the_traveler
Engineer
Who's going?
How many AGR points does it take to be IN the Space Shuttle?
I love circle trips!
STS-135/Silver Star
- Thread starter RCrierie
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Who's going?How many AGR points does it take to be IN the Space Shuttle?I love circle trips!
Since the_traveler is interested, there is a special AGR promotion for One Way trips!!
RCrierie
Train Attendant
So I'm in Melbourne right now.
Some impressions of #91 Silver Star:
When I first went onto the tracks at WAS Union Station, I thought that the wrong train was on my track -- I saw an AEM-7 instead of a diesel, then I saw the Viewliner cars. The cars were without HEP for a bit, and they got a bit hot sitting there at Union Station before the diesels were hooked up and HEP came back on.
I cannot emphasize how much of a lifesaver to a coach passenger the Cafe/Lounge Cars are.
It seems that window seats on Amfleets tend to get hot in the daytime, especially in a Southern Summer; as the baggage bins overhead block the airflow from the vents in the center roof. (the side vents on the windows seem to not work now)
Also, due to pecularities, you may not get a good window coach seat when the attendant assigns you -- seat is at a poor window position, meaning you have to crane your head (can get a bit painful if you are a six footer like me) to see out the window well. Or it may be smudged.
So wandering up to the Lounge with it's unobstructed air conditioning flow, you can quickly find a table to sit at with a clear(ish) window that's in-line with your seat.
On #91, the Cafe/Lounge was deserted almost all the time during the trip. About 1/4 of the lounge was always occupied by Amtrak personnel resting or doing their paperwork in the end towards the dining car. Only a very few people were sitting at the tables -- everyone bought their meals and went back to coach.
Perhaps Amtrak could make it clear(er) through a sign that you don't need to buy something to get a table in the Cafe/Lounge?
Photography through the windows was tricky. I tried putting my camera lens against the glass to have my lens hood block out glare as some have suggested here; but that didn't work so well, since the glass on Amfleets is angled inwards slightly; meaning your camera when it's flat against the glass is pointing upwards.
I managed to snag a 5 PM dinner reservation in the Dining car, which was a beautifully restored heritage fleet car:
The food (I had the steak) was pretty good. It wasn't as complete or large a meal as one you could get at The Outback Steakhouse, but for something being served to me at 60 MPH in a small enclosed space, it was pretty good. The pricing of the steak seems a bit high at first, but it makes sense when you see it.
The Steak is a choice cut, which has no bone in it and very, very little fat. It's virtually all meat; meaning you eat all of it except for a few very fatty scraps; whereas with a more traditional cut, you have a lot of bone and fat left over. Which makes sense given that you need to store a lot of them in a small space to serve dinner for a train of 200+ people.
While we were eating dinner, the Silver Star passed through a small college town somewhere in Virginia -- when I say passed through, I mean literally passed through -- we could see people's front yards and backyards as we went through the middle of the college campus! I'm sure someone with better knowledge of the route will be able to place a name to this place.
This isn't a very scenick-y route -- you cross over quite a few rivers and one or two deep valleys on bridges:
But for the most part, you spend your time looking at a lot of trees pass by along the route (it's heavily forested).
One of the things that struck me was how much capacity is un-used on this route -- we crossed over bridges that were significantly wider than the tracks on them now; and there was a lot of evidence (wide level areas clear of trees) that there had once been more tracks on the line; but no longer.
The real scenery on the route was in the small towns you passed through on a regular basis, in some cases right down the main street (or next to it).
This was taken from a trestle I believe. Apologies for the fuzziness. I'm still getting used to the right settings to use for photographing from something moving at 60+ MPH.
When it got dark, I simply read on my Kindle; and then tried to use my laptop in the Cafe/Lounge -- the hard drive kept going into SAFE MODE due to all the rumblings, jerking and swaying -- I could have lowered the HDD vibration sensors into a less sensitive setting, but eh.
It does show that if you really travel on the train a lot, a SSD of some sorts is necessary to deal with the regular vibrations/swaying; which while not annoying to people, can deal havoc with rapidly spinning hard disks.
Once the sun went down, the Amfleet coach window seats got a lot more comfortable; and by about midnight it was a bit cool there.
Unfortunately, I didn't have a good time trying to sleep that night in coach. I'm a tall person -- 6 foot, and while the seats could recline back pretty far, and you could put up a footrest to lay on; those are better suited for small children and shorties than for someone big like me. I got maybe 1 to 1.5 hours of sleep that night. :-(
When I go back up to Washington on the 11th on the #92; I'll be a bit better prepared with:
* Fluffy Pillow (The ones they give you are adequate, and do sort of work.)
* Eye Shade (While they turn off the side lighting at 10-11PM, there's still enough lighting from the center aisle overheads to irritate me -- I like it dark)
* Cheap blanket from a thrift store
* Sleeping Pills to help me sleep (I have to sleep horizontally, I can't fall asleep in a barcalounger).
After the #92; I'll be in a better position to state whether sleeping in coach is worth the $$$ you save.
PS - Can a moderator change the title of this thread from "STS-135" to "STS-135/Silver Star"? Thanks!
Some impressions of #91 Silver Star:
When I first went onto the tracks at WAS Union Station, I thought that the wrong train was on my track -- I saw an AEM-7 instead of a diesel, then I saw the Viewliner cars. The cars were without HEP for a bit, and they got a bit hot sitting there at Union Station before the diesels were hooked up and HEP came back on.
I cannot emphasize how much of a lifesaver to a coach passenger the Cafe/Lounge Cars are.
It seems that window seats on Amfleets tend to get hot in the daytime, especially in a Southern Summer; as the baggage bins overhead block the airflow from the vents in the center roof. (the side vents on the windows seem to not work now)
Also, due to pecularities, you may not get a good window coach seat when the attendant assigns you -- seat is at a poor window position, meaning you have to crane your head (can get a bit painful if you are a six footer like me) to see out the window well. Or it may be smudged.
So wandering up to the Lounge with it's unobstructed air conditioning flow, you can quickly find a table to sit at with a clear(ish) window that's in-line with your seat.
On #91, the Cafe/Lounge was deserted almost all the time during the trip. About 1/4 of the lounge was always occupied by Amtrak personnel resting or doing their paperwork in the end towards the dining car. Only a very few people were sitting at the tables -- everyone bought their meals and went back to coach.
Perhaps Amtrak could make it clear(er) through a sign that you don't need to buy something to get a table in the Cafe/Lounge?
Photography through the windows was tricky. I tried putting my camera lens against the glass to have my lens hood block out glare as some have suggested here; but that didn't work so well, since the glass on Amfleets is angled inwards slightly; meaning your camera when it's flat against the glass is pointing upwards.
I managed to snag a 5 PM dinner reservation in the Dining car, which was a beautifully restored heritage fleet car:
The food (I had the steak) was pretty good. It wasn't as complete or large a meal as one you could get at The Outback Steakhouse, but for something being served to me at 60 MPH in a small enclosed space, it was pretty good. The pricing of the steak seems a bit high at first, but it makes sense when you see it.
The Steak is a choice cut, which has no bone in it and very, very little fat. It's virtually all meat; meaning you eat all of it except for a few very fatty scraps; whereas with a more traditional cut, you have a lot of bone and fat left over. Which makes sense given that you need to store a lot of them in a small space to serve dinner for a train of 200+ people.
While we were eating dinner, the Silver Star passed through a small college town somewhere in Virginia -- when I say passed through, I mean literally passed through -- we could see people's front yards and backyards as we went through the middle of the college campus! I'm sure someone with better knowledge of the route will be able to place a name to this place.
This isn't a very scenick-y route -- you cross over quite a few rivers and one or two deep valleys on bridges:
But for the most part, you spend your time looking at a lot of trees pass by along the route (it's heavily forested).
One of the things that struck me was how much capacity is un-used on this route -- we crossed over bridges that were significantly wider than the tracks on them now; and there was a lot of evidence (wide level areas clear of trees) that there had once been more tracks on the line; but no longer.
The real scenery on the route was in the small towns you passed through on a regular basis, in some cases right down the main street (or next to it).
This was taken from a trestle I believe. Apologies for the fuzziness. I'm still getting used to the right settings to use for photographing from something moving at 60+ MPH.
When it got dark, I simply read on my Kindle; and then tried to use my laptop in the Cafe/Lounge -- the hard drive kept going into SAFE MODE due to all the rumblings, jerking and swaying -- I could have lowered the HDD vibration sensors into a less sensitive setting, but eh.
It does show that if you really travel on the train a lot, a SSD of some sorts is necessary to deal with the regular vibrations/swaying; which while not annoying to people, can deal havoc with rapidly spinning hard disks.
Once the sun went down, the Amfleet coach window seats got a lot more comfortable; and by about midnight it was a bit cool there.
Unfortunately, I didn't have a good time trying to sleep that night in coach. I'm a tall person -- 6 foot, and while the seats could recline back pretty far, and you could put up a footrest to lay on; those are better suited for small children and shorties than for someone big like me. I got maybe 1 to 1.5 hours of sleep that night. :-(
When I go back up to Washington on the 11th on the #92; I'll be a bit better prepared with:
* Fluffy Pillow (The ones they give you are adequate, and do sort of work.)
* Eye Shade (While they turn off the side lighting at 10-11PM, there's still enough lighting from the center aisle overheads to irritate me -- I like it dark)
* Cheap blanket from a thrift store
* Sleeping Pills to help me sleep (I have to sleep horizontally, I can't fall asleep in a barcalounger).
After the #92; I'll be in a better position to state whether sleeping in coach is worth the $$$ you save.
PS - Can a moderator change the title of this thread from "STS-135" to "STS-135/Silver Star"? Thanks!
I haven't ridden either of the Silvers, but would guess the small college town in Virginia is Ashland, outside of Richmond and the college would be Randolph Macon. Also, the river in your picture looks a lot like the James River, also near Richmond. Others who have actually ridden the route may be able to correct me if I am wrong or confirm.
Rafi
Conductor
I'll be down at STS-135 tomorrow as well--seems like it's a mini AU gathering! :lol:
Let's just keep our fingers crossed that the weather cooperates. We're looking at a 30% chance of the launch happening right now, with Saturday at 40% and Sunday at 60%. And of course if there's a mechanical problem, we've got a blackout until NEXT weekend as the Titan IV is scheduled to go up this week.
Fingers crossed!!
Rafi
Let's just keep our fingers crossed that the weather cooperates. We're looking at a 30% chance of the launch happening right now, with Saturday at 40% and Sunday at 60%. And of course if there's a mechanical problem, we've got a blackout until NEXT weekend as the Titan IV is scheduled to go up this week.
Fingers crossed!!
Rafi
Yes, Ashland and Randolph Macon is correct. It is a nice scenery as the train passes through the middle of town at a slow speed.
We just had an electrical storm in Central Florida. NASA is now determining whether the shuttle sustained a lightning strike. If not, the local news is still reporting a 30% chance. On a clear day, I usually can see the lift off from my office, however, I will be doing a points run on Friday, and if both the launch and the Star are on time, I will be in Kissimmee launch time. I have no idea what I will be able to see.
Ryan
Court Jester
So jealous.
Of course the 2 day meeting that prevented me from going finished up in one day, so I could have taken tomorrow off and made the launch.
That last picture you posted looks like Weldon, NC - I recognize it from our trip for the failed STS-134 launch.
Of course the 2 day meeting that prevented me from going finished up in one day, so I could have taken tomorrow off and made the launch.
That last picture you posted looks like Weldon, NC - I recognize it from our trip for the failed STS-134 launch.
gdj
Train Attendant
If the little town was north of Richmond and you went right down the street with houses on either side, you were in Ashland, VA. The college is Randolph Macon College. Your river picture appears to be the crossing of the James River at Richmond. You couldn't see it, but you were crossing on a beautiful stone arch bridge.
Gary
RCrierie
Train Attendant
Peter Cullen - Voice of Optimus Prime
He will be at the KSC Visitor's Center Rocket Garden again on Saturday July 9th from 10.45 to 11.45 AM
David Weber and Vernor Vinge (blue jacket)
They will once again be at KSC Visitor's Center Kurt Debus Conference Facility from 3.30 PM to 6 PM on July 9th as well.
"Order a Phaser barriage of the major cities of this planet until they submit to the Empire, Mr Sulu; or it'll be the agony booth for you."
The Star Trek exhibits opened early -- they were supposed to open on the 11th, but they were open today I guess for the launch crowds.
Successful launch -- hope everyone got a good view.
RCrierie
Train Attendant
30% chance of a launch on Friday, heh.
My Sheer WINFULNESS intimidated mother nature into being nice.
I watched the launch from:
28°24'29.26"N 80°35'29.70"W
Got there at about 6.30 or 7 AM; after leaving the hotel at 5.30. Cost me only $10 to go to the Canaveral Park; and I got a parking space at 28°24'24.70"N 80°35'29.87"W.
FOOM
SMOKE
My Sheer WINFULNESS intimidated mother nature into being nice.
I watched the launch from:
28°24'29.26"N 80°35'29.70"W
Got there at about 6.30 or 7 AM; after leaving the hotel at 5.30. Cost me only $10 to go to the Canaveral Park; and I got a parking space at 28°24'24.70"N 80°35'29.87"W.
FOOM
SMOKE
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