13 replies to this topic

[KevinKorell]

Besides your travels home from Denver or Chicago, your trip home from our official events can be discussed here.  Included would be any post-Fest trips, such as the planned swing through St. Louis and Kansas City.

[KevinKorell]

After arrival into Chicago, my first order of business was to purchase a new Ventra card since the one I last used had expired.  I did so in the Metra ticketing area, although my intended use this time will only be on CTA.

 

Then I took the walk up Jackson Street to the Quincy "L" station, and soon boarded an Orange Line train headed for Midway Airport.  At Midway, I decided to walk the 6 blocks or so to my hotel. However they were very long blocks. The trip was broken up with a stop for dinner on the way.   Once at my hotel, Laundry Night began, and that bring us up to present.   More adventures tomorrow as I go back to Chicago proper and then travel to St. Louis.

 

My own personal itinerary now has actual times for all my light rail riding in Denver as well as Thursday travel in the Chicago area.

[BillMagee]

With my return flight looming at 2:09 PM, I truncated the official Fest itinerary by skipping the G Line (rode earlier) and stayed on the B LIne all the way back to Union Station arriving at just about 11:00 AM.  I had prearranged a slightly late checkout, so I hustled up to my room, scooped up my luggage, got my folio at the front desk and made the 11:15 AM A Train to the airport with several minutes to spare.  The A-Train delivered me to the airport on time at just before noon and I was through TSA and into the American Airlines lounge in about 15 minutes.  That gave me a chance to grab a bite to eat - good thing since both my upcoming flights were too short for any meal service.
 
My trip home to PHL included a connection through Chicago O'Hare. Both flights, DEN-ORD and ORD-PHL, were about 20 minutes late - the first due to gate availability at O'Hare (sat in the "penalty box" for about 20 minutes) and the second due to a late arriving incoming aircraft from Phoenix - neither particularly an issue.  Arrived PHL airport at 10:22 PM and walked in the house at 11:00 PM. A very enjoyable three days and two nights.

[KevinKorell]

Another busy day of travel for me.   It started with a hotel airport shuttle, a long walk from the airport proper to the Midway Airport Orange Line station, the ride into the Loop, and the walk on Jackson Street to Union Station.  I had about an hour to spend in the Metropolitan Lounge before boarding for Lincoln Service #303 was announced.

 

The usual confusion ensued.  Although the lounge sent people to the gate, and security people let us through a barricade to the gate, the ushers told us to go into the waiting lounge with the other passengers.  Apparently the crew was late and so the train wasn't ready yet to receive passengers.  I saw the crew arrive, and soon after, we Business Class passengers were sent to our rear car.  I quickly snagged a single seat, and that became my home for the next 6 hours.  We did leave the station on time, but getting out of Chicago with all the freight traffic passing over diamonds was an ordeal.  We were already 27 minutes late by the time we got to Joliet.  All the money and disruptions that were spent on making travel faster, but the congestion on the Chicago end negates any benefits achieved by the higher speeds -- which really kick in south of the Dwight station.

 

Aboard the train, the café attendant was another of Amtrak's resident DJ's, who enjoyed giving and hearing his same spiel multiple times.  I had my usual cheeseburger & hot dog lunch and claimed my complimentary soft drink.

 

We remained late at the remaining stations down the line, but after rolling as quickly as we could over the bridge, we rolled into St. Louis Gateway station at 3:03 PM, just 3 minutes down.  

 

As soon as I entered the station there was a disturbance involving someone who Security was trying to remove from the premises.  He was giving them a hard time, and was eventually taken outside to await a free ride in the back of a vehicle with bars on it.  After that entertainment, I headed for the Metrolink station, bought a Day Pass, and soon was aboard a Blue Line train to Richmond Heights and my hotel.   After dropping off my luggage, it was time to do what I had come for, the Delmar Loop Trolley.  I rode the Blue Line inbound to Forest Park, and then took an outbound Red Line one stop to Delmar Loop. 

 

On the trolley platform I purchased from a machine a 2-hour pass for $2.  It wasn't long before a trolley came into view.  I boarded it, "paid" the fare by holding a bar code on the purchased ticket under a reader on the trolley, and sat to enjoy the ride. At that time I was the only passenger, and I remained so to the end of the line near University City Library.   As the operator was changing ends, I told her I was going to ride with her to the other end. She said "no problem" and said I don't have to get off.  She told me what time she would be leaving.   A dispatcher sends trolleys from both ends of the line at a set time so that they properly pass at a two-track station at the halfway point.  I stepped off briefly to take some photos.

 

In the other direction I had some company as people boarded along the route.   2.2 miles later we came to the other end, at the Missouri History Museum.  Here, the operator once again changed ends and announced what time she would be leaving.  More people boarded.    I only rode back one stop, as I would get off at the Forest Park Metrolink station. 

 

I then returned to Richmond Heights on a Blue Line train.  When we emerged from a long tunnel, it was pouring rain and there was severe thunder and lightning.  No umbrella, but then it would not have helped in this.  I was stranded on the platform for about 15 minutes waiting for the weather to break. After protecting my wallet and phone in a plastic bag I ventured onward just as the sun was coming out again.

 

Dinner in a nearby restaurant, and then that was it for the night. Tomorrow morning it's time to head west to Kansas City.

[bratkinson]

Fortunately, I had a little shy of 4 hours connection in the Windy City to #30 leaving at 6:40.  The late arrival of #6 earlier ate up more than 2 hours of my connection time.
 
So it became stash my bags in the lounge and hot-foot it over to Cousins Subs on East Madison St 2 blocks north and 5-6 blocks east of Union Station.  They're a Milwaukee based sub/grinder company that I frequented weekly until I moved to Springfield MA in 1995.  They finally expanded to Chicago about a year ago.  As I have done every time I'm in the Windy City since they opened and I'm leaving on the Lakeshore Ltd or the Capitol Ltd, I get a 15" sub, half to eat there and half to go...tomorrows' breakfast.  Got back to the lounge just as the train #30 crowd was moving out the door, grabbed my bags and out I went. 

 

Until recently (6-12 months?), the Chicago gate dragons have insisted scanning tickets at the gate.  But lately, the conductor's been doing it about where the 1st car door is.  Tonight, there's a dead head sleeper on the rear, so the mob was queued at door #2.  Once again, I walked around the mob and directly to the '00' car.  Both a lady conductor and the SCA were there.  After arguing with an older couple about their being in the next car, she was having trouble scanning the tickets of the 2 people in front of me.  How tough can it be?  She resorted to asking everyone their names and marking them 'present' that way.  I'll never understand WHY, when it's more than an hour to the first stop, the two lazy-bones conductors can't simply direct passengers to the correct cars on the platform and take their time scanning tickets after we leave?  The argumentative lady conductor could certainly use some 'customer handling' training, too.

 

This time, I got my preferred lower level roomette, but #13 this time rather than my preferred #14.  Right at 6:40 PM, we started moving, only to stop and sit 10 feet later.  Now what?  Late passengers?  Late luggage?  Nope!  I brought out my scanner and discovered it was PTC trouble!  After perhaps 10 minutes, we finally got permission to 'pull down' a bit as we had already dropped the first signal.  We sat for another 10 minutes while they tried to finagle PTC before getting verbal permission to proceed at restricted speed past the Amtrak shops, until about 70th Street.  Full stop again, call the dispatcher, and they somehow got it fixed and away we went. 

 

Meanwhile, the conductor is on the PA for a good 8-10 minutes telling all the 'grade schoolers' aboard what they can and cannot do, especially in regards to smoking onboard.  There's no volume control in the latest refurbed Superliner Is with touch-panel controls in the roomettes.  So I broke out my gaffers tape and taped over the 5"x5" speaker while my SCA was on the local PA introducing himself and telling us not to make down the beds ourselves, etc.  The tape was useless.  Next trip, it's tape and 1" thick pillow foam.  If that doesn't work, I'll pull out screwdrivers and wire cutters if I remember to bring them.  And I have an average 45db hearing loss!  Other than ONE 2 minute announcement about seat belts, emergency exits, drop down air masks and seat cushion flotation devices that's all you get on an airplane.  HEY MR ANDERSON!!!!

 

The NS track is getting a little bouncy, but still much better than BNSF between Omaha and Denver.  But PTC???  We got stopped again about 5 miles east of Elkhart...another 15 minutes down the drain account PTC!  About 20 minutes later, we were back down to restricted speed again for what seemed like 30 minutes and two NS westbound freights went flying by.  Shortly afterwards, we crossed over to the north track to platform at Waterloo a few minutes later.  I lost all cell phone signal shortly thereafter and as it was already 12:30, I gave up and went to bed wondering if my almost 4 hour connection in WAS to train 148 was in jeopardy.

 

I woke up after 7 and looked out the window and thought I was seeing Alliance OH meaning we were 3-4 hours down.  But it wasn't.  We had actually left Pittsburgh about an hour down and had already crossed the river 30 minutes or so out of PGH.  I've never slept through Pittsburgh in any direction in the many, many times I've passed through on the Broadway Ltd and Capitol Ltd (as a section of the Broadway Ltd and as its own train).  I was THAT tired!  I hope Kevin doesn't sleep through PGH on his way home a couple days from now. 

 

But I still had a nasty surprise awaiting me.  Getting up and gathering my stuff to go to the shower, I saw a bath towel on the floor in the hallway outside the shower.  Upon opening the door, I discovered there were NO bath towels in there, and a linen bag with perhaps 3 or 4 used bath towels inside.  I grabbed the towel from the hallway and used it to sop up the standing water on the floor in the shower room.  Checking the oddly near empty luggage rack, there were no towels or any other clean linens there.  It wasn't the first time I've run into the no large towels problem, most recently being this past Monday morning on the Lakeshore Ltd where I used 5 clean washcloths in the shower room to dry off.  This time I used my hand towel.  I'm beginning to suspect there may be a 'overall reduction' in the quantity of towels put aboard trains in the past year or so, possibly at the direction of Mr Anderson.  Or maybe too many have disappeared on their own, too.

 

My fears about making the connection in WAS were unfounded as we arrived a bit less than an hour late.

 

I stashed my bags in the Club Acela and went to ride the newly reopened/refurbished Yellow Line stations in Virginia.  Unfortunately, due to my being unfamiliar with the 'add fare' feature of the regular ticket machine when the boarding gate wouldn't open for me and my year old WMATA SmarTrip card, a 'just missed' yellow line train at Gallery Place, a 5 minute delay entering Pentagon station, and another unexpected delay at Eisenhauer station, I elected to not finish the trip and returned to Union Station to make sure that any additional delays wouldn't cause me to miss my train to Springfield MA.

 

For reasons unknown, the WAS Club Acela never announces regional trains.  But for a change, the employee there told me to simply watch the monitor and leave when train 148 shows a gate and track, which I did.  On the platform, the conductor for 148 was standing at the beginning of the track 17 platform and asked where I was going.  Perhaps he thought I was a wayward Acela passenger that was boarding on track 18.  I told him what I was told and he instructed me to go to the 'outer' seating area for red cap customers as the cleaning crew hadn't finished with 148 yet.  About 5 minutes later, he waved me out and I boarded right behind a red cap and his passengers.

 

Maybe I'm getting spoiled by my increased use of Acela on the corridor due to its superior ride qualities, but this trip on 148 has to be the absolute roughest ride I can remember on the NEC!  Even north of Baltimore, there's bumps and jolts I don't recall hitting before.  Perhaps this particular business class car (last car of the train) has some kind of suspension problem.  It's just plain rough all the way to NYP!  At least we arrived at NYP 6 minutes early.

 

One of the advantages of taking the now 'later' schedule of 148 (almost 2 hrs later than 18 months ago) is that it isn't mobbed like the 'old' 148 used to be.  I've witnessed standing room only in business class a couple years ago when it left PHL about 5:00PM.  Today, the car was perhaps 75% full leaving PHL this evening.  Leaving NYP, there's about a dozen passengers in the car.  It's been that way on the 'new' 148 schedule since it was implemented.  Much more hassle free in my opinion.

 

Springfield arrival was on time at 12:30 AM.  Home at last after a fun adventure and riding all the Denver RTD trains, some twice! 

 

Thank you, Kevin, for putting it all together!

 

Bruce

Edited by bratkinson, 21 September 2019 - 12:43 AM.

[KevinKorell]

Some photos of Delmar Loop Trolley:

 

 20190920_164812_HDR_resized.jpg   175.68KB   1 downloads

 

 20190920_163250_resized.jpg   174.14KB   0 downloads

[KevinKorell]

Today was Missouri River Runner and KC Streetcar Day.   I met Steve and Mike at the St. Louis Gateway Station.  Together we had a nice ride across the state to Kansas City.  We left on time, lost a little en route, but got into Kansas City just 9 minutes late. Not too shabby.  Interestingly, the cafe attendant on this train was the same Edith who was my sleeping car attendant on the Denver-Chicago trip on Train 6. Small world. She said she had been working 11 days straight.

 

The weather wasn't as cooperative as our Amtrak train today. It was pouring as we passed through Independence and then when we arrived in Kansas City.  We decided that rather than taking our official trip together as planned at 4 PM followed by dinner at 5 PM, we would eat first at 5 and then ride afterwards when hopefully the rain would have let up.   We split up after arrival in town, and with my luggage and laptop and phone in tow not wanting to get any of them wet, I decided to ride the streetcar myself and then get off near my hotel.  I took the one revolution around the River Market area, and back down Main Street, getting off at Crossroads station.  This put me about 1 block from my hotel. It was still a steady rain, but the scaffolding of a construction site allowed me to stay relatively dry and I walked.  After checking in and bringing nothing but my phone and a plastic bag to put it in if needed, I left again to head by foot for Union Station and dinner.

 

Dinner at Pierpont's in the station was excellent.  We had great service and the food was great.

 

Following dinner we took our spin on the streetcar riding to River Market and again back to Union Station.  Here we split up for the night. I decided I would take yet another ride but this time I wanted to explore the River Market/City Market area on foot.  I rode back to the City Market station and walked through the station's namesake.   City Market is the attraction that has mostly food and fruit stands, and at times also hosts a flea market.  River Market is the neighborhood that includes City Market and several blocks in all directions from it.  I also walked over to an old displayed PCC streetcar we had seen from the modern streetcar previously.  However, it was boarded up and the inside was a mess, clearly the victim of vandalism. Probably not the best place for it to be displayed.  Finally I boarded the real operable streetcar at the River Market West station and returned all the way to Union Station, from which I then walked over the Main Street Bridge over the railroad tracks back to my hotel.

 

Yet another busy day, but my last day on the ground in the Midwest (except for whatever time is spent in Chicago tomorrow between trains).

 

Personal itinerary has been updated through Friday's & Saturday's activities.

[KevinKorell]

Here I am enduring my 2nd Pittsburgh layover in 10 days. Yesterday (Sunday) involved travel all the way from Kansas City to my going to sleep in Indiana on the Capitol Limited.

Kansas City was receiving the remnants of a tropical cyclone called Imelda. While it was not windy, the rain was heavy and long lasting. While the plan was for an easy 2 block walk from my hotel over the Main Street Bridge to Union Station, there was no way I could do it without exposing my laptop and phone to the elements. Luckily the rain had awakened me earlier than my set alarms, which gave me more time to contact and wait for Uber.

Fast forward to arrival at the station. The station parking lot was blocked by cones, which required the Uber driver to let me off on Pershing Road and still some walking through rain and puddles. But still less than I would have had originally.

At the station I met Mike and Steve in the waiting room. We were pleased to know the train would be coming early and leaving on time.

Soon we were allowed to board. Immediately we went to get breakfast. Very good meal.

The train did depart Kansas City on time. It lost a few minutes up the line. More was lost around Fort Madison as we had to wait for freight traffic so we could cross over for the station. This was a short off train rest stop; however in pouring rain moat opted to remain on board.

We were at the earlier of 2 quick lunch seatings, 11:30 and 12:15. Lunch was good; we ate as we approached Galesburg. From there it should have been a quick jog to Chicago, except we were put on the local Metra track to pass westbound Amtrak and freight trains.

Arrival of Train 4 into Chicago was 3:22 PM, 32 minutes late. Steve was home, but Mike abs I had further connections. We went over to Beggars Pizza in the rain (same storm had followed us from Kansas City).

After going back to the station we sat in the Metropolitan Lounge. Soon my Capitol Limited was called and I left Mike to wait for the Lake Shore Limited to Cleveland.

The eastbound Capitol Limited was boarded early but it didn't leave until it was already 19 minutes late. No explanation was given for the tardy departure. Sleeper passengers were invited to "dinner" at 7 pm. Way too late for me given the need to sleep early. I declined. I noticed I hadn't had my ticket scanned so I went into the so called sleeper lounge just to find a conductor. I verified with him that I had been Auto scanned based on the manifest. My concern was avoiding issues with my one remaining connection.

My bed was put down around 10 pm Eastern. I went to sleep after the train left Waterloo , IN.

I was awakened by both my own alarm and a knock on my door by my attendant. We were about 1/2 hour from Pittsburgh.

Arrival into Pittsburgh was 5:19 AM, 14 minutes down. I await boarding for #42, my last Amtrak trip of this journey.

[KevinKorell]

And now actually being home, we can wrap up this journey.   The Pennsylvanian #42 departed Pittsburgh on time, and progressed OK for the first flat portion of the route.  But Norfolk Southern seemed to have no idea that an eastbound passenger train runs daily in this slot, and they put a slowpoke in front of us thus restricting our speed over the mountains where it counted.  I'm thinking on the downhills coming into Altoona our engineer really had to hold back.  Unlike my westbound trip, this time NS did not block my view of the Gallatzin Tunnels nor Horseshoe Curve with freight trains, so I did get to see ours do its thing.   

 

All in all, with padding #42 arrived into Philadelphia at 3:11 PM, just 16 minutes late.  I had time to have a light early dinner in the station, and then my final phase was NJ TRANSIT back to Cherry Hill followed by a drive home during the rush hour.  

 

An enourmous journey of 10 days is now history, and things all worked out as planned.  All Amtrak trains basically behaved and thus all worries about connections were moot.   Thanks to everyone who joined me over the past 10 days to have a great time on the rails once more!

[KevinKorell]

I finish what I start.  Personal itinerary is now completed, with actual times entered for the travels on Sunday and Monday from Kansas City to Cherry Hill.