Recently I took a long train trip to Memphis Via Amtrak.  I usually don't
travel much, maybe once every two years.  I did go to Flordia for an amateur
radio convention last year and there was an opertunity to go this year to
Memphis for another convention.  Never having been there before I jumped at
the chance even knowing that this was going to be a very expensive trip.  The
train travel alone was over a thousand dollars because it would require two
nights on a sleeper car.

So I booked two roometts both ways.  Instead of leaving from my hometown like
I usually do, I would have to drive to Union Station in New Haven and park
there for a week.  The line New Haven to Springfield is being upgraded and
double tracked to improve speed and service and the line won't be fully
completed until 2018.  We and a couple of other places are getting new
stations and work on the line curtails service sometime.  I could have left
from my city but would have been stranded in New Haven on the return leg.

So the trip started on a nice sunny Saturday moring.  I got a good spot in the
parking garage.  I was worried that I would have to carry my two items up and
down the stairs but cheking in the Amtrak information office, (where I picked
up a full system time table - which by the way is being elimated due to the
fact that they are available online), found out that there are elevators in
the New Haven Station to down to the tunnel and up to the tracks.

The first leg of the the trip was Business Class to Washington, D.C.  Then
sleeper to Chicago and finally sleeper from Chicago to Memphis.  Then a week
later turn around and do the whole thing over again in reverse.

To me the travel is a big part of the vacation and when I travel I take my
camara to take picures from the train and also my GPS to watch were we are and
what our speed is, and I take my scanner and listen to the railroad
communications.  The line from New Haven to New York still needs some work but
the Regional Acela toped out between 90 and 95 MPH.  There are still some slow
areas where they come down in the 40's but mostly they average over 70 MPH.
The line from New York to Washington was different though and it looks like
they did a lot of work on it and I was seeing peaks of 125 MPH and we averaged
over 100 MPH for most of the trip into Washington.  I'm told that the 125 MPH
speed is due to new baggage cars being put on.  The old ones were limited to
100 MPH.

Once in DC I bad a layover wating for the sleeper so I was able to take
advantage of the First Class Lounge and to avail myself of the free snacks and
refreshments.  Also I took some time to walk around and grab a late lunch in
the food court, (McDonalds of course).

So the sleeper was to leave in the evening and we were taken directly from the
lounge to the cars and let on board early.  They were serving dinner in the
dining car, (all meals are free as part of the sleeper ticket), but being late
I did not take advantage of it because I have to watch what and when I eat.  I
did get the GPS out and put the earphones on to listen to the train crew.
Once you get out of the city the chatter is mostly between the crew, dispatch
and occasional passing trains.  Speeds were impressive.  You don't think you
are going very fast but I was routinely seeing over 70 MPH, it looks slower
from the seats.

The next morning I got up early, I'm an early riser anyway and was in for
breakfast just after 6:30 AM.  The eggs, bacon, sasauage,  muffin and jelly
was good.  Can't say much about the coffee though.  Can't beat my DD coffee,
it was railroad coffee, strong and a little bitter needed a ton of sugar and
cream. Can't yet say I've had a great cup of coffee on a train.  We got into
Chicago after 8 AM.  I got to say that all of the trains were within 15
minutes of the scheduled arrivle times.

With a 12 hour layover in Chicago I took the two hour bus tour of the City.
Chicago just opened a brand new Metropolitan Lounge about two weeks before I
got there and it is beautiful!  It is larger than the old lounge, (and I
thought that Chicago had the best first class lounge anyway).  They have
plenty of free snacks, regular McDonalds type of soft drink dispensers,
juices, milk for the kids and snacks.  They serve a buffett type cheese,
cracker and salad lunch and had wine sampling, (but I don't drink and was on
the tour durning the buffet).  One other welcome thing... showers!  (Which I
took advantage of on the return leg), a full bathroom with a huge shower room
that you get a key card to enter with a washcloth and nice big towel to dry
off with, sure beats the small stall on the train!  Two other things about
the lounge, first of all it is a long way from the tracks.  If you have any
kind of luggage take the redcap to the lounge.  I made that error going up.
I did not know there was a new lounge and it was a drag with my luggage, I was
beat.  Use tbe redcap both ways, they will board you early.  Also the
"undiscovered" area of the lounge, upstairs.  Either go up the stairs or take
the elevator.  Even with all the crowds downstars upstairs is quiet and rather
empty.  It looks onto the street and into the Great Hall, if you go out the
doors you will have to enter back through the main enterance.  The one area
that needs improvment is the baggage hold.  The room is small and fills
quickly.  There are three long metal racks two against each wall and one down
the middle.  If you get there early by the end of the day your stuff is
burried.  That needs to be at aleast double size maybe more.

My train was one of the last ones out for the evening so by the time I left
there were only about a dozen other people there they called us about 40
minutes before depaturre and we were brought directly to our roomettes.  Again
with the GPS and scanner though there was not much to see because we left
after 10:30 my stop was just after 7 I did not get a chance for breakfast on
the train, but I was in my hotel room by 8:30.  Again speeds were close to 75
MPH at times and the ride was fairly smooth though the whole system.

On the return leg I left late Friday evening.  The Memphis station is not much
to talk about in fact the Amatrak window closed at 10 PM.   The train was at
10:40 but arrived about 11 PM.  With another mostly overnight trip there was
not much to see and hear until the morning, but arriving after 9 AM. I did
have time for a nice breakfast aboard the train.  Another long layover, (but
not quite as long), I toured the Willis Tower, (Old Sears Tower), and  took
some great photos from the 103rd floor.  Again the second floor of the
Metropolitan Lounge was quite unoccupied most of the day and relaxing.

Pretty much the same for the Chicago to Washington trip.  Again speeds over 70
MPH for much of the trip. it's just too bad that the routes that Amtrak
curtailed when they took over have not been brought back, it would have cut
the DC to Memphis part to maybe 10 or 12 hours in a coach or business class
coach going straight west.

I did make one change in my trip plans.  When I got into DC I saw that there
was an Acela which left earlier and got back into New Haven over an hour
earlier than my original plan.  I swiched over to the business seat on that.
It was my first time riding the Acela and I was impreessed on the route from
DC to NCY.  I saw speeds of 130 MPH on the GPS and was even a spike of 135 MPH
that I caught.  Also since we were express we were on the middle track and
were blowing through stations at 100 MPH!  Whoose!  NYC to New Haven was still
about the same as the regional but slightly faster in some spots but still not
with all the stops.  When the Acela leaves the station it REALLY leaves the
station.  It is going 40 MPH by the time we get to the end of the platform.
We actually arrived in New Haven one minute earlier than scheduled arrival
time.

All in all a great train trip. proabably the best I've had yet and a great
vacation with visits in Memphis to Graceland and Sun Studios where Elvis,
Chuck Berry, Jerry Lee Lewis Carl Perkins and, even Ozzie Osborne the week
before I was there recorded.  Sun Studios is still an active recording studio
in the evenings.

Well I hope you enjoyed my trip report.  Hope you all have something to share.
I'd love to hear your stories.

Toodeloo!

Al Kaiser - Meriden, CT, 04-Sep-2016 at 19:29. Fido : 1:142/926 -
Internet : n1api@cox.net


 -=>  Al Kaiser  n1api@cox.net  <=-

TTYL!

Al Kaiser - Meriden, CT, 06-Sep-2016 at 10:03.
Fido : 1:142/926 - Internet : n1api@cox.net

.!. GG1, S1, Moguls and Mikados are not rock bands.
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