SSRE Day One is finished. Steve and I started out in New York Penn Station's Moynihan Hall. We met in the Metropolitan Lounge. Train 91 was announced well in advance, and we were told to assemble by Track 12. There was no usher and the escalator was moving downward, so we went. The train had not yet arrived when we got the platform, but it took time to walk back from Moynihan to where our sleepers to the rear of the train would end up. Keep in mind that the Silver Star is operating as a Supertrain with equipment from itself and the Silver Meteor, so it's much longer than usual. Soon the train came in from Sunnyside, and we were able to board. Steve as in the 9112 car, and I was in the rear-most car, 9114.
No explanation why, but we left 10 minutes late from New York and would never recover it all. It was otherwise a nice smooth trip down the corridor. And we found out why timekeeping is poor on this train. At many stops with such a long consist it has to make double spots since the whole train does not make the platform.
I had an excellent attendant named Annette. She was very helpful and accommodating. Steve was not as enthused with his.
No time was made up during the dwell in Washington, DC for engine change. CSX handled us very well down through Virginia. We were a few miles behind Regional 195 as far as Richmond, and at Lorton they held the Auto Train (53) departure on a siding until we passed. Through the rest of Virginia and into North Carolina we were roughly half an hour down. With some padding, we came into our destination of Raleigh about 9:17 PM, 20 minutes late. Steve's car made the platform so he detrained, but mine had to sit and wait for the second spot giving me another 5 minutes bonus time on the train. Once both off we waited for our rideshare to the Doubletree Brownstone.
Meanwhile in Florida, the other half of our travelling group Penny and Jishnu boarded the northbound Silver Star (92) in Orlando on Saturday evening. The train was on time, which is good news for all of us since those of us in Raleigh will be boarding the same train in the morning.
More news tomorrow (Sunday) as we all meet and head north together.