I woke up around 6:00, showered, and headed downstairs to catch a cab down to 30th Street Station. I arrived at the station and found myself a spot near Track 9 since that's where I anticipated the boarding for 640. The train was running a few minutes late in from Harrisburg, but they still had us line up for the train about 20 minutes before boarding actually began. The consist was as follows:
AEM-7DC Locomotive 927
Amfleet I Coach 82052
Amfleet I Coach 21135
Amfleet I Coach 82606
Amfleet I Coach 44206
Amfleet I Coach 82030
Amfleet I Coach 21066
Amfleet I Coach 82618
The train was probably about half empty, but for a train only running from Harrisburg to New York it was a pretty decent load. We moved along the corridor nicely and entered Penn Station.
I always manage to end up on the LIRR concourse when I get off in Penn Station so I had to make the loop around to the Amtrak waiting area. I sat for approximately an hour in an extremely hot waiting room before I headed off in search of my reason for this layover, New York Pizza. I found a place on the concourse between the 7th and 8th Avenue Subways, which also had very cold A/C, which was more than welcome. I finished up and headed back upstairs to await the arrival of 56.
They arrived about 15 minutes left, we all lined up at the East Gate, then they decided to board from the West Gate, I headed down trackside and made my way to the Cab Car which was also the Quiet Car. The heat continued but at least the car was quiet. We moved swiftly along the Metro North trackage, only hitting a few sets of crossovers. We arrived in New Haven where our Electric was removed and diesel added to the rear. Our consist was:
AEM-7DC Locomotive 926 off NHV
Amfleet I Cab Car 9635 (Capstone)
Amfleet I Coach 82553
Amfleet I Coach 44672
Amfleet I Coach 81512 (Blue Triangle)
Amfleet I Club Car 48172 (Blue Triangle)
P-42 Locomotive 198 on NHV
The New Haven crews were very efficient in doing the Engine change, much more efficient than the Washington crews who seem to take forever to do a few simple moves. The cab car took over for the run up to Springfield. The Conductor came through and said the A/C on the Cab Car was busted and we were all welcome to move back to another coach with working A/C which I did and was a big relief. We arrived in Springfield, I detrained and headed off to spend a week with my friend in Northern Massachusetts.
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