This was a fun run tonight: I got to mix trains and good food; the RVM station is right next to a bunch of good restaurants, notably Havana 59 (one of the finest Cuban eateries in Virginia). This trip had the added bonus of qualifying for the "Take Ten" offer, as it's about the only day I can think of where a train from NPN-RVM crests the $40 threshold, making this a point run as well (400 for the round trip and 2000 of the 10000 unless I miss my guess...for a total of $86).
Onto the trip itself: Everything was behind schedule, though not catastrophically so (for the most part, though one amusing thing went wrong): The train backed into the station about 4:52 for a 4:55 departure time. The platform was packed with travelers (I know it's the day before Thanksgiving, but I've never seen such a small station so overcrowded), and the parking lot was full beyond capacity with people parking on both sides of the street in (*loads Chekhov's Gun*). It took about 15-20 minutes to get the train loaded: We pulled out at 5:13 PM, 18 minutes behind schedule, to a rather nice sunset.
One of the best feelings of the whole trip was when the train shot past I-64 where it narrows down from 4 lanes and an exit ramp to 2 laned: Traffic was gridlocked, and we were going full speed ahead. Man, that felt nice...even once 64 sped up, we were still going faster; we actually beat the listed time for NPN-WBG by a minute (it took us 21 minutes vs. 22 on the schedule). It took us 8 min. to get out of there (I suspect most delays today were like this: Lots more people boarding than the stations expect or Amtrak makes allowances for), but at 5:42 we were on our way.
After that, though, things were a bit slower: We had a mystery slowdown 8 min. out of WBG (near Airport Road) and then we came to a full stop about 2 minutes later (somewhere around Lightfoot, I believe, though it was a bit too dark to tell). That took about 13 minutes to sort out...they said they were "Just checking over the train to make sure everything's working efficiently"...I can tell you that nobody on board (mostly harried Thanksgiving travelers, many spending most of the evening on the train heading to NoVA...I don't even want to think about the reaction in the DC-and-north carriage) bought it.
We got to Norge or Toano (I couldn't tell, but I'm betting on Norge) at 6:12 PM, and we made it to Diascund Creek by 6:13 (my best guess there...it was a bit too dark to tell for certain, but I think I recognized the light pattern on the water). It was either that or the Chickahominy...but I digress. We made Providence Forge at 6:25 (there was a Rite Aid and an Adams Sports Mart visible at night). This particular stretch was amusing because there was a little bit of traffic on Rt. 60 that we first passed...and then got passed by.
At 6:28/29, the Conductor said we were 20-25 minutes out from Main Street (I stepped back to ask); my next "hard mark" is the I-295 crossing, which we passed at 6:37. At this point, worried about a time crunch at dinner, I called Amtrak to check on my return train. Yep, it was behind schedule by about 45 minutes.
The view coming into downtown Richmond was pretty nice (doubly so as the train comes in on an old elevated track over part of the city), and we got in at 6:50...45 minutes behind.
Dinner was nice; I got the black bean soup and the paella (a nifty seafood-and-rice mix worth having...good oysters and mussels, as well as sausage...worth it); I took my time, occasionally checking the return train...which fell more and more behind schedule as the evening went on. This was...not looking good. Still, it made for a leisurely dinner, dessert, and some coffee...all in all a good evening from my point of view.
I went back into the Main Street Station about 8:40 or so...Havana 59 being literally around the corner, this wasn't much of a walk. The train was falling more and more behind schedule...the latest it was due in was 10:00 PM at one point (I kid you not). I'm still trying to figure out how they made up 35 minutes after that, because we ended up boarding at 9:24...50 minutes behind, but much sooner than I'd been worried about.*
I think I got my answer*: The train schedules between 1:03 and :46 for the RVM-WBG run. We made it in a bit under 55 minutes, close to the bottom end of the schedule. We then made it into NPN at 10:42 PM, nominally only 32 minutes behind schedule (though a fair bit of the time closed was the traditional "buffer" that gets built in at the end of the schedule...they build as much as 47 minutes into WBG-NPN when the run only takes a bit over 20 minutes). We actually beat the Conductor's projection of the WBG-NPN run by two minutes (he said 23 minutes for a slab of it, and we made it in 21 minutes).
When I got into Newport News, I hit the only "real" snag of the trip: It took me almost as long to get out of the parking lot as it did to get to NPN from WBG because the lot was so over-parked that traffic going out got blocked by traffic coming in, causing some people to have to work out a mix of cars backing up so we could get out (and thereby let them in)...I think they may need to declare at least one side of the road into the station a no parking area.
All in all, it was a nice trip, and even the delays didn't take too much out of it...it was a good way to spend an otherwise boring evening.
*I also stopwatched a few segments of the line, just because I was wondering (and because on a few stretches, a road runs directly next to the line):
-We did Bland Blvd. to Oyster Point Road (1.7 miles) in 1:12, to Mueller Lane (2.7 miles) in 2:18, J. Clyde Morris Blvd. (4.3 miles) in 3:48, and Harpersville Road (5.5 miles) in 4:40. Main Street (7.0 Miles) was at 6:06...and then they hit the brakes.
-The Fort Magruder Crowne Plaza to the Kingsmill McDonalds (1.6 miles) in 1:30; the 6 miles or so from there to Lee Hall Mansion I've got a far rougher fix on because the roads aren't perfectly parallel, but we made that stretch in 4:35.
-Finally, Prime Outlets to the Outback on Rt. 60 (1 mile) in 41 seconds and to the Movie Tavern (2.1 miles) in 1:35.
Basically, every stretch outside of the station was shoved right up against the federal speed limit, and rounding errors notwithstanding, I think they may have accidentially edged over it for a stretch or two coming into Williamsburg (one stretch measures at right on 79.1 MPH even if I round as favorably as I can on the distace...I know where I was pegging from...and the next bit measures in at 73.3 on its own and including some slowing as they approached Williamsburg station).
Onto the trip itself: Everything was behind schedule, though not catastrophically so (for the most part, though one amusing thing went wrong): The train backed into the station about 4:52 for a 4:55 departure time. The platform was packed with travelers (I know it's the day before Thanksgiving, but I've never seen such a small station so overcrowded), and the parking lot was full beyond capacity with people parking on both sides of the street in (*loads Chekhov's Gun*). It took about 15-20 minutes to get the train loaded: We pulled out at 5:13 PM, 18 minutes behind schedule, to a rather nice sunset.
One of the best feelings of the whole trip was when the train shot past I-64 where it narrows down from 4 lanes and an exit ramp to 2 laned: Traffic was gridlocked, and we were going full speed ahead. Man, that felt nice...even once 64 sped up, we were still going faster; we actually beat the listed time for NPN-WBG by a minute (it took us 21 minutes vs. 22 on the schedule). It took us 8 min. to get out of there (I suspect most delays today were like this: Lots more people boarding than the stations expect or Amtrak makes allowances for), but at 5:42 we were on our way.
After that, though, things were a bit slower: We had a mystery slowdown 8 min. out of WBG (near Airport Road) and then we came to a full stop about 2 minutes later (somewhere around Lightfoot, I believe, though it was a bit too dark to tell). That took about 13 minutes to sort out...they said they were "Just checking over the train to make sure everything's working efficiently"...I can tell you that nobody on board (mostly harried Thanksgiving travelers, many spending most of the evening on the train heading to NoVA...I don't even want to think about the reaction in the DC-and-north carriage) bought it.
We got to Norge or Toano (I couldn't tell, but I'm betting on Norge) at 6:12 PM, and we made it to Diascund Creek by 6:13 (my best guess there...it was a bit too dark to tell for certain, but I think I recognized the light pattern on the water). It was either that or the Chickahominy...but I digress. We made Providence Forge at 6:25 (there was a Rite Aid and an Adams Sports Mart visible at night). This particular stretch was amusing because there was a little bit of traffic on Rt. 60 that we first passed...and then got passed by.
At 6:28/29, the Conductor said we were 20-25 minutes out from Main Street (I stepped back to ask); my next "hard mark" is the I-295 crossing, which we passed at 6:37. At this point, worried about a time crunch at dinner, I called Amtrak to check on my return train. Yep, it was behind schedule by about 45 minutes.
The view coming into downtown Richmond was pretty nice (doubly so as the train comes in on an old elevated track over part of the city), and we got in at 6:50...45 minutes behind.
Dinner was nice; I got the black bean soup and the paella (a nifty seafood-and-rice mix worth having...good oysters and mussels, as well as sausage...worth it); I took my time, occasionally checking the return train...which fell more and more behind schedule as the evening went on. This was...not looking good. Still, it made for a leisurely dinner, dessert, and some coffee...all in all a good evening from my point of view.
I went back into the Main Street Station about 8:40 or so...Havana 59 being literally around the corner, this wasn't much of a walk. The train was falling more and more behind schedule...the latest it was due in was 10:00 PM at one point (I kid you not). I'm still trying to figure out how they made up 35 minutes after that, because we ended up boarding at 9:24...50 minutes behind, but much sooner than I'd been worried about.*
I think I got my answer*: The train schedules between 1:03 and :46 for the RVM-WBG run. We made it in a bit under 55 minutes, close to the bottom end of the schedule. We then made it into NPN at 10:42 PM, nominally only 32 minutes behind schedule (though a fair bit of the time closed was the traditional "buffer" that gets built in at the end of the schedule...they build as much as 47 minutes into WBG-NPN when the run only takes a bit over 20 minutes). We actually beat the Conductor's projection of the WBG-NPN run by two minutes (he said 23 minutes for a slab of it, and we made it in 21 minutes).
When I got into Newport News, I hit the only "real" snag of the trip: It took me almost as long to get out of the parking lot as it did to get to NPN from WBG because the lot was so over-parked that traffic going out got blocked by traffic coming in, causing some people to have to work out a mix of cars backing up so we could get out (and thereby let them in)...I think they may need to declare at least one side of the road into the station a no parking area.
All in all, it was a nice trip, and even the delays didn't take too much out of it...it was a good way to spend an otherwise boring evening.
*I also stopwatched a few segments of the line, just because I was wondering (and because on a few stretches, a road runs directly next to the line):
-We did Bland Blvd. to Oyster Point Road (1.7 miles) in 1:12, to Mueller Lane (2.7 miles) in 2:18, J. Clyde Morris Blvd. (4.3 miles) in 3:48, and Harpersville Road (5.5 miles) in 4:40. Main Street (7.0 Miles) was at 6:06...and then they hit the brakes.
-The Fort Magruder Crowne Plaza to the Kingsmill McDonalds (1.6 miles) in 1:30; the 6 miles or so from there to Lee Hall Mansion I've got a far rougher fix on because the roads aren't perfectly parallel, but we made that stretch in 4:35.
-Finally, Prime Outlets to the Outback on Rt. 60 (1 mile) in 41 seconds and to the Movie Tavern (2.1 miles) in 1:35.
Basically, every stretch outside of the station was shoved right up against the federal speed limit, and rounding errors notwithstanding, I think they may have accidentially edged over it for a stretch or two coming into Williamsburg (one stretch measures at right on 79.1 MPH even if I round as favorably as I can on the distace...I know where I was pegging from...and the next bit measures in at 73.3 on its own and including some slowing as they approached Williamsburg station).
