Newton-Chicago-New York City-Orlando-New Orleans-Chicago-Newton
I’m afraid I’m not as observant as some and didn’t get the chance to write down any of the consists, so I apologize if anyone is sad that I didn’t get that info. I was just too excited about getting onto the train and in my room to see the scenery.
This was my second 5000 mile trip in just under a year, and it started by boarding the SW Chief in Newton, KS. If you haven’t been off of the train to see the station in Newton, it’s an old brick building from the 1930’s, supposedly patterned after Shakespeare’s Stratforn-upon-Avon home. The inside looks like it came right out of the 30s as well with the old doors, ticket counter, and lights. The train was almost right on time as I went out to the platform and walked towards my sleeper car and in to my standard sleeper room. Since it was about 3 AM I decided to take a little nap. The trip was fairly uneventful and no major delays.
I got to Union Station in Chicago and the Metropolitan Lounge was still under reconstruction, so we all got to walk clear to the other side of the station to the Great Hall where the temporary waiting room was located. It was a fairly large room full of chandeliers, sandstone carved walls and intricate designs on the ceilings. The managed to bring all of the chairs and couches, along with the TV from the old lounge, but apparently there was no sound system so the lounge attendants had to walk around the room, turning off the fans and humidifiers so they could yell out announcements for red cap assistance and boarding info. On the trip back through Chicago, I got to walk around the station a bit more to see all of the marble and brass stair cases and the gold colored statues up near the ceiling in the Great Hall. I also had the chance to walk around Canal Street and see some of the buildings there, including the Sears Tower.
There wasn’t a lot to see on my side of the train on the Lake Shore Limited, and much of the route was at night, so not a lot to look at anyway until we got to New York state. The train was a couple hours late into Penn Station, which was fine with me because that meant less time waiting for the Silver Meteor. The Hudson River was beautiful, as were the mansions built along its banks. I had a Viewliner Standard bedroom during this portion of the trip, which was a nice convenience with the sink and toilet. My meals were paid for but I didn’t eat in the dining car because I’m one of those few people that just don’t enjoy that experience as well as some. I ended up grabbing a sandwich in the lounge car and got stuck behind a kid who decided it was his duty to go through everything on display and announce at the top of his voice which items had expired according to the labels, while handing them over to the lounge attendant working the register. Everyone was getting a little annoyed with the kid by that point and the attendant finally convinced him to come back later after the old stock was put away and new items were put up in their place. I remember getting a free newspaper each morning on every train last year on my trip, but this year the Lakeshore Limited was the only one that had them available for some reason.
The Silver Meteor trip to Orlando was probably the highlight of my trip. Even though the track was rough and I got tossed into the side of my sink and hit my head during a 90+ mph track switch, I saw one of the most beautiful sights I have ever seen in my life later that evening. I woke up from a brief nap to see out my window the Capitol building lit up, along with the Washington Monument and the Jefferson Memorial, all in their patriotic glory. It was like a post card that I was experiencing first hand. Last year when I took this trip and stayed in NYC, it was amazing to see the things I’ve only seen on television or in the movies before, being just an average guy from a town of 1200 people in Kansas. Now I was seeing our nation’s historical buildings within walking distance of where I was sitting, where before I had only seen them on the news or in pictures.
We were a few hours late into Florida, but I had plenty of time to spare over the weekend so no worries. The first thing I noticed was it looked like the “ORLANDO” lettering had been painted green from its original white stucco/Spanish building look I saw last year. The inside of the station was much like the Newton station – old, 1930s-40s looking lights and seating, and I think the PA system was from the same era because it was almost impossible to hear train announcements.
My trip back was on the Sunset Limited. This was where I was scared the most because of recent past performance of the train. I was standing on the platform in Orlando for the trip back and was talking to a guy that was just bused in because the eastbound Sunset was 24 hours late into New Orleans a couple days before, but he was taking it back to California because he loved train travel. The trip back left me plenty of time in New Orleans to catch the City of New Orleans back to Chicago. Along the way I saw beautiful Winter Park which had some sort of festival going on this last Sunday in one of the big parks there. There was a guy standing near the train, who took off his shirt and just started swaying back and forth – whether there was music he was listening to or he was just in the mood to show a bunch of weary travelers his pasty body, I’ll never know. We stopped just after Sanford, I don’t remember the town, but some poor guy with a bike loaded down with groceries came up to the intersection just as the crossing bars went down, then it started to pour rain. He parked the bike and started walking back to the store down the street to be where it was dry, but by the time he got to the store the train had already started off again so he came back drenched, ready to continue home. After that, through the rest of Florida and then during daylight in Mississippi and Louisiana, it was interesting to see all of the different types of economic classes along the tracks. Some houses were very large and beautiful, others were painted lime green or purple with tin roofs, and enough broken vehicles on the lawn to start a salvage yard. No matter who was outside, though, they all stopped what they were doing to wave at us as we went by. Old people, kids, young couples barbecuing, they were all smiling and looked happy that a train full of folks was going through their backyards. (cont...)
I’m afraid I’m not as observant as some and didn’t get the chance to write down any of the consists, so I apologize if anyone is sad that I didn’t get that info. I was just too excited about getting onto the train and in my room to see the scenery.
This was my second 5000 mile trip in just under a year, and it started by boarding the SW Chief in Newton, KS. If you haven’t been off of the train to see the station in Newton, it’s an old brick building from the 1930’s, supposedly patterned after Shakespeare’s Stratforn-upon-Avon home. The inside looks like it came right out of the 30s as well with the old doors, ticket counter, and lights. The train was almost right on time as I went out to the platform and walked towards my sleeper car and in to my standard sleeper room. Since it was about 3 AM I decided to take a little nap. The trip was fairly uneventful and no major delays.
I got to Union Station in Chicago and the Metropolitan Lounge was still under reconstruction, so we all got to walk clear to the other side of the station to the Great Hall where the temporary waiting room was located. It was a fairly large room full of chandeliers, sandstone carved walls and intricate designs on the ceilings. The managed to bring all of the chairs and couches, along with the TV from the old lounge, but apparently there was no sound system so the lounge attendants had to walk around the room, turning off the fans and humidifiers so they could yell out announcements for red cap assistance and boarding info. On the trip back through Chicago, I got to walk around the station a bit more to see all of the marble and brass stair cases and the gold colored statues up near the ceiling in the Great Hall. I also had the chance to walk around Canal Street and see some of the buildings there, including the Sears Tower.
There wasn’t a lot to see on my side of the train on the Lake Shore Limited, and much of the route was at night, so not a lot to look at anyway until we got to New York state. The train was a couple hours late into Penn Station, which was fine with me because that meant less time waiting for the Silver Meteor. The Hudson River was beautiful, as were the mansions built along its banks. I had a Viewliner Standard bedroom during this portion of the trip, which was a nice convenience with the sink and toilet. My meals were paid for but I didn’t eat in the dining car because I’m one of those few people that just don’t enjoy that experience as well as some. I ended up grabbing a sandwich in the lounge car and got stuck behind a kid who decided it was his duty to go through everything on display and announce at the top of his voice which items had expired according to the labels, while handing them over to the lounge attendant working the register. Everyone was getting a little annoyed with the kid by that point and the attendant finally convinced him to come back later after the old stock was put away and new items were put up in their place. I remember getting a free newspaper each morning on every train last year on my trip, but this year the Lakeshore Limited was the only one that had them available for some reason.
The Silver Meteor trip to Orlando was probably the highlight of my trip. Even though the track was rough and I got tossed into the side of my sink and hit my head during a 90+ mph track switch, I saw one of the most beautiful sights I have ever seen in my life later that evening. I woke up from a brief nap to see out my window the Capitol building lit up, along with the Washington Monument and the Jefferson Memorial, all in their patriotic glory. It was like a post card that I was experiencing first hand. Last year when I took this trip and stayed in NYC, it was amazing to see the things I’ve only seen on television or in the movies before, being just an average guy from a town of 1200 people in Kansas. Now I was seeing our nation’s historical buildings within walking distance of where I was sitting, where before I had only seen them on the news or in pictures.
We were a few hours late into Florida, but I had plenty of time to spare over the weekend so no worries. The first thing I noticed was it looked like the “ORLANDO” lettering had been painted green from its original white stucco/Spanish building look I saw last year. The inside of the station was much like the Newton station – old, 1930s-40s looking lights and seating, and I think the PA system was from the same era because it was almost impossible to hear train announcements.
My trip back was on the Sunset Limited. This was where I was scared the most because of recent past performance of the train. I was standing on the platform in Orlando for the trip back and was talking to a guy that was just bused in because the eastbound Sunset was 24 hours late into New Orleans a couple days before, but he was taking it back to California because he loved train travel. The trip back left me plenty of time in New Orleans to catch the City of New Orleans back to Chicago. Along the way I saw beautiful Winter Park which had some sort of festival going on this last Sunday in one of the big parks there. There was a guy standing near the train, who took off his shirt and just started swaying back and forth – whether there was music he was listening to or he was just in the mood to show a bunch of weary travelers his pasty body, I’ll never know. We stopped just after Sanford, I don’t remember the town, but some poor guy with a bike loaded down with groceries came up to the intersection just as the crossing bars went down, then it started to pour rain. He parked the bike and started walking back to the store down the street to be where it was dry, but by the time he got to the store the train had already started off again so he came back drenched, ready to continue home. After that, through the rest of Florida and then during daylight in Mississippi and Louisiana, it was interesting to see all of the different types of economic classes along the tracks. Some houses were very large and beautiful, others were painted lime green or purple with tin roofs, and enough broken vehicles on the lawn to start a salvage yard. No matter who was outside, though, they all stopped what they were doing to wave at us as we went by. Old people, kids, young couples barbecuing, they were all smiling and looked happy that a train full of folks was going through their backyards. (cont...)
