Plans for the Future

I am still planning for April or May, maybe, the overnight to Atlanta. I would take the Silver Star or Carolinian from Cary, NC to Washington, DC or Alexandria, VA. and than take the Crescent to Atlanta. If I were to use Amtrak.com and plug in Cary, NC and Atlanta, GA they would have me take the Carolinian to Charlotte, NC and take the Crescent to Atlanta, from there. You would save travel time by leaving Cary 8 to 10 hours later but arrive in Atlanta at the same time. Layover time is less in Washington than Cary but the boarding of Crescent, in Charlotte is middle of the night. (2:45am). It is cheaper to transfer in Charlotte. Also, the Amtrak station is not in a easy access to good sightseeing, nor is the transfer during daylight hours.

After deciding to go to Atlanta in April, I came across the Virginia Transportation Museum excursion schedule and NW 611 is the engine. I would love to see it again. Than is the question of chase or ride. Both are unique events. Chasing involves taking pics or video of the train as it passes than hopping the car and running to get ahead of the train, than setting up for another run by. This happens as often and you can, throughout the excursion. I have chases 611 two times. The first was its first revenue run after being taken from the Roanoke Museum (what is now the Virginia Transportation Museum). I chase it again, through West Virginia for a two day excursion. The second day, I rode the excursion, into Roanoke.

On addition to chasing, taking the excursion is a unique experience. I will discuss later.

Trip to Greensboro, NC

I talked about a trip to Greensboro, NC. I got my tickets to take the Piedmont from Cary, leaving around noon. I arrived at the station early enough to see the northbound Carolinian.

It was a bit late so my wait for the Piedmont was not that long. I did not get video of it coming into the station. Instead, I toom my video as it left Greensboro.

The Piedmont southbound arrive in Greenboro about 10 minutes before the Piedmont northbound. The platform is the best place to video it:

Of course, I am not allowed to stay on the platform, I could not sneak out to it. About a block or so from the station is a railroad crossing. That is were I stationed myself after lunch. Two trains came through, a MOW train and a container freight,

My phone needed charging so I went back to the station. I missed two more freights. That is what I get for forgetting my relacement battery. Besides my energy had given out.

Local Wathcing

I still haven't finished my planning for a spring trip. I like the idea of Atlanta, GA, trip. I am taking a break to enhance a plan for trips to Florida. I had two done, one, to Orlando and Jacksonville (north Florida) and one to Miami, with flying to Miami. The trip from Orlando to Miami require another daylight and arriving in the evening. I am working on a merger of the two to make a longer Florida trip. Also, I am working the Miami trip to be all train.

I thought about the parks and other things in my area and did some daytrips to the park. One favorite was Pullen Park in Raleigh, NC it is more has a amusement section containing a merry go round and a train.

I did go down to New Hope Valley RR for the last run of steam engine # 17 before being rebuilt

I will take the trip to Atlanta but in April, as projected. In the meanwhile, I have done some train watching, close and hand and cleaning up my videos files (renaming them to be consistent with each other).

I do have a trip planned by train to Greensboro, NC just to watch trains. Greensboro is where two NS line come together.