Hi all,
I like passenger trains in my MRR but never had a real train ride. Last week, I had a chance to visit Princeton. The most convenient way from Newark airport to Princeton is to take train to Princeton Junction then to take the NJ transit connection to Princeton campus. I was very excitetd as I just bought Atlas' NJT ALP-45DP locos and the double-deck passenger cars.
At Newark airport, I bought the NJT ticket to Princeton Junction for only $19. In less than 10min, an Amtrak train came. It was led by a Siemens ACS-64, which I bought several Bachmann models. The passenger cars were Amfleet II. Knowing nothing, I went on this train. After the train left the Newwark station, the conductor told me I took the wrong train as I bought the ticket for NJT, not Amtrtak. So he kicked me off at the Metropark station. For the NJT train, it was a regular passenger car (probably Bombardier Comet II), not the Bombardier double deck I have, which was a little bit disappointing. But I did see the double deck cars, which was very exciting. The ride from Princeton Junction to Princeton was short but very interesting. They used the old self-propelled cars, probably GE Arrow III.
The Amtrak Amfleet II feels more cosy and the space between the seat is huge. The NJT train looks spacious but the space between seats is more crowded. NJT train made lots of stops. That is probably why the ticket is cheap...
After I came back, I just found on MB Klein the new release of Amtrak Amfleet II from Bachmann. What a coincidence!! I had to buy several as I have several ACS-64!!
It was a really amazing experience that I can connect my MRR fleets with the real world operations!!
Jerry
hjQiIt was a really amazing experience that I can connect my MRR fleets with the real world operations!!
Hi Jerry,
Sounds like you had a pretty good time!
I model Canadian Pacific in the late 50s. They were using FP7s and FP9s. When I was 11 years old I actually got to ride in the cab of a CP F series loco that was pulling 'The Canadian' across northern Ontario! It was in the middle of the night so the view wasn't exactly spectacular, but sitting in the cab (freezing my butt off) watching the engineer and fireman run the engine was amazing! It was very noisy and the ride wasn't what I would call smooth, but it was the experience of a lifetime.
Can you guess why I model CP in the late 50s?!?
Cheers!!
Dave
I'm just a dude with a bad back having a lot of fun with model trains, and finally building a layout!
Our family rode the train from Portland Oregon to Chicago and back in 1970. Im guessing UP. I was 12
It is one of my favorite childhood memories. The country looks so different from a train than by car, and we could get up and roam around.
I don't model passenger trains, they don't fit into the ISL scheme of things.
I'm glad you enjoyed your experience. Thanks for sharing excitement that only the first time trip generates. Dan
Being unfamiliar with passenger equipment, I couldn't tell you what the motive power, let alone the rolling stock was, but my girlfriend and I took a train trip from Warrensburg, MO to Hermann, MO. It was a daylight trip so, we were able to just sit back and take in the sights. The trip back was at night, but, since it was near Christmas, we could see the Christmas decorations that people had already put up. It was a really nice trip; staying at a very clean BNB overnight was a pretty nice treat.
Marlon
See pictures of the Clinton-Golden Valley RR
I have been scanning the slides I took in 1983 as my (then) girlfriend and I vacationed in Vancouver and then took VIA's Canadian overnight train to Banff where we stayed a few days and rented a car to explore before reboarding for the short trip to Calgary, from where we flew home
The Canadian back then was a mix of ex CP (corrugated stainless steel) and ex CN (smooth side) cars. Our sleeping car was ex CN and I had the experience of sleeping in the upper berth, with the heavy cloth curtain separating my "bed" from the aisle. It was funny to see those certains move around as the passengers struggled inside to get out of their days clothes and go to sleep. It was just like an old movie. It was perhaps the most miserable night of sleep - or non sleep -- of my life, as I am (or was back then) 6'8" and the bed was both short and so narrow that even the fetal position was not totally available for sleep.
Plus as you leave Vancouver you begin to enter the Canadian Rockies and the car was turning and groaning as the train struggled upgrade on constant curves. As the sun rose the next morning I got up early and went to the communal men's room on the car to try to shave (there was no shower). I shave with a razor and shaving on a moving train is no picnic. Plus things were constantly interrupted because an elderly Japanese lady kept coming inside the men's room. I and the other inmates tried to say "men's room men's room" and she'd bow and leave and come back in two minutes. I guess she thought we were just saying "we're men and we get to use this room first."
Breakfast on the train was all you'd hope for -- white linen, tasty fare, polite waiters who amazingly could pour coffee on a swaying train car without spillng a drop, and glorious scenery as we were now in the Rockies. Our table mates said that while the scenery was very nice, they were from New Zealand and "all our train rides look more or less like this." Unfortunately with all of our stuff just sitting there on our chairs (which had been our berths the night before, and yes it was very interesting to see how quickly and efficiently the porter made the transformation) other than our two trips to the dining car we were foolishly too timid to leave our stuff unattended and go exploring the rest of the train including the dome cars. But we saw plenty outside our windows. At Revelstoke the train stopped, perhaps to refuel, so I detrained and got shots of the F units with snowcapped mountains in the background, and one picture (this was the 35mm slide era so you were frugal with taking pictures) of our sleeping car/coach.
So I had a ride in a "classic" Pullman type car and frankly it has cured me of any interest in long distance train riding ever again. I have ridden Amtrak to Chicago and back, Metra trains and a commuter train in Minneapolis, plus plenty of light rail as well as museum rides, and two brief rides on the UP's excursion/business car fleet. But overnight on a train? Never again. Unless I'm in a box in the baggage car.
Dave Nelson
Wow, Dave, that sounds like so much fun.
You convince me. I will try it...not.
Rich
Alton Junction
dknelsonI vacationed in Vancouver and then took VIA's Canadian overnight train to Banff... Our table mates said that while the scenery was very nice, they were from New Zealand and "all our train rides look more or less like this."
In the 1980s I rode both the Canadian and the entire New Zealand mainline from Aukland on the North Island to Invercargill at the southern tip of the South Island, and the boat-train that connected the two islands. I think their eyes might have been biased, as most of the NZ mainline went thru areas that looked like the dry hills of the California coast range. There is a line thru the "Southern Alps" on the South Island that might be compairable to the Canadian Rockies, but floods prevented me for taking that line.
I took the Canadian from Montreal to Vancouver, 3 nites, and each night I slepted in a Pullman section, although on a lower berth, which has more width and a window. I was not able to make sleeping reservations, and each night I would search out the conductor to purchase berth space.
Hi Dave,
Many thanks for sharing!! Sitting in a Cab has always been my dream!! I am kind of jealous. I think the reason you model CP is
hon30critter(freezing my butt off)
Southgate 2The country looks so different from a train than by car, and we could get up and roam around.
This is so true... I feel trains merge with nature better than cars on highways. Railroad is an amazing engineering...
Medina1128It was a daylight trip so, we were able to just sit back and take in the sights.
I feel that you can only do this on a train. Other means to transportation are just too intense... When I travel, I am always the driver.
dknelson shave with a razor and shaving on a moving train is no picnic.
You need to be trained to be a waiter on the train first before you should try to shave...
dknelsonPlus things were constantly interrupted because an elderly Japanese lady kept coming inside the men's room.
This is hilarious...
MidlandMikerom Montreal to Vancouver, 3 nites, and each night I slepted in a Pullman section,
That is a long trip...
hjQi MidlandMike rom Montreal to Vancouver, 3 nites, and each night I slepted in a Pullman section, That is a long trip...
MidlandMike rom Montreal to Vancouver, 3 nites, and each night I slepted in a Pullman section,
VIA has lengthened the trip to 4 days on account of freight train delays since PSR.
MidlandMikeVIA has lengthened the trip to 4 days
Interesting.... I justt checked the map, driving from Montreal to Vancouver takes about 43 hours. So the train is really running slowly, or makes lots of stops.. But certainly riding training is more relaxed than driving.
The basement is still being built, so my layout is still some time away from even starting construction. Despite being nominally a contemporary day Pittsburgh-area layout, the maximum train length is already set at "must fit the Amtrak Capitol Limited." Two P42s, baggage, three sleepers, diner, lounge, three coaches, and a private car.
Sometimes I debate going into an alternate world where PRR electrification made it over the Alleghenies to enable running electrics because every time I run up the NEC, there's something about all that extra infrastructure. Although the Capitol Limited's route wouldn't have run under wire anyhow, and that ends that idea.
My most amazing train ride was a 2013 trip from Pretoria to Cape Town, S.A. on Rovos Rail. Our compartment had a fridge that was always stocked with champagne and we had our own bathroom with shower. When we arrived at their private station in Pretoria a class 25 steam engine was simmering at the platform. It was used just to pull the train out of the station for a couple of miles before an electric loco was attached. The food was amazing but there was a dress code for dinner, jacket and tie. The trip was a 65th birthday present from my wife.
CN Charlie
hjQi MidlandMike VIA has lengthened the trip to 4 days Interesting.... I justt checked the map, driving from Montreal to Vancouver takes about 43 hours. So the train is really running slowly, or makes lots of stops.. But certainly riding training is more relaxed than driving.
MidlandMike VIA has lengthened the trip to 4 days
They needed the extra day because CN since PSR are now running trains way to long for the sidings, although they are adding lots of double track. Also today the east terminal is Toronto. The Montreal leg which joined in the Sudbury area has gone away with that track.