battalion51
Engineer
The journey I'm about to take you on will cover 14 days, 16 states, and approximately 6,000 miles. I've been planing this trip for the better part of a year now, and it's finally come together. So here we go.
June 30, 2005
5:45
Well what other place is there to start other than your house. I woke up at 5 to make my final preparations for the trip, all my bags were packed, and ready to go, I just had to get up and do a few last minute things. I said goodbye to my Father and my Mom drove me down to Ft. Lauderdale International (FLL).
June 30, 2005
6:50
Got to FLL around 6:15, and walked into the lobby. I think the term zoo is an understatement. In the post-9/11 era I've seen that place calmer around Christmas time than I did this morning. People are so boneheaded when it comes to some things, like self check in. If you don't know what you're doing and know you're going to need help, go use a real person, and let us competent ones use the kiosks. I popped my Sky Miles card in, it pulled up my reservation right away, let me choose how many bags to check, and then printed my ticket. The guy behind the counter took the bag tag, slapped it on my Overnight, and told me to take to the TSA check in. I dropped it off with TSA then got in the airport security line. With airport security being as it is today I came prepared, I put my pants on that morning, got all my gizmos put in their place, took the pants off and into my grip along with my work boots, then put on a pair of basketball shorts and sandals. Getting through security was a breeze, although the screener took a long hard look at my grip. I went in to the bathroom, put on my pants and boots, putting the shorts and sandals in their place. I went over to the gate and waited for about ten minutes before boarding began. They called for my Zone to board, handed them the ticket and boarded. I had the window seat, with a real estate guy and some really spiritual chick next to me. We shoved back from the gate on time at 7:20. We had a pretty smooth flight, only hit a little turbulence. But, at one point Paul got up to use the bathroom I stretched out my right leg and said that it always gave me trouble when I sat for long periods of time. The girl said that pain is caused by unforgiveness. Now I'm sorry, but trying to get me to buy into religion because I've got pain in my knee is bull. At any rate, Song did a fairly efficient job for the price, but I still would rather fly Jet Blue they're much nicer, a lot roomier, and it was just a better experience. We arrived at Logan about 10 minutes late, due to rerouting around some rough weather. I walked over to baggage claim and waited. And waited. And waited. It took half an hour for Delta to get our bags from the plane to the carousel which is ridiculous.
June 30, 2005
12:45
Got to South Station without a problem. I took the new Silver Line bus from Logan over to South for a buck-twenty-five. The bus was brand new, didn't have any issues with traffic or anything. What was really different though was when we got to Silver Line Way the driver turned off the engine. I was a little confused, but then I realized he was putting up the pantograph so we could draw power off the catenary while we were in the tunnel, that was really cool. We arrived at South Station, I took the elevator up to street level, and was at the door to South Station, much better than arriving in the Bus Terminal and having to haul 100 pounds (literally) worth of stuff down to the station. I went over to the ticket counter and picked up my Downeaster for when Jon and I head up to Portland in a week and a half. I grabbed a slice of pizza and coke, and just hung out until they called for boarding of 447. The boarding call came at 12:50, I boarded, and was seated in the head coach. The consist was as follows:
P-42 Locomotive 71
Heritage Baggage 1753
Amfleet I Cafe 48160
Amfleet II Coach 25084
Amfleet II Coach 25077
We pulled from South Station on time at 13:00 and made our way down to Back Bay Station just one mile south. Pulled out of Back Bay, got about 3 miles down the road before we got a stop signal for CSX Lite Power 5015 and 658 to get on to double track. Made it to Framingham at 13:39, where waited for an empty rack train to cross over in front of us. We pulled from the station and crossed over to track 1. Made it out of Worcester at 14:19, and had a pretty smooth run into Springfield, except for one or two Approach signals from the Cab Signal. Got to Springfield around 15:30 where John picked me up. We drove up to his house, and had a good night. Had pizza for dinner, watched some DVD's life was good.
July 5, 2005
John and I decided to drive over to New York state on his day off. We found a great spot in Columbiaville off Route 22 right next to the Hudson River. We had a great day, saw 12 trains, and got pretty good at knowing when they were coming up without the need for the radio. We were able to catch (engine number noted in Parntheses) 281(708), 260(716), 251(709), 48(707), 286(700), CSX Ballast Train (8841, 8831), 283(704), 262(709), 291(703), 257(715), 68(714), 49(713). There was a great pizza place just north of the site on Route 9, a pretty good day except for the little bit of rain we got.
July 11, 2005
Well I spent last night at Jon's house on the Cape. I only got a few hours of sleep after talking with my friend from JAX until 1:30. The alarm went off at 5:30, I got up at 5:45 took a shower, and got my things together for the trip home. Jon's father drove us down to the bus station in Hyannis, we made it just in time, bought tickets from the driver and were on our way to South Station. It took about two hours, I was able to catch a little shut eye, but not much. We arrived at South Station, walked down to the Amtrak Ticket counter, picked up Jon's Downeaster tickets and our tickets for BOS-MIA. We went outside to check my two bags, thankfully 67 offers checked bags to connect with 91. With my bags checked in we headed for the Red Line to Park Street where we switched to Green Line. We arrived at North Station about 10 minutes early, where we waited for the boarding of 681. We headed out to the train and sat in one of the three Capstone coaches. The consist was as follows:
P-42 Locomotive 106
Amfleet I Coach 82537-Capstone
Amfleet I Coach 82532-Capstone
Amfleet I Coach 82528-Capstone
Amfleet I Cafe/Business Class 48170-Blue Triangle Fabric
F-40 Cabbage 90214
(Note: 106 led 681 90214 led 684)
We had a pretty good run to Portland, a few minutes late due to heat restrictions at the end of the trip. We went into the station at Portland, sat, and waited. We boarded the same trainset for the trip back to Boston, but were in Business Class this time. We sat at the bulkhead pair of seats, since one row was broken (footrest and recline). We ate lunch, which had better food than the rest of the system thanks to the Contractor providing food service. A word on that, I personally think it's not right for the Contractor to staff that train, they're using non-Union employees as far as I know, and it's just not fair to the Union guys who staff the rest of the system. At any rate I had two sodas thanks to the Business Class, and when I went back to get a bottle of water I was charged. Last time I checked being in Business Class entitled you to COMPLIMENTARY beverages, and he was really snippy about it. Regardless, we arrived in Boston about 35 minutes late due to the heat restrictions. We took a Green Line train down to the Prudential Center where I picked up a cell phone charger since I couldn't find mine (can never hurt to have two), we ate, and hung out before heading back to South Station. We checked into ClubAcela since we were connecting first class customers. We were the only two in the lounge, we settled in, watched some TV, drank some soda, etc. The big disappointment to me though was the lack of Wi-Fi, although the attendant said it should be coming in December or so. About 9:30 we headed out to the train, boarded and sat down in the first coach. I went and walked the train for consist, and as I did I noticed the Business Class had the new leather seats. I went back and talked it over with Jon, we decided to go for the upgrade since it was only $24/each and it would be much more comfortable than coach. We moved up to Business Class, and took a pair of seats towards the rear of Business Class. We tried to pull from South Station on time, but I think the cab signal dropped on the Engineer. Our consist was as follows:
AEM-7AC Locomotive 918
Heritage Baggage 1735
Amfleet I Cafe/Business Class 20174-Leather Seats
Amfleet I Coach 82529
Amfleet I Coach 44243
Amfleet I Coach 82038
As we went along Jon and I both got extremely frustrated with the lady behind us who had obviously been drinking. She was on her cell phone til 12 AM while Jon tried to watch a movie and I tried to get some shut eye. Even after politely asking her to move or end her call we had no luck for the most part, she moved for about 5 minutes until someone else complained. But I am sorry, when it's 11:30 on a night train in Business Class where people are trying to sleep, you'd think she'd be a little more considerate, but apparently not.
July 12, 2005
We arrived in New York right on time, and headed up to the waiting area. We went in search of a White Castle, which we found just north of the station at 8th Ave. and 37th St. From there we walked up through Times Square which was fairly empty but it was 3 in the morning. We took a 2 Local Train back down to Penn Station. We waited in the main waiting room til about 5:20 when we moved over to ClubAcela. We were both able to catch sporadic sleep before we went back out on the town at 7:30. We took a 1 Train down to South Ferry where we walked around Battery Park, took some pictures, etc. We took the 1 Train back up to Chambers St. Where we transferred to a 3 Express Train. We took the 3 up to 96th Street where I attempted to get pizza at my favorite pizza place, but apparently their Times Square location opens earlier than the 96th Street location. We got back on the 3 Train to Penn Station, and went back in ClubAcela to wait on 91. They started First Class boarding at 9:50, a little late since the train came down from the yard late. We got to the 11 Car, met Preston our attendant, and got settled into our room. We pulled from New York a few minutes late at 10:05. We arrived at Philly which is normally the spot for engine changes these days, but we just did station work, engine change at Washington. We were held for a few minutes because the LSA in the Lounge ordered in food, and apparently we had a nice Conductor since he held us for it to come. We cruised along from Philly to Washington, moving at a pretty normal pace, passing a ton of trains. We arrived at Washington, Jon and I got down and walked up to the head end to get some pictures of the engine change. We did so, walked the train, then got back up for an on time departure. Jon went back to the Lounge where he found out they almost called the Amtrak Police in on us since we were taking pictures of the engine change. Fortunately enough people on this crew know who I am that they were able to persuade them not to call. But, it's a sad state of affairs when two normal looking white kids taking pictures of trains are considered suspicious. Here's how the consist looked:
HHP-8 Locomotive 650 NYP-WAS
P-42 Locomotive 200 WAS-MIA
Heritage Baggage 1711
Heritage Crew Dorm 2510
Viewliner Sleeper 62032
Viewliner Sleeper 62048
Viewliner Sleeper 62024
Heritage Diner 8528
Amfleet II Lounge 28020
Amfleet II Coach 25063
Amfleet II Coach 25115
Amfleet II Coach 25106
Amfleet II Coach 25091
I pulled down the top bed leaving Washington to try to get some shut eye, which I did between Washington and Richmond. We arrived at Richmond two hours late at 6:00. We waited for Auto Train to pass us at the station. According to Preston most of our delay was due to a signal failure and track inspection, plus the heat orders. We made our stop at Petersburg, and somewhere south of there we overtook Auto Train, since we run 10 mph faster than them. They should be able to make it to Sanford before we do tomorrow. I do have to say that the new carriers look really good, and the switching & loading process has to be 10 times easier now. We ate at the 8:00 Dinner seating, and were seated with a really nice older lady who had a terrible experience coming north, and as a result was upgraded to a Sleeper for free (especially since there were a bunch of empty rooms). I took a shower after Dinner, which was interesting, I definitely prefer the much larger shower on the Superliner. Made it to Raleigh where there was a hubub of activity, besides the 72 passengers boarding the Fire Department was on hand as someone had pulled the fire alarm prior to out arrival.
July 13, 2005
We arrived into Hamlet around Midnight for another crew change where the best Conductor out of JAX boarded. I stayed up pretty much the entire way to JAX (I did fall asleep for about 45 minutes out of Savannah). We made fairly good time but got held at Ulmer for 92, which wasn't too bad, it was a fairly good meet based on physical characteristics. He showed me some of the interesting little points along the way to Savannah, reroutes from original routing, Railroad Crossings at grade, places of interest, etc. What really pissed us both off was that as we were pulling from Savannah we had a Stop Signal at the South End of the station. We both anticipated it being a hot UPS Northbound from JAX. Instead 53 comes roaring by. He headed down West Route, we were hoping to take East Route to get by him before Ogeechee, but that didn't happen. He was "short on time" and was given priority. Now that's B.S., he's picking up a re-crew at JAX, he's not going to make it to Sanford with his current crew, what the heck difference does it make. We could've gotten out ahead of him and run track speed into JAX, but instead we had to follow him all the way in. After I woke up from my nap I grabbed breakfast to go from the Diner and ate it in the Lounge. We made it into JAX around 8:20, right on 97's schedule (or the old Star schedule). We went from the best Conductor in JAX to the two worst, sounds like a good time to sleep to me. I crawled into the upper bunk, fully expecting us to bypass Tampa due to our lateness. I woke up at Orlando, found Preston and he said we'd be continuing to Tampa as scheduled. This worked for Jon since he hadn't covered the territory yet, but it was two hours of my life gone to waste. We pulled into the wye at Neve, did the brake test and started backing into Tampa, as we came down to a stop it started to absolutely pour. Jon and I got down to get some fresh air while we had time since this was a big stop. There was a huge crack of lightning Preston got back on (him being the little schoolgirl he is), after the next one Willie told us all to get back on, he'd had enough too. I crawled back in bed and slept until Winter Haven. I woke up in the station. Around West Lake Wales Jon came back from the Lounge and said they'd be having a quick Dinner for sleeping car passengers, and we had a choice of Chicken or Fish. I took the chicken, and we headed back around Avon Park for Dinner. It was definitely a no frills meal, plastic silverware and foam plates, but its understandable since this is the part of the trip when they are normally packing up the dishes and glassware, to me it was the thought that counted. Preston came in to make up the beds after West Palm, had a good chat about working with Amtrak, and how much less stressful it is compared to other lines of work. I found out he had previously been a stock broker before coming to Amtrak in 2001. He's happier, he's less stressed, and that's all that really matters in the end. We hit the bumper in Miami at 9:40 (5:20 late, 97 was still sitting on 2 rail when we pulled in), we tipped Preston, took our carry-ons out to my car, and then went back into claim my checked bags. We made it back to my house around 10:30, not a bad trip all in all.
July 14, 2005
I took Jon out to Lunch at a local restaurant before he had to catch his flight out. We had a good meal, drove down to Ft. Lauderdale International where he caught his flight to Charlotte to connect with a flight to Boston on his airline, US Air. I dropped him off, and drove off from the airport, officially ending my trip, right where it began.
Epilogue
All in all I have to say this is quite possibly the best trip I've ever been on. I spent time doing things I wanted to do, with my friends, on my schedule, not someone else's. Also traveling into other parts of the country and getting some real insight into their operation, rules, and procedures solidified my conviction that the railroad is where I belong. Hopefully this time four years from now, with a college diploma in hand I'll be heading towards a career with Amtrak (should they still exist) or another passenger road.
June 30, 2005
5:45
Well what other place is there to start other than your house. I woke up at 5 to make my final preparations for the trip, all my bags were packed, and ready to go, I just had to get up and do a few last minute things. I said goodbye to my Father and my Mom drove me down to Ft. Lauderdale International (FLL).
June 30, 2005
6:50
Got to FLL around 6:15, and walked into the lobby. I think the term zoo is an understatement. In the post-9/11 era I've seen that place calmer around Christmas time than I did this morning. People are so boneheaded when it comes to some things, like self check in. If you don't know what you're doing and know you're going to need help, go use a real person, and let us competent ones use the kiosks. I popped my Sky Miles card in, it pulled up my reservation right away, let me choose how many bags to check, and then printed my ticket. The guy behind the counter took the bag tag, slapped it on my Overnight, and told me to take to the TSA check in. I dropped it off with TSA then got in the airport security line. With airport security being as it is today I came prepared, I put my pants on that morning, got all my gizmos put in their place, took the pants off and into my grip along with my work boots, then put on a pair of basketball shorts and sandals. Getting through security was a breeze, although the screener took a long hard look at my grip. I went in to the bathroom, put on my pants and boots, putting the shorts and sandals in their place. I went over to the gate and waited for about ten minutes before boarding began. They called for my Zone to board, handed them the ticket and boarded. I had the window seat, with a real estate guy and some really spiritual chick next to me. We shoved back from the gate on time at 7:20. We had a pretty smooth flight, only hit a little turbulence. But, at one point Paul got up to use the bathroom I stretched out my right leg and said that it always gave me trouble when I sat for long periods of time. The girl said that pain is caused by unforgiveness. Now I'm sorry, but trying to get me to buy into religion because I've got pain in my knee is bull. At any rate, Song did a fairly efficient job for the price, but I still would rather fly Jet Blue they're much nicer, a lot roomier, and it was just a better experience. We arrived at Logan about 10 minutes late, due to rerouting around some rough weather. I walked over to baggage claim and waited. And waited. And waited. It took half an hour for Delta to get our bags from the plane to the carousel which is ridiculous.
June 30, 2005
12:45
Got to South Station without a problem. I took the new Silver Line bus from Logan over to South for a buck-twenty-five. The bus was brand new, didn't have any issues with traffic or anything. What was really different though was when we got to Silver Line Way the driver turned off the engine. I was a little confused, but then I realized he was putting up the pantograph so we could draw power off the catenary while we were in the tunnel, that was really cool. We arrived at South Station, I took the elevator up to street level, and was at the door to South Station, much better than arriving in the Bus Terminal and having to haul 100 pounds (literally) worth of stuff down to the station. I went over to the ticket counter and picked up my Downeaster for when Jon and I head up to Portland in a week and a half. I grabbed a slice of pizza and coke, and just hung out until they called for boarding of 447. The boarding call came at 12:50, I boarded, and was seated in the head coach. The consist was as follows:
P-42 Locomotive 71
Heritage Baggage 1753
Amfleet I Cafe 48160
Amfleet II Coach 25084
Amfleet II Coach 25077
We pulled from South Station on time at 13:00 and made our way down to Back Bay Station just one mile south. Pulled out of Back Bay, got about 3 miles down the road before we got a stop signal for CSX Lite Power 5015 and 658 to get on to double track. Made it to Framingham at 13:39, where waited for an empty rack train to cross over in front of us. We pulled from the station and crossed over to track 1. Made it out of Worcester at 14:19, and had a pretty smooth run into Springfield, except for one or two Approach signals from the Cab Signal. Got to Springfield around 15:30 where John picked me up. We drove up to his house, and had a good night. Had pizza for dinner, watched some DVD's life was good.
July 5, 2005
John and I decided to drive over to New York state on his day off. We found a great spot in Columbiaville off Route 22 right next to the Hudson River. We had a great day, saw 12 trains, and got pretty good at knowing when they were coming up without the need for the radio. We were able to catch (engine number noted in Parntheses) 281(708), 260(716), 251(709), 48(707), 286(700), CSX Ballast Train (8841, 8831), 283(704), 262(709), 291(703), 257(715), 68(714), 49(713). There was a great pizza place just north of the site on Route 9, a pretty good day except for the little bit of rain we got.
July 11, 2005
Well I spent last night at Jon's house on the Cape. I only got a few hours of sleep after talking with my friend from JAX until 1:30. The alarm went off at 5:30, I got up at 5:45 took a shower, and got my things together for the trip home. Jon's father drove us down to the bus station in Hyannis, we made it just in time, bought tickets from the driver and were on our way to South Station. It took about two hours, I was able to catch a little shut eye, but not much. We arrived at South Station, walked down to the Amtrak Ticket counter, picked up Jon's Downeaster tickets and our tickets for BOS-MIA. We went outside to check my two bags, thankfully 67 offers checked bags to connect with 91. With my bags checked in we headed for the Red Line to Park Street where we switched to Green Line. We arrived at North Station about 10 minutes early, where we waited for the boarding of 681. We headed out to the train and sat in one of the three Capstone coaches. The consist was as follows:
P-42 Locomotive 106
Amfleet I Coach 82537-Capstone
Amfleet I Coach 82532-Capstone
Amfleet I Coach 82528-Capstone
Amfleet I Cafe/Business Class 48170-Blue Triangle Fabric
F-40 Cabbage 90214
(Note: 106 led 681 90214 led 684)
We had a pretty good run to Portland, a few minutes late due to heat restrictions at the end of the trip. We went into the station at Portland, sat, and waited. We boarded the same trainset for the trip back to Boston, but were in Business Class this time. We sat at the bulkhead pair of seats, since one row was broken (footrest and recline). We ate lunch, which had better food than the rest of the system thanks to the Contractor providing food service. A word on that, I personally think it's not right for the Contractor to staff that train, they're using non-Union employees as far as I know, and it's just not fair to the Union guys who staff the rest of the system. At any rate I had two sodas thanks to the Business Class, and when I went back to get a bottle of water I was charged. Last time I checked being in Business Class entitled you to COMPLIMENTARY beverages, and he was really snippy about it. Regardless, we arrived in Boston about 35 minutes late due to the heat restrictions. We took a Green Line train down to the Prudential Center where I picked up a cell phone charger since I couldn't find mine (can never hurt to have two), we ate, and hung out before heading back to South Station. We checked into ClubAcela since we were connecting first class customers. We were the only two in the lounge, we settled in, watched some TV, drank some soda, etc. The big disappointment to me though was the lack of Wi-Fi, although the attendant said it should be coming in December or so. About 9:30 we headed out to the train, boarded and sat down in the first coach. I went and walked the train for consist, and as I did I noticed the Business Class had the new leather seats. I went back and talked it over with Jon, we decided to go for the upgrade since it was only $24/each and it would be much more comfortable than coach. We moved up to Business Class, and took a pair of seats towards the rear of Business Class. We tried to pull from South Station on time, but I think the cab signal dropped on the Engineer. Our consist was as follows:
AEM-7AC Locomotive 918
Heritage Baggage 1735
Amfleet I Cafe/Business Class 20174-Leather Seats
Amfleet I Coach 82529
Amfleet I Coach 44243
Amfleet I Coach 82038
As we went along Jon and I both got extremely frustrated with the lady behind us who had obviously been drinking. She was on her cell phone til 12 AM while Jon tried to watch a movie and I tried to get some shut eye. Even after politely asking her to move or end her call we had no luck for the most part, she moved for about 5 minutes until someone else complained. But I am sorry, when it's 11:30 on a night train in Business Class where people are trying to sleep, you'd think she'd be a little more considerate, but apparently not.
July 12, 2005
We arrived in New York right on time, and headed up to the waiting area. We went in search of a White Castle, which we found just north of the station at 8th Ave. and 37th St. From there we walked up through Times Square which was fairly empty but it was 3 in the morning. We took a 2 Local Train back down to Penn Station. We waited in the main waiting room til about 5:20 when we moved over to ClubAcela. We were both able to catch sporadic sleep before we went back out on the town at 7:30. We took a 1 Train down to South Ferry where we walked around Battery Park, took some pictures, etc. We took the 1 Train back up to Chambers St. Where we transferred to a 3 Express Train. We took the 3 up to 96th Street where I attempted to get pizza at my favorite pizza place, but apparently their Times Square location opens earlier than the 96th Street location. We got back on the 3 Train to Penn Station, and went back in ClubAcela to wait on 91. They started First Class boarding at 9:50, a little late since the train came down from the yard late. We got to the 11 Car, met Preston our attendant, and got settled into our room. We pulled from New York a few minutes late at 10:05. We arrived at Philly which is normally the spot for engine changes these days, but we just did station work, engine change at Washington. We were held for a few minutes because the LSA in the Lounge ordered in food, and apparently we had a nice Conductor since he held us for it to come. We cruised along from Philly to Washington, moving at a pretty normal pace, passing a ton of trains. We arrived at Washington, Jon and I got down and walked up to the head end to get some pictures of the engine change. We did so, walked the train, then got back up for an on time departure. Jon went back to the Lounge where he found out they almost called the Amtrak Police in on us since we were taking pictures of the engine change. Fortunately enough people on this crew know who I am that they were able to persuade them not to call. But, it's a sad state of affairs when two normal looking white kids taking pictures of trains are considered suspicious. Here's how the consist looked:
HHP-8 Locomotive 650 NYP-WAS
P-42 Locomotive 200 WAS-MIA
Heritage Baggage 1711
Heritage Crew Dorm 2510
Viewliner Sleeper 62032
Viewliner Sleeper 62048
Viewliner Sleeper 62024
Heritage Diner 8528
Amfleet II Lounge 28020
Amfleet II Coach 25063
Amfleet II Coach 25115
Amfleet II Coach 25106
Amfleet II Coach 25091
I pulled down the top bed leaving Washington to try to get some shut eye, which I did between Washington and Richmond. We arrived at Richmond two hours late at 6:00. We waited for Auto Train to pass us at the station. According to Preston most of our delay was due to a signal failure and track inspection, plus the heat orders. We made our stop at Petersburg, and somewhere south of there we overtook Auto Train, since we run 10 mph faster than them. They should be able to make it to Sanford before we do tomorrow. I do have to say that the new carriers look really good, and the switching & loading process has to be 10 times easier now. We ate at the 8:00 Dinner seating, and were seated with a really nice older lady who had a terrible experience coming north, and as a result was upgraded to a Sleeper for free (especially since there were a bunch of empty rooms). I took a shower after Dinner, which was interesting, I definitely prefer the much larger shower on the Superliner. Made it to Raleigh where there was a hubub of activity, besides the 72 passengers boarding the Fire Department was on hand as someone had pulled the fire alarm prior to out arrival.
July 13, 2005
We arrived into Hamlet around Midnight for another crew change where the best Conductor out of JAX boarded. I stayed up pretty much the entire way to JAX (I did fall asleep for about 45 minutes out of Savannah). We made fairly good time but got held at Ulmer for 92, which wasn't too bad, it was a fairly good meet based on physical characteristics. He showed me some of the interesting little points along the way to Savannah, reroutes from original routing, Railroad Crossings at grade, places of interest, etc. What really pissed us both off was that as we were pulling from Savannah we had a Stop Signal at the South End of the station. We both anticipated it being a hot UPS Northbound from JAX. Instead 53 comes roaring by. He headed down West Route, we were hoping to take East Route to get by him before Ogeechee, but that didn't happen. He was "short on time" and was given priority. Now that's B.S., he's picking up a re-crew at JAX, he's not going to make it to Sanford with his current crew, what the heck difference does it make. We could've gotten out ahead of him and run track speed into JAX, but instead we had to follow him all the way in. After I woke up from my nap I grabbed breakfast to go from the Diner and ate it in the Lounge. We made it into JAX around 8:20, right on 97's schedule (or the old Star schedule). We went from the best Conductor in JAX to the two worst, sounds like a good time to sleep to me. I crawled into the upper bunk, fully expecting us to bypass Tampa due to our lateness. I woke up at Orlando, found Preston and he said we'd be continuing to Tampa as scheduled. This worked for Jon since he hadn't covered the territory yet, but it was two hours of my life gone to waste. We pulled into the wye at Neve, did the brake test and started backing into Tampa, as we came down to a stop it started to absolutely pour. Jon and I got down to get some fresh air while we had time since this was a big stop. There was a huge crack of lightning Preston got back on (him being the little schoolgirl he is), after the next one Willie told us all to get back on, he'd had enough too. I crawled back in bed and slept until Winter Haven. I woke up in the station. Around West Lake Wales Jon came back from the Lounge and said they'd be having a quick Dinner for sleeping car passengers, and we had a choice of Chicken or Fish. I took the chicken, and we headed back around Avon Park for Dinner. It was definitely a no frills meal, plastic silverware and foam plates, but its understandable since this is the part of the trip when they are normally packing up the dishes and glassware, to me it was the thought that counted. Preston came in to make up the beds after West Palm, had a good chat about working with Amtrak, and how much less stressful it is compared to other lines of work. I found out he had previously been a stock broker before coming to Amtrak in 2001. He's happier, he's less stressed, and that's all that really matters in the end. We hit the bumper in Miami at 9:40 (5:20 late, 97 was still sitting on 2 rail when we pulled in), we tipped Preston, took our carry-ons out to my car, and then went back into claim my checked bags. We made it back to my house around 10:30, not a bad trip all in all.
July 14, 2005
I took Jon out to Lunch at a local restaurant before he had to catch his flight out. We had a good meal, drove down to Ft. Lauderdale International where he caught his flight to Charlotte to connect with a flight to Boston on his airline, US Air. I dropped him off, and drove off from the airport, officially ending my trip, right where it began.
Epilogue
All in all I have to say this is quite possibly the best trip I've ever been on. I spent time doing things I wanted to do, with my friends, on my schedule, not someone else's. Also traveling into other parts of the country and getting some real insight into their operation, rules, and procedures solidified my conviction that the railroad is where I belong. Hopefully this time four years from now, with a college diploma in hand I'll be heading towards a career with Amtrak (should they still exist) or another passenger road.
h34r:
