Oct trip
Enid-Erie PA round trip
Started the day of Sept 28 like normal going to work at 5 30 AM. Left work about 7:30 AM and headed to the local railroad museum where I volunteer. Was there until noon and headed home. Crashed out around the house getting ready for the overnight trip to Newton Had everything ready for the trip done by 3 PM. Took the dog over the vet for boarding about 4 PM and joined my uncle who was visiting for dinner with my grandma. After a good nap until eight, I took my travel stuff and put it into the car. Left Enid around 9:55 and made the normal stop at Macdonald’s near Belle Plaine Kansas at midnight. This time the ice cream machine was not frozen up like previous trips. After a cone, left there and arrived in Newton about 1 AM. Parked in front of the station and set out the luggage. Talked to a couple of guys there waiting for the station attendant to get to the station. One was traveling to Chicago and the other to St Louis. While they watched my bags I moved the car over to the long term parking across the street from the station. Around 1:30 was able to get into the station. Passenger were starting to gather in the station. Talked to a few who were first time train riders. Due to my frequent trips I was able to answer a lot of their questions about the train. Around 2 PM freight trains started to run by the station. By the time I saw the third freight I knew both 3& 4(eastbound and westbound Southwest Chief trains) would be late. After the last freight cleared the platform, number four pulled in and first boarded the sleeper cars. A few minuted later the train was pulled up and the coach passengers were loaded. The Amtrak crew made quick work of getting the Chief moving. Not bad having to wait for three freights in front of it and be only ten minutes late. The first time passenger got to view a loading of a Amtrak train. After a five minute delay number 4 pulled in and did it’s station work. I was in the coach car right next to the dinner. By the time we passed though Topeka the train was running about ten minutes late. Also the fog had gotten heavy to I could not see much. That fog contained until arriving in Kansas City. While the train was sitting in the railyard fueling the locomotives, I saw several carload of new jet fuselages from Wichita and going to Seattle to finished into new planes. The rest of the trip was normal with a onetime arrival into La Plata Missouri. On previous trips I had always gone all the way into Chicago and just saw this small town a few minutes. I decided this trip to spend a few days there. The hotel shuttle was waiting and I was quickly at the Depot Inn and Suites. This is a first class railroad theme’d hotel with lots of to. While waiting the hour for my room to made ready I looked through their railroad book and magazine collection. After a few hours nap, I explored the area around the hotel. About a half mile walk will get you out to a viewing platform that is enclosed and sits above the tracks. Saw a wide selection of trains both stack, trailer and boxcar trains. Due to not getting a rental car because La Plata is such a small town, walked about a mile each way to get lunch. The small diner was part of a pharmacy. When I ordered a tenderloin sandwich I thought I was going to get just a small piece of meat. When it was placed on the table it was a full size chicken fried steak that went way over the bun. I ate about half of it and got the rest to go. That evening was a short one to get some sleep from not getting much sleep the night before. Tuesday I was up around seven and eat breakfast around eight. The hotel shuttle took me to the train station around nine with the train arriving about five minutes early. A fast and on time arrive trip put my in downtown Chicago about three. Right at that time the workers coming off the commuter trains. They have been riding these trains for years so they know the way. It is like a head of cattle with it best to stay out of their way. After checking into the first class lounge in the station and leaving my bags in the storage room, I headed out into the city. My goal in Chicago was to see the other three big train stations in the downtown area. On this day i visited two of the three. When I arrived in La Salle street station, I got the wild idea of riding one of the trains out so far and come back in on a another train. After spend a few minutes looking at the schedules I picked out Blue Island and used the ticket machine to get a one way ticket instead of waiting in line at the ticket counter. It was about a forty minute ride one way. When I got off the train at the station in Blue Island I noticed that I had to make a choice. Which line of three to go back into Chicago on. Picking the Illinois Central Electric route was an easy choice because they would give me a complete ride of one Metro route. After a ticket from a machine, I took a few photos of locomotives on both metro trains coming though the station and waiting to go out on freight trains that night. One locomotive could not be photographed due having to get off the station platform which today is a big no no. After about an hour a train was ready to head back into Chicago. Due to fewer passenger traveling back into Chicago only the first car was used. The first five miles of the line was slow running due to the many road crossing and frequent stops. Some of them were flag stops(train only stops if there are passengers on the platform). Once the double level train reaches the multi track mainline, it picks up speed and quickly was back to downtown Chicago. To save some time I got off at the station before the last one. After hopping off the train it was a two mile walk back to Union Station. I had to remember the route I had taken a few hours early. After a few turns I was back into the first class lounge and talked to a few passenger that were boarding the same train I was riding to Erie in the same sleeper car. One pair of passenger started their trip in San Diego and was going all the way to Boston. The other couple came from Los Angeles and were returning to Connecticut. Around 8:30 the announcement was made to start early boarding out of the lounge. We long term train riders call it the kindergarten walk because an Amtrak lounge personal walks out to the train with the passengers. Since the Lake Shore Limited does not leave Chicago until 9:30 PM with no dinner in the dinner. The passenger riding sleeper get a special wine and cheese serving in the sleepers. Since I am not a wine drinker orange juice was offered in place of the wine. The sleeper car I was riding is know as a Viewliner, a first for me. The sleeper attendant(one per sleeper car) has been working for Amtrak for forty years. He last name was Heath like the candy bar. On a Viewliner there is thirty beds to change from daytime to nighttime setup. He did the job in about twenty minutes doing like it was nothing. After settling in i was asleep by totally getting under the sheets. Just like the coach cars the lights in the hallway are left on all night for safety reasons. As the train lightly rocked thought the night, I had to keep myself from keeping track of the train’s timekeeping. I finally gave in at 4:30 waking up to the time change. The hardest thing to get used to on trip is the time zone in the time due to being an hour ahead of the time in the Central. Around five I walked through four full coaches to sit in the lounge car to wait for the dinner to open at 6AM. While sitting in there i used my Iphone to make arrangement for today’s part of the trip. The trains are keep cold to keep germs in check so by 5:30 I decided I wanted my coat. When I got back to my room the couple in the room next to me was ready to go to the dinner. It took some solid footwork to walk though eight cars on a moving train. The reason there are so many cars between the front sleeper and the diner is because the train is split into two parts at Albany New York. One section of the train goes to New York City and the other section travels to Boston. Because I am riding in a sleeper roomette meals in the dinner are included in the fare. After looking over the menu I had my usual continental breakfast. It consists of oatmeal, yogurt, grapes and a biscuit. Orange juice and milk finished out the meal. After eating for twenty minutes I was full and walked back to my room without touching any seat backs or hand rails. Once back lounged back in my room I knew that the train would be late into Erie Pennsylvania. After a hour of running time the train made a controlled stop in the countryside. The train crew made the announcement that the track ahead of us was being upgraded. From my twin set of windows(Viewliners have two windows for each room) I could see ties were being changed out. Once the track workers cleared the track, the train slowly headed to Erie. Arrival was about an hour late at 9 AM. Walking though the station that was in a state of being starting to be restored to it former glory. I called for a taxi which took me to the local airport to get a car rental. Since I could not check into the hotel until 3 PM, I explored the city stopping at the local library, a few used bookstores and had lunch. After a not in a hurry lunch I headed east to a railroad museum about ten miles of of Erie. It was mostly outside displays of cars and locomotives. I saw their locomotive, the first donated dash 8 locomotive, that they had just recently received. I back to the hotel around 4 and had a nice quiet evening in the room. Around six PM I received a call from the train ride I had planned on riding in Ohio the next day. They left me know due to the governmental shutdown they would not be running operations. The track they run on is own by the US government due to being in a national park. No one will be on duty to inspect the track before running passenger trains. I made some new plans for the new day. I was in bed early and sleep into until 8 the next morning. Went downstairs and had a not in a hurry breakfast. Checked out of the hotel and heading for Ohio around 9 am. First stop was at Conneaut Ohio to see a museum that was not open at the time. I took a photo of a Nickel Plate Berkshire steam locomotive to add to my collection of rail photos. Before leaving town I stopped at the local library that had a good collection of railroad books to browse. Traveling to Ashtabula was next stop seeing the coal dumper that handled coal coming off railroad hopper cars into ships. On my trips in the car I like to take the the less traveled highways roads instead of the interstate highways. On these roads you get to see the real America instead of racing by at 70 MPH. Driving though on of the larger towns in Eastern Ohio I passed a bank. I need to get some cash to pay for the taxi ride that evening from the airport in Erie back to the train station after turning in the rental car. The clerk taking care of me made the mistake of entering into the computer that I had an account at the bank. She had to set up an account with a dollar in it. I really was not in a hurry because I had till 10 PM that night to return the car. After finishing the business I headed south and finely decided where to eat lunch. A quick meal and I was back on my way. Arriving in Youngstown around 3 PM with time to explore this city. Driving into PA I made one more stop at a small city to go to a another library and used bookstore. By this time it was both getting dark and starting to rain. Looking at the time I needed to get moving to finish the trip in mostly daylight. The highway I chose to travel was a challenge to drive due to the hills and curves. Part of the way it was foggy which limited speed for safe driving. Around seven I stopped to fuel up the car. I arrived back to the airport around 8:30 after stopping at a quick trip for snacks. I lounged at the airport until 10:30 and then took a taxi back to the train station. The station does not open until midnight and the train does not arrive until 1:35 AM. Once the station attendant get to the station about 12:10 AM. He checks to see if the Lake Shore Limited is running on time. True to it’s nickname, the late shore limited, it is running about thirty minutes late. Around two AM the train showed up and was quickly boarded with about 15 passenger boarding. Got a somewhat good night sleep. Made up some of of the lateness with a arrival into Chicago only thirty minutes late. I only had about a four hour layover so I did not plan to do much this day. The weather is Chicago was great for this time of year being the first week in October. It was seventy degrees, so I decided to do a walk close to Union Station. On this walk a found another way to get into Union Station that takes you right down to the platform. I know of now being to Chicago so many times seven entrances ways to get into Union Station. Back into the first class lounge I waited for the Southwest Chief, the train on Amtrak I have rode the most. While waiting I talked to several passengers including one that was traveling on the trains to go to cancer treatments. Boarding the sleepers was done in the usual manner with the train leaving right on time. The sleeper attendant was another Amtrak veteran with 37 years of experience. When the fellow passenger started to come into the car, I found out that there would be three other people getting off with my at Newton in the same car. I wanted to get a early to bed so I changed the room to nighttime status by myself using the experience with all the trips in a Superliner roomette. Since I upgraded to a roomette only a month before leaving on the trip. I had to get a lower level room. This is good and bad about the upper and lower level rooms. One of advantages of a lower level is you are closer to the bathrooms and shower on that level. Also you are closer to the entrance doors at extended station stops. The upper level rooms have the better view from the train and passengers do not have go upstairs to walk between the cars. After the conductor scanned my e-ticket, I headed for the lounge car. where dinner reservations were being taken. I got the last 5:30 slot. The sleeper passengers get first pick on times. When I got to the dinner I already knew what I want to eat. This was the only dinner on this trip, so I ordered the first class streak dinner which is now a twenty five dollars meal which includes two sides. Service was a little slow due to only having two dinning car staff working instead of the normal four. The three other passengers had a nice talk while waiting for our food. The Angus steak was perfectly cooked and mouthwatering. After a dessert selection of a three layer chocolate mouse, I headed back to the room. By this time the train was crossing the Mississippi River crossing into Iowa. Fort Madison was the last extended stop before dark. I took the chance to get off the train for a few minutes. As the train pulled out of the station, I crawled into bed. I did not wait up until until about 2 AM and west of Topeka. I had all my stuff ready to get off the train twenty minutes out from Newton. The Chief was early into Newton and it’s station work quickly. After watching it leave I got in my car and headed home. Made it back to Enid by 5:30 and took a four hour nap before heading for the museum.
