# Chicago Trip Report



## battalion51 (Aug 12, 2004)

OK Guys this is Part I, mostly because it's all I have done so far. I'm going to work on it as much as I can. Here it is:

July 18, 2004

Woke up at about 5:45 to get ready to go down to Ft. Lauderdale for P09818 north to Jacksonville. Got a few last minute items together, made a quick stop at Walgreens for batteries, then we were off to the Station. My Mom and I are traveling together by train to Chicago, my father will fly up on Tuesday to catch up with us in Chi-town. We went inside the station to pick up our tickets, the agent took for\ever to get to us since the baggage man hadn't shown up on time for work. We got our tickets and went outside the station to check our bags. The agent once again handled us, and tried to send our bags through Washington, rather than with us on 98, 1, and 58. Me being the person I am I requested he go back inside and get the right tags to keep our bags on the same train as us at all times, which seemed to be a pretty big request for him, but he's usually a jerk like that. 98 arrived in the station about 20 minutes late due to a CSX computer failure as he was leaving the Miami station. We boarded, my Mom was sat in the 41 car, I went to the lounge to sit with the crew as I usually do.

We had a pretty normal run, got stopped at Orange Blossom (Lake Worth) for K955, and then ran up to West Palm. While we were in the station we got three DTC blocks (due to signal suspension), we received Charlie, Beta #2, and Alpha blocks. We made it through with minimal delay, and had a pretty uneventful trip to Orlando. I walked the train just after Sebring and got this consist:

P-42 Locomotive 164

Heritage Baggage 1004

Heritage Crew Dorm 2513

Viewliner Sleeper 62033

Viewliner Sleeper 62046

Heritage Diner 8554-Unrefurbished

Amfleet II Lounge 28014

Amfleet II Coach 25053-New Cushions

Amfleet II Coach 25102-Concept 2000

Amfleet II Coach 25021

Amfleet II Coach 25097-Concept 2000

My Mother and I went up to the Dining Car for Lunch just south of Kissimmee, with a meet with 91 at Kissimmee Siding, it was nice to hear an Engineer buddy working on an unusually on time 91. My Mother and I both had Chicken Sandwiches for our meal. I finished up three miles north of Kissimmee and walked back to the Lounge. 91 had reported to us that 001 had left Sanford on time and should be waiting for us at Taft. Sure enough we blew past him at Taft, and continued to Orlando. We pulled into the station, I climbed down and walked up to the head end for a few pictures (since I botched the shot at Ft. Lauderdale). It was lightly sprinkling in the station, and there were a whole bunch of people getting on, 104 in Coach when all was said and done with. Our Conductor was stretched thin to say the least, he was having to help out our Coach Attendant since there were approximately 200 passengers on in the Coaches, so he was pretty busy the remainder of the trip to JAX. We made a quick stop in Winter Park and moved on to Sanford. We had Auto Train Mechanical come out and meet us since the toilets in the 42 car would not flush. Mechanical met us at the station with the honeywagon. The foreman met us along with a pipefitter, established blue flag protection and went to work. They futsed around for a few minutes, but couldn't get it to work at all, so the got off dropped the Blue Flag and let us continue with a ten minute hit, 1:30 late. We made ok time, not great time though since heat orders were in effect on the entire Sanford Sibdvision limiting us to 59 MPH. We passed a very late 97 south of JAX at Yukon, then a long Q177 at St. Johns, and a coal train right behind him. We negotiated our Way through Beaver Street and Moncrief and finally pulled into JAX around 17:10.

My Mom and I detrained and went inside where there were a whole pile of people waiting for both 98 and 001. I went outside to get a few shots of the train before he left, and could hear 001 not to far away making his reverse move towards the station. I went back inside, our Conductor from 98 was talking with my Mother, I said goodbye to him and we went and got in line to board 001. 001 backed in just as 98 left, pretty close to on time, on time had it not been for 98. The Conductor lifted our tickets and we walked outside towards the first sleeper, 0131. Our attendant Carol greeted us and directed us to our Room 12 downstairs. As we entered Beaver Street we walked back to the Diner to try to eat dinner. We were told there was a waiting list and it'd be an hour or so before we could be seated. We went back up to our room and napped for a half hour or so. About 18:30 just east of Lake City I walked the train and got this consist.

P-42 Locomotive 20

Heritage Baggage 1709

Superliner II Transition Dorm 39017

Superliner II Sleeper-Car 0131-32093-Missouri

Superliner II Sleeper-Car 0130-32099-New Mexico

Superliner II Dining Car-38064

Superliner II Sightseer Lounge-33038

Superliner I Coach-34034

Superliner II Coach-34121-New Blue Interior

Superliner II Coach-34134

I made it back up to our sleeper, and within a minute or two we were called back to the Diner. We were sat with a couple from Orlando who were on their first train trip, we had some great conversations about the trains, and general life. I had the Delmonico Steak, my Mom Penee Pasta with White Sauce. We headed back to our sleeper after dinner to relax. We arrived in Tallahassee and had nice chat with Carol about how neglected the rail system is, and what Amtrak is doing wrong (sounds like a great conversation doesn't it). We left Tallahassee 10 minutes late, good by Sunset standards. I spent some time on the computer, with us reaching Chattahoochee Yard at 22:10.

I pulled down the beds just after leaving Chattahoochee, with my Mom in the Upper bunk and me in the lower. As I layed there trying to fall asleep I looked out the window and saw some of the most brilliant stars I'd ever seen, and it made me remember why I love taking the train vs. flying, because you'll never get a feeling like that with any other mode of transportation. I fell asleep just after Chipley. We reached Pensacola around 02:30 (CSX Standard) making us about 1:40 late. I got back to sleep and woke again at Atmore, arrival 04:00 (CSX Standard) still 1:40 late.

I rolled over and fell asleep again this time until 07:15. (After this all times will be Central.) I layed in bed looking out the window trying to figure out where in the heck we were, since I had no freaking clue. We reached Biloxi at 07:35 making us almost exactly 2 hours late. My Mom went and took a shower, I put the beds away, and made a few phone calls while I had cell signal. I spoke with my friend Jon Stein who was on 95 from Boston to New York, we will meet up in Chicago tomorrow. He said they were doing pretty well, and I also spoke with my father and gave him an update on our location. Jon called me back a few minutes later saying they had reached New Haven and were having to set out their second to last coach due to excessive flat spots and brake failures. With my Mom having finished her shower we made our way back to the Dining Car for Breakfast. Now for a word about the LSA in the Dining Car, when we were seated I tried to sit across from my Mother since I am left handed, he told me I needed to sit side by side, even though the car was practically deserted. I stayed across from her and said someone could sit next to me if need be. The guy in general has been a jerk, making way too many announcements on the PA, doing first come first serve for Dinner instead of doing reservations the way it should be done. As a whole he really brought down the experience, although our Waitress both times made up for it a little bit. After Breakfast we went back to the room. We came down to a stop to wait for a freight train, we held the main. I went and took a shower, it took a while to get the water temperature right, but I did get it right. As I finished up I heard the freights engines go by, so I got a stand still shower. We continued on, made a stop in Bay St. Louis, and pulled in siding for a freight. Well the dispatcher changed his mind then let us continue down to Michoud Siding to wait for two separate freights. An hour and fifteen minutes, two freights, and a reverse move later we were on our way again. We continued on to New Orleans, pulled past the station and made our reverse move in. I noticed a lot of power down at the diesel shops, and one interesting piece in NPCU 90220. Outside the diesel shops from North to South were DASH 8 508, P-42 172, P-40 834, and P-42 47 (834 and 47 were coupled up together elephant style).

We arrived in the station, and then the HEP was shut down. We stepped down, thanked Carol and made our way inside. I asked where the Magnolia Room was, but was told it was close due to flooding a few weeks earlier. We passed the time in the station by sitting in the Subway within the station. I walked back out to the platform as the whacked off Engine 20 and coupled up 834 and 47 for the trip to Los Angeles (I know Auto Train can't be happy about 834 being in the Intercity pool, rather than being in Sanford where it belongs). I chatted with Carol some more and learned that Amtrak is planning to remove the sleepers and Diner from the Sunset in October, which would be a grave mistake in my opinion. Carol went back in the car to make beds while I went back inside the station to eat some lunch. Fortunately with our late arrival on the Sunset it made it so we wouldn't have to wait too terribly long before The City of New Orleans was ready for boarding. I made a few phone calls and then went back inside as the Conductor began boarding First Class passengers. I was told we were in the last car of the train, which I'm not sure if that's a good thing or a bad thing. We boarded, I set my things down and walked the platform to get this consist:

P-42 Locomotive 172

Heritage Baggage 1759

Superliner I Sleeper-Car 5809-32015

Superliner I Dining Car 38036

Superliner I Sightseer Lounge 33018

Superliner I Snack Coach 35004-Snack Bar Closed

Superliner I Smoking Coach 31535-Smoking Room Closed

Superliner I Coach 34096

Superliner I Sleeper-Car 5800-32033-Derailed Bowie-Ours

I made my way back to the room, the Conductor lifted our tickets shortly after departure, and then we chatted with our attendant Marcie who told us about Dinner seatings, turn down, etc. We settled in and got adjusted to the minor differences in the room vs. the Superliner II we had on the trip from JAX. We got lucky as the sleeper we're in has the new blue cushions in it, whereas the head sleeper does not. We passed a Defect Detector, I quickly turned on the scanner to hear what it sounded like, and it's the same model as the new ones CSX is installing, which surprised me a little bit, since I thought each railroad used a different voice for their DD's. We pulled in siding and met our Sotuhbound counterpart, who will most likely have an early arrival in New Orleans. One of the things I noticed about this car we were riding in is that it's rides a lot rougher than the other one we were in coming from JAX. Now I don't know whether it's the car, the tracks, or what, but it was like riding on glass between JAX and NOL whereas my laptop bounces pretty badly when I take my hands off of it, who knows. We arrived in Jackson early, so I took advantage of the opportunity to step down and talk with our attendant. We talked about Amtrak, that sort of thing, turns out this equipment rotates to the Texas Eagle, which is why there is a sleeper up front and on the rear, since the rear coach and sleeper are added to the Sunset three days a week on the Eagle. We left Jackson on time and continued north. At 4:30 the Dining Car LSA came around for Dinner reservations, we took a 6:30 Seating. We watched the first part of a DVD before we went to dinner. We made our way up to the Diner and were seated with another couple from our car who were traveling to Memphis from Hammond. We had some pretty interesting conversation throughout the meal. I was a little disappointed that the City is on the same cycle as the Sunset, but what can you do. I had the steak again, and it was better tonight since the chef actually seasoned it. We made stops in Yazoo City and Greenwood while we ate, I was surprised to see that our New Orleans based Conductors detrained in Greenwood, I figured they'd stay with us until Memphis. We went in siding shortly after leaving Greenwood for a coal train headed by two UP's (I know the second unit was an SD60M), and it had a former SP AC4400CW trailing as a DPU. We had an excellent meal and our table was the last out of the car but that's ok. We made our way back to the room, I spent some time on the laptop and watching scenery. Marcie came down at 9:45 to make up the beds for us, I could've done it, but she's one of the attendants who feels like she needs to do it for her passengers, which is fine by me. She set up the beds for us, and got us an extra pillow and blanket, since my Mom is perpetually cold.

We arrived in Memphis right on time at 10:00. I stepped down off the train, and walked up to the head end to give that night photography thing a whirl. As I was walking back I noticed only the Dining Car was taking on water, which surprised me that only that one car would need water to survive the rest of the trip. We sat in the station for a good long while since the schedule permits for a 40 minute station stop, a little excessive in my mind, but it's there to provide padding should the train get late. About 10:35 a Cab pulled up, and 4 Japanese people climbed out, they'd been in room F since New Orleans and were going to Chicago! Turns out they got in the cab, went to BB King's and came back. Marcie, the Conductor and I couldn't believe it, but they made it back, so they're lucky they didn't hit traffic or anything otherwise they would've been left in Memphis, with all their stuff going to Chicago. Well we left Memphis, I climbed in bed and fell asleep listening to my Mini Disc player, something I've never done before. I only woke up once in the middle of the night and that was just enough time for me to take my headphones off.

July 20, 2004

I woke up around 6:00, just as we were pulling into Champaign. It was fairly easy to see we were in Champaign because of the University of Illinois football stadium off in the distance. We left on time and proceeded north to Chicago. My Mom and I headed upstairs to have Breakfast and told Marcie she wouldn't need to give us the 6:30 wake up call we requested. We walked through the coaches to the Dining Car, and got the same unpleasant SA we had the night before. Fortunately we were seated with a couple of really nice ladies who were headed to San Diego via Portland, OR, they were making a stopover in Portland for the heck of it. I had the Continental for Breakfast, complete with spoiled fruit, that really made for a memorable experience, the SA didn't seem ultra concerned about the fruit. We made it back to our room, Marcie had made up the beds while we were at Breakfast. We made stops in Kankakee and Homewood, waited on time at both stops. We made it quickly into the Chicago area, pulling over the yards and then waiting for permission to make our reverse move into the station. We finally got a signal from 21st Street and began backing through the Metra and Amtrak yards. We came down to a stop in the station 10 minutes early. We stepped down of the car, thanked Marcie (gave her a nice tip) and headed inside the station.

We headed straight for the baggage claim, even though we knew it'd be a few minutes before the bags started rolling in from the train. The bags took a few minutes to come up but we got them and started to head out. Apparently the Lake Shore Limited from New York and Boston had just arrived as their passengers were trying to get in the baggage claim area. I tried to call our hotel uptown and see if we would be able to check in, they told me to call back in a few hours as they had no rooms ready. We headed over to the temporary Metropolitan Lounge and waited there, since we were in First Class on the City of New Orleans. We waited in there for about an hour before I called the hotel again to see if we could check in. They told us to come on down so we got a cab and headed up to the Doubletree across from the John Hancock Center. When we arrived they said they had no room of our type ready so we would have to wait. We checked our bags and I headed back to Union Station to take a Hiawatha to Milwaukee.

I walked down to the State and Chicago Subway/"L" station and caught the Red Line down to the Loop and then transferred to the Blue Line to Clinton. I got off at Clinton and walked two blocks north back to Union Station. When I arrived I walked over to the south boarding platforms and saw something I'd been waiting years for, a P-42 in Phase III. At the time I had become a railfan Phase III on Engines was in decline, and I don't have any recollection of seeing an Engine in person that was in Phase III. Well I snapped a couple of pictures of P-42 31, as it probably won't be too terribly long before Beech Grove grabs them to repaint them into Phase Vb. I also got a blurred shot of P-42 37 and P-42 152 before I headed over to the Food Emporium for lunch. The food emporium wasn't as easy to find as I thought it should have been, but I was able to find it. I had McDonalds for lunch and ate it in the Grand Hall while I waited for Jon Stein to come in from LaSalle St station. We met up, went back to the Food Emporium to get Jon some lunch before we headed to the North Boarding gates to wait for Train 335 to Milwaukee. 334 arrived in the station, and we waited about 10 minutes for them to swap crews and do a brake test before we were allowed to board. We walked down the platform and saw P-42 16 coupled up to 1 Superliner Coach, for unknown reasons, before we came to our trainset which had Cabbage 90368 trailing out of Chicago and P-42 74 leading. We had the same consist going to and from Chicago, it was:

P-42 Locomotive 74

Horizon Coach 54555

Horizon Coach 54550

Horizon Coach 54556

Horizon Coach 54510

Horizon Coach 54527

Horizon Coach 54521

F-40 NPCU 90368

Our Conductor going north said that this was a really long trainset, but he didn't know why it was so big. We left on time at 1:00 and headed north. We made excellent time going north. The LSA came by with the snack cart, and he had a great sense of humor, with all kinds of silly gadgets that he was using with passengers, from huge sunglasses to a mustard bottle that spit out a yellow thread to make you believe he had squirted mustard on you. Jon and I had some good conversation about each of our trips to Chicago, with him coming in from Boston on P09519 to P04119 at New York. We made it to Milwaukee right on time. We detrained and went to go get pictures of the consist. I started on the south end with the Cabbage and made my way north, Jon did the opposite. When we each finished Jon asked if I had seen his cell phone since he unplugged it. I hadn't, he checked his bag and took a walk through the train. With no luck we went inside to see if the Conductor had turned it in, no such luck. We went back out to the train to head back on 338. As we were walking down the Empire Builder from Seattle and Portland arrived in the station with Engines 204 and 193 back to back leading her. We boarded 338 and had an on time departure. Jon talked with both the LSA and the Conductor to see if they could check the car we were in to see if they could find his cell phone, no luck. We continued on to Chicago making good time and passing the Northbound Empire Builder on the way in. As we entered Union Station we had a three way meet with an inbound Metra on the west track, us in the middle and an outbound Metra on the easternmost track, would've made a cool shot going around that curve for anyone who was on the ground. We arrived into Union Station on the same track we left from, except the P-42 and Superliner Coach were gone. As we were walking into the station the Empire Builder arrived in the station on one of the two run through tracks in the station.

We walked over to Passenger Assistance to see if they could call Milwaukee to see if anything had turned up with regards to Jon's Cell Phone. They said they would put a call into Milwaukee and that he needed to come back in a little while. We walked down to the Blue Line Subway station on Clinton, and headed back Uptown. We transferred to the Red Line at Jackson and got off at Chicago. From Chicago Ave. we took a Cab back up to the hotel to save Jon a little time. We went up to the room and hung out for a while before Jon had to head back down to Union Station. I showered and then we went out to Dinner at The Drake. The meal was excellent and I would definitely recommend it to anyone who's looking for a good meal at a decent price.


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## NativeSon5859 (Aug 13, 2004)

Excellent report. Looking forward to part 2!


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## engine999 (Aug 13, 2004)

NativeSon5859 said:


> Excellent report. Looking forward to part 2!


I agree. The track between NOl and JAX has recently had major overhaul work, I think they may have replaced rails in some spots too. That would probably explain the smooth ride.


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## Bill Haithcoat (Aug 13, 2004)

Enjoyed the report. Glad to see the trains as close to on time as they were....of course the SL would be late, but that was not a bad delay for it.

One disturbing thing, your attendant Carol telling you that the sleepers and diner would be removed from the Sunset in October. I hope she is wrong, terribly wrong. God, that train does not need any more problems. Have you heard that rumour from anyone else? Hope it is just a rumour.

Still, glad you had such a good trip, at least what we have read of it so far.


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## Amfleet (Aug 13, 2004)

Remember, Amtrak is the king of all rumor mills so anything could happen. IMHO, they should run the Sunset Limited LAX-NOL only with a daylight stub train from NOL to JAX, connecting with either 91/92/97/98 in JAX.


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## battalion51 (Aug 14, 2004)

I'm going with Jon on this one, things change so much from one day to the next it's hard to know what to believe and not to believe. It looks like the Palmetto being cut back will save the Sunset.


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## Amfleet (Aug 15, 2004)

battalion51 said:


> I'm going with Jon on this one, things change so much from one day to the next it's hard to know what to believe and not to believe. It looks like the Palmetto being cut back will save the Sunset.


Or is it saving the Sunset that's cutting back the Palmetto. :blink: :lol:


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## P40Power (Aug 19, 2004)

Great travelougue, nothing better then a reading a good Travlogue ( well then doing the actual traveling!) but it sounds that you and Jon both had great times judging from your reports (his was great as usual too). Definatly looking forward to the second part!


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