This trip was to attend the 2008 R&LHS Annual Meeting in Lancaster, PA. As usual, we traveled out and back on Amtrak, traveling via Portland, OR, and adding side trips to Savannah, GA and Philadelphia.
To head north in the morning, we prefer to stay in Los Angeles overnight. There's a symphony concert on Thursday evening, so we've decided to drive down in the early afternoon and attend the concert this evening. We leave home a little after 1 pm, taking our usual route through Palmdale and Pasadena (to avoid the traffic tie-ups on I-5 in Burbank and Glendale. After stopping at Bristol Farms in South Pasadena (for something we'd forgotten), we're at the Metropolitan Plaza Hotel across from Los Angeles Union Station by 4:30 pm
We head out at about 5:30 pm, for dinner in Chinatown, just to the north, and then walk down to Walt Disney Concert Hall, where we patronize the shop before going into the auditorium. The advertised pianist has canceled, and has been replaced by Peter Serkin, who in turn has replaced a Janacek piece with an additional Messiaen piece, for solo piano, to go with the scheduled Messiaen piece for piano and orchestra (actually, winds and percussion). The first piece has interesting bird calls, but seems formless. Christoph von Dohnanyi conducts the latter, which also seems formless, but has interesting sonorities, as well as a superb rendition of Beethoven's Eroica symphony, after the intermission. After the concert, we walk back to the hotel and go to bed.
We get up around 8 am, eat the included light breakfast, transfer the car over to the MTA garage's long-term parking, and take the checkable bags to Amtrak to check them to Washington, DC. Then, coffee, etc., in hand, we walk back to the car, get the rest of the bags, and head for Track 12, where the train is ready for boarding. There's time to walk the platform to record the consist before departure.
[consist]
P42
119
P42
114
Baggage 1710
Dorm 39033
Sleeper 32081
Illinois
Sleeper 32075
Connecticut
Diner
38044
Lounge 33048
Coach 34046
Coach 34512
Coach 34041
Business UP 120 Sunset
(800486) )
on at Oakland
Business UP 140 Stanford
(800495) )
Train 14, 5-16-2008 |
Schedule |
Actual |
|
Los Angeles |
10:15 am | 10:16 am |
| Van Nuys | 10:47 | 10:39-46 |
| Simi Valley | 11:23 | 11:24 |
| Oxnard | 11:55 | 11:58-12:02 |
| Santa Barbara | 12:48 pm | 12:44-52 pm |
| San Luis Obispo | 3:43 | 3:26-48 |
| Paso Robles | 4:45 | 4:51-55 |
| Salinas | 6:36 | 6:43-54 |
| San Jose |
8:27 8:39 |
8:22 8:39 |
| Oakland |
9:32 9:47 |
9:36 10:15 |
| Emeryville |
10:02 10:12 |
10:25 10:35 |
| 5-17-08 | ||
| Klamath Falls | 8:25 am | 8:07-28 am |
| Chemult | 9:40 | 9:43 |
| Eugene | 12:44 pm | 12:46-53 |
| Albany | 1:30 | 1:46-49 |
| Salem | 2:03 | 2:19-22 |
| Portland | 3:40 | 3:32 |
Coast Starlight Route Description
The train is off more-or-less on time. It no longer stops at Glendale, where we had boarded so many times in the past, but now stops at Van Nuys instead. This is the first time we've ridden this train north since we moved to Tehachapi, so some things have changed. There are now scheduled meets with Metrolink trains at a couple of different sidings, as well as one with a Pacific Surfliner just east of Simi Valley. At SLO, the UP Dispatcher makes us wait for someone UP wants to ride this train! At Oakland, two UP (former SP) Business cars are added to the rear of the train, making it 28 minutes late away from Jack London Square, but perhaps their presence is responsible for the generally timely running the rest of the way to Portland!
These trains have resumed running through to the Pacific Northwest, past the mudslide at Frazier, only in the last few days. As we traverse the Cascades, we see first, the results of repairing an unrelated mudslide, and then both the upper and lower locations of the major mudslide, covering almost a quarter mile of track near the former Frazier siding, and then a smaller length on the lower level of the track, heading back towards the east, where the view upwards is much more indicative of the major impact of the slide. Lower down the west slope, we note that Lookout Point Reservoir has a much higher water level than in 2004 or 2005. The weather is clear enough, today, to see Mount Hood, off to the east, as we descend the Willamette Valley.
On arrival in Portland, we take a taxi over to our chosen hotel, along the route of the Portland Streetcar, and then spend a couple of hours riding the complete route of the streetcar in both directions.
This morning, we take our time arising and getting out of the room, then walk over to Powell's Bookstore (one block), where, amazingly, we don't buy any books, and then walk to other way from the hotel to have brunch. reclaiming our bags, we take a taxi back to Portland Union Station, where we sit reading in their Metropolitan Lounge until it's time to board our train. Today's northbound Coast Starlight, which has three private cars on the rear, is also almost on time, but unlike ours, doesn't pull far enough down the platform to clear the center walkway, and then suffers a 30-minute delay uncoupling the private cars, making it impossible for passengers to board the Empire Builder until five minutes before its scheduled departure. Nonetheless, it departs on time.
[consist]
P42
21
P42
88
Lounge 33021
Coach
34080
Coach
31036
Sleeper 32054
Train 28, 5-18-2008 |
Schedule |
Actual |
|
Portland, OR |
4:45 pm | 4:45 pm |
| Vancouver, WA | 5:07 | 5:05-09 |
| Bingen-White Salmon | 6:21 | 6:26 |
| Wishram | 6:55 | 7:05-10 |
| Pasco PT | 8:57 | 9:02-13 |
| Train 8/28, 5-18-2008 | ||
| 5-19-2008 | ||
| Libby, MT MT | 5:26 am | 6:30 am |
| Whitefish |
7:26 7:46 |
8:38 8:52 |
| West Glacier | 8:16 | 9:22 |
| Essex | 8:55 | 10:35 |
| East Glacier | 9:54 | 12:38-45 pm |
| Cut Bank | 10:45 | 1:40 |
| Shelby | 11:43 | 2:08-15 |
| Havre |
1:12 pm 1:22 |
3:45 4:01 |
| Malta | 2:52 | 5:17-20 |
| Glasgow | 3:47 | 6:13-18 |
| Wolf Point MT | 4:23 | 7:00-03 |
| Williston, ND CT | 7:09 | 9:30-34 |
| Sterling | 8:11 | 10:32-34 |
| 5-20-2008 | ||
| Staples, MN | 4:09 am | 6:58 |
| St. Cloud | 5:14 | 7:56-8:01 |
| Minneapolis-St. Paul |
7:05 7:50 |
9:46 10:10 |
| Red Wing | 8:54 | 11;16-20 |
| Winona | 10:11 | 12:28-35 pm |
| La Crosse, WI | 10:47 | 1:06-11 |
| Tomah | 11;28 | 2:17-22 |
| Wisconsin Dells | 12:09 pm | 3:00 |
| Portage | 12;27 | 3:16-19 |
| Columbus | 12:57 | 3:44-48 |
| Milwaukee | 2:07 | 5:01-07 |
| Glenview, IL | 3;12 | 6:11-13 |
| Chicago | 3:55 | 6:47 |
Empire Builder Route Description
Our car attendant is Tim Noel, who proves to be somewhat more interested in trains and railroads than the typical attendant. The sleeper is one of the three prototype Superliner I refurbishments, with some 'features' that were, happily, not included in the production refurbishment program, including touch-switches for the lights and no control of the PA in the rooms. There's no diner on this segment of the train, so we have cold pre-packaged meals for dinner. Along the way, the train paces a motorcyclist on the adjacent road for many miles, as we see the Columbia River Gorge in its full scenic splendor, getting a closer view of Mount Hood than the day before, and have sufficient daylight for route description note-taking all the way to Pasco.
In Spokane, we sit for a long time, including seeing trains 7/27 appear, split and depart, before train 8 appears from behind, and couples up front. It transpires that train 8 had to wait in Seattle for the connecting Cascades service from the Portland direction, which was delayed due to a lineside brushfire near Olympia.
[consist of Train 8/28]
P42
142
P42
164
P42
95
Baggage 1235
Dorm
39037
Sleeper
32038
Sleeper
32050
Diner
38050
Coach
34122
Coach
34100
Lounge 33021
from Train 28 at Spokane
Coach
34080
Coach
31036
Sleeper 32054
The water level in the Flathead Reservoir is very high, and has knocked out the signal system crossing Glacier National Park. Weather in the 80s over the weekend has melted much of an unusually high snowfall. At East Java Creek, a maintenance gang is welding the frog on a switch, so we stop west of the trestle and wait for them to finish. The already 90-minute late train loses another 80 minutes in the process. This kind of lateness is very unusual on this route. On leaving this location, we have to flag the red signal and handthrow the switch at Java East.
The train loses no more time during the day, but of course darkness comes further west than normal, limiting the note-taking in this direction.
We had expected to pick up some time arriving at the Twin Cities, but a 4:30 am meet with Train 7 at an unpowered location between Grand Forks and Fargo, where we have to reverse into or out of a siding, nullifies any possibility of that. We lose no more time over the course of the morning and afternoon, and by late afternoon, the Assistant Conductor tells us that (a) our 1 hr 50 min. connection to Train 50 will be missed (which we had already figured out), and that since it isn't yet clear we can make a connection with train 30, he's reserved us a room on Train 48 (to New York City). Meanwhile, Tim is trying to get the car cleaned up so he can make the connection to Train 30 for his drive from Waterloo, IN, home to Muncie, IN, three hours earlier than is he takes Train 48.
This strikes us as a bit odd, but it's better than nothing, so on arrival in Chicago we follow the instructions to go to Passenger Services, where the woman behind the counter is amazed that we didn't get her instructions to head for Train 30, calls to make sure it hasn't left, and then escorts us there herself, for a room in the Dorm Car. The train then leaves, almost immediately, about three minutes late.
[consist]
P42
147
P42
100
Baggage 1253
Dorm 39028
Sleeper 32041
Sleeper 32005
Diner
38057
Lounge 33039
Coach
34084
Coach
34032
Coach
34096
Train 30, 5-20-2008 |
Schedule |
Actual |
|
Chicago CT |
7:05 pm | 7:08 pm |
| South Bend, IN ET | 9:33 | 9:46-50 |
| Elkhart | 9:54 | 10:09-14 |
| Waterloo | 10:47 | 11:01-03 |
| 5-21-2008 | ||
| Cumberland, MD | 9:44 am | 10:47-11:03 am |
| Martinsburg | 11:20 | 12:39-44 pm |
| Harpers Ferry | 11:45 | 1:07-10 |
| Rockville | 12:30 pm | 2:48-52 |
| Washington, DC | 1:30 | 3:21 |
Capitol Limited Route Description
Because of our last-minute arrival, we have no dinner reservations, which means we don't get to eat until after 9 pm. We do get to chat with Tim, who did make this train, and enjoy the daylight run through the Northern Indiana industrial, district along the former New York Central main line east. By the time we're done eating, it's almost 11 pm Eastern Time (where we now are), and much later than I had hoped to be in bed!
Although I awake during the Pittsburgh stop, it's (unusually for me on this run) much too soon to get up, and when I next awake, the train has already left Connellsville and is on the western climb to Sand Patch, in southern Pennsylvania. We're almost two hours late into Washington, DC, most of it due to signal disruptions after we get onto CSX (some of them on signals and control boxes that we're replaced in 2006!). However, we're three hours earlier than if we'd come in on an on-time Cardinal, so we actually have more time to get some things done this evening than we had expected.
In the morning, we walk back over to Union Station, and check two of the reorganized bags to Philadelphia, for collection on Saturday night, and then use one of my "get into Club Acela" cards to use the lounge before our trains is ready, even though we're not traveling either on an Acela or in a sleeping car. We arrange for the redcaps to take the rest of our bags down to the train, when it arrives from New York City, and get our two seats in Business Class for the all-day ride to Savannah. We're doing this to cover this line (south of Selma, NC, where the Carolinian and Silver Star turn off) in daylight, since the Florida sleeping-car trains (Silver Meteor and Auto Train) run through this area at night.
[consist]
AEM-7
906 ) off at
Washington, DC
AEM-7
949 )
P42
69
on at Washington, DC
Baggage
1309
Cafe
48171 (and
Business Class, in front)
Coach
25112
Coach
25042
Coach
25037
Coach
25031
Train 89, 5-22-2008 |
Schedule |
Actual |
|
Washington, DC |
9:55 am | 9:56 am |
| Alexandria, VA | 10:12 | 10:10-14 |
| Richmond |
11:50 12:02 pm |
12:07 12:18 |
| Petersburg | 12:32 | 12:57-1:00 |
| Rocky Mount, NC | 2:02 | 3:24-29 |
| Wilson | 2:22 | 3:50-57 |
| Selma | 2:53 | 4:24 |
| Fayetteville | 3:44 | 5:54-6:08 |
| Dillon, SC | 4:35 | 6:55-58 |
| Florence |
5:23 5:28 |
7:28 7:33 |
| Kingstree | 6:05 | 8:06-10 |
| Charleston | 7:15 | 9:00-08 |
| Yemassee | 8:04 | 9:58 |
| Savannah | 9:03 | 10:44 |
Once we get south of Richmond, I realize that I had misunderstood the CSX track arrangements here when riding on the Carolinian, last year—as my reference material says, the line switches between single track segments and double track segments, but entry to and exit from the latter is by switches with one of the tracks aligned straight through, at full track speed, with the other having a slightly lower speed limit, thus making it difficult, if not impossible, to tell when the train has gone from double to single, or single to double, if the second track does not appear on the observer's side of the train. This means I will have to revisit the route descriptions I developed after last year's Salisbury trip.
As usual, on CSX, once we get off the double track ex-RF&P line north of Richmond, timekeeping becomes abysmal. The usual "20 minutes here, 20 minutes there" (including having to back out of a double-track segment occupied by a freight train ahead of us when the train heading the other way has passed, and flagging a road crossing), is compounded, in this case, by a stuck switch just north of Fayetteville, which causes a long stop, and then a delay working the station because we have to use the track that is not against the platform (many of these stations have a platform only on the 'main track' side of the line), and then pull down to the street crossing to work the baggage car. This turns a 'mid-evening' arrival at Savannah into a 'late evening' arrival, and confirms my decision not simply to return north the following morning, since this would now have resulted in a very short night.
Surprisingly, however, there is more to see in Savannah than just the old riverfront area described in the guide books. There's also a railroad museum, within walking distance of our hotel, that we discover when Chris sees it from the taxi on arrival. First, however, we sleep in (missing the 'included continental breakfast'), then have a late breakfast at an excellent cafe in one of the converted riverfront cotton warehouses, and walk around the riverfront and the historic town center, including the park and the very park bench where the fictional Forrest Gump sat while narrating his story, before heading to the back of town, where the Central of Georgia depot and train shed now serves as the city's Visitor's Center and the Savannah History Museum, while that railroad's old roundhouse and maintenance shops, across the street from the station, are now the Roundhouse Railroad Museum, operated by the Coastal Heritage Society.
Thge museum site contains one of the most complete repair facility complexes in preservation, having more of the buildings still extant, in some state of repair. than at the Spencer Shops facility in North Carolina. The Roundhouse (with operating turntable) contains much of the locomotive and rolling stock collection, while the Paint Shop, Coach Shop, Carpenter's Shop, Storehouse, Planing Shed, Lumber Shed, Boiler Room, Smoke Stack, Blacksmith Shop, and Tender Frame Shop are in various states of stabilization and restoration, while the walls of the Machine Shop stand roofless, open to the elements.
The museum's collection includes:
Savannah & Atlanta
GP-35 2715
Savannah Central
0-4-0ST 30
Central of Georgia
0-4-0ST 8
Wrightsville & Tennille (CofG) 2-8-0
223
Atlantic Steel Company
0-4-0ST 1
Geogira State RR Museum caterpillar diesel 10
CofG
heavyweight office car "Columbus"
CofG wooden Inspection Car 2
wooden caboose
early wooden passenger car
W&T wooden caboose
X10
Fruit Grower's Express wooden reefer 57826
CofG steel office car 'Atlanta'
Georgia RR wooden coach 67
CofG steel baggage car
430
N&W box car
ACL M-5 caboose
2 trolleys
Later, we have dinner in a restaurant in a different part of the same restored riverfront warehouse as we had eaten in earlier.
We arise much earlier this morning, to head to the station for our train back north. On the way to the station, the taxi passes two parallel rail embankments coming out of downtown savannah (one of them appears to be the line that once served the various museum buildings), along with the old Seaboard Air Line freight station and the Savannah & Atlanta freight station buildings.
Our train is sitting on a stub track in a bay platform, and I collect the consist as we walk forward to the Business Class section near the front of the train.
[consist]
AEM-7
925 )
on at Washington, DC
Coach
25081 )
P42
195
off at Washington, DC
Baggage 1753
Cafe
48190 (and
Business Class, in front)
Coach 25012
Coach 25102
Coach 25043
Coach 25008
Train 90, 5-24-2008 |
Schedule |
Actual |
|
Savannah |
8:20 am | 8:22 am |
| Yemassee, SC | 9:08 | 9:06-11 |
| Charleston | 10:00 | 10:01-10 |
| Kingstree | 10:55 | 11:00-06 |
| Florence |
11:34 11:39 |
11:39 11:51 |
| Dillon | 12:13 pm | 12:22-27 |
| Fayetteville, NC | 1:04 | 2:36-47 |
| Selma | 1:51 | 3:40-45 |
| Wilson | 2:23 | 4:12-16 |
| Rocky Mount | 2:59 | 4:32-34 |
| Petersburg, VA | 4:31 | 6:03-06 |
| Richmond |
5:15 5:25 |
6:37 6:45 |
| Alexandria | 7:10 | 8:30 |
| Washington, DC | 7:50 | 8:31-9:11 |
| Baltimore, MD | 8:50 | 9:45-49 |
| Wilmington, DE | 9:41 | 10:35-38 |
| Philadelphia, PA | 10:07 | 11:00 |
This is a holiday weekend, so maybe there will be less freight interference on this long day's trip north. This is so until almost to Fayetteville, when a freight train heading south breaks a knuckle on one of its cars, blocking the platform access from the other track, so that we have to sit and wait for over an hour while the problem is repaired and that train heads by going south. Because of this delay, passengers connecting to the southbound Carolinian are asked to transfer at Selma, rather than Wilson, to make their connection. We meet two southbound long distance passenger trains just north of Petersburg: the Silver Meteor and the Auto Train. At Washington, DC, a deadhead coach is added along with the electric locomotive.
At Philadelphia's 30th Street Station, our bags are waiting for us (and by using the elevator from the platform, and knowing where Baggage Claim is, we beat the rest of the passengers from our train to that facility), we take a taxi over to our hotel on the north side of the Pennsylvania Convention Center, and are in bed before midnight.
I have planned out the trips we will take over the next four days, using schedules from 2006, and although there are some changes in 2008 (due mainly to the needs of trackwork projects), they serve well enough to enable us to get done what we want to get done. This morning, we're up in time to eat the included breakfast and get over to Market East Station in time for the 9 am train to Trenton, to start our day, which includes a run up to New York City's Pennsylvania Station via New Jersey Transit , a ride on the NJT River LINE from Trenton to Camden, and a return to downtown Philadelphia on the PATCO High-Speed Line.
SEPTA Train 2707, 5-25-2008 |
Schedule |
Actual |
|
Market East |
9:00 am | 9:00 am |
| Suburban Station | 9:06 | 9:06 |
| 30th Street | 9:09 | 9:09 |
| North Philadelphia | 9:19 | 9:19 |
| Bridesburg | 9:24 | 9:26 |
| Tacony | 9:27 | 9:28 |
| Holmesburg Junction | 9:29 | 9:31 |
| Torresdale | 9:32 | 9:34 |
| Cornwells Heights | 9:34 | 9:37 |
| Croydon | 9:37 | 9:40 |
| Bristol | 9:41 | 9:44 |
| Levittown-Tullytown | 9:45 | 9:47 |
| Trenton | 9:54 | 9:56 |
Philadelphia Area Route Descriptions
The R7 line to Trenton runs on Amtrak's (former Pennsylvania Railroad) Northeast Corridor, with some additional stations (mostly very short platforms). The line is operated, at least on Sundays, with married pairs of EMU cars. The combination of the R7 line and the New Jersey Transit service between Trenton and New York City's Pennsylvania Station has replaced the former Amtrak Clocker service on this route, and combination tickets are available, but not of much use to us since we are not coming back beyond Trenton on this route. We are riding to New York City, not to visit that location, but to travel over the line at a slower sped than is taken by Amtrak's trains, to facilitate note taking for the route descriptions for this line. In Trenton, we have to buy the onward round-trip tickets to New York, so we don't get on the directly-connecting NJT train that follows the SEPTA train into the platform, but take the following 'express' NJT train, comprising some of its new double-deck loco-hauled stock, that skips some of the stations after Metropark and before Newark Airport.
[consist]
Cab car
??
Coach 7226
Coach 7217
Coach 7537
Coach 7536
Coach 7518
Coach 7203
Coach 7509
Coach 7208
Loco.
4616
| 5-25-2008 |
NJT Train 7826 |
NJT Train 7847 |
||
|
|
Schedule |
Actual |
Schedule |
Actual |
|
Trenton |
10:31 am | 10:33 am | 3:24 | 3:17 |
| Hamilton | 10:37 | 10:43 | 3:09 | 3:10-12 |
| Princeton Junction | 10:44 | 10:51 | 3:02 | 3:02-05 |
| New Brunswick | 10:59 | 11:06 | 2:46 | 2:45-47 |
| Edison | 11:03 | 11:11 | 2:42 | 2:43 |
| Metuchen | 11:07 | 11:18 | 2:37 | 2:38 |
| Metropark | 11:11 | 11:25 | 2:33 | 2:34 |
| Newark Airport | 11:25 | 11:38 | 2:20 | 2:20-22 |
| Newark Penn. Station | 11:33 | 11:45 | 2:15 | 2:12-15 |
| New York City (Penn.) | 11:51 | 11:59 | 1:58 pm | 1:59 pm |
Although NJT Train 7826 is a long train, with nine cars (including the cab car) plus locomotive, it fills up and has people standing by the time it leaves Metropark, on a Sunday. It seems that many of these people are going to a baseball game, somewhere in New York City. The load of people boarding makes the train later and later as it progresses, since the Sunday schedule does not seem to provide for this many boarders.
In Penn. Station, we collect the pocket timetables for all we can find of the NJT and Long Island Railroad lines, and step outside onto 7th Avenue to note the contact information for the Hotel Pennsylvania, there, all to facilitate the planning for a future trip to ride and take route descriptions notes on these lines. We also have lunch at a restaurant within the station. The next NJT train back to Trenton proves to be the express run, with the same trainset as we had ridden coming up. It does not have standing loads, but is still quite busy, with many passengers and luggage riding from NYC or Newark to Newark Airport. The southbound platforms at Princeton Junction and Hamilton have "extended high-level platforms" built-out over the outside track on that side, at locations matching the doors on the trains, to permit a total possession of that track, between stations, for track maintenance purposes.
At Trenton, we leave the NEC station and head outside to the River LINE station, where we buy our tickets from the typical light rail line ticket machines there. Even on Sundays, this line has 30-minute interval service, so the next train soon comes along and we board the front portion of the single articulated car. This train runs along a formerly freight-only line to the large Pavonia Yard, from which Conrail, formerly, and now CSX, serves the facilities of New Jersey's 'Chemical Coast', and terminates the long-distance freights carrying chemical to and from those plants. Long stretches of siding have been built to permit the current passenger timetable, run by Diesel railcars that have an FRA-required temporal separation (time of day blocks) from CSX' freights.
NJT Train ??, 5-25-2008 |
Schedule |
Actual |
|
Trenton Transit Center |
3:44 pm | 3:44 pm |
| Hamilton Avenue | 3:46 | 3:46 |
| Cass Street | 3:48 | 3:48 |
| Bordentown | 3:55 | 3:55 |
| Roebling | 4:00 | 4:00 |
| Florence | 4:03 | 4:03 |
| Burlington Towne Center | 4:08 | 4:12 |
| Burlington South | 4:10 | 4:14 |
| Beverly/Edgewater Park | 4:14 | 4:18 |
| Delanco | 4:18 | 4:21 |
| Riverside | 4:20 | 4:23 |
| Cinnaminson | 4:25 | 4:27 |
| Riverton | 4:27 | 4:29 |
| Palmyra | 4:29 | 4:31 |
| Route 73/Pennsauken | 4:32 | 4:34 |
| 36th Street Station | 4:37 | 4:38 |
| Walter Reed Trans. Center | 4:42 | 4:49 |
| Cooper Street/Rutgers | 4:45 | 4:51 |
| Aquarium | 4:47 | 4:53 |
| Entertainment Center | 4:49 | 4:55 |
From 4:06 to 4:08 pm, our trains waits on a siding for a northbound train to clear. This makes us four minutes late, which is gradually reduced to 1 minute late until our trains tops from 4:41 to 4:45 next to Pavonia Yard, waiting for another northbound train, which makes us seven minutes late, reduced to six by the end of the line. At the southern terminus, we ride back to Walter Reed Transportation Center, in the center of Camden, where we transfer to a PATCO High Speed line train, from its Broadway stop back into downtown Philadelphia, alighting at 8th & Market, whence we walk back to the hotel. We eat dinner in Chinatown, about two blocks east of our hotel.
Although a Monday, this is a holiday (Memorial Day), and thus has only a Sunday service. This limits our options, somewhat, although I do not from the schedules I picked up on Sunday that between 2006 and 2008, trains have started a weekend service out beyond Lansdale to Doylestown. All listed trains from Monday through early Wednesday afternoon are SEPTA main-line services. We start out by heading out on the former Reading Railroad lines, east and then north out of Market East, taking the R3 line out to West Trenton, once used by Reading's trains to New York City, and by the B&O Royal Blue Service from Newtown Junction east, and then returning through the Center City Tunnel to 30th Street. Our train is a married pair of EMUs, cars 363 and 364. Whatever facilities there might be at the West Trenton station are closed.
| 5-26-2008 |
Train 4316 |
Train 4129 |
||
|
|
Schedule |
Actual |
Schedule |
Actual |
|
30th Street |
12:04 pm | 12:08 | ||
| Suburban Station | 12:00 | 12:03-05 | ||
| Market East | 9:40 am | 9:40 am | 11:55 | 12:00-02 pm |
| Temple University | 9:44 | 9:45 | 11:48 | 11:56 |
| Wayne Junction | 9:51 | 9:50 | 11:42 | 11:50 |
| Fern Rock Transport. Center | 9:55 | 9:55 | 11:38 | 11:46 |
| Melrose Park | 9:57 | 9:57 | 11:35 | 11:44 |
| Elkins Park | 9:59 | 9:59 | 11:33 | 11:42 |
| Jenkintown-Wyncote | 10:02 | 10:02 | 11:31 | 11:39 |
| Noble | 10:04 | 10:05 | 11:27 | 11:36 |
| Rydal | 10:05 | 10:06 | 11:25 | 11;34 |
| Meadowbrook | 10:06 | 10:08 | 11:24 | 11:32 |
| Bethayres | 10:08 | 10:10 | 11:22 | 11:30 |
| Philmont | 10:11 | 10:12 | 11:20 | 11:24 |
| Forest Hills | 10:13 | 10:14 | 11:18 | 11:22 |
| Somerton | 10:14 | 10:16 | 11:16 | 11:21 |
| Trevose | 10:16 | 10:18 | 11:14 | 11:18 |
| Neshaminy Falls | 10:18 | 10:21 | 11:12 | 11:16 |
| Langhorne | 10:21 | 10:24 | 11:09 | 11:12 |
| Woodbourne | 10:25 | 10:27 | 11:05 | 11:06 |
| Yardley | 10:29 | 10:33 | 11:01 | 11:02 |
| West Trenton | 10:34 | 10:36 | 10:58 am | 10:58 am |
One thing that becomes apparent as these trips progress is the somewhat 'relaxed' attitude of the SEPTA crews to timekeeping! Nothing visible (or heard on the railroad radio) explains the lateness achieved on these runs. Train 4129 makes an unexplained four-minute stop on the line between Philmont and Bethayres, but not even stops explain the rest.
After lunch at 30th Street, we take the R1 Line out on the former Pennsylvania Railroad side to the Philadelphia Airport, where we do not leave the furthest platform, returning on the R1/R2 through train, out on the Reading side to Warminster (all the way, using a combination ticket), and then taking the R2 Line back as Far as the Fern Rock Transportation Center. Again, whatever facilities there might be at the Warminster station are closed, as are all nearby cafes. Our train all this way is a married pair of EMUs, cars 109 and 110.
| 5-26-2008 |
Train 4133 |
Train 2134 |
||
|
|
Schedule |
Actual |
Schedule |
Actual |
|
30th Street |
1:04 pm | 1:05 pm | 2:00 | 1:59-2:00 |
| University City | 1:06 | 1:08 | 1:57 | 1:56 |
| Eastwick | 1:14 | 1:17 | 1:47 | 1:47 |
| Terminal A | 1:19 | 1:21 | 1:43 | 1:44 |
| Terminal B | 1:20 | 1:23 | 1:42 | 1:43 |
| Terminal C&D | 1:22 | 1:25 | 1:41 | 1:42 |
| Terminal E&F | 1:23 | 1:26 | 1:39 | 1:40 |
The former Pennsylvania Railroad extends to Suburban Station, located in the northwest corner of 15th and JFK (Filbert), while the former Reading starts on the viaduct south of the Temple University station, with the tunnel and viaduct section in between, through Market East (located at 11th and Filbert) constructed by SEPTA.
| 5-26-2008 |
Train 2134 |
Train 2143 |
||
|
|
Schedule |
Actual |
Schedule |
Actual |
|
30th Street |
2:00 pm | 1:59-2:00 pm | ||
| Suburban Station | 2:05 | 2:04-05 | ||
| Market East | 2:10 | 2:07-10 | ||
| Temple University | 2:14 | 2:15 | ||
| Wayne Junction | 2:21 | 2:20 | ||
| Fern Rock Transport. Center | 2:25 | 2;23 | 4:08 | 4:09 |
| Melrose Park | 2:27 | 2:25 | 4:05 | 4:07 |
| Elkins Park | 2:29 | 2:27 | 4:03 | 4:05 |
| Jenkintown-Wyncote | 2:32 | 2:30 | 4:01 | 4:03 |
| Glenside | 2:35 | 2:33 | 3:59 | 4:00 |
| Ardsley | 2:38 | 2:36 | 3:56 | 3:58 |
| Roslyn | 2:41 | 2:39 | 3:53 | 3:55 |
| Crestmont | 2:43 | 2:41 | 3:51 | 3:53 |
| Willow Grove | 2:45 | 2:44 | 3:49 | 3:51 |
| Hatboro | 2:51 | 2:52 | 3:45 | 3:45 |
| Warminster | 2:55 | 2:56 | 3:41 | 3:41 |
On the way out, between Willow Grove and Hatboro, Train 2134 waits from 2:46 to 2:49 pm for the inbound train, and at the same location on the way back, Train 2143 meets the outbound train at 3:48 pm.
From the Fern Rock TC, we take the Broad Street Subway south to its southern terminus at Pattison Road (adjacent to the Philadelphia area sports facilities), and then back to the station at Race-Vine and Broad, just a block and a half from our hotel on Race Street. The subway has four tracks underground—two in the middle used as express lines and two on the outside, used by stopping trains, from the Olney Station south to the Walnut and Locust station, south of Market Street. Since this is a holiday, there are no express trains running, and all trains use the outer two tracks.
Back in Center City, we eat dinner at an Italian restaurant on the northwest corner of 12th and Filbert.
Today, we start out riding the R5 Doylestown Line all the way out and back on the former Reading side, and then after lunch, we take the R8 Line out to Fox Chase on the former Reading side (on the erstwhile Newtown line), and then back all the way across Center City to Chestnut Hill West, on the former Pennsylvania side, walking across to Chestnut Hill East, on a former Reading line, and taking the R7 train back to Market East. As this is a weekday, most trains are longer than they have been on the weekend/holiday service, but still comprise married-pairs of EMUs. The first pair we ride in is cars 362 and 363.
| 5-27-2008 |
Train 4542 |
Train 6531 |
||
|
|
Schedule |
Actual |
Schedule |
Actual |
| Market East | 9:05 am | 9:05 am | 12:18 | 12:17 |
| Temple University | 9:09 | 9:09 | 12:12 | 12:13 |
| North Broad | 9:11 | 9:11 | 12:10 | 12:11 |
| Wayne Junction | 9:16 | 9:16 | 12:05 | 12:06 |
| Fern Rock Transport. Center | 9:19 | 9:21 | 12:01 pm | 12:02 pm |
| Melrose Park | 9:21 | 9:24 | 11:59 | 11:59 |
| Elkins Park | 9:23 | 9:25 | 11:57 | 11:57 |
| Jenkintown-Wyncote | 9:25 | 9:28 | 11:55 | 11:54 |
| Glenside | 9:29 | 9:31 | 11:52 | 11:50 |
|
North Hills |
9:31 | 9:33 | 11:48 | 11:47 |
| Oreland | 9:35 | 9:35 | 11:47 | 11:45 |
| Fort Washington | 9:38 | 9:38 | 11:44 | 11:42 |
| Ambler | 9:39 | 9:41 | 11:41 | 11:39 |
| Penllyn | 9:42 | 9:43 | 11:38 | 11:37 |
| Gwynedd Valley | 9:46 | 9:47 | 11:34 | 11:34 |
| North Wales | 9:51 | 9:49 | 11:28 | 11:30 |
| Pennbrook | 9:54 | 9:51 | 11:26 | 11:28 |
| Lansdale | 10:12 | 9:54-10:12 | 11:23 | 11:05-24 |
| Fortuna | 10:16 | 10:16 | 11:02 | 11:01 |
| Colmar | 10:19 | 10:19 | 11:00 | 10:59 |
| Link Belt (Flagstop) | 10:21 | 10:21 | 10:58 | 10:57 (pass) |
| Chalfont | 10:25 | 10:24 | 10:54 | 10:53 |
| New Britain | 10:30 | 10:28 | 10:49 | 10:49 |
| Del Val College | 10:32 | 10:30 | 10:47 | 10:48 |
| Doylestown | 10:36 | 10:32 | 10:43 | 10:43 |
On these weekday trains, we notice some unusual things regarding the timing and operation (especially compared to the trains we ride out here with the R&LHS group on Saturday). In both directions, the R5 trains sit for 18-19 minutes at Lansdale, apparently to accommodate single line working for a track construction project covering the next few stations to the south (up to and including Gwynedd Valley), and rather than passing at the siding beyond Chalfont, out on the branch, the inbound train crosses over at the storage tracks and takes the (electrified) platform on the west side of the depot (on the Quakertown line, which no longer has SEPTA service) to make the meet with the outbound train, using the normal east-side platform. We stop from 11:52 to 11:53 am at the junction at (north of) Jenkintown, and from 12:07 to 12:08 pm at Wayne Junction itself (not the station, which is north of the junction).
Since this is a weekday, the Reading Terminal Market is open (on the ground floor level of the former Reading Terminal, whose platforms were upstairs), and we have lunch at a diner in the market before returning to Market East, across Filbert Street for our R8 train to Fox Chase, comprising EMU cars 169/170 and 339/340.
| 5-26-2008 |
Train 832 |
Train 835 |
||
|
|
Schedule |
Actual |
Schedule |
Actual |
| Market East | 1:28 pm | 1:28 pm | 2:32 | 2:30-32 |
| Temple University | 1:32 | 1:33 | 2:25 | 2:25 |
| Wayne Junction | 1:38 | 1:39 | 2:20 | 2:20 |
|
Olney |
1:42 | 1:44 | 2:15 | 2:15 |
| Lawndale | 1:46 | 1:47 | 2:11 | 2:12 |
| Cheltenham | 1:48 | 1:50 | 2:09 | 2:10 |
| Ryers | 1:50 | 1:52 | 2:07 | 2:08 |
| Fox Chase | 1:53 | 1:55 | 2:05 pm | 2:05 pm |
We note that trains stopping at North Broad use Tracks 1 and 4 (since the station only has platforms on those tracks), and trains not doing so use Tracks 2 and 3, between Wayne Junction and Suburban Station. Train 832 stops at the east end of Lawndale from 1:47 to 1:48.
Again, today, no station facilities are open at any of the outer stations at which we have to wait between trains, even though this is a normal weekday.
Train 835, 5-25-2008 |
Schedule |
Actual |
|
Market East |
2:32 pm | 2:30-32 pm |
| Suburban Station | 2:37 | 2:34-37 |
| 30th Street | 2:41 | 2:39-41 |
| North Philadelphia | 3:03 | 2:58 |
| Queen Lane | 3:06 | 3:06 |
| Chelten Avenue | 3:08 | 3:08 |
| Tulpehocken | 3:09 | 3:10 |
| Upsal | 3:10 | 3:12 |
| Carpenter | 3:12 | 3:14 |
| Allen Lane | 3:14 | 3:16 |
| St. Martins | 3:16 | 3:18 |
| Highland | 3:17 | 3:19 |
| Chestnut Hill West | 3:20 | 3;21 |
The train makes very slow progress between 30th Street and North Philadelphia, and on to Queen lane, including a stop from 2:53 to 2:54 pm, due mainly to a massive track rebuilding project at Zoo Interlocking that is reflected in the timetables covering this stretch of the line.
Somewhat to out surprise, there are no cafes visible on the streets of Chestnut Hill, in the vicinity of either of the stations, or along the way between them. The train that pulls in to Chestnut Hill East has at least eight cars, but only the two at the front are open to passengers heading to Philadelphia.
Train 4361, 5-25-2008 |
Schedule |
Actual |
|
Chestnut Hill East |
4:18 | 4:21 |
| Gravers | 4:20 | 4:24 |
| Wyndmoor | 4:21 | 4:25 |
| Mount Airy | 4:23 | 4:27 |
| Sedgwick | 4:24 | 4:29 |
| Stenton | 4:26 | 4:30 |
| Washington Lane | 4:28 | 4:32 |
| Germantown | 4:30 | 4:35 |
| Wister | 4:32 | 4:37 |
| Wayne Junction | 4:34 | 4:40 |
| Temple University | 4:41 | 4:47 |
| Market East | 4:48 | 4:51 |
We eat dinner at the same restaurant as on Tuesday. Just after we have been seated, at a table for four, Ed Graham is seated at a nearby table for two. We greet him and invite him to join us, which he does. We have a very pleasant evening's conversation over dinner and the walk back to the hotel we're all staying at.
This is our last day in Philadelphia, and we have just two routes on which we need to take route description notes (since we did the NEC to the south and the Media/Elwyn line in 2006): the former Reading R6 Line out to Norristown, and the former Pennsylvania "R6" Line out to Cynwyd, which, despite the numbering, is not operated as a through route with the Norristown line. Because we're leaving today, we get up an hour earlier than on previous days, eat the included breakfast, check-out, and take a taxi to 30th Street Station, where we have a redcap take us up to Club Acela, and I use another of my "Club Acela for the day" cards to leave the luggage in the lounge on the mezzanine level of the station. We'll be back to collect it, later in the day, before taking an Amtrak Keystone Service train out to Lancaster for the next four days.
| 5-28-2008 |
Train 4628 |
Train 6625 |
||
|
|
Schedule |
Actual |
Schedule |
Actual |
|
30th Street |
8:46 am | 8:47 am | 10:53 | 10:49 |
| Suburban Station | 8:51 | 8:54 | 10:49 | 10:45-47 |
| Market East | 8:56 | 8:56-58 | 10:44 | 10:42-43 |
| Temple University | 9:00 | 9:02-03 | 10:38 | 10:37 |
| North Broad | 9:02 | 9:05 | 10:36 | 10:35 |
| Allegheny | 9:05 | 9:08 | 10:33 | 10:33 |
| East Falls | 9:08 | 9:11 | 10:30 | 10:30 |
| Wissohocken Trans. Center | 9:10 | 9:13 | 10:27 | 10:27 |
| Manayunk | 9:13 | 9:16 | 10:24 | 10:24 |
| Ivy Ridge | 9:15 | 9:18 | 10:22 | 10:22 |
| Miquon | 9:19 | 9:21 | 10:18 | 10:18 |
| Spring Mill | 9:22 | 9:24 | 10:15 | 10:15 |
| Conshohocken | 9:25 | 9:27 | 10:12 | 10:12 |
| Norristown Trans. Center | 9:31 | 9:32 | 10:07 | 10:07 |
| Main Street | 9:34 | 9:35 | 10:03 | 10:03 |
| Elm Street | 9:36 | 9:37 | 10:01 am | 10:01 am |
The trainset out to Norristown includes four EMUs, of which I note cars 145 and 146. The train stops for two minutes on the bridge over the Schuylkill River, just east of 30th Street. This route leaves the main Reading stem at 16th Street Junction. There are no facilities of any kind at Norristown's Elm Street station, but there are at its Transportation Center, as we shall discover on Saturday. We eat lunch at 30th Street before taking the midday train (there is only once, on this line) out the former PRR Manayunk line to its current, truncated, terminus at Cynwyd. This train comprises a single car, unit 233.
| 5-28-2008 |
Train 7671 |
Train 7672 |
||
|
|
Schedule |
Actual |
Schedule |
Actual |
|
30th Street |
12:24 pm | 12:24 pm | 1:23 | 1:16 |
| Wynnefield Avenue | 12:38 | 12:37 | 1:07 | 1:08 |
| Bala | 12:40 | 12:40 | 1:05 | 1:06 |
| Cynwyd | 12:42 | 12:42 | 1:04 pm | 1:04 pm |
On our return from Cynwyd, we head back to Club Acela, where we have over two hours to spare before the (requested) redcap comes to take us down to Track 5 for the unreserved train to Lancaster.
[consist]
AEM-7
9xx
Coach
82646
Coach
82603
Coach
82678
Coach
82558
Cab car 9643
Train 647, 5-28-2008 |
Schedule |
Actual |
|
Philadelphia |
3:45 pm | 3:45 pm |
| Paoli | 4:09 | 4:09 |
| Exton | 4:17 | 4:17 |
| Lancaster | 4:51 | 4:49 (arr.) |
Keystone Service Route Description
It transpires that Ed Graham is also on this train, but we don't see him, and he's gone in the hotel's shuttle he had reserved before we can get ourselves and our bags out to the station entrance looking for transportation out to the hotel on US 30. Thus, we have to wait for a taxi to show up, and it takes us the best part of an hour to get out to the hotel, check-in, go to our room, and join the R&LHS reception.
On registering, we discover that our nametags show a four year old address (Hermosa Beach), and learn that this is a common problem with the data used to create the nametags. This meeting has been planned by Charlie Smith, head of the R&LHS New York Chapter (even though he lives in Thorndale, PA), who has been unwell, so the active meeting management has devolved on a group led by Terry Wells, with help from Adrian Ettlinger and others.
At the reception, consultant Michael Sussman talks about his work with OnTrackAmerica.org, and with some of his client railroads, in reviving rail service in (mainly) rural America. Afterwards, we say hello to Russ Davies, Jim and Peggy Caballero, and Adrian Ettlinger, as well as Ken and Ann Miller. Talking about the need for dinner, Ken offers to drive somewhere, and we go off to an Amish family restaurant a couple of miles away, where some of us are happy with the soup and salad bar.
The first group event is a visit to the National Toy Train Museum, which is located just north of Strasburg. On the bus, Jim Caballero is talking about his research on signals, and it transpires that he plans on writing a book on 'signals as appliances'. However, the material he is amassing will not provide answers to questions on 'which railroad (re-)signaled which trunk route with what kind of signaling, when?', which I would like to be able to answer.
The Toy Train Museum has a full range of artifacts, from early wooden and tinplate toys up to fairly recent HO and N scale models, with operating layouts of many scales, gauges, and genres (including many with the gadgets popularized by Lionel). There are scale models from overseas, including Great Britain, all nicely and properly arranged. I'm surprised by how interesting I find the exhibits, for the couple of hours we're here.
Today's lunch stop is at the Strasburg Railroad (which we will visit tomorrow), for a soup and sandwich combination plate (on our own), after which the bus takes us across the road to the afternoon event.
At the Railroad Museum of Pennsylvania, in the afternoon, we are given first of all a presentation on the working of the Archives section at the museum, by Kurt Bell, archivist at the museum, and then a tour of three different parts of the archives facilities, guided by Kurt, Bob Karig (author of the book 'Coal Cars: the First 300 Years', and a docent at the museum), and a third person (a young woman), at which we see the ways the museum catalogs, stores and handles books, magazines, photographs, and 'office' documents from the railroads, all of which require different techniques for their preservation and making them available for access. Although the museum is making some progress in putting its searchable catalog on-line, it does not seem to be dong very much towards making either the photographs or the 'office' documents from the railroads available on line. As the museum is the repository for the documents saved from the closure of the Philadelphia offices of the (former) Pennsylvania railroad, this latter area is of real significance and importance.
There's then time free to visit the indoor and outdoor exhibit areas of the museum, the former of which hasn't changed much (if at all) since our visit in 1995), while the latter seems completely rearranged and has some new acquisitions. Many of the PRR steam locomotives have been stripped of their asbestos lagging, but the money ran out before the boiler cladding, etc., could be properly replaced, so they've been repainted in their current state to arrest further deterioration, and put back on display. One locomotive at a time is now being fully restored (for static display), and may be placed indoors when completed.
We buy some books at the bookstore, including one by Bill Howes (which he autographs for us), and the one by Bob Karig. After the bus ride back to the hotel, we eat dinner with Ken and Ann at the hotel restaurant (which is more expensive than other local restaurants, but meets the timeliness requirement). Ken is a society officer, and Ann a board member, so they're expected to attend the R&LHS Board Meeting this evening. We have chosen to attend.
A major item on the Board Meeting agenda is a discussion on the work of the R&LHS Archives Committee, led by Jim Smith, who describes the current state of the R&LHS Archives held in association with the California State Railroad Museum in Sacramento, and in storage locations in that city, and contrasts some of what R&LHS does (or does not) with its Archives with what we had seen at the Railroad Museum of Pennsylvania during the tour in the afternoon. The Board gives general approval to several of Jim's requests for guidance for the Archives Committee.
The Board also approves dues increases, and hears Parker Lamb and Dick Hillman's tale of woe on what has been going on with Membership Records since last year's Annual Meeting (some of which explains the many errors on people's nametags). We leave when the Board goes into Executive Session to discuss nominations for new board members.
Friday's events are entirely devoted to the Strasburg Railroad. Although this at first seems like a long time to devote to this one location, in the event, the time is taken up nicely. On arrival, there is time to just look around before the first of our two train trips (11 am and 2 pm). For the 11 am ride, we travel in Mill Creek.
[consist]
4-8-0 N&W 475
Open 73 Pleasant Hill
Coach 59 Grasshopper Level
Coach 72 Mill Creek
Coach 62 Gobbler's Knot
Coach 105 Warren F Benner
Diner 93 Lee C.
Benner
Diner 75 Henry
K. Long
Parlor 10 Reading
Except for the Parlor Car, the car numbers mark the year the vehicle was placed in Strasburg RR service.
|
|
Schedule |
Actual |
Schedule |
Actual |
|
Strasburg |
11:00 am | 11:00 am | 2:00 pm | 2:00 pm |
| Paradise |
11:19 11:27 |
2:19 2:27 |
||
| Goff's Picnic Area | 11:36-37 | 2:35-37 | ||
| Strasburg | 11:46 | 2:48 |
After the 11 am ride, we all walk down to the shops, where we're split into three groups to tour the shops. The group Chris and I are in goes to the Car Shops first, then the Locomotive Shop, and finally the Back Shop. Strasburg has one of the best equipped steam-locomotive shops in the US, including a full-size driving wheel lathe. We're shown a wooden passenger car in process of refurbishment, Rio Grande Southern narrow gauge steam loco #20, in process of a contracted complete rebuild (Corny Hauck is particularly interested in this, since he was a funder of its owner, the Colorado Railroad Museum), and various other activities, including the air brake shop.
After the shop tour, Chris and I head for the bookstore, since this seems to be our only opportunity to go there, and then head to the same place as yesterday for lunch (same meal, too) before our 2 pm train ride. This time, while we're at Paradise (Leaman Place), Amtrak's eastbound Pennsylvanian goes by at track speed. Finally, at 3 pm, Linn Moedinger (the railroad's Chief Mechanical Officer) hosts a question and answer session in the backshop, where many interesting questions about what can and can't be done in railroad artifact preservation, particularly steam locomotives, are asked and answered.
Back at the hotel, at the social hour before the banquet, we get Bob Karig to autograph our copy of his book, which sparks a small discussion at our table (which includes the Millers and Alden Dreyer and his lady) about whether a personalized inscription reduces the (resale) value of a book. I point out that I'm not interested in the resale value, since I won't be selling it. Alden Dreyer is one of the three new Board members being nominated for approval at the Annual Meeting.
The after-dinner talk is a set of slides on the (42) trolley lines of Pennsylvania, assembled and written by Bill Middleton, who couldn't be here, and ably present by Kurt Bell. Even Ed Graham had never heard of some of these lines.
We have an early start this morning, to ride the Keystone Service into Philadelphia, and then spend the day riding SEPTA's rail-borne offerings. No-one in Lancaster seems to know what is happening in Philadelphia, because Charlie Smith has planned all of this, and he will meet us when we get to 30th Street. The bus leaves the hotel for the Lancaster station at 7 am.
[consist]
Cab car 9632
Coach 82576
Coach 82539
Coach 82677
Coach 82700
AEM-7 940
Train 660, 5-31-2008 |
Schedule |
Actual |
|
Lancaster |
7:55 am | 7:58 am |
| Parkesburg | 8:14 | 8:17 |
| Coatesville | 8:19 | 8:22 |
| Downingtown | 8:25 | 8:28 |
| Exton | 8:32 | 8:34 |
| Paoli | 8:41 | 8:43 |
| Ardmore | 8:53 | 8:56 |
| Philadelphia | 9:09 | 9:09 |
Our group is seated in the rear coach. There are many interesting conversations taking place around me as the train heads for Philadelphia, including one on the differences in rail commuting between Chicago and New York City. On the way in, we aboserve single-line working between Parkesburg and Leaman Place, with an outbound train awaiting our passage, but it doesn't seem to impact our timing in this direction.
Charlie Smith is waiting as we leave the escalator up from the platform, and hands out a paper copy of the SEPTA rail map (from their website), and envelopes containing a number of tickets, which differ for those over 65 and those not over 65, as well as some tokens for those under 65. We're going to ride the R3 Elwyn/Media line out to Clifton-Aldan, a location where we will swap to a trolley line (Route 102), then head for the 69th Street terminal, where we will take the Norristown High-speed Line (Route 100) to Norristown Transportation Center, and then the R6 back into Market East for a lunch break. Then we'll ride the R5 out onto the Doylestown branch, but not all the way to Doylestown, cutting it short at Chalfont to get a return train an hour earlier than would otherwise be possible, in order to make the 4:45 pm Keystone Service back to Lancaster.
Tickets, tokens, and map (with itinerary on the back) in hand, we all head up to the SEPTA platforms for our first train. I'm somewhat better informed than some of the others, since I have schedules for the SEPTA main-line trains we'll be riding on, from earlier in the week.
Train 8307, 5-31-2008 |
Schedule |
Actual |
|
30th Street |
9:26 am | 9:28 am |
| University City | 9:28 | 9:30 |
| 49th Street | 9:31 | 9:33 |
| Angora | 9:32 | 9:36 |
| Fernwood-Yeadon | 9:34 | 9:38 |
| Lansdowne | 9:36 | 9:40 |
| Gladstone | 9:37 | 9:41 |
| Clifton-Aldan | 9:38 | 9:42 |
At Clifton-Aldan, we walk forward on the platform, descend a flight of stairs to the street below, and then walk south, crossing a side street and a street at a road junction, to the shelter marking the trolley stop, where we wait for our Route 102 trolley to 69th Street to appear. When it does, it takes the group three minutes to board, making the car three minutes late at this point (10:07 compared to 10:04 am). At this point, the rails are in the street, but just north of the next stop, the line diverges on the east side of the street into a private right-of-way, that cuts across the pattern of streets, past Drexel Hill Junction, to Lansdowne Avenue, and then runs along the west side of the streets, or in a private right-of-way in the middle of the street, past Beverly Hills to the terminal at 69th Street.
Here we transfer to Route 100, the line on which the Electroliners once ran, after their service on Chicago's North Shore Line had ended, which is all third-rail private right-of-way (once the Philadelphia & Western), through the western suburbs, beneath the former PRR 'Main Line' on which we had come into Philadelphia, and then across the former reading main line and the Schuylkill River into Norristown's Transportation Center, where the Route 100 station is on a bridge above the R5 tracks. The train we take departs 69th Street at 10:40 am, and arrives Norristown TC at 11:08 am, both on time.
Here, we descend the escalators or elevators, and then walk, with varying degrees of difficulty, over to the inbound platform on the south side of the R5 tracks, where there is a depot that is open, and at which the agent opens the toilets for us. While we are waiting for our train, a Norfolk Southern local freight backs through the station on the other track. Rain starts to fall, later quite heavily, while we're waiting. Thus far, we've been on lines that we had not ridden this week (or in the case of Route 102, at all), but for the rest of the day we'll be on tracks that we've already ridden at least twice, earlier in the week.
Train 4215, 5-31-2008 |
Schedule |
Actual |
|
Norristown TC |
11:54 am | 11:55 am |
| Conshohocken | 11:59 | 12:01 pm |
| Spring Mill | 12:02 pm | 12:04 |
| Miquon | 12:05 | 12:08 |
| Ivy Ridge | 12:09 | 12:13 |
| Manayunk | 12:11 | 12:15 |
| Wissahickon TC | 12:14 | 12:17 |
| East Falls | 12:16 | 12:20 |
| Allegheny | 12:18 | 12:22 |
| North Broad | 12:21 | 12:25 |
| Temple University | 12:23 | 12:27 |
| Market East | 12:29 | 12:32 |
At Miquon, we overshoot the station, then back up into it. In Market East, we have just over 50 minutes to use the facilities and eat lunch, so most of us patronize the Food Court there in the station circulating area. Some decide to go to Reading Terminal Market, but they appear to have decided not to take this afternoon's train ride.
On this train, Chris and I fortuitously sit just in front of Howard Brown, who lives two blocks east of the Jenkintown station, so I learn some things about the area from him.
| 5-31-2008 |
Train |
Train |
||
|
|
Schedule |
Actual |
Schedule |
Actual |
| 30th Street | 3:49 | 3:47 | ||
| Suburban Station | 3:45 | 3:42-45 | ||
| Market East | 1:25 pm | 1:30 pm | 3:40 | 3:40 |
| Temple University | 1:29 | 1:35 | 3:34 | 3:34 |
| North Broad | 1:31 | 1:37 | 3:32 | 3:31 |
| Wayne Junction | 1:36 | 1:42 | 3:27 | 3:27 |
| Fern Rock Transport. Center | 1:39 | 1:46 | 3:24 | 3:24 |
| Jenkintown-Wyncote | 1:45 | 1:51 | 3:18 | 3:19 |
| Glenside | 1:47 | 1:53 | 3:15 | 3:16 |
|
North Hills |
1:49 | 1:56 | 3:12 | 3:13 |
| Oreland | 1:50 | 1:57 | 3:11 | 3:12 |
| Fort Washington | 1:53 | 2:01 | 3:08 | 3:08 |
| Ambler | 1:56 | 2:03 | 3:05 | 3:06 |
| Penllyn | 1:59 | 2:06 | 3:02 | 3:03 |
| Gwynedd Valley | 2:01 | 2:08 | 2:59 | 3:00 |
| North Wales | 2:05 | 2:13 | 2:56 | 2:56 |
| Pennbrook | 2:07 | 2:15 | 2:53 | 2:54 |
| Lansdale | 2:14 | 2:19 | 2:51 | 2:48-51 |
| Fortuna | 2:17 | 2:23 | 2:42 | 2:45 |
| Colmar | 2:20 | 2:26 | 2:40 | 2:43 |
| Link Belt (Flagstop) | 2:22 | - | 2:38 | 2:41 |
| Chalfont | 2:26 | 2:31 | 2:34 pm | 2:34-37 pm |
As the outbound train gets later and later, there is much concern among the group about making our planned eight-minute connection at Chalfont. Unlike those who envision two platforms and a race across a footbridge or through a pedestrian subway, however, Chris and I already know that the line beyond Lansdale is single track, that there's only one platform at Chalfont, and that the weekend schedule has the trains crossing at the siding just further out than Chalfont. We would thus have to be at least 15-20 minutes late for there to be a problem, and if that happened, it would be obvious in a wait at Lansdale. We're able to explain this to many people (including Howard Brown and Adrian Ettlinger, one of whom confirms it with the conductor), so we continue on out to Chalfont, where we have less than two minutes to wait after the outbound train departs before the inbound train appears!
Today, being a weekend, we use the normal platform at Lansdale, and the normal track from Lansdale to Gwynedd Valley, on the inbound train. Also, there are no long waits at Lansdale.
Back at 30th Street, Charlie Smith stays on the train to go to his home in Thorndale, while the rest of us have just less than an hour before our train back to Lancaster. Many of us choose to get something to drink (and/or eat) before we're grouped back together at 4:30 pm to be taken down to Track 5 in the elevator, to board our train as a group.
[consist]
Cab car
9636
Coach
82550
Coach
82605
Coach
82547
Coach
82548
AEM-7
929
Train 667, 5-31-2008 |
Schedule |
Actual |
|
Philadelphia |
4:45 pm | 4:45 pm |
| Ardmore | 4:57 | 4:57 |
| Paoli | 5:10 | 5:12 |
| Exton | 5:18 | 5:21 |
| Downingtown | 5:22 | 5:27 |
| Coatesville | 5:28 | 5:32 |
| Parkesburg | 5:36 | 5:48 |
| Lancaster | 5:55 | 6:12 |
On the way back, the single-line working between Parkesburg and Leaman Place is still in force, and waiting for our turn causes us to lose an additional eight minutes into Parkesburg, and five more minutes between there and Lancaster. At the latter, our bus is waiting, and we're back at the hotel by 6:30 pm.
Jim Smith is having dinner with the Millers, and since I wish to talk to him about the scope of the R&LHS Archives, which he's talking about narrowing, I arrange for the five of us to go to dinner together. We walk down to Lapps, just west of the hotel, and have a good dinner there. I give Jim a copy of my "prospective analytical conclusions" list (of what I hope to answer from the 'infrastructure and traffic data' analysis, of which the route descriptions effort is a part), as an example of the questions I would hope to answer from, inter alia, the R&LHS Archives, and we have a good discussion on this subject, agreeing to keep in touch on the matter.
We get the bags ready for checkout, and then head for the R&LHS breakfast and Annual Meeting. Everyone is very surprised that breakfast is only coffee and 'Danish' pastries. The Annual Meeting proceeds after we eat, and Jim Caballero's discussion of the 'housekeeping' changes to the by-laws that he is proposing leads to an interaction with Henry Deutch, who claims that "education" must be mentioned in the 'purpose', if we're to keep our IRS 501(c)3 non-profit designation. The changes to the by-laws seem to be approved, anyway, as do all other proposals put forth at the meeting, including the three new Directors. Jerry Angier then makes a presentation on his plans for next year's Annual meeting in Portland, ME, and we're all gratified that arrangements are so far along, after the lateness of the arrangements this year. Once Jerry is finished, the meeting and the weekend's get together are over.
We check-out of the room, and sit around the lobby until the hotel's cafe opens at noon. While we eat, we chat with Corny Hauck, since he ad his wife are the only other customers. The service is slow, and we're almost late for the shuttle to Amtrak at 1 pm, shared by another couple who are going into Philadelphia to catch a flight home (not from our meeting). At the station, we use the elevators to take the baggage over to the platform from which our train will depart, but guess wrong as to the location of the Business Class car, and have to hurry down the platform to board when the train arrives, late due to the single-line working between Parkesburg and Leaman Place..
[consist]
P42
195
Coach 25111
Coach 25117
Coach 25001
Coach 25123
Cafe
48179
Train 43, 6-1-2008 |
Schedule |
Actual |
|
Lancaster |
1:52 pm | 2:05 pm |
| Elizabethtown | 2:06 | 2:20-22 |
| Harrisburg |
2:26 2:36 |
2:37 2:45 |
| Lewistown | 3:46 | 3:50-53 |
| Huntington | 4:22 | 4:28-30 |
| Tyrone | 4:48 | 4:56 |
| Altoona | 5:06 | 5:10-13 |
| Johnstown | 6:00 | 6:06-09 |
| Altrobe | 6:41 | 6:49 |
| Greensburg | 6:52 | 6:58-7:00 |
| Pittsburgh | 8:05 | 7:36 |
Pennsylvanian Route Description
In Pittsburgh, we check two of the bags through to Los Angeles, and then store the rest with the agent while we go off to eat at a seafood restaurant not far away, and then walk over to the south bank of the Alleghany River before returning to the station to wait for our train. This was shown as 35 minutes late, based on departure from Cumberland, and then later, an hour and 25 minutes late, based on departure from Connellsville. It is thus 1:15 am before passengers are allowed out onto the platform as the train arrives. Naturally, we go directly to bed.
[consist]
P42
152
P42
91
Baggage 1212
Dorm
39039
Sleeper
32027
Sleeper
32023
Diner
38061
Lounge
33035
Coach
34137
Coach-Baggage 31010
Coach
34116
Train 29, 6-1-2008 |
Schedule |
Actual |
|
Pittsburgh |
11:55 pm | 1:21-39 am |
| 6-2-2008 | ||
| Elkhart, IN | 7:17 am | 8:31-39 |
| South Bend ET | 7:36 | 8:59-9:03 |
| Chicago, IL CT | 8:40 | 9:50 |
A child in the next room starts screaming constantly, not long after 6 am, so although we don't get up until after 8 am (EDT), we don't really get much more than four hours sleep. In Chicago, we proceed to the Metropolitan Lounge, where we sit around (since it's too late to ride the one Metra line on which I still need detailed route descriptions) until 11 am, then visit a drug store on the northwest corner of Canal and Adams and walk east on Adams to have lunch at Elephant & Castle. We then walk further east, and sit on the benches at Dearborn and Adams, watching the passing parade of workers at lunchtime, before walking one block south, and returning to the station on the Randolph Street side.
We use the redcap service to get out to the train, and I manage to collect the consist before boarding.
[consist]
P42
66
P42
60
Baggage 1252
"Dorm" 32060
Sleeper 32115
Washington
Sleeper 32083
Iowa
Diner
38058
Lounge 33026
Coach
34037
Coach
34045
Coach
35009
Train 3, 6-2-2008 |
Schedule |
Actual |
|
Chicago, IL |
3:15 pm | 3:15 pm |
| Naperville | 3:50 | 3:46-50 |
| Mendota | 4:39 | 4:37-39 |
| Princeton | 5:01 | 4:57-5:01 |
| Galesburg | 5:53 | 5:49-54 |
| Fort Madison, IA | 6:57 | 6:49-58 |
| La Plata, MO | 8:08 | 8:01-07 |
| 6-3-2008 | ||
| Dodge City, KS | 6:00 am | 7:45-54 am |
| Garden City CT | 6:45 | 8:41-43 |
| Lamar, CO MT | 7:00 | 9:01-04 |
| La Junta |
8:15 8:30 |
9:50 10:10 |
| Trinidad | 9:50 | 11:30-34 |
| Raton, NM | 10:56 | 12:32-39 pm |
| Las Vegas, NM | 12:38 pm | 2:23 |
| Lamy | 2:24 | 4:07-14 |
| Albuquerque |
3:55 4:45 |
5:35 6:17 |
| Gallup MT | 7:08 | 8:37 |
| 6-4-2008 | ||
| San Bernardino, CA PT | 5:32 am | 7:04-09 am |
| Riverside | 5:53 | 7:27-32 |
| Fullerton | 6:34 | 8:22-28 |
| Los Angeles | 8:15 | 9:24 |
Southwest Chief Route Description
At dinner, a woman has four small children, and is doing nothing to quiet the screams of a 1-year-old. When I comment out loud on this, both the steward and a waiter take the woman's side, but after that she does at least try to keep the child quiet. Another waiter tries to smooth things over, with separate conversations with us and with the rest of the crew. We go to bed relatively early (given that this train is heading westward, in which the days get longer, not eastward, in which they get shorter), mindful of our shortage of sleep the previous night.
During the night, our train stands still, apparently somewhere west of Topeka, KS, due to a tornado warning ahead. Accordingly, we're almost two hours late by the time we awaken, approaching Dodge City (which is announced over the PA as a 'smoke stop'). Little of interest happens during the remainder of the day, although the scenery from the moment the Sangre de Cristo Mountains and Spanish Peaks come into view, east of Trinidad, CO, is as wonderful as usual. We go to bed after departure from Gallup, and never notice the Winslow stop.
I awake as the train pulls into San Bernardino. The rest of the way into Los Angeles is uneventful, except to note that Amtrak permits Surfliner passengers to board our coaches in Fullerton, due to 'a mechanical problem further south'. In Los Angeles, we take the carry-on bags to the car, get more to drink at the cafe, retrieve the checked bags and take them to the car, and head for home, stopping at Bristol Farms in South Pasadena, in Action for a rest stop, at KFC in Mojave to buy lunch, and the post office in Tehachapi, on the way. All is well when we arrive home, a little after 1 pm.