Early Start this morning at 4.30am, for our taxi which was booked at 5.15am to take us to New York Penn Station, the first plan was to take the train in, but there had been a derailment in the tunnels under the Hudson River causing lots of cancelations and diversions, rather risk being late a taxi was taken. We made our way to wait in the Accela Club Lounge, snacking on coffee, juice and muffins. As sleeper passengers in roomettes 3 & 4 we had priority boarding, our luggage safely stored in the baggage car, we settled in our rooms one each side of the train. We were a few minutes late departing, but by the first stop at Newark 10 miles later we were back on time. Our Train formation on leaving New York was
Loco 924 AEM-7
Coach 1731 Baggage Car
Coach 62030 PATRIOT VIEW Viewliner
Coach 28009 Amfleet 2 Diner
Coach 25073 Amfleet 2 Coach
Coach 25086 Amfleet 2 Coach
Coach 25017 Amfleet 2 Coach
Breakfast of French Railway Toast was taken just after Philadelphia, Lasting until just before Baltimore, so we missed photographing Wilmington Depot. At Ivy City Coach Yards outside Washington DC managed to catch a glimpse of the Amtrak 40th anniversary train. We had around an hour stop at Washington Union Station mainly to change Locomotive the change was
Loco 42 P42
After Washington we move off Amtrak’s high-speed network and are hosted by various freight railroads, namely
New York – Washington DC Amtrak
Washington DC – Alexandria CSX
Alexandria – Culpeper Norfolk Southern
Culpeper – Clifton Forge Buckingham Branch
Clifton Forge – Dyer CSX
Dyer – Chicago Norfolk Southern
Scenic Highlights on the route include
New River Gorge
Blue Ridge Mountains
Allegheny Mountains
Shenandoah Valley
Greenbrier Mountain Resort
Wild West Virginia Vistas
Ohio River
Indiana farmlands
Lunch was taken between Culpeper and Charlottesville I had a Cheeseburger. Diner was taken just after White Sulphur Springs, I had the house salad followed by Braised Flat Iron Beef with veg and sauté potatoes, followed by cheesecake. Returning as the we lost daylight to pass under Gauley bridge, which is the highest bridge in the USA and 2nd in the world. Next came the confluence of the New and Gauley Rivers to form the Kanawha River, but it was too dark for pictures. During the night we lost more time due to flood warnings in Kentucky and adding 2 private car in Cincinnati
BNSF 3 800185 Red River
BNSF 29 800635 Valley View
This involved a bit of shunting in the middle of the night. Woke up just before Indianapolis at 0630, an hour and a half late, more French Railway toast for breakfast while we were being shunted again at Indianapolis eventually leaving 2hrs late having added
54561 Horizon Coach
54580 Horizon Coach
We eventually arrived at Chicago Union Station at 1145 having made up a little time. After dropping off the cases, We went to Boston Blackies for lunch of BBQ beef sandwich, then back to the station to collect the hire car, booked a RAV 4 but they didn’t have any so were up graded to a Jeep. Then its was time to get used to America driving as I drove the 15 miles to the hotel Radisson Des Plaines. After a little rest it was time to eat dinner, I had the Special BBQ house Salad, 8oz Sirloin, and fries.
Loco 924 AEM-7
Coach 1731 Baggage Car
Coach 62030 PATRIOT VIEW Viewliner
Coach 28009 Amfleet 2 Diner
Coach 25073 Amfleet 2 Coach
Coach 25086 Amfleet 2 Coach
Coach 25017 Amfleet 2 Coach
Breakfast of French Railway Toast was taken just after Philadelphia, Lasting until just before Baltimore, so we missed photographing Wilmington Depot. At Ivy City Coach Yards outside Washington DC managed to catch a glimpse of the Amtrak 40th anniversary train. We had around an hour stop at Washington Union Station mainly to change Locomotive the change was
Loco 42 P42
After Washington we move off Amtrak’s high-speed network and are hosted by various freight railroads, namely
New York – Washington DC Amtrak
Washington DC – Alexandria CSX
Alexandria – Culpeper Norfolk Southern
Culpeper – Clifton Forge Buckingham Branch
Clifton Forge – Dyer CSX
Dyer – Chicago Norfolk Southern
Scenic Highlights on the route include
New River Gorge
Blue Ridge Mountains
Allegheny Mountains
Shenandoah Valley
Greenbrier Mountain Resort
Wild West Virginia Vistas
Ohio River
Indiana farmlands
Lunch was taken between Culpeper and Charlottesville I had a Cheeseburger. Diner was taken just after White Sulphur Springs, I had the house salad followed by Braised Flat Iron Beef with veg and sauté potatoes, followed by cheesecake. Returning as the we lost daylight to pass under Gauley bridge, which is the highest bridge in the USA and 2nd in the world. Next came the confluence of the New and Gauley Rivers to form the Kanawha River, but it was too dark for pictures. During the night we lost more time due to flood warnings in Kentucky and adding 2 private car in Cincinnati
BNSF 3 800185 Red River
BNSF 29 800635 Valley View
This involved a bit of shunting in the middle of the night. Woke up just before Indianapolis at 0630, an hour and a half late, more French Railway toast for breakfast while we were being shunted again at Indianapolis eventually leaving 2hrs late having added
54561 Horizon Coach
54580 Horizon Coach
We eventually arrived at Chicago Union Station at 1145 having made up a little time. After dropping off the cases, We went to Boston Blackies for lunch of BBQ beef sandwich, then back to the station to collect the hire car, booked a RAV 4 but they didn’t have any so were up graded to a Jeep. Then its was time to get used to America driving as I drove the 15 miles to the hotel Radisson Des Plaines. After a little rest it was time to eat dinner, I had the Special BBQ house Salad, 8oz Sirloin, and fries.
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