Washington, DC, Union Station

As you remember, my trip to Washington was laid out in a prospectus, not a schedule. The itinerary is too much subject to change. So! It did.

The train was about 20 minutes late, leaving Richmond and Arriving Washington. As a railfan, I first took a walk to the engine, which was being uncoupled and the diesel exchanges for an electric engine. There was not anything special about the diesel but on a nearby track, not obscured by a train shed, were two electric engines waiting their turn to be used. I took out my phone and:


Across a few tracks, and not obscured by the train shed was:

Collis P Huntington Railroad Historical Society Private Car

Collis P Huntington Railroad Historical Society Private Car

Obscured by the train shed and the two electric engines was this (I had seen in in operation, several years before, pulling a Northeast Regional), the Veterans Unit:

I had to take the stairs up to the stantion and come down the next to get a good view. This took me about 20 well spent minutes. (to be continued)

The Fourth of July

I finished my morning train watching, around 3. I stopped because the heat was exhausting and I wanted to go by the room for a nap and to cool off before meeting my friend for supper. Our plan was to got to Dogwood Dell for a concert and fireworks. A long standing tradition in Richmond. The alternative 4th celebration was at the ballpark and their fireworks. The concert started of with a concert of the War Memorial Carillon, which could not be well heard because of the the people in the Dell, still talking. About the time that the Orchestra Started, it began to sprinkle. The city had provided shuttle bus service from another parking location so we left via the shuttle. When the bus had gotten back to our parking, the rain had ended. So we watched the fireworks from another location.

Virginia War Memorial Carillon

Fourth of July and Beyond (continued)

This intersection of the railroad, Mountain Road and Old Staples Mill and Purcell Road, was the roads north to Washington, and west toward Charlottesville,  VA and the mountains, thus the name Mountain Rd. Now the main road is Interstate 95. Before I 95 was built the main road was  US 1. Under Eisenhower, a new Interstate Road system was born. I replace the old National Defense Highway, which US 1. It straightened the old routes and made a more direct connection of American military bases. The older and, often not so direct roads either fell to paths or became back roads.

So, when I finished my video of the Carolinian, I drove north on the Old Washington Highway (and is still named that today). I passed the bypass and came to a park. I turned left and crossed the railroad and saw the headlights of an approaching train, from the south. I parked and took out my camcorder. and I heard the horn of a southbound coming from the north. About the time, I got into position the southbound became visible. I took my video of the north bound. If you look closely, you can see the northbound passing.

Fourth of July and Beyond

As to plan, I started my holiday with old friends in Richmond, VA. I arrived about dinner time and had dinner with a friend. On the fourth, my friend had to work noon to 4. We started with brunch which lasted to about 11:00 or so. I than went back to the room to get my train watching kit together. Every railfan has those perfect spots, we come back to when in town. In Richmond, some go back to when I lived there, 25 years ago. I began my watching at Huguenot Rd. at the crossing. According to the Amtrak app, the Silver Star, due first over the crossing, was running late. This meant I did not  have to rush to get into position. However, as I got closer, the later the train.

In fact, the northbound Silver Star was so late that the southbound Palmetto passed first. The train came into sight and stopped for a while and proceeded from there past the crossing:

According to schedule, the Piedmont and Silver Star were to meet and pass in the station. I am very familiar to the Silver Star and know that is can be late most of the time. It was about 20 minutes late. One person stopped to watch it go by. He was not a railfan. However the train did come:

Next on schedule was the southbound Carolinian, another train that comes through my town. I had more than thirty minutes and the heat was getting to me. I decided to drive to cool off and headed north. I went up Staples Mill Rd. and took Old Staples Mill towards Laurel where Old Staples ends at Hungary Rd. I take the right turn and cross the Railroad and than left on Purcell Rd heading north to Mountain Road, where there was a crossing again of the rail road. I set up here waiting for the Carolinian, due in 15 minutes or so. 

More, later

Insert: Knowing HTML

HTML or hypertext markup language is the format used for web pages. You might be able to live without knowing anything about it. If you blog with Blogger it comes in handy. In those old days, There were no software to lay out the page. So, if I wanted to publish to the web, HTML was needed. I first used Netscape browser, long before Microsoft Explorer. It soon was packaged with Composer for webpage construction. Microsoft jumped in with Frontpage. I still use Frontpage although I don't think it is still available. I am using Frontpage 2000. I started using it because I was managing a page that could only be services through Frontpage. I preferred the Netscape but the company that made it merged with AOL and they no longer supported Netscape. I went the Firefox for browsing, and not Chrome. I never did use Explorer. Many text editors allow you to publish your work to HTML. So! with Blogger composing HTML without my input or composing with Frontpage or using my text editor or printer program to create web pages, why in the world would I need to know HTML.

Early in my Internet days, I realized that there were sites that I frequented. Bookmarks were one way of saving the directions. I than began to create a personal homepage, as a start page. There are times that I need to clean up what explorer created. Also, with blogger, there are times when I want to do what blogger does not want to do. They allow you to see the HTML and to do your own coding. Mostly, I use it around pictures. I will attach pics but Blogger place them on different lines. I prefer them to be side by side so I set a table for the picture. I can only do that if I go to the HTML editor.

Onward to the Forth of July (continued)

I did think about a day trip to Washington. Yes! I did that at New Years, but that was an all chase trip, in Washington and New Carrolton. It has been a long time since I spent any time around the National Mall and the Memorials. I did some picture taking way back when I got my first SLR, but very little since. I worked in the printing office of Colonial Williamsburg so I got special treatment around the printing exhibit at the Smithsonian. I am choosing to see the main memorials and only taking a run through the Mall. I found the bus line and will take advantage of that. Only a dollar per trip. My planning tells me that the Washington Monument will be close, in order to update the elevator. I even worked in a way of adding seeing the north face of the White House. All this done in a short 11 hour trip. No train or streetcar watching, however. Here is the prospectus. Remember that the actual tour is subject to change, including projected times):

Richmond, VA to Washington
Richmond, VA to Washington, DC, 8:18a-10:39a number 84, NE Regional
Union Station to Capitol Visitor Center (map), 10:48-10:56 DCN22 (DC Circulator: Navy Yard)
	Capitol Visitor Center, Capitol
Capitol Visitor Center to 4th St NW/Madison Dr NW, (map) 11:30-11:50 16 min. Walking
4th St NW/Madison Dr NW to SW 15th St/SW Jefferson Dr, (map) 12:08-12:19 DCWE (DC Circulator: National Mall)
	Washington Memorial
SW 15th St & SW Jefferson Dr to 14 E Basin Dr SW, (map) 12:49-12:57 DCWE
	Jefferson Memorial
14 E Basin Dr SW to West Basin Dr SW, (map) 1:37-1:46 DCWE
	Martin Luther King Memorial, Martin Luther King Memorial Bookstore, West Potomac Park
West Basin Dr SW to Lincoln Memorial, (map) 2:30-2:45 9 min. Walking
Lincoln Memorial to NW 12th St, Smithsonian Metro (map) 3:21-3:38 DCWE
NW 15th St, Smithsonian Metro , to McPherson Square Metro, (map) 3:52-3:57 Orange
McPherson Square Metro to N. of White House, (map) 3:59-4:10 6 min. Walking
N. of White House to McPherson Square Metro, (map) 4:40-4:50 6 min. Walking
McPherson Square Metro to NW 15th St, Smithsonian Metro (map) 4:57-4:55 Orange
NW 15th St, Smithsonian Metro to Union Station (map) 5:18-5:36 DCWE
Washington, DC to Richmond. VA 7:05p- 9:16p Northeast Regional

Onward to the Forth of July (to be continued)

One trip leads to the next. My trip to Roanoke and Atlanta involved planning, travel, and finishing up. I sorted pictures and edited video. I am an old school picture taker. The theory is that 10 percent are just trash and should be disposed of. 80 percent are just average, could be keepers or could be trash. These are often duplicates of the same. With my camera, I press the button and it keeps shooting until I depress the button so I have a lot of duplicates to dispose of. Also, I generally shoot more video than I need. I will, generally begin shooting from 5 sec. to several minutes before the train arrives. I cut out all that "dead air" and cut the end where I was reaching for the stop and the camcorder was shaky.

I have my own standards of what makes an acceptable, Where to begin the final video and were to end it, being a part of if. My camcorder store to a memory card. When I begin editing, I copy it to my computer, but leave a copy on the camcorder. I can make the copy in two ways. The first is to remove the card and plug it into the computer and via my file manage, copy directly. I have a set aside directory for it. Editing changes the format and cuts out the trash. Than I output this new file to another directory file. At this point, I have copies so if I make a mistake or want do something different, there it is, fresh and new. I also copy the file to a directory of uncut and raw video for years from now when I want something entirely different. The only real deletion is those where I accidentally started recording something and got really nothing at all.

Now comes the task of uploading to YouTube, placing in appropriate directories. Some are in more than one directory when the subject can fit more than one. For instance: my video of 611 fits in Daytrips and Motive Power, Steam. I might even use Consist, 611.

Even while finishing one trip, I begin thinking about the next. First is to look at a tentative date. Next is to decide what kind. Usually these two items are taken together. From Roanoke we move to 4th of July. The fourth of July will be a vacation trip, lasting more than a day in a out of town. I have a number of out and back trips, like the Atlanta trip or other. I took a couple out of the vault to rework for a trip from Richmond.

I first took my New York trip, which I label Metro North, because it takes in tourist sites in Manhattan plus a trip the Stamford, CT to watch trains. The original trip had me spend the night, or two in Stamford, as it was cheaper than Manhattan. One place I want to see it the High Line Park, built above the streets on an abandoned railroad viaduct. The second version, was to Philadelphia, PA. This would include a lot of watching of streetcars and local transit. Of course, going by the typical tourist attractions like Independence Hall, would be needed. (to be continued)