Adventurers in New England
Chapter Twenty-Two
Empire Service
Albany - Rensselaer, NY
Streets of New York
Manhattan, NY
Northeast, Mid-Atlantic and Virginia Service
Newport News, VA
Ride the Tide
Norfolk, VA
by
Robin Bowers
June 29, 2015
Monday
Text and Photos by Author
The author retains all
rights. No reproductions are allowed without the
author's consent.
Comments are appreciated at... yr.mmxx@gmail.com
With the help of the motel desk clerk, we
were able to find a taxi to pick us up in the deepest darkest
part of the night. Our ride to Albany-Rensselaer Amtrak station
was professional, quick and direct.
Our arrival at still dark time.
The lone security guard whose sole job to earn his big pay check
was to hassle the only two people in the building about their
baggage.
After eating our breakfast, Chris and I counted the minutes till
we would leave this very inhospitable environment.
Waiting area over the tracks.
Our train #232 waiting for departure on right side.
Our route to Manhattan will follow along side the Hudson River.
A house with a river moat.
Car bridge over Hudson.
Barge pushing up river.
Walkway Over the Hudson Bridge.
Before it became Walkway
State Park, this massive 1.28-mile steel structure was know as
the Poughkeepise-Highland Railroad Bridge, an industrial Age
Superstar! When trains began rumbling over the bridge in 1888,
it became a key transportation hub linking western raw materials
to eastern industrial centers, until a fire in 1974 crippled the
railroad bridge.
Thirty-five years later it opened on October
3, 2009 as Walkway Over the Hudson State Historical Park. More
than 3 million people have visited the park to stroll, cycle,
walk, jog and roller blade over its mighty steel trusses. People
come from around the world to gaze at the Hudson River flowing
212 feet below, to immerse themselves in solitude and to reflect
in a magical setting.
Chris and I were on top the Walkway on
Saturday 6/13/2015 when a marathon was being held. See my
chapter four.
A castle in the river.
West Point. United States Military Academy.
Freight trans run on the west bank of the Hudson River.
Manhattan, NY
Our loco in Penn Station on our arrival.
Our Empire Service train #
232 arrived at Penn station on time at 8:15am and our connecting
train, Northeast Regional # 95 departed at 10:21am coming from
Boston. With a two hour layover I decided to explore the
neighborhood Penn station and Madison Square Garden. Chris
wanted to stay at the station as he could get wi-fi and work on
his stories.
Top side at street level.
Square Garden is in a round building.
Vendors display their wares on the sidewalk.
Makes the sidewalk very colorful.
A hiding Empire State Building.
Downtown Los Angeles has an Urban Outfitters on Broadway in old
theater building.
Having completed my circle
tour of the Penn Station neighborhood, I arrived back at
the waiting area and found Chris working on his lap top. Shortly
it was time to board our train. It was then that the area turned
into a zoo. First we were told to go to one escalator going down
to the tracks. This was running up and bringing arriving
passengers. Then we were told to proceed to another also running
up. Definitely chaos, like this was the attendants first day on
the job but this is a daily train so I guess this
disorganization is SOP. Finally we were able to board the sold
out train. Chris found two seats together so we were very lucky.
Then we were delayed till 11:05am because blood was found in the
vestibule between cars and a hazmat team had to be called to
clean it up before we could depart.
Leaving Penn Station.
Looking back to Manhattan skyline.
We were speeding at 124 mph between Metro Park and
Trenton.
Philadelphia Museum of Art.
Philadelphia skyline.
Delaware River.
After leaving Philadelphia on
the way to Wilmington we were going 118 mph along the Delaware
River.
Chesapeake Bay.
Baltimore skyline.
BWI station.
Several years ago I boarded an Acela Express here for a ride to
D.C.
Leaving Washington Union Station, we past the capital and the back
of government buildings.
House office building.
Smithsonian Castle in background.
Washington Monument and Thomas Jefferson Memorial.
Crossing the Potomac River.
Potomac River.
Potomac River.
The FBI and the U.S. Marines both have many buildings here at
Quantico.
Randolph-Macon College located in Ashland, VA.
Tracks outside of Richmond. Another capital city visited on this
trip back east.
Our train #95 arrived a few
minutes after schedule arrival time of 6:52pm in Newport News,
Va. This train ride was the most uncomfortable ride ever. I felt
like I was in coach on a cheap fare airline. My bones and
muscles will be recuperating for a long, long time.The train had
commuter style seats and seating, the more the better. But for a
nine hour trip the seating needs to be comfortable and a long
distance coach would work great.
Next we boarded Amtrak bus # 6095 for the
trip to Norfolk, VA. We would travel the Hampton Roads
Bridge-Tunnel over the Intercoastal Waterway where the James
River meets the Chesapeake Bay.
We arrived at the Norfolk
station at 8:20pm and walked over to the Tide station which is
next door and also next to the baseball stadium.
Harbor Park, home of the Tides.
Tide station with the eastbound tracks.
Tide station with the westbound tracks.
It will be full moon in two nights.
Our westbound train.
After boarding the tide, we
went two stops from Harbor Park Station to MacArthur Square
Station. From this station it was a walk of several blocks to
our room for the next two nights, at the Tazewell Hotel in
Norfolk.
Go to next chapter:
Riding the Tide and Exploring Norfolk, VA
Return to last chapter - Twenty-One
Naugatuck, E.Windsor, Brattleboro, Shelburne Falls
Robin's trips
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Text and Photos by Author
The author retains
all rights. No reproductions are allowed without the
author's consent.
Comments are appreciated at...
yr.mmxx@gmail.com
