posted
Overall, it was pretty good. it started on December 25, 2004, at Saint Cloud, MN. The train was about 2 hours late or so, but, seeing as how I was leaving on vacation, this didn't trouble me. One thing that I thought was really smart was as the train pulled past the station, the engineer stuck his head out of the cab window. He was dressed as Santa Claus! Too bad there were no small children around to see it, as I'm sure they would have loved it. So, instead of leaving at 5 am, I left town at 7:20 am. Other than that, the train neither gained time nor lost it as we continued towards Chicago. I noticed that in order to make time, we shortened the stops at places like St. Paul, to just enough time to load the train. The trip was very picturesque as we travelled along the Mississippi and the train kicked up the snow as we passed. Across Lake Pepin, one could see the snow covered bluffs that line the Mississippi, all covered in new fallen snow, as the train whisked us down the track in the midst of the snowfall. The trip was fairly quiet - much more quiet than a plane. Oh, there were a few grumbles along the way from folks whose main complaint was the tardiness of the train, but then planes and autos can be delayed as well. The snowfall was such that driving would have been a real serious headache - I was happy to be going to Florida, and letting someone else take care of the driving responsibilities for once . We arrived into Chicago with perhaps 20 minutes to catch the Capitol, and then continue the trip to Washington D.C.
Aboard the Capitol Ltd, I had a sleeper. The car appeared to be close to capacity, making me wish that some of the individuals on certain other BBS would ride this train. They'd realize that plenty of folks ride the trains. They'd also realize that trains like this one make therir ridership by stopping on the middle points of each route and picking people up, which is different than travelling by aircraft. Most of the ridership takes place from one mid-point to another mid-point, but some folks don't want to be bothered with the facts. Enough with the preaching. As I travelled furthur east, I was ble to see many of the holiday lights that many people had on their homes. this added a nice touch to the good dinner I had, and the scenery that I saw earlier in the route. There are things you see from the train that you will never see from the highway! Now, the railroad tracks travel through towns and trough neighborhoods, and so I could see these lights. The railroad right-of-way is much less than a U.S. highway (25 feet vs. 100 yds). We arrived a little bit late, but not much. I had plenty of time to walk from Washington DC station over to the National Gallery of Art, before boarding #98 south bound to Ft. Lauderdale.
Going south to Ft. Lauderdale, the coach was packed, I mean, totally sold out. There was a bit of a party going on in the lounge car until the early hours of the morning, with a unique cast of characters. The coach itself was a bit warm, but then that was to help the passengers sleep a bit better. The train going southbound did have some weather -related issues, however. We had to stop several times so that they train crew could clear the switches, as they were frozen from the weather (what is this, CSX can't afford switch heaters?). So, this slowed us down, till we were again about two hours down. There were some passengers who complained of the tardiness, but then again, driving thrugh that sort of weather would have been even more of a headache - and, yes, they would have been just as delayed on the highways and airports as we were aboard the train. The fact that the train had only one engine might have also played a factor as well. Perhaps the single engine (I think t was a P-42, or P40) just doens't have enough h.p. to keep the schedule.
Returning northbound, we left Ft. Lauderdale on time, but seemed to lose time, a little bit at a time, as we travelled north. There were some signals out, as well as a malfunctioning drawbridge, just south of Jacksonville, FL, so this delayed us for a while. Again, this delay was something that the "host" RR is responsible for, yet Amtrak suffers from it. There was a wde range of passengers aboard, which proved to be a source of entrtainment if one is into people watching. A shame, though, that none of the young women aboard were my age, otherwise I would have joined in on the fun! As it was, I kept to the sidelines and just did some people watching, and book reading. I took the sleeper again, which was full by the time we left Florida, and the little roomette was just right for someone like me. We arrived into Washington, DC, about 10:30 the next morning, though, after a pleasant breakfast with another person who, I discovered, shared a few of the same interests in trains that I did.
While in D.C., I had some time between trains, so I changed into some cold weather clothes and went to the Smithsonian. That was a sight to behold - I think they have new displays up every time I pass through DC. The station's proximity to the Smithsonian (20 minute walk on good days) helps out a bit too. I left D.C. on time, again in the sleeper aboard the Capitol. The dinner was good, and so was the breakfast. So was the reading. The only major flaw in this portion of the trip was that, nearing Chicago, the train in front of us had some mechanical failure of some sort. I figured that it wasn't worth my energy to get vexed about this sort of thing, as one can have mechanical breakdowns in all modes of travel, not just the train. While the dispatcher and Norfolk southern RR set about dealing with their trains' breakdown, we who occupied the train behind them cooled our heels. We arrived into Chicago by 12:20 that afternoon, about 2 hours down. This was plenty of time for me to make my next train, the one that would take me "Up North," to the north country. I departed Chicago on-time at 2:10 pm, and had an on-tme arrival in Saint Cloud. All in all, a good trip, though there were a couple of glitches. The food was good. As for some of the other issues, I'd like to point out that no method of travel is perfect. I look forward to doing this trip again in the near future.
-------------------- "Travel is fatal to prejudice, bigotry, and narrow-mindedness, and many of our people need it sorely on these accounts. Broad, wholesome, charitable views of men and things cannot be acquired by vegetating in one corner of the Earth all one's life." Posts: 506 | From: Wisconsin | Registered: Mar 2002
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posted
The 2007-2008 Holiday Train trip began December 25, 2007. I departed St. Cloud, MN about a half hour late, at 5:45 am. More time to sleep for me. Oh, well. The train made up time on its way between St. Paul and Chicago, and we were almost on time at Milwaukee. Good for everyone involved. Then, I boarded the Capitol Limited, to go to Washington DC. We departed on time. The sleeper was comfortable, if a little cold. The train was quite busy. We even stayed on schedule all the way into DC, where I arrived at 1:30 on December 26 afternoon. I caught #98 that evening at 7:30 or so, and off I went to FT. Lauderdale. I was unable to get a sleeper for this segment of the trip, as they had all been sold out prior to Thanksgiving. So, I rode coach. We arrived on time into Ft. Lauderdale, even a little early, I think, just prior to 6 pm on the 27th.
Returning to MN, I had to rearrange my departure from Ft. Lauderdale. I departed on January 13th, on time. We lost some time on the way to Jacksonville. I had a sleeper for this portion, so I was ok. We arrived in DC on time, perhaps a few minutes late (but not by much). The weather was ok, and so was the dispatching and track conditions. Hands down, CSX has the roughest track out of all the freight RRs that my trains ran over this trip. The track westbound out of DC, on the route of the Capitol Ltd, were all in good condition. One gentleman had to be removed from the train after he became drunk and threatened some of the crew between Connellsville, PA, and Pittsburgh. Other than that, the trip westbound was uneventful. Due to the police activity, we were about an hour late for the remainder of the trip into Chicago. Not a problem, as I made my connection to the Empire Builder with several hours to spare. I arrived in St. Cloud, MN, on time at 12:30 am on Jan 16th.
Overall, a good trip, despite the police activity aboard one of the trains. The crew handled the situation as best they could. I can only hope that I will have more opportunities to take this sort of trip after I graduate from Graduate School.
-------------------- "Travel is fatal to prejudice, bigotry, and narrow-mindedness, and many of our people need it sorely on these accounts. Broad, wholesome, charitable views of men and things cannot be acquired by vegetating in one corner of the Earth all one's life." Posts: 506 | From: Wisconsin | Registered: Mar 2002
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![[Smile]](smile.gif)
. We arrived into Chicago with perhaps 20 minutes to catch the Capitol, and then continue the trip to Washington D.C. ![[Wink]](wink.gif)
The coach itself was a bit warm, but then that was to help the passengers sleep a bit better. The train going southbound did have some weather -related issues, however. We had to stop several times so that they train crew could clear the switches, as they were frozen from the weather (what is this, CSX can't afford switch heaters?). So, this slowed us down, till we were again about two hours down. There were some passengers who complained of the tardiness, but then again, driving thrugh that sort of weather would have been even more of a headache - and, yes, they would have been just as delayed on the highways and airports as we were aboard the train. The fact that the train had only one engine might have also played a factor as well. Perhaps the single engine (I think t was a P-42, or P40) just doens't have enough h.p. to keep the schedule. 
