It was a dark and stormy night....wait, I'll save that line for later.... Started my long weekend in the Chicago area on the first Red Line train from Braintree. Arrived at South Station (BOS) at 5:45, handed my bag over to the Red Cap, and climbed the stairs to the Club Acela. The attendant processed my first class upgrade for train 2153, and also printed my tickets for train 43 from New York (NYP). I was down the stairs and on the train by Six. Had to pass by my usual seat as the tray was broken. Took the next one in line; left side of course 
Richard, the attendant, offered a beverage, and handed me a menu. Once we were underway, Kevin took my order for Bananas Foster. He returned only moments later with my breakfast. I thought the meal was quite good. A family boarded at Back Bay (BBY) and actually had to split up; singles and groups of two had taken the four seat tables. Richard came over to take their coffee order, and ask for tickets. Unfortunately, they only had the printout with the bar code, not the actual tickets. He explained that they were supposed to have the tickets in hand, and pointed out that notice on the printout. The conductor, Don, was summoned, and he handled the situation quite well, I thought. He said obviously you have paid for your tickets, let me see what I can do. He returned a short while later and told the family that he would shoot upstairs at NYP, print out their tickets, and bring them back down. They could then give them to the new conductor, and finish their journey to Philadelphia (PHL).
After my on time arrival in NYP, I headed outside, only to find it was raining. So back into the Club Acela lounge to wait on train 43. I didn't have long to wait..43 was called on track 14, so off I went to the Business Class car, #48195. BC was completely sold out to PHL, at which point a number of seats opened up. Of course, we were riding backwards until PHL, where the locos were swapped end for end, and electric for diesel.
The ride on the Pennsy was quite pleasant, and finally seeing and riding over Horseshoe Curve was a treat. We arrived sligtly early into Pittsburgh (PGH). Had to wait for the agent to return from trackside as I wished to store my bag while I went for dinner. Once he had stored it for me, I wandered over to the Original Fish Market for some food and refreshments. I had read about this restaurant in a post by Shanghai in the Pittsburgh Station thread back in April. The restaurant was a bit expensive, but the swordfish was excellent, as was the Long Island Iced Tea Returned to the station around 9:30, spent the time until departure reading.
The Capitol Limited arrived a few minutes late. I boarded the 2900 car, room #4. My first trip in a Superliner roomette. The car number was 32002, it had been refurbished. Brenda, the SA, had the bed made up already. She gave me the nickle tour of the room and said goodnight. We hadn't travelled far before we ground to a halt. At which point I fell asleep. I awoke in Cleveland to find us 1 1/2 hours late.
My morning began about 5:30, I now understand why people with in-room showers sometimes use the common shower, its spacious in comparison I went to the diner just after six. It was a Cross Country Cafe car. I ordered the eggs; they were fine. We were in Toledo at that point. Headed back to my roomette to listen to the scanner. Norfolk Southern issued a slow order, 15 mph for the next 35 miles. This was due to flash flooding occuring all along the line. Once we reached the Ohio/Indiana border, we resumed track speed. Arrival in Elkhart was 3+ hours down. NS did their best; we passed three freights, and only slowed when we were close to Chicago. Finally made CHI at 11:55.
I headed directly to the Metra ticket window for a one-way to Edgebrook, on the MD-N line. Considering train 2117 didn't make the platform until 12:33, we departed nearly on time (12:35).When I arrived in Edgebrook, it was raining heavily. As I looked out the door, I saw my friend, Rob (RTabern), standing there with two umbrellas~one for me! After exchanging greetings we headed across the street to Grayland Station. The owner, Steve, has a great selection of railroad memorabilia, and a large selection of model trains (and planes and boats). Rob found a few items of interest, as did I. While Steve was ringing up my purchases, I had to chuckle;here I am in Illinois buying MBTA, Edaville, and northern Maine RR paper :huh:
From there Rob and I began our trek to the Rochelle Railroad Park. We grabbed a quick bite to eat, and continued west. All the while we're travelling, weather alerts are warning of heavy rains, flash floods, and high winds. Great weather for train watching, right? :blink: I had made arrangements to stay at the Rochelle Diamond Lodge. The lodge is a house that was converted into three 'suites'. We had the Union Pacific, the BNSF was spoken for, and the Global III is for four people. Rob and I dropped our things off in the lodge, and headed across the street to the RR Park.
It was a dark and stormy night , over at the Park. We saw a number of UP trains, stack trains, coal trains, general freight trains. Only one BNSF had passed while we were in the lodge, none since. This is truly a great spot to watch the trains roll by, upwards of 90 pass in a 24 hour period. We got a few pictures in between the rain and wind. The Park has a shelter, a roof but no walls. Finally the skies began to clear, but at that point we were ready for some supper. We had a nice meal at a local place, headed back to the lodge, and called it a day.
Part Two to follow. Thanks for reading!
Mike
Richard, the attendant, offered a beverage, and handed me a menu. Once we were underway, Kevin took my order for Bananas Foster. He returned only moments later with my breakfast. I thought the meal was quite good. A family boarded at Back Bay (BBY) and actually had to split up; singles and groups of two had taken the four seat tables. Richard came over to take their coffee order, and ask for tickets. Unfortunately, they only had the printout with the bar code, not the actual tickets. He explained that they were supposed to have the tickets in hand, and pointed out that notice on the printout. The conductor, Don, was summoned, and he handled the situation quite well, I thought. He said obviously you have paid for your tickets, let me see what I can do. He returned a short while later and told the family that he would shoot upstairs at NYP, print out their tickets, and bring them back down. They could then give them to the new conductor, and finish their journey to Philadelphia (PHL).
After my on time arrival in NYP, I headed outside, only to find it was raining. So back into the Club Acela lounge to wait on train 43. I didn't have long to wait..43 was called on track 14, so off I went to the Business Class car, #48195. BC was completely sold out to PHL, at which point a number of seats opened up. Of course, we were riding backwards until PHL, where the locos were swapped end for end, and electric for diesel.
The ride on the Pennsy was quite pleasant, and finally seeing and riding over Horseshoe Curve was a treat. We arrived sligtly early into Pittsburgh (PGH). Had to wait for the agent to return from trackside as I wished to store my bag while I went for dinner. Once he had stored it for me, I wandered over to the Original Fish Market for some food and refreshments. I had read about this restaurant in a post by Shanghai in the Pittsburgh Station thread back in April. The restaurant was a bit expensive, but the swordfish was excellent, as was the Long Island Iced Tea
Returned to the station around 9:30, spent the time until departure reading.The Capitol Limited arrived a few minutes late. I boarded the 2900 car, room #4. My first trip in a Superliner roomette. The car number was 32002, it had been refurbished. Brenda, the SA, had the bed made up already. She gave me the nickle tour of the room and said goodnight. We hadn't travelled far before we ground to a halt. At which point I fell asleep. I awoke in Cleveland to find us 1 1/2 hours late.
My morning began about 5:30, I now understand why people with in-room showers sometimes use the common shower, its spacious in comparison
I went to the diner just after six. It was a Cross Country Cafe car. I ordered the eggs; they were fine. We were in Toledo at that point. Headed back to my roomette to listen to the scanner. Norfolk Southern issued a slow order, 15 mph for the next 35 miles. This was due to flash flooding occuring all along the line. Once we reached the Ohio/Indiana border, we resumed track speed. Arrival in Elkhart was 3+ hours down. NS did their best; we passed three freights, and only slowed when we were close to Chicago. Finally made CHI at 11:55.I headed directly to the Metra ticket window for a one-way to Edgebrook, on the MD-N line. Considering train 2117 didn't make the platform until 12:33, we departed nearly on time (12:35).When I arrived in Edgebrook, it was raining heavily. As I looked out the door, I saw my friend, Rob (RTabern), standing there with two umbrellas~one for me! After exchanging greetings we headed across the street to Grayland Station. The owner, Steve, has a great selection of railroad memorabilia, and a large selection of model trains (and planes and boats). Rob found a few items of interest, as did I. While Steve was ringing up my purchases, I had to chuckle;here I am in Illinois buying MBTA, Edaville, and northern Maine RR paper :huh:
From there Rob and I began our trek to the Rochelle Railroad Park. We grabbed a quick bite to eat, and continued west. All the while we're travelling, weather alerts are warning of heavy rains, flash floods, and high winds. Great weather for train watching, right? :blink: I had made arrangements to stay at the Rochelle Diamond Lodge. The lodge is a house that was converted into three 'suites'. We had the Union Pacific, the BNSF was spoken for, and the Global III is for four people. Rob and I dropped our things off in the lodge, and headed across the street to the RR Park.
It was a dark and stormy night
, over at the Park. We saw a number of UP trains, stack trains, coal trains, general freight trains. Only one BNSF had passed while we were in the lodge, none since. This is truly a great spot to watch the trains roll by, upwards of 90 pass in a 24 hour period. We got a few pictures in between the rain and wind. The Park has a shelter, a roof but no walls. Finally the skies began to clear, but at that point we were ready for some supper. We had a nice meal at a local place, headed back to the lodge, and called it a day.Part Two to follow. Thanks for reading!
Mike
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