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Connecticut trip mini-report


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#1 KevinKorell

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Posted 30 August 2003 - 05:16 PM

Today, Michael and I rode out as far as Bridgeport, CT, all via commuter rail and of course NYC subways.

We could have taken AMTRAK Train 160, but this time around I figured we'd save on fares. On weekends, Michael pays nothing on NJT, and only 75 cents per ride on Metro North.

We began in Metropark, NJ, and took an 8:15 AM NJT express train to New York's Penn Station (skips Rahway, Linden, Elizabeth, North Elizabeth). The scheduled arrival time of NJT into Penn Station is 8:53 AM, and I figured that it was unrealistic that we would make a 9:07 AM Metro North express train out of Grand Central. I had figured on 10:07, giving us an hour to take the two-seat subway ride across town.

I was wrong - we did extremely well and got the 9:07 train. We took a 2 train with the new equipment for one stop, and then an S shuttle train was waiting at Times Square to take us to Grand Central. We got to GCT, and had time to buy our tickets to Bridgeport.

I must say here that we took three different rides on Metro North trains today, and all three rides were worse than the Arrow tin cans on NJ TRANSIT we had in both directions, as well as the subways we rode in between.

Since we boarded late, almost every seat was taken. We found a pair of seats right up front in one car. I noticed that we had no legroom at all, as bad as on an airplane. It was long after departure before I realized that this was a conductor's position, as I looked up and saw the door opening/closing and buzzer apparatus. Luckily the crew member who took our tickets did not say anything and let us stay there.

Approaching Bridgeport, the crew said to go to one of two cars for detraining because there were two bridge plates (yes Bridgeport Bridge Plates, and yes, only two for a long train). Everyone getting off filed up to the designated car. Just as we got to the station, they said, "never mind, all doors will open". Thanks a lot. We stationed on Track 3, which is the normal southbound track. AMTRAK 160 running 17 minutes late and right behind us, did the same thing.

We walked around Bridgeport for about 20 minutes and got snacks in a convenience store. I made note of places to eat in advance of a possible Fest stop there.

Back at the station, we got there in time for a "tweener" (a train that runs half an hour in between two hourly trains), so we boarded it and rode to Stamford. Since we were one hour earlier than planned out of New York, taking this train now put us 1-1-1/2 hours ahead of my schedule.

Well on this particular train that we ran for, the only available seats in the car we boarded turned out to be right across from the "lavoratory". As the train picked up speed, we caught the whiff of, well, a rest room in terrible need of cleaning. I had just told Michael that the purpose of the smell in the body of the coach was to give people a preview of what it smells like in some subway stations when they get to New York. Then I had to eat my words, as some guy entered the room and made the stink much worse. :P :P

Boy were we happy we were only going to Stamford on that train! It was hot outside, but the fresh air off the train was quite rewarding.

In Stamford, I did the same thing as in Bridgeport. We looked around briefly in the station area, and deduced that in the brief amount of time that railfans would be in town, there is noplace within a comfortable walking distance (other than a Dunkin Donuts and a coffee shop within the station) for a meal. Bridgeport definitely gets the nod for a lunch stop over Stamford, and I will change my itinerary accordingly.

We walked by the UBS building, which boasts the world's largest stock trading floor. I work for UBS, but have never been in that building. There is a steak house in the complex, but it was closed -- so it would also be closed on a Saturday in the near future.

So instead of eating in Stamford (which we could have done had we walked further north towards the retail area), we opted for getting on the next express train and going back to New York City. We caught the 11:53 PM train, which runs nonstop to 125th Street and then Grand Central. Since Stamford is the last stop before New York, it was packed. We ended up standing on this train in the doorway all the way to Grand Central. And just as we were coming up to the platform near the final stop there was a loud noise and a visible spark that scared everyone, including a female crew member who was standing next to us by the door. She said that the event even scared her, and that somebody was going to have to go out there and fix it.

Of our three Metro North rides, the cramped conductor's seat, the one that might as well have been inside the bathroom, and the one where we stood the whole way, Michael voted for the cramped conductors seat as his most pleasant. At least we could sit and had fresh air from a slightly open window.

Once back in New York a little past the scheduled 12:40 PM arrival time (and now a full two hours earlier than I had planned!), Michael and I were both starving. We walked over to Lexington Avenue. First he had McDonald's while I sat idle, and then we went into Sbarro's where he watched me eat. Compromise. :)

After lunch we saw an electronics store at Lex & 44th that was about to go out of business. They were selling stuff for real cheap. I picked up a set of headphones for my scanner (my old set had broken during our Chicago Fest trip in July).

Back into Grand Central, we took the S shuttle train back to Times Square, and then it was a short wait for the first southbound train on the 7th Avenue line, a 1 train. We rode one stop to Penn Station. During the short subway trip a Hispanic girl lost her balance and almost sat down on me, but thankfully caught herself just in time. She apologized (I think) in Spanish.

Once at Penn Station we were walking through the LIRR area, and came to the first AMTRAK/NJT monitor. We found out that the 1:55 PM NJT express to Trenton was boarding on Track 15. This is in the station's LIRR territory, so we never got as far as the NJ TRANSIT concourse. We sat in the train's last car, which had an abundance of seats despite the fact that people were standing in the aisles towards the middle of the train.

We were very lucky to have gotten there when we did. This train operated on time, making and skipping the same stops as our morning NJT train. Our day on the rails was over at 2:29 PM when we arrived in Metropark.


Kevin Korell


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Posted 30 August 2003 - 09:51 PM

Nice report. Can't beat a nice end of the summer commuter ride! :)




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