Sunset Limited route description

Departure is on time, and after a slight delay at Yuma Junction (the Dispatcher was "not expecting us"), we have an event-free run out the former SP main line, being on time again by the time we leave Yuma. (This is the first time I've been on this train and reached Yuma without a massive delay somewhere.) Perhaps the extension of Two Main Tracks all the way from West Colton to Indio has something to do with this, but more likely the reduction in train traffic (more than 10% down from its 2007 peak) is the key factor. We're in bed before the train reaches the crew change point at Maricopa (crews on this line are still lodged in Phoenix).

Monday, April 13^th, 2009

While I'm not awake enough to record arrival times, I do note that we have to wait for time at Tucson, Benson, Lordsburg and Deming overnight, even though the latter three are flagstops. I arise as the train approaches El Paso, early. We eat breakfast when the Dining Car resumes serving, on leaving El Paso, lunch as the train waits for time to depart Alpine, and dinner east of Del Rio, where the train also has to wait for time (having also done so at the Sanderson flagstop). The train is early into San Antonio, being delayed only due to the almost simultaneous arrival of Train 21 from Chicago at the connection with the former M-K-T, just west of the station.

Connecting passengers from Train 21 to Train 2 board our sleeping car almost immediately on arrival into San Antonio for our long stay there. I'm asleep long before our 1 am departure time.

Tuesday, April 14^th, 2009

Overnight, we've lost some 90-minutes due to brake house issues somewhere on the train, so when we arise the train is stopped in Huston. The train takes the former SP line onwards to Beaumont (as opposed to the directional running on the former MoPac that it has used the last few years), again likely due to the drop in freight traffic. The train regains about 30 minutes of the delay by Lafayette, losing some of that again east of New Iberia (where we eat lunch), and stopping for half an hour at West Bridge Junction, but using the schedule padding into New Orleans to arrive there only 40 minutes late.

The temperatures in New Orlans are in the mid-70s (F.), with moderate humidity, so we open the balcony door in our 15th-floor hotel room for a couple of hours, before walking over to Bourbon Street for dinner. We go to bed reasonably early, mindful of our early departure in the morning.

Wednesday, April 15^th, 2009

We arise early, and take a taxi over to New Orleans Union Passenger Terminal in good time for the 6:45 am boarding (for sleeping car passengers) prior to out 7:10 am departure. I manage to collect the consist as we walk down the platform prior to boarding.

[consist]

AEM-7                908 (on at Washington)
P42                        22 (off at Washington)
P42                      181 (off at Washington)
Baggage              1707
Sleeper            62010    Forest View
Sleeper            62017    Majestic View
Diner                 8527
Cafe                28022
Coach             25104
Coach              25060
Coach              25041
Coach              25027   

Crescent Limited route description

The breakfast call comes before the train reaches the south shore of Lake Pontchartrain, allowing us to be in the Dining Car as the train crosses the causeway to the north side of the lake. Our table companions are from New Orleans, and tell us of their experiences during Hurricane Katrina, several years ago, but with evidence still visible in almost all parts of the city.

Again, we're on time or waiting for time all the way across Mississippi, but lose almost 40 minutes approaching Tuscaloosa, when the Dispatcher makes us wait at the siding just west of the station for our westbound counterpart, which isn't due out of that station until almost 20 minutes after our scheduled departure (but there may not be a convenient siding for meeting the trains if both are on time!). We eat lunch east of Tuscaloosa, and dinner east of Atlanta (by which time we're on time again).

Thursday, April 16^th, 2009

I awake north of the Charlottesville stop, as we stop near Barboursville to inspect the train after a detector failure. We eat breakfast before Manassas, and the train is early into Alexandria and Washington, running ahead of time (in spite of a five-minute signal check just after leaving Washington) until after Philadelphia (where we stop for four minutes at Zoo to let Train 174 pass), but losing time thereafter (probably due to having only one AEM-7 on this long train).

In New York City's Pennsylvania Station, we go to Club Acela, and then reclaim our checked bag from the adjacent Baggage Claim, requesting Redcap service for our subsequent departure on Train 176 (for Boston, but we're only going to Stamford, CT). That train is 17 minutes late, and we get a bit antsy before the Redcap comes for us and our luggage and delivers us to the Business Class car at the front of the train.

[consist]

AEM-7                938
Business Class    81534
Business Class    81533
Coach                82654
Diner-Lounge      43352
Coach                82538
Coach                82699
Coach                82633
Coach                82607           

Northeast Corridor (North) route description

Train 176 has four coaches full of eighth-graders returning from their spring trip to DC. At Stamford, we take the escalator up to the Ticket Office, buy tickets on Metro-North to South Norwalk, and head back down on a different platform for the 4:54 pm Metro-North non-stop to South Norwalk. This is a peak-hour train, so we have to stand in the vestibule with the luggage for the (short) duration.

Train 1562, 4-16-2009	Schedule	Actual
Stamford	4:54 pm	4:54 pm
South Norwalk	5:04 pm	5:04 pm

In South Norwalk, we've been assured that we can take the hotel's shuttle to the hotel, but on our first arrival, we don't spot the telephone from which to call it (and we don't carry a cell-phone), so we take a taxi to the hotel, some five miles away. The Western Connecticut Chapter's Registration Table is operating, but only deals with one of the three things we need (getting us our badges and goodie-bag), so we have to return later for our banquet tickets and our banquet table sign-up (two separate visits). Those manning the table look at me blankly when I complain about their apparent lack of organization.

We run into a number of people almost immediately on arriving. Chris goes across the street to use a Citibank ATM, and when she returns Greg Molloy asks if the ATM had money, and then if the ink were dry yet! (:-)) We eat dinner at the local Outback steakhouse, with Ken and Ann Miller from Tri-State Chapter (and R&LHS), catching each other up on our activities since last summer.

In Norwalk (4/17-4/20)

Friday, April 17^th, 2009

Today's trip is a bus ride to the Connecticut Eastern Chapter's museum in Willimantic, CT, and a ride on the Shore Line East and Metro-North trains between Old Saybrook and South Norwalk, changing trains at New Haven. Several people are riding in a van, because the number of excursionists is just a bt larger than will fit in one bus.

The bus heads east on I-95 (the former Connecticut Turnpike), north on I-81, and then northeast on State Route 66 from Meriden through Middletown to Willimantic, generally following the route of the erstwhile New Haven 'Air Line' from New Haven to Boston, inland. The Connecticut Eastern Chapter's museum is located in the west 'quadrant' of the former flat crossing between the erstwhile Air Line and the former Central Vermont line between Palmer, MA, and New London, CT, now operated by the New England Central, a good half mile west of the nearest road connection in Willimantic.

The museum features a recently built six-stall section of roundhouse on the west side of its recently-installed turntable, housing its restoration facilities, along with some restored (or rebuilt) railroad buildings from other places, and has in its collection the restored former Central Vermont Alco S-4 8081 and restored former New Haven (and Metro-North) FL-9 2023, as well as a couple of small diesels (e.g. an operational GE 25-ton), some freight cars, and a Trackmobile. The 90-minutes allocated for our visit here is ample for examining the collection, and permits time for some excursionists to ride the handcar and even obtain cabrides in the 25-ton.

After the museum, the bus takes us over to a nearby restaurant, where we have another 90-mintes for lunch. Chris and I take the opportunity to catch up with the doings of Dianne and Braley Pastorino. After lunch, the bus heads south on State Route 32, generally following the route of the NEC, to I-395 and then I-95 west to Old Saybrook, where we arrive in good time for our Shore Line East train from here to New Haven. This train is hauled by a GP40-2H painted in the 1950s New Haven color scheme.

[consist]

GP40-2H    6695
Coach        1770
Coach        1756
Coach        1766
Cab Car     1711           

Although the train arrives in New Haven before the 4:42 pm Metro-North train heads west, cross-platform, we can't take that train because we have a group ticket on a specified later train. So, the group gets to wait (mostly) on the platform, observing the southbound Amtrak Vermonter, changing from diesel to electric power, northbound Amtrak Regional Train 174 and its diesel-hauled stub connection to Springfield. Our train onwards to South Norwalk is the usual Metro-North dual-power (third-rail and overhead catenary) EMU.

Train 1581, 4-18-2009	Schedule	Actual
New Haven	5:33 pm	5:33 pm
Milford	5:43	5:45
Stratford	5:48	5:52
Bridgeport	5:54	5:58
Fairfield	6:01	6:05
Westport	6:09	6:12
South Norwalk	6:16	6:17 arr.

From South Norwalk, the hotel shuttles take us back to the hotel, in relays. Back at the hotel, we run into Joe Williams and chat with him for awhile, then cross the street to eat at Tavern7, where we sit with Ken and Ann, Don Maxwell, Ed Berntsen, and a couple of others. This causes the restaurant to deem us a group, providing us with a single check, and then splitting it up when it becomes clear we're going to pay separately.

Saturday, April 18^th, 2009

Today, we're going into Manhattan for a tour of Grand Central Terminal, and then a visit to the New York City Transit (subway) Signaling Training Center, getting back and forth on Metro-North. To start' the hotel's shuttles takes us in groups to the Merritt 7 station (named after two adjacent highways) on the Danbury Branch, whence we ride one stop on a diesel-hauled train (Brookville Locomotive Co. BL20-GH, painted in the 1950s New Haven colors) to South Norwalk, and then continue into Grand Central on the usual dual-power EMU.

[consist]

BL20GH    130
Three coaches, including 6351       

New Haven Line route description

Grand Central Terminal

The excursionists are divided into two groups. We're in Group 1, which will visit GCT first and the Subway later. Group 2 does things in the reverse order. Group 1 meets its first guide, Gordon, at 10 am, and proceeds to tour the main hall, the main waiting room (now devoid of benches), and an apartment (viewed from the door only) set into the west side of the Terminal. Then we're transferred to another guide for an interesting visit to the Williamson Library (tucked into the upper  southeast corner of the Terminal building), where the New York Chapters of both NRHS and R&LHS meet. We're hard pressed to get our 38 people seated in the library!

After lunch, when only Sheila Dorr thinks we're to regroup at 12:30 pm (everyone else correctly reads it at 12;15 pm), we head, as a group, into the subway, where one of the guides repeatedly inserts a farecard in the turnstiles, and walk the block or so west to the Times Square Shuttle platform, boarding that train for its one stop ride to Times Square. There, we head further down to the southbound platforms for Lines 1, 2, and 3, where we take a train south to the 124th Street station, at which we emerge onto the south side of 14th Street at 7th Street, and walk the one block west to 8th Street, where we're met by the guide, Manny, from the Signals Learning Center.

Descending into the 8th Ave & 14th St. station, we go into the training center, where we are shown the different types of signaling control panel, and then a full-size training bed comprising a track section and all the appropriate switches, switch motors, and signals, including the tripcocks. Manny demonstrates how all of this works, as well as showing us several blocks of signaling on a model segment of line. We return to GCT by way of the L line across town to Union Square, and then north on Lines 4,5, & 6 to Grand Central (one stop, on our express). At GCT, there's again time for bathroom and drink purchase stops before boarding our Metro-North train back to South Norwalk, where the hotel shuttles again serve to get us back to the hotel.

The "pre-meeting" meeting features a discussion of the proposed dues increase, at which Howard Walker finally learns why this can't just "be fun anymore" (due to IRS regulations for non-profit organizations), and Steve Wasby, co-chairman of the Governance Study Committee, introduces discussion of two aspects of what that committee is discussing, without first introducing the foundation of the overall scheme the committee will propose. These generate lots of negative comment, as a result. It becomes clear from the discussions that some of the people in the room haven't been to Board Meetings for awhile, and have no idea what this is about! After the meeting, Steve blows off my suggestion that if he wants comments prior to meetings, he needs to circulate draft ideas via e-mail. His expectations of comments on a blank slate suggest he thinks the Board is (or should be) like the Faculty Senate (whatever it might be called) at his place of employment.

The program after the banquet is a multi-media show featuring New Haven locomotives and Signal Stations (which were numbered, without names, prior to the Penn Central takeover). The Chapter has restored one of these, in South Norwalk, and the meeting is located here to encourage Board Members to visit that tower.

Sunday, April 19^th, 2009

At the Board Meeting itself, the Dues Increase passes with little difficulty. The meeting bogs down, however, when Steve Wasby introduces a motion regarding "performance criteria" and an "oversight committee" for the Fernley and Fernley contract. (Apparently, Steve thinks that "performance criteria" could be added to the F&F contract without a vast increase in its price as a result!) Steve wants to defer discussion and action on this to the Duluth Meeting, but the voice vote on the motion to postpone is inconclusive, and the tallied weighted vote turns out against the motion. This means the motion itself has to be dealt with right away, and after some discussion (e.g., "management" objects to a committee of the Board overseeing its work), it is rejected by voice vote.

Chris and I chat with Joe Williams to establish a time and place for our evening get together, and Chris & I then eat at the pizza place across the street (the hotel doesn't do lunch). We then have the hotel shuttle take us down to the Chapter's SoNo Tower, where we're shown around the tower (very well done), and I meet Dick Carpenter, author of the series of 1946 Railroad Atlases published by Johns Hopkins. While we're at the tower, we see a pair of Amtrak P42s, back-to-back, hauling an HHP-8 and six or seven Amfleet coaches eastwards, towards New Haven, with the next Regional heading in that direction only about ten minutes behind. We then walk over to the South Norwalk station, and take the Danbury Branch train north to Danbury for route documentation purposes. The connecting train from New York (running behind those presumably-delayed Amtrak trains) is about four minutes late.

[consist]

BL20GH         128
Coach            6341
Coach            6371
Cab Car         6320      

Danbury Branch route description

During the layover in Danbury, I take some photos of the Danbury Railroad Museum (much of the equipment seems to have been painted, at least, since our visit here in 2000), and walk to a nearby cafe (which turns out to be run by Brazilians) for drinks. On the way back, two young railfans who have just visited the Danbury Museum regale the car with their discussion of some left-wing theories on transportation as public service, evidently stemming from some course they're taking. Again, we use the hotel shuttle to get back to the hotel.

We meet Joe and Lisa Williams at the hotel, and we head off in their car to a Hunan Restaurant, passing by an old house that Joe's family had once occupied, in the process. Interesting conversation accompanies dinner. Joe and Lisa (separately) have been taking Board Members to La Guardia Airport (twice), Stamford Station (twice), and even Croton Harmon station, all afternoon. After dinner, we meet Joe Maloney in the hotel lobby. He is taking an overnight Amtrak Regional back to Williamsburg, and leaves with Joe and Lisa who are taking him to the Stamford station. There is time for more conversation before they leave.

Monday, April 20^th, 2009

Because the last leg of our trip will be a three-days-a-week train, we have a day to spend somewhere along the way, and have chosen to use it to ride the Harlem Line out of GCT, since we've never been on that particular line (and it's convenient if not timely, from Norwalk). First, we have breakfast at the hotel, sitting with Lester Collins from the Greenville Chapter and catching up with him. Then, we take the hotel shuttle to South Norwalk to get the Metro-North train into Grand Central. (We've chosen not to shorten the trip by changing at Fordham, since we want the ability to buy drinks and visit toilets in between trains.)

Train 1445, 4-20-2009	Schedule	Actual
South Norwalk	9:54 am	9:54 am
Rowayton	9:57	9:57
Darien	10:00	10:00
Noroton Heights	10:03	10:03
Stamford	10:08	10:08-11
125th Street	10:43	10:45
GCT	10:54	10:54

In Grand Central, we buy round-trip tickets to Wassaic, make use of the facilities and then acquire drinks and sandwiches for lunch, before heading for Train 631 to Southeast (aka Brewster North). This train is an express as far as White Plains, a segment of line that is covered by a separate, local, train. Harlem Line trains are exclusively third-rail, 650 V DC operated, and are newer than the EMUs on the New Haven Line. In the hotel's shuttle, this morning, we had heard about Pepsico buying up two of its largest bottlers, and on Train 631, the people in front of us are financial analysts traveling north to a meeting with Pepsico.

At Southeast, we make the cross-platform connection to diesel-hauled Train 931, as soon as the GCT train already in that platform has left. Soon afterwards, rain begins to fall, heavily, for the first time this weekend.

Train 631, 4-20-2009	Schedule	Actual	Schedule	Actual
Grand Central Terminal	11:48 am	11:49 am	4:33 pm	4:37 pm
125th St.	11:58	11:59	4:22	4:28
Fordham			4:14	4:19
White Plains	12:19 pm	12:22 pm	3:58	4:03
North White Plains	12:23	12:25	3:54	4:00
Valhalla	12:27	12:28	3:50	3:56
Hawthorne	12:31	12:32	3:48	3:50
Pleasantville	12:35	12:35	3:42	3:46
Chappaqua	12:38	12:38	3:39	3:43
Mount Kisco	12:44	12:44	3:33	3:37
Bedford Hills	12:48	12:48	3:29	3:33
Katonah	12:51	12:52	3:25	3:29
Goldens Bridge	12:55	12:55	3:21	3:25
Purdy's	12:58	12:59	3:17	3:21
Croton Falls	1:02	1:02	3:14	3:17
Brewster	1:08	1:08	3:09	3:10
Southeast	1:16	1:10	3:06 pm	3:06 pm
			Train 668

[consist]

BL20GH            114
Coach                     ?
Coach               6342
Cab Car            6316           

Harlem Line route description

On the way back from Southeast, Train 668 keeps sliding past the platforms, in the rain, and then has to back up to pickup and drop-off passengers. This is what makes the train steadily later. From GCT, we take a peak-hour train that is non-stop to South Norwalk, and is almost, but not quite, full (as far as seats are concerned).

Train 1552, 4-20-2009	Schedule	Actual
Grand Central Terminal	5:01 pm	5:01 pm
South Norwalk	5:50 pm	5:50 pm

At South Norwalk, where the wind is blowing cold, we take the hotel shuttle back to the hotel in the rain, and then have dinner in the Italian Restaurant that is visible from our hotel room window.

The Journey West (4/21-4/26)

Tuesday, April 21^st, 2009

This morning, we sleep-in, finish packing, check-out of the hotel, and then take the hotel shuttle to South Norwalk for the last time, buying single tickets to Stamford.

Train 1555, 4-21-2009	Schedule	Actual
South Norwalk	11:38 am	11:42 am
Rowayton	11:41	11:45
Darien	11:44	11:47
Noroton Heights	11:47	11:50
Stamford	11:53 am	11:54 am

As on the way east, we have to change at Stamford, to get an Amtrak train to New York's Pennsylvania Station. The railroads involved have set up Stamford as an interchange station for exactly this purpose, both on Metro-North, and between Metro-North and Amtrak, to avoid the necessity of every train stopping to provide service at every station along the line. Amtrak trains to Penn Station stop only at New Haven, Stamford, and New Rochelle. Metro-North trains from New Haven run as stoppers to Stamford, and then express to 125th Street and Grand Central. Stoppers starting at Stamford provide local service west of that station, and local travel between a station east of Stamford and one west of Stamford requires a change of trains at Stamford.

(This sort of change was needed even when the service was provided by a single railroad—before May 1, 1971, when Amtrak took over long distance train service across the USA—and even when it was provided by the New York, New Haven and Hartford (aka "New Haven"), prior to January 1, 1969, since it, too, ran express services to Penn Station and to Grand Central, providing local services only by shorter-distance stopping trains.) While today's service pattern makes it possible to get from South Norwalk to New York City (Grand Central) without a change of trains, continuing beyond New York would then require a change of stations, from Grand Central to Penn Station, which requires much more effort than a change of trains at Stamford!

[consist]

HHP-8                663
Business Class  81538
Coach               82421
Coach               82571
Cafe                  43361
Coach               82027
Coach               82568
Coach               82555
Coach               82094         

In Penn. Station, we go to Club Acela, and then take the large suitcase to Baggage Check-in, before finding a restaurant in which to have lunch. Back at Club Acela, we arrange for Redcap service down to Train 49, and then settle in to wait. This time, the Redcaps are ready before we are, and we happily head down to our train..

[consist]

P32AC                706    (off at Rennselaer)
P42                        75    (on at Rennselaer)
P42                           1   (on at Rennselaer)
Baggage               1763
Sleeper                62023    Mystic View
Coach                  25075
Coach                  25081
Dinette                  53511
Coach                  25113
Coach                  25006
Coach                  25043
Cafe                     28000
Sleeper                62037    Southern View
Sleeper               62013    Harvest View
Baggage                1247      

Lakeshore Limited route description

For some reason we never determine, the cars for the "Boston section" seem to be on the train all the way from New York City, but are not loaded until Albany-Rensselaer. During the stop in Croton-Harmon, we see a line of Metro-North FL-9s in the shops on the west side of the line. Before leaving Albany-Rensselaer, we have to wait for eastbound Train 64 (brought in by 201, leaves with 716) to come down the single track from Schenectady.

Our dinner in the "all-day dining" car is after departure from Albany-Rensselaer.

Wednesday, April 22^nd, 2009

On arrival in Chicago, we go to the Metropolitan Lounge to drop off our bags, and on leavung, run into NRHS Northwest Region RVP Ed Berntsen (the one who was driven to Croton-Harmon on Sunday), who had stopped off in Syracuse for two days and joined our train there, last night. After chatting for a little while, we walk slowly across downtown Chicago, stopping to do some shopping on the way, to the former Randolph Street, now Millennium, Metra Station, where we buy sandwiches and drinks for lunch before boarding our South Shore Line train for the run out to South Bend, IN, and back. The train comprises the same low-level EMUs that have been operating the line since the late 1980s, even though there are new gallery cars (two-level seating, like those on the Metra Electric) on the property.

Train 11, 4-22-2009	Schedule	Actual	Schedule	Actual
Chicago (Millenium)	12:35 pm	12:35 pm
Van Buren Street	12:38	121:38	6:19 pm	7:08 pm arr.
11th Street	12:41	12:40	6:16	7:06
57th Street	112:49	12:48	6:07	6:58
Kensginton/115th Stret	1:01	12:58-1:05	5:55	6:45
Hegewisch	1:10	1:12-15	5:45	5:45-47
Hammond	1:16	1:19-21	5:41	5:41
East Chicago	1:21	1:25	5:36	5:36
Gary/Chicago Airport	1:27	1:31	5:31	5:31
Gary Metro Center	1:35	137	5:26	5:24-26
Miller	1:39	1:43	5:19	5:19
Ogden Dunes	1:46	1:49	5:13	5:11-13
Dune Park	1:55	1:57	5:04	5:03
Beverly Shores	2:01	2:01	4:58	pass
11th St. (Michigan City)	2:12	2:10-12	4:47	4:49
Carroll Avenue (Shops)	2:19	2:17-20	4:41	4:37-43
Hudson Lake	2:37	pass	4:17	pass
South Bend Airport	(3:59) pm	(4:12) pm	(4:55) pm	(4:54) pm
			Train 20

South Shore Line route description

An incoming train had trouble with the wires at Hammond, delaying our outbound passage from Kensington, onward. There are many new NICTD gallery cars at the Michigan City Shops. From 2:35 to 2:43, we stop due to red signals west of Hudson Lake.

At 5:52 pm, on the way back, we're stopped by a red signal at the end of double track approaching the flat crossing with the CN/IC at Kensington. This is said to be due to "power problems" (apparently, wires down on the Metra Electric, making me wonder if the same NICTD car was at fault as at Hammond, earlier). The conductor is unable/unwilling to do anything about passengers with serious time constraints. We get going again at 6:43 pm, but the lateness means that Chris and I have to take a taxi from Van Buren Street to Union Station, to catch up with our 'sleeper passengers boarding call' for Train 59 in the Metropolitan Lounge. We're late for that, but board the train, after collecting the consist on the way out, ahead of the dining car's call for dinner, so everything turns out alright for us.

[consist]

P42                 197
Dorm            39045
Sleeper          32090    Michigan
Diner Lite      37000
Coach            34100
Coach-Bagg.  31027

City of New Orleans route description

This seems to us like a very short train! We eat dinner with a couple from Florida, whose husband was a Systems Engineer on many civil engineering projects in his career. The train pulls out of Chicago Union Station to 21st Street, then backs around the south leg of the wye onto the Burlington Raceway, and pulls forward onto the St. Charles Air Line.

Thursday, April 23^rd, 2009

We arise during the stop at Memphis. I take route description notes south from Memphis, except for Jackson to Brookhaven, where we're eating lunch. The train stops four times, for a further loss of seven minutes, before reaching West Junction, where it rejoins the main (freight) line south. At 8:52 am, it takes the siding at Swan Lake, and then waits from 8:56 to 9:04 am at the south end of Greenwood (north of the station), for a northbound CN freight. From 2:38 to 2:42 pm, we stop at Frenier for Train 58 to pass (2:41 pm). At New Orleans, the train is wyed before entering Track 4 at NOUPT.

We take a taxi over to the hotel. The temperature and humidity are both much higher this week than last, so we take advantage of the air conditioning in the room until its time to walk over to Bourbon Street for dinner, and back afterwards.

Friday, April 24^th, 2009

We arise in time to have breakfast in the hotel restaurant, (although we end-up being hustled out at the end of breakfast service). We take a taxi over to NOUPT, and meet our dinner companions of Wednesday night in the First Class Lounge (they're going to Beaumont, TX), before boarding the train and collecting the consist on the way out.

[consist]

P42                   84
P42                   39
Baggage         1252
Dorm            39018
Sleeper          32088    Maryland
Diner             38044
Lounge           33026
Coach-Bagg.  31035
Coach            34082
Coach            34098                (on at San Antonio)
Sleeper          32111    Texas    (on at San Antonio)
Private-car                    Warren Henry        (on at Houston, off at San Antonio)
Private-car                    Evelyn M. Henry     (on at Houston, off at San Antonio)

Soon after departure, the Dining Car steward, George (whom we've met before) comes around taking lunch reservations. The train stops twice, for a total of 28 minutes, taking the siding at Schriever to meet Train 2 (loco 136), but doesn't make a stop at the station (it's a flagstop). We eat lunch west of there, while the train crosses Bayou Bouef and then the Atchafalaya River (which George wants to call the Appalachicola River). From 5:12 to 6:04 pm, we stop at the west end of Iowa siding waiting for the UP local train to clear.

At about 6:30 pm, I hear the sounds of water falling in the corridor outside our room. I ask Chris what the noise is (she can see in that direction), and she tells me its water and rushes off to find our car attendant. A few minutes later, I hear George making a PA announcement asking Brian Foster (the attendant) to report to our room. When he gets downstairs, he immediately sees what's wrong, and soon discovers it's a leaking shower in Bedroom D. Meanwhile, the whole corridor floor at the other end of the car from our room is awash! The train makes a brief stop for the water to be shut off to that room, and we proceed, with everything operating, but very little water left in our car's water tank. (It will be refilled at San Antonio, overnight, since the former water supply in Houston ahs been severed.)

We eat dinner west of Beaumont. As we approach Houston, we can see many bright lightning flashes in the sky to the west. Back in our room, the scanner is talking about "2-4 inches of rain per hour" and "floods in low-lying area southeast of the city". At the stop in Houston, in heavy rain, a switcher adds the two private cars that normally live there to the rear of our train. These will come off again in San Antonio, while we sleep.

Saturday, April 25^th, 2009

Today is much quieter on our car than yesterday afternoon had been! We eat breakfast near Uvalde, TX, lunch in Alpine, and dinner between Deming and Lordsburg, going to be as we get into Arizona.

Sunday, April 26^th, 2009

I awake as we make the stop at Palm Springs. We make no attempt to go to the early modified breakfast. We have to flag a signal at Ordway. There are 127 locomotives in the storage line at West Colton, and 70-75 more in three rows at City of Industry. The amount of padding in the schedule on a good day shows, as we arrive in Los Angeles over an hour early.

After taking the carry-on bags to the car, we collect the checked suitcase that had arrived earlier, and head for home, stopping at Bristol Farms in South Pasadena on the way. We're home, where everything is fine, by lunchtime.