Overall, it was pretty good. It started on December 25, 2004, at Saint Cloud, MN. The train was about 2 hours late or so, but, seeing as how I was leaving on vacation, this didn't trouble me. One thing that I thought was really smart was as the train pulled past the station, the engineer stuck his head out of the cab window. He was dressed as Santa Claus! Too bad there were no small children around to see it, as I'm sure they would have loved it. So, instead of leaving at 5:11 am, I left town at 7:20 am. Other than that, the train neither gained time nor lost it as we continued towards Chicago. I noticed that in order to make time, we shortened the stops at places like St. Paul, to just enough time to load the train. The trip was very picturesque as we travelled along the Mississippi and the train kicked up the snow as we passed. Across Lake Pepin, one could see the snow covered bluffs that line the Mississippi, all covered in new fallen snow, as the train whisked us down the track in the midst of the snowfall. The trip was fairly quiet - much more quiet than a plane. Oh, there were a few grumbles along the way from folks whose main complaint was the tardiness of the train, but then, planes and autos can be delayed as well. The snowfall was such that driving would have been a real serious headache - I was happy to be going to Florida, and letting someone else take care of the driving responsibilities for once. We arrived into Chicago with perhaps 20 minutes to catch the Capitol, and then continue the trip to Washington D.C.
Aboard the Capitol Ltd, I had a sleeper. The car (and the train) appeared to be close to capacity, making me wish that some of the individuals on certain other BBS would ride this train. They'd realize that plenty of folks ride the trains. They'd also realize that trains like this one make therir ridership by stopping on the middle points of each route and picking people up, which is different than travelling by aircraft. Most of the ridership takes place from one mid-point to another mid-point, but some folks don't want to be bothered with the facts. Enough with the preaching. As I travelled furthur east, I was ble to see many of the holiday lights that many people had on their homes. This added a nice touch to the good dinner I had, and the scenery that I saw earlier in the route. There are things you see from the train that you will never see from the highway! Now, the railroad tracks travel through towns and trough neighborhoods, and so I could see these lights. The railroad right-of-way is much less than a U.S. highway (25 feet vs. 100 yds).
We arrived a little bit late, but not much. I had plenty of time to walk from Washington DC station over to the National Gallery of Art, before boarding #98 south bound to Ft. Lauderdale.
Going south to Ft. Lauderdale, the coach was packed, I mean, totally sold out. There was a bit of a party going on in the lounge car until the early hours of the morning, with a unique cast of characters. The coach itself was a bit warm, but then that was to help the passengers sleep a bit better. The train going southbound did have some weather -related issues, however. We had to stop several times so that they train crew could clear the switches, as they were frozen from the weather (what is this, CSX can't afford switch heaters?). So, this slowed us down, till we were again about two hours down. There were some passengers who complained of the tardiness, but then again, driving thrugh that sort of weather would have been even more of a headache - and, yes, they would have been just as delayed on the highways and airports as we were aboard the train. The fact that the train had only one engine might have also played a factor as well. Perhaps the single engine (I think it was a P-42, or P40) just doens't have enough h.p. to keep the schedule.
Returning northbound, we left Ft. Lauderdale on time, but seemed to lose time, a little bit at a time, as we travelled north. There were some signals out, as well as a malfunctioning drawbridge, just south of Jacksonville, FL, so this delayed us for a while. Again, this delay was something that the "host" RR is responsible for, yet Amtrak suffers from it. There was a wide range of passengers aboard, which proved to be a source of entrtainment if one is into people watching. A shame, though, that none of the young women aboard were my age, otherwise I would have joined in on the fun! As it was, I kept to the sidelines and just did some people watching, and book reading. I took the sleeper again, which was full by the time we left Florida, and the little roomette was just right for someone like me.
We arrived into Washington, DC, about 10:30 the next morning, though, after a pleasant breakfast with another person who, I discovered, shared a few of the same interests in trains that I did.
While in D.C., I had some time between trains, so I changed into some cold weather clothes and went to the Smithsonian. That was a sight to behold - I think they have new displays up every time I pass through DC. The station's proximity to the Smithsonian (20 minute walk on good days) helps out a bit too. I think that D.C. serves as a good break from being on the train overnight from MN or WI. I left D.C. on time, again in the sleeper aboard the Capitol. The dinner was good, and so was the breakfast. So was the reading.
The only major flaw in this portion of the trip was that, nearing Chicago, the train in front of us had some mechanical failure of some sort. I figured that it wasn't worth my energy to get vexed about this sort of thing, as one can have mechanical breakdowns in all modes of travel, not just the train. While the dispatcher and Norfolk Southern RR set about dealing with their trains' breakdown, we who occupied the train behind them cooled our heels. We arrived into Chicago by 12:20 that afternoon, about 2 hours down. This was plenty of time for me to make my next train, the one that would take me "Up North," to the north country.
I departed Chicago on-time at 2:10 pm, and had an on-time arrival in Saint Cloud. All in all, a good trip, though there were a couple of glitches. The food was good. As for some of the other issues, I'd like to point out that no method of travel is perfect. I look forward to repeating this trip in the future.
Aboard the Capitol Ltd, I had a sleeper. The car (and the train) appeared to be close to capacity, making me wish that some of the individuals on certain other BBS would ride this train. They'd realize that plenty of folks ride the trains. They'd also realize that trains like this one make therir ridership by stopping on the middle points of each route and picking people up, which is different than travelling by aircraft. Most of the ridership takes place from one mid-point to another mid-point, but some folks don't want to be bothered with the facts. Enough with the preaching. As I travelled furthur east, I was ble to see many of the holiday lights that many people had on their homes. This added a nice touch to the good dinner I had, and the scenery that I saw earlier in the route. There are things you see from the train that you will never see from the highway! Now, the railroad tracks travel through towns and trough neighborhoods, and so I could see these lights. The railroad right-of-way is much less than a U.S. highway (25 feet vs. 100 yds).
We arrived a little bit late, but not much. I had plenty of time to walk from Washington DC station over to the National Gallery of Art, before boarding #98 south bound to Ft. Lauderdale.
Going south to Ft. Lauderdale, the coach was packed, I mean, totally sold out. There was a bit of a party going on in the lounge car until the early hours of the morning, with a unique cast of characters. The coach itself was a bit warm, but then that was to help the passengers sleep a bit better. The train going southbound did have some weather -related issues, however. We had to stop several times so that they train crew could clear the switches, as they were frozen from the weather (what is this, CSX can't afford switch heaters?). So, this slowed us down, till we were again about two hours down. There were some passengers who complained of the tardiness, but then again, driving thrugh that sort of weather would have been even more of a headache - and, yes, they would have been just as delayed on the highways and airports as we were aboard the train. The fact that the train had only one engine might have also played a factor as well. Perhaps the single engine (I think it was a P-42, or P40) just doens't have enough h.p. to keep the schedule.
Returning northbound, we left Ft. Lauderdale on time, but seemed to lose time, a little bit at a time, as we travelled north. There were some signals out, as well as a malfunctioning drawbridge, just south of Jacksonville, FL, so this delayed us for a while. Again, this delay was something that the "host" RR is responsible for, yet Amtrak suffers from it. There was a wide range of passengers aboard, which proved to be a source of entrtainment if one is into people watching. A shame, though, that none of the young women aboard were my age, otherwise I would have joined in on the fun! As it was, I kept to the sidelines and just did some people watching, and book reading. I took the sleeper again, which was full by the time we left Florida, and the little roomette was just right for someone like me.
We arrived into Washington, DC, about 10:30 the next morning, though, after a pleasant breakfast with another person who, I discovered, shared a few of the same interests in trains that I did.
While in D.C., I had some time between trains, so I changed into some cold weather clothes and went to the Smithsonian. That was a sight to behold - I think they have new displays up every time I pass through DC. The station's proximity to the Smithsonian (20 minute walk on good days) helps out a bit too. I think that D.C. serves as a good break from being on the train overnight from MN or WI. I left D.C. on time, again in the sleeper aboard the Capitol. The dinner was good, and so was the breakfast. So was the reading.
The only major flaw in this portion of the trip was that, nearing Chicago, the train in front of us had some mechanical failure of some sort. I figured that it wasn't worth my energy to get vexed about this sort of thing, as one can have mechanical breakdowns in all modes of travel, not just the train. While the dispatcher and Norfolk Southern RR set about dealing with their trains' breakdown, we who occupied the train behind them cooled our heels. We arrived into Chicago by 12:20 that afternoon, about 2 hours down. This was plenty of time for me to make my next train, the one that would take me "Up North," to the north country.
I departed Chicago on-time at 2:10 pm, and had an on-time arrival in Saint Cloud. All in all, a good trip, though there were a couple of glitches. The food was good. As for some of the other issues, I'd like to point out that no method of travel is perfect. I look forward to repeating this trip in the future.
