeping Car Attendant who gave me a 6:45 dinner reservation, which will be my second to last chance to eat in a Heritage Diner, this time for dinner in 8531. This train would get me to Salisbury, North Carolina. We crossed the Potomac River and there were massive thunderheads to the east. I went to the dining car and was seated with Tim and Donna from Nashville going to Birmingham. I had to wait one hour and hour twenty minutes to be served which was an all-time new record for me in a dining car. The only saving grace, as far as I was concerned, was the steak was one of the best that I ever had on Amtrak. I made my upstairs bunk and called it a night.

While I was sleeping during the night of April 7, 2016, I passed my 1,450,000th rail mile 1.6 miles north of Elma, Virginia at MP 137.2 aboard the Crescent.

4/8/2016 About ten minutes out of Salisbury, the conductor woke me up and I climbed out of the top bunk, put it away, then dressed with my bags all packed and ready to go. He carried my two bags and took me to the vestibule and we talked until he detrained me in Salisbury. I walked to the street and saw a taxi coming who dropped off his fare then took me to the Econo Lodge where I paid my taxi fare. I checked in through a window then walked to Room 129 and went back to bed. It had mostly been a great trip on the Crescent and I was glad to be back in Salisbury.

RETURN TO THE MAIN PAGE