We arrived at Penn Station about an hour before the Silver Star was scheduled to depart. That gave us plenty of time to get to the Amtrak concourse and check our luggage. Since we had tickets to ride First Class, we were allowed to board the train a couple of minutes before those with tickets for Coach. We made our way to the platform, and then towards the front of the train, where the sleeping cars were located. We had a Viewliner Roomette for the trip to Florida. We took a few minutes to get settled, and then sat down in our room, which was made up for daytime use, with two seats facing each other. Because space is tight in the roomettes, we had checked our two large suitcases and brought everything we would need for the night in a backpack. Having just a backpack in the room meant there was a little more space for us.
The train departed right on time, at 11:02am. We made our way out of Penn Station and under the Hudson River, emerging from the tunnel into the afternoon sunlight in New Jersey. Shortly after emerging from the tunnel, one of the dining car attendants came through the train to take reservations for lunch. We opted for the one o'clock seating, since we had eaten breakfast a little late anyway.
Between New York and Washington, the Silver Star makes very few stops, and only picks up passengers. During this stretch of the train reached speeds in excess of 100 mph, which was fine, although we did discover that a lot of the plastic wall and ceiling panels in the sleeper rattled a bit at high speeds. The ride was still fairly smooth though, and there was no major discomfort. Within just a few hours, we had arrived in Washington, DC.
Washington, DC, is a longer stop, despite only being a couple hours into the trip. From New York to Washington, an electric locomotive pulls the train. The overhead wire, which provides power to that locomotive, ends in Washington, and so the train exchanges the electric engine for a pair of diesel engines. During the engine change, power is cut from the train for about ten minutes. Once the diesel locomotives are coupled, power is reconnected. We took the opportunity to step off the train and observe the power change in Washington.
Once the power change was complete and a new train crew was on board, we departed Washington, DC. After pulling out of Union Station, the train went under the city, and joined entered CSX trackage on the other side. We had departed Washington on time, but experienced some minor delays almost as soon as we got on CSX track. As far as I was able to observe, these delays were caused by some freight train congestion. They were minor though, and we only lost a few minutes. However, even minor delays add up after a while. By the time we got to Raleigh, NC, that night, we were running about 45 minutes behind schedule.
In the middle of the afternoon, a dining car attendant came through the train again to take dinner reservations. Dinner was being served in three seatings, and we opted for the second one. The dining car service was very good, and the food was delicious. We enjoyed talking with some of the other passengers during dinner. I always enjoy the dining car because the food is good and everyone has an interesting story to tell. It is a nice chance to meet other people and chat casually with other passengers.
Later that evening, our sleeping car attendant came along and configured our roomette for night time use. The two seats became a lower bed and an upper bud pulled down from the ceiling. We got settled and climbed in to bed.
In the morning, we awoke somewhere in either southern Georgia or northern Florida. It turned out that Sarah had slept better than I did. She was rocked to sleep by the motion of the train rather quickly and slept soundly all night. I, on the other hand, had a hard time falling asleep and staying asleep. I have found that since I began working for the railroad, I have a difficult time sleeping on a moving train. I also find that I notice some of the characteristics of the moving train which no one else would notice, such as when the engineer bunches up the coupler slack to slow the train down. I slept well enough though, and woke up rested in spite of my difficulty getting to sleep.
We got up and showered, and then wandered to the dining car for some breakfast. During breakfast, we stopped in Jacksonville, FL. We were still running behind schedule, but only by about ten minutes. We had made up some time during the night. Breakfast was good, although I think we got to the dining car towards the end of breakfast service, because it was quiet and we had a table to ourselves.
We arrived in Orlando a couple of hours later, about 40 minutes behind schedule again. The train lost some time in the last hour before Orlando due to track and signal work. It looked like they were building a commuter rail system for the Orlando area, and some of those construction activities caused us several minor delays. The one that stands out in my mind is the grade crossing delays. They were working on the signal system, which effects the gates and warning devices at grade crossings. At several crossings, the warning systems were not working or had been deactivated. We had to stop at each of these crossings so that the conductor could get out and stop traffic prior to the train crossing the road. It sounds and is simple enough, but stopping and starting so the conductor can get off and back on, and waiting for traffic to stop, can take several minutes at each crossing.
In Orlando, we disembarked and picked up the luggage we had checked the day before, in Penn Station. The Orlando depot is a nice building, originally built by the Atlantic Coast Line. It is a little run down now, and could really use some minor maintenance, such as a coat of paint and some landscaping. It really would not take much to make it beautiful again.
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