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Riding Amtrak To Newark In Preparation For The 2018 NRHS Convention 7/22-25/2018

This year's National Railway Historical Society convention was in Cumberland, Maryland. My friend and fellow member, Robin Bowers, would be able to ride Amtrak both ways as well as adding a ride to Roanoke, Virginia to take in the new extension. We planned an extensive itinerary of museums, train rides and railfanning opportunities, culminating with the convention before we returned to California on Amtrak. My friends Bob and Elizabeth Alkire would join us on August 4th and all reservations made and tickets purchased.

In the meantime, my mother fell and spent time in the hospital before moving into a rest home since she could not live by herself anymore. I was moved from 3.75 hours to 5.75 hours at Heninger Elementary and remained on that schedule until I retired in 2020.

7/22/2018 I rode to Solana Beach and back, visited my mother and finished packing before Robin arrived, then my colleague, Dr. Anastasia Filipek and her husband Phil arrived to drive us to the station. We were supposed to be on Pacific Surfliner 579 but a death on the rails changed all that as a late-running Pacific Surfliner 777 was due in at 579's time.

The train arrived standing room only but as we were taking sleepers out of Los Angeles, the conductor let us board and I had to sit on the floor while Robin stood. Luckily it was only a fifty minute trip to Los Angeles, where we detrained after 36.0 miles. A Red Cap guided us to the elevator that took us to the Metropolitan Lounge and waited, receiving the announcement that the Southwest Chief would be forty-five minutes late due to locomotive problems which were solved. A Red Cap drove us out to the platform and we waited for the train to reverse into LAUPT, then a few minutes later, an empty Pacific Surfliner trainset returned to the yard and our train arrived.

We boarded the 430 Car, room five, then walked to the front of the train, whose consist was P42DCs 195 and P40DC 822, Viewliner baggage 61015, transition sleeper 39035, sleeper 32072 "Arkansas", sleeper 32098 "New Jersey", diner 38061, lounge 33043 and coaches 31043, 34018 and 34024. Rashad was our Sleeping Car Attendant for the trip to Chicago.

The front of the Southwest Chief in Los Angeles.

Amtrak P40DC 822 in heritage Phase III livery, built by General Electric in 1993 and led the 40th Anniversary Exhibit Train for a year. We returned aboard and departed at 6:45 PM {6:10 PM}. About thirty minutes later, we arrived at Fullerton and did a double spotting as elevator construction was still ongoing. We did see David Aten, but not Chris Parker, who were both here trying to see us off. We left Fullerton and at the Horseshoe Bend of the Santa Ana River, a BNSF freight blocked our view. The conductor came by and gave us an 8:00 PM dinner reservation and Robin and I both had the steak with pudding for dessert. I then enjoyed the climb over Cajon before stepping off for a fresh air break on a warm night in Barstow then made up the room and called it a night.

7/23/2018 I was up just east of Maine, Arizona and rode the lounge car until Flagstaff were I detrained for more cool fresh air. At 6:30 AM, Robin and I went to the dining car and were seated with a couple who were on an Amtrak Vacation trip and really enjoying it. I had pancakes and pork sausage along with orange juice then pointed out Canyon Diablo and the Meteor Crater to all at our table. We returned to the room and I made it up then walked the whole length of the train and saw the Joseph City power plant with an empty BNSF coal train getting ready to leave.

Eastern Arizona scenery.

Welcome to New Mexico on this sunny Monday morning.

Red mesas east of Gallup. The train continued east and ran through Grants then reached Albuquerque at 12:35 PM.

Amtrak Heritage Unit 822.

Southwest Chief Train 4 at Albuquerque. We departed at 1:10 PM {12:10 PM} and made our way to Lamy. Robin and I had a lunch reservation at 1:15 PM and I enjoyed an Angus beef burger and chips while we stopped in the siding to let a southbound New Mexico Railrunner train pass. Good conversations were had, time flew by and soon we were on the final approach for Lamy.

Santa Fe Southern GP7u 07, nee Santa Fe 2744, built by Electro-Motive Division in 1952.

Former Amtrak dining car 8085, ex. Seaboard Coast Line 5955, nee Atlantic Coast Line "Talladega" built by Pullman Standard in 1950.

The Santa Fe station in Lamy where we stopped and departed at 2:38PM {1:17 PM}.

Apache Canyon on the way to Glorieta Pass. We did not meet Train 3 at Canyoncito so we climbed the rest of the way up Glorieta Pass and met our westbound counterpart at Rowe siding then continued on our way toward Las Vegas and Robin and I walked to the rear of the train for a little bit of semaphore hunting.

The Blanchard "S" curves.

The remaining semaphores from Blanchard to MP 775. We arrived in Las Vegas and departed at 4:45 PM {3:03 PM}, bound for Raton then I retired to the room to sleep as I was feeling under the weather.

7/24/2018 I felt back to my regular self and at 6:25 AM, went to the dining car for a repeat of yesterday's breakfast then rode in the lounge car from just after Newton to Holiday, Kansas and awoke Robin so he could have breakfast. He joined me in the lounge car well before Topeka, although delays were causing us trouble in reaching the Argentine Yard fuel pads, so we reversed 1.8 miles to CP Morris to access a track that would take us to there.

Erman Corporation 65 ton switcher 2, nee United States Navy 65-0055, built by General Electric in 1943 in an adjacent scrap yard. Once fuelling was complete, we continued into Missouri to our next servicing stop at Kansas City, arriving at 11:24 AM after we pulled past and reversed 0.9 miles to add another coach, 31024, to our train. I took a prolonged fresh air break and saw my first KC Streetcar on the bridge over the tracks.

A Kansas City Southern baretable train was followed by BNSF grain train before departure at 12:40 PM {7:43 AM} and started the journey toward La Plata. The two of us were seated in the dining car with two more very interesting passengers and I repeated yesterday's lunch. I showed Robin the train-related features outside Kansas City, as well as the bridge at Sibley where I reached my million miles in April 2007, which was before we met. The train stopped on Bridge 405.7 for a few minutes then after crossing over, we sped down the other mainline.

The CSX locomotive from that train above at NA Junction. We ran through Carrollton then Bosworth and Marceline and saw the remaining signal bridges.

The Santa Fe coaling tower in Marceline. Robin was pleased to be able to see the La Plata station and the Chris Guenzler Million Mile Lookout Point in person (albeit from the train) as he had never been there before, then the Chief departed at 3:00 PM {9:55 AM} and as I was showing Robin the various locations east of La Plata, the conductor stopped by with our information about The Cardinal, Train 50. We would detrain in Galesburg and be bussed to Indianapolis to catch the train due to how late we were running. While not a perfect solution, we both happy with it. The train crossed the Des Moines River into Iowa and the next stop at Fort Madison, where it left at 4:36 PM {11:09 AM}.

Crossing the Mississippi River on the Santa Fe swing bridge at Fort Madison. We continued on to Galesburg, Illinois, arrived at 6:05 PM {12:08} and detrained.

The bus was waiting and a total of seven passengers were aboard. We took Interstate 74 to Champaign where the bus was re-fuelled and had a dinner stop then it was back on Interstate 74 to Interstate 474 to Interstate 70, then to Indianapolis Union Station.

All passengers went inside Indianapolis Union Station and waited to board. The train arrived after midnight and we took the elevator to trackside and boarded the Viewliner Sleeper. The Cardinal's consist was P42DC 69, coaches 2, 5113, 25027 and 25087, dinette 28000, Business Class 48189, Viewliner Sleeper 62022 and baggage 61051. Cliff was our sleeping car attendant. I made my lower bunk and Robin had to get a clean sheet before he made his upper bunk.

Just before we stopped at Huntington, West Virginia, I stepped off for a few minutes of fresh air before going to the dinette for my breakfast of Railroad French Toast and bacon with orange juice on a rainy morning.

Hanging clouds greeted me to West Virginia.

After Charleston, the state capital, we followed the Kanawha River to the New River and the famous gorge Robin would see later this morning.

Nearing Deepwater, West Virginia.

Hawk Nest Dam.

The New River. Due to track work on the Hawk Nest Bridge on Track 1, we took the seldom-used Track 2 route, so the two of us had some quite rare mileage.

Track 1, the route I had always taken before.

The New River Arch Bridge that crosses the New River Gorge.

Waterfalls on the New River.

Rafters.

Crossing the New River before we returned to our normal routing into Thurmond.

Chesapeake and Ohio station in Thurmond, built in 1904. During the first two decades of the 1900's, Thurmond was a classic boomtown. With the huge amounts of coal brought in from area mines, it had the largest revenue on the Chesapeake & Ohio Railway. Having many coal barons among its patrons, Thurmond's banks were the richest in the state. Fifteen passenger trains a day came through town and its depot served as many as 95,000 passengers a year. The town's stores and saloons did a remarkable business and its hotels and boarding houses were constantly overflowing.

With the advent of diesel locomotives and less coal coming in from local mines, the town began a steady decline. The many businesses closed down and most residents moved on. Today, the town of Thurmond remains surprisingly untouched by modern development. It is a link to our past and a town with many stories to tell. New River Gorge National Park and Preserve invites visitors to experience the impact of the industrial revolution and the National Park Service's mission to preserve our nation's heritage.

The peaceful New River.

Homes reflected in the river.

Sandstone Falls.

We followed the Greenbrier River to White Sulphur Springs.

The entrance to the Greenbrier Resort Hotel. The train then climbed to the Summit Tunnel and descended through Covington to our next station at Clifton Forge.

CSX 4656 West.

CSX 3237 East as seen through the train's window.

Clifton Forge Amtrak station, built for the Chesapeake and Ohio Railway in 1906.

Chesapeake and Ohio GP7 5828, built by Electro-Motive Division in 1952, part of the C&O Heritage Museum in Clifton Forge.

Chesapeake & Ohio 10-6 sleeper 2655 "City of Athens" built by Pullman in 1950, then sold to the Baltimore and Ohio and became "City of Petoskey". It was used on C&O then sold to B&O and used on its trains for many years. We would be visiting this museum on Friday.

The train continued east to Staunton and on the way, I bought lunch. Arrival was twelve minutes early and during my fresh air break, it started to pour.

The Cardinal at rest at Charlottesville. The train travelled on the Buckingham Branch to Orange, then onto the former Southern Railway main line north to Culpepper, Manassas and on to Alexandria. After that, it crossed the Potomac River and went through the Potomac Tunnel to the final stop of Washington Union station, where Robin and I both detrained.

We walked into Club Acela and checked to see if we could take an earlier train to New York City. I was advised to call Amtrak Guest Rewards and I used points for Business Class on Train 186 then after our tickets were printed, we were on our way out to the train on a rainy night.

We boarded the train and called the Hotel Pennsylvania to see if they had any rooms but they did not. I suggested we stay in Newark, New Jersey and acquired a room at the Hotel Riviera. The train left on time and made it through the night, arriving at Newark, after which we took a taxi to the hotel.

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