rtabern
Conductor
Well, they say the THIRD time is the charm... and that was the case with this trip.
Back tracking a little bit here, when I heard the Cardinal was going to have the Great Dome (#10031) on it, I booked a trip with my friend Mike P. for October 30th out of Chicago. That was the date that worked best for us and was one of the eastbound trips which are more scenic than the westbound trips because you are going through the New River Gorge in the daylight. Anyway, the trip went great and I had so much fun... I wanted to try and hit atleast some of the other three planned trips of the Dome before it was going to be heading back to LA.
So, checking my work schedule once I got back from the first dome trip, I saw that I was able to swing the trip on #51 out of Washington on 11/5 and also hit #51 out of Washington on 11/12.
Unfortunately, after flying to Washington on 11/5 (for my second planned trip), the dome didn't go out because of the derailment (see seperate trip report and photos of derailment) and I went home pretty dejected on the Capitol instead.
But, in spite of that, I still went ahead with the 11/12 dome trip... hoping that the car wasn't damaged too bad and would still be going out on #51(12).
Anyway, I flew from Milwaukee to Washington, DC on the morning of Thursday, November 11th leaving Milwaukee at 8:10AM CST and arriving at Washington-Reagan at 11:00AM EST. The interesting thing about booking the flight was that AirTran and Frontier (which are the 2 big competitors in Milwaukee now) had almost similar flight times and the exact same prices. I went with Frontier because the plane only seated like 70 people or so and I could get a 2x2 seat. The cool thing was that no one showed up in the seat next to me and I was able to have my window seat with no one next to me. Pretty cool! The other interesting thing to note about the flight was that the FAA apparently dropped the requirement for the stewardesses to drop their warning that if anyone stood up (for ANY reason) during the last 30 minutes of their flight into Washington-Reagan the flight would be diverted to Dulles. I haven't flown into DC since like 2005, but after 9/11 and up until my flight in 2005 they would always throw out that warning to everyone. I never had anyone go against that -- but diverting to Dulles would stink because there is not really good public transportation from Dulles into the main area of the Washington Mall.
Anyway, arrived in DC on time and headed over to the Metro Station and caught the blue line to Metro Center and then the red line over to Union Station. I didn't have a train out that day (11/11), but wanted to store my bags so I could sightsee most of the day. I had 2 options -- storing my bags with the baggage check person -- or storing it "at my own risk" in Club Acela. The baggage check person wanted $10 PER BAG to store it for the day -- while Club Acela was free -- so I went with the Club Aclea and didn't have any issues with that.
After storing my bag, I took the Metro back over to the GWU-Foggy Bottom stop and walked over to the Georgetown area. I have been to Washington, DC numerous time, but never been to the Georgetown area. I ended up getting some lunch at a little shop -- and then went on to tour the C&O Canal and Old Stone House in Rock Creek Park. In addition to being nuts about trains, I also am really also into collecting stamps in my National Park Service passport book. For those of you who dont know what that is, each national park unit has a rubber stamp and when you visit you can stamp your book with the date and the park name. I have been collecting these since 1991 when I was just 11 years old! Anyway, the only 2 stamps in all of Washington, DC I didn't have were the C&O Canal and Rock Creek Park. Unfortunately, the C&O Canal Visitor Center was closed because apparently the canal totally dried up (yikes!), but the Old Stone House Visitor Center was open -- and they even had the C&O stamp there. So I did a quick tour of the house and headed to the Barnes & Nobles across the street to get some Starbucks.
From there, I did a walk along the C&O Canal and over the Francis Scott Key Bridge into Virginia. I hoped on the blue line Metro at Rosslyn and took it 1 stop over to Arlington Cemetery. Since it was Veterans Day, I decided to attend some of the gathering going on there. I took the Tour Mobile tour for like $8.50 because I didnt feel like walking up hill around the cemetery. It's a pretty good deal -- they point out some of the key graves and let you get off at 3 stops for as long as you want and catch the next shuttle. (Kennedy Graves, Tomb of the Unknowns, and the Lee Mansion) I did all 3 stops and caught the 3PM changing of the guards. There looked to be some very high ranking military people there in attendance, but I couldnt make out anyone. I got their pictures... so maybe one of the readers here who are more into the military than I am can help identify them for me!!
After Arlington I took the Metro blue line over to the McPherson Square stop and started my walking tour of all the monuments at night. When I used to frequent DC more in my previous profession as a TV news producer, my favorite thing would always be to walk the monuments at night and take pictures and just listen to my iPod as I would go. I always start at the White House, walk over to the Washington Monument, and then do a clockwise circle around the Tidal Basin -- hitting the Jefferson, Roosevelt, Korea, Lincoln, Vietnam, and WWII... before ending up back at the White House and the McPherson Square stop. I got some great shots this time around -- I think the best one was the shot I got of the Jefferson with the Washington behind it. The monuments were especially beautiful with the flowers and memorials that people left there for Veterans Day. I enjoyed just sitting on the steps of the Lincoln Memorial for 30 minutes or so soaking everything in and listening to the iPod.
From there, it was back to Union Station to get my bag and meet my traveling companion for the dome trip (Robert M.) who was flying in from Chicago in the evening. We proceeded to meet up at a Metro stop and head out to the Dupont Circle area where we'd be staying for the night. We found a nice little bar and had some pizza and beer... as he didnt get much dinner and I ended up just having something from a street vendor near the Washington Monument. I stayed up editing some of my photos and fell asleep a little after Midnight.
Robert M. and I got up around 7AM or so and headed out on the Metro to meet Rafi (of the AUF as well) for breakfast before he went to work. We ended up going to a Potbelly's which was right by the Metro stop where Robert M. and I got off -- it was pretty good actually. They made fresh breakfast sandwiches and they had a lot of ingredients there. Robert M., Rafi, and myself ended up having some good conversation. I got Rafi some goodies from his favorite bakery in Niles, IL -- I had to pay him back for being so awesome on the first dome trip (10/30-10/31) where he brought some good goodies for me and his other friends aboard there.
We parted ways... and Robert M. and I headed off to the Capitol. We got some good mid-morning shots... Robert M. and I were quite facinated with the ducks populating the pond on the west side of the Capitol building -- as well as some very social squirrels begging for treats on the north side of the Capitol. Too bad we didnt have any nuts for them!
Of course, I made the comment that I would probably get bit by one of the varments and get hospitalized and miss the dome! Hahaha... (after my bad luck the week before) We proceded over to Union Station -- with Robert M. pointing out Amtrak's Headquarters. Even though I spent about 9 hours straight at the station with the derailment debackle last week -- I was totally unable to find where Amtrak's offices were at. I searched all around and couldn't find one sign to where the President's office, etc. was at. It turns out that is probably on purpose -- as I am sure they didnt put up signs -- fearing us "foamers", or the general public -- might show up there. I guess there are 2 entrances -- one on the street on the far Northeast side of the station -- and the other entrance is through some restaurant or something on the far north side of the station. Very quite and very non-descript entrance to Amtrak's HQ. Someday it would be nice to get a tour inside!! But I settled for a picture outside the front door.
From there, Robert M. and I made a brief stop at the US Treasury shop at Union Station. I think Robert M. got some of his infamous 50 cent pieces and I got the 2009 proof set of the Territories Quarters. We proceeded right to Gate G and the track the Cardinal was on. It was already in the station there at 10:25AM -- and by the time we walked down to the track level -- they were switching on the Dome. I got some pictures of the switching and proceded to our sleeping car to have our tickets lifted. Robert M. and I were sharing Room #1 in the 5100 car (we snagged the last sleeper!)
We were going to head up to the Dome right away so we could cross the Potamac in the dome, but the door between the cafe car and coaches were locked -- and we were also told by the conductor as well as some Amtrak marketing person that we couldn't go in there until all the coach tickets were lifted out of Washington. So we settled for sitting in the cafe car across the Potamac. The Dome car finally opened as we departed Alexandria. The conductor knew we both flew out from Milwaukee just to ride the dome so he gave us about a 2 minute "heads up" before making the general announcement to the public about the Dome so we could get in there and get some good seats.
Departing Alexandria, Robert M. and I went to stake out our seats in the dome. I wanted to go for the two seats right up front in the dome --- so we could look out the front and side windows. That was where I originally wanted to sit on the first dome trip I did on 10/30-10/31, however I ended up switching seats from those nice ones right up front, once learning docents from Charles P. Huntington Historical Society were basically going to be standing in front of us (like 2 feet away) to narrate for hours. They were not on this trip, so Robert M. and I took the prime seats up there. Not too long after we got up there, the conductor made the general announcement about the dome being on the train -- and there was a pretty good stream of people coming in. I'd say maybe 20 to 25 people. Among them were Dick from the AUF who apparently tried to flag me down as I rushed up to the Dome. I guess he didnt realize the dome was going to be on the train, and booked the trip to attend a funeral in Indianapolis (see his seperate trip report).
After about an hour or two out of Washington, Robert M. and I were getting hungry. I suggested that we try and get our meals "to go" and eat in the dome. I really didn't want to give up the prime seats we had... and I also wanted to spend as much time in the dome as possible. I didn't think about eating in the dome until Rafi did the same on the first run of the dome... and I saw what a great idea it was. Robert M. obliged and I walked up to the cafe car to get our meals "to go". Sometimes I know the cafe car (or dining car) folks make a huge stink about allowing people to do this -- so I was a little worried. In the past when I tried to do this (especially on western routes) the LSA told me the sleeping car attendant would have to give me the food... as he couldnt give to me directly (I dont get that practice or policy!) The two ladies who were in the cafe car were among the NICEST Amtrak employees I ever met -- very understanding about wanting the meals "to go" because of the dome -- and they went along with my "meals on wheels" request for lunch, dinner, and breakfast the next day. I think I ended up tipping them $40-50 for doing it. But yes, the 2 cafe car ladies were among the best at Amtrak. Always very friendly and saying "hi" whenever I walked back to the sleeper room.
Speaking of crews, the conductors along the whole route were very friendly too along the whole route! Which was a complete change from the crews we had on #50(10/30) who ranged from knew nothing about the dome and refused to open it up -- to saying the dome would re-open at 6:30AM -- and then refuse to open it up at that time and tried to push off the work of opening the dome to the in-coming conductors in Huntington (see 10/30-10/31 trip report for more on that). Again, the conductors on #51(11/12) were the total opposite. They were all very friendly and actually came back to mingle with passengers in the dome and some were even taking pictures of the dome! The conductors from Charlotesville to Huntington actually let me out at some of the non-"smoke stops" even --- where they had a lot of passengers loading and unloading folks -- so I could run back a car and snap some shots on the platform of the car. I was very appreciative of that because I knew they didn't have to let me out at places like White Sulfur, etc. to get some awesome daylight shots of the car. The conductors (1 male and 1 female) from Indy into Chicago were also very friendly. Apparently, the engineer and conductor were married! How fun for them! Both of those conductors were really nice and came back in the dome and chatted it up with everyone too. I know conductors have a habit of shutting down the lounges at the last stop before Chicago for whatever reason -- so I asked the IND-CHI conductors if we could stay in the lounge coming into CHI and they said they didn't have any problems with that. It was just awesome arriving into Chicago an Union Station in a dome car -- you really get some great shots of the Sears/Willis Tower and the yards.
Other notes -- we had a group of rail fans chasing us in the Dome from Lafayette to Rennselear. I think I got 2 good shots of them when they stopped to get pictures of us in Monon, IN. They looked to be college students. You could tell they were rail fans because of the large antannea they had on their car. The conductor even said "hi" to them over the radio and they waved back to us while keeping pace. I think we lost them after Rennslear because there were really no road going along with the tracks between Rennselear and Dyer.
We backed in to Union Station. I guess all of the trains from the east have been doing this the past couple of weeks to avoid extra movements through the yard where there is a lot of track construction going on to put new track and cement ties in. We actally backed in pretty quick compared to my other recent trips -- maybe because it was Saturday and there wasnt much Metra traffic? I was a little surprised they were going to back in #51 because the Dome was at the rear -- and since the Dome wasn't going out on #50 that night -- they'd have to move it back out in the yard to cut the dome off so they could get ready for the movement back to LAX.
Let's see -- the food -- I'd give it a B- rating. It is pretty amazing what just 2 people in the cafe car can accomplish meal-wise on the Cardinal... so A+ for the cafe car ladies hard work and everything, but B- on the food. For lunch on the first day I had the burger which was good -- for dinner I just asked if I could have some of the rice and vegetables they had prepared as I didnt feel like anything on the menu -- and then for breakfast the next day I ended up having the cheese omlet, potatoes, and crosisant. The potatoes were REALLY good I though, but the omlet was not very good. It was basically the inside portion of an egg McMuffin with a slice of cheese on top. But again, probably the best you can do with a convection oven.
Oh -- and Amtrak had atleast one, if not two, marketing people on the train from Washington to Charlotesville. I am not sure if this was in response to some of the negative things people posted about the trip on #50(10/30) or if this was planned. The main guy was really nice and handed out Cardinal pins to everyone who was in the dome car and even told people about some of the history of the car.
The Dome was definetly more populated on #51(11/12) compared to #50(10/30) which was good to see. I was a little surprised by that because I thought more people would be wanting to go into the Dome on #50 versus #51 because you get better scenery on #50. But, I think the announcement(s) the conductors made possibly made the difference for the larger turn-out in the Dome this time around. A lot of coach passengers came up and stumbled across the dome. One comment that stood out to me was a woman who said, "This is so cool (the Dome) -- we'll have to do this again!" (talking to her child). It's sad the Dome isn't a regular thing on #50 and #51 and she can't "do this again!"... but maybe Amtrak will decide to put it back on.
Anyway, we were actually early into Chicago on Saturday (11/13) morning and I was able to catch the 10:20AM Hiawatha to Milwaukee instead of the 1:05PM one -- meaning I got a nice nap in before having to head to work Saturday afternoon.
Okay, so here is the link to all my pictures from the trip. Click on a particular picture to get the larger size version of it. The first part is pictures from my time in Washington -- and the later picture in the series is of the Dome trip.
Enjoy!
http://rtabern.shutterfly.com/14362
Back tracking a little bit here, when I heard the Cardinal was going to have the Great Dome (#10031) on it, I booked a trip with my friend Mike P. for October 30th out of Chicago. That was the date that worked best for us and was one of the eastbound trips which are more scenic than the westbound trips because you are going through the New River Gorge in the daylight. Anyway, the trip went great and I had so much fun... I wanted to try and hit atleast some of the other three planned trips of the Dome before it was going to be heading back to LA.
So, checking my work schedule once I got back from the first dome trip, I saw that I was able to swing the trip on #51 out of Washington on 11/5 and also hit #51 out of Washington on 11/12.
Unfortunately, after flying to Washington on 11/5 (for my second planned trip), the dome didn't go out because of the derailment (see seperate trip report and photos of derailment) and I went home pretty dejected on the Capitol instead.
But, in spite of that, I still went ahead with the 11/12 dome trip... hoping that the car wasn't damaged too bad and would still be going out on #51(12).
Anyway, I flew from Milwaukee to Washington, DC on the morning of Thursday, November 11th leaving Milwaukee at 8:10AM CST and arriving at Washington-Reagan at 11:00AM EST. The interesting thing about booking the flight was that AirTran and Frontier (which are the 2 big competitors in Milwaukee now) had almost similar flight times and the exact same prices. I went with Frontier because the plane only seated like 70 people or so and I could get a 2x2 seat. The cool thing was that no one showed up in the seat next to me and I was able to have my window seat with no one next to me. Pretty cool! The other interesting thing to note about the flight was that the FAA apparently dropped the requirement for the stewardesses to drop their warning that if anyone stood up (for ANY reason) during the last 30 minutes of their flight into Washington-Reagan the flight would be diverted to Dulles. I haven't flown into DC since like 2005, but after 9/11 and up until my flight in 2005 they would always throw out that warning to everyone. I never had anyone go against that -- but diverting to Dulles would stink because there is not really good public transportation from Dulles into the main area of the Washington Mall.
Anyway, arrived in DC on time and headed over to the Metro Station and caught the blue line to Metro Center and then the red line over to Union Station. I didn't have a train out that day (11/11), but wanted to store my bags so I could sightsee most of the day. I had 2 options -- storing my bags with the baggage check person -- or storing it "at my own risk" in Club Acela. The baggage check person wanted $10 PER BAG to store it for the day -- while Club Acela was free -- so I went with the Club Aclea and didn't have any issues with that.
After storing my bag, I took the Metro back over to the GWU-Foggy Bottom stop and walked over to the Georgetown area. I have been to Washington, DC numerous time, but never been to the Georgetown area. I ended up getting some lunch at a little shop -- and then went on to tour the C&O Canal and Old Stone House in Rock Creek Park. In addition to being nuts about trains, I also am really also into collecting stamps in my National Park Service passport book. For those of you who dont know what that is, each national park unit has a rubber stamp and when you visit you can stamp your book with the date and the park name. I have been collecting these since 1991 when I was just 11 years old! Anyway, the only 2 stamps in all of Washington, DC I didn't have were the C&O Canal and Rock Creek Park. Unfortunately, the C&O Canal Visitor Center was closed because apparently the canal totally dried up (yikes!), but the Old Stone House Visitor Center was open -- and they even had the C&O stamp there. So I did a quick tour of the house and headed to the Barnes & Nobles across the street to get some Starbucks.
From there, I did a walk along the C&O Canal and over the Francis Scott Key Bridge into Virginia. I hoped on the blue line Metro at Rosslyn and took it 1 stop over to Arlington Cemetery. Since it was Veterans Day, I decided to attend some of the gathering going on there. I took the Tour Mobile tour for like $8.50 because I didnt feel like walking up hill around the cemetery. It's a pretty good deal -- they point out some of the key graves and let you get off at 3 stops for as long as you want and catch the next shuttle. (Kennedy Graves, Tomb of the Unknowns, and the Lee Mansion) I did all 3 stops and caught the 3PM changing of the guards. There looked to be some very high ranking military people there in attendance, but I couldnt make out anyone. I got their pictures... so maybe one of the readers here who are more into the military than I am can help identify them for me!!
After Arlington I took the Metro blue line over to the McPherson Square stop and started my walking tour of all the monuments at night. When I used to frequent DC more in my previous profession as a TV news producer, my favorite thing would always be to walk the monuments at night and take pictures and just listen to my iPod as I would go. I always start at the White House, walk over to the Washington Monument, and then do a clockwise circle around the Tidal Basin -- hitting the Jefferson, Roosevelt, Korea, Lincoln, Vietnam, and WWII... before ending up back at the White House and the McPherson Square stop. I got some great shots this time around -- I think the best one was the shot I got of the Jefferson with the Washington behind it. The monuments were especially beautiful with the flowers and memorials that people left there for Veterans Day. I enjoyed just sitting on the steps of the Lincoln Memorial for 30 minutes or so soaking everything in and listening to the iPod.
From there, it was back to Union Station to get my bag and meet my traveling companion for the dome trip (Robert M.) who was flying in from Chicago in the evening. We proceeded to meet up at a Metro stop and head out to the Dupont Circle area where we'd be staying for the night. We found a nice little bar and had some pizza and beer... as he didnt get much dinner and I ended up just having something from a street vendor near the Washington Monument. I stayed up editing some of my photos and fell asleep a little after Midnight.
Robert M. and I got up around 7AM or so and headed out on the Metro to meet Rafi (of the AUF as well) for breakfast before he went to work. We ended up going to a Potbelly's which was right by the Metro stop where Robert M. and I got off -- it was pretty good actually. They made fresh breakfast sandwiches and they had a lot of ingredients there. Robert M., Rafi, and myself ended up having some good conversation. I got Rafi some goodies from his favorite bakery in Niles, IL -- I had to pay him back for being so awesome on the first dome trip (10/30-10/31) where he brought some good goodies for me and his other friends aboard there.
We parted ways... and Robert M. and I headed off to the Capitol. We got some good mid-morning shots... Robert M. and I were quite facinated with the ducks populating the pond on the west side of the Capitol building -- as well as some very social squirrels begging for treats on the north side of the Capitol. Too bad we didnt have any nuts for them!
Of course, I made the comment that I would probably get bit by one of the varments and get hospitalized and miss the dome! Hahaha... (after my bad luck the week before) We proceded over to Union Station -- with Robert M. pointing out Amtrak's Headquarters. Even though I spent about 9 hours straight at the station with the derailment debackle last week -- I was totally unable to find where Amtrak's offices were at. I searched all around and couldn't find one sign to where the President's office, etc. was at. It turns out that is probably on purpose -- as I am sure they didnt put up signs -- fearing us "foamers", or the general public -- might show up there. I guess there are 2 entrances -- one on the street on the far Northeast side of the station -- and the other entrance is through some restaurant or something on the far north side of the station. Very quite and very non-descript entrance to Amtrak's HQ. Someday it would be nice to get a tour inside!! But I settled for a picture outside the front door.From there, Robert M. and I made a brief stop at the US Treasury shop at Union Station. I think Robert M. got some of his infamous 50 cent pieces and I got the 2009 proof set of the Territories Quarters. We proceeded right to Gate G and the track the Cardinal was on. It was already in the station there at 10:25AM -- and by the time we walked down to the track level -- they were switching on the Dome. I got some pictures of the switching and proceded to our sleeping car to have our tickets lifted. Robert M. and I were sharing Room #1 in the 5100 car (we snagged the last sleeper!)
We were going to head up to the Dome right away so we could cross the Potamac in the dome, but the door between the cafe car and coaches were locked -- and we were also told by the conductor as well as some Amtrak marketing person that we couldn't go in there until all the coach tickets were lifted out of Washington. So we settled for sitting in the cafe car across the Potamac. The Dome car finally opened as we departed Alexandria. The conductor knew we both flew out from Milwaukee just to ride the dome so he gave us about a 2 minute "heads up" before making the general announcement to the public about the Dome so we could get in there and get some good seats.
Departing Alexandria, Robert M. and I went to stake out our seats in the dome. I wanted to go for the two seats right up front in the dome --- so we could look out the front and side windows. That was where I originally wanted to sit on the first dome trip I did on 10/30-10/31, however I ended up switching seats from those nice ones right up front, once learning docents from Charles P. Huntington Historical Society were basically going to be standing in front of us (like 2 feet away) to narrate for hours. They were not on this trip, so Robert M. and I took the prime seats up there. Not too long after we got up there, the conductor made the general announcement about the dome being on the train -- and there was a pretty good stream of people coming in. I'd say maybe 20 to 25 people. Among them were Dick from the AUF who apparently tried to flag me down as I rushed up to the Dome. I guess he didnt realize the dome was going to be on the train, and booked the trip to attend a funeral in Indianapolis (see his seperate trip report).
After about an hour or two out of Washington, Robert M. and I were getting hungry. I suggested that we try and get our meals "to go" and eat in the dome. I really didn't want to give up the prime seats we had... and I also wanted to spend as much time in the dome as possible. I didn't think about eating in the dome until Rafi did the same on the first run of the dome... and I saw what a great idea it was. Robert M. obliged and I walked up to the cafe car to get our meals "to go". Sometimes I know the cafe car (or dining car) folks make a huge stink about allowing people to do this -- so I was a little worried. In the past when I tried to do this (especially on western routes) the LSA told me the sleeping car attendant would have to give me the food... as he couldnt give to me directly (I dont get that practice or policy!) The two ladies who were in the cafe car were among the NICEST Amtrak employees I ever met -- very understanding about wanting the meals "to go" because of the dome -- and they went along with my "meals on wheels" request for lunch, dinner, and breakfast the next day. I think I ended up tipping them $40-50 for doing it. But yes, the 2 cafe car ladies were among the best at Amtrak. Always very friendly and saying "hi" whenever I walked back to the sleeper room.
Speaking of crews, the conductors along the whole route were very friendly too along the whole route! Which was a complete change from the crews we had on #50(10/30) who ranged from knew nothing about the dome and refused to open it up -- to saying the dome would re-open at 6:30AM -- and then refuse to open it up at that time and tried to push off the work of opening the dome to the in-coming conductors in Huntington (see 10/30-10/31 trip report for more on that). Again, the conductors on #51(11/12) were the total opposite. They were all very friendly and actually came back to mingle with passengers in the dome and some were even taking pictures of the dome! The conductors from Charlotesville to Huntington actually let me out at some of the non-"smoke stops" even --- where they had a lot of passengers loading and unloading folks -- so I could run back a car and snap some shots on the platform of the car. I was very appreciative of that because I knew they didn't have to let me out at places like White Sulfur, etc. to get some awesome daylight shots of the car. The conductors (1 male and 1 female) from Indy into Chicago were also very friendly. Apparently, the engineer and conductor were married! How fun for them! Both of those conductors were really nice and came back in the dome and chatted it up with everyone too. I know conductors have a habit of shutting down the lounges at the last stop before Chicago for whatever reason -- so I asked the IND-CHI conductors if we could stay in the lounge coming into CHI and they said they didn't have any problems with that. It was just awesome arriving into Chicago an Union Station in a dome car -- you really get some great shots of the Sears/Willis Tower and the yards.
Other notes -- we had a group of rail fans chasing us in the Dome from Lafayette to Rennselear. I think I got 2 good shots of them when they stopped to get pictures of us in Monon, IN. They looked to be college students. You could tell they were rail fans because of the large antannea they had on their car. The conductor even said "hi" to them over the radio and they waved back to us while keeping pace. I think we lost them after Rennslear because there were really no road going along with the tracks between Rennselear and Dyer.
We backed in to Union Station. I guess all of the trains from the east have been doing this the past couple of weeks to avoid extra movements through the yard where there is a lot of track construction going on to put new track and cement ties in. We actally backed in pretty quick compared to my other recent trips -- maybe because it was Saturday and there wasnt much Metra traffic? I was a little surprised they were going to back in #51 because the Dome was at the rear -- and since the Dome wasn't going out on #50 that night -- they'd have to move it back out in the yard to cut the dome off so they could get ready for the movement back to LAX.
Let's see -- the food -- I'd give it a B- rating. It is pretty amazing what just 2 people in the cafe car can accomplish meal-wise on the Cardinal... so A+ for the cafe car ladies hard work and everything, but B- on the food. For lunch on the first day I had the burger which was good -- for dinner I just asked if I could have some of the rice and vegetables they had prepared as I didnt feel like anything on the menu -- and then for breakfast the next day I ended up having the cheese omlet, potatoes, and crosisant. The potatoes were REALLY good I though, but the omlet was not very good. It was basically the inside portion of an egg McMuffin with a slice of cheese on top. But again, probably the best you can do with a convection oven.
Oh -- and Amtrak had atleast one, if not two, marketing people on the train from Washington to Charlotesville. I am not sure if this was in response to some of the negative things people posted about the trip on #50(10/30) or if this was planned. The main guy was really nice and handed out Cardinal pins to everyone who was in the dome car and even told people about some of the history of the car.
The Dome was definetly more populated on #51(11/12) compared to #50(10/30) which was good to see. I was a little surprised by that because I thought more people would be wanting to go into the Dome on #50 versus #51 because you get better scenery on #50. But, I think the announcement(s) the conductors made possibly made the difference for the larger turn-out in the Dome this time around. A lot of coach passengers came up and stumbled across the dome. One comment that stood out to me was a woman who said, "This is so cool (the Dome) -- we'll have to do this again!" (talking to her child). It's sad the Dome isn't a regular thing on #50 and #51 and she can't "do this again!"... but maybe Amtrak will decide to put it back on.
Anyway, we were actually early into Chicago on Saturday (11/13) morning and I was able to catch the 10:20AM Hiawatha to Milwaukee instead of the 1:05PM one -- meaning I got a nice nap in before having to head to work Saturday afternoon.
Okay, so here is the link to all my pictures from the trip. Click on a particular picture to get the larger size version of it. The first part is pictures from my time in Washington -- and the later picture in the series is of the Dome trip.
Enjoy!
http://rtabern.shutterfly.com/14362
