Steve's Fall '97 Amtrak Journey
Sept 28 - Oct 7, 1997
Amtrak Silver Palm - Train #89
Washington, DC to Miami, FL
http://trainweb.com/travel/stevelog/sg970929e.html
The fifth segment of my rail journey was on the Amtrak Silver Palm
from Washington, DC to Miami, Florida.
Jefferson Memorial/Washington Monument/Washington Metro
If you look closely at the bottom of the first picture, you can also see
a Washington Metro Train emerging from the subway about to head over
the bridge. The next photo shows that same train heading over the bridge.
Both of these photos were take from my room on the Amtrak Silver Palm
as we headed south out of Washington, DC.
Staff:
- Chief Of Onboard Services: Julie Cook
- Sleeping Car Attendant: Louis Jackson
Radio: Channel 32 - 160.590 - Petersburg,VA to Savannah,GA.
Note: Channel 32 might have started prior to Petersburg. I started
seeking the road channel only as of Petersburg.
Radio: Channel 66 - 161.100 - Wildwood,FL to Miami,FL.
Note: Channel 66 might have started prior to Wildwood. I started
seeking the road channel only as of WIldwood. Also, Channel 32 -
160.590 - was in short use around the Tampa, Florida, area before
they returned to Channel 66.
Detectors:
- Mile Post 033.7 Ch 32
- Mile Post 107.6 Ch 32
- Mile Post 421.0 Ch 32
- Mile Post 440.4 Ch 32
- Mile Post 474.6 Ch 32
- Mile Post 485.0 Ch 32
I like these little towns where the tracks seem to go right down the
middle of the main street!
I just noticed something about the venting in the Viewliner Standard
Bedroom. There are sliding vents under each window and there are two
fans. You have a thermostat control in the room that lets you set the
temperature which seems to work quite well. You can also set each fan
independently to low, medium or high. The fans seem to correspond to
the beds rather than the chairs. One fan could be adjusted to blow at
the person in the lower bunk and the other fan adjusted to blow at
the person in the upper bunk. The vents under the windows seem to be
for each person when they are sitting in the seats. Each person can
open or close their own sliding vent. However, there does seem to one
item out of my control. Directly under each window vent is another
vent. Each of those are radiating quite a bit of hot air into the room.
There isn't any fan blowing it in, it is just quite hot and radiating
that heat. This seems weird as it is fighting against the cool air I
have blowing in. It isn't much of a problem since the cooling system
is able to generate a lot more cold air than the heating source can
generate warm air. I can only take a stab at the purpose of this
heat source. Maybe the heating element of the car is always on and
if I selected the room to be warmed, the hot air from this heating
element would be blown into the room. If you know the answer to this
mystery, please send it by e-mail to me at
steve@trainweb.com.
Tuesday, Sep 30, 1997, 11:50 PM EDT, Savannah, GA
I just had an interesting experience. Alvin McGrath, Jr. wrote an
e-mail to me that I received while I was on this train. He said
he'd like to meet me when the train went through Savannah, Georgia.
I had planned to meet with other TrainWeb visitors as my train
passed through their towns, but these have never come to fruition.
Usually the cause was my train being very late and interferring
with other plans of the person who was to meet me. Well, this time
it did work out. We had an all too brief chat. We probably didn't
talk for more than 3 minutes, but it was still great to meet
another Amtrak fan along the route. I didn't know how long the train
was going to remain in the station, but when I saw the Conductor
throw away a cigarette that he had barely started, I knew he needed
to get the train rolling!
These are some old luggage wagons that were out on the platform of
one of the stations in Florida along the Amtrak Silver routes. The
second photo is a picture of the Florida Tri-State commuter trains.
As you can see, they are the same cars as used by "GO" in Toronto,
"Metrolink" in Southern California, and the new commuter line between
Dallas and Ft. Worth.
Wednesday, Oct 1, 1997, 01:00 PM EDT, Miami, FL
There are souveneirs here! I purchased a "Florida Amtrak Service" white
T-Shirt in "Large", the largest size available, and a "Amtrak Silver
Service" black polo shirt in "Extra Large." I also purchased an Amtrak
Silver Service burlap carry bag that had the names of the 3 Silver Trains.
They had other souveniers such as cups, mugs, glasses, umbrellas, etc.
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