Trip Report: New York to Chicago, enroute to Dallas - October 22, 2010
This is the first leg of my trip to attend a board meeting of a volunteer organization of which I am an officer. I decided to make a loop trip, not a loophole trip, by traveling from New York to Chicago to Ft. Worth to San Antanio to New Orleans to New York.
I took NJ Transit from my town in New Jersey to New York Penn Station. I went to the Quik-Trak terminal and printed my ticket: Train 49, Lake Shore Limited. I was in roomette number 3 in car 4911. My SCA was Sharon. She was very friendly and very capable. I mentioned to her that on three previous trips on the LSL my car attendant was a man named Tom Finnigan and asked if she knew him. She responded that he was the SCA on the other sleeper on this train.
Within fifteen minutes, Tom came to my room and we chatted from New York to Tarrytown!! I told him about Amtrak Unlimited and our recent Gathering in St. Louis. He said he doesn’t have much time on the internet, but he would try the site when he gets home.
Sharon came by and suggested that I move temporarily to the roomette across the aisle to view the Hudson River. I had seen much of the river side of the trip on the Train 48, but this was my first trip on the 49. I enjoyed the scenery of the river and the surroundings.
There were only five people in my sleeper who boarded in New York. Nearly one-half of the roomettes are for people boarding in Albany. I decided to go for dinner at the early seating and ate with a couple from Ohio who were rail buffs returning from a vacation in Miami and an elderly lady in the roomette next to me. This was her first trip in a sleeper and she asked me if I would take her to dinner.
I had a steak which was delicious and cooked the way I like a steak cooked. The chef’s special was lamb shank and the fish of the day was Minnesota Trout. As we were eating our dessert, the train stopped. We were at the Hudson, NY station, approximately 25 miles south of Albany. The conductor announced that there was a major fire near the tracks ahead and the switchman who operated the switches for Albany had to be evacuated from his building because of the fire.
We waited for two hours before resuming our journey. Tom told me that Joseph Boardman, Amtrak President, was in a train ahead of us during this ordeal.
We traveled to the Albany station at a slow speed. Upon arrival at Albany, we were able to detrain to stretch and get some fresh air. It was quite chilly outside, so I only stayed outside a few minutes. We waited for another thirty minutes, then it was announced that passengers on train 283 were boarding, followed by trains 68 and 64. Finally, the announcement for train 49 came and people began to fill car 4911. We were told to expect a five hour delay in arriving Chicago. We started our journey again at which time it was 9:10pm. I thought it was odd as we were traveling in reverse for some time. Sharon put down my bunk and I retired for the evening. I slept well and awoke at 4:17am and got up. It was very dark and I could not determine our location, but we were moving at a good speed. I thought we stopped in Cleveland as I could see what I thought was the Key Bank tower. At 6:05am I went to the diner for breakfast.
I just returned from breakfast. I spoke with the Conductor who told me that we were approximately 6 ½ hours late and that we were three trains connected together and we had recently passed Rochester, NY. I thought we had passed Cleveland when I saw a tall tower building!! The Conductor told me that a decision had been made by Amtrak at the Wilmington, DE office to re-route all trains around the fire scene and only one engineer knew the route, so the trains were connected together. One train was going to Niagara Falls (Empire Service) but no one knew the status of the third train.
We stopped outside of Buffalo to disconnect the two trains, then proceeded onward toward Erie. I stayed in the diner for one and one-half hours looking to see if our Stephen may board on one of his BUF-CLE midnight runs, but I did not see him!! We are now between Buffalo and Erie moving at a slower than normal pace. The man I had breakfast with is connecting to the California Zephyr to San Francisco and he is concerned that he may miss his 2:30pm departure on the CZ. It will be close even considering the time change in Chicago.
It is now 7:20am and we are running at a fast speed heading for Erie. The remainder of the trip was uneventful. I had a nice lunch with a train buff from Pennsylvania and returned to my room. As we approached Chicago, we slowed and continued at a slow speed all of the way. We backed into the station which made it convenient for the sleeper passengers to disembark and walk into the station. We arrived at 3:59pm (CDT) which meant that we were traveling 25 hours from departure.
It was a good trip – all things considered. Good accommodations, good SCA and good food. I will spend the night in Chicago then board the Texas Eagle for Dallas tomorrow.
This is the first leg of my trip to attend a board meeting of a volunteer organization of which I am an officer. I decided to make a loop trip, not a loophole trip, by traveling from New York to Chicago to Ft. Worth to San Antanio to New Orleans to New York.
I took NJ Transit from my town in New Jersey to New York Penn Station. I went to the Quik-Trak terminal and printed my ticket: Train 49, Lake Shore Limited. I was in roomette number 3 in car 4911. My SCA was Sharon. She was very friendly and very capable. I mentioned to her that on three previous trips on the LSL my car attendant was a man named Tom Finnigan and asked if she knew him. She responded that he was the SCA on the other sleeper on this train.
Within fifteen minutes, Tom came to my room and we chatted from New York to Tarrytown!! I told him about Amtrak Unlimited and our recent Gathering in St. Louis. He said he doesn’t have much time on the internet, but he would try the site when he gets home.
Sharon came by and suggested that I move temporarily to the roomette across the aisle to view the Hudson River. I had seen much of the river side of the trip on the Train 48, but this was my first trip on the 49. I enjoyed the scenery of the river and the surroundings.
There were only five people in my sleeper who boarded in New York. Nearly one-half of the roomettes are for people boarding in Albany. I decided to go for dinner at the early seating and ate with a couple from Ohio who were rail buffs returning from a vacation in Miami and an elderly lady in the roomette next to me. This was her first trip in a sleeper and she asked me if I would take her to dinner.
I had a steak which was delicious and cooked the way I like a steak cooked. The chef’s special was lamb shank and the fish of the day was Minnesota Trout. As we were eating our dessert, the train stopped. We were at the Hudson, NY station, approximately 25 miles south of Albany. The conductor announced that there was a major fire near the tracks ahead and the switchman who operated the switches for Albany had to be evacuated from his building because of the fire.
We waited for two hours before resuming our journey. Tom told me that Joseph Boardman, Amtrak President, was in a train ahead of us during this ordeal.
We traveled to the Albany station at a slow speed. Upon arrival at Albany, we were able to detrain to stretch and get some fresh air. It was quite chilly outside, so I only stayed outside a few minutes. We waited for another thirty minutes, then it was announced that passengers on train 283 were boarding, followed by trains 68 and 64. Finally, the announcement for train 49 came and people began to fill car 4911. We were told to expect a five hour delay in arriving Chicago. We started our journey again at which time it was 9:10pm. I thought it was odd as we were traveling in reverse for some time. Sharon put down my bunk and I retired for the evening. I slept well and awoke at 4:17am and got up. It was very dark and I could not determine our location, but we were moving at a good speed. I thought we stopped in Cleveland as I could see what I thought was the Key Bank tower. At 6:05am I went to the diner for breakfast.
I just returned from breakfast. I spoke with the Conductor who told me that we were approximately 6 ½ hours late and that we were three trains connected together and we had recently passed Rochester, NY. I thought we had passed Cleveland when I saw a tall tower building!! The Conductor told me that a decision had been made by Amtrak at the Wilmington, DE office to re-route all trains around the fire scene and only one engineer knew the route, so the trains were connected together. One train was going to Niagara Falls (Empire Service) but no one knew the status of the third train.
We stopped outside of Buffalo to disconnect the two trains, then proceeded onward toward Erie. I stayed in the diner for one and one-half hours looking to see if our Stephen may board on one of his BUF-CLE midnight runs, but I did not see him!! We are now between Buffalo and Erie moving at a slower than normal pace. The man I had breakfast with is connecting to the California Zephyr to San Francisco and he is concerned that he may miss his 2:30pm departure on the CZ. It will be close even considering the time change in Chicago.
It is now 7:20am and we are running at a fast speed heading for Erie. The remainder of the trip was uneventful. I had a nice lunch with a train buff from Pennsylvania and returned to my room. As we approached Chicago, we slowed and continued at a slow speed all of the way. We backed into the station which made it convenient for the sleeper passengers to disembark and walk into the station. We arrived at 3:59pm (CDT) which meant that we were traveling 25 hours from departure.
It was a good trip – all things considered. Good accommodations, good SCA and good food. I will spend the night in Chicago then board the Texas Eagle for Dallas tomorrow.
