Out and Back, Part 6

From here, a out and back will get complicated in planning. To put Alexandria as a stop is easy because VRE schedules are not good for the return times. Now we have two options. The first is to stay in the Washington DC area to take care of business: watching trains and touring or shopping. The second is to go on the Baltimore, MD to watch more trains. After looking at the Baltimore option and the Washington options, we can see the best option.We might even omit the Alexandria stopover, altogether.

To watch int DC, Union Station must be a stop. My first trip to Union Station revealed a station that saw much better times. The roof leaked and it could use a sprucing up. The last time, I was there, the station had been restored and it was a momument to its former self. It was not only restores, it was now a mall, with real trains.

The only problem is watching trains. The train comes into the station from the south by way of a tunnel.  The northern approach end in a terminal settting, expect for the through. The platforms prevents view from the parking deck built above the tracks in the rear.

Just north of Union Station is a Metro Station, above ground. Great! However, all traffic would be not at speed because of entry or exit from the station. Before the Metro, I used to go to New Carolton to watch. This gave me the advantage of speed on the through trains and also the Metro. We have the Metro, in Alexandria, as well. I could go to New Carollton and watch a while and then return to DC to watch until time to depart south. I laid out several possibllites and thought that the following would be the best alternative. The second alternative is to go on to Baltimore and watch the Maryland Commuter and Amtraks there. I could ad to the trip, the watching of the light rail.

1 86 Northeast Regional: Departs 8:40a, Washington, DC, Arrives: 8:51a, New Carrollton, MD New Carrollton: 8:51aNR, 8:54as, 9:10anA, 9:15an, 9:30anNR, 9:34asNR, 9:40an, 9:46as, 9:47asA, 10:10anA, 10:15asC, 10:21as, 10:25asNR 10:35anNR, 10:38asA, 10:40an, 11:10anA, 11:17anNR, 11:14asNR, 11:27asA, 11:30as 427 MARC: Departs: 11:30a, New Carrollton, MD. Arrives: 11:45a, Washington, DC Washington DC: 11:45asP, 11:47asA, 12:00pnA, 12:02pnNR, 12:20pnP, 12:35psP, 12:47psA, 1:00psNR, 1:00pnA, 1:02pnNR, 1:20pnP, 1:35psP, 1:45pnB(Fri.), 1:47psA, 2:00psNR, 2:00pnA, 2:02pnNR MARC NE Regional Carolinian Accela until 11:30 6+D 6+A 1 6 19+A+D after 11:45, Washington DC 5+A 5+M 0 4(-2) 14(-2)+A 91 Silver Star: Departs: 3:00p, Washington, DC, Arrives: 11:21p, Hamlet, NC

2 2158 Acela Express, Departs: 9:00a, Washington, DC, Arrives: 9:33a, Baltimore, MD Baltimore: 9:33anA, 9:40as, 9:53asNR, 9:57an, 10:02anNR, 10:10asA, 10:30an, 10:33anA, 9:42asC, 10:43asNR, 10:50as, 11:02anNR, 11:07asA, 11:30an, 11:35anA, 11:40as, 11:42anNR, 12:07psA, 12:13psNR, 12:20pn, 12:29pnA, 12:40ps, 12:43pnNR, 1:06psNR, 1:10psA, 1:25pn, 1:29pnA, 1:40ps, 1:43pnNR MARC NE Regional Carolinian Accela 10 9 1 A+8 28+A less the 30 minute before dep -1 0 0 0 -1 Light rail from 10:30-12:00 -4 -3 -1 -3 -11 light rail from 12 to dep. -4 -4 0 -4 -12 91 Silver Star, Departs: 2:00p, Baltimore, MD, Arrives: 11:21p, Hamlet, NC