Florida Mini Gathering

[pennyk]

[Here we are at the Acela lounge in WAUS. Certainly there are worse places to wait, the coach pax are standing in a pen by Gate D. Let's hope they drag the train here soon!

I agree that there are much worse places to wait. At least you have clean bathrooms. Don't fill up on pretzels and pepsi. :lol: :lol:

I just received a text from Piotr that 91 is due in WAS in 90 minutes and I received a text from Dave that 97 is in PHL 10 minutes early. I wonder if 97 will "catch" 91.

 

[AlanB]

Well according to data from Amtrak.com, the Meteor is licking at the heals of the Silver Star. The Star left Washington only an hour and 15 minutes ahead of the Meteor.

Sounds like you won't have to wait very long between trains!

 

[pennyk]

Well according to data from Amtrak.com, the Meteor is licking at the heals of the Silver Star. The Star left Washington only an hour and 15 minutes ahead of the Meteor.

Sounds like you won't have to wait very long between trains!

Although the Star is 3 hours behind schedule, Julie predicts that it will only be an hour late into WPK. I sent a text to Piotr with this information and he replied that Julie is overly optimistic. :lol: :lol:

My guess the Star will make up some time, but not 2 hours. I agree that I will not have to wait long between trains (and will be able to go to my 9:30 yoga class - or at least part of it).

Thanks for the update.

 

[GG-1]

As for the mystery guest - still a mystery. It may be the traveler, but reading between the lines, it might be someone else. I think we determined that it will not be Governor Christie. Maybe it will be Shanghai - he seems to be interested in this mini gathering.

I am a bit clueless. :wacko:

Aloha

I know who the Mystry guest is ... Travelers' Cats ... :lol: ... NAH ... I am not telling.

 

[Shanghai]

As for the mystery guest - still a mystery. It may be the traveler, but reading between the lines, it might be someone else. I think we determined that it will not be Governor Christie. Maybe it will be Shanghai - he seems to be interested in this mini gathering.

I am a bit clueless. :wacko:

Aloha

I know who the Mystry guest is ... Travelers' Cats ... :lol: ... NAH ... I am not telling.

The mystery guest is not Shanghai. It must be Eric with his cats!!

As of 4:00am, the Silver Star has last reported departing Hamlet, NC at 3:08am, expecting to arrive WPK at 12:18am,

only 2 hrs and 24 mins late.

The Silver Meteor just departed Florence, SC at 3:31am, expecting arrive into WPK at 12:27pm, on time!!

Have a great mini-Gathering!!

 

[pennyk]

I just heard from the Star. Another train hit a grade crossing and caused their train to sit for an hour. Their ETA in WPK is now 12:44 - after the Meteor!!!

As for the mystery, I know that Dave is special, but i do not think Amtrak would allow even him to take his cats on the train. Maybe it is Eric, without the cats. :wacko:

 

[Shanghai]

Do you think the mystery rider could be Archie??

 

[pennyk]

Do you think the mystery rider could be Archie??

I would love to hang out with Archie, but I do not think you would let him out of your sight.

My guess is that if there really is a mystery guest he or she is human. :lol: :lol:

 

[jis]

Star is now expected into WPK after 1pm

 

[pennyk]

Star is now expected into WPK after 1pm

It is running 4 hours late, last time I looked.

 

[Shanghai]

Do you think the mystery rider could be Archie??

I would love to hang out with Archie, but I do not think you would let him out of your sight.

My guess is that if there really is a mystery guest he or she is human. :lol: :lol:

Archie is almost human!!

 

[jis]

Now it says 1:40pm for the Star and 12:44pm for the Meteor

 

[PRR 60]

As of 10:00am, 1/14/2012:

* Train 91 of 01/13/2012.
* Silver Star
* +---------------- Station code
* |    +----------- Schedule Arrival Day  
* |    |  +-------- Schedule Arrival time
* |    |  |     +----- Schedule Departure Day
* |    |  |     |  +-- Schedule Departure Time 
* |    |  |     |  |     +------------- Actual Arrival Time
* |    |  |     |  |     |     +------- Actual Departure Time
* |    |  |     |  |     |     |     +- Comments
* V    V  V     V  V     V     V     V
* NYP  *  *     1  1102A *     1102A Departed:  on time.
* NWK  *  *     1  1122A *     1123A Departed:  1 minute late.
* TRE  *  *     1  1200N *     1200P Departed:  on time.
* PHL  *  *     1  1235P *     1235P Departed:  on time.
* WIL  *  *     1  102P  *     109P  Departed:  7 minutes late.
* BAL  *  *     1  200P  *     506P  Departed:  3 hours and 6 minutes late.
* WAS  1  240P  1  300P  544P  612P  Departed:  3 hours and 12 minutes late.
* ALX  *  *     1  325P  *     634P  Departed:  3 hours and 9 minutes late.
* RVR  1  509P  1  519P  817P  835P  Departed:  3 hours and 16 minutes late.
* PTB  *  *     1  557P  *     911P  Departed:  3 hours and 14 minutes late.
* RMT  *  *     1  729P  *     1038P Departed:  3 hours and 9 minutes late.
* RGH  1  900P  1  913P  1244A 100A  Departed:  3 hours and 47 minutes late.
* CYN  *  *     1  927P  *     120A  Departed:  3 hours and 53 minutes late.
* SOP  *  *     1  1039P *     232A  Departed:  3 hours and 53 minutes late.
* HAM  1  1117P 1  1121P 303A  308A  Departed:  3 hours and 47 minutes late.
* CAM  *  *     2  1250A *     431A  Departed:  3 hours and 41 minutes late.
* CLB  *  *     2  144A  *     534A  Departed:  3 hours and 50 minutes late.
* DNK  *  *     2  241A  *     647A  Departed:  4 hours and 6 minutes late.
* SAV  2  429A  2  434A  829A  840A  Departed:  4 hours and 6 minutes late.

* Train 97 of 01/13/2012.
* Silver Meteor
* +---------------- Station code
* |    +----------- Schedule Arrival Day  
* |    |  +-------- Schedule Arrival time
* |    |  |     +----- Schedule Departure Day
* |    |  |     |  +-- Schedule Departure Time 
* |    |  |     |  |     +------------- Actual Arrival Time
* |    |  |     |  |     |     +------- Actual Departure Time
* |    |  |     |  |     |     |     +- Comments
* V    V  V     V  V     V     V     V
* NYP  *  *     1  315P  *     315P  Departed:  on time.
* NWK  *  *     1  338P  *     338P  Departed:  on time.
* TRE  *  *     1  418P  *     419P  Departed:  1 minute late.
* PHL  *  *     1  458P  *     458P  Departed:  on time.
* WIL  *  *     1  523P  *     526P  Departed:  3 minutes late.
* BAL  *  *     1  617P  *     620P  Departed:  3 minutes late.
* WAS  1  700P  1  730P  658P  730P  Departed:  on time.
* ALX  *  *     1  750P  *     750P  Departed:  on time.
* RVR  1  940P  1  950P  931P  950P  Departed:  on time.
* PTB  *  *     1  1024P *     1025P Departed:  1 minute late.
* RMT  *  *     1  1156P *     1156P Departed:  on time.
* FAY  *  *     2  134A  *     146A  Departed:  12 minutes late.
* FLO  2  320A  2  328A  316A  331A  Departed:  3 minutes late.
* KTR  *  *     2  405A  *     405A  Departed:  on time.
* CHS  *  *     2  506A  *     539A  Departed:  33 minutes late.
* YEM  *  *     2  556A  *     628A  Departed:  32 minutes late.
* SAV  2  644A  2  650A  721A  740A  Departed:  50 minutes late.
* JSP  *  *     2  744A  *     845A  Departed:  1 hour and 1 minute late.

 

[AlanB]

I just heard from the Star. Another train hit a grade crossing and caused their train to sit for an hour.

How does a train "hit a grade crossing"? :unsure:

 

[jis]

Another train hit a vehicle at a grade crossing just east of Raleigh, and the Star got stuck behind it.

 

[pennyk]

I just heard from the Star. Another train hit a grade crossing and caused their train to sit for an hour.

How does a train "hit a grade crossing"? :unsure:

I was repeating what I was told. :wacko:

 

[pennyk]

I am leaving Orlando in a few minutes to head to WPK to meet the meteor. I am short and am wearing a green vest and maybe a hat.

 

[Shanghai]

I am leaving Orlando in a few minutes to head to WPK to meet the meteor. I am short and am wearing a green vest and maybe a hat.

Since you are driving, please be careful not to hit any grade crossings!!

And no wrong turns!!

I hope you all have a wonderful mini-Gathering!!

 

[Rail Freak]

Ya'll Have Fun! I'm already regretting not attending, Maybe because I got stuck with cooking outside today in this Florida Cold Front!!! :lol:

RF

 

[pennyk]

The Florida Mini Gathering is officially over. I am back home in my condo. Bill Haithcoat should be in Lakeland visiting his cousin via Greyhound bus. AlanB (our mystery guest), the_traveler, NJCoastExp and Jis are all safely on the Silver Star which is running more or less on time out of WPK. I assume they are eating dinner now. I just received a text message that they were passing through Sanford. Reefgeek should be at his hotel near the interstate, Frugalist and his wife are on their way by automobile back to their hotel room near the tourist area of Orlando, RRBill and his wife are on their way driving to Tampa.

There were 11 of us total, although only 9 decided to go on the Winter Park Scenic Boat Tour. Because the southbound Star was running 4+ hours late, we had canceled our 3pm boat tour, but with a few minutes to spare, we decided to see if they still had room for us and they did. Although it was a bit chilly for those of us (me only) from Florida, it was a nice way to spend an hour. After the boat tour, I drove Bill Haithcoat to the Greyhound bus station and NJCoastExp (Piotr) accompanied me. We assisted Bill with his luggage inside the station and Piotr and I were astounded that we had to go through security. Niether of us was carrying anything that we should have been carrying, but we were still surprised. Piotr got a tour of the "other side of the tracks" in Orlando. The rest of the group met at a wine bar across from the WPK station to hang out. RRBill and his wife opted to skip the wine bar and go directly to Tampa.

It was great to see everyone again and meet a couple of new folks. I want to thank the_traveler for working hard to be able to make this trip (and helping me with my multiplication) and to Alan for helping me coordinate activities. Alan is certainly an expert at figuring out what to do when and taking into consideration late trains. He considered a late Meteor, but did not think that the Star would be 4+ hours late. I want to thank everyone else for attending and making my day. I did not ride any trains today, but I got to see two Silver Stars and two Silver Meteors (all at the WPK station - a first for me) and one freight train (which I saw from the wine bar).

 

[frugalist]

Penny, thank you for getting the ball rolling on this mini-gathering. Since we came up to Orlando for the holiday weekend, joining you guys was literally a last-minute decision. And we're glad we made it. It was great meeting everyone. We had a wonderful time watching the trains, walking around Winter Park, relaxing at the wine bar and talking trains and other stuff with everyone. Thanks again.

 

[Dovecote]

Penny, Happy to hear the Mini-G proved successful. And thank you, as well as others, who posted get well wishes for me and my wife. We are both recovery but not fast enough! Hopefully the next time we make it to Orlando we can get together and among other things talk about train travel.

 

[reefgeek]

Penny, thanks for getting this going. It was great to meet all of you and spend some time with you. Frugalist, thanks for running me out to the hotel. I hope to see you guys and gals again.

 

[Shanghai]

Glad the event was successful and everyone had a good time.

I hope the train travels on the way home are good ones.

 

[pennyk]

Those on 92 are all home except the_traveler who is on 66 right now somewhere in MD on his way to Boston then home to KIN.