September 6, 2013

The journey south

 

I went to sleep later then I planned because the ball game last night ended little later than I hoped. I have some trouble falling asleep. I thought to myself, Did I pack a hair brush? I forgot to pack one years ago, so I found a hairbrush I bought at disney years ago and packed it. I wake up earlier then planned, shower, dress, and finish packing my laptop and cell phone charger.  My mother will meet me and hold onto my house keys, one less thing to carry with me. It is a balmy 58 degrees this am. Hope it will be warmer in Florida.  You think? :-)  I am only going to the local train station.  I am down and waiting for my mother at 7:30 am.  Here is my luggage for this trip.

 

 

My backpack is full of my electronics, and my Brita water bottle.  The roll bag has food and toiletries.  Luggage has clothes.

 

I walk over to the train station and take it easy to get my luggage up the four flights of stairs to the train platform.

 

 

My first train of the day, F train, which I will take to 34th/ 6th Ave.  Then walk a block to 7th ave to enter Penn Station.  Its 7:45 am, I like to be early, not worry about train delays.  I have about an hour train ride in front of me.

 

For this trip, I am taking photos and sharing them online through Instagram, which shares photos to my Twitter and Facebook accounts.  I took the above photo at 7:42 am.  I am also sending out email updates too, so I should have this trip covered for making my trip reports.

 

I arrive in Manhattan at 8:47 am.  I wanted to send a photo of the Empire State building to show where I am, but settle for Macy’s.

 

 

Walking over to Penn Station, I walk by Hotel Pennsylvania, made famous by song.

 

Pennsylvania 6-5000 J Its across the street from New York Pennsylvania Station, NY Penn Station for short.

 

 

Now I head to Club Acela.  I get there just after 9.

 

 

I figure they will board me by 10:30, so I have 90 minutes to wait. 

 

On the train ride into Manhattan, my cell phone started to lock onto a
mobile hot spot device that I thought I left home, but evidently I packed it
and it turned itself on.  In the lounge, I found the device and removed the
battery from it.

I am pretty sure I forgot my razor, even though I bought and packed a travel
one, I stopped into drug store here in Penn Station to buy a normal one,
plus I am pretty sure I forgot some muscle cream, so I bought that too.

I entered Club Acela to wait for the train, about a 2 hour wait, well, maybe
about 90 minutes before they escort me down to the train.  I tell the
attendant, early, he corrects me, says Amtrak is always on time, never
early.

Had a yummy cinnamon bun and apple juice for breakfast.

 



Just relaxing now. Checking the TV set with departure times every so often, waiting for my train to be on the screen.

 

All they have besides the cinnamon buns are blueberry muffins, no chocolate
chip :(  I tried a orange soda from the fountain, and it tasted like weak
orange drink, having some decafe coffee.

 

 

 

Its 10 am, My train is on the board, showing on time, Previous years, boarded as early
as 10:30, about 1/2 hr from now.  I am in the nearest sleeper to the dining
car, but room 2, usually in room 1.  Just means I wont be able to see
anything in the capital as we leave.  Everything would be on the right side
of the train, I am on the left.  First time in years on the left, not sure
what to see except the Philly Zoo.

 

wow... just looked at my cell phone battery. I unplugged it from the
charger at 7 am, at 10 am, down to 44%. Too much photo postings :) When on
the train, will plug it into its charger.

 

What has happened the last couple of years is they have a Amtrak employee escort first class passengers boarding my train escort us from the lounge to the train.  This year, its only me.  But when I get to the correct escalator going down, we meet some more passengers, whom seem to be in a rush.  I guess they are concerned about getting a good seat, but they are in reserved rooms??

 

I take the escalator down to the platform and board my train.

 

 

My train number for the next 20 some odd hours.  Train 91, car 10, roomette 2.

 

 

 

With a little bit of a delay leaving NY Penn, we are moving and on our way.  We start to move slowly away from the platform.  Before we enter the trans-Hudson tunnel into New Jersey, we go through a open air area after leaving Penn.  Switching tracks to enter the tunnel.

 

Since my last trip, I downloaded train simulator software.  I can simulate the train I am on leaving Penn Station all the way to 30th street station in Philly.  Just like in the computer sim software, the time in the tunnel is a long one, as we pick up speed.

 

We leave the tunnel and I officially say…. Hello New Jersey.  If I was in room 1, my usual room, I would see out the window Rt 280 just after the NJ Turnpike.   But I do recognize seeing this stadium from Rt 280.

 

 

Just after 12 pm, We are pulling into Newark Penn Station, our first stop.

 

 

I am invited to head to the dining car for lunch.   When I was boarding the train, I saw what I thought was the old style dining cars, but they were snack cars, the dining car is a refurbished one.

 

 

I get my usual lunch onboard the train.

 

 

Angus Cheeseburger with diet Pepsi.  No deep fryers onboard the train, just potato chips.  And for dessert….

 

 

Something new, cheesecake.

 

After I finish lunch, we cross the river from New Jersey into Pennsylvania, Philadelphia to be exact, and pull into 30th street station in Philly.

 

 

I break out some DVD’s and decide to watch a little Sgt Bilko. 

 

 

It’s the kind of comedy that you can watch over and over again. 

 

For this trip, I am trying a new app for my smartphone.  It is called Glympse.  Using your cell phones GPS technology, it transmits data so your trip can be plotted on a map website.  While my cell phone is transmitting the data, I am watching my trip online on my laptop.

 

On the website, it says we just crossed the Susquehanna River, I wonder if the hat company is nearby.

I wonder how many people even know what I am talking about :)  its from a old Abbot and Costello comedy routine.  Slowly I turn…. Step by step…. J

 

At 1:47 pm, we are pulling into Wilmington, Delaware.

 

 

2:37 pm Baltimore, Maryland.

 

 

3:17 pm, we pull into Washington DC.

 

 

Where we do the locomotive dance.  They remove the single electric locomotive and replace it with a pair of diesels to continue our trip south to Florida.  Here is our electric locomotive before it disconnects itself from our train.

 

 

The two replacement diesels are parked across the platform from our train.

 

 

The two diesels are connected ‘elephant style’, back to front.  Sometimes they connect back to back.  The electric locomotive, once disconnected from the train, which also means you lose all electric service, just emergency lights, moves south of the station to make way for the pair of diesels.  Once the electric is clear, the diesels power up, move south of the station, then back into our train, connect power, brakes, etc, and the locomotive dance is over.

 

 

Car number 1715 is a baggage car.  My train is made up of the locomotive, baggage, sleeper cars, dining car, snack cars, then coach cars.  In the above photo, you see a Amtrak worker connecting hoses and electrical connections from the diesels to the rest of the train.

 

After lunch, they came around and asked what time I would want to eat dinner. I chose 5 pm.  My car is right next to the dining car, so I am seated right after 5.  First up is my salad (with the unwanted items to create a hidden mickey)

 

 

Main entrée is steak, Flat Iron steak to be exact.

 

 

I did ask for mashed not baked potato, but its ok.  And for dessert……

 

 

Chocolate Chip brownie. J yummie.

 

After dinner we are pulling into Richmond, Virginia, its 5:44 pm

 

One of the nice things about train travel are the sights looking out the window at natures beauty like this sight just outside of Richmond.

 

 

I stop paying attention to what is going on outside.  Just entertain myself watching my dvd’s.

 

We are pulling into Raleigh, North Carolina.  I play around and make a Ustream broadcast.  Here is the video from that broadcast.

 

 

 

 

 

Listen to the frequency of the trains whistle as we pass street level crossing gates.  How dark it is when you don’t have city lights.  Occasional car lights in the blackness of night.