May 11 Train Day, Are you going to any activity?

I'll probably rip into a bottle of Night Train.

Train show this weekend .

Why yes! The Detroit 3 railerers are meeting tonight. And we are going to polish some rails! The fun way.

Chicago Union Station.

And the rails are ready and waiting.

Like everything cool in the DC metro area, ya gotta get there early.  I rode the first Acela trip.  Others not so lucky.  This was better organized than previous years so I will give them another chance next year.  They had a lot of volunteers and staff that knew what they were doing which is a step up from the past.  See, all that kvetching on this forum gets results!!

the Riverside Live Steamers are at Union Station in LA today among other displays including Santa Fe #3751.

hopefully someone will post pictures.

 

http://www.steamonly.org/

In fairness, SJC, Norfolk Southern had a lot of things going on with 5 or 6 trackside tours of various cars and such.  FDR's Marco Polo Pullman was available to tour.  So small and historic they could only accommodate 5 peeps at a time.  But there was their Research Car, Information car, 2 diesels and other things. 

 

Amtrak has its problems but they're the only passenger line left in America.

I have no problems with Amtrak. I've seen all of the NS exhibit/geometry cars. Seen the Marco Pollo more times than I can think of, seen the engines, I see the Acela everyday, see and ride MARC most days, same for VRE. Seen all of the Amtrak Heritage Units as well. After two years of giving them a chance, I refuse to go anywhere near the place for the event. Sounds like Grand Central had similar issues of overcrowding and lack of people that know what they are doing. 

I and the family watched the MILW 261 depart Minneapolis on it's first official 2013 excursion to Duluth, MN. What a beautiful site it was on National Train Day!

 

 

I visited two train shops in western Pennsylvania--C.T. McCormick and Mercer Junction--does that count as a Train Day activity?    

 

Also had a nice lunch (and the requisite Bloody Mary) at a place called The Log Cabin.  Good food and good service.

Train day at the Roanoke Va  Trans museum, two Roanoke train/hobby shops and the C&O Heritage center in Clifton Forge.......a good day! Even a little train spotting while traveling!

 

Visit to LHS where I bought a Model Train for Kids video for 2 six year olds!

How did I miss you today Dave? I was running trains at the VA Museum of Transportation until 3:00 pm.

Scott Smith

It's my first weekend home after a overseas business trip.I ran trains,eight at once,all morning.Pure bliss!We'll have round two tonight!

 

Ricky

Allan:

 

Visiting two train stores counts as NTD participation if you bought or ordered anything for your layout.

 

The Bloody Mary only counts if you drink it on a train or in a train station.

 

Tony

Up on "the D & H Bridge Line"

 

Participated as a NARP volunteer at the Amtrak NTD in Albany, NY (10th busiest station in the country). Exhibits from two tourist railroads, Operation Life Saver, National Park Service Rail guides and a train travel agent. Six trains through the station during the celebration, all requiring an engine swap easily viewable from the large station windows or the passenger concourse over the station tracks. Amtrak provided pastries and coffee and a bunch of stuff for the kids.

 

While we did not have the vintage equipment exhibited in Grand Central Station, a lot of those cars passed thru Albany on Thursday & Friday and will go back to their home stations thru Albany tonight or tomorrow.

 

Tony

Up on "The D & H Bridge Line"

 

 

I think I was the one that messed up. I spent time at the museums O layout display but then later was asked if I saw 'the other layoout' which I did not. Was there 2 O layouts today??? I know the normal display layout only had one train running while I was there. 

Michael Hokkanen, I was curious about that graphic for the Pennsylvania National Train Day Association.  I did a Google search and located this: http://www.atdlines.com/pantda.htm

For those who like their history, a website like this is a blast from the past... kind of like a lot of web site design in 2000 and earlier.  

 

It rained for a good portion of today in Scranton, but Steamtown National Historic Site, Delaware Lackawanna Railroad and the Electric City Trolley kept the downtown hopping with train activity.  As we say, everyday in Scranton is National Train Day  

 

Enjoy your Mother's Day, everyone!

 

Train displays at Union Station in Chicago for NTD.

Dan

Wow. this was a hard activity. Metrorail had some track work closing and required bus transfers. That didn't make traveling with the boy and associated gear easier. Then it was so overcrowded, everything had super long lines.  And as many signs and banners they had, none of them very useful. I suggested to one of the planners that they start this at 7am.  I am not usually a complainer but this was a hard day. It sounds like they are constrained by the station and might make too long of a day for volunteers. Just too many people as usual at a DC activity. I was glad to see lots of security and police dogs.   We had fun and the boy was a perfect for this very long day without a nap. And fortunately, I still had time to dive into my other hobby and kegged 10 gallons of beer. Then brewed up another 10 gallons of fresh beer.

 

Today, Burke Lake train by choice of the Mom.

C'mon Garrett...we know who runs a far superior two foot gauge operation here!