The Great American Train Chase, Part Three

Metro Rail returns our chaser to Alexandria. Still there is time to fan. Beginning with Amtrak 171, Northeast Regional Southbound bound for Lynchburg



Followed by VRE 331, Southbound to Manassas,


VRE 305, Southbound for Fredericksburg, and


VRE 338, Northbound from Fredericksburg.


It was getting late so I added one more train to the list before relaxing, Amtrak 19, Crescent, Southbound

Just one more thing, some picture and video of Metro, DC, Southbound, King Street Station.




At this point, I must point some rules. There are two additional points situations. First there are buy back points. These are points gained from additional pictures, beyond the minimum. These can be use to buy missed situations, should they occur Second there are those train scenes that will be use to break ties, but are neither required nor helpful other wise.
The pictures taken in Washington and Alexandria are buy back. According to our judges one buy back point for Washington and 1 for Alexandria. To be continued

The Great American Train Chase, Part Two

Arrival in Alexandria is on time. Contestant boards Metro Rail and makes his way to a point in SW Washington. Here, he is above traffic and looking down on tracks coming out of Union Station. It has the advantage of being on a bridge and we being above. He sets of his video recorder in time to get Southbound VRE 327 at 3:57:



The next scheduled is northbound VRE 336 on time at 3:55:



Just as he begins recording the Southbound VRE 303, at at 3:57, he sees a policeman approaching, a obstacle in this part of the chase. It seems that using a tripod, even a six inch tall tripod, is not allowed in DC. :


I decided that prudence would be to leave and take video from Alexandria (to be cont.).

The Great American Train Chase, was out and back, Boston

Good evening. We begin out revised Great American Train Chase. Our contestant will board the Silver Star in Southern Pines, NC, bound for the eventual destination of Boston, MA. He or she will photograph or video minimum of trains or train related stuff. He/she will be due back by the arrival of the Silver Star in Southern Pines, on Saturday. If he arrives back on time, he/she will proceed on the the next trip in the American Train Chase, If not he/she will be eliminated from the chase. For this session of the chase, He/she will be required to photograph MBTA commuter rail from South Station and from North Station. Mattapan High Speed Line and Green Line Light Rail will be required.

Wed. Morning he boards the Silver Star.

The Silver Star only goes as far as New York City. Transfer to the Northeast Regional or Acela Express will be needs to complete trip. It just so happens that there is a Regional scheduled to go from Washington DC to Boston, overnight.....perfect. This Regional originates in Newport News, VA. Our contestant decides to make the transfer in Alexandria in order to catch some views of the Virginia Railway Express. (end of Day one part one, to be continues)

April 20, 2012 Daytripping, NS, Piedmont, etc.

I am still planning the Boston trip. It is finished except for minor changes. I have been bound to SE NC and have gotten burned out on CSX. There are a few short line within an hour but I have burned out on those as well. What I need is a dose of Amtrak, or NCDOT, or NS or anything different. I finally settled on a trip to Salisbury, NC. I got there a good 40 minutes before the 12:40 northbound Piedmont, so I stopped to get a sandwich to eat, while waiting. I got just as a NS freight went by, but not in time to get into position to video it. I missed it. I did get into position for the Piedmont, northbound.

I went to Spencer, to both see activity at the Museum and at a crossing just north.

I was waiting on the south bound Piedmont due in Salisbury at 2:10 and should cross here around 2:00. I saw headlights in the distance. Curiosity got the better of me so I look to see which track it would arrive on. When I stood on the track, saw headlights on both tracks. The Piedmont was passing a local freight.

Boston Out and Back Trip, Planning, cont.

My Boston out and back trip has many hurdles and twist to straighten out. I did not take my video camera to Boston 2 years ago. It did not fit my itinerary, at the time. The reality is that I did not have my current video camera. It was my old mini disk model and did not have the stability my present one does. I did not want to carry a tripod. I said before, I video moving trains and take pictures of anything that does not move. Another issue at the time concerned tripod usage for video. It would be a nightmare to carry for the little that I would use it.

Now, I have gotten use to hand holding the video camera. Besides, I no longer have the desire to have both video and stills for all railroad equipment. Newer cameras have automatic shake reduction that make almost perfect hand helds and most software will, likewise reduce it. This taking of video add one more variable to the mix, batteries for the video camera. I figure that my current power usage should have one more battery to be sure. I will not have need for a charger nor a real place to charge. There may be some place for stills.

Spring Out and Back, Planning

As I approach spring, I have a couple of trips in planning. One is a, relatively simple, out and back. The other is a part of vacation to visit family. I did a series of Northeast Corridor trip plans. I used different scenarios of such trip. I mentioned them in a previous post. I than turned my planning to simplier out and backs. Out with a day watching and than return. One is to Boston. I have been to Boston. That trip was both railfanning, tourist, and rembering my past, when I lived there, in the mid 1980's. However, the emphasis on this trip is the train rides and watching trains. There is a major layover in between Washington DC and NYC. Antrak website says the train change should be in Washington. The change is seven hours. What to do?

I think that changing trains in Alexandria VA would be good and there I could watch the VRE. Or I could go to NE Washington and watch the Maryland transit, along with Washington traffic. The decision could be both. I could add some watching of DC Metro. Some on the out bound and some on the inbound. There are other alternatives. Many watchers look to the VRE stops in DC. Union Station had those drawbacks. The platform covering restrict view. If sneaky, you can go to the end of the platform. Security may not let someone go out that far. I use to do that, however. I found another spot what I will try on the northbound. After looking at Google street view, it is a good alternative. I did some watching 25 to 30 years ago, from this location.

This location is at the corner of D Street and Washington Ave, SW Washington. There is a park on the this corner set up from the street by more that eight feet. This give an unobstructed view of the railroad as it comes out of the tunnel south of Union Station.

So, here's the plan, I will change trains change in Alexandria, take the subway into Washington and return  to Alexandria to take the overnight train to Boston. I know, It might be easier in DC. The overnight train, leave Alexandria at 8:19 and Washington at 10:00. I will be dark at both points so I would not have time for more pictures or video. I can't see waiting in DC until 10:00 and would prefer to be settled in on the train, at the earlier hour. I have plenty of time to take video and get back.

In Boston, I have the full day planed. Three subway lines, two light rail, two commuter rail lines. More on this, next time

Change in Blog

I began this blog, as my railfan travel blog, in anticipation of a vacation to Boston, two years ago. This has not really been all that accurate. I began with travel information and pictures taken on that trip. When I began to include video I found it easier to upload the video to YouTube. I would then embed the video to this blog. When first uploaded, it would marked as "unlisted." In this way only those reading the blog, would see the video. I would schedule my postings so it might be some time before that video was seen. I than would changed it to public, after the blog entry was published. I would add in the description the link to this blog. Now, all videos are public, even before they are published with the blog. Only pictures are exclusive to the blog, at present.

Since that trip, I have been videoing all trains. Stills are used for tourist pictures. I will use them for others where motion is not needed. It seems right to me to continue the railfan travel blog for day trips and vacations. Railfan videos will be on YouTube. YouTube will not have travel videos unless it is of trains watched on vacation. This blog will only have trains if the trip was not exclusive to railfanning or it was a railfan trip including more than one video or more than one location.

The exception to this understanding happens when I have a train excursion. I am planning a trip this spring. It will be mainly for train watching. And, if it goes as planned, there will be more trains than not. That trip will be outlined here. The train video will be on YouTube. So keep an eye on YouTube and this blog for more railfan action and more. . . .One more thing, leave comments about what you think, Yes I know I have a spelling and grammar problem so no need to let me know.