Rails Around the USA:
Summer, 2005

Sarasota to Washington, D.C.

July 25-26, 2005

Laurence Krieg

July 25, 2005

11:14

Amtrak Thruway Motor Coach

Leaving Sarasota on the Amtrak bus. It arrived early, and the driver, who seems a bit surly, left at 11:09, a minute ahead of his 11:10 scheduled departure. The bus is roomy and comfortable, with a light jazz radio station playing. Two other passengers are already on the bus; I'm the only one to get on at Sarasota.

On may cell phone, I was able to change my reservation Washington to Boston from a "regional" to an Acela. I'm very pleased they're running again, and that I can get a seat. The Acela leaves Washington three and a half hours later, and gets to Boston only two and three quarters hours later. It's only saving three quarters of an hour, but not riding an Acela would be worse - much worse - than not riding the cable car in San Francisco.

14:57

The bus arrives at Orlando station. We picked up another person at Bradenton, three or four at St. Petersburg, and ten or twelve at Tampa. It was very awkward for the bus getting from Interstate 4 to the Orlando station. We had to wind our way through a maze of streets, one of which was too narrow for the bus and opposing traffic, because of parked vehicles on both sides. And to get into the station, the bus had to turn around, blocking traffic, and back in. Yet this is one of the least of Amtrak's worries.

Orlando Station

Orlando station looks to have been built in the 1920s, when the town was a sleepy backwater in the midst of mosquito-infested swamps, but was trying to better its condition in life. It hasn't seen much improvement beyond a coat of paint and an air conditioner, which seems to have been set to 32 degrees Farenheit. The sun beat on the platform with ferocious intensity, giving waiting passengers a choice of being broiled or frozen. And wait we did, with train 98 arriving two hours and eight minutes late. I chose broiling, on the chance that a train or two might come by and offer a target for my camera.

Local freight through Orlando

At 17:24, when I consulted "Julie," Amtrak's automated phone machine, I was told that train 98 was estimated to arrive at Orlando at 17:22, but was solemnly reminded that trains sometimes make up time between stations, and so might arrive earlier. It actually arrived at 17:42. I was told by a fellow passenger that, due to track work, the train was cancelled yesterday (Sunday).

18:00

Amtrak 98 led by P42 132

Number 98, with single P52 number 132 leading, pulls out of Orlando two hours and eight minutes late. In the consist are a baggage car, a crew dorm-lounge, three sleepers, the diner, the lounge, and five coaches, of which the last is "dead-in-tow" with all systems shut down - a total of twelve cars.

Curtis, my train attendant, is an elderly African American who looks as if he might have started his career as a porter on the Seaboard Airline or Atlantic Coast Line. He's a gentleman of great dignity and courtesy.

18:30

Dinner! Much appreciated, since I had no chance to eat lunch. Our foursome was dominated by a dear lady named Doris, heading up to Arlington to visit her husband's grave in the National Cemetary there. In addition to her natural girth, she had her purse on the seat between her and the window, pushing me partway into the narrow corridor. She apologized for her "big elbows" though. As is often the case with such people, she had an opinion about everything, and a voice well suited to making it widely known. The middle-aged and young man across from us had relatively little to say, which was good because they would have been difficult to hear.

20:58

Bouncing along at 79 MPH between Palatka and Jacksonville. Rough as the track is, I really appreciate the speed. Just north of Palatka, we crept along at little more than walking speed for over half an hour. Several times, we would advance about fifty yards and stop for two or three minutes, before creeping forward again. I expect track work was in progress, and undoubtedly needed.

21:57

In Jacksonville; we only lost two minutes on the run from Palatka, despite the slow progress at first. Jacksonville is a crew change and refueling stop, so we're scheduled to stop for twenty minutes. We did fairly well, at twenty-one.

22:18

Time for bed. I'll leave the GPS running so I can get times for some of the station-stops.

7/26/2005

08:34

Up at about six this morning, but clumsy handling of the computer lost the GPS info that had been gathered overnight. I'll just have to put "zzz" by the stations whose times I missed.

I slept pretty well, though the Viewliner cars have windows for the upper bunks, and looking out of them was a temptation I was unable to resist a few times during the night. In general, the Viewliner accomodations are preferable to the Superliners'. Having a toilet and sink in the roomette is a real plus, and there are a number of minor conveniences that indicate these are a newer design. For example, you can turn off the room light from the upper berth, but in a Superliner roomette, you have to remember to turn them off before you climb up - or, more likely, climb down to turn them off after forgetting.

Sunrise over North Carolina

Dawn found us in Fayetteville, a nice enough town but one I remember with scant favor, since the only time I've been there was when I was inducted into the army in 1968, at Fort Bragg. Sunrise over the piny woods was hazy, a deep orange.

We've been making good time this morning, though we lost another hour sometime during the night. We've not had to wait for other trains on this double track section, the majority of which appears posted at 79 MPH. Some towns require slowing down for no apparent reason; Dunn, North Carolina, for example, required us to slow to 25 MPH for no apparent reason.

08:48

Cut the Norfolk Southern diamond in Emporia, Virginia, at 69 MPH.

10:25

Just out of Richmond, which is a crew-change point. Query: why change at Richmond, when Washington is the obvious place to change? The P42 will be changed for an electric AEM-7 or equivalent, so wouldn't the crew have to change, too? Well, late as we are, our crew may have been on the point of dying.

12:31

The U. S. Capitol behind congressional office buildings

We pull smoothly across the Potomac and through the tunnel that has caused such a furor over hazardous materials near the Capitol, arriving at Union Station three hours and sixteen minutes late.

The P42 will not be changed in Washington, possibly due to a shortage of electrics. After all, many Acelas are being replaced by electric-hauled coaches. According to the crew, the diesel will be cut off in Philadelphia.