by AMTK84
Its about 4:50 PM, on Saturday, July 10, 2004, and I, along with my Mom, are in Chicago Union Station, wating to board train number 305, the Southbound Statehouse, to Springfield. Our trip started on the 2:05 PM Metra train from Geneva to Chicago. The engine on that train was number 157, an F40PH-2. The consist was made up of 7000's cars, with cab car number 8417 taking the leed. After we got into Chicago, we went to see our engineer friend Hector take his train, led by MP36PH-3 (These are more commonly refurred to as MP36's) number 416, out of Chicago Union Station. (He even blew the horn unmodgulated in the station for me!) After that, we got something to drink, and headed over to the CVS farmocy near Chicago Union Station.
After doing all of that, it was about 4:25 PM, and we headed back up to Mcdonalds to get some food for the ride, and headed down to our gate, where we waited to board the train. We boarded around 4:55 PM, and were instructed to board AmfleetII coach number 25000. HEP was taken off at 5:10 PM, and we departed rite on time at 5:15 PM.
Tonights Statehouse is pulled by Genesis Amclick Engine number 91 and includes a bissnass class car, cafe car 20163, AmfleetII coaches 25071 and 25000, Horizon coach 54579, and 3 or 4 privet cars on the end of the train. On departure from Chicago we saw the AMTK128, running train 347. After we passed the 128, my Mom informed me that AMTK87, 182, an unidentified unit and 44 were on the Southwest Chief, with 44 in the leed. Further down we saw the AMTK30, and in the yard we saw the AMTK161 heading into CUS, the AMTK793 doing some switching and still further down the AMTK153, 142 and some other units all still in the yard. My Mom said that because of some mail/express cars, her view of most of the engine part of the yard was blocked. Just after we left the yard, I took out my laptop, and started this travelogue.
We came to a brief stop stop at 5:29 PM, but were off again with 2 toots from AMTK91's horn. (The horn was only modgulated, with the first 2 bells playing, and we heard it!) I took out my cell phone, and called a friend to let him know we were on board. While talking to him, we made our first stop, at Summit, IL, at 5:39 PM, and departed at 5:41 PM. I took out my tape player, and listened to tapes until we arived at Joliet, IL, at 6:06 PM, and departed at 6:10 PM, now 5 minutes late. We didn't get very far, however. At 6:12 PM, we stopped, and got back on the move at 6:13 PM. We headed to the cafe car; however, it was too crowded for me to get through easily, so we returned to our seets and Mom went and got me my hot chocolate. I took out my microphone, and my digital recorder from my shirt pocket, and took a recording of engine 91's horn, a standard K5LA. At 6:47 PM, we made a brief stop at Dwite, departing less then a minute later, making us 8 minutes late (My Mom had picked up a timetable from the lounge car.) Our arivel at Pontiac didn't come without a delay; we arived 6 minutes late at 7:03 PM, and departed less then a minute later. We headed to the cafe car again at around 7:25 PM, where I got a hot chocolate and some recordings of number 91's horn. We arived at Bloomington at 7:32 PM, and stayed in the station for 5 minutes; we were now 10 minutes late at departure at 7:37 PM. We returned to our car around 8:00 PM; and made our next stop at Lincoln at 8:07 PM, 7 minutes late. We only paused at lincoln; interestingly enough, we've never sat long at Lincoln. I started gathering up my stuff around 8:25 PM; at 8:35 PM, we headed into the vestibule, only to sit back down when we figured out that we were not yet ariving in Springfield. Finally, we arived at 8:45 PM, 7 minutes late. We headed up to the engine, AMTK91, for me to record it leeving; train 305 departed at 8:50 PM, 13 minutes late.
My trip on Amtrak was very enjoyable; the AmfleetI coach was surtanly prefferable over the normal horizon coach. I am looking forward to my weekend of trainwatching; and to the trip back home on Monday!
Returning:
Its about 4:00 PM, on Monday, July 12, 2004, and I, along with my Mom, have just arived at the Springfield Amtrak station, waiting on our delayed train number 304, the Northbound Ann Rutledge, to Chicago. We came down Saturday night on train 305 to visit my 86, going on 87 year old Grandfather. I spend an enjoyable Sunday and today railfanning and recording Amtrak action at the Springfield Amtrak station. We were hoping that the train didn't make up all the time Amtrak said it would, because that would be a very close connection; I had called "Juley" before leeving and she had said that the train was 31 minutes late but was expected to make up time, and arive at Springfield at 4:12 PM, 12 minutes late. But that was not to be. Upon talking to Keven, the station agent, we learned that our train was at Alton, account a broken-down UP work train ahead of it. We went back out to the car, and I called Amtrak again, learning that number 304 had departed Alton at 4:07 PM, and was expected to Springfield at 5:09 PM, 1 hour 9 minutes late. At about 4:50 PM, we headed into the station, and headed outside about 5:05 PM. Number 304 came in at 5:19 PM, 1 hour 23 minutes late. We boarded, and got seets in the first car behind the cafe car.
Tonights Ann Rutledge is pulled by Genesis engine number 175 or 135 (Sources differ, the engineer said 135) and includes cafe car 20253 and 2 coaches. We departed at 5:23 PM, 1 hour 23 minutes late, and made our first stop at Lincoln at 5:50 PM, and departed at 5:51 PM. We came to a stop at 6:05 PM to meet train number 21, the Southbound Texas Eagle with engine number 1. Train number 21 finally passed at 6:25 PM, and we backed out of the siding at 6:30, coming to a stop at 6:31 PM. We started moving forward at 6:32 PM, having spend 27 minutes on the siding. While we were wating for number 21, I took out my tape player; I continued listening to it until we got to Bloomington, at 6:55 PM, 1 hour 55 minutes late. We departed at 6:58 PM, 1 hour 55 minutes late. We headed to the cafe car; but there were no open tables, so we turned around and headed back to the bathroom. However when I got there there was no toylit paper; and the door wouldn't shut propperly. If I had not known about no toylit paper, that could've been a problem; its pretty evident this train didn't leeve Chicago prepaired. But this was no match to what happened at Bloomington. A Mother with 2 kids boarded and the conductor basicly left her to find her own seets. If I am correct, the standard practice is to ask passengers seeted alone to move in with other passengers to accomodate 2 people from the same family/group. However, this conductor didn't feel he needed to take the time to do this.
We arived at Pontiac at 7:24, and paused while the conductor coppied down orders, and highballed at 7:25 PM, about 2 hours late. We arived at Dwite, at 7:40 PM, and didn't depart until 7:46 PM, because we were loading a passenger who used a wheelchair. We made our next stop at Joliet, IL at 8:20 PM, and left at 8:23, 1 hour and 58 minutes late. I gstarted gathering up my stuff after our arivel at Summit, IL, at 8:47 PM. We made a 2-minute stop hear, and departed at 8:49 PM.
I put my computer away on departure from Summit; before our final arival at Chicago, we made a brief stop to allow traffic up ahead of us, then it was in to CUS. We arived at 9:18 PM, 1 hour 32 minutes late. We headed over to the Ogilve Transportation center to board the 9:40 PM Metra train to Geneva, made up of the new 6000's Sumitomo coaches.
My trip on Amtrak was enjoyable, and I'm looking forward to my trip on train number 30 on August 2, 2004.
Equipment Consists and other notes (Entire Trip)
Train 305 (12)
AMTK91 P42DC
20163 cafe/bisnass class car
25071 AmfleetII Coach
25000 AmfleetII coach
54579 Horizon Coach
Trains we saw in Springfield:
AMTK832, train 22 (10)
AMTK61 Train 304 (11)
AMTK135 Train 305 (11)
AMTK94 Train 303 (12)
AMTK49 Train 22 (12)
Notes:
We met up with the AMTK1 just south of Bloomington on train 304 (12)
Consist of Metra train 69
METX140 F40PH-2
6002 coach
6015 coach
6067 coach
6042 coach
6063 coach
6062 coach
8445 coach/cab
After doing all of that, it was about 4:25 PM, and we headed back up to Mcdonalds to get some food for the ride, and headed down to our gate, where we waited to board the train. We boarded around 4:55 PM, and were instructed to board AmfleetII coach number 25000. HEP was taken off at 5:10 PM, and we departed rite on time at 5:15 PM.
Tonights Statehouse is pulled by Genesis Amclick Engine number 91 and includes a bissnass class car, cafe car 20163, AmfleetII coaches 25071 and 25000, Horizon coach 54579, and 3 or 4 privet cars on the end of the train. On departure from Chicago we saw the AMTK128, running train 347. After we passed the 128, my Mom informed me that AMTK87, 182, an unidentified unit and 44 were on the Southwest Chief, with 44 in the leed. Further down we saw the AMTK30, and in the yard we saw the AMTK161 heading into CUS, the AMTK793 doing some switching and still further down the AMTK153, 142 and some other units all still in the yard. My Mom said that because of some mail/express cars, her view of most of the engine part of the yard was blocked. Just after we left the yard, I took out my laptop, and started this travelogue.
We came to a brief stop stop at 5:29 PM, but were off again with 2 toots from AMTK91's horn. (The horn was only modgulated, with the first 2 bells playing, and we heard it!) I took out my cell phone, and called a friend to let him know we were on board. While talking to him, we made our first stop, at Summit, IL, at 5:39 PM, and departed at 5:41 PM. I took out my tape player, and listened to tapes until we arived at Joliet, IL, at 6:06 PM, and departed at 6:10 PM, now 5 minutes late. We didn't get very far, however. At 6:12 PM, we stopped, and got back on the move at 6:13 PM. We headed to the cafe car; however, it was too crowded for me to get through easily, so we returned to our seets and Mom went and got me my hot chocolate. I took out my microphone, and my digital recorder from my shirt pocket, and took a recording of engine 91's horn, a standard K5LA. At 6:47 PM, we made a brief stop at Dwite, departing less then a minute later, making us 8 minutes late (My Mom had picked up a timetable from the lounge car.) Our arivel at Pontiac didn't come without a delay; we arived 6 minutes late at 7:03 PM, and departed less then a minute later. We headed to the cafe car again at around 7:25 PM, where I got a hot chocolate and some recordings of number 91's horn. We arived at Bloomington at 7:32 PM, and stayed in the station for 5 minutes; we were now 10 minutes late at departure at 7:37 PM. We returned to our car around 8:00 PM; and made our next stop at Lincoln at 8:07 PM, 7 minutes late. We only paused at lincoln; interestingly enough, we've never sat long at Lincoln. I started gathering up my stuff around 8:25 PM; at 8:35 PM, we headed into the vestibule, only to sit back down when we figured out that we were not yet ariving in Springfield. Finally, we arived at 8:45 PM, 7 minutes late. We headed up to the engine, AMTK91, for me to record it leeving; train 305 departed at 8:50 PM, 13 minutes late.
My trip on Amtrak was very enjoyable; the AmfleetI coach was surtanly prefferable over the normal horizon coach. I am looking forward to my weekend of trainwatching; and to the trip back home on Monday!
Returning:
Its about 4:00 PM, on Monday, July 12, 2004, and I, along with my Mom, have just arived at the Springfield Amtrak station, waiting on our delayed train number 304, the Northbound Ann Rutledge, to Chicago. We came down Saturday night on train 305 to visit my 86, going on 87 year old Grandfather. I spend an enjoyable Sunday and today railfanning and recording Amtrak action at the Springfield Amtrak station. We were hoping that the train didn't make up all the time Amtrak said it would, because that would be a very close connection; I had called "Juley" before leeving and she had said that the train was 31 minutes late but was expected to make up time, and arive at Springfield at 4:12 PM, 12 minutes late. But that was not to be. Upon talking to Keven, the station agent, we learned that our train was at Alton, account a broken-down UP work train ahead of it. We went back out to the car, and I called Amtrak again, learning that number 304 had departed Alton at 4:07 PM, and was expected to Springfield at 5:09 PM, 1 hour 9 minutes late. At about 4:50 PM, we headed into the station, and headed outside about 5:05 PM. Number 304 came in at 5:19 PM, 1 hour 23 minutes late. We boarded, and got seets in the first car behind the cafe car.
Tonights Ann Rutledge is pulled by Genesis engine number 175 or 135 (Sources differ, the engineer said 135) and includes cafe car 20253 and 2 coaches. We departed at 5:23 PM, 1 hour 23 minutes late, and made our first stop at Lincoln at 5:50 PM, and departed at 5:51 PM. We came to a stop at 6:05 PM to meet train number 21, the Southbound Texas Eagle with engine number 1. Train number 21 finally passed at 6:25 PM, and we backed out of the siding at 6:30, coming to a stop at 6:31 PM. We started moving forward at 6:32 PM, having spend 27 minutes on the siding. While we were wating for number 21, I took out my tape player; I continued listening to it until we got to Bloomington, at 6:55 PM, 1 hour 55 minutes late. We departed at 6:58 PM, 1 hour 55 minutes late. We headed to the cafe car; but there were no open tables, so we turned around and headed back to the bathroom. However when I got there there was no toylit paper; and the door wouldn't shut propperly. If I had not known about no toylit paper, that could've been a problem; its pretty evident this train didn't leeve Chicago prepaired. But this was no match to what happened at Bloomington. A Mother with 2 kids boarded and the conductor basicly left her to find her own seets. If I am correct, the standard practice is to ask passengers seeted alone to move in with other passengers to accomodate 2 people from the same family/group. However, this conductor didn't feel he needed to take the time to do this.
We arived at Pontiac at 7:24, and paused while the conductor coppied down orders, and highballed at 7:25 PM, about 2 hours late. We arived at Dwite, at 7:40 PM, and didn't depart until 7:46 PM, because we were loading a passenger who used a wheelchair. We made our next stop at Joliet, IL at 8:20 PM, and left at 8:23, 1 hour and 58 minutes late. I gstarted gathering up my stuff after our arivel at Summit, IL, at 8:47 PM. We made a 2-minute stop hear, and departed at 8:49 PM.
I put my computer away on departure from Summit; before our final arival at Chicago, we made a brief stop to allow traffic up ahead of us, then it was in to CUS. We arived at 9:18 PM, 1 hour 32 minutes late. We headed over to the Ogilve Transportation center to board the 9:40 PM Metra train to Geneva, made up of the new 6000's Sumitomo coaches.
My trip on Amtrak was enjoyable, and I'm looking forward to my trip on train number 30 on August 2, 2004.
Equipment Consists and other notes (Entire Trip)
Train 305 (12)
AMTK91 P42DC
20163 cafe/bisnass class car
25071 AmfleetII Coach
25000 AmfleetII coach
54579 Horizon Coach
Trains we saw in Springfield:
AMTK832, train 22 (10)
AMTK61 Train 304 (11)
AMTK135 Train 305 (11)
AMTK94 Train 303 (12)
AMTK49 Train 22 (12)
Notes:
We met up with the AMTK1 just south of Bloomington on train 304 (12)
Consist of Metra train 69
METX140 F40PH-2
6002 coach
6015 coach
6067 coach
6042 coach
6063 coach
6062 coach
8445 coach/cab
