# First Sleeper Trip - Washington - Chicago



## deimos (Feb 22, 2006)

Though I have taken numerous Amtrak trains on trips in the NEC, and spent the night in business class of the Palmeto into Tampa (when it went there), I have never taken a LD trip in a sleeper car. So, when my schedule opened up - I decided to take a long weekend trip to Chicago. Based upon advice provided by folks in the Amtrak discussion board, I reserved a RT on the Capital Limited and then planned a future trip on the Cardinal. Here is a general log of the Washington to Chicago segment.

Friday February 17

I arrived at Washington Union Station early so I would have time to look around and have lunch at one of the many places in the food court. I ended up going oriental with a rice bowl, chicken and mixed veggies. Next it was a stroll through the shops and the main hall - and of course a few more snacks en-route. One word of advice is to not skip any meals (i.e. breakfast) before walking through the food court. Next it was off to ejoy the solitude of the Acela lounge while waiting for the boarding announcement. Everything was on schedule and I eagerly waited to board the train.

I boarded the train, set up my GPS receiver and scanner and settled back for the ride. We departed on time at 3:55 PM. With the exception of a few kids running around a bit - everything seemed very pleasant. The OBS made a point of making sure folks were all set for the ride.

Dinner ala Diner-lite. My table mates, all of whom seemed to be LD veterans, were really great!! We certainly enjoyed each other's company and conversation. As for the Diner-lite - this was the OBS's introduction to the Diner-lite concept and I think they were concerned about how the passengers were going to react. Overall, I think folks were pretty open to the concept. Dinner seemed to be pretty good overall. Yeah - it wasn't a first class meal, but there was certainly nothing to complain about. Among the four of us, two had beef and two had fish and we all seemed to enjoy the meal.

I had my bed set up around 1000 and it wasn't long before I sacked out for the night. Overall, I felt like I slept pretty well - I opened my eyes a few times during the night, but didn't really wake up until about 5:30 - just before my alarm.

Breakfast was ok, though the french toast was a bit tough. I spent the remainder of the morning listening to the scanner, reading for a while and watching the scenery. Things really slowed down at this point apparently since we were behind some freight trains. We had to stop a few times for periods of up to 30 minutes before pulling into Chicago.

Based upon my GPS track, we seemed to generally stay on schedule, but were about 15 minutes late getting into Harper's Ferry WV, Martinsburg WV and Cumberland MD. Then our delays began to build as we had to wait for on-coming freight traffic to pass through at Cumberland. We were about 20 minutes getting into Pittsburgh, 30 minutes late into Alliance OH, and about an hour behind getting into Cleveland. We apparently were delayed in Cleveland for about an hour and didn't start rolling again until about 4:15 AM. We were about 1:45 late coming into Toledo and then were stuck behind freight traffic into Chicago (read above). Overall average speed taking into account all stops and delays was 36 MPH over a distance of approximately 778 miles during about 21 hours 25 minutes. Max speed was just over 80 MPH.

Overall, I really enjoyed the trip, though I was a bit frustrated about the 4 hour arrival delay, especially since I had compact schedule for the weekend. Apparently the recent cold front really impacted travel conditions through the region. I think I saw a max temp of 9 degrees in Chicago Saturday while I was out and about. That was quite a big change for me given the somewhat more mild 40 degree temps in DC the day before. Folks in Chicago took it pretty much in stride, as I suspected they would, but I must say there was a particularly hearty group of folks waiting in line outside of the Art Museum.

My ride back to DC was pretty much uneventfull, though a similar set of delays were encountered.

Deimos


----------



## ghodux (Mar 18, 2006)

What kind of scanner do you have and how is the reception in a sleeper? DO you have to keep it by the window. Same questions for the GPS unit. What brand/model do you have? Thanks for the report


----------



## deimos (Mar 18, 2006)

Hopes this helps -

Scanner:

Uniden Bearcat 200 XLT with standard "Rubber-Duck" antenna. Though this unit is fairly old, that is a bit larger and slower than current models, it provides nice reception throughout the train.

GPS:

Garmin e-Trex Vista. Overall, I really like the e-Trex Vista, though its small patch antenna has problems pulling in signals in certain conditions. I had to place the e-Trex along the window to obtain acceptable signal reception, and even then I would experience periods of poor reception. Realizing this would likely be the case, I made a window mount out of a short strip of lexan and two suction cups before I embarked on the journey. This set up worked pretty well, though I still experienced poor reception when my side of the train was on inside track near steep terrain - that is when a clear view of the sky was obscured by terrain. features or other obstacles like a station canopy.

Deimos


----------

