Passenger Trains > Orlando to Salt Lake....day 2

Well out train, The Silver Meteor arrived on time to Washington, D.C. this morning. We were off the train and headed for McDonalds for some breakfast shortly after arriving, but not before I had the chance to take a couple of pictures and a couple of video clips at the arrival tracks.

Our train would continue on North without the diesel powered locomotives and instead would have just electric power on the headend.

Picture 1 shows the diesels coming off....

The single electric locomotive #612 was added afterwards.....it was a lot quieter than the two diesels.

Video 2 shows another train that arrived shortly after we did.....

Video 3 shows the single electric being added to our train.....

No harassment from anyone at the train station for taking pictures.

Our layover in D.C. was nice.....we visited the outside of the White House, Washington Monument, Lincoln Memorial, the Vietnam wall, the Korean memorial and finally, the long hike up to the Kennedy flame and changing of the guard in Arlington National Cemetery.

A very productive day.......



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 08/25/14 22:03 by hawkeye.

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The station was a nice place, kind of like a mall with trains for big kids. There was some remodeling taking place in the building as well.

Picture 1 is the after shot for the renovations....

Picture 2 is the current work taking place.....

Picture 3 shows the three levels of shopping and other activities available.

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The outside of the station was nice to look at as well......

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Union Station had damage from an earthquake in 2011 and is sill being repaired from that. Enjoy your trip.

Well the departure time arrived and soon we were headed to the train. It was powered by 2 of the P42DC diesels, 10 of the Superliner cars and a single baggage car on the headend. The ride was much nicer than the Amfleet cars that the Silver Meteor train had. The views are nicer on this train because you are up higher in the air and the best car of them all is the viewliner car that is like a dome car. Once I found this car, I rarely was at my assigned seat as I liked the views.

MARC, VRE, Amtrak and even the local metro subway system serves the Washington station. I believe that this is the start of the northeast corridor as the Accela trains start here as well.

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Sounds like so far, so good! We're enjoying the trip with you.

B&OB

The departure out of Washington, D.C. was flat at first but then started to gradually climb. We have been on CSX track thus far and they have given us a pretty smooth ride.

Being from out West, where it would take you several hours to get out of state, here we were in West Virginia fairly quickly. Zero to little cell service made this portion of the trip nice because the phone was only good for nothing.

Harpers Ferry was the first stop I remember, and it was as nice place. Apparently a couple of rivers meet there and the town is shoe-horned onto the side of the riverbank.

Picture 1... Harpers Ferry depot..

Picture 2....Harpers Ferry proper.....

Picture 3.....Martinsburg.....an old roundhouse complex that is standing but not in use any more???

There has been a lot of upgrades to the signals, the track and the right-of-way. We have had a few slow downs but no stoppages due to other trains. Lots of coal here in West Virginia.

I have enjoyed the trip thus far and would like to travel Amtrak again.

hawkeye Wrote:
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>
> Our train would continue on North without the
> diesel powered locomotives and instead would have
> just electric power on the headend.
>

I wondered how those long distance trains reach speeds over 100 mph.

How is Family liking being in coach so far on the train??

The above three pictures are mislabeled, actually shot is Australia (why they're upside-down).

Ed

Hawkeye, I had a similar problem, posting a pic on TO that came out sideways. I'd taken a vertical shot, rotated it on my laptop, but it was still on its side on TO.

The TO tech staff advised me to save it with a new name in my laptop after rotating it. Then it should show up correctly when I post it online.

I'm enjoying your trip reports! Thanks for sharing.

Auburn_Ed Wrote:
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> The above three pictures are mislabeled, actually
> shot is Australia (why they're upside-down).
>
> Ed

Its because they are on the other side of the equator and everything spins the other way.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 08/21/14 11:06 by kingman.

The pictures related to the above are not Harpers Ferry.
Where are they and how did you get them mixed in?


Uncle Joe,Seffner,Fl.

I will update the travel log when I get to a real computer.....I have an android tethered to an I-pad on the Sprint cell net work.

Auburn_Ed Wrote:
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> The above three pictures are mislabeled, actually
> shot is Australia (why they're upside-down).
>
> Ed


Look fine to me, of course I live in Chile.

Interesting, I will look to the continuation of this story.

Thanks for sharing.

nancyg