wayman
Engineer
Thursday morning, the first northbound Regional departs Lynchburg. That means Wednesday they have to get the trainset down there, and they're doing it by a special charter train which will travel during the day on Wednesday making stops for speeches at each station, many of which may have festivities scheduled. Details for Lynchburg's festivities are below.
Last night, NS ran a special train from Roanoke to Lynchburg to Norfolk, carrying two business cars: a vista dome and a theater observation. The vista dome was dropped off at Lynchburg's Woodall Road yard, and the theater observation continued to Norfolk (for purposes unknown to me). This morning, the vista dome was put on train 20 (northbound Crescent) to carry it to Washington. Tomorrow, the vista dome and Beech Grove will be put onto the Regional consist that will travel south to Lynchburg. (This consist is not the continuation of the Regional consist from Boston, as will happen during revenue service starting Thursday.) The charter train will carry Virginia politicians and Amtrak executives, including Virginia Governor Tim Kaine and Amtrak President Joseph Boardman, who will make 30 minute speeches at each station.
The initial draft of the charter schedule (which may have changed, but I suspect this is still the schedule as the Lynchburg time is still accurate) is:
WAS 9:30 AM Dp
ALX 10:20 AM Dp
BCV (Burke) 11:15 AM Dp
MSS 12:10 PM Dp
CLP 1:15 PM Dp
CVS 2:45 PM Dp
LYH 3:55 PM Ar
For each station with a Dp listed, assume the Ar is 30 minutes earlier.
Lynchburg's newspaper, The News & Advance, had the following advertisement on Sunday (and probably other days this week too):
The consist will turn on one of the two wyes at Lynchburg, and the NS vista dome will be take off in Lynchburg (presumably left at Woodall Road for NS to retrieve later). Then it will park overnight on the new siding at Kemper Street Station. Beech Grove will remain on the consist as it enters revenue service Thursday, and be removed at Washington.
As of Saturday, the new siding did not have a bumper installed, just a pile of ballast at the end. That may be the final plan, or a bumper may be added, I don't know. Platform lights for the north half of the long platform, the half with the siding, were not on for train 19's arrival at 10:00 PM (and I heard they were not yet functional), which meant that 19 had only the front two coaches open at Lynchburg and presumably double-spotted for the sleepers (which were way off in the darkness at the first spot; I was one of the first coach passengers off, and my dad wanted to leave before the train had time to double-spot). Knowing this, conductors were very clear at Philadelphia that all Lynchburg coach passengers must board the first two cars (of four), which is unusual for the Crescent.
Last night, NS ran a special train from Roanoke to Lynchburg to Norfolk, carrying two business cars: a vista dome and a theater observation. The vista dome was dropped off at Lynchburg's Woodall Road yard, and the theater observation continued to Norfolk (for purposes unknown to me). This morning, the vista dome was put on train 20 (northbound Crescent) to carry it to Washington. Tomorrow, the vista dome and Beech Grove will be put onto the Regional consist that will travel south to Lynchburg. (This consist is not the continuation of the Regional consist from Boston, as will happen during revenue service starting Thursday.) The charter train will carry Virginia politicians and Amtrak executives, including Virginia Governor Tim Kaine and Amtrak President Joseph Boardman, who will make 30 minute speeches at each station.
The initial draft of the charter schedule (which may have changed, but I suspect this is still the schedule as the Lynchburg time is still accurate) is:
WAS 9:30 AM Dp
ALX 10:20 AM Dp
BCV (Burke) 11:15 AM Dp
MSS 12:10 PM Dp
CLP 1:15 PM Dp
CVS 2:45 PM Dp
LYH 3:55 PM Ar
For each station with a Dp listed, assume the Ar is 30 minutes earlier.
Lynchburg's newspaper, The News & Advance, had the following advertisement on Sunday (and probably other days this week too):
The music will be good, I am sure, but it will not be as good as if they had chosen the E.C. Glass High School Band!
The consist will turn on one of the two wyes at Lynchburg, and the NS vista dome will be take off in Lynchburg (presumably left at Woodall Road for NS to retrieve later). Then it will park overnight on the new siding at Kemper Street Station. Beech Grove will remain on the consist as it enters revenue service Thursday, and be removed at Washington.
As of Saturday, the new siding did not have a bumper installed, just a pile of ballast at the end. That may be the final plan, or a bumper may be added, I don't know. Platform lights for the north half of the long platform, the half with the siding, were not on for train 19's arrival at 10:00 PM (and I heard they were not yet functional), which meant that 19 had only the front two coaches open at Lynchburg and presumably double-spotted for the sleepers (which were way off in the darkness at the first spot; I was one of the first coach passengers off, and my dad wanted to leave before the train had time to double-spot). Knowing this, conductors were very clear at Philadelphia that all Lynchburg coach passengers must board the first two cars (of four), which is unusual for the Crescent.
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