by shadyjay
I sat in the first car, which was an ex-Metroliner car so half the seats were backwards, including mine. Not a big deal. But my real question was those people sitting in the leather Business Class seats.... did they pay $130 to ride there too? So in effect, you had 2 classes of service split up between 4 types of cars: Amfleet coach, Business Class, Commuter cars, and then the 4 parlors.
Scenery was pretty good and I saw a lot I've never seen before, mainly because I've never travelled by rail any point south of NYC (except Steamtown). I was amazed at how many lines in the area had catenary at one time, from the Port Road to various lines off the Keystone line. The stop at Harrisburg was a nice surprise and I got to see a GG1 for the first time.
Of course the weather wasn't the greatest, but noone can control that. Statistically, weather isn't always in favor for railfan excursions. We were all dry however, only the chasers had to be out in it, though the drops on the windows did make photography "challenging".
My only complaint was the lack of any literature regarding what we were seeing along the line. My seat mate had a guidebook which he got for the convention... he let me browse through it and I found out it was 98% about the excursion and 2% about the convention. Seems to me this should have been made available to everyone who purchased a ticket. We did have a couple passengers in my car who lightened the mood quite a bit and gave us a brief calling out of our location which was cool, and more than a few laughs along the way!
Never did hear anything about a raffle.
My first time at 30th Street station and wow it is quite the structure! I was able to get on a NB Amtrak Regional train 2 hours earlier as I went to the ticket window and paid an extra $10 or so to get on the 6:20.... well worth it to get back earlier. Despite the $130 price tag, it was a great trip.
Scenery was pretty good and I saw a lot I've never seen before, mainly because I've never travelled by rail any point south of NYC (except Steamtown). I was amazed at how many lines in the area had catenary at one time, from the Port Road to various lines off the Keystone line. The stop at Harrisburg was a nice surprise and I got to see a GG1 for the first time.
Of course the weather wasn't the greatest, but noone can control that. Statistically, weather isn't always in favor for railfan excursions. We were all dry however, only the chasers had to be out in it, though the drops on the windows did make photography "challenging".
My only complaint was the lack of any literature regarding what we were seeing along the line. My seat mate had a guidebook which he got for the convention... he let me browse through it and I found out it was 98% about the excursion and 2% about the convention. Seems to me this should have been made available to everyone who purchased a ticket. We did have a couple passengers in my car who lightened the mood quite a bit and gave us a brief calling out of our location which was cool, and more than a few laughs along the way!
Never did hear anything about a raffle.
My first time at 30th Street station and wow it is quite the structure! I was able to get on a NB Amtrak Regional train 2 hours earlier as I went to the ticket window and paid an extra $10 or so to get on the 6:20.... well worth it to get back earlier. Despite the $130 price tag, it was a great trip.