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[KevinKorell]

This thread covers the northbound trip on Train #80(19), the Carolinian, from Fredericksburg to our respective destinations.

[KevinKorell]

After the wait in extreme heat, and playing the game of "which platform do I use?" in Fredericksburg, we were just happy to be aboard the train. The conductor handed us seat checks that had seat numbers written on them, basically assigning us whatever empty seats existed in the coach in which we were boarded. So we didn't initially get to sit together.

To add insult to injury with our Fredericksburg experience, the train showed up late. We departed from there 18 minutes late. Since it had departed Richmond on time, the heat had to be a factor in its losing so much time in the past hour. The freight train we had seen going south might have also been a contributor.

Up the line into the next station, we had lost more time by Quantico. And then came Alexandria, which traditionally absorbs some lateness through padding. It didn't, as we left there 33 minutes down. The Fest essentially being over by this time, we lost 2 people as Steve and Chris detrained. That left four continuing.

Nobody got off in Washington, not even the railfan sides of us who like to watch the engine changes. By not getting off the train, however, we found ourselves in an oven while we had no power due to said engine change. Our electric engine could not come soon enough, and when it did, it took a while for the air conditioning to resume doing its job.

We were only about 5 minutes late leaving Washington, and remained just a few minutes late up the line. I got off in Wilmington, ending my involvement in the Fest (but not my travel home). Piotr would be next to get off in Trenton (to take NJT back to Metropark), and finally Grace and Alan arrived in New York 9 minutes early thanks to schedule padding.

With this train's termination, so has the Fest. But next, see the Getting Home thread, because Steve is still in travel for a few more days, and Penny is already having quite an adventure (a few hours late) on the Silver Meteor back to Florida.