A few weeks ago I started out on a very exciting trip. It was my first Amtrak trip in a very long time. I was taking the train from Orlando, FL to Buffalo, NY and then returning a week and a half later. Even though I was prepared for the worst, the trip went very well.
We begin on Sunday July 11th waiting for 98 (Silver Meteor) at the Orlando Amtrak Station. The station was very crowded that day. The waiting room was full and there were many people waiting outside. 98 was running about 45 minutes behind, which really wasn't too bad. As the time came for 98 to arrive, another train (91) pulled into the station first. 98 soon showed up and waited away from the station for 91 to pull out. Many of the people waiting got onto 91 which surprised me. Soon 91 pulled out and 98 with P-42 #140 pull into Orlando. The majority of the people waiting were coach passengers which meant that the sleeper line was pretty short. I boarded car 9811 (Autumn View) room 4. The other sleeper was 9810 (Island View). I had a good sized bag that I carried on with me and one of the big pains was trying to get it into the bag storage space in my room. It weighed about 30 or so pounds and it took me three tries to finally get it up there. It was a big pain in the @$$.
After a long wait due to all the coach passengers, we finally left Orlando and crept toward Winter Park. The trip was going fine and we wern't getting any later then we already were. It was raining pretty hard and there were thunderstorms all around. Right after our stop at Deland we were picking up speed when I heard the loud "CLUNK". I knew immediately that we had gone into emergency. We came to a quick stop and I turned up my scanner to see what was wrong. It turns out that we had a signal in front of us that was unexpectedly red. The previous signal had been green and this one was red. That probably scared the engineer to death. Anyway after a 15 minute wait and a chat with the CSX dispatcher it was determined that the signal wasn't working properly because of the weather and we were talked by the signal at restricted speed.
About 45 minutes later we had to stop again because of a malfunctioning defect detector. The crew got out and checked the train and after nothing was found we were on our way. We were now down about an hour. I guess I should also mention that for some reason everytime we stopped at a station or the other two times the HEP would go out. It was really weird. As we approached JAX I went to the diner for dinner. It was one of the refurbished ones and it was very nice. It wasn't too crowded at 5 PM and I had a nice steak dinner.
We continued north, staying about a hour late. By the time bedtime came around we were in South Carolina. Now the only difficulty I had with the attendant was getting him to turn down my bed. I rang the call bell five or six times before finally searching him out. I found him sitting in his room in the dark looking very out of it. He made the upper bed and I retired for the night. I didn't sleep very well, I wasn't used to the motion of the train. It seemed worse in the upper bed then in the seat. I decided on the return trip that I'd try the lower bed.
I woke up as we left Richmond now 90 minutes late. It was still grey and rainy outside. We switched engines in WAS and I ate breakfast as we approached Baltimore. The French Toast was very good. I really enjoyed the food and the service was very good.
We arrived in NYP at 11:40 AM about 95 minutes late. But I still had plenty of time to make my connection to 283 which left at 1:45 PM. I searched high and low for the Club Acela but couldn't find it. I finally had to ask where it was and found it. It was pretty nice with good seats, free snacks and drinks. The only bad thing was that their computers had very slow internet connections.
The time came to board 283 and we left New York on time. I sat on the left hoping to see the river and other sites. It was a grey, gloomy day and it turned out not to be the best day for site seeing. We passed through the other big New York cities staying on time the whole trip. I called for a taxi to meet me at the Exchange Street station in Buffalo as we left Depew. We arrived on time at Exchange street and I only had to wait a short time for my taxi to arrive. This was a good thing as it was 10 PM and the station was closed and there weren't many people around.
Overall, I had a good trip up and I enjoyed it. I'll be writing part two on the return trip real soon. Enjoy
We begin on Sunday July 11th waiting for 98 (Silver Meteor) at the Orlando Amtrak Station. The station was very crowded that day. The waiting room was full and there were many people waiting outside. 98 was running about 45 minutes behind, which really wasn't too bad. As the time came for 98 to arrive, another train (91) pulled into the station first. 98 soon showed up and waited away from the station for 91 to pull out. Many of the people waiting got onto 91 which surprised me. Soon 91 pulled out and 98 with P-42 #140 pull into Orlando. The majority of the people waiting were coach passengers which meant that the sleeper line was pretty short. I boarded car 9811 (Autumn View) room 4. The other sleeper was 9810 (Island View). I had a good sized bag that I carried on with me and one of the big pains was trying to get it into the bag storage space in my room. It weighed about 30 or so pounds and it took me three tries to finally get it up there. It was a big pain in the @$$.
After a long wait due to all the coach passengers, we finally left Orlando and crept toward Winter Park. The trip was going fine and we wern't getting any later then we already were. It was raining pretty hard and there were thunderstorms all around. Right after our stop at Deland we were picking up speed when I heard the loud "CLUNK". I knew immediately that we had gone into emergency. We came to a quick stop and I turned up my scanner to see what was wrong. It turns out that we had a signal in front of us that was unexpectedly red. The previous signal had been green and this one was red. That probably scared the engineer to death. Anyway after a 15 minute wait and a chat with the CSX dispatcher it was determined that the signal wasn't working properly because of the weather and we were talked by the signal at restricted speed.
About 45 minutes later we had to stop again because of a malfunctioning defect detector. The crew got out and checked the train and after nothing was found we were on our way. We were now down about an hour. I guess I should also mention that for some reason everytime we stopped at a station or the other two times the HEP would go out. It was really weird. As we approached JAX I went to the diner for dinner. It was one of the refurbished ones and it was very nice. It wasn't too crowded at 5 PM and I had a nice steak dinner.
We continued north, staying about a hour late. By the time bedtime came around we were in South Carolina. Now the only difficulty I had with the attendant was getting him to turn down my bed. I rang the call bell five or six times before finally searching him out. I found him sitting in his room in the dark looking very out of it. He made the upper bed and I retired for the night. I didn't sleep very well, I wasn't used to the motion of the train. It seemed worse in the upper bed then in the seat. I decided on the return trip that I'd try the lower bed.
I woke up as we left Richmond now 90 minutes late. It was still grey and rainy outside. We switched engines in WAS and I ate breakfast as we approached Baltimore. The French Toast was very good. I really enjoyed the food and the service was very good.
We arrived in NYP at 11:40 AM about 95 minutes late. But I still had plenty of time to make my connection to 283 which left at 1:45 PM. I searched high and low for the Club Acela but couldn't find it. I finally had to ask where it was and found it. It was pretty nice with good seats, free snacks and drinks. The only bad thing was that their computers had very slow internet connections.
The time came to board 283 and we left New York on time. I sat on the left hoping to see the river and other sites. It was a grey, gloomy day and it turned out not to be the best day for site seeing. We passed through the other big New York cities staying on time the whole trip. I called for a taxi to meet me at the Exchange Street station in Buffalo as we left Depew. We arrived on time at Exchange street and I only had to wait a short time for my taxi to arrive. This was a good thing as it was 10 PM and the station was closed and there weren't many people around.
Overall, I had a good trip up and I enjoyed it. I'll be writing part two on the return trip real soon. Enjoy
