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[Skip Howard]

On Friday my father and I went to D.C. He wanted to see the World War 2 memorial. He is a veteran of that war. He was in Naval Aviation serving 24 months in the Pacific war zone. We departed on Train 2151 out of Rt.128 at 5:29am. We grabbed seats on the fireman's side and were able to watch the sunrise over Long Island Sound. The trip was smooth and uneventful with arrival in Union Station at 11:52 am (5 minutes late). We took a cab to the Memorial. Impressive and inspiring would be the best way to describe how we both felt about. It is indeed a fitting tribute to "The Greatest Generation". The setting on the Mall is perfect. After taking this in we visited the Viet Nam Memorial. It is quite a contrast to the WW2 Memorial. I believe it reflects how we as a nation viewed each war. One a great triumph and the other a national tragedy. We then visited the Lincoln Memorial. I have always found this place to be quite moving. We then returned to Union Station for a very late lunch and departed on train 2172 at 4 pm. Arrival into NYP was at 6:52pm and departure was at 7:03pm. We were stopped just before Shell for an MNRR train reported to be disabled at New Rochelle. We were stopped for about 15 minutes. The next delay was in Providence. We arrived at 10:30pm and the Conductor announced that we would be here an undetermined amount of time due to an obstruction in the tracks between Providence and Boston. Train 2170 was in the station across the platform from us. At 11:52 they announced everyone get on board becuse we had the high ball. 2170 went first with us leaving a few minutes later at 11:00pm on the dot. We cleared the station an proceeded at restricted speed. In the area of the old Pawtucket/Central Falls station we slowed to 5 mph and we were on track 2. We creept by an MBTA train stopped on track 1. At rear of the train we saw the obstruction. A body bag between the rails. Once we cleared the scene we resumed speed and arrived at 128 at 11:35pm (1:16 late).