SOMEWHERE, On the Northeast Corridor — It’s 5:24 a.m. and southbound Northeast Regional No. 67 is loping through early morning dark to get down to Newport News, Va.
Me? I’m headed to Washington today for meetings with old-time friends of Trains, and a few people we ought to know a little better.
But the train, it’s pretty full so far. The Amfleet coaches are identical to what I’ve ridden on the Lakeshore Limited. About half of the passengers in my car are sprawled over two seats sleeping — just like on the Lakeshore. The ride so far is unremarkable and occasionally bumpy.
The last time I was on a Regional was back in July 2001 and it was packed with commuters in rush hour and on Amfleet coaches, if I remember correctly. That was the time my wife humored me and let me book through passage for us both from Jamestown, N.Y., to Washington — all on Amtrak. We took the Thruway bus to Buffalo which dropped us off underneath a dingy highway overpass and at the foot of a dirty passenger platform. From there, my frugal self booked the Empire Service (an all-stop, non-express) instead of the Lakeshore to Penn Station. Once at Penn we were two hours late and had minutes, just minutes, to navigate Penn to find the Regional and get on to make our way to D.C. (Again, I was frugal, so no Acela.)
Deposited at Washington Union Station just before sunset, we made our way a Holiday Inn, which is now a Double Tree or an embassy for a small Pacific island nation.
All this is to say that other than for smartphones, a few fashion changes in fellow passengers, and a new Siemens locomotive out front, I’m not sure anything has changed on a Northeast Regional train in 15 years.
With all that’s happened since 2001: deaths, births, job changes, acquaintances made … just life really … anything that has gone on 15 years without changing is pretty good and pretty rare.
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