New Guy Intro from TPA/LAK

Amtrak Unlimited Discussion Forum

Help Support Amtrak Unlimited Discussion Forum:

This site may earn a commission from merchant affiliate links, including eBay, Amazon, and others.
Joined
Dec 4, 2006
Messages
13
Location
Tampa, FL (work is LAK)
Hello All !

Its' great to have found this forum in the great mass of info. out here!!

Since doing some research and reading the posts here in the forum,

I have booked a trip on the Silver Star 92, 91 from LAK to NWK, round trip.

Have not travelled by train in 14 years and really am looking forward to this trip.

This trip will include my family (wife, and 2 grown kids) whom travelled when they were very young.

I have been very blessed to have experienced the Amtrak verison of the Broadway Limted in 1992 from NWK to CHI

(was treated like a KING with the roomette service) and the Hiawatha on to Milwaukee.

The wife and I traveled Amtrak from NWK to Williamsburg, VA in 1988 and I don’t remember the train name.

Have been a railfan, train advocate, covered local NJ history on the Lackawanna Railway (DL&W) and the Modelrailroad Guide on About.com (1998-2000),

I enjoy all things 'rail' and appreciate the work the the folks do on Amtrak to make the journey bearable for the rest of us.

Looking forward to particpating in the forums and supply my own trip report for #92/91 LAK to NWK in Jan 07 !!

(**PS:where can I get a recent list of scanner freqs for my trip on #92)

Best Regards,

Charlie Cacioppo
 
Last edited by a moderator:
Welcome aboard! Try 160.59 road and 160.92 dispatch until you get up to JAX. I'll have to go find my bookmark for the lists beyond that. Running out of Winter Park, we've been into TPA and LAK/LKL a number of times, also down to Miami, up to Jax, and out to Pensacola and beyond, and have had Florida Resident Annual Railpass several years (but not this year). If you want to travel much in Florida by Amtrak, that railpass is a decent deal, although not nearly as good now that Sunset Limited no longer runs east of New Orleans. When (hopefully not IF) Sunset is reestablished into Florida, the Railpass is then a REALLY good deal, giving you pretty much the whole state from Pensacola to Miami, and even including the Bus from Tampa down as far as Ft. Myers.
 
Charlie, welcome aboard.
ciao.gif


You can find all the scanner frequencies nicely laid out by route here at On Track On Line.
 
Hello All !Its' great to have found this forum in the great mass of info. out here!!

Since doing some research and reading the posts here in the forum,

I have booked a trip on the Silver Star 92, 91 from LAK to NWK, round trip.

Have not travelled by train in 14 years and really am looking forward to this trip.

This trip will include my family (wife, and 2 grown kids) whom travelled when they were very young.

I have been very blessed to have experienced the Amtrak verison of the Broadway Limted in 1992 from NWK to CHI

(was treated like a KING with the roomette service) and the Hiawatha on to Milwaukee.

The wife and I traveled Amtrak from NWK to Williamsburg, VA in 1988 and I don’t remember the train name.

Have been a railfan, train advocate, covered local NJ history on the Lackawanna Railway (DL&W) and the Modelrailroad Guide on About.com (1998-2000),

I enjoy all things 'rail' and appreciate the work the the folks do on Amtrak to make the journey bearable for the rest of us.

Looking forward to particpating in the forums and supply my own trip report for #92/91 LAK to NWK in Jan 07 !!

(**PS:where can I get a recent list of scanner freqs for my trip on #92)

Best Regards,

Charlie Cacioppo
Charlie-

Is the station still in good shape there in Tampa? I was fortunate to have visited it just after an extensive rennovation about 5 years ago... Fun area of town too.
 
Tampa Union Station (T.U.S.) is indeed a beautiful old building, and in fairly decent shape. It had a nice facelift inside recently, but last Spring or early Summer, which was my most recent trip there, it looked like there were a few leaks in the roof which were spoiling how the interior ceiling looked in some places. My wife was there last Saturday with a bunch of her "Red Hat" (not Linux :lol: ) lady friends, I think there were six of them total, they got a good deal over and back using the weekly sale, and they spent about a half hour (between arriving on 91 and leaving on 92) inside the Tampa station, looking around. She says it looked pretty good.

There is a nice historical exhibit in the side room that has the vending machines, showing a number of the railroads and some of the passenger trains that used that station before Amtrak. There are also a couple of old Pullman cars outside the station, on static display.

T.U.S. is a great place to just wander around and look, and it is in old downtown Tampa, within walking distance of the Tampa Aquarium, the Cruise Ship Terminal, and an old Victory Ship (WW-II freighter), which has been restored, that you can tour, which we did on one of our visits. Inexpensive (the Victory Ship tour, not the aquarium) and very interesting. T.U.S. is also within about 15 minutes' or so by trolleycar and on foot from Ybor City, including the historic and wonderful Columbia Restaurant. Tampa is also interesting because the trains (91 and 92) use a wye two or three miles from the station to turn the train around, and then they back in for that last two or three miles, with the Conductor standing in the rear door of the last car, calling out signals and crossings, then calling for a safety stop before the train actually backs in to the station. If you have the choice between the Silver Star (91/92) and the Silver Meteor (97/98), and you haven't seen Tampa Union Station, I would take the Star because the Meteor bypasses Tampa.
 
Last edited by a moderator:
Hello All !

Its' great to have found this forum in the great mass of info. out here!!

Since doing some research and reading the posts here in the forum,

I have booked a trip on the Silver Star 92, 91 from LAK to NWK, round trip.

Have not travelled by train in 14 years and really am looking forward to this trip.

This trip will include my family (wife, and 2 grown kids) whom travelled when they were very young.

I have been very blessed to have experienced the Amtrak verison of the Broadway Limted in 1992 from NWK to CHI

(was treated like a KING with the roomette service) and the Hiawatha on to Milwaukee.

The wife and I traveled Amtrak from NWK to Williamsburg, VA in 1988 and I don’t remember the train name.

Have been a railfan, train advocate, covered local NJ history on the Lackawanna Railway (DL&W) and the Modelrailroad Guide on About.com (1998-2000),

I enjoy all things 'rail' and appreciate the work the the folks do on Amtrak to make the journey bearable for the rest of us.

Looking forward to particpating in the forums and supply my own trip report for #92/91 LAK to NWK in Jan 07 !!

(**PS:where can I get a recent list of scanner freqs for my trip on #92)

Best Regards,

Charlie Cacioppo
Charlie-

Is the station still in good shape there in Tampa? I was fortunate to have visited it just after an extensive rennovation about 5 years ago... Fun area of town too.
Hey Railbender !

The TPA station is still in very good shape as noted in the posts you have seen here. The Silver Star #91/92 is my train of choice when I travel from here. (But I also split my time in Lakeland (LAK) and have left from here LAK, direct from work. LAK is 3 blks away). Its great to be this close to Amtrak for intrastate and LD travel!

Thanks !

Charlie Cacioppo
 
Charlie - I like the LAK station as well. It is fairly new, in good shape, and an interesting bi-level arrangement. We have stopped there a couple of times on day trips from WPK, and ate lunch a couple of times at the Crispers a couple of blocks away which, I understand, has now relocated elsewhere, which is too bad, because we really like that restaurant.
 
Charlie - I like the LAK station as well. It is fairly new, in good shape, and an interesting bi-level arrangement. We have stopped there a couple of times on day trips from WPK, and ate lunch a couple of times at the Crispers a couple of blocks away which, I understand, has now relocated elsewhere, which is too bad, because we really like that restaurant.
Hello, as matter of note: if you where to stand on the platform at LAK and continue on parallel to

the tracks past a row of businesses, Crispers! is still 2 blocks from the station.

My employer (publix)runs Crispers and many folks here enjoy it too.
 
Back
Top