jis
Permanent Way Inspector
Staff member
Administator
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AU Supporting Member
Gathering Team Member
I went on a trip for a week to Jacksonville FL. It turned out to be
convenient to take Amtrak down and back, so that is what I did. This is
a report on the journey down to Jacksonville. I had booked Sleeping Car
accommodation for this trip.
I took the Silver Meteor down to Jacksonville from Newark NJ on a Saturday
couple of weeks back. I parked my car at Metropark and took NJT New York
Express to Newark from there. It was a multi-level consist, and as
usual, since I had baggage with me I stayed in the middle level by the
door all the way. It was running pretty much on time and the mighty
ALP-46 managed to keep whipping it along in spite of having a heavy 10
car multi-level consist to handle.
At Newark there was a bit of a wait, which was spent train watching
sitting on the platform that serves tracks 3 and 4. While I was there
several NJT locals, a couple of Amtrak Regionals, a Keystone and an
Acela went by, and then there was the announcement for "Amtrak 97
Silver Meteor to Miami stopping at Alexandria, Richmond, Petersburg,
Rocky Mount etc. etc." and my train 97 Silver Meteor to Miami arrived behind
an AEM-7AC. It had a baggage car, 4 Amfleet II Coaches, an Amfleet II
Diner Lite, a Heritage Diner and 3 Viewliner Sleepers. I was in car 9711
Room 2, which would be the middle of the 3 Viewliners, which are
numbered 9710, 9711 and 9712 starting from the Diner end. It was the
second car from the rear of the train.
Mr. Lee the SCA met me on the platform and whipped off my rollaboard
from my hand, inviting me to board and proceed to my room and said he
will be along with my baggage. So I went in and settled down in my room,
which turned out to be on the left (railfan) side. Soon the train
started moving and Mr. Lee dropped by with my bag. He gave me the usual
operating instructions for the various facilities in the room. I asked
him to set up the upper berth with bedding so that I could climb up and
lie down whenever I wanted. This he did gladly, and said that this is
exactly what he does in his own room too.
After he left I walked over to the coffee and drinks alcove and picked up
some coffee and a glass of Apple Juice and brought it back to the room.
Then I unpacked a few things for the journey and placed the rollaboard
in the luggage space up above the corridor. So I was all set for the journey.
By this time we were racing along at 110mph past Princeton Jct and
Hamilton, and soon arrived at Trenton 5 minutes ahead of schedule and
sat there for departure time. the Diner Chief came by to take dinner
reservations, and I got myself one for 7:30pm just out of Washington DC.
We stopped at Philly, Wilmington and Baltimore before arriving at
Washington DC a few minutes ahead of schedule. The ride along the
Corridor was amazingly smooth on the Viewliner, which are rated for max
speed of 110mph. At Washington, the AEM-7AC was taken off and was
replaced by a pair of P42s elephant style, #91 leading , both looking very
newly painted and serviced - effects of the Stimulus money.
After I had inspected the coupling operation of the P42s and the hooking
up of the HEP cables, I headed back onto the train and straight to the
Diner for dinner. It was one of the Temoinsa rebuild Diners in
immaculate condition, and there was an inviting smell of break and food.
I ordered the steak with some red wine. Salad was served and consumed
before the well prepared steak arrived. This is one of the pleasures
that is hard to come by in too many places in the world anymore in a
commercial service.
As the food arrived the train had departed Washington Union Station,
proceeded through the Capitol Hill Tunnel and emerged from it at
Virginia interlocking, from where a nice view was had of the Capitol
building, as we passed the VRE L'Enfant station. Then it proceeded
towards the Long Bridge with views of the Basin with Jefferson Memorial,
Washington Monument and Lincoln Memorial far away in sight on the right.
As we crossed the Potomac on the left National Airport was visible while
only the right distant image of the Pentagon loomed large. We passed RO
interlocking and passed through the VRE Crystal City Station and on past
SRO interlocking by the enormous office complex coming up in Potomac
Yard, to Alexandria station. This is where the "South" traditionally
began, and it still has that feel.
My dinner companions were a couple for whom this was the first train trip.
The reason they chose the train was the terrible experience they had
when they tried to do this trip before by plane, and also, ironically,
because of how well their friends, who were on that ill fated Auto Train
that got stuck in the snow storm for several days, was treated by Amtrak.
They figured, if something does go wrong, they'd rather be on Amtrak
than on any airline. I was so happy to hear that. Now if only Amtrak
can get some consistency in their treatment of their customers.
Anyway, it was a pleasure to point out all the important things to see as
we departed Washington and headed into Virginia.
After leaving Alexandria it is past AF interlocking where the
ex-Southern (now Norfolk Southern) line to New Orleans branches off at a
flying junction, and onto what used to be the RF&P (now CSX) to
Richmond, which was our next stop. As we left AF behind, on my CB duly
tuned to the right CSX channel, I heard the engineer call out "Engine 91 PO97
Clear AF", and felt him open up the throttle for the quick run to Richmond.
Near Fredericksburg, we got a "Limited Clear" indicating we were
crossing over for an overtake. Soon after we overtook a CSX freight, but
were never crossed back. We continued with "Clear"s past Doswell and
Ashland, all the way to Richmond and arrived 10 mins early.
While we were at Richmond I climbed into my bed upstairs which was
waiting for me and lay down. I opened the curtains of the upstairs
windows to watch the country go by as I slowly dozed off to sleep. This
is one of my favorite pastimes, and what makes the Viewliners my most
favorite Sleeping Cars. The only other place where I have had this
pleasure is in Malaysia, where KTMB's second class AC Sleepers. which
otherwise are what would be called "Sections" on this continent, have
a window for the upper berth.
I wanted to wake up to take a walk on the platform at Savannah GA early
next morning but forgot to set an alarm or tell Mr. Lee to wake me up. Actually
I had mentioned to him that I wanted to step off for a walk at Savannah and
he had offered to wake me up, but I had declined the offer thinking I'd set
an alarm on my iPhone.
Fortunately I woke up as we were approaching Savannah, and noticed the
consist of the Palmetto standing in the yard. So I stumbled out of bed
put on my clothes and shoes and walked to the door as the train came to
a stop. Mr. Lee was there smiling, and quipped, "Boy you are right on
time"! Yes, now we were definitely in the South, though there still was
a bit of chill in the air. I had my morning walk in Savannah as they
watered the train. We had again arrived early so the stop was longer
than scheduled.
Upon departure I headed to the Diner for a nice Breakfast of scrambled
eggs and potatoes. Then back to the room to start packing up for arrival
at Jacksonville. Arrived into Jacksonville, after a brief stop at
Jesup, about 20 mins ahead of schedule. I bid Mr. Lee farewell with a
nice tip after he took care of offloading my bag for me. Then it was off
on a taxi and to the hotel on the St Johns River front in downtown close to
Jacksonville Landing.
As I was checking in I realized that it was still not yet the scheduled
departure time for the Meteor from Jacksonville. Soon afterwards as I
opened the patio door of my hotel room I heard the distinct toot-toot
of a P42's K5LA horn from afar (the wind was blowing in the right direction),
and knew that PO97, Mr. Lee, and the rest were on the roll heading to
Orlando and Miami. It was a happy ride on her. It also occurred to me
that if a section of the Meteor were to operate down the FEC, I'd be able
to watch it cross the St. Johns River from my hotel window.
Footnote: Most pleasant surprise was that on the way back I had the same
crew on PO92 the Silver Star a week later. Mr. Lee remembered me and
even without asking he came in and rearranged my room setting up the
upper berth as I like. He had actually set the room up for normal people
with bed prepared on the lower berth before I had boarded - the Star departs
JAX around 11pm, but he said he can quite understand why I would want the
upper berth. But that is a separate story.
convenient to take Amtrak down and back, so that is what I did. This is
a report on the journey down to Jacksonville. I had booked Sleeping Car
accommodation for this trip.
I took the Silver Meteor down to Jacksonville from Newark NJ on a Saturday
couple of weeks back. I parked my car at Metropark and took NJT New York
Express to Newark from there. It was a multi-level consist, and as
usual, since I had baggage with me I stayed in the middle level by the
door all the way. It was running pretty much on time and the mighty
ALP-46 managed to keep whipping it along in spite of having a heavy 10
car multi-level consist to handle.
At Newark there was a bit of a wait, which was spent train watching
sitting on the platform that serves tracks 3 and 4. While I was there
several NJT locals, a couple of Amtrak Regionals, a Keystone and an
Acela went by, and then there was the announcement for "Amtrak 97
Silver Meteor to Miami stopping at Alexandria, Richmond, Petersburg,
Rocky Mount etc. etc." and my train 97 Silver Meteor to Miami arrived behind
an AEM-7AC. It had a baggage car, 4 Amfleet II Coaches, an Amfleet II
Diner Lite, a Heritage Diner and 3 Viewliner Sleepers. I was in car 9711
Room 2, which would be the middle of the 3 Viewliners, which are
numbered 9710, 9711 and 9712 starting from the Diner end. It was the
second car from the rear of the train.
Mr. Lee the SCA met me on the platform and whipped off my rollaboard
from my hand, inviting me to board and proceed to my room and said he
will be along with my baggage. So I went in and settled down in my room,
which turned out to be on the left (railfan) side. Soon the train
started moving and Mr. Lee dropped by with my bag. He gave me the usual
operating instructions for the various facilities in the room. I asked
him to set up the upper berth with bedding so that I could climb up and
lie down whenever I wanted. This he did gladly, and said that this is
exactly what he does in his own room too.
After he left I walked over to the coffee and drinks alcove and picked up
some coffee and a glass of Apple Juice and brought it back to the room.
Then I unpacked a few things for the journey and placed the rollaboard
in the luggage space up above the corridor. So I was all set for the journey.
By this time we were racing along at 110mph past Princeton Jct and
Hamilton, and soon arrived at Trenton 5 minutes ahead of schedule and
sat there for departure time. the Diner Chief came by to take dinner
reservations, and I got myself one for 7:30pm just out of Washington DC.
We stopped at Philly, Wilmington and Baltimore before arriving at
Washington DC a few minutes ahead of schedule. The ride along the
Corridor was amazingly smooth on the Viewliner, which are rated for max
speed of 110mph. At Washington, the AEM-7AC was taken off and was
replaced by a pair of P42s elephant style, #91 leading , both looking very
newly painted and serviced - effects of the Stimulus money.
After I had inspected the coupling operation of the P42s and the hooking
up of the HEP cables, I headed back onto the train and straight to the
Diner for dinner. It was one of the Temoinsa rebuild Diners in
immaculate condition, and there was an inviting smell of break and food.
I ordered the steak with some red wine. Salad was served and consumed
before the well prepared steak arrived. This is one of the pleasures
that is hard to come by in too many places in the world anymore in a
commercial service.
As the food arrived the train had departed Washington Union Station,
proceeded through the Capitol Hill Tunnel and emerged from it at
Virginia interlocking, from where a nice view was had of the Capitol
building, as we passed the VRE L'Enfant station. Then it proceeded
towards the Long Bridge with views of the Basin with Jefferson Memorial,
Washington Monument and Lincoln Memorial far away in sight on the right.
As we crossed the Potomac on the left National Airport was visible while
only the right distant image of the Pentagon loomed large. We passed RO
interlocking and passed through the VRE Crystal City Station and on past
SRO interlocking by the enormous office complex coming up in Potomac
Yard, to Alexandria station. This is where the "South" traditionally
began, and it still has that feel.
My dinner companions were a couple for whom this was the first train trip.
The reason they chose the train was the terrible experience they had
when they tried to do this trip before by plane, and also, ironically,
because of how well their friends, who were on that ill fated Auto Train
that got stuck in the snow storm for several days, was treated by Amtrak.
They figured, if something does go wrong, they'd rather be on Amtrak
than on any airline. I was so happy to hear that. Now if only Amtrak
can get some consistency in their treatment of their customers.
Anyway, it was a pleasure to point out all the important things to see as
we departed Washington and headed into Virginia.
After leaving Alexandria it is past AF interlocking where the
ex-Southern (now Norfolk Southern) line to New Orleans branches off at a
flying junction, and onto what used to be the RF&P (now CSX) to
Richmond, which was our next stop. As we left AF behind, on my CB duly
tuned to the right CSX channel, I heard the engineer call out "Engine 91 PO97
Clear AF", and felt him open up the throttle for the quick run to Richmond.
Near Fredericksburg, we got a "Limited Clear" indicating we were
crossing over for an overtake. Soon after we overtook a CSX freight, but
were never crossed back. We continued with "Clear"s past Doswell and
Ashland, all the way to Richmond and arrived 10 mins early.
While we were at Richmond I climbed into my bed upstairs which was
waiting for me and lay down. I opened the curtains of the upstairs
windows to watch the country go by as I slowly dozed off to sleep. This
is one of my favorite pastimes, and what makes the Viewliners my most
favorite Sleeping Cars. The only other place where I have had this
pleasure is in Malaysia, where KTMB's second class AC Sleepers. which
otherwise are what would be called "Sections" on this continent, have
a window for the upper berth.
I wanted to wake up to take a walk on the platform at Savannah GA early
next morning but forgot to set an alarm or tell Mr. Lee to wake me up. Actually
I had mentioned to him that I wanted to step off for a walk at Savannah and
he had offered to wake me up, but I had declined the offer thinking I'd set
an alarm on my iPhone.
Fortunately I woke up as we were approaching Savannah, and noticed the
consist of the Palmetto standing in the yard. So I stumbled out of bed
put on my clothes and shoes and walked to the door as the train came to
a stop. Mr. Lee was there smiling, and quipped, "Boy you are right on
time"! Yes, now we were definitely in the South, though there still was
a bit of chill in the air. I had my morning walk in Savannah as they
watered the train. We had again arrived early so the stop was longer
than scheduled.
Upon departure I headed to the Diner for a nice Breakfast of scrambled
eggs and potatoes. Then back to the room to start packing up for arrival
at Jacksonville. Arrived into Jacksonville, after a brief stop at
Jesup, about 20 mins ahead of schedule. I bid Mr. Lee farewell with a
nice tip after he took care of offloading my bag for me. Then it was off
on a taxi and to the hotel on the St Johns River front in downtown close to
Jacksonville Landing.
As I was checking in I realized that it was still not yet the scheduled
departure time for the Meteor from Jacksonville. Soon afterwards as I
opened the patio door of my hotel room I heard the distinct toot-toot
of a P42's K5LA horn from afar (the wind was blowing in the right direction),
and knew that PO97, Mr. Lee, and the rest were on the roll heading to
Orlando and Miami. It was a happy ride on her. It also occurred to me
that if a section of the Meteor were to operate down the FEC, I'd be able
to watch it cross the St. Johns River from my hotel window.
Footnote: Most pleasant surprise was that on the way back I had the same
crew on PO92 the Silver Star a week later. Mr. Lee remembered me and
even without asking he came in and rearranged my room setting up the
upper berth as I like. He had actually set the room up for normal people
with bed prepared on the lower berth before I had boarded - the Star departs
JAX around 11pm, but he said he can quite understand why I would want the
upper berth. But that is a separate story.
Last edited by a moderator:
I know Florida isnt that great in the Summer but the prices are lower, the crowds are less and being from Texas the heat and humidity doesnt seem so bad as it would to a so called "normal person"!(enjoyed the comment about the top bunk in the Viewliner, I prefer it also!) 
