# LYH-NWK, NYP-CHI, WAS-LYH



## BobWeaver (Mar 29, 2011)

Earlier this month, I had the opportunity to take a trip to see 3 different friends in 3 different cities for my spring break. I had a desire to burn some AGR points I had built up over the last few years primarily from spend on the AGR MasterCard, so I began to plan my trip to utilize free Amtrak travel as much as possible. As it turned out, Amtrak schedules permitted me to end up traveling 1,520 miles by rail.

For the first leg of my trip, I went to see a good friend from undergrad who lives in coastal NJ. I utilized Regional 176 for this leg of the trip because of its timing, and I originated in Lynchburg because of its relative closeness to Virginia Tech, and because I could overnight the night before with relatives. Train 176 on 3/4 had 6 coaches and a cafe for some reason, as opposed to its usual 7 coaches and cafe. I booked business class, and there were only 3 or 4 other passengers in the car that boarded at LYH. 176 departed on time. Shortly after departing, a member of the onboard crew made the announcement that the train was sold out, and that 300 of our closest friends would be boarding at Charlottesville. The conductor later confirmed this when I asked him about it when he came by to lift my ticket. Sure enough, when we rounded the slight turn into CVS, the station platform was simply a sea of people, many of which looked to be UVA students going north for spring break. I'm unsure as to the exact number of people who boarded, but from the looks of it, it was very feasible for it to have been in the neighborhood of 300. The business class car gained in the neighborhood of 15-20 new riders. Culpeper, Manassas, Burke, and Alexandria all seemed to be normal stops. We pulled into WAS a little behind schedule, which I attribute to the longer than normal station stop at CVS and maybe a few others. Southbound Regional #185 pulled by an HHP-8 slid in next to us a few minutes later. It was close to an hour before we got rolling again, and it seemed that the engine swap to an HHP-8 was to blame, a process that I watched in its entirety from the platform. It took a good 20 minutes before our P42 was cut off, even though the Amtrak personnel who were apparently assigned to this task had been talking and joking with each other on the platform for a good 15 minutes. Finally, these crew members seemed to randomly start their task, and the P42 was cut away and pulled forward and onto another track out of sight. Another 20 minutes passed before what would become our HHP-8 disconnected from the Regional it had just pulled southbound, ran forward under WAS, switched, and came back on the opposite side of 176, where it was coupled a few minutes later. Granted, I don't know the reasons behind these times, but from someone with an operations management background, I surely think there is room for improvement in the locomotive changeover times at WAS. Otherwise, there wasn't too much going on around WAS at around noon on Friday. There looked to be a considerable amount of people boarding at WAS, and when I saw them coming down the escalators towards the train, I boarded the business class car again to make sure I reclaimed my seat. 176 departed WAS around 25-35 minutes down.

We got up to speed relatively quickly, first cruising at 90mph, then quickly jumping up to 125mph for a little while before we stopped at BWI. Being in the car immediately behind the locomotive was neat because I could hear the HHP-8's traction motors change pitch as speed began to increase. Evidently our train had some kind of air pressure issue around BAL, as I heard the engineer and conductor going back and forth on the scanner about the engineer not getting a correct reading of some sort at the end of the train. A car inspector was waiting for us at PHL, but could not fix the problem onsite. The train seemed to be handling ok, with the exception of what seemed to be a larger than normal amount of forward and backward "bouncing" that the conductor confirmed to be slack action (needless to say he was surprised that I knew the term). If this was indeed the case, this would have been the most slack action bouncing that I have ever felt while onboard. Perhaps my car's location in the train and/or the fact that this was my first jaunt with an electric locomotive were to blame? The business class car filled up at PHL, with only 2 seats remaining, and a lady heading north to Stamford, CT ended up sitting next to me for the endurance of my ride on 176. When I arrived at NWK, I was somewhat confused as to what to do. I walked the platform a couple of times after watching 176 depart, figuring that I'd find a NJ Transit ticket machine. No such luck. So, I had to lug my two suitcases and backpack down the flight of stairs to the main station level, where I purchased my ticket for the train to Red Bank. I enjoyed waiting in the ex-Pennsylvania Railroad station, admiring its grandeur and reading one of the exhibits on the wall that described the Pennsy in its heyday. Not sure if this display was original, but I looked close enough. My NJT train arrived on time, and I departed NWK, arriving in Red Bank without incident. It would be nice if every state had a public rail system that reliable and widespread.

After spending the weekend in NJ and NYC, Monday 3/7 came, and it came time to make my way to NYP for my trip on 49 to CHI. After taking NJ Transit to NYP and having lunch with a friend, I hung out in the ClubAcela lounge until departure. Suffice to say, I was one of the few people without a coat and tie on. 49 was delayed out of Sunnyside for unknown reasons (the ClubAcela attendants didn't have a reason), but I'll speculate that either the train wasn't ready or it was because it couldn't get a signal into NYP. Eventually, 49 arrived at NYP about 30 minutes late. I proceeded directly to car 4911, the first Viewliner behind the diner, where the conductor lifted my ticket at the door. I was in bedroom A, which is the first one on the left. In hindsight, I probably could have done a roommette for the trip, but I figured I'd splurge since I don't ride as often as I did anymore, especially long-distance. It turns out that I really enjoyed the extra space and having a toilet in a separate area. I settled into my bedroom, and the car attendant, an Asian man named Mr. Chan or Mr. Tran (can't remember) came by a few minutes later to ask what my destination was and to explain the features of the room. Soon enough, 49 departed, already 45 minutes late. I really enjoyed the views on this train when we exited the tunnels on our way north out of the city, especially those of the Hudson, which we paralleled all the way to Albany. As we continued north with the sun getting ever-lower over the mountains, my car attendant came by to inform me that dinner would be starting at 6 instead of 5, given the tardy departure. This was fine with me, as a 5:00PM dinner was a bit early anyway. A major storm had passed over the northern part of NY a couple of days prior, dropping temperatures and dumping snow on the region, which was interesting, given the fact that during my time in NJ and NYC, the lows never came close to breaking the freezing point. The effects of this storm became more and more evident as the amount of ice in the Hudson began to increase dramatically as we continued north. I made my way to the dining car at around 6:15 or so, and I was directed to an empty table. This was my first time eating dinner onboard Amtrak, but the place setting looked familiar, with a linen tablecloth, straw basket with Newman's Own salad dressings, and 4 place settings with real silverware. A graduate student going to Rochester and a veterinarian going to Cleveland shortly joined me at the table, and we all had a nice conversation over dinner. In the past, my limited dining car experiences have been average at best - the breakfast on #20 in 2007 was poorly executed, and the breakfast on #98 was largely the same in 2008. However, this experience was completely the opposite. Our waiter was relatively friendly, and his service was fast the few times that we requested things of him. I took what I thought was a risk in ordering the steak based on what I've read on here, but I specifically asked what cut the beef was, to which the waiter replied a New York strip. Figuring I'd try it, I went out on a limb and ordered it, cooked medium well. The grad student also ordered the steak, cooked well done, and the veterinarian ordered the chicken. Our salads came out first, which looked to be very fresh and tasted the same. At this point, the sun was all but set over the mountains on the opposite side of the Hudson, and I could see that the river was about 60-70% iced over. Additionally, the ground had begun to be covered in snow, somewhere in the neighborhood of 2-4 inches at that point. Soon enough, our food arrived. The presentation of our plates were all very good, with my steak being accompanied by a baked potato, sour cream, and mixed vegetables. Very much to my surprise, the steak was excellent. I mean, really really good. I've eaten no small number of steaks over my years, and this steak rivaled those that you would get at any middle- to upper-class restaurant, such as Outback, Texas Roadhouse, and even Longhorn. The grad student also had similar remarks. The NY strip was cooked perfectly, and was around an inch thick. A few minutes later, we arrived into Albany station. Northbound Empire Service train #237 slid in next to us a few minutes later on an adjacent track. As our enjoyable dinner continued, I continued to think to myself about when the HEP would cut out because of the necessity to disconnect the locomotives in order to attach the Boston section. Sure enough, no more than 15 seconds after me thinking this, the power suddenly cut out, leaving an almost-full dining car completely dark save for some lights from the station itself. After a few laughs from others, the conversation surprisingly started up again in the car, including at our table. A couple of the wait staff members starting bringing out green glowsticks for the tables (not sure why they had these in the dining car to begin with...?), and one even starting dancing around and twirling the glowstick. Her laughter kept things light (no pun intended) in the dining car while we attempted to eat with the light from the single green glowstick on our table. The lights were out for about 10-15 minutes before HEP was reconnected. For dessert, I ordered the cheesecake, which I believe was crème brulée cheesecake. I was more than surprised at the taste of this as well, and I would have ordered another slice had it not been $5.50! During dessert, we departed Albany on our way to points west. Overall, even with the power outage, I'd give my experience in the dining car a 10/10.

I returned to my room after dinner and sat in the armchair for a while, since this was facing the direction of travel. The amount of snow on the ground increased as we progressed further west (it was up to the rail heads around Schenectady), and it was neat to watch the blizzard created by the wind that our train generated at 79mph out my window. I was pretty impressed with the quality of the track that we were riding on. I am unsure as to if this is due to the original engineering of the line by the New York Central, or simply good maintenance by Conrail and now CSX. I was equally impressed with our train's timekeeping along CSX trackage, as we didn't catch a single stop signal or significant speed restriction from Poughkeepsie all the way to at least Rochester, even with high traffic levels on the line. Between ALB and when I went to sleep right after our stop at Rochester, we passed at least 7 freights going in the opposite direction. It was neat to hear opposing trains making such little noise in my bedroom, as all I ever heard was the quick rumble of the prime movers and an occasional faint roar sound. Other than that, you'd never know that there's a freight train running at track speed less than 3 feet from the outside of the Viewliner, many times at a closure speed of upwards of 125mph. My car attendant eventually came around to turn the room to its night configuration around Syracuse or so, and I was impressed by the size of the bottom bunk. Being 6'2", I could just almost stretch out completely; another couple of inches of bed length would have done it. I found the bed to be pretty comfortable all things considered, and the bedroom was surprisingly quiet and relatively rattle-free, although I did have to silence the upper bunk's ladder with a washcloth to prevent it from banging against its closet walls. Gradually getting more tired, I decided that it was probably time to hit the hay, and so I went to sleep right after the Rochester station.

The next morning, I awoke as we were departing Toledo station, but I fell back asleep again, so I guess I really woke up for the day closer to Bryan, OH, meaning I surprisingly got around 7 hours of sleep. The snow was gone, and we were traversing rural Ohio. I eventually went to the dining car for breakfast, and was once again seated at an empty table. A lady and a small child joined me a few minutes later from one of the sleepers. Just as I was impressed with the previous night's dinner, I was equally impressed with breakfast. I ordered the special spinach quiche, breakfast potatoes, bacon, and a croissant, all of which were very good. The service seemed to be slower than dinner the night before, interestingly enough. We passed two opposing NS freights while I was in the dining car, one of which had a VRE locomotive in its consist. We caught a stop signal for about 10 minutes in Indiana, but I am unsure as to the exact location. Once breakfast was completed, I went back to my room to enjoy the rest of the trip's views. Just as the night before, my car attendant was hard to find, and he didn't appear until after the South Bend station stop (where we discharged upwards of 40 passengers) to switch my room configuration. Evidently a signal was malfunctioning at a bridge control point for the Calumet River bridge (a huge set of bridges, by the way), so we caught a red for a few minutes until we could cross over to the other main to proceed past the CP. Amtrak 49 pulled into Chicago Union Station about an hour late, which was fine with me considering our original tardy departure from NYP. Overall I was pleased with the service I received on 49.

A few days later, in the interest of time, I flew from Chicago Midway direct to Dulles on Friday 3/11, to visit my third friend who lives and works in the area for the weekend of 3/11. After a fun weekend there, it came time for me to return to Lynchburg onboard train 145 on 3/13. I took Metro from Rosslyn and arrived at a messy Union Station due to some kind of work being done near the Metro entrance to the west side of the station. The escalators were out of service, scaffolding was everywhere, and a modified path had been laid out for passengers. I picked up my ticket from the agent, and proceeded to the waiting area. This time, I booked normal reserved coach in an effort to save points since it was only about a 3.5 hour ride, a decision that almost created more of a hassle than it was actually worth. This train, even with a normal consist of 7 coaches and a cafe, was sold out south of WAS. As such, when I boarded at coach #5, I didn't find an open window seat until at least halfway through the last coach, coach #8. Aisle seats weren't exactly plentiful, either. 145 was still attached to the HHP-8 that had brought it south, but for some reason the train was without HEP, and all cars were pretty warm/borderline hot. I secured my seat, threw one of my suitcases above my head, but had to put my bigger one at the front of the car where there was space in the luggage rack. It was another 10-15 minutes before the P42 was attached and HEP was restored, cooling the car down. 145 departed WAS slightly behind schedule. Not many people boarded or detrained at Manassas, Burke, or Culpeper, although our stop in Alexandria did board at least 10-15. However, as with the northbound experience on 176 a week prior, Charlottesville proved to be another huge stop. The assistant conductor said that upwards of 270 passengers would be detraining at CVS, and it sure looked that way during our lengthy stop. About 60-70% of my car cleared out at CVS, leaving about 20 of us or so in coach #8 for the rest of the trip to LYH. Regional 145 arrived in Lynchburg about 20 minutes late, with a nice load of passengers.

Overall, my trips were largely seamless. I found Amtrak personnel to be as expected, with the LSL crews being slightly friendlier than the OBS crews on the Regionals, although the female conductor on 145 was rather friendly. Equipment-wise, I was very pleased with seat/bed comfort, electrical outlet functionality, functioning restrooms, etc. It was also good to personally see the Lynchburg service doing so well. It was good to get back on the high iron...hopefully it won't be 3 years until I'm back on it again.


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## acelafan (Mar 30, 2011)

I enjoyed reading your detailed report; so glad to hear the VA service is doing well, too. Makes me want to plan another long trip across the country.


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## MrEd (Mar 30, 2011)

Thanks for the report Bob.


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## amamba (Mar 30, 2011)

Great report!


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## Bob Dylan (Mar 31, 2011)

:hi: Nice Report, glad you enjoyed the Journey! :wub: Makes me want to hop a Train going anywhere tomorrow! (We only have one in each direction down here in the sticks! :lol: )


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## Bill Haithcoat (Mar 31, 2011)

Good report. Virginia seems to be the hot spot these days. Good......it has been in the preAmtrak past, glad to see it pick up so well. Makes one want to live there!!


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## Shanghai (Mar 31, 2011)

*Enjoyed your report. I'll be on 49 later in the year.*


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