Caritas, Carolina (Charlotte NRHS),
and Canada
June 12th-July 19th, 1996
Don Winter
Introduction
The proximate cause of this trip was the 1996 NRHS
Convention in Charlotte, North Carolina. We decided to spend a couple of weeks
after the convention visiting cities (and museums) that we haven’t been to
previously (or not for almost 30 years, in my case for some of them). As usual,
we traveled out and back on Amtrak.
The Journey East (6/12-6/17)
Wednesday, June 12th, 1996
This year, the Southwest
Chief isn’t serving dinner on departure from Los Angeles, and the new Traxx
restaurant at the station is far too expensive for the quantity of food they
provide, so we eat something at home before taking the shuttle van to Los
Angeles Union Station. Once there, we check our luggage to Chicago, make our
way out to the platform, board our sleeper, find our Economy Room and go to
bed.
Southwest
Chief
Route Description
[consist]
P40 834
P32 512
Baggage 1728
Transition 39936
Coach 31027
Coach 34074
Coach 34082
Lounge 33012
Diner 38011
Sleeper 32019
Sleeper 32102 North Dakota
Transition 39035
MHC 1450
MHC 1454
MHC 1449
MHC 1463
MHC 1413
MHC 1532
Train 4, 6-12-1996
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Los Angeles
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8:55pm
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8:55pm
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9:35
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9:38
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10:37
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10:38
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11:42
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11:42
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12:21am
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12:21am
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6:53/59
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6:49/59
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7:56
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7:56
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10:33
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10:34
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1:14/39
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1:09/55
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2:45pm
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4:28
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4:42
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6:14
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6:43
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7:11
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7:38
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8:51
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8:59
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9:40
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9:45
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6:05am
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7:33/(58)
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7:06/(59)
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Thursday, June 13th, 1996
We eat breakfast with a
redheaded woman (a nurse), who has just boarded at Flagstaff. She tells us
she's here as a direct cause of Amtrak having to move the Sunset Limited from
its former Phoenix routing to the main SP Sunset-route line bypassing Phoenix!
(We're on the Southwest Chief, several hundred miles from the Sunset route.)
She's from Tucson, and had intended to board Wednesday's Sunset Limited
(Tuesday might from LA), to go to Chicago via the Texas Eagle connection.
However, while the timetable and her tickets said the train departed Tucson at
9:30am, when she got there at 8:15am, she was informed the train had left, on
time, at 7:20 am (revised as a result of the reroute). So, she took an
overnight bus from Tucson and Phoenix to Flagstaff to ride the SW Chief, and
will be in Chicago only two hours later than if she'd caught her original
train!
We leave Albuquerque 15
minutes late due to a dispatcher error. We lose 10 minutes at Lamy due to late
arriving passengers, and 15 minutes on the climb to Raton summit because an air
hose comes apart when the train hit a bear.
Friday, June 14th, 1996
On each of my three
previous eastward trips on the Southwest Chief (1982, 1990, 1994), I have
awakened as the train departed Kansas City. Thus, I have never seen the line
west of Kansas City, even though it has been daylight for a couple of hours
prior to arrival in that station. This time, we have to be ready to leave the
train in Kansas City, so we’re up in time to have breakfast before our arrival.
This means that as we’re getting up, we see that we’re traveling alongside the
Kansas River, and that we’re having breakfast when the train reaches Santa Fe’s
large Argentine Yard. Towards the east end of the several miles of that yard,
the train stops on the main line, for several minutes. Only as we move on
towards Kansas City, do I see that we had stopped on the on-line fueling rack
to refuel the locomotives. (On-line fueling racks are becoming fairly common,
at least on the western railroads, and several are used by Amtrak trains. In
addition to the one at Argentine, I know of on-line fueling capability at
Albuquerque (used by Amtrak) and Belen, New Mexico, at Harrisburg, Pennsylvania
(used by Amtrak), and at El Paso, Texas (also used by Amtrak?).
We get off the SW Chief
in KC on Friday, and take the connecting train to St. Louis so we can ride the
St. Louis Metrolink light rail line. The St. Louis train, the Ann Rutledge, in
which we're riding Business Class at the front of the cafe car, diverges from
the route of the SW Chief at the east end of the KC terminal trackage, passes
through Harry Truman's home town of Independence, MO, and then climbs up to run
through the hills and the town of Sedalia before dropping down to run alongside
the Missouri from Jefferson City onward. The banks of the Missouri are mainly
wooded breaks, of the same type as I remember from the Ohio, near Cincinnati
and both upstream and downstream from that city. Somewhere along here, we
notice that the Business Class area is getting rather warm, and after two
attempts to reset the air conditioning have failed, the Conductor moves us all
back to the rear coach, which is otherwise empty.
[consist]
F40
Custom Class/Café
Coach
Coach
Coach
Train 304, 6-14-1996
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Kansas City
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8:20am
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8:37am
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8:40
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9:05
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8:57
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9:20
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9:38
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9:58
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10:10
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11:21
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11:44/47
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12:05pm
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12:34
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12:32
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1:02
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1:11
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1:42
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1:50
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2:05
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Kansas City to St. Louis Route
Description
St. Louis Metrolink is
largely built along the rights of way of former rail lines, such as the Wabash
out to the NW through Del Mar Avenue station (still in use as a light rail station),
and the Pennsylvania east across Eads Bridge (which has lost its upper road
deck to make room for the light rail's catenary electrification system).
Our hotel is across a
side street from the old St. Louis Union Station, now an upscale shopping
center with a couple of residual tracks used for parking private railroad cars
when they're visiting the city. (Amtrak's current stop is known colloquially as
St' Louis Union Trailers, acronym SLUT; it's what is known elsewhere in the
country as an 'Amshack'.) The hotel is in a building with a very nicely
restored facade.
Saturday, June 15th, 1996
On Saturday, we're up
early in the morning to take the morning train up to Chicago. This is the rump
version of the Eagle that runs on the four days of the week that the full Texas
Eagle doesn’t run. As we leave St. Louis, we're surprised when the train takes
what turns out to be its normal route, north on the TRRA along the west bank of
the Mississippi, under the Arch, to a crossing at the TRRA Merchants Bridge,
because in 1993 when we had left St. Louis for Chicago on the Texas Eagle, we
had crossed the MacArthur Bridge and turned north through the E. St. Louis
yards. Only now do we realize that we had taken a diversionary route back then,
due to the river's flood level at that time.
St. Louis to
Chicago
Route Description
[consist]
F40 327
Custom Class/Café
Coach
Coach
Train 322, 6-15-1996
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St. Louis
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7:00am
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7:48
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8:00
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8:18
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8:34
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9:08
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9:09
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9:38
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9:38
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10:25
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10:08/25
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10:53
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10:56
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11:10
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11:15
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11:45
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11:50
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1:05pm
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12:50pm
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The Mississippi River is
at flood stage in the St. Louis area. At 12:05 pm, we pass train 303, with F40 361, between Joliet and
Chicago.
In Chicago, we eat lunch
in CUS, ride the CTA out to Evansville, visit a bookstore and patronize the
cafe within, ride the Metra train back, and have dinner at The Berghoff. After
dinner, we return to Union Station to get both the bags we had stored earlier
in the day, and the luggage we had checked from Los Angeles, that had been in
Chicago for a full day already. Earlier, the man in charge of baggage claim had
told us to leave the bags there until we needed them, rather than claim them
and then have to store them ourselves. However, now that we need them, he is
off assisting in transferring baggage from a late incoming train to a departing
train that is delayed pending that baggage transfer. Chris goes off to Customer
Service to get help, and encounters a very surly woman, who wants nothing to do
with this, but eventually grudgingly comes over and gets us our checked bags.
The reason our luggage
is not checked through to Charlotte is that from Chicago, we're riding in Clark
Johnson's and Nona Hill's private car Caritas,
which will be on the rear of Amtrak 50, the Cardinal,
from Chicago to DC, and then the rear of the Carolinian from DC to Charlotte, NC. Even though the train departs
at 8:30pm, and we don't board until 8:15, we discover they're serving dinner
this evening for the six passengers (including Clark and Nona). We politely
decline, with explanations. Caritas
has a staff of two, one a waiter and the other a cook. The cook turns out to be
Ted Lemen, who is also running the group that is restoring an ex-Frisco steam
locomotive in the St. Louis area.
Cardinal
Route Description
[consist]
F40
Baggage
Transition
Coach
Coach
Transition 39013
Private Car Caritas
Train 50, 6-15-1996
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Chicago
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8:10pm
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8:11pm
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9:11
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9:52
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10:55
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10:48
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11:22
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4:30am
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5:15am
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5:35/55
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6:22/53
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7:14
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8:10
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8:03
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9:02
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9:11
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10:02
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9:32
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10:22
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10:35
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11:25
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11:08
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11:53
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11:54
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12:42pm
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12:11pm
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1:02
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12:42
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1:35
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1:46
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2:35
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2:38/41
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3:24/32
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3:52
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4:55
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5:11
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6:18
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6:15
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7:20
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7:00
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7:55
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7:42
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8:40
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8:10
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9:10
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On departure, the train
heads south and comes to a stop at the junction where it branches off the old
PRR line onto the former Chicago & Western Indiana, now owned by Metra
Later, it stops again to wait for conflicting traffic at Dolton Jct. on the
former C&EI now owned by UP, before finally attaining its southbound CSX
(former Monon) route towards Lafayette, IN. We're in bed before Lafayette is
reached.
Sunday, June 16th, 1996
I awake in the pre-dawn
twilight as the train departs Cincinnati. On the trestle climbing up to the
C&O Bridge, the train stops and reverses into the station. It soon starts
again, and rumbles over the bridge across the Ohio. (There is a 22-minute delay
between the first departure from Cincinnati and the second one, recorded
above.) I soon fall asleep again, and awake in time to dress before the train's
service stop at Russell, KY. The latter
takes place from 9:20 to 9:45 am. For the rest of the way to Washington, DC, we
will run on former C&O tracks now owned by CSX, with a small portion of
trackage on which CSX has trackage rights over NS (the former Southern railway
main line).
Along the river, west of Russell, there is low-lying morning fog,
but when we stop at Russell, either it has burnt off, or the intervening CSX
yard is sufficient to take us out of the fog. While we're stopped, Clark takes
the opportunity to add water to Caritas.
This is vital to the continued operation of the galley and the shower; less so
for toilets, since Caritas has
MicroPhor toilets in the rooms, rather than the direct-dump toilets that most
heritage cars had when in commercial passenger service. There have been moves,
of late, to restrict, if not ban entirely, the continued use of direct dump
toilets, especially on scheduled Amtrak trains but also by private cars
operating independently or in dedicated trains. This may make it difficult for
a car like PRS's National Forum, which
has 12 direct dump toilets, to operate in excursion service in the future.
I take advantage of the open rear platform of Caritas, at the rear of
the train, to sit outside for the best view of the scenery as we pass through
the New River Gorge.
In the middle of the
gorge, it is spanned by a single-arch steel road bridge, billed as the 'second
highest' bridge in the country (more than 1700 feet above the river, second
only to the privately-owned suspension bridge across the Royal Gorge in
Colorado), and the 'longest' of its type. Once a year the road across the
bridge is closed to permit a day for parachutists and bungee-jumpers to jump
from its span to, or towards, the river below.
The hills on both sides
of the river are full of deep coal mines, still operating after over a hundred
years of exploitation, and the former C&O main line on which we're
traveling carries hundreds of coal trains a year, with loads going out in both
directions. This is Sunday, go the coal trains we see are all parked in
sidings, many of them adjacent to the branches back to the coalmines.
In
Washington, Caritas is separated from the Amtrak portion of the Cardinal, and
is taken through the car washer and around the wye to the north of the station
before being placed in a sidetrack for the night. We go to bed not long after
the switcher has left us there.
Monday, June 17th, 1996
We have a couple of
hours to spare, after breakfast in Caritas but before the Carolinian is due. I
spend the time observing and photographing the action on the north side of Washington
Union Station, since I have the opportunity to do it from platform level, quite
legally.
In DC we're joined by
two day passengers, Dave Stubbs from Santa Monica, who got here by taking the
Sunset Limited to Jacksonville and the Silver Star north, and a heavy-set guy
(Steve) from the New Jersey chapter that had run the farcical NRHS convention
back in the late '80s. Clark evidently knows Steve from previous trips, but the
two don’t seem to be very friendly. Also, one of Clark's business partners
visits while we're sitting in Washington Union Station, waiting for the SB
Carolinian to arrive, and then rides with us out to Alexandria.
Carolinian
Route Description
[consist]
P40 387
Coach
Coach
Café
Coach
Custom
Baggage
Private Car Caritas
Train 79, 6-17-1996
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Washington, DC
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10:44am
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10:57
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11:15
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11:24
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11:26
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11:35
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11:45
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11:56
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12:47pm
1:10
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12:50pm
1:09
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1:42
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1:50
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3:07
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3:40
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3:25
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3:58
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3:50
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4:24
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4:37/47
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5:02/08
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5:21
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5:25
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5:47
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6:09
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6:36
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6:57
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7:23
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7:11
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7:23
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7:50
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8:17
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8:07
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8:33
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8:45
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8:59
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Railroads (not trains,
but the tracks and their locations) in the Old South have a different
appearance from those in the North and West, as we've noticed on our Atlanta
trip in 1994 and the route through Jacksonville in 1995. I can't quite put my
finger on what it is, but something about the way the track runs unfenced, and
with no borders, through green strips in the middle of towns (often in the
middle of streets, but nonetheless with a green strip) stands out in the videos
we have, as well as when we're traveling on the train through this area. We
notice this again, along the (old) RF&P in Virginia, as well as along the
lines we'll travel on and see in N and S Carolina this trip. Interestingly, I hadn't
remarked on this as we came into DC from the SW along the old Southern main
line, the previous night (but we had come from the old C&O line across W.
Virginia, not up the Southern from south of Charlottesville). This is one of
those effects that's especially noticeable when one goes to sleep in one type
of environment, and wakes in another, as with the transition on the western
trains from western mountains and deserts to Midwestern non-irrigated farmland
and vice versa.
South of Richmond, we
spend ten minutes backing up from track 2 to track 1. We wait at Emporia, VA,
from 2:28 to 2:43 pm for train 80 to pass. By the time we arrive at the Adam’s
Mark hotel in Charlotte, having been met at the station by NRHS Convention
folks with transportation, it's quite late, so we head directly to bed after
checking in.
Tuesday, June 18th, 1996
First stop today is the
NRHS Convention desk, to pick up our badges, tickets, and "goody
bags". Chris runs into Helen (from Lancaster), who says that she and
"Smoke" are now married. Chris tells her that in that case, she needs
a new nametag with her married name! Then it’s onto the buses for the long ride
to the Great Smokey Mountains tourist railroad, at Dillsboro in far western NC.
This NRHS Convention team is now on its third set of excursion plans, having
originally bid for the Convention on the basis of NS Steam Program excursions,
which of course fell through when NS canceled its Steam Program in late 1994,
then produced a set of mainline excursions, three over CSX and one over NS, of
which only the NS excursion has survived into the final program. CSX first
agreed to the three excursions, then backed away, and then tried to agree again
after the Convention had made other arrangements, apparently as the winds of
its negotiations for a new operating agreement with Amtrak blew hot and cold.
Great Smokey Mountains
Route Description
The Great Smokey
Mountains tourist railroad runs on a former Southern railway branchline just south
of the Great Smokey Mountains National Park that straddles the Tennessee -
North Carolina state line (which, of course, follows the summit of the Appalachians).
Part of the railroad was built by convict labor. Nineteen convicts drowned
while building a bridge right next to the tunnel, now said to be haunted by the
ghosts of the convicts (who are buried in the hill above it). The scenery is an
interesting mix of rivers and forests, including an area where former Southern
Railroad President D.W. ("Bill") Brosnan used to have a summer
residence. We enjoy a very good photo runby at a location where the line
crosses a 700 ft. long bridge over Fontana lake (a dammed-up river valley).
While waiting for this runby, Greg Molloy discloses that his cameras had been
stolen earlier in the year, while he was on a business trip to Germany. As a
result, he now has new gear.
On the Great Smokey
Mountains train, hauled by 2-8-0 1702, we sit in a first-class lounge up at the
front of the train. Jim Bistline, erstwhile manager of the Southern Railway
steam excursions, sits in the same area, and spends the day regaling a half
dozen of us with his fascinating stories about the steam program and other
railroading events in his life. The owner of the railroad invites Jim to visit
his house, but is politely rebuffed.
The train makes an
intermediate stop at Nantahala Gorge, where there are refreshment and souvenir
stands. At the end of the excursion, at Andrews, there is a mix-up in the arrangements,
and our buses drive right by a barbecue dinner that had been prepared for the
excursionists, and instead go to local roadside restaurants selected on an ad
hoc basis by the bus hosts. This results in four buses trying to get their full
loads through the same unprepared restaurant at once. The resulting shambles
and late departure could have been predicted! :-( We arrive back at the hotel
after a long, and very tiring, return bus ride.
Wednesday, June 19th, 1996
Spencer Shops, located
just to the north of Salisbury on the west side of the NS main line, were once
the primary locomotive maintenance shops of the eastern portion of Southern
Railway, maintaining that role until the functions were moved to Roanoke after
the merger with the Norfolk & Western. The location was selected because it
is just about halfway between Atlanta and Washington DC. Now, the shops are
being restored as the North Carolina Transportation Museum, and will be
dedicated in September 1996. (While there is a small yard on the museum
property, Norfolk Southern’s modern yard at Spence is on the east side of the
main line, across from the museum site.)
Today’s activity
provides an opportunity for an in-depth look at what has been achieved at
Spencer Shops, and what remains to be done in the long haul. Conventioneers are
transported to Spencer in a fleet of buses heading north from Charlotte on the
Interstate highway. On arrival, we are informed of the range of activities
being made available and invited to decide for ourselves which to do first,
which to do later, and which to ignore.
We choose to start out
with the tour of the completely restored roundhouse. However, before we can
start on the tour, the museum staff needs to get out the locomotives that are
being used on today’s demonstration trains around the shops and yard areas. So,
the photographers form a set of photo lines, and as each locomotive is take out
of its stall, it takes a complete spin on the turntable to allow us to see all
aspects, before leaving on the exit road. This is done for steam and diesel
alike. While we’re photographing locomotives on the turntable at the
roundhouse, Bob Heavenrich joins the group. It’s the first time I’ve seen him
on this trip.
Following the photo
cavalcade, we tour the roundhouse, seeing all of the restored machinery and
operating restoration shop areas, as well as the daily servicing stalls and
some inoperable locomotives awaiting restoration. This tour is well presented
and very interesting.
Adjacent to the
roundhouse is a large building awaiting restoration that has artifacts within,
but has not yet been made safe and is thus not open to the public, or even to organized
tours of knowledgeable conventioneers. This building was once the erecting shop
and boiler shop in steam days. Across from this shop is a restored building
with a collection of vintage automobiles and some railroad artifacts, as well
as the building housing the museum bookstore.
After a coffee break at
a café across the street, it’s time for a ride on the demonstration railway
circumnavigating the complex. There are at least three operating trains, today,
although one of them is a demonstration freight that is not providing rides.
The others have vintage passenger cars appropriate to the motive power on each
train. Boarding adjacent to the bookshop, each train heads out around the
parking and picnic areas, past the relocated and restored depot and signal
tower (and some more restored but not (today) operating locomotives that we’ll
photograph later), through a switchback and back past the bookstore (but on the
other side), then out into the yard where many vintage freight and passengers
cars await protection and possible restoration, then back to the starting spot.
After partaking of the
picnic lunch provided in a large tent erected on the lawn, we take our turn to board
a bus and go a couple of miles south to the restored Salisbury Passenger Depot.
Here, we are given a full tour of the facilities and spaces in the station,
except for those currently in commercial operation for Amtrak. A marvelous job
of restoration has been done, fully explained to us by our knowledgeable guide.
While we are inspecting the restored platform canopy, an NS freight passes,
attracting the photographers and silencing the guide during its passage.
Returning to Spencer, we
ride on different demonstration trains, and then board a bus to return to the
hotel in Charlotte.
Because there is no NRHS
Chapter in Los Angeles, we're only Associate members of the organization. This
means that we don't see many of the communications that the society has with
its members because its chosen communications path is to send items to chapter
newsletter editors, who are then expected to include these news items in what
goes to the chapter members. I have noticed a couple of times where we've not
been informed of things like "inbound" excursions to conventions,
such as those for the 1993 and 1994 conventions.
At an evening function
at the "Charlotte Trolley", I raise this issue with Lee Dietrich,
NRHS National Chairman. He promises to look into the matter, and raise it with
the executive committee, but I don't think he remembers to do so.
The Charlotte Trolley is
a carbarn remaining from the days when there was an operational trolley system
in the area, with an adjacent operations segment of trolley line extending a
couple of blocks. Today’s Charlotte Trolley is a museum operation, with a
number of restored operational trolleys, as well as displayed artifacts and
informational displays. Our visit also provides us with pizza and sodas
sufficient to meet the needs of the evening meal.
Thursday, June 20th, 1996
Today's events start out
with a ride on the Carolinian from Charlotte to Cary, NC, where another NRHS
Chapter has an operation on a nearby segment of closed branchline. The Business
Class attendant on the Carolinian is Mark Sublette, who we met two years previously
when he was our sleeping car attendant on The Capitol Limited as we headed from
Atlanta to Seattle after NRHS 1994. He recognizes us by name (which is much
harder than us remembering his name). Of course, the excursionists are not
traveling Business Class, but Mark had made special arrangements to work this
day's train because of the group's presence. (His normal job, this year, is as
sleeping car attendant on the sleeper that runs overnight on the NEC.)
On the train ride,
Whayne McGinniss complains to Greg Molloy, the new NRHS National President,
about the dearth of handout and other explanatory material covering this year's
Convention excursions. Greg says that "national" has no control over
the local Convention arrangements (which is probably true as far as handouts
are concerned), and fobs Whayne off on the local committee. Interestingly, Jim
Fetchero walks through the car and in between Whayne and Greg (who are sitting
two rows apart, with us in between) while this is going on, but does not join
the conversation and Greg makes no attempt to connect him with Whayne.
[consist]
F40 387
Coach
Coach
Dinette
Coach
Custom
Baggage
Train 80, 6-20-1996
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Charlotte
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8:00am
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8:00am
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8:27
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8:45
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8:44
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9:23
|
9:22
|
|
|
9:41
|
9:43
|
|
|
10:19
|
10:18
|
|
|
11:05
|
11:04
|
|
|
10:19
|
10:18
|
Lunch is a barbecue at
the Eastern Carolina NRHS Chapter's ‘New Hope Valley Railroad’ site at Bonsal,
just south of Cary, NC. We find that there are no drinks out that neither have
caffeine nor orange; when we complain, someone on the serving crew gets out
some lemon-limes from their personal stash. Half the excursionists ride the
train first, while the other half eat, and then switch. We're in the group that
eats first. That's fine as far as it goes, but means we're gasping with thirst
before we get anywhere near the next stop at Hamlet. We have to threaten bodily
harm to the bus hosts to get them to stop at a fast food joint in Aberdeen for
refreshments.
During the excursion at
this NRHS Chapter's site, we meet NRHS VP Larry Eastwood and his wife, Marie.
Chris and Marie have an extended discussion on cats! Larry doesn't seem
interested in the issue of communications with Associates.
Later, at the museum at
the Hamlet, NC, depot, there is a well-stocked bookstore that makes a hole in
my credit card. Outside, there is Bob Loehne, who is ostensibly making the
video of this convention. When a horn shows a train is approaching from the
east, an ad hoc photo line forms at the east junction that includes Greg
Molloy, Richard Shulby, Bob Heavenrich, and some others, as well as me. All of
the tracks in the Hamlet area were once part of the Seaboard Air Line railroad,
which became part of Seaboard Coast Line when it merged with ACL, then
"Family Lines" when L&N was included, and finally CSX when the
Family Lines merged with C&O/B&O to form CSX. Unlike the well-manicured
double track that forms the former ACL line from Richmond, VA, to Jacksonville,
FL, the former SAL line is single track that betrays its secondary line status
in CSX's operations.
The buses are supposed
to stop for dinner at roadside restaurants, again. Those on our bus, and at
least one other, take a quick vote to return to the hotel in Charlotte and eat
after we get there.
Friday, June 21st, 1996
At today's Railroadiana
show, Chris finds a mint set of Chessie-style table linens, that fit over a
card table, from C&O Passenger Service, which we add to her collection of
Chessie artifacts and memorabilia. We also attend the NRHS Annual Meeting (Greg
Molloy's second as National President), and then the Annual Banquet (a barbecue
in the big tent on the lawn at Spencer Shops. The joke after Greg's speech at
the banquet is that his speech is getting better as he repeats it (apparently
he gave the same speech at the Board Meeting preceding the Annual Meeting)!
Saturday, June 22nd, 1996
Today’s excursions are
both in South Carolina: rides on the Lancaster & Chester railroad, and on
the Rockton & Rion located at the incipient South Carolina Railroad Museum.
As ever, we get there in a convoy of buses. Half of the excursionists go to the
Rockton & Rion first, but we are in the half heading for the Lancaster
& Chester. Our buses head directly south from Charlotte to Lancaster, where
we find a string of (nominally air-conditioned) coaches with a diesel
locomotive on each end. To avoid the crowds, we head for the farthest car from
where the buses have stopped, and settle in to our seats before Chris heads off
to find the coffee and cold drinks.
Lancaster & Chester
Route Description
The train departs
westward, with our car as the lead passenger car. Along the way, we stop for a
photo runby at a location where the railroad runs between the road and the
front lawns of an industrial park. Then we proceed to the end of the line at
Warwick, just outside Chester, then reverse the train so that the other end is
in the lead. (That’s why there are two locomotives.) On the way back, we do
another photo run. During the latter, I notice that the weather is getting
distinctly hot already (it’s still only mid-morning), and on returning to the
welcome air-conditioning (such as it is), I find out that ours is the only car
with any sort of function from the a/c. Apparently, this too fails before the second
excursion in the afternoon, and the other set of conventioneers has a perfectly
miserable time on their run in what by then is over 100º (F.).
We return to the buses
and head further south to Rockton (a bit north of Columbia), where the South
Carolina Railroad Museum group is providing a picnic lunch. (The other group
eats lunch before leaving that site.) After grabbing our lunch and cold drinks,
we retreat to the coolth of the bus, where we chat to others, including Diane
Heavenrich, while eating. After lunch, Chris remains in the bus while I roam
the site, photographing the lines of cars and locomotives that are moldering
away awaiting potential restoration.
Rockton & Rion
Route Description
When it comes time for
our train ride, I get Chris off the bus, and we take our seats on one of the
ex-Lackawanna MU coaches in the train headed by a diesel switcher with another
on the other end. Some of these cars still have their electric pantographs in
place! The train heads south, across the main road and past a trucking company
and a chemical distributor (with pressurized storage tanks) to the end of
track. We do a photo run standing out in a field alongside the line (in that
100º heat) before heading back to the museum. There’s time for one more tour of
the “preserved” equipment before leaving.
On the way back to
Charlotte, Bob and Diane Heavenrich are sitting directly in front of us on the
bus. I try to engage him in conversation about newsletters for Associates, but
its entirely too hot, both outside and in this bus, for any sort of useful discussion.
Sunday, June 23rd, 1996
Today is the day for the
big excursion north to Salisbury, west to Asheville over the Southern
Railroad's "loops", south from Asheville down Saluda Mountain grade
(over 4% at its steepest, 1996 to Spartanburg, and back along the ex-Southern
main to Charlotte. Caritas is at the rear of this train, but we're riding one
car forward in the sleeper-lounge Pine Tree State, owned and operated locally
by Charlotte-area NRHS folks, including Jim Fetchero, the local Amtrak agent and
a great friend of Clark Johnson's. Clark has told us he is only doing this is a
favor to Jim, in return for past favors Jim has done for the Caritas team, and
that he strongly dislikes NRHS operations. His opinion is only strengthened on
this excursion, when some Caritas artifacts disappear during the time the NRHS
excursionists are aboard.
Salisbury to Asheville
Route Description
Asheville to
Spartanburg Route
Description
Spartanburg to Charlotte
Route Description
The line from Salisbury
to Asheville takes us up the Southern railway’s “Loops” that form the tortuous
climb of the Blue Ridge between Old Fort and Ridgecrest, taking 13.5 route
miles to cover a linear distance of only 3.5 miles. Even so, the grade averages
2% over the entire climb. Approaching Asheville, the train is turned on the wye
at the junction with the line to Spartanburg, then backed into the Asheville
yard.
From 8:33 to 8:48 am, we
stop at MP17 to fix the airline controlling the toilets on the rear half of the
train. Lunch is at the Asheville Chapter's museum, adjacent to the NS yard in
which the train is parked. There is a 2-8-0 here that was once part of the
Southern Railroad's steam program. After lunch, we walk to the village center
of nearby Biltmore, adjacent to the country estate of the same name. After
departing on the return, we stop from 2: to 2:58 pm to check the air for the
brakes. This proves to be an air compressor “blow down”—unfixable on the road,
but not a problem.
The return trip descends
the famous Saluda grade, a straight (with only a couple of bends, but not
loops) descent of that same Blue Ridge elevation difference that we had climbed
at the “loops”. The grade on Saluda reached 4.8% in places, and there are runaway
tracks and a timed descent to control them (less than an established time
between instrumented locations causes the switch to the runaway track to remain
open; longer than the established time permits the switch to open for travel on
the main track). We stop at Saluda for 11 minutes to check the train brakes,
then descend the grade to Melrose in 25 minutes (slowly enough!). NS freight
trains from Spartanburg to Asheville triple
this grade!
During the descent of
Saluda grade, I am sharing one of the open vestibule windows of Pine Tree State
with Donald Bishop, while at the other, Jim Fetchero is regaling several NRHS
members with war stories of past excursion arrangements with NS and CSX, and
their predecessors. Meanwhile, in the lounge area of Pine Tree State, a
District Foreman of Norfolk Southern is telling the folks in there, including
Chris, about the troubles the railroad has had with the residents whose houses
about on railroad's right-of-way along the grade, doing things like cutting
back the bushes and trees that hold the railroad grade in place (the houses are
down the hillside from the tracks) to put up satellite dish antennae and get
line-of-sight between antenna and orbiting satellite.
At Spartanburg, we
remove the NS locomotives from the front of the train, and deliver dinners to
the coaches and ice to Caritas.
(Dinner in first class is prepared on board.) At Charlotte, the Convention
folks have scrimped on buses, requiring half the excursionists to wait for a
second trip of the buses. This ends the convention activities for this year.
Back at the Adam’s Mark,
we pack to get ready for our early departure on Monday, then go to bed.
Monday, June 24th, 1996
We rise, checkout of the
hotel, and ride a van over to the Amtrak station. Then, we wait in a crowd for
the Carolinian to enter the station.
The train today is ferrying many of the cars from yesterday’s excursion back to
Washington DC. Due to delays in making up this train, we are late leaving
Charlotte; due to the weight of the train, we lose time all day.
[consist]
F40 354
Coach
Coach
Dinette
Coach
Custom Class
Baggage
10 deadheading cars:
6 Amtrak Heritage Coaches
1 Amfleet Coach
VRE Coach
MARC Coach
MARC Coach
Train 80, 6-24-1996
|
|
|
|
Charlotte
|
8:00am
|
8:20am
|
|
|
8:27
|
8:49
|
|
|
8:45
|
9:09
|
|
|
9:23
|
9:49
|
|
|
9:41
|
10:18
|
|
|
10:19
|
10:56
|
|
|
11:05
|
11:43
|
|
|
11:45/56
|
12:21/33
|
|
|
12:34pm
|
1:16pm
|
|
|
1:00
|
1:47
|
|
|
1:17
|
2:08
|
|
|
2:37
|
3:44
|
|
|
3:30/45
|
4:51/ 5:15
|
|
|
4:35
|
6:09
|
|
|
4:54
|
6:26
|
|
|
5:20
|
7:23
|
|
|
5:45
6:15
|
7:42
8:24
|
|
|
6:28
|
8:37
|
|
|
7:01
|
9:04
|
From Charlotte to
Washington DC, we again travel in Caritas. To avoid having to transfer luggage
at Washington, and because one of our fellow Caritas passengers on the incoming
trip had been successful in checking luggage all the way to Charlotte, we check
most of our luggage through to Baltimore. Dave Stubbs is not on this leg of the
trip (he said it was stretching his budget to be on the other leg), but Steve
is again, as are the other passengers from the previous weekend. This time, Caritas
is not on the rear of the train (the Carolinian, again); Dover Harbor, having
booked earlier, is behind us. We do get to visit with the folks in Dover
Harbor, look around the car, etc., however.
From 2:45 to 2:49 pm. We
wait at North Weldon for train 79. From 4:00 to 4:13 pm there is a delay due to
trackwork at Centralia. From 4:30 to 4:37 pm, there is a delay at Meadow
Interlocking.
In DC, we leave Caritas
(which is being removed from the train as is Dover Harbor) and walk forward to
the Business Class car in which we have booked seats for the rest of the way to
Baltimore, our destination today. When I get up to that car, and start to get
on, a rather surly station employee demands to know "how I got
there", since they haven't made the boarding announcement yet. I explain
that we have walked forward from a private car at the rear of the train, and
haven't actually been up into the station itself, but he doesn't seem to
understand. An Assistant Conductor is quite willing to let us on the train,
however, and shows us to a pair of seats in the Business Class car. We note
that a number of NRHS members, including the Eastwoods, are traveling in this
car.
Arriving in Baltimore, we take a taxi to our hotel, then
walk over to the Inner Harbor area for a late dinner, after which we go to bed.
Tuesday, June 25th, 1996
Today, we’re spending
the entire day in the Baltimore area (with a side trip pack to Washington).
This morning, we’re visiting the Baltimore & Ohio Museum at the mount Clare
station and roundhouse. This is a moderate walk west from our hotel near the Convention
Center, so we walk over there for opening time. The B&O Museum is built in
an 1851 station and 1884 roundhouse. There are artifacts (and a bookstore) in
the station. The roundhouse contains a collection of early artifacts and
replicas made for the 1927 B&O Centennial “Fair of the Iron Horse”. We
spend some time reading the descriptions and examining these artifacts quite
carefully.
Outside next to the
parking lot is an area of more recent exhibits drawn up with similar
descriptive signs. This includes some mid-20th Century steam
locomotives as well as passenger and freight cars. A separate outdoor area,
accessible through the roundhouse, has more recent accessions that have not yet
been restored and have no descriptive signs. There are some interesting
locomotives back here, as well. Overall, there are 9 original 19th-century
steam locomotives (and 2 replicas), 12 20th-century steam
locomotives, 14 diesel-electric locomotives, three electric locomotives, two
electric multiple-unit cars and an RDC, as well as 20 passenger cars and a
variety of freight cars.
We walk back to the
hotel to drop off our purchases, then eat at a pub across from the Convention
Center. After lunch, we walk over to the light rail station next to Camden
Yards and ride the light rail all the way to the end of track, northwards, then
almost all the way south, before returning to Camden Station. Here, we take a
MARC Camden line train, pushed by an F45, down this ex-B&O line to
Washington DC, returning on a MARC Penn line train to Baltimore’s NEC station,
from which we walk over to the erstwhile Mount Royal station on the former
B&O, then take the light rail back to the hotel, down the street under
which the B&O tunnel lies hidden but very much in daily use.
Dinner is in a nearby
restaurant, followed by an early bedtime.
Wednesday, June 26th, 1996
We arise early this
morning (even by the standards of the previous week of NRHS Conventions), check
out of the hotel and take a taxi over to Baltimore Penn Station. From 12:59
to 1:06 pm we make a reverse move at Field to clear train 57 with F40 423.
[consist]
AEM-7 913
(to New Haven)
Driving trailer coach
Dinette
Coach
Coach
Coach
Baggage
F40 411
(from New Haven)
Train 56, 6-26-1996
|
|
|
|
Baltimore
|
6:55am
|
|
|
|
7:42
|
7:51
|
|
|
8:08
|
8:13
|
|
|
8:38
|
8:41
|
|
|
9:14
|
9:14
|
|
|
9:29
9:49
|
9:29
9:51
|
|
|
10:37
|
10:41
|
|
|
11:03
|
11:06
|
|
|
11:28
11:43
|
11:27
11:43
|
|
|
12:09pm
|
12:09pm
|
|
|
12:19
|
12:19
|
|
|
12:33
|
12:33
|
|
|
1:10/20
|
1:17/29
|
|
|
2:25
|
2:29
|
|
|
3:15
|
3:17
|
|
|
3:50
|
3:51
|
|
|
4:13
|
4:13
|
|
|
4:25
|
4:25
|
|
|
4:45/50
|
4:42/50
|
|
|
5:32
|
5:32
|
|
|
6:07
|
6:08
|
|
|
6:21
|
6:21
|
|
|
6:50
|
6:50
|
|
|
7:35
|
7:18
|
Vermonter Route Description
In New Haven, the train
switches from electric to diesel haulage and turns off the Boston line onto the
Springfield line. The line soon becomes
single track as it heads north in a mix of small farms and decaying urban
fabric. Hartford, the state capital, has spruced-up government buildings, but
factories in the area look as run-down as those in other such towns. Resuming our journey northward, the route
crosses the Connecticut River and turns east from Amtrak’s Springfield line
onto ConRail’s Boston line and draws into the Springfield station. Adjacent factories
don’t look very active.
From
1:48 to 1:55 pm, the crew changes ends to reverse from Conrail to the New
England Central at Palmer, MA where a
Massachusetts Central train is currently switching. As
the sun starts to dip behind the hills in early evening, in Vermont, we pass a
show jumping ring with an ambulance with flashing lights and a small unmoving
figure on the ground next to a jump, attended by several kneeling adults. A
saddled horse stands nearby. At St. Albans, a bus arrives to take us across the
border and through rural Quebec Province to Montreal. We drag the luggage the
few block down the street to the Marriott Chateau Champlain hotel, make
arrangements for our all day tours the next day, have dinner and go to bed.
Thursday, June 27th, 1996
The tour(s) of Montreal
run from offices in Dorchester Square on the north side of the park that
occupies an entire city block just north of the hotel. However, we’re picked up
by a van that comes by the hotel at the appointed time, somewhat before 10 am.
The morning segment of the tour covers the areas on Montreal Island, adjacent
to downtown. The tour starts by heading to the old port, where we stop
alongside some of the old buildings that once formed the waterfront, but now
front the street along the backside of the docks. Here, there is time to buy
some coffee and pastries at a local café before we restart. The next stop is
Place D’Armes where we leave the bus to visit Notre-Dame Basilica for half an
hour. This cathedral church has beautiful stained glass windows along both
sides of the nave, plus more in a lovely wood-paneled chapel behind the main
altar.
Next, we head out to the
east (or north) end of the island, through a large wooded park and past the
Olympic Stadium. Then we return on a more inland route, through residential
districts that possess one of the curiosities of Montreal: outside staircases
on the small apartment buildings, a strange affectation for a city that is so
cold and icy in wintertime. Passing the financial district and McGill
University, we proceed to climb Mount Royal from the west (or south) end. This
hill overlooks the entire city centre along the St. Lawrence River, to the one
side, and the suburbs extending towards the Laurentian mountains, on the other.
Proceeding around to the backside of the hill, we stop at St. Joseph’s Oratory,
which is approached through gardens and many steps up the hillside. Making our
way back to Dorchester Square, we pass through the area of government
buildings, including the city hall.
We eat lunch at a bistro
alongside the park, crammed with city workers at lunchtime, then return to the
bus for the afternoon tour. We head first to Île Sainte-Hélène in the St. Lawrence
river, where there is a fort dating back to French Colonial times. Here we
watch a display of troops dressed in the costumes of the times, accompanied by
a marching band, then tour the Stewart Museum, filled with artifacts of old
Montreal, both French and British. On leaving the fort, we head to the south
bank of the St. Lawrence where we visit one of the locks on the St. Lawrence
Seaway, right where the Victoria bridge carrying both road and railway (the
line we will leave on, tomorrow) crosses the river. Then we head to the far
western (or southern) end of the island, past large freight marshaling yards,
to the Lachine Canal National Historic Site and the Fur Trade Museum at
Lachine. The canal is still operational, although today used entirely for
pleasure boats, but once was the way that boats carrying furs from the west of
Canada reached Montreal for sale and transshipment for transport to Europe. The
Fur Trade Museum tells the story of the fur trade in all its aspects, including
hunting as well as shipment. There are examples of the different kinds of furs
that were traded, that the visitors can handle and feel the differences for themselves.
Returning to downtown
Montreal, at rush hour no less, our tour ends back in Dorchester Square. For
dinner, we treat ourselves to a good French restaurant, just along the street
from where we had had lunch, but worlds away in terms of ambience and food
quality. We go to bed soon after returning to the hotel.
Friday, June 28th, 1996
This morning we arise,
have breakfast at the hotel, and then drag the bags back over to Central
Station for our train back to New York City.
We reach the border itself at 12:02 pm.
Customs and immigration formalities take place during the Rouses Point stop.
At 2:13 pm, north of
Westport, we have a running meet with train 69, also hauled by a Genesis
dual-power locomotive.
[consist]
P32 dual 701
Coach
Coach
Coach
Dinette/Custom
Train 68, 6-28-1996 |
|
|
|
Montreal |
10:40am |
10:43am |
|
|
10:53 |
10:58 |
|
|
12:05pm
12:50pm |
12:18pm
12:50pm |
|
|
1:18 |
1:19 |
|
|
1:36 |
1:38 |
|
|
2:22 |
2:22 |
|
|
2:40 |
2:41 |
|
|
3:01 |
3:03 |
|
|
3:33 |
3:34 |
|
|
3:58 |
3:58 |
|
|
4:18 |
4:19 |
|
|
4:55 |
4:55 |
|
|
5:20
5:40 |
5:21
5:43 |
|
|
6:04 |
6:07 |
|
|
6:26 |
6:27 |
|
|
6:41 |
6:42 |
|
|
7:20 |
7:24 |
|
|
7:39 |
7:42 |
|
|
8:10 |
8:06 |
Adirondack
Route Description
Our hotel is a small affair on 35th Street, just
north of the Empire State Building. Our taxi driver can’t find it until we pull
out the AAA Tour Book and read him the exact address. The street is under
construction on this block, so perhaps he had intentional amnesia. Once we’ve
checked-in and deposited the bags, we walk over to Park Avenue, walk up Park
Avenue to Grand Central Terminal, walk around the terminal for a while, then
walk back down Fifth Avenue. We eat at a restaurant in the basement of the
Empire State Building and go to bed.
Saturday, June 29th, 1996
I have deliberately
chosen not to get up in time for train 63’s (the Maple Leaf) 7:20 am departure for Niagara Falls, since this is a
Saturday and thus train 281, which also goes to Niagara Falls, is running. We
get up and eat the included breakfast (serve-yourself cereal and bagels), then
checkout and walk to the west end of the block (since construction is completely
blocking the street, this morning), where we hail a taxi to take us to Penn Station.
Once there, we solicit the assistance of a redcap, who takes us directly down
to the platform, without an intervening visit to the Metropolitan Lounge. We’re
just about the first people on the train, so we have the pick of seats where we
can monitor the luggage. Unfortunately, there is no custom class service on
this train. (There would have been had we chosen to take train 283, but I
didn’t want to be that late arriving at Niagara Falls. Unfortunately, we didn’t
have much choice, as we shall see.)
The train starts away
out of Penn Station roughly on time, the last time we will even be close to
schedule all day long. Emerging from the tunnel onto the Empire Connection, the
engineer tries to start the diesel engine, left off until then due to laws regarding
the use of diesels in tunnels in New York City. No such luck, the engine will
not run. We sit at this location from 11:55 am to 12:32 pm. Then an electric
locomotive (AEM-7 910) arrives to pull us back down to Penn Station, where we
sit from 12:38 to 1:05 repairing the locomotive. Restarting at 1:05 pm,
we drop off the technician after the diesel starts up at 1:10 pm, an hour and
20 minutes after we first tried to pass this location. The run up the Hudson to
Albany and Schenectady is uneventful, retracing our route of yesterday
afternoon. I have no explanation for the additional time lost along here
Maple Leaf Route Description
[consist]
P32 dual power 709
Coach
Dinette
Coach
Coach
Train 281, 6-29-1996
|
|
|
|
New York City
|
11:43am
|
11:48
|
|
|
12:09pm
|
1:31pm
|
|
|
12:29
|
1:53
|
|
|
1:08
|
2:43
|
|
|
1:23
|
3:00
|
|
|
1:45
|
3:22
|
|
|
2:10
2:35
|
3:43
4:15
|
|
|
2:57
|
4:35
|
|
|
3:14
|
4:52
|
|
|
4:12
|
6:06
|
|
|
4:26
|
6:19
|
|
|
5:02
|
7:05
|
|
|
6:25
|
8:48
|
|
|
7:21
|
9:49
|
|
|
7:33
|
10:30
|
|
|
8:24
|
11:17/33
|
From 7:26 to 7:30 pm, we
stop at CP296, where there is a crossover between the two main tracks, then
creep slowly forward past the derailment site, where cleanup is still going on,
but one track is now clear. We pass the derailment site itself at 8:13 pm,
still in full daylight. We’re now two hours and 20 minutes late. At Buffalo (Exchange
Street) we pull up in the platform behind train 63, which left New York City at
7:20 am. Train 63’s crew (from Albany, as is ours) timed out almost two hours
ago, and there is no rested crew anywhere nearby. Our crew, however, has enough
time available to get them to Toronto (train 63’s destination). So, we couple
up the trains, shut down our locomotive, and run the train from theirs as far
as Niagara Falls. On our arrival at Niagara Falls, train 281’s consist is
dropped, ready for departure as train 284 at 4:30 am, and train 63 heads for Toronto.
We’re almost three hours late; he’s seven and a half hours late!
We share the only
available taxi with two other people, and get to our hotel just after midnight.
Unfortunately, the illumination at the falls, just cross the street, shuts down
at midnight, so we don’t get to see it. Our room is the last at the hotel—the
bridal suite, with heart shaped bathtub right out in the room!
Sunday, June 30th, 1996
This morning we walk
over to the Niagara River, just above the top of the American Falls, then along
the river to the boat dock. We buy tickets for our ride on the Maid-of-the-Mist, then wend our way
along in the queue down to the dock and onto the boat when the time comes. The
boat takes us out on the river, below the falls, past the base of the American
Falls and into the base of Horseshoe Falls on the Canadian side. It gets might
wet out here in the spray, so every passenger is provided with a plastic
waterproof cape to wear.
It’s a lovely day, so we
sit outside at a café adjacent to the falls, where a local rock band regales us
with “music” that is not unbearably loud. Mid-afternoon, we return to the hotel,
get our bags, and take a taxi back to the station. It’s much hotter at the
station than at the falls! When train 63 arrives, we head out to board it. The
surly conductor refuses to help load the suitcase onto the train, telling me
that he “didn’t choose to bring along a bag that was to heavy to lift”. Chris
arrives and lifts the bag, but the conductor isn’t too happy about waiting for
her, either.
[consist]
F40 210
Coach
Coach
Coach
Coach
Coach
Dinette
Train 63, 6-30-1996
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Niagara Falls, NY
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4:00pm
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4:34
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4:10
5:15
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4:40
5:27
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5:37
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5:49
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5:55
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6:07
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6:30
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6:40
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6:45
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6:54
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7:14
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7:19
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We cross the border
bridge into Canada, where there is an immigration check. Then we head off, as
Via train 98. We’re staying at the Royal
York Hotel, directly across from
Toronto Union Station, so the redcap takes our bags
directly there. We check in, make arrangements for our city tour on Monday, and
have a delightful dinner in the one restaurant that’s open in the hotel this
Sunday evening, before going to bed.
Monday, July 1st, 1996
Today, we have breakfast
at the hotel, waited on by Oksana, then go outside the west door for our tour
pickup. This takes us to the official tour starting point, where we board
another tour bus. The tour first takes us through downtown Toronto, along Yonge
Street and through the financial district, past the Old City Hall and across
Queen Street to the wonderful curved steel and glass Toronto City Hall
buildings, north to the Yorkville shopping area with its boutiques and
gentrified housing, then still further north and up the hill to Casa Loma.
Along the way, we see many of Toronto’s streetcars, but don’t get the chance
for a ride.
Casa Loma is the former
estate of Sir Henry Mill Pellatt, a prominent Toronto financier. His “medieval
castle” on a hill overlooking the city was built between 1911 and 1914, and is
now open to the public in its completely furnished state. Our tour covers 23
rooms on three floors, including traversing a “secret stairway”, plus a visit
to the gift shop at the end. From one of the rooms, a complete overview of the
gardens is available. Another acts as a museum for the Queen’s Own Rifles, Sir
Henry’s regiment.
Leaving Casa Loma, we
head south on Spadina Avenue, through the Chinatown area and past the SkyDome
and CN Tower, to Pier 6 at the harbor. Here, we take a ferry across to the
Harbor Island, then tour the island on the “tramway” (tired vehicles, not
rails), visiting all the locations of interest. The return on the ferry
provides good views of Toronto’s downtown cityscape. I had hoped to do some
shopping in downtown Toronto, but this is Canada Day (which is why the Harbor
Island and ferries are so crowded), so the rest of the city is closed.
We eat dinner at another
of the restaurants in the hotel and go to bed, mindful of our early departure
on Tuesday.
Tuesday, July 2nd, 1996
This morning we arise,
checkout, and head directly for Union Station across the street, where we board
the International to take us to
Chicago.
[consist]
F40 Via 6448
Superliner Coach
Superliner Coach
Superliner Coach
Superliner Coach
High-level Lounge
Train 365, 7-2-1996
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Toronto
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7:50am
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7:51am
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8:27
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8:30
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8:39
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8:42
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9:03
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9:10
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9:34
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9:47
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10:02
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10:18
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10:19
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10:35
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10:50
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10:55/ 11:05
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11:21
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11:28
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12:05/10
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12:20/27
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12:25pm
1:15pm
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12:37pm
1:28pm
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2:03
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2:33
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2:23
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2:58
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2:45
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3:23
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3:15
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4:05
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4:30
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6:00
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5:02
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6:32
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5:49
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7:19
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7:45
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6:38
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8:37
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International Route Description (Canada)
International Route Description
(US)
The train, Via 85 in
Canada, leaves Toronto Union Station past the GO Transit Yards and then the Via
yards to the west, then immediately turns away from the lake and climbs into the
hills to reach the CN freight route parallel to the lake from the main freight
yard (which we do not go past) west to London. This route takes us west through
Guelph and Stratford, before turning more southerly to reach London. On leaving
Georgetown, we stop at 8:45 am for a minute to check on the “haze” (which turns
out to be water spray) coming from the rear of the third car.
From 9:20 to 9:33, we
stop in a siding at Mosborough, west of Guelph, to meet Via 84, the Huron, with F40 6400. At London, we
exchange passengers with Via 71. From 11:31 to 11:44, we stop west of Strathroy
to inspect a “flopping panel” on the second coach. Customs and
immigration formalities are conducted during the extended stop at Port Huron.
From 2:02 to 2:16 pm, back
in the US, we stop east of Imlay City for GTW to get MoW equipment out of the
way. At 3:45, at MP 240.5, we stop next to train 64 to exchange an employee
timetable (Amtrak only seems to have on copy of the new issue) and supplies for
the diner. From 4:20 to 4:23 pm, we stop at MP215, west of East Lansing, then
run wrong-track at 20 mph (a requirement of going against the signaled
direction on directionally-signaled double track) until we cross back over at
MP 194.3 at 5:30 pm. From 7:08 to 7:14 pm, Central Daylight Time, we take
siding at Porter for train 354. From 7:59 to 8:06 pm, we stop east of Hammond
for train 48 to head east.
As we pass through
Michigan City, the woman in full Muslim dress sitting across from us starts to
get her little girls ready to leave the train. She appears dumbfounded when I
tell here the train is at least an hour away from reaching Chicago! This is the
first time I can recall passing through the Indiana harbor area in daylight,
but in the evening. Many things look different from the morning or midday
hours! There are a couple of large cruise-style ships at lake piers with large
parking lots adjacent to them, which appear to be getting ready for an evening
cruise. I surmise that they may be gambling ships!
On arrival in Chicago,
we take a taxi over to the Midland Hotel, then head out to grab something to
eat before bed.
Wednesday, July 3rd, 1996
In the morning, we leave
the hotel, get some coffee at a Starbucks’ on the way east, and walk over to
the Michigan Avenue site of the architectural tours, next to the Symphony
Center. After purchasing our tickets for the tour, we have a while to wait, so
we visit the Symphony Shop next door, buying some CDs and a book. The morning
architectural tour is of the early skyscrapers made possible by the invention of
the elevator, including the work of Louis Sullivan and the early work of Frank
Lloyd Wright—the latter a building known as the Rookery, with an interior
atrium and a beautiful staircase. Exterior ornamentation is all terra cotta. We
also visit the very recent Chicago Central Library and the Board of Trade
building where the futures markets are located.
After lunch at the Berghoff, we walk over to LaSalle Street
station, where the old head house is gone but the tracks and platforms remain.
Here we discover that Metra thinks this is already the Fourth-of-July weekend
(which starts this evening, in Chicago, with the big concert and fireworks
display in Grant Park), and is thus selling all day (actually, all weekend, but
we can’t take advantage of that) tickets. We purchase these and walk out to the
end of the platform, before boarding our train to Joliet along the Rock Island
suburban line.
Chicago Area
Route Descriptions
Although we’ve been through Joliet, and thus past its magnificent
station, many times, this is the first time we’ve been off a train here and
thus had a chance to look around inside. On the way back, we take
the main line from Blue Island north, noting a Metra Electric train at the end
of the former IC branch to Blue Island as we pass. The train is a little bit
late reaching LaSalle Street, so we have to hurry over to the former Chicago
& Northwestern Madison Street station for our train our to Ravinia. We
don’t make the Ravinia special, but we do make a regular North line train that
will nonetheless stop at the gates of Ravinia Park. The Ravinia Festival’s site is just
south of Highland Park.
We leave the train and
buy our tickets for the evening’s concert. At the restaurant, we discover we’re
too late to order from the menu, but still have time for the buffet. So, we
have the buffet, which is excellent, and are done just in time to stroll over
to the music Pavilion, where we take out seats. The Chicago Symphony Orchestra,
conducted by Hermann Michael plays Carl Ruggles’ Men and Mountains, Schumann’s 1st Symphony, Liszt’s 2nd
Piano Concerto with Mischa Dichter as soloist, and Richard Strauss’ Tod und Verklarung. We enjoy the
performance immensely.
At the conclusion of the
concert, we make our way back to the Ravinia station. The Ravinia special pulls
in from its siding just to the north and returns us to Chicago. As we walk back
to the hotel, we have to fight the congestion from the crowds leaving the fireworks
that had taken place in Grant Park on the lakeside.
Thursday, July 4th, 1996
Today, we take the train
down through St. Louis to Kirkwood, MO. We take a taxi from the hotel to Union
Station, check the big suitcase through to Los Angeles, then board our train
when it is called. Again, we’re riding Custom Class today.
[consist]
F40 400
Custom Class/Dinette
Coach
Coach
Coach
Train 303, 7-4-1996
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Chicago
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10:30am
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10:30am
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10:52
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10:54
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11:20
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11:20/36
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11:54
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12:10pm
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12:11pm
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12:27
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12:40
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12:53/ 1:00
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1:13
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1:30
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1:50
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2:03
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2:30
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2:39
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3:00
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3:09
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4:05
4:30
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4:00
4:30
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4:55
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4:58
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The leg on the Ann Rutledge retraces our steps through St. Louis in the early part of this trip. We
stop for 3 minutes at 21st Street, waiting for an inbound Amtrak. At
Joliet, an HEP problem is corrected. From 1:50 to 1:56 pm, we wait for a
freight to clear, just north of Springfield. Approaching St. Louis, we see
former Frisco 4-8-2 1522 and her support train on the TRRA down by the
riverfront. In fact, shed had to move out of the way for us to pass.
In Kirkwood, MO, there
are no taxis in sight (it is, after all, late afternoon on July 4th), and it
takes the agent about an hour to get us one. Eventually, we do get to our
hotel. From our room, we can see numerous fireworks shows after dark.
Friday, July 5th, 1996
We
get up fairly early and take a taxi over to the National Museum of
Transportation, a coupe of miles west of Kirkwood at Barrett Station, right
next o the site of the first tunnels constructed on the Pacific Railroad of
Missouri, back in the mid 19th-century. Although the museum is based
largely on railroad artifacts, there is a tugboat by the entrance and several
buses among the collection. Some of the artifacts are stored in lines along
tracks outside in the weather, but some are stored under the cover of a
recently built shelter and are at least plausibly arranged as “trains”. Among
these is the private car that Harry Truman used for whistle-stop campaigning in
1948, connected to what could possibly be the rest of the train used for that
purpose. There are 35 steam locomotives in all, including 4-4-0
Daniel Nason from 1858, former Reading 4-2-2
Black Diamond from 1889, former B&O 4-6-0 173 and former UP “Big
Boy” 4-8-8-4 4006. The museum is also the home of former Frisco 1522, seen the
previous day.
There
are 28 internal-combustion locomotives, including the original FT, EMD 103,
later B&O 50, and former UP “Centennial” diesel 6944, plus electric
locomotives and interurban cars. There are 23 passenger cars and 54 freight
cars and other pieces of rolling stock.
When
we’ve seen all of the things at the museum, we take another taxi back to the
hotel to check out and grab our luggage, and then to the station where we leave
the bags while we have lunch in a nearby restaurant. The restaurant is in a
house just across the tracks from the station; lunch is very good.
[consist]
F40 400
Custom Class/Dinette
Coach
Coach
Coach
Train 304, 7-5-1996
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Kirkwood
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1:11pm
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1:23pm
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1:50
2:15
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3:05
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3:40
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3:35
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4:18
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4:20
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5:01
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From 3:18 to 3:33 pm, we
stop outside Alton waiting for train 303 with F40 294. From 3:58 to 4:02 pm, we
stop after tripping the hotbox detector at MP239. According to the dispatcher,
this has been “tripping every Amtrak that goes by”, and presumably impacted
train 303 also.
In Springfield, IL, we
observe the site of Lincoln's law offices, and walk around the outside of the
current and former state capitols, spending some time reading in the adjacent
park under a shady tree, but don't find the national park at the Lincoln
Residence until after we’ve had dinner, and thus after it has closed for the
day. While we’re walking around, we see a 105-car northbound coal train on the
SPCSL, at about 6 pm.
We return to the
station, reclaim the bags we had left with the agent earlier, and board our
sleeping car on the Texas Eagle when
it arrives from Chicago. We have chosen to do this here, rather than in St.
Louis, partly because the visit to Springfield gave us something to do this
afternoon and evening, and partly because the scheduled time of departure from
St. Louis is after midnight. Boarding here gives us at least two hours more to
sleep before morning.
The first part of the
trip, of course, retraces our steps to St. Louis. Only south of St. Louis are
we anywhere that we haven’t been three times already on this trip!
[consist]
Train 21 Train 1
F40 310 P32 514
Baggage Baggage
Baggage Sleeper
Baggage Diner
Transition Lounge
Sleeper Coach
Coach Coach
Coach Coach
Diner Coach
Lounge Sleeper
Coach PC
Santa Cruz
Train 21, 7-5-1996
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Springfield
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10:02pm
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10:35pm
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10:42
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8:08am
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9:03/14
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8:53
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10:34
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9:14
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10:55
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10:39
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12:12/18
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11:54
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1:18pm
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12:29pm
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2:04/12
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1:14
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3:14
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3:05/15
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5:07/24
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4:38
4:58
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6:29
7:12
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5:44
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8:00
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6:51
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9:11
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7:35
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9:40
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8:34
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10:46
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11:59pm
5:35am
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3:02am
7:37am
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8:30
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10:50
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11:05
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1:56pm
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1:05pm
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3:46/57
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4:00
4:20
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6:40
7:03
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5:50
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8:26
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6:45
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9:16
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7:50
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10:17
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4:45am
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7:09am
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4:55
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7:59
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“6:05”
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8:43
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Texas Eagle
Route Description
Saturday, July 6th, 1996
We awake this morning in
the piney woods of the far north of Arkansas, just after leaving Walnut Ridge
with the train now over an hour late. Before breakfast, we pass through Hope,
boyhood home of President Clinton. From 7:38 to 7:59 am, we stop to reconnect
an air hose somewhere around MP 280. From 9:33 to 10:07 am, we
stop to flag each signal from MP 359 to 368, due to a rain-caused CTC outage.
At MP 426, north of Texarkana, we stop due to bull(s) on the tracks. From 6:11 to 6:18 pm, we wait for a southbound UP coal train to
clear the crossing at Tower 55. From 6:18 to 6:23, we pull through the east to south leg of
the wye, and then reverse across the crossing into the station. Coal trains
reaching this vicinity down any of the UP lines have come a roundabout way through
North Platte, Gibbon Junction, Marysville, and Kansas City, before turning
southwest towards Texas. By contrast, coal trains reaching the Fort Worth area
on the BN have come by a much more direct route through Denver, Pueblo,
Trinidad and Wichita Falls. The train is serviced in Fort Worth and there’s
time to visit the station as well as walk the train.
We go to bed
just S. of Temple, TX, hours from San Antonio.
Sunday, July 7th, 1996
Sunset Limited Route Description
We awake about 7am,
while the train is being switched in San Antonio, and leave hours late (again).
At 7:42 and 7:45 am, we make stops out on
the main line at San Antonio. At Amistad, at 11:17 am, a red
signal drops in our face; at 11:24 am, we flag that signal. From 3:18
to 3:24 pm, east of Alpine, we stop for an SP freight to pass. It gets dark
around Fort Huachuca in far eastern AZ.
Monday, July 8th, 1996
We awake during the
descent from Beaumont Pass. We appear to be almost on time (given the
generosities of the padding in the schedule). From 7:15 to 7:54 am, we
stop between Ontario and Pomona because a freight ahead of us has triggered a
hotbox detector. We’re into LA by 8:30 am. Arrival could have been much earlier,
except for the delay west of Pomona!
.