Green Maned Lion
Engineer
Strasburg Railroad Trip
Some of this isn’t rail-trip, but most of it is. Basically, about a month-month and a half ago, we were looking for a relatively inexpensive trip to get away from the stress of our current life situation. It had to be overnight, and while Amtrak trips were considered, the urgency of getting away for a while ruled out Amtrak trips, all of them seemingly at high buckets. So instead we settled on going to Strasburg, PA.
We got up at around 7:15 in the morning. This was amazing. I had set the alarm for such a wake up, but normally I tend to shut off the alarm while in such a degree of sleep that when I do wake up, I wonder why the alarm didn’t go off until I notice the physical switch has been switched off. This time, however, we were out of bed pretty fast. Even my extremely-hard-to-wake-up girlfriend managed to get up with some alacrity.
Said good bye to my sleepy father, we were out on the road immediately. We had contemplated taking the Keystone to Lancaster and taxing, but we figured the cost would be much higher than driving- and money for us is a very scarce asset. This especially proved true when my father, who was in one of his very generous moods, told us that he would pay for fuel. So we set out, taking a bunch of scenic and not so scenic roads. Some of them made me wish I wasn’t driving, simply because I would have liked to pay more attention to the non-vehicular world around me.
Finally, getting off US-30 I was astonished when we proceeded to pull up behind a buggy pulled by a horse going about 15 miles an hour. Having absolutely no experience whatsoever with passing horse-propelled vehicles, I sat there wondering what to do. To my shock, a guy in a car first blasted me with a horn and then shot past me over the double yellow line. I then very carefully passed the buggy myself. I was astonished the animals didn't get spooked.
Shortly, we arrived at the Red Caboose Motel well in advance of check in time. We noticed a place giving horse and buggy rides, and Audrey expressed interest in checking them out. We then checked into the motel, and found out that, while we were very early check-in time wise, our room was, in fact, ready. We moved our stuff into the room... well, the caboose. The Caboose was number 5, painted in New York, New Haven, and Hartford livery. It was what they called a "Couple's Suite", or "Full Caboose".
It had a small sitting area with an arm-chair convertible (the smallest convertible I have ever seen), a TV, a small refrigerator, a microwave, some cabinets, and a table with chairs. The Bedroom was a bit tight with the queen bed, but adequate. The bathroom was tiny, and the shower was very poorly water-sealed, such that it constantly leaked when being used. The room was nice, but a bit in disrepair- some broken trim pieces, and the first of many many cracked windows we saw during this trip. One thing I noticed on the last day explained why I found the bed extremely comfortable. The mattress was a Kings Down Emerald Crown, a fantastic mattress if I do say so myself- it is, after all, the mattress on my bed at home!
We then walked around the yard looking at all the different cabooses there. We took a detour and visited the National Toy Train Museum. I was astonished by this place. Not the quality of the layouts (which was high) the extensiveness of their collection (it was extensive) or the all-encompassing literature in the library (it was pretty all encompassing). No, what surprised me was the gift shop. The gift shop was a small place selling some used magazines and some shirts. You see, I was expecting this place to simply be a glorified model train store. It wasn't, and I highly recommend it to anyone who visits the area.
We then went in for lunch at the motels dining-car (their restaurant is in a dining car...) and frankly, I was unimpressed. The service was exceptional, the food mediocre. I hate being forced to leave a nice tip for mediocre food. It doesn't happen often- bad food usually comes with bad service. Not so this place. It was amusing how it occasionally had some kind of mechanism make it rock back and forth. For the price, however, my greasy, tasteless hamburger was awful. It wasn't bad, but it was bad for $9.50!
Following that we then walked (to the astonishment of a few people I asked for directions) to the Railroad Museum of Pennsylvania. First, though, we walked into the Strasburg to pick up our tickets- I had forgotten the times I had reserved for. This place was pretty impressive, I have to say. The stuff inside the building was in decent shape, and they had some nice pieces there. I do, however, have to point out that there is a distinct lack of streamlined, light-weight equipment. This equipment, while some of it still rides the rails, is deserving of display for its historic significance. None of it, I repeat, none, was on display inside the museum.
The equipment in the yard was, frankly, even more interesting. Some of it really POed me, though. For example, we know the Museum received the last E60 from Amtrak in about '03. While I'm sure it was not in pristine shape at the time, there is no way it was as bad as this is! I mean, it had to be pretty fresh off the operating roster. It had to still be in near functional condition, did it not? This engine is now a forlorn, forgotten bucket of rust. The Stainless equipment looks good from afar, but up close is ravaged with rust, rot, and frankly, it is in such structurally bad condition in places that I am shocked they let people board it. One set of stairs on a Budd RDC was so bad it almost gave out under my weight! The Metroliner is also a car of such historical significance that it does not belong out in the yard!
After we were done with scouring every single bit of this attraction, including a working model steam locomotive in Stewert Junction, we went to the store. I bought myself two Pennsylvania Railroad T-shirts- they had my size. Then we went back to the motel and decided to take a horse-and-buggy ride for $20. It was interesting, let me tell ya. We also stopped by a place that sold fantastic home made root beer. I'd take this ride just to be made aware of the location of the root beer site.
When we got back to our motel, we ate dinner. I had a "Turkey Dinner", which involved turkey and stuffing mashed together with some extremely watery mashed potatoes. They then insulted me by not only charging $15.00 for this garbage, but charging separately for each refill of soda. Once again, however, good service dictated a decent tip. We then went and checked out both the petting zoo and playground. I admit it, we are kids at heart. We finally went to bed, the temperature finally low enough, and slept fairly soundly until 5:30.
At which point I was bolt upright. I came to the assumption that breakfast wouldn't be sold that early, and at 6:00 we decided to take a drive to Lancaster to the Amtrak station. This is the saddest station I have ever seen. I know the Amshacks are sad in their own way and the platform only stations are similarly sad in their own way. But this was different. For those who don't know it, the Lancaster station is in the old Pennsylvania Station. Except this building is in horrible disrepair. Mold, mildew, broken windows, rust, cracked masonry. It would be like seeing a once beautiful queen on the streets in torn clothes, raped, beaten, broke, and begging- still dignified, but heart broken. A redcap I talked to- even he seemed in place with the surroundings, in his leather jacket- said they were going to restore it. I hope so. Even the platforms are shortened and mostly fenced off. Of the 10 original tracks that ran through this station and 4 that served it, it is served by 2, 3 run through it, and there is one spur. Sad.
We got to the Strasburg, and ate breakfast. This was really the final straw. My breakfast was pretty good to be honest. Decent sausages, nice chocolate chip and banana pancakes, if a bit overcooked. My girlfriend ordered, however, a danish. She figured this would be a fairly fresh danish. It came out heated up still in its Sara Lee wrapper. I mean, you'd think the least they could do is take it out and put it on the plate they were dirtying anyway. This was ridiculous, seriously.
After checking out of our hotel and picking up another crate of the fantastic root beer, at around 10:00. I then decided that I would love to ride it a 3rd time in coach, in addition to the dining car and first class car. The ticket agent told me he could save me some money by exchanging my tickets for some kind of pass. But after playing with the computer for a while, he gave up, and simply gave us tickets for the 11 o'clock in coach complimentarily. Everyone at the Strasburg seemed nice and happy. Watching the old locomotive was awesome in and of itself.
The Genesis is a nice engine, and the old E/F engines are very pretty, but a steam engine seems like it is alive. Even in the rain it was an amazing experience. The coaches were beautiful inside and out. Even the rain could not damp our good time. The announcements were nice, the train ride magical. The ride was over all too soon, and we were out in the rain again.
We searched all the shops- they have a fantastic book store, but it is horrendously overpriced. We enjoyed the place, but the side attractions were not running because it was raining. Still, the time in between the 11:00 and 1:00 run passed quickly, and we soon boarded the train again to eat lunch. I was figuring the food would be mediocre at best, and I was wrong. The food was excellent, most of it pretty fresh. The servers were friendly, the food well presented. Classy. We heard almost the exact same spiel through the speakers, though. So much for unscripted.
We got off and burned up a few more hours of time, then boarded the 4:00 train in first class. Normally, at this time of year, they offer an open car, several coaches, one and a half dining cars, and one and half parlour cars. During the summer months, they offer this plus an additional car called "The President's Car", which is Reading's Business car, Car 10. With that service, you get to ride in that car and get free alcohol. Due to the second parlor being in service, they substituted the Presidents Car, so we got to ride in it, albeit paying for our liquor. Everyone else in first class, the fools, went up to the half-parlor car so they could hear the spiel. Us, having heard it twice already, were perfectly fine not hearing it. Infact, it was preferable. Instead, we carefully inspected this magnificent business car. A palace on the rails. We spent most of our time in Stateroom D, the smallest for the secretary.
On this last trip, and I really wish I had a picture of it, we were able to see the amazing anachronism of a meet of Norfolk & Western's 475 and its compliment of cars with Amtrak's Keystone, probably a slightly late 665. As if to salute, the Amtrak blasted its horn, and 475 tooted its whistle in answer. I wonder what the passengers on the Keystone thought. I bet the Amtrak engineer envied the driver of 475.
After getting back, we went back to the motel... I was slightly tipsy from the liquor xD... and sat around for a bit playing with goats and taking pictures. Finally, Audrey declared me sober and we went home.
Yes, Strasburg as a town is a tourist trap. But dangit, its a NICE tourist trap.
As for that goat... it was in the petting zoo and was fantastically enamored of the straw I handed him while rejecting the identical straw at its feet. Pictures to follow very very soon..
Some of this isn’t rail-trip, but most of it is. Basically, about a month-month and a half ago, we were looking for a relatively inexpensive trip to get away from the stress of our current life situation. It had to be overnight, and while Amtrak trips were considered, the urgency of getting away for a while ruled out Amtrak trips, all of them seemingly at high buckets. So instead we settled on going to Strasburg, PA.
We got up at around 7:15 in the morning. This was amazing. I had set the alarm for such a wake up, but normally I tend to shut off the alarm while in such a degree of sleep that when I do wake up, I wonder why the alarm didn’t go off until I notice the physical switch has been switched off. This time, however, we were out of bed pretty fast. Even my extremely-hard-to-wake-up girlfriend managed to get up with some alacrity.
Said good bye to my sleepy father, we were out on the road immediately. We had contemplated taking the Keystone to Lancaster and taxing, but we figured the cost would be much higher than driving- and money for us is a very scarce asset. This especially proved true when my father, who was in one of his very generous moods, told us that he would pay for fuel. So we set out, taking a bunch of scenic and not so scenic roads. Some of them made me wish I wasn’t driving, simply because I would have liked to pay more attention to the non-vehicular world around me.
Finally, getting off US-30 I was astonished when we proceeded to pull up behind a buggy pulled by a horse going about 15 miles an hour. Having absolutely no experience whatsoever with passing horse-propelled vehicles, I sat there wondering what to do. To my shock, a guy in a car first blasted me with a horn and then shot past me over the double yellow line. I then very carefully passed the buggy myself. I was astonished the animals didn't get spooked.
Shortly, we arrived at the Red Caboose Motel well in advance of check in time. We noticed a place giving horse and buggy rides, and Audrey expressed interest in checking them out. We then checked into the motel, and found out that, while we were very early check-in time wise, our room was, in fact, ready. We moved our stuff into the room... well, the caboose. The Caboose was number 5, painted in New York, New Haven, and Hartford livery. It was what they called a "Couple's Suite", or "Full Caboose".
It had a small sitting area with an arm-chair convertible (the smallest convertible I have ever seen), a TV, a small refrigerator, a microwave, some cabinets, and a table with chairs. The Bedroom was a bit tight with the queen bed, but adequate. The bathroom was tiny, and the shower was very poorly water-sealed, such that it constantly leaked when being used. The room was nice, but a bit in disrepair- some broken trim pieces, and the first of many many cracked windows we saw during this trip. One thing I noticed on the last day explained why I found the bed extremely comfortable. The mattress was a Kings Down Emerald Crown, a fantastic mattress if I do say so myself- it is, after all, the mattress on my bed at home!
We then walked around the yard looking at all the different cabooses there. We took a detour and visited the National Toy Train Museum. I was astonished by this place. Not the quality of the layouts (which was high) the extensiveness of their collection (it was extensive) or the all-encompassing literature in the library (it was pretty all encompassing). No, what surprised me was the gift shop. The gift shop was a small place selling some used magazines and some shirts. You see, I was expecting this place to simply be a glorified model train store. It wasn't, and I highly recommend it to anyone who visits the area.
We then went in for lunch at the motels dining-car (their restaurant is in a dining car...) and frankly, I was unimpressed. The service was exceptional, the food mediocre. I hate being forced to leave a nice tip for mediocre food. It doesn't happen often- bad food usually comes with bad service. Not so this place. It was amusing how it occasionally had some kind of mechanism make it rock back and forth. For the price, however, my greasy, tasteless hamburger was awful. It wasn't bad, but it was bad for $9.50!
Following that we then walked (to the astonishment of a few people I asked for directions) to the Railroad Museum of Pennsylvania. First, though, we walked into the Strasburg to pick up our tickets- I had forgotten the times I had reserved for. This place was pretty impressive, I have to say. The stuff inside the building was in decent shape, and they had some nice pieces there. I do, however, have to point out that there is a distinct lack of streamlined, light-weight equipment. This equipment, while some of it still rides the rails, is deserving of display for its historic significance. None of it, I repeat, none, was on display inside the museum.
The equipment in the yard was, frankly, even more interesting. Some of it really POed me, though. For example, we know the Museum received the last E60 from Amtrak in about '03. While I'm sure it was not in pristine shape at the time, there is no way it was as bad as this is! I mean, it had to be pretty fresh off the operating roster. It had to still be in near functional condition, did it not? This engine is now a forlorn, forgotten bucket of rust. The Stainless equipment looks good from afar, but up close is ravaged with rust, rot, and frankly, it is in such structurally bad condition in places that I am shocked they let people board it. One set of stairs on a Budd RDC was so bad it almost gave out under my weight! The Metroliner is also a car of such historical significance that it does not belong out in the yard!
After we were done with scouring every single bit of this attraction, including a working model steam locomotive in Stewert Junction, we went to the store. I bought myself two Pennsylvania Railroad T-shirts- they had my size. Then we went back to the motel and decided to take a horse-and-buggy ride for $20. It was interesting, let me tell ya. We also stopped by a place that sold fantastic home made root beer. I'd take this ride just to be made aware of the location of the root beer site.
When we got back to our motel, we ate dinner. I had a "Turkey Dinner", which involved turkey and stuffing mashed together with some extremely watery mashed potatoes. They then insulted me by not only charging $15.00 for this garbage, but charging separately for each refill of soda. Once again, however, good service dictated a decent tip. We then went and checked out both the petting zoo and playground. I admit it, we are kids at heart. We finally went to bed, the temperature finally low enough, and slept fairly soundly until 5:30.
At which point I was bolt upright. I came to the assumption that breakfast wouldn't be sold that early, and at 6:00 we decided to take a drive to Lancaster to the Amtrak station. This is the saddest station I have ever seen. I know the Amshacks are sad in their own way and the platform only stations are similarly sad in their own way. But this was different. For those who don't know it, the Lancaster station is in the old Pennsylvania Station. Except this building is in horrible disrepair. Mold, mildew, broken windows, rust, cracked masonry. It would be like seeing a once beautiful queen on the streets in torn clothes, raped, beaten, broke, and begging- still dignified, but heart broken. A redcap I talked to- even he seemed in place with the surroundings, in his leather jacket- said they were going to restore it. I hope so. Even the platforms are shortened and mostly fenced off. Of the 10 original tracks that ran through this station and 4 that served it, it is served by 2, 3 run through it, and there is one spur. Sad.
We got to the Strasburg, and ate breakfast. This was really the final straw. My breakfast was pretty good to be honest. Decent sausages, nice chocolate chip and banana pancakes, if a bit overcooked. My girlfriend ordered, however, a danish. She figured this would be a fairly fresh danish. It came out heated up still in its Sara Lee wrapper. I mean, you'd think the least they could do is take it out and put it on the plate they were dirtying anyway. This was ridiculous, seriously.
After checking out of our hotel and picking up another crate of the fantastic root beer, at around 10:00. I then decided that I would love to ride it a 3rd time in coach, in addition to the dining car and first class car. The ticket agent told me he could save me some money by exchanging my tickets for some kind of pass. But after playing with the computer for a while, he gave up, and simply gave us tickets for the 11 o'clock in coach complimentarily. Everyone at the Strasburg seemed nice and happy. Watching the old locomotive was awesome in and of itself.
The Genesis is a nice engine, and the old E/F engines are very pretty, but a steam engine seems like it is alive. Even in the rain it was an amazing experience. The coaches were beautiful inside and out. Even the rain could not damp our good time. The announcements were nice, the train ride magical. The ride was over all too soon, and we were out in the rain again.
We searched all the shops- they have a fantastic book store, but it is horrendously overpriced. We enjoyed the place, but the side attractions were not running because it was raining. Still, the time in between the 11:00 and 1:00 run passed quickly, and we soon boarded the train again to eat lunch. I was figuring the food would be mediocre at best, and I was wrong. The food was excellent, most of it pretty fresh. The servers were friendly, the food well presented. Classy. We heard almost the exact same spiel through the speakers, though. So much for unscripted.
We got off and burned up a few more hours of time, then boarded the 4:00 train in first class. Normally, at this time of year, they offer an open car, several coaches, one and a half dining cars, and one and half parlour cars. During the summer months, they offer this plus an additional car called "The President's Car", which is Reading's Business car, Car 10. With that service, you get to ride in that car and get free alcohol. Due to the second parlor being in service, they substituted the Presidents Car, so we got to ride in it, albeit paying for our liquor. Everyone else in first class, the fools, went up to the half-parlor car so they could hear the spiel. Us, having heard it twice already, were perfectly fine not hearing it. Infact, it was preferable. Instead, we carefully inspected this magnificent business car. A palace on the rails. We spent most of our time in Stateroom D, the smallest for the secretary.
On this last trip, and I really wish I had a picture of it, we were able to see the amazing anachronism of a meet of Norfolk & Western's 475 and its compliment of cars with Amtrak's Keystone, probably a slightly late 665. As if to salute, the Amtrak blasted its horn, and 475 tooted its whistle in answer. I wonder what the passengers on the Keystone thought. I bet the Amtrak engineer envied the driver of 475.
After getting back, we went back to the motel... I was slightly tipsy from the liquor xD... and sat around for a bit playing with goats and taking pictures. Finally, Audrey declared me sober and we went home.
Yes, Strasburg as a town is a tourist trap. But dangit, its a NICE tourist trap.
As for that goat... it was in the petting zoo and was fantastically enamored of the straw I handed him while rejecting the identical straw at its feet. Pictures to follow very very soon..
I see she is by the road and maybe in better shape than when I saw it Some years a go (13?)
