Where do you reside?

[Foodman53]

I reside in Fernandina Beach, Florida. For the past 7 years, I've taught Economics and American Government at Hilliard Senior High School....which lies only about 200 yards from CSX's famous "Florida Funnel" trackage. From 1979 to 1999, I was in sales and marketing as an account executive and sales manager with Keebler Cookie Company/Grocery Sales Division.

My first "real job", after graduating from The University of Florida, was as an OBS based out of JAX....working the "extra board", as either a waiter, bartender, or chair car attendant on either the "Silver Star" or "Champion", from December, 1975 to Spring, 1977...at which time I was furloughed....then rolling to a job at the JAX Reservations Call Center. I left Amtrak to go to work for Keebler in June 0f 1979. The JAX center closed and moved to Bensalem(PHL Area), PA in 1980.

In addition to about 70 to 80 CSX trains daily, the "Florida Funnel" hosts the "Silver Meteor", "Silver Star", and "Auto Train"

From the "Florida Funnel"

Foodman53

 

[alaskan mutt]

Originally from Palo Alto, CA. However left at the ripe old age of 4. While I claim to be from Montana, I have lived in Alaska off and on for 35 years. Currently live in Anchorage, Alaska. It is a 3 hour plane ride to the nearest Amtrak station.

 

[MrFSS]

Currently live in Anchorage, Alaska. It is a 3 hour plane ride to the nearest Amtrak station.

Yes - but what a great RR you have right there in Alaska!!!

 

[dedhd]

Live in central Mass about 20 minutes away from amtrak east-west routes, if traveling north-south Boston is about an hour and fifteen. I'm nearing 50 and married. My first train trip was from Worc. Ma tp NOL via coach and loved every minute, I brought all kinds of books and stuff to occupy my time but never even opened one. Took my family to NOL via first class amtrak about 4 years ago, kids were complaining about how long it would take to get there, and why don't we just fly, etc....until they were aboard for about one hour, then they really enjopyed the train, more so than New Orleans. I have been riding long distance routes for over twenty years, lately to and from points to get to Las Vegas NV.

I have a construction background and am a member of the ISEE, and have been blasting for over 25 years.

Only wish I started riding trains earlier.

 

[The Metropolitan]

Like Rafi, I too live in Baltimore, about a 20 minute bus ride from Penn Station, where the NEC services can be found, as well as the Silvers, Palmetto, Crescent, Cardinal, and Vermonter.

I live a 10 minute walk from the old Ma & Pa right of way which once hosted pax trains to York, and 15 minutes from the old Northern Central, once a major trunk through which trains from DC and Baltimore rolled to Pittsburgh, Cincinatti, Chicago, and St. Louis, now a light rail line.

I too tend to lament missing the golden age of trains, as I'm only 34, working in scheduling at the local TA, where the closest I come to playing with trains is working on the Light Rail Schedules.

As of late, my interest in trains has been resurging, and I just returned from a week long journey to Pittsburgh via Amtrak, having thoroughly enjoyed it. Next on the agenda will hopefully be a Summer trip to Chicago - Cardinal up and Cap Ltd. back...

In addition to photography, I also maintain a few historical websites, including a section on the railroads of the past here in Baltimore. It can be found at http://www.monumentalcity.net/railroads

 

[gswager]

As I've previously posted, I live in Lubbock ,Texas and the closest passenger rail service is San Antonio or Austin

I am living in Amarillo, Texas. Actually, the closest rail service to both of us is Las Vegas, New Mexico. Less than 5 hours from Lubbock and 3.5 from Amarillo.

I live in Portales, NM. Las Vegas is the closest one- 2 1/2 hours, Lamy is a little more than 3 1/2 hours and Albuquerque is 4.

 

[blueman271]

I was born and raised in Miami, and moved up to Poughkeepsie NY and finally Hillside NJ 3 years ago. Im 20 years old, and three months ago i joined the Navy. Ive loved trains ever since my dad took me on the Silver Star when i was five. My town doesnt actually have a train station in it, but NJT's Raritan Valley Line does pass through and Newark Penn Station is only about 15 mins away.

 

[Boxcar]

QUOTE (printman2000 @ Tue, Apr 25, 2006, 12:08 PM)

I am living in Amarillo, Texas. Actually, the closest rail service to both of us is Las Vegas, New Mexico. Less than 5 hours from Lubbock and 3.5 from Amarillo.[/Quote]

Yepper...I thought about that distance thing later.

I was writing about the Lubbock Area and thinking about the distance from Our Junction,Texas home...

Actually....I knew that there was passanger rail service

in New Mexico but thought it was in Albuquerque which is a 5 hr drive from Lubbock. I can also drive to Ft Worth,

Austin or San Antonio from Lubbock in the same amount of time. We would almost always be catching the rails from Central Texas.

I live in Portales, NM. Las Vegas is the closest one- 2 1/2 hours, Lamy is a little more than 3 1/2 hours and Albuquerque is 4.

Ok.gswager. I'm not sure where Lamy is but if your just an hour and a half from Lubbock then Las Vegas or Albuqureque is still not much closer than Austin to me but it's nice to know from both of you my other options...BD

 

[had8ley]

Well I guess I'm the "dinosaur"...retired after 35 years of switching, braking, conductoring and engineer. Live in Baton Rouge, LA and hired out for the T&P Railway in 1968~ it seems like eons ago; maybe before they discovered dirt and water. I do have one interesting experience to share~ we were called for the Sunset Limited to run to Houston via the T&P and MOP because the Morgan City (LA) bridge had been knocked out by a barge. We left New Orleans on May 1, 1973, with what we called the "Crayola train". There were seven engines from the Burlington, Penn Central, UP and four other different RR's but not a one from the SP. We had a red signal at the bottom of the Huey P. Long bridge~ (the bridge across the Mississippi River). When we stopped the engineer told me to put on my running shoes because we were on fire. Not only were four engines on fire but only one unit was running !!! After we put out the fires (we found out from the "blue cards" that some of the engines had sat idling in New Orleans as long as 96 days) they headed us into the SP roundhouse in Avondale. They hostled out the burned up junque and added an SP GP or SD 9 and we had to back up the Huey Long bridge to head down the T&P. It was not a fun trip but a very memorable one and the rate of pay for a fireman in passenger service, at that time, was about $25 per 150 miles...

 

[AmtrakFan]

Well I guess I'm the "dinosaur"...retired after 35 years of switching, braking, conductoring and engineer. Live in Baton Rouge, LA and hired out for the T&P Railway in 1968~ it seems like eons ago; maybe before they discovered dirt and water. I do have one interesting experience to share~ we were called for the Sunset Limited to run to Houston via the T&P and MOP because the Morgan City (LA) bridge had been knocked out by a barge. We left New Orleans on May 1, 1973, with what we called the "Crayola train". There were seven engines from the Burlington, Penn Central, UP and four other different RR's but not a one from the SP. We had a red signal at the bottom of the Huey P. Long bridge~ (the bridge across the Mississippi River). When we stopped the engineer told me to put on my running shoes because we were on fire. Not only were four engines on fire but only one unit was running !!! After we put out the fires (we found out from the "blue cards" that some of the engines had sat idling in New Orleans as long as 96 days) they headed us into the SP roundhouse in Avondale. They hostled out the burned up junque and added an SP GP or SD 9 and we had to back up the Huey Long bridge to head down the T&P. It was not a fun trip but a very memorable one and the rate of pay for a fireman in passenger service, at that time, was about $25 per 150 miles...

That sounds like an awful but interasting trip, but that's what the early days of Amtrak were like.

 

[gswager]

Ok.gswager. I'm not sure where Lamy is but if your just an hour and a half from Lubbock then Las Vegas or Albuqureque is still not much closer than Austin to me but it's nice to know from both of you my other options...BD

Lamy is located just south of Santa Fe. Parking in Lamy is much better than Albuquerque. Best way to park at ABQ is at off-site airport parking lot and catch the public bus to the transportation center which it is located next door to Amtrak.

If you're going west, Southwest Chief is much better than Sunset Limited due to on-time performance.

 

[Boxcar]

Ok.gswager. I'm not sure where Lamy is but if your just an hour and a half from Lubbock then Las Vegas or Albuqureque is still not much closer than Austin to me but it's nice to know from both of you my other options...BD

Lamy is located just south of Santa Fe. Parking in Lamy is much better than Albuquerque. Best way to park at ABQ is at off-site airport parking lot and catch the public bus to the transportation center which it is located next door to Amtrak.

If you're going west, Southwest Chief is much better than Sunset Limited due to on-time performance.

Ok....Thanks GS....It's good to know that choice......BD

 

[had8ley]

That sounds like an awful but interasting trip, but that's what the early days of Amtrak were like.

If you like that one you ought to hear about the Ringling Brothers, Barnum & Bailey circus train that we drug into New Orleans from Alexandria, LA Before the days of the hot box detectors we stopped or received roll by inspections of our train at manned stations every 12-15 miles. Unfortunately, we pulled up to Livonia, LA with no other trains to met (a rarity in those days) and the Road Foreman told me to inspect the engines while the brakemen walked the train. Right behind the GP-18's were two converted baggage cars full of huge elelphants. The rolling doors were wide open and the only restraints were the chain across the door and a loose foot chain on the animal.

Well, curiousity got the best of me and I just "had" to peek into the baggage car. What happened next I'll never foget...I received a faceful of some kind of burning cud that the elephant had been eating. It stung my eyes so badly that I had to feel my way back to the head end. By that time the head brakeman was back and he wasted no time in pointing out, with plenty of fanfare, my ridiculous plight to everyone on the head end. I took the five gallon water bucket and gave myself a middle of the woods bath and changed clothes. Oh....I'm glad those days are over. We got to New Orleans and the yard crew relieved us. A real high strung yardmaster named Alfer Bealer comes running out of the yard office screaming, "Get that train off of my main line." My engineer, a great ole man, said, "Alfer, you better watch out for those elephants~ they love nuts and they'll eat you right up. Just ask the fireman." Needless to say,I laid off the next trip.....

 

[AmtrakFan]

That sounds like an awful but interasting trip, but that's what the early days of Amtrak were like.

If you like that one you ought to hear about the Ringling Brothers, Barnum & Bailey circus train that we drug into New Orleans from Alexandria, LA Before the days of the hot box detectors we stopped or received roll by inspections of our train at manned stations every 12-15 miles. Unfortunately, we pulled up to Livonia, LA with no other trains to met (a rarity in those days) and the Road Foreman told me to inspect the engines while the brakemen walked the train. Right behind the GP-18's were two converted baggage cars full of huge elelphants. The rolling doors were wide open and the only restraints were the chain across the door and a loose foot chain on the animal.

Well, curiousity got the best of me and I just "had" to peek into the baggage car. What happened next I'll never foget...I received a faceful of some kind of burning cud that the elephant had been eating. It stung my eyes so badly that I had to feel my way back to the head end. By that time the head brakeman was back and he wasted no time in pointing out, with plenty of fanfare, my ridiculous plight to everyone on the head end. I took the five gallon water bucket and gave myself a middle of the woods bath and changed clothes. Oh....I'm glad those days are over. We got to New Orleans and the yard crew relieved us. A real high strung yardmaster named Alfer Bealer comes running out of the yard office screaming, "Get that train off of my main line." My engineer, a great ole man, said, "Alfer, you better watch out for those elephants~ they love nuts and they'll eat you right up. Just ask the fireman." Needless to say,I laid off the next trip.....

That is such a funny story, thanks for sharing. And I thought it was bad when a Gerbale Pooped on me, this is much worse.

 

[caravanman]

Just a quick "hello" from me..My name is Ed, and my nearest Amtrak station is over 3,470 miles away...but I have still notched up more than 22,000 miles since I discovered Amtrak, over the last three years! Such a shame that the rewards programme is only for North American residents...I run a small business here in Nottingham, England, which allows me to take time off to play!

Looking forward to the next trip,

Ed B)

 

[stlouielady]

I'm from St Louis, MO, currently. Born and raised in central Iowa, spent a few years in Las Vegas, NV, and have been in the St Louis area for 4 years now. I'm 39, single, and work in the casino industry. I do software support for our system in casinos nation-wide, so, I travel a great deal with the job. I take Amtrak when I can, but, that's not very often. Most of the time we are definitely on tight time schedules, which, we all know, are not necessarily possible to keep with Amtrak.

 

[Midland Valley]

This is so interesting. I'm a 51 year old Methodist preacher in Pratt, Kansas who grew up farming in Kansas along the route of the S.F. Chief and the southern section of the Grand Canyon on the A.T.&SF RY. Soon to move to Boot Hill (Dodge City) KS. I'll try to get the nicely restored depot opened up for Amtrak passengers. On May 3rd, the UP #844 (4-8-4) will be in Pratt for a visit. I have asked several of my UP friends to make sure I get a close look at it. Yes these UP folks are pretty decent and don't know anything about the woes thier company is placing on AMTRAK. We are a family of five and ride the train as often as we can.

 

[amtrak_flyer]

34 year old, san diego, ca. Airline pilot, 727 cargo airline. I try to take a train trip every 6 weeks or so. Have taken the coast starlight countless times, family all up and down the route.

 

[capltd29]

Okie Dokie,

I am 16 years old. I live in Chesterfield, VA, just to the south of Richmond, about .8mi on the CSX mainline, 7 mi south of RVR. I have always loved trains, i 1st rode an Amtrak train when i was a little younger than 5. i am a junior in high school. I'd like to get involved in politics some day.

Jon Parker

 

[spot1181]

I'm George , almost 56, a Letter Carrier/Licensed Massage Therapist living in a suburb of Cincinnati, OH. My wife and I have been riding Amtrak for five years and have taken all westbound routes. Our favorite train is The Empire Builder. However, my last two trips have resulted in missed connections with overnights in Chicago. I do have to say, of all the stations I've seen, Cincinnati Union Terminal is by far the most unique and beautiful. But with The Cardinal only in a few minutes, not many have a chance to see it.

 

[yarrow]

we live a little north of spokane,wa. we take the empire builder to portland and seattle(and a couple time the cascades to vancouver,bc). we took the eb to chicago in march and since one of our boys will be going to school in oberlin,oh. this fall we have spk-chi reservations for november to go see him.

 

[trainboy325]

My name is Randy Henderson. I was born in Avon Park, FL right next to the CSX S-Line at what used to be Walker Memorial Hospital. I attribute this to being the reason why I love trains so much even though no one else in my family is a railfan. Grew up in Lake Wales, FL and graduated high school there. Spent the most of my youth working for the City of Lake Wales as a Museum Assistant at the Depot Museum, my town's history museum in the city's old ACL depot. Graduated from the University of Central Florida in 2003 and worked at the Orange County History Center and for the City of Oviedo during my college years. My first "real" job was with Amtrak and began working in On-board Service in JAX in 2004. Furloughed when the Palmetto was truncated south of SAV and relocated to NOL. Worked in NOL until Katrina, took the Amtrak furlough and got a job with the National Park Service in Natchitoches, LA at a park called Cane River Creole NHP. Transfered to Grand Canyon NP just a month ago and call Flagstaff my home station. Looking forward to the opportunity to finally travel on a real cross country trip as all of my Amtrak experience was working on the Silver Service, Crescent and CONO trains.

Hopefully the SWC will be around come this fall when I plan to go home to Lake Wales (train to WTH) when the end of the tourist season allows for my 5 week vacation to be taken.

 

[Guest]

I'll play -- hope that's okay.

I live in Austin, where we have terrific access to Amtrak on a convenient schedule.

I'm planning my family's second big-ish train trip, because I think it's the birthright of every American kid (we have the male variety at our house) to be taken on at least one cross-country car trip and one (or two!) cross-country train trip. Our original plan was to do a loop from Austin to LA to Sacramento to Chicago back to Austin. I think that was a little too ambitious, so we're thinking now of flying Austin to/from Denver and taking Amtrak Denver to/from Sacramento.

I took my first train trip with my mom to visit my grandmother when I was about 5 in the mid-60's. She bought us matching outfits and had her hair put up in a bouffaint, and we were on our best behavior. We had a compartment, and if I remember, a photographer was onboard and recorded the scene.

My mom and I traveled by train together to visit her mother many times after that until I was about 9 or 10, and then I think the interstate highway system took over our lives.

 

[Amtrak OBS Gone Freight]

Well here goes........I have been meaning to reply here, but I got "sidetacked!" Hmmm...... sound familiar? :lol:

Anyway, I am known as Slim out on the railroad. I was born in Orlando Florida, moved to Birdie Georgia (located in Spalding County near Griffin)when I was a year old and moved back to DeLand Florida when I was about 10-11yo. I have been in the DeLand area ever since. I now reside about fifteen minutes north of our DLD station stop in DeLeon Springs. I like it here as it is still rural and quiet. The only real noise is the railroad! The CSX A-line is about quarter-half mile from my house, and Lord I can hear it!!! I am 32yo now, single and loving it (though lonesome once in a while but not much), and I am also the proud uncle of a darling niece (who is 6 1/2yo now) and a wonderful nephew (who is 10 1/2yo now). My family is scattered all over around this area I reside, a few left in Spalding County Georgia, and several in the Greensboro North Carolina area.

I took a job as a stocker at Publix Supermarkets when I was 16yo. I never lost my interest in the railroad, but wanted to stay with Publix and persue my career there. I was promoted several times, and was working as a produce manager when I left to work at Amtrak. Amtrak contacted me in late 2000 after responding to a resume I had sent in some three years prior to several railroads. I actually had forgotten about it! I have been employed at Amtrak for about five and a half years now. I started working out of JAX OBS crewbase as a waiter in the dining car. I made a transfer to the MIA crewbase in 2002, and returned to JAX in 2003. I worked in JAX until the truncation of the "Palmetto" at which I was then furloughed and made my bump back into the MIA crewbase. I am currently in the process of transfering back to my "home" crewbase in JAX now as of this writing. My good friend "trainboy" AKA "Randy" worked with me in JAX until that time he was furloughed as well. We kinda have hated to part ways on separate trails, but that is the way it goes sometimes. Good luck buddy in your new job! I hope to stick around Amtrak as long as they will let me. I hope with the new job cuts I will still be able to hold in JAX, but I get a feeling furlough is on the horizon! We'll see, though.

There are about three or four of you here in the forum I have met face to face (maybe this will allow y'all to make the connection if you don't quite know me). This is a wonderful place to come and talk about "work." Though not my favorite subject every day, I am still a railfan at heart. Kudos to Anthony for having this site for such a good "price!" I would gladly subscribe if it was necessary! We have a good group here, and we all play a part. One can learn a lot of useful information here as well as joke a little. Keep it up and I will keep on the lookout for forum members on the rails!! That's all for now! OBS...

 

[Amtrak Watcher]

I was born in Hawaii 61 years ago, lived in Europe most of my life, and moved back to the U.S. (Hawaii) in 1995. I currently live in downtown Dallas, Texas two blocks from the Amtrak station. I work for myself as a wireless technology consultant.