It’s 8:29 a.m. on Monday, February 25, 2008, and
I’ve just arrived at the Amtrak station in Fort Lauderdale, Florida,
where I will be boarding Train #98, the Silver Meteor, on my way to New
York.
This is the
culmination of a week-long trip to Florida. Last Tuesday night, I
flew down to Fort Lauderdale on Continental Airlines, taking NJ Transit
to the airport from the Ramsey Route 17 station. On Wednesday
afternoon, I went kayaking in Key Largo, and on Thursday and Friday
morning, I attended a meeting at the National High Adventure Sea
Base of the Boy Scouts of America in Islamorada. Friday
afternoon, I drove to Boca Raton, where I spent the weekend with my
cousins Malka and Joel. Yesterday, I covered nearly the entire
Tri-Rail line in a four- hour round-trip, and then had a delicious
dinner with my friend George at the Grill Time restaurant in Boca Raton.
This morning, I
first had to return my rental car and then get to the Amtrak
station. I had rented the car from an Enterprise location in
southern Fort Lauderdale, about three miles from the Amtrak station,
and they had agreed to give me a ride back to the station if I returned
the car there. However, they also informed me that I could return
the car to any non-airport Enterprise location in southern Florida, and
I noticed that there was an Enterprise office on Cypress Creek Road,
less than half a mile from the Tri-Rail Cypress Creek station.
That location was significantly closer to my cousin’s home in Boca
Raton, and its proximity to the Tri-Rail station meant that I could
even walk to the station, if necessary, after returning the car.
I left my cousin’s
home in Boca Raton at 7:28 a.m. I was concerned that I might get
stuck in a traffic jam on I-95, so I decided to take the parallel
Powerline Road, which has a number of lights. As a result, the
ten-mile trip took about half an hour, and I made a wrong turn at an
intersection near the Enterprise office. Thus, I didn’t actually
get to the office until about 8:05 a.m. The car return was very
prompt, and I was offered a ride over to the Tri-Rail station.
However, I had to wait a few minutes for the driver, and then, to my
surprise, he didn’t even know where the Tri-Rail station was! I
had to direct him the short distance to the station, which is one of
the few Tri-Rail stations not directly accessible from the main
crossroad. There was a confusing Tri-Rail sign near the station
that pointed the wrong way and, as a result, we did not arrive at the
station until 8:19 a.m.
Having looked at
the Tri-Rail schedule earlier, I knew that there were two trains that I
could take: Train P615, which departs Cypress Creek at 8:19 a.m. and
arrives at Fort Lauderdale at 8:26 a.m., and Train P617, which departs
Cypress Creek at 8:49 a.m. and arrives at Fort Lauderdale at 8:56
a.m. The second train would still get me to Fort Lauderdale in
plenty of time to make my Amtrak train, scheduled to depart Fort
Lauderdale at 9:20 a.m., but I didn’t want to take any chances, so I
really wanted to catch the earlier train.
As I arrived at the
station, northbound Tri-Rail train P614, scheduled to depart from
Cypress Creek at 8:16 a.m., pulled into the station. My
southbound train was not there yet, but the road access to the station
is on the northbound side, and I had to cross the overpass to get to
the southbound side. I quickly gathered my luggage and walked up
the escalator leading to the overpass. As I reached the top, I
saw my southbound train P615 pull into the station. I ran across
the overpass and into a waiting elevator, which immediately descended
to the track level. Once the doors opened, I ran over to the
train, and succeeded in boarding it just before the doors closed at
8:22 a.m. Had the train departed on time, I would not have made
it!
Today’s Train P615
is pulled by engine 807 and includes cars 1014 and 1002 and cab car
503. For my short ride, I sat on the lower level of car
1002. Somewhat to my surprise, the car was not at all full, and I
had no problem finding an unoccupied group of four seats for myself and
my luggage. When we arrived at the Fort Lauderdale station at
8:29 a.m., I detrained. Since all Amtrak trains (even northbound
trains) use Track 1 at the Fort Lauderdale station, that being the
track adjacent to the station building, I was exactly where I needed to
be to board my Amtrak train. I put my luggage down at a bench
outside the station and walked inside, where I noticed a line of about
ten people waiting for the agent. I was glad that I had already
obtained my ticket from a machine at the Hollywood station on Friday
(although the Fort Lauderdale station also has a ticket machine, and
there was no line for the machine). It was a little more
comfortable inside the air-conditioned station, but I decided to wait
outside, where I could get a better view of the trains.
At 8:47 a.m., an
announcement was made that southbound Tri-Rail train P617 would be
arriving on Track 2, which is normally the northbound track. (The
track change presumably took place to enable the Silver Meteor to
arrive on Track 1.) A security guard stationed on the platform
then went over to each passenger, inquired whether they were traveling
on Amtrak or Tri-Rail, and told the Tri-Rail passengers that they
needed to head over to the other platform. First, though,
northbound Train P616 arrived on Track 2 on time at 8:50 a.m. It
consisted of an engine and only two cars – a coach and a cab car.
After Train P616 departed, I walked down the platform and snapped a
picture of the baggage loaded on a cart waiting to be put onto the
Silver Meteor. Immediately afterwards, the Amtrak agent who was
waiting with the baggage came over to me. He said that he noticed
that I was taking pictures, and that they now have a policy that anyone
who is taking pictures must present ID. I showed him my driver’s
license and also my Amtrak ticket, and he said that the sleepers would
be in the front of the platform. The whole incident took only
about 30 seconds, and the agent was friendly and courteous (and did not
stop me from taking pictures, once I showed him the ID).
Then, at 9:01 a.m.,
southbound Train P617 arrived on Track 2. I noticed that the
front of the train looked a little different than usual, and then I
realized that this train was made up of three DMU cars! These
cars, manufactured by Colorado Railcar, are the only newly-built DMUs
in regular service on a railroad in the United States. I had
hoped that they might be on the train that I took yesterday, but the
consists of both trains that were operating yesterday on Tri-Rail were
standard equipment. Now that I saw the equipment on Train P617, I
almost wished that I had missed the earlier train, so that I would have
had the opportunity to ride the DMUs. But at least I got the
chance to see them, and I took several pictures.
In the meantime, I
sat down on a bench on the platform, took out my computer, and started
writing this travelogue. About 9:15 a.m., anticipating the
imminent arrival of our train, I put the computer away. But then,
at 9:19 a.m., an announcement was made that Train 98 has not yet
departed the Hollywood station and was running about ten minutes
late. It was also stated that another announcement will be made
when the train departs Hollywood. So I took out my computer again
and awaited the announcement.
No further
announcement was ever made, though. At 9:32 a.m., a woman sitting
next to me reported that she saw a light in the distance, indicating an
approaching train, and the Silver Meteor pulled into the station at
9:34 a.m. It was pulled by engines 1 and 514 and included a
1700-series baggage car, three Viewliner sleepers, a diner, an Amfleet
lounge car and four Amfleet II coaches. I walked down the
platform and boarded the second sleeper, Palisades View (#62028), where
I would be occupying Room #4. Our stop in Fort Lauderdale lasted
for four minutes, and when we departed at 9:38 a.m., we were 18 minutes
late. Soon, the conductor
came by to collect tickets. While collecting the ticket from the
woman who was traveling with her husband in Room #5 (one room behind
me, on the opposite side of the car), I heard her complain to the
conductor that her southbound trip on Amtrak on February 13th had been
a “horror.” She asked the conductor whether she could obtain
“consolation or anything” to make up for the unpleasant trip!
(Subsequently, she told me that the train was about five hours late on
the way down, and that the dinner meal that was served to passengers
coming into Miami was hardly edible.)
South of the
Cypress Creek station, we switched to the northbound track (the
remaining three Amtrak/Tri-Rail stations that we will be stopping at
have the station buildings on the northbound side), and I watched as we
zoomed through the Cypress Creek station at 9:45 a.m. Since the
conductor mentioned that the dining car would be closing at 10:00 a.m.,
I now headed to the diner for breakfast. The diner, #8531, is an
ex-CBQ Heritage car that is over 50 years old, but the interior has
been completely reconditioned, and it looks like a new car from the
inside. I was seated opposite a woman who is a lawyer in
Argentina and came to the United States to visit her family in Miami
and her boyfriend in Savannah. She was taking the train to
Savannah, and commented that she paid $144 for the round trip, having
made her reservation just yesterday. She also mentioned that she
boarded the train in Miami and that, for some reason, the train
departed Miami 20 minutes late.
I was promptly
served my Continental breakfast, which included Rice Krispies, a fresh
banana, orange juice, coffee and yogurt. (Actually, I had eaten
breakfast before leaving my cousins’ house earlier in the morning and
was not particularly hungry; I decided to eat a second breakfast in the
diner mostly for the experience of eating another meal on the train.
During breakfast,
we stopped at Deerfield Beach and Delray Beach. Quite a few
passengers boarded during our four-minute stop at Deerfield Beach,
which is a manned Amtrak station (it also was quite familiar to me, as
it was the point of departure yesterday for my ride on Tri-Rail).
But only about 15 passengers boarded at Delray Beach, where the train
stops at the new Tri-Rail station (the original Seaboard Air Line
station is still standing but is no longer used), and there is no
Amtrak agent. The platform at Delray Beach is not long enough to
accommodate the entire train, and the sleepers and diner extended
beyond the front end of the platform. (Subsequently, I noticed
the conductor carrying a suitcase through the dining car; it is
possible that some of the passengers who boarded at Delray Beach were
sleeping car passengers who had to walk through the train to reach
their accommodations.)
About 10:20 a.m., I
said goodbye to my dining companion and walked to the back of the
train. On the way, I passed through the lounge car, and noticed
that there were copies of the New York Times, as well as several other
newspapers, on several tables. What a nice touch, I thought –
until I looked carefully and noticed that the New York Times was from
Saturday, February 9th (the other newspapers were even older).
How these outdated newspapers got here, I’m not sure, but I found it
rather bizarre that someone took the trouble to stock the lounge car
with outdated newspapers!
I then walked
through the coaches and found that there were passengers in all four of
the coaches, although only the first coach was nearly full. I was
glad to see that there were no baggage or freight cars at the rear of
the train, which permitted me to look out of the back at the
now-double-tracked CSX line. I returned to my room prior to our
arrival at the West Palm Beach station.
We pulled into the
West Palm Beach station at 10:33 a.m. I stepped off the train
here and walked down the platform to record the number of the baggage
car. I had explored this station on my Tri-Rail trip yesterday,
and noticed that the original waiting room is used as a Greyhound bus
terminal, with Amtrak relegated to the former express room at the south
end of the station. Today, I just took a few pictures. When
we departed West Palm Beach at 10:37 a.m., we were 20 minutes late.
Now that I had the
numbers of all of the equipment on the train, I entered them in my
database and checked my previous connection to these cars. Engine
1, of course, has significance as the lowest numbered P-42 Amtrak
engine, and that engine has twice been on Amtrak trains that I’ve
ridden. Interestingly, the first time, when it was on the Capitol
Limited that I rode on June 29, 1997, it was coupled to engine 2!
Engine 514 is one of the 20 P-32 engines (originally known as “Pepsi
Can” engines, for the color scheme in which they were originally
painted) that Amtrak acquired from GE in 1991. Until recently,
they have primarily been used for switching and for road operations in
the west. I have ridden behind these engines only nine times, and
never previously in the east. I did ride behind engine 514 on the
Southwest Chief on July 29, 1996. Coach 28011 was on the Silver
Meteor the first time I took Amtrak to Florida 17 years ago, on
February 4, 1991 (it must have looked a little different then, as all
four coaches on today’s train have been refurbished with blue seats and
an outlet at each pair of seats).
I spent most of the
next few hours in my room, listening to the scanner and following our
progress on the SPV Southeast Rail Atlas. Until we reach Winter
Haven, our route goes through flat, relatively uninteresting scenery,
with few settlements.
As we crossed the
St. Lucie Canal at 11:10 a.m., the dining car steward came by to take
reservations for lunch. This is rather unusual, as the normal
practice is to require reservations only for dinner, not lunch. I
asked for a 1:00 p.m. lunch sitting, and she told me that she had one
spot open for that sitting and made my reservation.
Soon, I took
another walk to the back of the train, and I spent a few minutes
looking out the back. On the way, I counted about 145 coach
passengers aboard, with the first two coaches quite full.
Considering that quite a few passengers should be boarding at Orlando,
I would expect the train to be quite full from there north.
Our next stop was
Sebring, where we arrived at 12:06 p.m. Sebring features an
attractive, restored station building, and it is staffed by an
agent. About a dozen passengers boarded here, and the stop lasted
for five minutes, perhaps because of the baggage that had to be
loaded. When we departed at 12:11 p.m., we were 27 minutes late.
At 12:32 p.m., we
passed a southbound CSX freight train, which was waiting for us on the
siding at West Frostproof. Then, at 12:50 p.m., we reached Winter
Haven, where we stopped for three minutes.
After walking
through the train again, I headed to the dining car for lunch at 1:07
p.m. Given the fact that I had been told that only one spot was
available for the 1:00 p.m. lunch sitting, I had expected the dining
car to be rather full. Actually, though, there were only eight
other people in the diner when I sat down for lunch, and while a few
more people came in during the meal, the diner was not full at any
point during my meal.
At first, I was
seated at a table by myself, but I was soon joined by a woman who was
traveling in coach back to her home in Rhode Island. She had come
down to Florida to take a cruise with her children and
grandchildren. The rest of her family flew down for the cruise
and flew back home yesterday, but she doesn’t fly and therefore
traveled both ways by train. She commented that her trip on the
train to Florida was less than optimal, in that they ran out of food
and water, the toilets didn’t work, and they arrived in Fort Lauderdale
over three hours late. She also pointed out that she would be
detraining in Washington and changing there to a Northeast Corridor
train that she would be taking to Kingston, Rhode Island.
Towards the end of
the meal, a family of four came in and sa down at the table opposite
mine. They lived near Washington, D.C. and took the train down to
Florida and back just for the weekend. They had spent two days at
Key Largo, which they enjoyed very much, but they also said to me that
they considered the experience of traveling by train to be part of the
fun of the trip! They were in a sleeper and had two roomettes for
the four of them.
At 1:39 p.m., just
south of Kissimmee, we passed the southbound Silver Meteor, Train
#97. Since that train is scheduled to depart Kissimmee at 1:32
p.m., it was running on time. Shortly afterwards, we made a
five-minute stop in Kissimmee. When we departed at 1:49 p.m., we
were 33 minutes late. Soon, I left the diner and returned to my
room.
Our trip from
Kissimmee to Orlando should take only 22 minutes (measured by the
southbound running time). But we encountered a number of slow
orders and had to receive permission to pass through a work area.
As a result, it took us 33 minutes to cover the 18 miles between these
two stations.
Finally, at 2:22
p.m., we pulled into the Orlando station. I knew that we would be
here for some time, so I stepped off the train and walked down the
platform, taking a few pictures. Our stop lasted for 13 minutes,
and when we departed at 2:35 p.m., we were 38 minutes late. Among
the passengers who boarded in Orlando was a man traveling to Boston who
occupied Room 3 in my sleeper, directly opposite my room.
Between Orlando and
our next stop, Winter Park, the train passes through a built-up
area. At one point, it follows a narrow right-of-way between
commercial buildings, and after a while, it continues through a
residential area. Although this entire section of the line is
double-tracked, there are frequent grade crossings, and the train
proceeds for most of the distance at a very slow speed. Thus, the
timetable allows 17 minutes to cover the short distance of five miles
between these stations.
Winter Park is
perhaps the prettiest station along the entire route of the Silver
Meteor. It’s not because of the station itself – the station is a
relatively small modern brick building – but rather because of the
station’s setting. There are parks on both sides of the station,
which is located on a rather sharp curve. When we arrived at
Winter Park, I briefly stepped off the train to take a picture, and
after a three-minute stop, we departed at 2:53 p.m.
Now that we had
reached our last major stop in Florida (south of Jacksonville), I
decided again to walk through the coaches and see how they filled
up. As I had figured, all four coaches were now quite full, with
only a handful of unoccupied seat pairs in the four coaches. I
counted about 190 passengers in the four coaches (with a maximum
capacity of about 230 passengers). The first two coaches were
particularly full, with two people sitting in nearly every pair of
seats. I was very glad that I had chosen a sleeper for this trip!
Parenthetically, I
should mention that I paid $293 for my one-way ticket from Fort
Lauderdale to New York on Amtrak. Of this amount, $190 is for the
sleeper, and this represents the lowest “bucket” available. I
made my reservation about two months ago, when rooms were still
available at this rate, and I delayed my departure from Florida by one
day because, on the previous day, rooms were available only at a higher
“bucket.” The sleepers have been sold out for some time, but
yesterday, I noticed that one room was available (probably due to a
cancellation) for $470 (besides the rail fare of $115).
Interestingly, even coach seats for this train were priced at $256 for
the last few days, so I ended up paying for my sleeper only $37 more
than some people who waited to the last minute to book their coach seat!
At 3:15 p.m., we
passed through Sanford, once an important junction point for the
Atlantic Coast Line Railroad. Until recently, Sanford was a stop
for Amtrak’s Silver Meteor, but the condition of the 1950s-era brick
station had deteriorated to the point that our train no longer stops
here. Sanford, though, is still the southern terminus of the
Auto-Train (which uses a separate facility located just off the main
line), and I observed today’s northbound Auto-Train already loaded and
awaiting its 4:00 p.m. scheduled departure.
Two passengers, who
occupied Deluxe Bedroom A in my car, boarded our train at our next
stop, DeLand, and I briefly stepped off the train to take a picture
(the attendant in my car has been very tolerant of my habit of getting
off at intermediate stations). The station at DeLand, which was
all the way at the back of the platform, has been restored, and it
seemed that a number of coach passengers also boarded here.
Once more, I walked
to the back of the train. On the way, the dining car steward
asked if I wished to make a reservation for dinner. At this
point, all sittings were open, and I chose the 7:15 p.m. sitting.
Continuing through the coaches, I found that they were now even more
crowded, with about 200 coach passengers aboard. I then returned
to my room. After our brief station stop at Palatka at 4:25 p.m.,
I noticed some swampy forested areas to our left – vegetation which is
typical of northern Florida, Georgia and the Carolinas.
At 4:45 p.m., the
dining car steward announced over the loudspeaker that no more dinner
reservations were available. She continued by pointing out that
if someone who has not made a reservation wanted to eat in the diner
tonight, they could periodically stop by and see if there have been any
cancellations. Both the coaches and the sleepers were nearly
full, and I would estimate that there were about 275 passengers on the
train.
I had a room on the
left (west) side of the train, and as the sun began to move lower on
the horizon, it started shining very brightly directly into my
room. I decided that it would be a good idea to move over to the
lounge car, where I could sit on the right side of the train, and I
chose a small table in the front section of the car, adjacent to the
table where the conductors were sitting. This was the first time
on this trip that I had spent any significant time in the lounge car.
I only spent about
15 minutes in the lounge car, though, as at 5:11 p.m., the lounge car
attendant announced that the lounge car was closed for cleaning and
restocking. So I returned to my room and watched as we passed
through the suburban area of Jacksonville. At 5:24 p.m., we made
a sharp left turn at the Honeymoon Wye (I could see our two engines
from the window of my room), and after passing through the Moncrief
Yard, we arrived at the Jacksonville station at 5:36 p.m.
Jacksonville is a
service stop, with the cars watered and the engines refueled, and it
was also announced as a smoking stop, so I detrained, walked down the
platform and into the station, and took a few pictures. The
Amtrak station in Jacksonville is a modern facility, located in the
outskirts of town, and it does not lend itself to great
photographs. After about ten minutes, I reboarded the train.
We departed
Jacksonville at 5:53 p.m. after a 17-minute stop, which is six minutes
less than scheduled. We were now only about 20 minutes late,
having made up about half of our lateness. I continued writing these
memoirs, and we crossed the St. Mary’s River and entered Georgia about
6:25 p.m. The first community we pass through is Folkston, where
a line that forks to the left goes to Waycross (on one of my Amtrak
trips to Florida, we detoured over this line).
About 6:55 p.m., I
walked back to the end of the train, again finding all four coaches
almost completely full. I brought along with me the latest issue
of Passenger Train Journal and sat down in the lounge car for a few
minutes to read an article about the passenger service operated by the
Reading Lines. We stopped at Jesup, Georgia at 7:11 p.m. and
departed four minutes later.
It was now 7:15
p.m., my assigned time for dinner, so I walked into the diner and was
seated opposite a woman who was bound for Wilmington, North Carolina
(I’m not sure which stop she would be getting off at). Soon, she
moved to the opposite table to talk to some women sitting there, and
another couple sat down at my table. They were from Kingston,
Ontario, where the husband is a professor of medicine at a local
university, and they had traveled to Orlando for a medical
conference. They explained that they would be taking Amtrak to
Syracuse, where they would be picked up. This couple has traveled
extensively by train, and they had a bedroom for this trip.
I had a prime rib
dinner, which was delicious, and I spent over an hour in the dining car
enjoying the meal and talking to the couple sitting on the opposite
side of the table.
We arrived at our
next stop, Savannah, at 8:08 p.m., only 11 minutes late (there is some
make-up time built into the schedule between Jesup and Savannah).
I might ordinarily have stepped off the train here, but I hadn’t
finished dinner yet, and it was dark out. Our stop lasted for
seven minutes, and we pulled out of the station at 8:15 p.m.
But we didn’t get
very far. Before we even cleared the station platform, we came to
a stop, and we just sat there. I wasn’t sure what had happened,
so a few minutes later, I finished my dessert and returned to my
room. Turning on the scanner, I immediately heard that we were
waiting on Q491, a southbound CSX freight train that immediately passed
us to the left. At 8:29 p.m., we started moving again, but then
we stopped again, and we finally pulled ahead and accelerated to track
speed three minutes later. Our meet with this freight train had
cost us another 17 minutes, and we were now half an hour late. I decided to go to
the lounge car to check with the conductor as to the cause of our
delay. He confirmed that we were delayed by the meet with the
freight train, but added that the dispatcher actually did us a favor by
holding us at Savannah. He explained that there are two tracks on
the line north of Savannah, but the other track has a number of slow
orders, so it actually saved time by routing us on the same track that
the freight train was coming off of, even though we had to wait a few
minutes for the freight train to clear the track.
I returned to my
room, where I made a few phone calls. Then, at 9:16 p.m., we made
a brief stop at Yemassee, S.C. About this time, the attendant
came by to make my bed. I explained to him that I would be
sleeping in the upper berth so, while I remained in the room, he was
pulled down the upper berth above me and arranged the bedding for night
occupancy. I wasn’t quite ready to go to sleep, but I could
remain seated down below as long as I wanted, and then just climb up to
the upper berth.
About 10:00 p.m., I
decided to go to sleep. First, though, I rearranged the
bedding. On Viewliner sleepers, the even rooms have the bed
arranged with the head facing backwards. The upper berth is
designed so that the bed is about six inches wider near the head, but
it is possible to reverse the bedding so that the wider head end is
placed in the rear, permitting you to sleep in a forward
position. So that is what I did. I then climbed up to the
upper berth and into bed.
It took me some
time to fall asleep, and I think that I was awake until we departed
from Florence. We were 25 minutes late when we departed
Charleston at 10:13 p.m., but we had made up nearly all of that time
when we departed our next major stop, Florence, at 11:51 p.m. – only
six minutes late. Florence is a service stop for the Auto-Train,
and during our stop, I observed the southbound Auto-Train on an
adjacent track.
Soon after we
departed Florence, I fell asleep, and I believe that I slept for most
of the rest of the night. I did wake up, though, for all of our
stops – Fayetteville, Rocky Mount and Petersburg. We seemed
to be losing additional time at each stop. Thus, when we departed
Fayetteville at 1:25 a.m., we were 20 minutes late, but we were 40
minutes late when we pulled out of Petersburg at 4:41 a.m. I
really enjoyed the comfort of being able to relax in my own bed, rather
than having to spend the night sitting in a coach seat next to a
stranger!
There is plenty of
make-up time built into our schedule, so I knew that we could easily
make up 40 minutes of lateness. But that was not to be the
case. At 5:07 a.m., a short distance south of Richmond, we came
to a stop. On the scanner, I heard that we were awaiting a signal
to proceed. But we didn’t move ahead until 6:04 a.m., having lost
a full hour waiting for the signal. (Subsequently, the conductor
informed me that a freight train had gone into emergency ahead of us,
and we had to wait for the freight train to move before we could
proceed.) We finally pulled into the Staples Mill Road station in
Richmond at 6:25 a.m. When we departed six minutes later, we were
one hour and 27 minutes late.
I watched from my
bed as we passed through Ashland at 6:42 a.m. The tracks go right
down the center of the main street of this quaint and historic
community (in a median strip). Then, at 6:53 a.m., we passed the
brick station at Doswell. Here, there is a diamond, where the
ex-Chesapeake and Ohio line from Richmond to Charlottesville crosses
the ex-Richmond, Fredericksburg and Potomac line that we follow.
About 7:00 a.m., I
decided to get out of bed. I climbed down from the upper berth
and walked down the hall to take a shower. There was a large
trash bag stored in the shower, so I moved it to the vestibule.
The water in the shower was hot – so hot, in fact, that I had to lower
the temperature – and the shower was very refreshing.
When I returned to
my room, I found that the attendant had started to make up the room for
the next occupant. When he saw me come back from the shower, he
apologized, noting that he had assumed that I had gone to breakfast,
and he immediately left the room so that I could get dressed (returning
later to finish making up the room).
After getting
dressed, I again walked back to the end of the train. On the way,
we passed through Fredericksburg at 7:28 a.m. on the westernmost track
(which would ordinarily be used for southbound trains). Our train
does not stop here, but I recalled the confusion that passengers at
this station often experience when, without warning, their train
arrives at a track where it was not expected.
Walking through the
coaches, I observed that all four cars were still packed, with very few
unoccupied seats. Several of the cars seemed warm and rather
stuffy, and I was really glad that I had reserved a sleeper for this
trip. Then I returned to my room and did some work on this
travelogue. I wasn’t all that hungry at this point, and I decided
to wait for breakfast until after we reached Washington. I
remained in my room and enjoyed watching the rather interesting scenery
along the route of the former Richmond, Fredericksburg and Potomac
Railroad. We passed through Quantico, a stop for some Amtrak
trains (but not ours) at 7:45 a.m.
About 8:00 a.m., we
slowed down, but then picked up speed after we were passed by a
southbound Amtrak train at 8:08 a.m. This was Train #67, formerly
known as the Twilight Shoreliner, which is scheduled to arrive at
Quantico at 8:16 a.m., and seemed to be running a few minutes
late. Four minutes later, we passed the Lorton Auto-Train
terminal, to our left. A number of automobile carrier cars were
visible in the terminal.
As we approached
the Alexandria station at 8:30 a.m., we passed the southbound Tropicana
orange juice train. I heard on the scanner that we had no baggage
or sleeper passengers for Alexandria, but when we arrived there at 8:34
a.m., our stop lasted for five minutes (I think because it was later
realized that some baggage actually had to be unloaded here). At
8:37 a.m., during our station stop in Alexandria, we were passed to our
left by a northbound Virginia Railway Express train, headed for
Washington Union Station.
Just north of
Alexandria, we passed the site of the former Potomac Yard, once a major
freight classification yard, where freight cars were exchanged between
the Pennsylvania and Baltimore and Ohio Railroads, and the railroads
that served the south. But with all of these railroads having
been combined into CSX and Norfolk Southern, there is no longer any
need for this yard, and all trace of it has been obliterated, with the
area now in the process of being redeveloped for other uses.
At 8:47 a.m., we
crossed the Long Bridge over the Potomac River and entered Washington,
D.C., where a number of national landmarks, including the Capitol, were
visible. A few minutes later, we caught up with the VRE train,
which soon passed us again. Finally, at 8:57 a.m., we pulled into
Track 26 at Washington Union Station. Substantial make-up time is
built into the schedule between Alexandria and Washington, so we were
now only one hour and 11 minutes late.
I detrained and
walked down the platform for my first chance to take a close-up picture
of our engines 514 and 1 (in Orlando and Jacksonville, the only other
stations where I would have had this opportunity, the area at the front
of the platform was marked “restricted area”). It was cool and
drizzling outside, so I soon returned to my room, but a few minutes
later, I walked out to the platform once more to record the numbers of
the two AEM-7 electric engines that had replaced our diesel
engines. The power was turned on at 9:14 a.m., and we departed
Washington three minutes later.
As soon as we
departed from Washington, the attendant came through the car to
distribute complimentary copies of the Washington edition of the New
York Times and announce the last call for breakfast, so I went into the
diner for breakfast. Although there was a line earlier in the
morning, the diner was largely empty now, and I had a table to myself.
I asked the
attendant for my usual Continental breakfast, but I was informed that
they had no cold cereal left. So, instead, I was served an omelet
with potatoes, along with coffee and orange juice. I enjoyed a
leisurely breakfast in the dining car, while reading the New York Times
with which I had been provided. During breakfast, we stopped at
Baltimore at 9:54 a.m. At the same time, a southbound train
pulled in on the track on the opposite side of the platform. This
presumably was southbound Regional Train #183, scheduled to depart
Baltimore at 9:52 a.m. When we left Baltimore three minutes
later, we were one hour and 16 minutes late.
After breakfast, I
returned to my room and worked on this travelogue. As we crossed
the Gunpowder River bridge at 10:13 a.m., I noticed a long Norfolk
Southern freight train proceeding south on the other track.
Freight trains are relatively uncommon on the Northeast Corridor during
daylight hours, so this was a rather unusual sight. I then walked
to the back of the train once more and found that most seats were still
occupied by passengers, relatively few passengers having detrained at
Washington or Baltimore. Looking at the mileposts out of the back
of the train, at one point I timed the train as covering a mile in 33
seconds.
I returned to my
room, and we reached Wilmington at 10:44 a.m. In two minutes, we
were on our way to the 30th Street Station in Philadelphia, where we
arrived at 11:07 a.m. On the scanner, I heard that assistance was
needed for a passenger in a wheelchair, and probably as a result, our
stop here lasted for five minutes. As we pulled out of the
station at 11:12 a.m., I noticed that the ground was covered with snow
in a few places. This is the first snow I’ve seen on our trip,
and it quite a contrast to the extremely warm temperatures that I
experienced in Florida! The rain that we had experienced around
Washington had stopped, but it was still cloudy and gloomy out.
Between
Philadelphia and Trenton, I used the time to pack up my
belongings. We made a brief stop at Trenton at 11:39 a.m., and
when we departed a minute later, we were one hour and five minutes
late. As might be expected, we passed a number of other trains as
we proceeded north along the Northeast Corridor, but the one that I
found most interesting was a southbound set of NJ Transit multi-level
equipment that we passed at 11:48 a.m. That was probably Train
#3835, a Trenton Local that is scheduled to arrive at Princeton
Junction at 11:42 a.m.
We proceeded at
track speed until we reached Rahway, where we slowed down
somewhat. But we made it from Trenton to Newark in 38 minutes,
and we arrived on Track 2 at Newark Penn Station at 12:18 p.m.
When we departed two minutes later, we were one hour and six minutes
late.
My final
destination would be the Ramsey Route 17 station on NJ Transit’s
Main/Bergen County Line, where I had left my car a week ago when I flew
down to Florida. Looking at the timetable, I noticed that there
was a train to Ramsey Route 17 departing Secaucus at 12:48 p.m.
But the only connecting train that I could take from Newark was
scheduled to leave Newark at 12:38 p.m. and arrive at Secaucus at 12:45
p.m., leaving me only three minutes to make my connection.
Assuming the train were on time, I probably could have made this
connection, although it would not have been easy with my luggage.
However, trains to New York often run a few minutes late, and I figured
that the likelihood was that I’d miss the connection. Moreover,
there is an express train leaving Secaucus at 1:20 p.m. and arriving at
Ramsey Route 17 at 1:51 p.m., only 14 minutes later than the earlier
train. So I decided to continue to New York and transfer there to
a connecting train to Secaucus, then take the 1:20 p.m. train to Ramsey
Route 17.
The final leg of
our trip to New York Penn Station was quite swift, and we pulled into
Track 11 at 12:35 p.m., just over one hour late. My attendant,
Walter, had offered to take my suitcase out to the platform for me, and
I gave him a small tip. Since my sleeper was in the front of the
train, I took the elevator that led toward the NJ Transit Seventh
Avenue concourse, where I purchased a NYP-SEC ticket and sat down in
the small waiting area to await the posting of the track for Train
#3845, the Trenton Local, scheduled to depart at 1:03 p.m., that I
would take to Secaucus.
At 12:53 p.m., it
was announced that my train would be receiving passengers on Track 1,
so I took the elevator down to that track. After stowing my
belongings in coach 5236, where I appropriated a pair of facing seats
for myself and my luggage, I walked down the platform to record the
numbers of the engine and eight Comet cars that made up this
train. We departed two minutes late at 1:05 p.m. and arrived on
Track B at Secaucus Junction ten minutes later, giving me only five
minutes to get down to Track F before the scheduled 1:20 p.m. of my
connecting train to the Ramsey Route 17 station.
My Train #49 pulled
in on time at 1:20 p.m. and departed a minute later. It was
pulled by engine 4005 and included six Comet II and V cars, all of
which were NJ Transit equipment. Only the last three cars were
opened, but the train was lightly patronized, and I easily found a pair
of facing seats for myself and my luggage. This is the first
afternoon train that heads north of Suffern, but it proceeds only as
far as Middletown, New York. Since it is intended primarily for
Metro-North passengers traveling to Suffern and beyond, this train
operates express through New Jersey, stopping only at Ridgewood, Ramsey
and Ramsey Route 17. One would think that this train, which makes
no stops south of Ridgewood, would take the Bergen County Line, which
is slightly shorter than the Main Line, but it is scheduled to proceed
via the Main Line. Traveling the Main Line on an express train
was a somewhat unusual experience for me, as nearly all trains which
traverse this line make all the stops.
I watched as we
passed by the familiar scenery of this NJ Transit line, and after a
ride that took only about half an hour, we arrived at the Ramsey Route
17 station at 1:53 p.m., two minutes late. I detrained, paid for
my parking (it cost a total of $26 for a week’s parking), and proceeded
to the Trail Conference office in Mahwah, where I had a meeting in the
evening.
My trip from Fort
Lauderdale to New York on the Silver Meteor worked out exactly as
planned. The train was quite full, but having my own room made it
a very pleasant experience!
