With 'L', NYC subway, Acela, T, and (upon return by air to STL), MetroLink as bonuses. :giggle:
March 6th, I got to Gateway Station to find that half of the main entrance was blocked off, along with most of the Amtrak-side waiting area. The benches were rearranged to still accommodate as many people as possible though. I recognized a few car numbers in the consist of this 300, due to one of the TIGER logos altering me to the fact that 54568 was being used today. This time, though, my seat was in 48169 due to the business class AGR promotion. While I didn't catch a specific number, the engine was one of those that I'm more used to seeing in Chicago... an AEM7 of some type? (at least if I'm referencing OTOL properly) I seem to remember the number being in the 900s at any rate. Arrival to CUS was 6 minutes early, after departing between on time and 8 minutes late from points between ALN and SMT, with most of those delays being between 1 and 4 minutes.
Did my usual Clinton (Blue) to Rosemont during my intentionally extended layover and took a Pace bus to a place nearby for lunch and a little shopping, then upon my return to Rosemont, I grabbed a seat on the first available Blue Line train, even though it was heading to O'Hare, because I didn't want to stand in the cold. For my return toward Clark/Lake to cover some new (to me) Green Line trackage, I ended up in car 2997, and I noticed the in car ads were all for Amtrak.
My new additions on the 'L' tally in this case were 43rd to Ashland/63rd. I was tempted to backtrack to Garfield to get the other branch, but between the stuff I didn't check in the Metropolitan Lounge, the stuff I'd purchased, and wanting to have some time to just rest in the Metro Lounge, I decided against it this time. I'll have at least one chance in May to grab it, not counting NTD.
While I was waiting for sleeper boarding on the day's Capitol Limited, I tried getting online, and the seeming trend of the Wi-fi not working while I'm there continued. At boarding time, while walking along the through track area, I noticed an odd setup going by, with a P42, what appeared to be a Cascades engine (at least, it had the paint job), and another P42.
My dinner reservation was for 7 pm Central, and I had the vegetarian pasta, with Diet Pepsi to drink and raspberry sorbet for dessert. Aside from being gone for dinner, I spent a good portion of the night in the chat like usual (yay 3G), though I made myself get some sleep after Toledo and recording part of the consist. My curiosity made me figure out the bed myself, though I made the lower bunk for simplicity's sake.
I woke up about 8 am Eastern time on the 7th and while I probably should have waited for lunch (preference of food type, and not generally being hungry enough at initial wakeup), I changed immediately and had the Railroad French Toast for breakfast. I liked it more than the french toast at work, but I don't imagine I'll eat it often. I would have considered going back to get either the kid's Griddled Cheese or the Chipotle Black Bean & Corn Veggie Burger at about 10:30, but I dozed off again and woke up a few minutes before the announcement that the diner was closed.
I'm not sure why we almost an hour late at one point, but we made some of it up and were only about 25 minutes late into the station at WAS.
I found ClubAcela after a brief search and a little bit of technically unnecessary worry. I left that part of the building about a half hour before 178 was due to head out to get a souvenir and get in position for boarding. Not having to be figuratively stuck in a particular car based on destination did sort of throw me for a loop for a few seconds. The trip to NYP was uneventful, we departed WAS 5 minutes late and were 9 minutes late arriving into NYP.
The next morning (March 8th), I left with the friend I was staying with to wander around while he was at work. We both boarded an N train toward Astoria-Ditmars Boulevard and while I don't know where he left, I of course stayed on till the end of the line. I then backtracked to Times Square to transfer to an A/C/E (no, I don't remember specifically which one at this point) and had a breakfast break at the Tim Hortons at NYP. Debated on texting Alan to do the LIRR trip to Far Rockaway while I was there, so I'd be the one to wait instead, but I decided against it. Wandered semi-randomly, ended up in the Rockefeller Plaza area by the time my friend got off work and caught up to me. We wandered around Times Square a bit, then I continued to do so when he had to leave for a bit, then we met up again and had dinner at Taishu Izakaya Kenka, with Pinkberry for dessert.
After getting back to the friend's place, I just chilled and made sure Alan was still able to do the LIRR trip before heading to sleep for the night.
The next morning, I slept in later than my friend, and that's probably where it started to go kind of wrong, because the previous morning I hadn't been paying much attention to my surroundings, just followed my friend in my sleepy haze. I feel bad though, because I texted Alan that I was on my way to NYP soon after first stepping out of the house, then I wasted a while finding the bloody Avenue U station... Thank goodness it's elevated in that area, because I ended up hearing a train and following the tracks to a station :/ (Somehow, it was more fun the last time I'd played that card, in Chicago last May).
Eventually made it to NYP without having to step outdoors again, though it was still cold enough in the underground stations, and while my semi-coherent route planning worked well enough for the most part, I wish I would have received Alan's "get to Penn Station this way" text sooner - I probably wouldn't have been as late.
Finally got to Penn Station at exactly 1:05, the late end of originally anticipated trio of times that I'd mentioned to Alan in email. Ended up going into Penn Station's Club Acela with him to wait things out till the 2:05 to Far Rockaway, and slowly worked on a Diet Pepsi. Due to approximately equal parts residual incoherency and frustration, when it came time to buy my LIRR ticket, I let Alan navigate the LIRR TVM to the point where I needed to deposit money.
Like usual, I didn't say much on this trip, though as far as what I'd consider along the line of intelligent train/Amtrak banter, I did a little better than usual. :lol: This time though, I had plenty to look at or listen to. I still chuckle slightly when I think back to our last little bit of conversation around Jay Street-Borough Hall, and can't wait until Atlanta so I can do some major travel again.
After that, eventually made my way back to my friend's to pack (his explicit subway directions and a reminder of his street address helped immensly). He got home about 7:15 or so, and we watched a little TV before leaving at 8. I broke my headphones by catching them on a handrail on the way to the elevator from the subway at Penn Station. Good thing I brought my spare ones, the pair that came with my phone.
While waiting for 177, I first met another friend and talked with him briefly, mainly about trains even though I mainly knew him though the video game radio show I listen to each Sunday, I told him about this board, and soon after he signed up under the user name G. Malpartida.
177 got to NYP and WAS on time, which was good considering I remember it raining lightly at least the majority of the trip... I almost wish it had been slightly later so I'd have less time in the waiting room before ClubAcela opened. As it was, I was in the general waiting area when the fire alarm went off. I went outside for about ten minutes and it seems to have been a false alarm. I changed clothes after that, well before ClubAcela opened, but didn't enter immediately upon its opening. Killed time with various drinks and various things on my computer once I did go in. I somehow made my goal of not falling asleep in ClubAcela, though I had the ClubAcela attendant worried for a moment at one point before I reminded her my Acela was the 9 am one.
My ride upon the Acela was amazing, and my First Class service was worth the upcharge... I feel guilty that I couldn't tip my car attendants, they made sure my Diet Pepsi didn't run dry and that everything else was ok, and just generally made it a good experience from the new person's point of view. As it was, I relied on my credit card for food the entire time I was in Boston.
Got to Boston South Station 3 minutes early, and was in such a rush to get to my hotel nearer to Back Bay that I skipped South Station's Club Acela!
I didn't even ask anyone to get a more proper picture, I just got a quick self-picture outside the First Class car. After checking in to my hotel and changing from my skirt to pants, I returned to Back Bay to get some T riding done. First line down was Orange, though that was more out of Back Bay being an Orange-exclusive station as far as lines to choose from go. I also got all of the Red Line that wasn't Ashton to Mattapan (and some Green. “North Station to Lechmere to Heath St. to Park St.” is how I have it listed in the note on my iPod). I wanted to get Ashton to Mattapan too, but it was getting kinda late and I didn't want to be late to get Christopher (yes, the same one I tried getting to go to the last Gathering) from South Station to the hotel on his inaugural LD train run... Then his train turned out to be about 45 minutes late! D: Researching after the fact showed that 178 left DC almost an hour late on the 10th for some reason, and in this case, the arrival board was more accurate than calling the computer. Thank goodness the security people were nice enough to let me wait for the train inside even though the building technically closed at midnight.
As far as trains goes, this is where my vacation ended for the most part. I had fun at the convention, and to keep cab fare cheaper after grudgingly flying home due to time constraints, I bought a surcharged 2 hour pass at Lambert Terminal 2/East and went to Civic Center to ride home from there.
Thanks again to Alan for seeing me while I was in NY and acting as tour guide so I didn't miss the important views on the LIRR trip.
March 6th, I got to Gateway Station to find that half of the main entrance was blocked off, along with most of the Amtrak-side waiting area. The benches were rearranged to still accommodate as many people as possible though. I recognized a few car numbers in the consist of this 300, due to one of the TIGER logos altering me to the fact that 54568 was being used today. This time, though, my seat was in 48169 due to the business class AGR promotion. While I didn't catch a specific number, the engine was one of those that I'm more used to seeing in Chicago... an AEM7 of some type? (at least if I'm referencing OTOL properly) I seem to remember the number being in the 900s at any rate. Arrival to CUS was 6 minutes early, after departing between on time and 8 minutes late from points between ALN and SMT, with most of those delays being between 1 and 4 minutes.
Did my usual Clinton (Blue) to Rosemont during my intentionally extended layover and took a Pace bus to a place nearby for lunch and a little shopping, then upon my return to Rosemont, I grabbed a seat on the first available Blue Line train, even though it was heading to O'Hare, because I didn't want to stand in the cold. For my return toward Clark/Lake to cover some new (to me) Green Line trackage, I ended up in car 2997, and I noticed the in car ads were all for Amtrak.
My new additions on the 'L' tally in this case were 43rd to Ashland/63rd. I was tempted to backtrack to Garfield to get the other branch, but between the stuff I didn't check in the Metropolitan Lounge, the stuff I'd purchased, and wanting to have some time to just rest in the Metro Lounge, I decided against it this time. I'll have at least one chance in May to grab it, not counting NTD.
While I was waiting for sleeper boarding on the day's Capitol Limited, I tried getting online, and the seeming trend of the Wi-fi not working while I'm there continued. At boarding time, while walking along the through track area, I noticed an odd setup going by, with a P42, what appeared to be a Cascades engine (at least, it had the paint job), and another P42.
My dinner reservation was for 7 pm Central, and I had the vegetarian pasta, with Diet Pepsi to drink and raspberry sorbet for dessert. Aside from being gone for dinner, I spent a good portion of the night in the chat like usual (yay 3G), though I made myself get some sleep after Toledo and recording part of the consist. My curiosity made me figure out the bed myself, though I made the lower bunk for simplicity's sake.
I woke up about 8 am Eastern time on the 7th and while I probably should have waited for lunch (preference of food type, and not generally being hungry enough at initial wakeup), I changed immediately and had the Railroad French Toast for breakfast. I liked it more than the french toast at work, but I don't imagine I'll eat it often. I would have considered going back to get either the kid's Griddled Cheese or the Chipotle Black Bean & Corn Veggie Burger at about 10:30, but I dozed off again and woke up a few minutes before the announcement that the diner was closed.
I'm not sure why we almost an hour late at one point, but we made some of it up and were only about 25 minutes late into the station at WAS.
I found ClubAcela after a brief search and a little bit of technically unnecessary worry. I left that part of the building about a half hour before 178 was due to head out to get a souvenir and get in position for boarding. Not having to be figuratively stuck in a particular car based on destination did sort of throw me for a loop for a few seconds. The trip to NYP was uneventful, we departed WAS 5 minutes late and were 9 minutes late arriving into NYP.
The next morning (March 8th), I left with the friend I was staying with to wander around while he was at work. We both boarded an N train toward Astoria-Ditmars Boulevard and while I don't know where he left, I of course stayed on till the end of the line. I then backtracked to Times Square to transfer to an A/C/E (no, I don't remember specifically which one at this point) and had a breakfast break at the Tim Hortons at NYP. Debated on texting Alan to do the LIRR trip to Far Rockaway while I was there, so I'd be the one to wait instead, but I decided against it. Wandered semi-randomly, ended up in the Rockefeller Plaza area by the time my friend got off work and caught up to me. We wandered around Times Square a bit, then I continued to do so when he had to leave for a bit, then we met up again and had dinner at Taishu Izakaya Kenka, with Pinkberry for dessert.
After getting back to the friend's place, I just chilled and made sure Alan was still able to do the LIRR trip before heading to sleep for the night.
The next morning, I slept in later than my friend, and that's probably where it started to go kind of wrong, because the previous morning I hadn't been paying much attention to my surroundings, just followed my friend in my sleepy haze. I feel bad though, because I texted Alan that I was on my way to NYP soon after first stepping out of the house, then I wasted a while finding the bloody Avenue U station... Thank goodness it's elevated in that area, because I ended up hearing a train and following the tracks to a station :/ (Somehow, it was more fun the last time I'd played that card, in Chicago last May).
Eventually made it to NYP without having to step outdoors again, though it was still cold enough in the underground stations, and while my semi-coherent route planning worked well enough for the most part, I wish I would have received Alan's "get to Penn Station this way" text sooner - I probably wouldn't have been as late.
Finally got to Penn Station at exactly 1:05, the late end of originally anticipated trio of times that I'd mentioned to Alan in email. Ended up going into Penn Station's Club Acela with him to wait things out till the 2:05 to Far Rockaway, and slowly worked on a Diet Pepsi. Due to approximately equal parts residual incoherency and frustration, when it came time to buy my LIRR ticket, I let Alan navigate the LIRR TVM to the point where I needed to deposit money.
Like usual, I didn't say much on this trip, though as far as what I'd consider along the line of intelligent train/Amtrak banter, I did a little better than usual. :lol: This time though, I had plenty to look at or listen to. I still chuckle slightly when I think back to our last little bit of conversation around Jay Street-Borough Hall, and can't wait until Atlanta so I can do some major travel again.
After that, eventually made my way back to my friend's to pack (his explicit subway directions and a reminder of his street address helped immensly). He got home about 7:15 or so, and we watched a little TV before leaving at 8. I broke my headphones by catching them on a handrail on the way to the elevator from the subway at Penn Station. Good thing I brought my spare ones, the pair that came with my phone.
While waiting for 177, I first met another friend and talked with him briefly, mainly about trains even though I mainly knew him though the video game radio show I listen to each Sunday, I told him about this board, and soon after he signed up under the user name G. Malpartida.
177 got to NYP and WAS on time, which was good considering I remember it raining lightly at least the majority of the trip... I almost wish it had been slightly later so I'd have less time in the waiting room before ClubAcela opened. As it was, I was in the general waiting area when the fire alarm went off. I went outside for about ten minutes and it seems to have been a false alarm. I changed clothes after that, well before ClubAcela opened, but didn't enter immediately upon its opening. Killed time with various drinks and various things on my computer once I did go in. I somehow made my goal of not falling asleep in ClubAcela, though I had the ClubAcela attendant worried for a moment at one point before I reminded her my Acela was the 9 am one.
My ride upon the Acela was amazing, and my First Class service was worth the upcharge... I feel guilty that I couldn't tip my car attendants, they made sure my Diet Pepsi didn't run dry and that everything else was ok, and just generally made it a good experience from the new person's point of view. As it was, I relied on my credit card for food the entire time I was in Boston.
Got to Boston South Station 3 minutes early, and was in such a rush to get to my hotel nearer to Back Bay that I skipped South Station's Club Acela!
I didn't even ask anyone to get a more proper picture, I just got a quick self-picture outside the First Class car. After checking in to my hotel and changing from my skirt to pants, I returned to Back Bay to get some T riding done. First line down was Orange, though that was more out of Back Bay being an Orange-exclusive station as far as lines to choose from go. I also got all of the Red Line that wasn't Ashton to Mattapan (and some Green. “North Station to Lechmere to Heath St. to Park St.” is how I have it listed in the note on my iPod). I wanted to get Ashton to Mattapan too, but it was getting kinda late and I didn't want to be late to get Christopher (yes, the same one I tried getting to go to the last Gathering) from South Station to the hotel on his inaugural LD train run... Then his train turned out to be about 45 minutes late! D: Researching after the fact showed that 178 left DC almost an hour late on the 10th for some reason, and in this case, the arrival board was more accurate than calling the computer. Thank goodness the security people were nice enough to let me wait for the train inside even though the building technically closed at midnight.As far as trains goes, this is where my vacation ended for the most part. I had fun at the convention, and to keep cab fare cheaper after grudgingly flying home due to time constraints, I bought a surcharged 2 hour pass at Lambert Terminal 2/East and went to Civic Center to ride home from there.
Thanks again to Alan for seeing me while I was in NY and acting as tour guide so I didn't miss the important views on the LIRR trip.
