My Amtrak trip (part 2)

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whs1325

Train Attendant
Joined
Apr 17, 2004
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I spent a wonderful week and a half in Buffalo enjoying the sites and the cooler weather. I left Buffalo early in the morning. Amtrak had pushed back the departure time 20 minutes supposedly because of CSX track maintanance (although I didn't see any during my trip). I was very surprised to find the station open although it was nice to be able to sit down and wait for the train. It arrived about five minutes late at 6:45 AM. The train was fairly empty and I was able to find a good seat. The weather was much better then during the trip north and I was able to enjoy the views much more. I saw the Hudson river, West Point, Sing Sing prison, and many other sites. The CSX line between Buffalo and Albany was very busy and we passed many freight trains during the trip. We stayed on time and arrived into New York at 1:45 PM.

I had a long wait until 97 left at 7 PM so I settled into the Club Acela and read a good book. It was much busier that day then it had been when I was there before. A catenary line had gone down on the line from New York to Boston forcing many trains to be delayed and cancelled. There were many business travelers trying to rearrange their tickets to other trains. Even though there were many people who were unhappy about the cancellations, they seemed to understand that these kind of things happen and went with the flow.

It was a long wait to the boarding call for 97 but it finally came and I proceeded to the train and my sleeper. I was in Harborview and the sleeper behind mine was Sunsetview. I had room one and I quickly found it and again went through the fun of trying to put my bag into the storage space. We left a few minutes late at 7:08 PM. Being worn out from my vacation and other train trip I skipped dinner and went right to bed. I sleeped in the lower bed this time and I slept much better then the trip north. I think the motion must be less closer to the floor then near the ceiling.

I awoke in Florence, SC and we were only 30 minutes behind. The trip south was very smooth with no big delays or problems. We consistantly managed to stay about 30 minutes late. Pretty good for the Silver Service. We arrived about 35 minutes late into Orlando.

Overall, I enjoyed my Amtrak experience. I didn't have overly high expectations of what it would be like. I think that really helped and it made everything extra good when things went well. I think some people begin their trip on Amtrak thinking that its going to be like traveling by train in the 1950's. Then, they are disappointed when things aren't like they expected. The golden days of passenger rail travel are gone but Amtrak will still get you to wherever you're going in relative comfort. You may not get there on time but you will get there eventually. I hope you enjoyed reading this and I am looking forward to my next Amtrak trip sometime soon.
 
Im glad you enjoyed the trip, did amtrak reschedule travelers onboard the meateor going south to was?
 
WHS,

Thanks again for a wonderful report.

By the way though, as Bill Haitcoat has pointed out on many occasions, the so called Golden Days weren't always as Golden as some seemed to think they were.
 
Yeah people think the trains in those days are like the appeared in the movies. However movies then fictionalized itiems as they do today.
 
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