Mystic River Dragon
Engineer
- Joined
- Dec 26, 2014
- Messages
- 4,456
I took Northeast Regional 95 today from Trenton to Alexandria, and it was a lovely trip. The train was clean and on time all the way. I was in BC and after some people left at Philly it was fairly empty.
I was in seat 14F and my boarding location at TRE was 14F—I’m not usually so coordinated!
Because of the connecting light rail off-peak schedule, I got to TRE about 45 minutes before my train. I wasn’t expecting to see much there, and I was pleasantly surprised.
I saw something coming slowly down a middle track—it was an NJT consist being led by a huge engine that said Bombardier. I think it was one of the new ones being tested.
Then I saw another NJT consist, going north, and it had a brown Pennsylvania Railroad car in back of the engine. That was quite a surprise, and I have no idea what that was all about.
So I had some interesting things to look at.
I haven’t been on a train going south for over a year, and my perspective was completely different today than it was then.
It was wonderful to again see all the things I’ve missed so much—the Philly skyline, the whale mural at Wilmington, the rivers and other bodies of water.
But even the warehouses and row houses and muddy streams and traffic and all the other things I always considered mundane or ugly today had a charm as well—perhaps because I was grateful that after a year I could see them from a train window again.
It also was nice to see all the commuter rails again—SEPTA, MARC, and VRE.
As we neared Alexandria, the conductor took my bag up to the door that would be opening and had me sit near it. Then he helped me detrain (they still have the yellow stool to step on—some things really never do change!) while one of the station attendants brought my bag down. After being out of practice for a year, I was grateful for the help.
I waved to the conductor as the train left, then headed for my hotel and a few days in this lovely town.
I was in seat 14F and my boarding location at TRE was 14F—I’m not usually so coordinated!
Because of the connecting light rail off-peak schedule, I got to TRE about 45 minutes before my train. I wasn’t expecting to see much there, and I was pleasantly surprised.
I saw something coming slowly down a middle track—it was an NJT consist being led by a huge engine that said Bombardier. I think it was one of the new ones being tested.
Then I saw another NJT consist, going north, and it had a brown Pennsylvania Railroad car in back of the engine. That was quite a surprise, and I have no idea what that was all about.
So I had some interesting things to look at.
I haven’t been on a train going south for over a year, and my perspective was completely different today than it was then.
It was wonderful to again see all the things I’ve missed so much—the Philly skyline, the whale mural at Wilmington, the rivers and other bodies of water.
But even the warehouses and row houses and muddy streams and traffic and all the other things I always considered mundane or ugly today had a charm as well—perhaps because I was grateful that after a year I could see them from a train window again.
It also was nice to see all the commuter rails again—SEPTA, MARC, and VRE.
As we neared Alexandria, the conductor took my bag up to the door that would be opening and had me sit near it. Then he helped me detrain (they still have the yellow stool to step on—some things really never do change!) while one of the station attendants brought my bag down. After being out of practice for a year, I was grateful for the help.
I waved to the conductor as the train left, then headed for my hotel and a few days in this lovely town.