Trip Report

OTOL Chief RailFest 2012

July 16-24, 2012

Chapter 0: Introduction

OTOL Chief RailFest 2012 (CRF) was first conceived as a means to visit Albuquerque, NM to ride that city's commuter rail service, New Mexico RailRunner. The Chicago part was added because for many years while passing through Chicago, we have not been able to do many Chicago activities due to late arriving inbound Amtrak trains. By spending some time in the Windy City, we could accomplish more. We also would get to ride the Kenosha Streetcar in neighboring Wisconsin.

Chapter 1: Preparation

CRF was strategically planned to meet several constraints. At least some weekend travel in Chicago would let us make use of Metra's weekend pass, still a bargain at $7.00. For the Kenosha round trip, Sunday presented the only feasible round trip that would allow us time to ride the Streetcar loop. Meanwhile, although Albuquerque's RailRunner runs 7 days a week, service is not as plentiful on weekends, so a weekday visit there was found to be much better for us. The stage was set therefore to begin our seven days together on a Tuesday in Chicago, and finish up in the same city the following Monday.

Participants had their usual homepage to peruse for all pertinent information regarding our journey, including expected rail fares, hotels and restaurants, and our itinerary.

With much lead time to work out the most intricate details, we finally sat back and waited for mid-July to arrive.

Chapter 2: Monday, July 16, 2012

Monday began as four of us who would be starting our travels on the Lake Shore Limited from New York City convened in that city's Club Acela. One more crossed Massachusetts on the same train's Boston section, meeting us in Albany.

Although not part of our official travels, we had five travelers from our group aboard this train, so I am pleased to include it with this report.

Chapter 2.1: Amtrak Lake Shore Limited, Train #49 & #449, New York, NY and Boston, MA to Chicago, IL

Jishnu Mukerji, Grace and Alan Burden, and I met in New York's Club Acela. We boarded the train around 3:20 PM, and were pleased to note that we had the prototype 8400 Viewliner diner in our consist.

The Lake Shore Limited left New York City on time at 3:45 PM. Early in our trip, we made our dinner reservations, agreeing to eat at 5:30 PM.

We went to the dining car at the pre-arranged time, and were met by an entertaining and enthusiastic crew. The Lead Service Attendant (LSA) was J. Manning, and the servers were Brian and Alex. Alex is half waiter, half acrobat! He twirls his tray around while walking through the car and serving his customers, and very rarely drops anything. Even if he's not your server, you get the same great show.

I enjoyed the "Signature Steak", but I was unable to get anyone to sign it for me. Then again, the way I destroyed the steak while consuming it, there would not have been much of a signature left.

Lake Shore Limited Trains #49/449(16) consist west of Albany: 111 P-42 locomotive 44 P-42 locomotive 1754 Baggage 62033 Viewliner sleeper "Scenic View" *** 25078 Amfleet II coach 25049 Amfleet II coach 28006 Amfleet II Lounge 25072 Amfleet II coach 25020 Amfleet II coach 25015 Amfleet II coach 25062 Amfleet II coach 8400 Viewliner diner "Indianapolis" 62020 Viewliner sleeper "Moonlight View" * 62025 Viewliner sleeper "Northern View" ** 1709 Baggage * 4911 car: Jishnu, Kevin (NYP-CHI) were here ** 4912 car: Grace, Alan (NYP-CHI), Rick (ALB-CHI) were here *** 4920 car: Rick (BOS-ALB) was here

After eating good food, we retired back to our rooms. We then detrained in Albany as is customary to watch the process of dual-mode engine removal and combining of the train's New York and Boston sections. We had arrived from New York under the power of P-32 709, which was removed in favor of the diesels that came from Boston. In the chart to the right, what is in red was the Boston consist, and the other equipment in black represents the New York section, all of which continued onward to Chicago.

Before leaving Albany, we met up with Rick Metcalf, who had come from Massachusetts. He switched from the Boston sleeper to one of the New York sleepers. We were now up to five people. Our evening uneventful after this, everyone retired for the night at various times. No doubt I was among the last ones to get to sleep, as I was working on the trip report from our last Fest, the Philadelphia Area All Request RailFest 2012 (PAARRF).

In Schenectady, NY, our train made a double spot to accommodate both coach and sleeper passengers. But the second stop took longer than normal, which the crew attributed to signal problems. Thus our on-time running was over for this trip. When we departed at exactly 8 PM, we were 29 minutes late.

As we continued west, we noticed that our head end power (HEP) went down a few times. By the time we left Utica, we were now 34 minutes down. We got to Syracuse at 10:09 PM, but sat there at the station for 20 minutes. During our stay, many insects entered our car's open door, and stowed away for much of the rest of our trip. When we finally left Syracuse, we (and the bugs) were now 48 minutes late.

At Rochester our station work took 15 minutes, putting our 11:59 PM departure 59 minutes late. We would never get that hour back! I turned in for the night well before Buffalo, as I intended to stretch my legs at the Toledo stop in the morning.

Chapter 2.2: End of Monday's activities

Monday ended aboard the Lake Shore Limited in Western New York State, as we made use of our sleeping accommodations.

Chapter 3: Tuesday, July 17, 2012

On the first official day of our Fest, the gang of five on the Lake Shore Limited would arrive in Chicago, to be joined by others starting out there or arriving on other trains to meet the group. Then eight of us began our westward journey towards Albuquerque.

Chapter 3.0: Amtrak Lake Shore Limited, Trains #49 & #449, New York, NY and Boston, MA to Chicago, IL (continued)

Toledo came at 6:41 AM, and we dwelled there for 40 minutes. I observed the Michigan Thruway bus departing long before we would leave. When we left Toledo behind, we were now one hour 6 minutes off the advertised.

As is usual for our group, breakfast was not done together but rather whenever we got up. There are no reservations taken anyhow. Again we got to experience this good dining crew.

Meanwhile by virtue of modern technology we kept in touch with those who would be joining us in Chicago for the next phase of our trip. We were running fashionably late into Chicago, but with little danger of missing our connection to the Southwest Chief. Most important for us was to have enough time for lunch while in town.

At Bryan, we again lost HEP, so whatever the problem was since New York State had not yet been corrected even with the longer than usual dwells. Leaving there at 8:10 AM, we were still one hour 5 minutes down. We remained just about as late at Waterloo, Sandusky, and Elkhart.

South Bend brought us more drama as we had a malfunctioning grade crossing gate that had to be flagged. We thus arrived at our last intermediate station stop having lost a couple more minutes. We hoped we would make up some of our deficit with schedule padding into Chicago. The crew announced that our estimated arrival time would be 10:30 AM CDT.

As things turned out, we pulled into Chicago Union Station at 10:45 AM, exactly one hour late. Despite our tardy arrival, we still had time in town to relax and have lunch.

Chapter 3.1: In Chicago

In Chicago we met up with Piotr Dzwonek, who had taken the Capitol Limited and come in a little ahead of us. Also we had Bill Magee, who flew to Chicago and then would ride the westbound Chief with the group and then fly home from Albuquerque after our full day there. Finally, Steve Weagant came from his home in Chicago to hook up with us.

After checking in for the Chief in the Metropolitan Lounge and storing our luggage, we went to grab a quick bite at Union Station's food court. Once finished, we returned to the lounge to complete our wait for the Southwest Chief.

Chapter 3.2: Amtrak Southwest Chief, Train #3, Chicago, IL to Albuquerque, NM

Southwest Chief Train #3(17) consist: 60 P-42 locomotive 50 P-42 locomotive 1162 Baggage 39023 Superliner II Transition Dorm/Sleeper 32113 Superliner II Sleeper "Vermont" * 32019 Superliner I Sleeper "Grand Teton" ** 38058 Superliner I Diner 33019 Superliner I Sightseer Lounge 34038 Superliner I Coach 34008 Superliner I Coach 34058 Superliner I Coach * 0331 car: Jishnu, Rick, Grace, Alan, Kevin were here, all CHI-ABQ. ** 0330 car: Bill, Steve, Piotr were here, all CHI-ABQ.

After getting settled into our accommodations, we relaxed for what we expected to be a 24 hour trip. Our train departed from Chicago right on time at 3 PM, and we bid the city goodbye, knowing we would be back in four days.

Although we had eight people, which would have filled two tables nicely in the dining car, two opted to go at 7 PM while the rest took a 5:30 PM seating. We were very impressed by our staff, led by LSA Paulette, and servers Andria and Tonisha. They were excellent. This onboard meal was clearly the best our group had experienced in our years of travel together.

By Galesburg, IL, we had slipped to 11 minutes late, being progressively later at each stop before it. We left there at 5:49 PM, and soon negotiated the massive junction that put us onto the ex-Santa Fe mainline headed southwest towards Kansas City.

It was 6:42 PM as we crossed the Mississippi River, and then ten minutes later we were in Fort Madison, IA. We left that station approximately eight minutes down. After another 25 minutes or so, we crossed the Iowa River into the state of Kansas.

As we approached Kansas City, we witnessed a beautiful sunset, a fitting ending to a great day on the rails. Our fine attendants (Victor in the 30 car and Anna Marie in the 31 car) put down our beds around 10 PM, doing so before they would get busy at the upcoming major stop.

Most of our group hit the platform in Kansas City. Rick and I tried to go up into the station, but we turned around when we observed a very large group comprised mostly of Boy Scouts waiting to board the train. We didn't want to risk having to wait on that line to re-board, so we went back to train side.

Our train left Kansas City, MO right on time at 10:45 PM, and soon entered Kansas City, KS. Not long after that we made a scheduled stop at Argentine Yard to refuel. Once we were rolling once more, the majority of us were probably asleep, and I followed as it had been an eventful day.

Chapter 3.3: End of Tuesday's activities

Today ended with our group turning in at various times in our accommodations on board the Southwest Chief. We knew we had a good part of the following day before we would complete our trip.

Chapter 4: Wednesday, July 18, 2012

The second day out on the westbound Southwest Chief would culminate today with our arrival into our first host city, Albuquerque.

Chapter 4.0: Amtrak Southwest Chief, Train #3, Chicago, IL to Albuquerque, NM (continued)

We had fully traversed the state of Kansas overnight. Morning found us at breakfast in the dining car with its fine staff once more. All eight of us made it there around the same time. Once we had bearings on our location, we realized we had crossed into Colorado and thus the Mountain Time zone. We were approaching Lamar, CO.

We left Lamar at 7:15 AM MDT, about 16 minutes off the advertised. We guessed we could make some of that up at the next stop, LaJunta, which is a crew change point. We did, in fact, leave both LaJunta and the last Colorado stop, Trinidad, right on time. After Trinidad we began our trip over Raton Pass. Our crew gave a good synopsis of our trip over the Pass, and even mentioned that this experience could be endangered within a few years as Amtrak could be forced to leave this route and instead run on the transcontinental mainline via Amarillo, TX.

Raton, NM was another place we got to stretch our legs off the train. There was a lot of business here, as the Boy Scouts that we saw in Kansas City detrained, and a new group of them boarded the coach section of the train to take their place. We left Raton at 11:00 AM, just four minutes down. After Raton, seven of us went to the dining car to have lunch, our final meal with this superb crew. On this occasion, our Lead Service Attendant Pauline served us, doing as great a job as the two servers that worked for her.

Las Vegas, NM came at 12:43 PM; our departure from there was just five minutes tardy. We thought we had a good chance at coming into Albuquerque on time or close to it. One highlight for railfans using this train is the siding at Canyoncito. It is here that the two Southwest Chiefs usually pass one another. However, Train #4(17) was running late, so we would not be meeting it at the usual location. Instead, the meet happened near the next station stop, Lamy. We had to wait a few minutes in a very heavy rainstorm for #4 to pass.

We left the Lamy station at 2:46 PM, now 22 minutes late. Things deteriorated further as we had many restricted signals and slow orders of 10 mph in the final stretch of our trip. Finally, we arrived at Albuquerque's Alvarado Transportation Center at 4:22 PM, 27 minutes late.

We were met at the station by Chris Wyatt, who had come in earlier in the day on the eastbound Southwest Chief. For our time in Albuquerque, we had a total of nine participants.

Chapter 4.1: End of Wednesday's activities

After checking into our respective hotels, we met later on for dinner together at the La Ojo restaurant at the DoubleTree By Hilton hotel, where the majority of us were staying. Those staying elsewhere joined us, except for one (Bill) who in retrospect probably made the better move by eating elsewhere. The food was expensive, not all that great, and the service was slow. The biggest issue however was in receiving our checks after we were done. Perhaps we shared a little of the guilt in not letting them know ahead of time, but it was imperative that we pay separately because many of us were charging the meal to our respective rooms, and some were using discount vouchers that the hotel had provided when we checked in. It took over an hour for our server to figure out how much each person's individual tab was and to provide us with our own checks.

Following the dinner fiasco, everyone returned to their hotel rooms for the night to rest up from our trips and prepare for our long Thursday in town.

Chapter 5: Thursday, July 19, 2012

Thursday was our only full day in Albuquerque. We would fulfill our obligation to ride the entire RailRunner line, and travel to another great city, Santa Fe.

Chapter 5.1: RailRunner, Train #510, Albuquerque, NM to Santa Fe, NM

RailRunner uses the same type of multilevel equipment found on other commuter rail lines around the USA and Canada. Naturally the best views are from the upper level, and that is where most of us sat. Our first train left Albuquerque headed northbound at 9:35 AM, right on time.

The first thing we noticed is how well patronized the train was. This being after the morning rush hour, and considering that much of our travel was through some very sparsely populated areas, the train did very well. Most of this ridership was travelling from Albuquerque to Santa Fe as we were, probably also tourists. But there were enough people getting on and off at intermediate stations to justify stopping there.

Plenty of time is built into the schedule, as we had to dwell at some intermediate stations waiting for the departure time. We saw where the line splits off the BNSF route used by the Southwest Chief, and then via a large S-curve it transitions onto the median of the I-25 freeway.

Closer to the Santa Fe area, the train leaves I-25 to follow an old freight right-of-way through the suburbs and into the city itself. We finally came to a stop at the Santa Fe station at 11:13 AM, three minutes early.

Chapter 5.2: Lunch in Santa Fe

The Santa Fe RailRunner station is within a restaurant, shopping, and entertainment district called the Railyard. Before the trip we had chosen the Flying Star Cafe as it had a diverse and affordable menu. Eight of us went there, and were pleased with the setup. One orders food up front and then it is delivered to your table. The food was good and the portions were ample.

After lunch we separated briefly and walked around town a bit, mindful of our RailRunner departure. We all made it back to the train on time.

Chapter 5.3: RailRunner, Train #511, Santa Fe, NM to Belen, NM

The same set of equipment left Santa Fe as Train #511 at precisely 1:02 PM. I got my turn at riding near a "railfan window". I also noticed for the first time (having ridden upstairs on the first trip) that the door chimes are the sound of the Road Runner character! It is fitting, since the train's name and livery evoke the same image.

This was the longest of our three trips, as we were travelling from one end of the line to the other via Albuquerque. We left every station stop on time, and again had to dwell at some of them to let the schedule catch up with our progress.

We saw the southern split where the BNSF line used by Amtrak towards Los Angeles goes off to the right. The Belen "wye" is many miles wide. Our train arrived in Belen two minutes early, at 3:13 PM. We detrained, but did not leave the platform area. During our time there, one freight train passed by on the BNSF mainline.

Chapter 5.4: RailRunner, Train #512, Belen, NM to Albuquerque, NM

Back aboard our train once more, we were now northbound #512. We left on time once more at 3:30 PM. This was the first of our three trips that was slightly delayed, and those happened as we approached the end of our trip in Albuquerque. We stopped a few times before reaching the station, and ended up arriving at 4:12 PM, four minutes late.

Chapter 5.5: End of Thursday's activities

An interesting day was over, one in which we got to know a class commuter rail operation very well. We said goodbye to Bill, who would be leaving the Fest and flying home from Albuquerque the following morning. The gang split up for dinner, although several got together later to eat at a different hotel than where we had Wednesday's meal. From the window of my hotel room I watched the parade of RailRunner trains in both directions stopping at the station, as well as today's westbound Southwest Chief, which was almost two hours late. It had to sit outside the station for a while to protect RailRunner passengers who had to walk across its track to get to and from their commuter train.

Chapter 6: Friday, July 20, 2012

A group of eight would leave Albuquerque, starting the first day of our two-day run towards Chicago.

Chapter 6.1: Amtrak Southwest Chief, Train #4, Albuquerque, NM to Chicago, IL

Southwest Chief Train #4(19) consist: 60 P-42 locomotive 50 P-42 locomotive 1162 Baggage 39034 Superliner II Transition Dorm/Sleeper 32113 Superliner II Sleeper "Vermont" * 32019 Superliner I Sleeper "Grand Teton" ** 38040 Superliner I Diner 33019 Superliner I Sightseer Lounge 34038 Superliner I Coach 34008 Superliner I Coach 34058 Superliner I Coach * 0431 car: Piotr, Grace, Alan, Steve, Kevin were here, all ABQ-CHI. ** 0430 car: Chris, Jishnu, Rick were here, all ABQ-CHI.

By about 11:15 AM, we had all arrived at the Amtrak station. We already knew from checking ahead that our eastbound Southwest Chief (due to leave 12:10 PM) was running late. Announcements in the station told us it was expected around 12:45 PM, which would put it at about an hour late, considering that this is a crew change stop.

Our train in reality showed up at 12:30 PM, and we soon boarded. Our attendants told us to go straight to lunch, as it was currently being served. Because we had just boarded and didn't account in our plans for an immediate lunch, we ended up eating this meal with strangers.

We had figured out previously that this consist should be the same one as we had going westbound, as it had Thursday to turn in Los Angeles. It was basically the same; the Transition Dorm car and the diner had been swapped out for new ones.

We got through most of our respective meals before our train left Albuquerque. We departed at 1:04 PM, 54 minutes late. We then encountered the same slow orders we had coming in, and lost more time before Lamy. Our train departed from Lamy 2:40 PM, now one hour 23 minutes down. About half an hour after that, we then came up on our westbound counterpart, this time at Glorietta Pass. They were waiting for us; we did not have to stop.

We left Las Vegas, NM 4:26 PM, having not gained nor lost any additional time. All eight of us opted for the 5:30 PM seating, and we went together to the dining car. This crew (Rosemarie the LSA, and servers Myrna and Tomy) was okay, but with the previous crew we had on #3 having set the bar, they were definitely not as efficient. While still at dinner, we made our Raton stop, witnessing the usual exchange of Boy Scouts as well as a few people boarding the Thruway bus to Denver.

I made note of the fact that my sleeper attendant, who had sent me right to lunch in Albuquerque, never introduced himself nor gave me the usual speech upon boarding. I've never gone 7 hours into a trip not knowing the attendant's name. I hadn't even seen him near my room on the car's lower level since then. I began to worry who would be putting my bed down, because I wasn't about to figure it out for myself.

In La Junta, CO, with many of us out on the platform during a crew change, I found my attendant almost 8 hours into the journey, told him I hadn't yet received his introductory speech yet, and he introduced himself as Jay. I told him that in about an hour or so he could convert my roomette for night use. We left La Junta at 8:59 PM MDT, one hour 18 minutes late. After La Junta, we all settled in for the night.

Chapter 6.2: End of Friday's activities

Friday ended with eight of us aboard the Southwest Chief as we made our nocturnal run across Kansas.

Chapter 7: Saturday, July 21, 2012

Today was the completion of our eastward Southwest Chief trip, ultimately bringing us into Chicago.

Chapter 7.0: Amtrak Southwest Chief, Train #4, Albuquerque, NM to Chicago, IL (continued)

As we awoke, our participants went to breakfast on their own, mindful of the Kansas City stop that would give us an opportunity to take a walk outside the train. We made stops at Topeka and Lawrence, both one hour 18 minutes late. Then we did our refueling at Argentine Yard. Our train arrived in Kansas City, MO at 8:10 AM, 46 minutes late.

After taking in some fresh air outside, we returned to our accommodations, as the train left Kansas City at 8:31 AM, 48 minutes late. So we had gained back half an hour with the padding into this station. Unlike our 2009 trip on this train, nobody "disappeared" from the train in Kansas City opting to instead fly home from there!

It was noticed mid-morning that the rest rooms in our sleeping car were in need of some attention. While Jay had made up my room in daytime mode upon request, he wasn't doing a decent job of acting on his own when a need had to be filled. Across the rest of Missouri and Iowa, we started losing a few more minutes between stops. At Fort Madison, IA, we left exactly one hour late at 12:00 Noon.

We got a fourth meal out of this trip, as we had another lunch in the diner. During our meal our train moved onto the former Burlington Northern speedway for the final jog towards Chicago. We sat at Galesburg, IL a long time, but were 55 minutes down when we departed at 1:03 PM. So overall we had made up a few minutes.

After going through commuter territory in the city's suburbs, we arrived at Chicago Union Station at 3:53 PM, which was 38 minutes late. Our last major long distance trip of this Fest was over. A few of the folks who would be joining our Chicago based activities met our arrival. Conversely, we bid farewell to Chris, who would be continuing his travels elsewhere while we were in the Chicago area.

Chapter 7.1: End of Saturday's activities

As is customary on days we arrive in town after an Amtrak trip, no further group train riding was planned (although some of us did need to take trains to get to our hotels). Most of us went to dinner on our own and then just went to our respective hotels to get a good night's sleep.

Chapter 8: Sunday, July 22, 2012

Our action packed Sunday would see us riding two Chicago Transit Authority rapid transit lines, a round trip on Metra, and the heritage streetcar in Kenosha, WI. A total of 14 people would be involved today.

Chapter 8.1: Meeting in Chicago

Most of us met in Union Station's large waiting room. Besides the seven remaining people who had been on the Albuquerque portion of the Fest (as a reminder, Grace, Alan, Rick, Steve, Piotr, Jishnu, and me), we were joined today by John Corbett, Kevin Noell, Misty Robinson, Preston Holland, and Mike Hammond. Surprising us but more than welcome were David Korkhouse and Don Sillence from Indiana. These 14 people walked to the closest Blue Line station at Clinton/Congress.

Our goal today was to ride the western portion of the Blue Line as well as the Pink Line, two segments that had eluded us for some time. We had planned on riding them as far back as Eagle RailFest 2005.

Chapter 8.2: Chicago Transit Authority Blue Line, Clinton/Congress to Forest Park

The walk had taken less time than planned, so we left Clinton/Congress on a Forest Park-bound Blue Line train at 10:02 AM, 13 minutes ahead of our schedule. In doing so, we had inadvertently left Ed Findlay behind. We made arrangements for him to short turn in order to catch up with us. We arrived at Forest Park at 10:27 AM. We went across the platform to another train, and boarded it.

Chapter 8.3: Chicago Transit Authority Blue Line, Forest Park to Clark/Lake

After five minutes dwell at Forest Park, we began heading inbound towards the Loop. Ed joined us somewhere along the line, making our total 15 people -- our peak participation on this Fest. Steve later detrained and left us temporarily when he was helping an international tourist find her way through Chicago; he would rejoin us a few hours later.

Our destination was the Clark/Lake station in the Loop, where we would transfer to the Pink Line. We got there at 11:05 AM, still ahead of our itinerary.

Chapter 8.4: Chicago Transit Authority Pink Line, Clark/Lake to 54th/Cermak

There was a weekend service diversion in effect which had the Pink Line operating counter clockwise around the Loop, rather than the usual clockwise. We therefore did not follow the permanent signs to the Pink Line in the transfer station, but instead followed Brown Line signs. Some who didn't know about this thought I was leading them the wrong way. In theory given our location on the Loop, it should have worked in our favor since we would not have to make almost a full circle around the Loop but would rather proceed directly west. However we had a rather long wait for before the next Pink Line train showed up.

We departed from Clark/Lake at 11:22 AM after spending 17 minutes there. We ended up still ahead of our itinerary, but only by about seven minutes. We continued west to the train's ultimate destination, 54th/Cermak in the city of Cicero, getting there at 11:54 AM.

With our arrival at 54th/Cermak, our group had effectively completed travel on all lines of the CTA over the course of our various Chicago visits over the past nine years. (However some of our newer participants still had some to explore on their own at other times.)

The 54th/Cermak station has a single platform, with separate arrival and departure areas. We walked back towards the departure area, to eventually board the same train on which we had arrived.

Chapter 8.5: Chicago Transit Authority Pink Line, 54th/Cermak to Clinton/Lake

Now headed back towards the Loop, we departed 54th/Cermak at 12:05 PM. This time we were headed to the Clinton/Lake station, the last station before the Loop and the closest to the Ogilvie Transportation Center, where we would be both eating lunch and departing for our afternoon and evening activities. We detrained at Clinton/Lake at 12:28 PM and walked several blocks to Ogilvie. Rick left us here to return to Union Station to continue travels on his own before going home a few days later.

Chapter 8.6: Lunch at Ogilvie Transportation Center

We had lunch at a location common to our Chicago visits, the food court at Ogilvie Transportation Center. It was quite convenient for us as our next trip would be leaving from that station. Steve rejoined us here.

Those who had not yet purchased tickets for this trip had plenty of time to do so, as we sat in the food court awaiting the departure time of our next train.

Chapter 8.7: Metra Union Pacific North Line, Train #815, Chicago (Ogilvie Transportation Center) to Kenosha, WI

Our Metra train left Ogilvie Transportation Center at 2:35 PM, right on time. The most important thing on my mind now, and in the months leading up to the Fest, was how we would get dinner in Kenosha and be served quickly enough to have time to return to the Metra station in time for our train. I called the chosen restaurant, and confirmed that our large group was on its way, also placing an order ahead of time. Others were encouraged to place their orders in advance as well.

Our trip was uneventful, as we remained on time at the many stations we stopped at along the way. We eventually arrived in Kenosha at 4:13 PM, 2 minutes early. We walked right over to the streetcar stop to begin waiting for its arrival.

Chapter 8.8: Kenosha Streetcar, continuous loop

We only had to wait a few minutes before the streetcar arrived. It was the only one of Kenosha's fleet currently in service along the route. We surely must have surprised the operator with our large group of 14 people. Each paid the one dollar fare.

Most of the streetcars that operate here came from Toronto. They still have Toronto-based advertisements inside, as well as maps of Toronto. One other passenger gave us a good laugh when he appeared to be serious about wanting to get off the streetcar at a stop on the map.

After going around the circuitous route once and returning to the train station, we decided that since we had some time before the restaurant expected us for dinner, we would go around again. We gladly paid another buck and returned to our seats. Having mentioned the restaurant we would be going to, the operator told us we could ride around the second time back to the Metra station, and then he would take us onward to a stop closest to the restaurant. So we ultimately got 2-1/4 rides around the circle.

Chapter 8.9: Dinner in Kenosha

Kaiser's Pub was chosen because of the fact it was open on a Sunday, its proximity to the streetcar route, and the relatively easy walk back to the Metra station. We knew that by the time we would be finishing, the streetcar would have ended its service for the day.

Three people opted not to go to Kaiser's, instead choosing other places they had seen from the streetcar. That left eleven who descended upon the restaurant. The staff was expecting us, and they accommodated our needs very well. Our waitress Amber was perfect in how efficiently and quickly we were served, our advance phone calls notwithstanding. The bottom line is that we had a decent meal and we ended up with plenty of time to make the healthy seven block walk back to the Metra station before its departure time.

The 14 of us assembled back at the station at various times, some having come from eating at other places, and some having left Kaiser's earlier.

We saw that the equipment that had brought us to Kenosha as Train #815 was sitting in a storage yard awaiting a Monday morning assignment. Our train would be the equipment coming up from Chicago as Train #819, returning as #824.

Chapter 8.10: Metra Union Pacific North Line, Train #824, Kenosha, WI to Chicago (Ogilvie Transportation Center)

The train came in from the south and discharged its passengers, went beyond the station to be turned, and then came back into the station on the track next to the Chicago-bound platform. The 14 of us soon boarded. We were on our way at 6:49 PM, right on time.

The trip was once more uneventful. My plan, which I stuck to, was to get off at Davis Street in Evanston, a couple of blocks from my hotel. A few from our group got off there with me, to switch to the Purple Line and do some transit riding on their own. The rest remained on board to Ogilvie Transportation Center, where they arrived on time at 8:25 PM and then they went their separate ways for the evening. Don and Dave, our surprise participants for today, were finished and went home to Indiana.

Chapter 8.11: End of Sunday's activities

With a busy day in Chicago now behind us, we returned to our various hotels to rest up for the concluding day of the Chief RailFest. For some there was less sleep as they chose to get some more CTA mileage under their belts.

Chapter 9: Monday, July 23, 2012

Monday was the final official day of the Chief RailFest. Only one activity was planned.

Chapter 9.1: Meeting in Chicago

The final element of our Fest would be a midday turn on Metra's Southwest Service. Our group basically had the morning off and lunchtime on our own, agreeing to meet in the Metropolitan Lounge in Union Station and then proceeding to our train.

Steve and Mike decided not to join us on this trip, as Mike had an early bus to take back to Cleveland. So we had 10 people remaining from the Kenosha trip. Today's surprise was Alan Buitenwerf, who lives in Worth, IL along the route we planned to ride. The gang today therefore would be 11 until the Fest was over.

Chapter 9.2: Metra Southwest Service, Train #815, Chicago (Union Station) to Manhattan, IL

We had ridden Metra's Southwest Service before, as part of our EagleFest 2005 event. At that time it terminated at 179th Street in Orland Park, but it has since been extended south to Manhattan. This required us to revisit it for the new trackage.

I had noticed earlier in Union Station that there was a service alert posted that advised of a temporary schedule for many Southwest Service trains, including ours. There was an overall five minutes added to the schedule in both directions between Union Station and Manhattan. We didn't expect this would have any ill effect on our day's schedule, which could have been an issue if anyone had tight connections to make to Amtrak trains afterwards.

This just happened to be one of the very rare occurrences of two identically numbered trains on different lines. Metra for the most part has unique numbering sequences for all of its trains on the various lines. Leave it to us, however, to end up on two Train #815's on consecutive days.

With the 11 of us on board, our train left Union Station on time at 12:35 PM. Alan Buitenwerf was our guide as he gave us commentary on this route, and Metra in general along the way. When we passed 179th Street, those who had ridden the line before to this point were on new trackage. We arrived at the Manhattan terminus at 1:57 PM, which was the original arrival time on the normal schedule, so the added five minutes for trackwork was not needed.

After everyone detrained, the equipment went beyond the station out of our view to be turned. We stood mostly outside, although we were able to go inside for shelter when it began to drizzle a bit. The station also provided rest room facilities for those who needed them during our 28 minute layover.

Chapter 9.3: Metra Southwest Service, Train #830, Manhattan, IL to Chicago (Union Station)

A few minutes before its scheduled inbound departure time, our same consist reappeared from around the curve and entered the station, now as Train #830. There was some confusion over where to board, as the crew wanted to use only one coach for this trip. Once aboard we took our seats to begin our final official movement of the Fest.

Alan Buitenwerf was originally going to get off at his home stop in Worth, but he decided to ride back into Chicago with us and then go back later on his own. Once again our timekeeping was perfect, and we didn't need the extra five minutes allotted by the temporary timetable. In fact we also beat the usual five minute padding, so we arrived back in Chicago Union Station at 3:43 PM, a full ten minutes earlier than listed in the temporary schedule.

Chapter 9.4: End of Monday's activities

And now, it was time to say our goodbyes, although many would see one another at various times over the next couple of days. The group had now completed all of our planned activities. From here, some would travel home, while others remained in town an extra day to take in more train riding. Three, myself included, went up to the Milwaukee Airport area on the Hiawatha Service and then returned to Chicago the following morning after also visiting the downtown Milwaukee station. Another person sampled the South Shore Line.

Chapter 10: Conclusion

This Fest went without any real hitches, as we accomplished everything we had expected to do. As always it was educational while fun at the same time. Participants kept it interesting by coming and going at various times, but we had our core group of diehards who endured everything from start to finish.

While there does not appear to be much reason to ever return to Albuquerque, we surely will be back in Chicago again. The experiment of stopping over there for an extra day or two was a resounding success. There are still some lines that our modern day group has not yet done, namely two Metra lines and the people mover at O'Hare International Airport.

We next turned our attention to our Winter event in January, which focused on New England. And planning is well underway for the summer of 2013, when we plan to visit Jacksonville, Charlotte, Norfolk, and the Northern Virginia area. See you then!