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Steve's Fall '97 Amtrak Journey
Sept 28 - Oct 7, 1997
Amtrak Silver Palm - Train #89
Washington, DC to Miami, FL
http://trainweb.com/travel/stevelog/sg970929e.html

The fifth segment of my rail journey was on the Amtrak Silver Palm
from Washington, DC to Miami, Florida.


Jefferson Memorial/Washington Monument/Washington Metro

If you look closely at the bottom of the first picture, you can also see a Washington Metro Train emerging from the subway about to head over the bridge. The next photo shows that same train heading over the bridge. Both of these photos were take from my room on the Amtrak Silver Palm as we headed south out of Washington, DC.

    Staff:
  • Chief Of Onboard Services: Julie Cook
  • Sleeping Car Attendant: Louis Jackson

Radio: Channel 32 - 160.590 - Petersburg,VA to Savannah,GA. Note: Channel 32 might have started prior to Petersburg. I started seeking the road channel only as of Petersburg.

Radio: Channel 66 - 161.100 - Wildwood,FL to Miami,FL. Note: Channel 66 might have started prior to Wildwood. I started seeking the road channel only as of WIldwood. Also, Channel 32 - 160.590 - was in short use around the Tampa, Florida, area before they returned to Channel 66.

    Detectors:
  • Mile Post 033.7 Ch 32
  • Mile Post 107.6 Ch 32
  • Mile Post 421.0 Ch 32
  • Mile Post 440.4 Ch 32
  • Mile Post 474.6 Ch 32
  • Mile Post 485.0 Ch 32

I like these little towns where the tracks seem to go right down the middle of the main street!

I just noticed something about the venting in the Viewliner Standard Bedroom. There are sliding vents under each window and there are two fans. You have a thermostat control in the room that lets you set the temperature which seems to work quite well. You can also set each fan independently to low, medium or high. The fans seem to correspond to the beds rather than the chairs. One fan could be adjusted to blow at the person in the lower bunk and the other fan adjusted to blow at the person in the upper bunk. The vents under the windows seem to be for each person when they are sitting in the seats. Each person can open or close their own sliding vent. However, there does seem to one item out of my control. Directly under each window vent is another vent. Each of those are radiating quite a bit of hot air into the room. There isn't any fan blowing it in, it is just quite hot and radiating that heat. This seems weird as it is fighting against the cool air I have blowing in. It isn't much of a problem since the cooling system is able to generate a lot more cold air than the heating source can generate warm air. I can only take a stab at the purpose of this heat source. Maybe the heating element of the car is always on and if I selected the room to be warmed, the hot air from this heating element would be blown into the room. If you know the answer to this mystery, please send it by e-mail to me at steve@trainweb.com.

Tuesday, Sep 30, 1997, 11:50 PM EDT, Savannah, GA

I just had an interesting experience. Alvin McGrath, Jr. wrote an e-mail to me that I received while I was on this train. He said he'd like to meet me when the train went through Savannah, Georgia. I had planned to meet with other TrainWeb visitors as my train passed through their towns, but these have never come to fruition. Usually the cause was my train being very late and interferring with other plans of the person who was to meet me. Well, this time it did work out. We had an all too brief chat. We probably didn't talk for more than 3 minutes, but it was still great to meet another Amtrak fan along the route. I didn't know how long the train was going to remain in the station, but when I saw the Conductor throw away a cigarette that he had barely started, I knew he needed to get the train rolling!


These are some old luggage wagons that were out on the platform of one of the stations in Florida along the Amtrak Silver routes. The second photo is a picture of the Florida Tri-State commuter trains. As you can see, they are the same cars as used by "GO" in Toronto, "Metrolink" in Southern California, and the new commuter line between Dallas and Ft. Worth.

Wednesday, Oct 1, 1997, 01:00 PM EDT, Miami, FL

There are souveneirs here! I purchased a "Florida Amtrak Service" white T-Shirt in "Large", the largest size available, and a "Amtrak Silver Service" black polo shirt in "Extra Large." I also purchased an Amtrak Silver Service burlap carry bag that had the names of the 3 Silver Trains. They had other souveniers such as cups, mugs, glasses, umbrellas, etc.


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