Amtrak Florida Winter Trip: Jan 12-23, 2012
Cleveland-Washington, DC-Winter Park-Tampa-
Part 1
Thursday Jan 12, We actually started our ride to Cleveland around 9pm on Wednesday due to possible fog developing after a day of heavy rain. Figuring it was better to be early than have to stop due to fog, we packed the 05 Caravan, said a sad goodbye to Mr. Gato and headed out on I -71. The rain had stopped and although it looked like some fog was developing, we avoided any problems and arrived in CLE by 10:30pm. The station agent, a new young man we had not met, was surprised we were there so early for the 1am Capitol Ltd #30. There was only one older gentleman in the station and he was trying to catch some sleep.
We got our reservation paper and the agent printed our tickets. He told us #30 was running on time into Toledo and we should be in good shape to board on time. He came over and turned on the TV in the lounge and we watched Jay Leno and Jimmy Fallon and tried to rest our eyes. As the evening passed, more passengers came into the station, most of whom would be boarding with us on the trip to Washington.
This would be our first trip in a bedroom (Room C, Car 3000) and we were looking forward to more room and the restroom and shower in the room. Several freights went by outside and as 1am approached there seemed to be a delay in our train. Possibly the dispatcher at Berea was letting some of his westbounds get over the Cuyahoga River bridge before the CL was allowed to pass. Finally the train was announced as being about 20 minutes late.
At around 1:20 the agent made the announcement for boarding and we grabbed our bags and headed out into the brisk and damp night. All sleepers were at the front of the train so we turned left on the platform and walked past the lounge and diner cars to our 3000 car. Our Amtrak locomotives were #s 186 and 171
The conductor was waiting to take our tickets at the door. We made the mistake of trying to take our four bags up the spiral staircase instead of leaving two downstairs, but we had packed our clothes in the two larger bags and would need them in the morning. Unfortunately, there is very little room in the Superliners for extra luggage and with the beds already down we had a rough time getting everything into the room.
After some readjustments, we finally got settled in and headed for bed. The ladder made it easier to get into the top bunk than in the roomettes, which was helpful to my aging body. The room was very nice and looked like it had been recently refurbished. (A plate on the wall downstairs noted that the Beach Grove Shops were proud of their work on the car). But there were still many rattles with the connecting door and the door under the sink making lots of racket in the night. Duct Tape Was In Order :giggle:
Once the train gets out of the Cleveland yards, the tracks are relatively smooth and we were able to get off to sleep. I do not remember much about our trip across northeast Ohio via Ravenna, Alliance or our entry into Pittsburgh.
We awoke the next morning somewhere around Connellsville, Pa to a foggy misty morning. We had made up our lost time by Pittsburgh and were running a little ahead of schedule. The Youghiogheny River was running alongside the tracks as we made our way into the mountains and tunnels of the Allegheny Mts near Sand Patch.
We headed down to breakfast around 7am and were seated with John and Marty from Arlington Hts., Il.; just outside of Chicago. They were headed to DC to visit their son. They also have a daughter who lives near Cleveland and thus are familiar with CLE. I decided to go with the pancakes and bacon, which was a different treat from the usual breakfast menu and Claudia had the cheese omelet with bacon, hash browns, apple juice and croissant. A very cheerful dining crew made the meal a positive experience as well.
Our sleeping car attendant was Randall, who had only been on the job for about three months. He was being mentored by an experienced African- American SCA who did a good job of keeping an eye on his newbie associate. They both did a great job of keeping refreshments in order, making up beds in a timely manner and keeping restrooms clean. This turned out to be one of our best rides on the CL. Good crews make for a nice Amtrak experience.
After breakfast we returned to our room and it was all made up for the daily ride. We arrived in Cumberland Md. around 8:45 and I had time to get off, take some photos and enjoy the cool air. Since we had to make two stops due to a short platform, I stepped off when our sleeper door opened and Randall said I would need to board one of the coaches after the train moved to accommodate coach passengers. One guy on the platform was from New Orleans and he was “freezing”. Some smokers were getting in a few quick puffs before we all climbed back on board. I made my way through the lounge car, which had only a couple of people in it, back via the diner which was still serving breakfast and into our room.
As we moved across Maryland and into West Virginia we saw much of the track construction crews that were replacing rails, deepening tunnels. We followed the upper reaches of the Potomac River and arrived in Martinsburg, WV and its refurbished station on time at around 10:30am. Many passengers were getting on in coach, even though Martinsburg has a MARC connection into Washington as well. We speedily moved on a short distance until we reached Harpers Ferry, my favorite town on the CL route. It was a nice sunny day and there were a few passengers detraining here as well as a few boarding. We crossed the bridge over the Potomac and into the tunnel leading us back into Maryland once again. It was now around 11pm and we didn’t have much time before our journey to DC would end.
Although the dining car crew had announced that they would keep the diner open until Martinsburg, we were not hungry enough to have a sandwich and I doubt they served many “lunch passengers”. This is one of the negatives about the CL when it is running on time; there is little time to have lunch. We followed the old Chesapeake & Ohio Canal for many miles as it followed the Potomac across Maryland. We arrived in Rockville around 11:30 and quickly moved into the capitol area, ahead of schedule.
We started to arrange our luggage again and soon we came into Union Station at 12:15 nearly 25 minutes early. We said goodbye to Randall and the other attendant who helped us get our bags onto the platform. A generous tip was afforded for their service.
We pulled our luggage along the platform, up the escalator and into the main aisle of the station. I could not remember exactly where the Club Acela was so we walked around a bit until we located it right behind the Amtrak information desk. We buzzed in, put our luggage in the storage room and grabbed a quick snack. We decided to head for McDonalds for a burger before heading out for a very nice day in DC.
We decided to ride the Red Line to Metro Center and transfer to the Blue Line to Smithsonian where we proceeded to walk past the Bureau of Engraving and Printing heading for the Jefferson Memorial. We had visited here on one of our first trips to DC but hadn’t been back in nearly 25 years. It was a nice walk as temps were in the 50s. We are always in awe of the great statue of Jefferson in the rotunda and the famous excerpts from his speeches on the walls. We continued our walk around the Tidal Basin to the FDR Memorial, which we had never seen. It is an impressive group of stone monuments, sculptures, fountains, excerpts from speeches and a chronological history of Roosevelt’s four terms in office.
We continued around the Tidal Basin until we reached the newly dedicated Martin Luther King Memorial. Since it was the beginning of MLK weekend, there were many people of African American background taking photos and admiring the large granite structures that make up the memorial. Took some nice photos and enjoyed the view before walking back on 17th Street past the WW2 Memorial, the Washington Monument, (which is closed for repairs from the earthquake last year) and past the White House. Lots of security guards around the gates. It is unfortunate what has happened to our country since 911.
We moved farther north and caught the Metro at Farragut West and transferred back to the Red Line at Metro Center for a quick ride back to Union Station. We stopped in the food court, had a chicken club sandwich and then went back to the Acela Lounge to await our 7PM departure on the Meteor. We had arranged for a Red Cap to help with our bags and the CA agent said he would be coming for us at around 6:30.
We suffered through listening to several cell phone conversations among the self-aggrandizing populace in the lounge. I am always amazed at how people think their conversations are so important that everyone should listen to them. It was interesting watching all of the rush hour NEC and Acela passengers running for their trains between 5 and 6pm. What a fast paced life it is in the big city.
At 6:45 our Red Cap arrived and took our baggage and placed it on a cart. We thought we might get a ride out to the train but he didn’t realize the sleepers were on the rear until we were already on the platform. It was a bit of a walk to the rear of the train but easier without carrying any luggage. He placed our bags in the room, received a tip and said goodbye. We noticed when we boarded our car (9712 Room B) that there was another car behind the baggage car, which was usually the last car on the train. Looked like a dome but it was dark and there was no time to explore. There was plenty of security on the platform and in the station with canine corps walking through the Acela Lounge and sniffing bags on the way to our train. The electric locomotive #944 was moved from our train and two diesels #’s unknown were placed on the front. :mellow:
Our sleeping car attendant was Rick who was based in Miami and had also only been on the job for a few months. He was a personable young man but probably not up on all the Amtrak policies and procedures as he could be. He did make an 8 PM reservation for dinner and checked to see when we wanted our beds put down. Glad we had that chicken sandwich around 4 or I would have really been hungry. :unsure:
There is much more room to store luggage in the Viewliners and I was able to get all of our bags off the floor and in the cubby holes at the top of the room. This car was not as nice as the Superliner car on the Capitol but it was much quieter. There were several empty roomettes in the three sleeping cars but looked as though all of the bedrooms were full.
We ate supper with a couple from Staten Island, NY who were headed to Orlando. We had the steaks, Claudia’s very good, mine was o.k. but a little tough in places. Mixed vegetables, baked potatoes and salads added to the bill of fare. Claudia had the spice cake and
I opted for the vanilla Hagen Daas ice cream. We had a good conversation and enjoyed our journey through Virginia in the night.
The train arrived in Richmond down only 3 minutes after a long stop in Alexandria left us 15 minutes down. It was a great sight to see two Amtrak locos sitting head-on at the station entrance. There was just enough light for some night shots. Our attendant put the step stool down at our car and I decided to step off and get some shots. There were 20-30 people waiting to board at the RVR station and since the coaches were way up the track and had not yet detrained their passengers I found we would be there for a while.
But as I finished taking photos and before the Richmond passengers had even stepped onto the platform, the female conductor suddenly pulled up the stepstool, pulled up the mechanical steps and stood in the doorway. I told her I was on the 9712 car but she said I would need to find another way to board the train. She had a real attitude problem and luckily the car attendant on the 9711 car was still standing outside and motioned for me to enter via his car. I think he knew she was lacking in social skills as well. Anyway, I got my photos and when I passed her in the vestibule between 11 and 12 I had nothing to offer but a mean look in my eye. :angry:
Rick came in to make up the bed around 10:30 and I stayed up watching the night view until we reached Petersburg and then it was time for sleep. We thought---what a rough stretch of track this was. Reminded me of the sections in Arkansas on the Eagle and parts of Kansas on the Chief. Neither of us got any sound sleep this evening and the train was rockin and a rollin all night long.hboy:
I remember waking up around Charleston around 5am and looking to see that we were running on time. We may have slept a little when the train changed crews in Florence with some quiet track?. It has been a very long day.
Friday January 13. Decided to get up around 6 at Yemassee, SC and take a shower. There was someone ahead of me but after a 10 minute wait I was in the water. Water was hot and except for some more train rocking, was a good experience. We chose not to use our shower in the room since it would leave everything wet in bathroom area. But it was nice to have your own bathroom in the middle of the night.
Breakfast was served at 7am and we had the pleasure of dining with Mattie, who lived in Brooklyn, NY. She was heading for Miami to visit sisters there and was an avid train rider who also took the CONO to visit relatives in New Orleans. Claudia had scrambled eggs, bacon, grits, corn muffin, juice and milk. I had the cheese omelet, potatoes and milk, but the attendant forgot my corn muffin. The dining crew was otherwise excellent and very efficient and friendly. We enjoyed the Georgia pines and swamps as we moved toward Florida. We passed through Savannah and Jessup and finished in time to take a quick look at the Folkston Railfan platform. This is a famous place to watch a multitude of freight trains each day.
As we moved toward Jacksonville, the train was running early and we arrived 20 minutes early into JAX leaving plenty of time to explore the station and platform. The train is refueled here and crews change here as well. Had a conversation with our car attendant Rick, and took some photos of the special car that was finally identified on our rear.
It was C&O office car #3 titled Chapel Hill. There were a group of people eating breakfast in the car as I took photos. A brief history of this car is found below.
The Chapel Hill was originally built in 1922 for Post Cereals Heiress, Marjorie Merriweather Post, and stock broker and investment banker E.F. Hutton, at the St. Charles, Missouri plant of American Car & Foundry in Lot 9336 to Plan 2081. Originally christened Hussar, the car was used for company business and personal travel between their principal residence in New York City; their Hispanic-Moresque winter estate, "Mar-a-lago", in Palm Beach; and Camp Topridge, the couple’s summer retreat in the Adirondacks of upstate New York. It was also used extensively for entertainment, as Post was known as a lavish hostess. The Huttons divorced in 1935 and the Hussar became a part of Post’s settlement. She later remarried Joseph E. Davies, a Washington, D.C. attorney and ambassador to the Soviet Union and Belgium. After the Davies left for the Soviet Union in 1937, the Hussar was sold to the Chesapeake & Ohio Railway.
The Chesapeake & Ohio Railway – Office Car 3 Shortly after the car was acquired, a Pullman air-conditioning system, complete with roof ducting, was installed. The Hussar was renamed simply Office Car 2. It was renumbered several times before finally settling on Office Car 3.
In 1957, the Chesapeake & Ohio (C&O) modernized the entire window line. Other exterior changes through the years included roller bearings added to the trucks, a rebuilt open-platform and the service door relocated to the opposite side of the car, across from the kitchen and pantry.
DeWitt Chapple, Jr. purchased Office Car 3 from C&O in 1971. Chapple retained the car’s number, but added the name Chapel Hill after his alma mater, the University of North Carolina, in Chapel Hill. In 1972, Chapple made his first private car trip aboard the now renamed Chapel Hill to Philadelphia on the rear of the National Limited. Since then he has accumulated over 250,000 miles aboard the Chapel Hill both in the United States and Canada. The Chapel Hill has the further distinction of being one of three private cars in attendance at the American Association of Private Railroad Car Owners (AAPRCO) first private car convention in Chicago in 1978.
The Chapel Hill Today
Rich in history, the Chapel Hill continues its travels throughout the United States today, logging thousands of miles annually. In 2005, Chapple was joined by partners Jeffrey and Tracy McClorey. The McCloreys are proud to be associated with both DeWitt and the Chapel Hill, and look forward to maintaining its status as one of the finest private cars in the fleet.
We left Jacksonville on time and headed past small towns and crossed the ST Johns River several times as we followed US 17 most of the way. We lost a little time as we stopped for passengers in Palatka and Deland. We saw the Auto Train station and the engine house with two Amtrak locos inside. The large array of auto rack cars were yet to be loaded, but would soon be readied for their trip northbound. We pulled into Winter Park at 12:30 and proceeded to say goodbye to Rick and carried our baggage to the station. We missed lunch on the train since they did not start serving until after noon.
It is here that I discovered that my cell phone would not work, but Claudia’s was fine and we were able to call Enterprise and arrange for them to “pick us up”. Their office was only a couple blocks from the station and in no time a young man arrived, put our bags in the trunk and off to do paperwork. Turns out he grew up in Naples and we had some conversations about my early experiences in Naples in the early 60s. He was interested and said it was hard to imagine how small Naples was compared to today.
He gave us a free upgrade to a nice Honda Accord LX four door that had ample room for my long legs.
We decided to head over to our hotel, The Best Western Mt. Vernon Inn. It was an older place with several separate buildings and we were in the far east building. Second floor with no elevator so up the stairs we trudged with all of our bags. The room was fine, although the bathroom was a bit dated. We did a little unpacking and then decided to find someplace to eat lunch. We traveled along Fairbanks Avenue and out past Rollins College and the lake and found an area where Aloma Avenue produced some fast food restaurants. We stopped and had burgers at McDonalds and then drove back to the downtown parking lot.
We walked along Park Avenue and visited a few shops but everything here is pretty expensive. Lots of little bistro restaurants, wine bars and clothing stores. We walk up to Canton Ave around 4pm and it is time to visit the Morse Museum of American Art, which is free to the public on Friday evenings. We wanted to attend the Friday opening of the The Charles Hosmer Morse Art Museum which has a large display of Tiffany glass and Roseville pottery.
The Morse Art Gallery was a fantastic display of some of Louis Comfort Tiffany’s great art glass and jewelry display. Among the highlights were a chapel area with lead glass windows, chandeliers, and many pieces saved from the fire that engulfed the Tiffany estate on Long Island in the early 20th century. There is also a large display of art pottery including Rookwood, Weller and a very large collection of Roseville Pottery. This was one highlight of our stay in Winter Park. RV Pottery was made in my hometown and my grandmother worked in a local pottery in the early 20th century.
It was starting to get dark after we left the museum and so we decided to head back to our hotel and look for someplace to eat supper. We found a mall area just north on Orlando Avenue that had a Cheesecake Factory restaurant. We had eaten at one of these in New Orleans and found the food to be quite good. We were seated quickly and except for the college girls to our left who were happy- houring and talking loudly and the family with the little kids to the right, the atmosphere was nice. Claudia had the Navajo, which was fry bread stuffed with grilled chicken, avocado, onion, tomato and a salad. I had Renee’s Special. A half stuffed turkey sandwich, cup of clam chowder, and salad. We topped it off by sharing a large piece of cheesecake. Our server was excellent and the darkened atmosphere and nice lighting complemented the dinner. We returned to our hotel and watched some TV before retiring for the evening.
Saturday January 14
Saturday morning began with breakfast at Burger King. (Our hotel did not offer free breakfast). We had the egg and cheese croissant which was tasty. Ran into an Ohio grandfather and his grandson as we enter. Place is pretty quiet for a Saturday morning.
We had talked to PennyK and she noted that the Silver Star had run into some problems as it left Wilmington, had to have its electric engine replaced and along with a freight train accident ahead of them, was running very late and would not be in WPK until after the Meteor arrived around 12:45. We went down to the station and the agent M. Scott confirmed that the Star would be at least 4 hours late and would come in after the Meteor. We had told Penny we would meet her at the station around 12:30. :hi:
The large farmer’s market was being held on the south end of the park near New England Avenue. It turned out to be an interesting array of food, flowers and lots of people walking their dogs. Haven’t seen that many breeds of dogs in a while and each owner was showing off their pooch with their doggy sweaters of varied colors and designs. A beautiful spread of flowers highlighted the many booths full of citrus, breads, health foods, etc. It was an event just to walk around. As it turned out, there was a Chase Bank across the street so decided to try our hand at using the ATM machine.
We then walked down to Lyman Avenue to the WP Welcome Center where the attendant offered some visitor guides, information and an offer of clean restrooms. They would be open until 2PM. We then walked to Park Avenue and out to Fairbanks and the entrance to Rollins College. Winter Park was a winter home to the Miller and Myers families of Ashland and several of their children attended Rollins College. It was noted in a local biography that they were patrons of the school. We also wanted to check out the local library to see if I could find an Alltel store nearby and also look in some old directories to locate any residences of the Ashland families.
The reference staff was very helpful but they did not have directories earlier than 1930. After spending some time in those books, we came up empty. I used their internet computer to find an Alltel store but the nearest one was north of town near Maitland. Didn’t have much time to drive up there and decided to try my luck in Naples to get my phone fixed.
We left the library, walked back to the downtown and north on Park Avenue. Since the two Silver trains were both running late, I figured the guys on the train from our Amtrak Unlimited group would have their lunch on the train. We started to look for someplace to eat around noon. The only good choice seemed to be the Panera Bread at the corner of Park and Canton. Neither of us had eaten in one of these before. There was a large crowd and it took a while to decide what to have. Claudia had an excellent bagel and cream cheese. I opted for the macaroni and cheese in a large bowl. It was very good as well. There was no place to sit inside so we opted for a table on the sidewalk. It was nice watching the people and the sunshine warmed up the day that had started a little chilly (for Floridians).
It was nearly 12:30 so we walked back to the station and soon met Penny there. She was dressed in layers with her sheepskin boots, Peruvian knitted hat. It was good to see her and we all anticipated the arrival of our AU group. At around 12:45 Silver Meteor #97 sporting locos #62 and #79 came into WPK. We were wondering who the Mystery Guest might be since Penny had been told that Traveler, Jishnu and Bill Haithcoat would be accompanied by an unknown member. As they came down the stairs, low and behold, it was our esteemed moderator Alan B. Aha!!. He had come down with Traveler and they shared the H Room on the trip from NY. It was good to see the group, which we had first met at the Gathering in St Louis in 2010.
Everyone moved to the depot and we talked awhile about Amtrak news and life in general. Pieter was texting Penny every few minutes to let us know where they were. Joining us at the depot were Frugalist and his significant other. NJ Coast Exp (Pieter) and Reefgeek (Jim) are riding on Silver 91 which comes into WPK shortly after 2PM, now over 4 ½ hours late. The Silver Star had Amtrak Anniversary Engine #156 on the head end and thus I scampered to get some photos of it. :lol:
It was fun seeing everyone again and we discussed what we might do for the afternoon since some of the members would be leaving on the northbound #92 around 7:30pm that evening. Penny had arranged for a boat tour of the lakes and we just had time to make the 3PM ride. We all got into three cars available and went down to the boat dock where we found there was still room for the nine of us who wanted to take the tour. At $10 each it was a bargain. We all were able to ride together in the same pontoon like craft and off we went. It was a bit chilly but the sun warmed up the air and we began what proved to be a very interesting ride through Lake Virginia, Lake Osceola and one other whose name has slipped my mind. We saw many large estate homes, traveled through narrow canals lined with Spanish moss and flowers, and viewed parts of Rollins College. Many wealthy families of corporate America had homes here and they line all of the lakes as we pass by. We spent about an hour touring and then returned to the dock.
Penny was going to take Bill H to Orlando to catch a bus for Lakeland to visit relatives and then the remainder of the group planned to meet at a wine bar on Park Avenue. We were committed to being in Tampa to meet with our friend Pat by 6:00 so we had to leave WPK to get to Tampa before dark. We said goodbye to AlanB and Jis and started our journey down Interstate 4.
What a wild ride that was. People drive like they are nuts, changing lanes without signals. Lots of traffic when we got near Disneyworld. Orlando has become a major metropolis since our early travels to Florida. We made it to our hotel, The Hampton Inn Tampa East around 6:15 and got settled in. It was a very nice new hotel with great beds, nice lobby and friendly staff. We were next to a Bob Evans so walked across the parking lot for supper. We had arrived too late to have dinner with Pat and had made arrangements to have breakfast with her in the morning. Dinner was good and service excellent and we then returned to our room to watch some TV and get a good night’s rest.
Some photos of our first three days of adventure including AU Group Mini Gathering WPK. Part 2 later.
http://amtrakclewas2012.shutterfly.com/
http://railroadbillamtrakadventures.shutterfly.com/
Cleveland-Washington, DC-Winter Park-Tampa-
Part 1
Thursday Jan 12, We actually started our ride to Cleveland around 9pm on Wednesday due to possible fog developing after a day of heavy rain. Figuring it was better to be early than have to stop due to fog, we packed the 05 Caravan, said a sad goodbye to Mr. Gato and headed out on I -71. The rain had stopped and although it looked like some fog was developing, we avoided any problems and arrived in CLE by 10:30pm. The station agent, a new young man we had not met, was surprised we were there so early for the 1am Capitol Ltd #30. There was only one older gentleman in the station and he was trying to catch some sleep.
We got our reservation paper and the agent printed our tickets. He told us #30 was running on time into Toledo and we should be in good shape to board on time. He came over and turned on the TV in the lounge and we watched Jay Leno and Jimmy Fallon and tried to rest our eyes. As the evening passed, more passengers came into the station, most of whom would be boarding with us on the trip to Washington.
This would be our first trip in a bedroom (Room C, Car 3000) and we were looking forward to more room and the restroom and shower in the room. Several freights went by outside and as 1am approached there seemed to be a delay in our train. Possibly the dispatcher at Berea was letting some of his westbounds get over the Cuyahoga River bridge before the CL was allowed to pass. Finally the train was announced as being about 20 minutes late.
At around 1:20 the agent made the announcement for boarding and we grabbed our bags and headed out into the brisk and damp night. All sleepers were at the front of the train so we turned left on the platform and walked past the lounge and diner cars to our 3000 car. Our Amtrak locomotives were #s 186 and 171
The conductor was waiting to take our tickets at the door. We made the mistake of trying to take our four bags up the spiral staircase instead of leaving two downstairs, but we had packed our clothes in the two larger bags and would need them in the morning. Unfortunately, there is very little room in the Superliners for extra luggage and with the beds already down we had a rough time getting everything into the room.
After some readjustments, we finally got settled in and headed for bed. The ladder made it easier to get into the top bunk than in the roomettes, which was helpful to my aging body. The room was very nice and looked like it had been recently refurbished. (A plate on the wall downstairs noted that the Beach Grove Shops were proud of their work on the car). But there were still many rattles with the connecting door and the door under the sink making lots of racket in the night. Duct Tape Was In Order :giggle:
Once the train gets out of the Cleveland yards, the tracks are relatively smooth and we were able to get off to sleep. I do not remember much about our trip across northeast Ohio via Ravenna, Alliance or our entry into Pittsburgh.
We awoke the next morning somewhere around Connellsville, Pa to a foggy misty morning. We had made up our lost time by Pittsburgh and were running a little ahead of schedule. The Youghiogheny River was running alongside the tracks as we made our way into the mountains and tunnels of the Allegheny Mts near Sand Patch.
We headed down to breakfast around 7am and were seated with John and Marty from Arlington Hts., Il.; just outside of Chicago. They were headed to DC to visit their son. They also have a daughter who lives near Cleveland and thus are familiar with CLE. I decided to go with the pancakes and bacon, which was a different treat from the usual breakfast menu and Claudia had the cheese omelet with bacon, hash browns, apple juice and croissant. A very cheerful dining crew made the meal a positive experience as well.
Our sleeping car attendant was Randall, who had only been on the job for about three months. He was being mentored by an experienced African- American SCA who did a good job of keeping an eye on his newbie associate. They both did a great job of keeping refreshments in order, making up beds in a timely manner and keeping restrooms clean. This turned out to be one of our best rides on the CL. Good crews make for a nice Amtrak experience.
After breakfast we returned to our room and it was all made up for the daily ride. We arrived in Cumberland Md. around 8:45 and I had time to get off, take some photos and enjoy the cool air. Since we had to make two stops due to a short platform, I stepped off when our sleeper door opened and Randall said I would need to board one of the coaches after the train moved to accommodate coach passengers. One guy on the platform was from New Orleans and he was “freezing”. Some smokers were getting in a few quick puffs before we all climbed back on board. I made my way through the lounge car, which had only a couple of people in it, back via the diner which was still serving breakfast and into our room.
As we moved across Maryland and into West Virginia we saw much of the track construction crews that were replacing rails, deepening tunnels. We followed the upper reaches of the Potomac River and arrived in Martinsburg, WV and its refurbished station on time at around 10:30am. Many passengers were getting on in coach, even though Martinsburg has a MARC connection into Washington as well. We speedily moved on a short distance until we reached Harpers Ferry, my favorite town on the CL route. It was a nice sunny day and there were a few passengers detraining here as well as a few boarding. We crossed the bridge over the Potomac and into the tunnel leading us back into Maryland once again. It was now around 11pm and we didn’t have much time before our journey to DC would end.
Although the dining car crew had announced that they would keep the diner open until Martinsburg, we were not hungry enough to have a sandwich and I doubt they served many “lunch passengers”. This is one of the negatives about the CL when it is running on time; there is little time to have lunch. We followed the old Chesapeake & Ohio Canal for many miles as it followed the Potomac across Maryland. We arrived in Rockville around 11:30 and quickly moved into the capitol area, ahead of schedule.
We started to arrange our luggage again and soon we came into Union Station at 12:15 nearly 25 minutes early. We said goodbye to Randall and the other attendant who helped us get our bags onto the platform. A generous tip was afforded for their service.
We pulled our luggage along the platform, up the escalator and into the main aisle of the station. I could not remember exactly where the Club Acela was so we walked around a bit until we located it right behind the Amtrak information desk. We buzzed in, put our luggage in the storage room and grabbed a quick snack. We decided to head for McDonalds for a burger before heading out for a very nice day in DC.
We decided to ride the Red Line to Metro Center and transfer to the Blue Line to Smithsonian where we proceeded to walk past the Bureau of Engraving and Printing heading for the Jefferson Memorial. We had visited here on one of our first trips to DC but hadn’t been back in nearly 25 years. It was a nice walk as temps were in the 50s. We are always in awe of the great statue of Jefferson in the rotunda and the famous excerpts from his speeches on the walls. We continued our walk around the Tidal Basin to the FDR Memorial, which we had never seen. It is an impressive group of stone monuments, sculptures, fountains, excerpts from speeches and a chronological history of Roosevelt’s four terms in office.
We continued around the Tidal Basin until we reached the newly dedicated Martin Luther King Memorial. Since it was the beginning of MLK weekend, there were many people of African American background taking photos and admiring the large granite structures that make up the memorial. Took some nice photos and enjoyed the view before walking back on 17th Street past the WW2 Memorial, the Washington Monument, (which is closed for repairs from the earthquake last year) and past the White House. Lots of security guards around the gates. It is unfortunate what has happened to our country since 911.
We moved farther north and caught the Metro at Farragut West and transferred back to the Red Line at Metro Center for a quick ride back to Union Station. We stopped in the food court, had a chicken club sandwich and then went back to the Acela Lounge to await our 7PM departure on the Meteor. We had arranged for a Red Cap to help with our bags and the CA agent said he would be coming for us at around 6:30.
We suffered through listening to several cell phone conversations among the self-aggrandizing populace in the lounge. I am always amazed at how people think their conversations are so important that everyone should listen to them. It was interesting watching all of the rush hour NEC and Acela passengers running for their trains between 5 and 6pm. What a fast paced life it is in the big city.
At 6:45 our Red Cap arrived and took our baggage and placed it on a cart. We thought we might get a ride out to the train but he didn’t realize the sleepers were on the rear until we were already on the platform. It was a bit of a walk to the rear of the train but easier without carrying any luggage. He placed our bags in the room, received a tip and said goodbye. We noticed when we boarded our car (9712 Room B) that there was another car behind the baggage car, which was usually the last car on the train. Looked like a dome but it was dark and there was no time to explore. There was plenty of security on the platform and in the station with canine corps walking through the Acela Lounge and sniffing bags on the way to our train. The electric locomotive #944 was moved from our train and two diesels #’s unknown were placed on the front. :mellow:
Our sleeping car attendant was Rick who was based in Miami and had also only been on the job for a few months. He was a personable young man but probably not up on all the Amtrak policies and procedures as he could be. He did make an 8 PM reservation for dinner and checked to see when we wanted our beds put down. Glad we had that chicken sandwich around 4 or I would have really been hungry. :unsure:
There is much more room to store luggage in the Viewliners and I was able to get all of our bags off the floor and in the cubby holes at the top of the room. This car was not as nice as the Superliner car on the Capitol but it was much quieter. There were several empty roomettes in the three sleeping cars but looked as though all of the bedrooms were full.
We ate supper with a couple from Staten Island, NY who were headed to Orlando. We had the steaks, Claudia’s very good, mine was o.k. but a little tough in places. Mixed vegetables, baked potatoes and salads added to the bill of fare. Claudia had the spice cake and
I opted for the vanilla Hagen Daas ice cream. We had a good conversation and enjoyed our journey through Virginia in the night.
The train arrived in Richmond down only 3 minutes after a long stop in Alexandria left us 15 minutes down. It was a great sight to see two Amtrak locos sitting head-on at the station entrance. There was just enough light for some night shots. Our attendant put the step stool down at our car and I decided to step off and get some shots. There were 20-30 people waiting to board at the RVR station and since the coaches were way up the track and had not yet detrained their passengers I found we would be there for a while.
But as I finished taking photos and before the Richmond passengers had even stepped onto the platform, the female conductor suddenly pulled up the stepstool, pulled up the mechanical steps and stood in the doorway. I told her I was on the 9712 car but she said I would need to find another way to board the train. She had a real attitude problem and luckily the car attendant on the 9711 car was still standing outside and motioned for me to enter via his car. I think he knew she was lacking in social skills as well. Anyway, I got my photos and when I passed her in the vestibule between 11 and 12 I had nothing to offer but a mean look in my eye. :angry:
Rick came in to make up the bed around 10:30 and I stayed up watching the night view until we reached Petersburg and then it was time for sleep. We thought---what a rough stretch of track this was. Reminded me of the sections in Arkansas on the Eagle and parts of Kansas on the Chief. Neither of us got any sound sleep this evening and the train was rockin and a rollin all night long.
hboy:I remember waking up around Charleston around 5am and looking to see that we were running on time. We may have slept a little when the train changed crews in Florence with some quiet track?. It has been a very long day.
Friday January 13. Decided to get up around 6 at Yemassee, SC and take a shower. There was someone ahead of me but after a 10 minute wait I was in the water. Water was hot and except for some more train rocking, was a good experience. We chose not to use our shower in the room since it would leave everything wet in bathroom area. But it was nice to have your own bathroom in the middle of the night.
Breakfast was served at 7am and we had the pleasure of dining with Mattie, who lived in Brooklyn, NY. She was heading for Miami to visit sisters there and was an avid train rider who also took the CONO to visit relatives in New Orleans. Claudia had scrambled eggs, bacon, grits, corn muffin, juice and milk. I had the cheese omelet, potatoes and milk, but the attendant forgot my corn muffin. The dining crew was otherwise excellent and very efficient and friendly. We enjoyed the Georgia pines and swamps as we moved toward Florida. We passed through Savannah and Jessup and finished in time to take a quick look at the Folkston Railfan platform. This is a famous place to watch a multitude of freight trains each day.
As we moved toward Jacksonville, the train was running early and we arrived 20 minutes early into JAX leaving plenty of time to explore the station and platform. The train is refueled here and crews change here as well. Had a conversation with our car attendant Rick, and took some photos of the special car that was finally identified on our rear.
It was C&O office car #3 titled Chapel Hill. There were a group of people eating breakfast in the car as I took photos. A brief history of this car is found below.
The Chapel Hill was originally built in 1922 for Post Cereals Heiress, Marjorie Merriweather Post, and stock broker and investment banker E.F. Hutton, at the St. Charles, Missouri plant of American Car & Foundry in Lot 9336 to Plan 2081. Originally christened Hussar, the car was used for company business and personal travel between their principal residence in New York City; their Hispanic-Moresque winter estate, "Mar-a-lago", in Palm Beach; and Camp Topridge, the couple’s summer retreat in the Adirondacks of upstate New York. It was also used extensively for entertainment, as Post was known as a lavish hostess. The Huttons divorced in 1935 and the Hussar became a part of Post’s settlement. She later remarried Joseph E. Davies, a Washington, D.C. attorney and ambassador to the Soviet Union and Belgium. After the Davies left for the Soviet Union in 1937, the Hussar was sold to the Chesapeake & Ohio Railway.
The Chesapeake & Ohio Railway – Office Car 3 Shortly after the car was acquired, a Pullman air-conditioning system, complete with roof ducting, was installed. The Hussar was renamed simply Office Car 2. It was renumbered several times before finally settling on Office Car 3.
In 1957, the Chesapeake & Ohio (C&O) modernized the entire window line. Other exterior changes through the years included roller bearings added to the trucks, a rebuilt open-platform and the service door relocated to the opposite side of the car, across from the kitchen and pantry.
DeWitt Chapple, Jr. purchased Office Car 3 from C&O in 1971. Chapple retained the car’s number, but added the name Chapel Hill after his alma mater, the University of North Carolina, in Chapel Hill. In 1972, Chapple made his first private car trip aboard the now renamed Chapel Hill to Philadelphia on the rear of the National Limited. Since then he has accumulated over 250,000 miles aboard the Chapel Hill both in the United States and Canada. The Chapel Hill has the further distinction of being one of three private cars in attendance at the American Association of Private Railroad Car Owners (AAPRCO) first private car convention in Chicago in 1978.
The Chapel Hill Today
Rich in history, the Chapel Hill continues its travels throughout the United States today, logging thousands of miles annually. In 2005, Chapple was joined by partners Jeffrey and Tracy McClorey. The McCloreys are proud to be associated with both DeWitt and the Chapel Hill, and look forward to maintaining its status as one of the finest private cars in the fleet.
We left Jacksonville on time and headed past small towns and crossed the ST Johns River several times as we followed US 17 most of the way. We lost a little time as we stopped for passengers in Palatka and Deland. We saw the Auto Train station and the engine house with two Amtrak locos inside. The large array of auto rack cars were yet to be loaded, but would soon be readied for their trip northbound. We pulled into Winter Park at 12:30 and proceeded to say goodbye to Rick and carried our baggage to the station. We missed lunch on the train since they did not start serving until after noon.
It is here that I discovered that my cell phone would not work, but Claudia’s was fine and we were able to call Enterprise and arrange for them to “pick us up”. Their office was only a couple blocks from the station and in no time a young man arrived, put our bags in the trunk and off to do paperwork. Turns out he grew up in Naples and we had some conversations about my early experiences in Naples in the early 60s. He was interested and said it was hard to imagine how small Naples was compared to today.
He gave us a free upgrade to a nice Honda Accord LX four door that had ample room for my long legs.
We decided to head over to our hotel, The Best Western Mt. Vernon Inn. It was an older place with several separate buildings and we were in the far east building. Second floor with no elevator so up the stairs we trudged with all of our bags. The room was fine, although the bathroom was a bit dated. We did a little unpacking and then decided to find someplace to eat lunch. We traveled along Fairbanks Avenue and out past Rollins College and the lake and found an area where Aloma Avenue produced some fast food restaurants. We stopped and had burgers at McDonalds and then drove back to the downtown parking lot.
We walked along Park Avenue and visited a few shops but everything here is pretty expensive. Lots of little bistro restaurants, wine bars and clothing stores. We walk up to Canton Ave around 4pm and it is time to visit the Morse Museum of American Art, which is free to the public on Friday evenings. We wanted to attend the Friday opening of the The Charles Hosmer Morse Art Museum which has a large display of Tiffany glass and Roseville pottery.
The Morse Art Gallery was a fantastic display of some of Louis Comfort Tiffany’s great art glass and jewelry display. Among the highlights were a chapel area with lead glass windows, chandeliers, and many pieces saved from the fire that engulfed the Tiffany estate on Long Island in the early 20th century. There is also a large display of art pottery including Rookwood, Weller and a very large collection of Roseville Pottery. This was one highlight of our stay in Winter Park. RV Pottery was made in my hometown and my grandmother worked in a local pottery in the early 20th century.
It was starting to get dark after we left the museum and so we decided to head back to our hotel and look for someplace to eat supper. We found a mall area just north on Orlando Avenue that had a Cheesecake Factory restaurant. We had eaten at one of these in New Orleans and found the food to be quite good. We were seated quickly and except for the college girls to our left who were happy- houring and talking loudly and the family with the little kids to the right, the atmosphere was nice. Claudia had the Navajo, which was fry bread stuffed with grilled chicken, avocado, onion, tomato and a salad. I had Renee’s Special. A half stuffed turkey sandwich, cup of clam chowder, and salad. We topped it off by sharing a large piece of cheesecake. Our server was excellent and the darkened atmosphere and nice lighting complemented the dinner.
We returned to our hotel and watched some TV before retiring for the evening.Saturday January 14
Saturday morning began with breakfast at Burger King. (Our hotel did not offer free breakfast). We had the egg and cheese croissant which was tasty. Ran into an Ohio grandfather and his grandson as we enter. Place is pretty quiet for a Saturday morning.
We had talked to PennyK and she noted that the Silver Star had run into some problems as it left Wilmington, had to have its electric engine replaced and along with a freight train accident ahead of them, was running very late and would not be in WPK until after the Meteor arrived around 12:45. We went down to the station and the agent M. Scott confirmed that the Star would be at least 4 hours late and would come in after the Meteor. We had told Penny we would meet her at the station around 12:30. :hi:
The large farmer’s market was being held on the south end of the park near New England Avenue. It turned out to be an interesting array of food, flowers and lots of people walking their dogs. Haven’t seen that many breeds of dogs in a while and each owner was showing off their pooch with their doggy sweaters of varied colors and designs. A beautiful spread of flowers highlighted the many booths full of citrus, breads, health foods, etc. It was an event just to walk around. As it turned out, there was a Chase Bank across the street so decided to try our hand at using the ATM machine.
We then walked down to Lyman Avenue to the WP Welcome Center where the attendant offered some visitor guides, information and an offer of clean restrooms. They would be open until 2PM. We then walked to Park Avenue and out to Fairbanks and the entrance to Rollins College. Winter Park was a winter home to the Miller and Myers families of Ashland and several of their children attended Rollins College. It was noted in a local biography that they were patrons of the school. We also wanted to check out the local library to see if I could find an Alltel store nearby and also look in some old directories to locate any residences of the Ashland families.
The reference staff was very helpful but they did not have directories earlier than 1930. After spending some time in those books, we came up empty. I used their internet computer to find an Alltel store but the nearest one was north of town near Maitland. Didn’t have much time to drive up there and decided to try my luck in Naples to get my phone fixed.
We left the library, walked back to the downtown and north on Park Avenue. Since the two Silver trains were both running late, I figured the guys on the train from our Amtrak Unlimited group would have their lunch on the train. We started to look for someplace to eat around noon. The only good choice seemed to be the Panera Bread at the corner of Park and Canton. Neither of us had eaten in one of these before. There was a large crowd and it took a while to decide what to have. Claudia had an excellent bagel and cream cheese. I opted for the macaroni and cheese in a large bowl. It was very good as well. There was no place to sit inside so we opted for a table on the sidewalk. It was nice watching the people and the sunshine warmed up the day that had started a little chilly (for Floridians).
It was nearly 12:30 so we walked back to the station and soon met Penny there. She was dressed in layers with her sheepskin boots, Peruvian knitted hat. It was good to see her and we all anticipated the arrival of our AU group. At around 12:45 Silver Meteor #97 sporting locos #62 and #79 came into WPK. We were wondering who the Mystery Guest might be since Penny had been told that Traveler, Jishnu and Bill Haithcoat would be accompanied by an unknown member. As they came down the stairs, low and behold, it was our esteemed moderator Alan B. Aha!!. He had come down with Traveler and they shared the H Room on the trip from NY. It was good to see the group, which we had first met at the Gathering in St Louis in 2010.
Everyone moved to the depot and we talked awhile about Amtrak news and life in general. Pieter was texting Penny every few minutes to let us know where they were. Joining us at the depot were Frugalist and his significant other. NJ Coast Exp (Pieter) and Reefgeek (Jim) are riding on Silver 91 which comes into WPK shortly after 2PM, now over 4 ½ hours late. The Silver Star had Amtrak Anniversary Engine #156 on the head end and thus I scampered to get some photos of it. :lol:
It was fun seeing everyone again and we discussed what we might do for the afternoon since some of the members would be leaving on the northbound #92 around 7:30pm that evening. Penny had arranged for a boat tour of the lakes and we just had time to make the 3PM ride. We all got into three cars available and went down to the boat dock where we found there was still room for the nine of us who wanted to take the tour. At $10 each it was a bargain. We all were able to ride together in the same pontoon like craft and off we went. It was a bit chilly but the sun warmed up the air and we began what proved to be a very interesting ride through Lake Virginia, Lake Osceola and one other whose name has slipped my mind. We saw many large estate homes, traveled through narrow canals lined with Spanish moss and flowers, and viewed parts of Rollins College. Many wealthy families of corporate America had homes here and they line all of the lakes as we pass by. We spent about an hour touring and then returned to the dock.
Penny was going to take Bill H to Orlando to catch a bus for Lakeland to visit relatives and then the remainder of the group planned to meet at a wine bar on Park Avenue. We were committed to being in Tampa to meet with our friend Pat by 6:00 so we had to leave WPK to get to Tampa before dark. We said goodbye to AlanB and Jis and started our journey down Interstate 4.
What a wild ride that was. People drive like they are nuts, changing lanes without signals. Lots of traffic when we got near Disneyworld.
Orlando has become a major metropolis since our early travels to Florida. We made it to our hotel, The Hampton Inn Tampa East around 6:15 and got settled in. It was a very nice new hotel with great beds, nice lobby and friendly staff. We were next to a Bob Evans so walked across the parking lot for supper. We had arrived too late to have dinner with Pat and had made arrangements to have breakfast with her in the morning. Dinner was good and service excellent and we then returned to our room to watch some TV and get a good night’s rest.Some photos of our first three days of adventure including AU Group Mini Gathering WPK. Part 2 later.
http://amtrakclewas2012.shutterfly.com/
http://railroadbillamtrakadventures.shutterfly.com/
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