Trip Report: November 27 - December 21, 2001
by Ted & Sylvia Blishak
28 DAYS ON THE RAILS
PITTSBURGH TO PHILADELPHIA
Monday, December 10, 2001
Westin Hotels usually have a great breakfast buffet and Pittsburgh is no exception. We want a substantial meal this morning because we are traveling on the Three Rivers to Philadelphia and will have only a snack car all day. After calling Budget to verify that they will be able to drive us to the Amtrak Station, we return our car and listen to two Budget clerks, including our young friend of last Wednesday morning, tell us that nobody there would have said that we could be driven to Amtrak, I must have called the toll free number and THEY would tell me "anything." (This is a familiar routine that we've heard before.) The more helpful of the two clerks dialed and redialed the local Yellow Cab company, and we all listened to a busy signal.
I read to them, from my travel agent printed itinerary, their own local phone number that I had called, and the name of the agent, Mike, that I had written down.
"Oh, Mike! He would say that. Where is Mike, anyway? Hey, Mike, can you drive these people to the Amtrak Station." One has to be ready for these Budget Car Rental people. However, they are the only agency that will rent a luxury car in downtown Pittsburgh, and I like to live it up on my vacation and, you know, impress all the folks at home.
Travel Tip: Always plan your rental car return carefully. You may not be able to find a taxi during rush hours, as we found out. So it is a good idea to pre-arrange for your drive to the station with Mike, or whoever will promise you such a service. You don't want to miss your train because of a brush off from some car rental desk clerk. Ask for the manager if necessary.
To make today's trip easier, we check our largest bags to Philly. We also have two bags to return to Klamath Falls. The agent will not check them, as they used to before 9-11, so we ship them by Amtrak Express. I am wondering how this will increase security, as the only difference between checked baggage and Amtrak Express baggage, as far as I can tell, is that checked baggage is free and Amtrak Express is expensive.
The Three Rivers arrives a few minutes late. There is no Red Cap available, but there is an elevator up to track level, and when we arrive at Viewliner sleeper "Evening View", the car attendant carries our bags up the steps into the vestibule and we move it to Deluxe Room B.
Travel Tip: Viewliner bedrooms are different than Superliner bedrooms. Since these are single-level carriages, the ceilings are higher, with an extra set of high windows to let the occupant of the upper bunk have a view. Each Standard Bedroom contains a toilet. The rooms are equipped with a tiny TV monitor and the option of four full-length movies.
The Viewliner Deluxe Bedroom has an open slot next to the aisle where the ladder for the upper bunk is stored. This eliminates about eight inches of space between the enclosed toilet and the armchair, and makes it impossible to fully open the bathroom door, so it is a tight squeeze to get in and out, unlike in the Superliner Deluxe Room. A solution to this would be to have your car attendant fold up the armchair.
My mother, an experienced Amtrak traveler, is joining us on our trip to Philadelphia. Although this stop is scheduled for twenty minutes, the Three Rivers leaves as soon as everyone is boarded, and we are soon rolling out of town. The Latrobe station still has the original Keystone station sign that used to identify all passenger stations on the PRR.
After several miles of urban and industrial scenes, much of it of the rust belt variety, we roll into the colorful Western Pennsylvania countryside, follow the Connemaugh River up to Johnston, site of the notorious 19th century flood, climb up to Gallitzen Summit, through the tunnel, then descend around the World Famous Horseshoe Curve. Where there was a PRR K-4 Pacific steam locomotive on display at the visitor center, there is now a General Motors GP-7 diesel locomotive in PRR black with gold lettering. The K-4 has been restored to running condition and is stabled in Altoona.
After a brief stop in Altoona, home to the famous Pennsylvania Railroad shops, we descend the Juniata River valley to the wide Susquehanna River, cross the great stone arch Rockville Bridge and roll to a stop at the state capitol, Harrisburg.
The station exterior appears to be as dingy as when I last visited here in the mid-sixties, although the interior appears to have been brightened up. Parked on a siding is PRR GG-1 electric locomotive 4859, resplendent in its original Brunswick green with gold pin striping, as designed by Raymond Loewy in the early 1930s. Its pantograph is raised to the overhead wires as if it were ready to move up to couple onto our train and pull us into Philadelphia. But alas, it is silent and unmanned.
On that mid-sixties journey, I had detrained from the Day Express from Buffalo to make a connection with the General to Pittsburgh. The headlines at the newsstand were disturbing; "Northeast Stalled by Blizzard." The reports went on to say that all major highways, even the New Jersey and Pennsylvania Turnpikes, as well as every airport from Boston to Washington, were closed. I had visions of spending the night in this dreary station, although the lone agent with a green eye shade told me not to worry.
Sure enough as I was peering eastward along the four track mainline, I spotted a bright headlight and two sparking pantographs of a brace of GG-1s hauling the General into Harrisburg on time. After coming to a halt, the mighty electric motors were uncoupled and growled away. A few moments later a trio of pin stripped EMD E-8 diesel locomotives, in an A-B-A arrangement, backed in to couple on to the General to haul it over the Appalachians to Pittsburgh. We had a full train that night, with crowded bar cars and waits for dining car sittings, as our six V-12 engines throatily roared up and over the Horseshoe Curve through a raging blizzard.
Unbelievable as it may seem to contemporaries, we did arrive into Pittsburgh on time that evening, and as I walked to the station concourse along the Tuscan red locomotives and the coaches with gold pin striping, I noticed that the undercarriages and vestibules were packed with frozen snow, and icicles were hanging from every grabiron.
Back to present time, we notice that "Evening View" does not have the lateral jerking that was exhibited by "Morning View" on our journey from Chicago to Pittsburgh. In fact, on welded rail the ride is quite silky. On jointed rail, we still experience a good ride, except on the Harrisburg to Philadelphia segment, when the speed rises to 90mph and we experience some vibration. But this is not bothersome as we enjoy viewing the well kept farmlands of the Pennsylvania Dutch of Lancaster County. We arrive in Philadelphia just a few minutes behind schedule.
A Red Cap handles our bags up into the great concourse of the restored Art Deco 30th Street Station, to the baggage claim area, and out to the taxi stand. Philadelphia is very organized, but as in every large city in the U.S., has non English speaking taxi drivers who do not know their way around, although they are able to perform three jobs at once; keep up a running conversation in Arabic with a mystery person on his cell phone, while shouting at drivers who attempt to cut him off, as well following my directions that I have carefully planned before our arrival.
Travel Tip: Know the address of your hotel before hailing a cab. Our cabby was confused by the fact that Philadelphia has two Sheraton hotels, one on Society Hill and one at Rittenhouse Square. What if you are staying at a Holiday Inn?
The Sheraton Rittenhouse Square is grandly located on a beautifully landscaped park in central Philadelphia, across the street from the Curtis Institute of Music, and just four blocks from the Academy of Music. We have picked this location deliberately because we have three musical performances to attend and it will be very easy if we can walk rather than depend on taxies. The only disadvantage of the hotel is that the two restaurants are not tuned into the atmosphere of the Rittenhouse Square District, and are filled with the incessant beat of rock music. However, the hotel has a very good room service menu.
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