RE: Northeast Direct
This is the travelogue of the fourth segment of the five day Amtrak journey Dad and I took, this segment took us from Boston to Washington via Northeast Direct 173.
Boston-We were soon redy to go after we had ridden the commuter train and had some breakfeast. Our train was fairly long and was being pulled by a GP-40TC and a F-40. As we were departing the crew made very clear that you can only sit in the dinette if you buy something! This was no problem, we would just get a bag of chips and watch the scenery[and trains] go by. The conductor who took our tickets was pretty nice and very helpful.
Attleboro-For a while we were involved in a race with a commuter train that was being put into a storage yard, we came out on top.
Providence-This city is larger then I that it would be, there are a lot of work cars around.
I noticed that they were doing a lot of track work on this part of the corridor, we keep passing men in yellow vests and M.O.W. veichles.
New London-This is the beginning of the Shore Line East commuter line to New Haven, as we were leaving we passed a Providence & Worcester R.R. freight that had locomotives on both ends.
This part of the corridor is very scenic, there are many shore line views and beaches.
Old Saybrook-There are two men on the platform who look like they just escaped from prison, I mean it! The look like there wearing the same outfit inmates wear.
New Haven-This is were they will change to an electric locomotive since we just picked up the overhead catenary, this is also a "smoke stop" so we walked on to the platform to stratch our legs. They made the change very fast and we were soon on our way. I noticed that we also had a new train crew.
In the dinette-The dinette car attendant is realy pretty nice and is from around the area we live in. He said he had gone to chef school and when he graduated, found an opening at Amtrak. The woman sitting across from us works for Amtrak as a person who looks for and hires people to be M.O.W. officials. Every 10-15 minutes we pass a Metro-North commuter train.
Entrance to New York-The entrance into New York is very impressive, we crossed over the massive Hell Gate Bridge and also got a nice view of Amtraks Sunnyside yard, in the distance you can see the El trains.
New York-A lot of buisness people with laptops and celluler phones got on here, we our not real big fans of the station because there is no good place to watch trains move in and out. Dad is getting very excited, we have family who live in New Jersy who we would visit quite often, and when we would visit we would always watch trains along the corridor.
Metropark-We ran a little late getting into the station because we were stopped at a signal.
New Brunswick-We are not stopping here but I was born in this town, there is an impressive crossing of the Raritan river here.
Trenton-An Amtrak pulled in on the track next to us, I noticed that there were a lot of MHC cars on the back.We once took the commuter train here, it is a nice place to watch trans, expecialy during the rush hour.
We are playing guess what commuter station is next since Dad used to always take the train from his home in Philadelphia to his job in Trenton[in the days when Amtrak was just an infant], so I'm seing how well he remembers the stops, he's doing pretty good.
North Philadeiphia-This station used to be pretty nice and busy but now it is pretty run down, trains still stop here though, Dad lived two blocks from here when he was a kid.
30th Street Station-We were the only consist sitting in the station even though it was the rush hour.
Wilmington-There is Metroliner sitting on the other track, the Metroliner's cafe attendant is standing outside smoking, there is something tacky about that.
Perryville-This is were the tracks cross the Susquehanna river, it was very impressive since the sun was going down and reflecting off the river.
Baltimore-It was pretty busy here when we arrived, one Marc train pulled in while we were sitting here and we met another train inside the tunnel leading out of the station.
BWI Airport-Rail Station-There is a Metroliner sitting on the center track and I can look right into it, we think its having mechanical troubles.
Washington-We arrived five minutes early. We had an hour till we would take the Marc up to Baltimore, we would be staying with a good friend of Dads who lives there.
Tip: T do not recomend the Marc cars for sleeping, it was so uncomfordable I could not wait for us to get to Baltimore.
Baltimore-Dads friend took us out to eat at a place called The Cheese Cake Factory, check it out sometime, it was very nice.
