I have taken three long train rides in my life. I define “long” as being “overnight.” The first long train ride was from Los Angeles to Salt Lake City. The second was from Salt Lake City to Los Angeles. The third, many years later, was from Oxnard, California to Seattle, Washington. None of these train…
At Mt. Vernon Square, this afternoon, where I transfer to the Green Line, I let two Green Line trains pass because they were bursting at the seams. I finally got on the third train to come by. It meant a total of about 15 minute delay, but I was engrossed in The Reagan Diaries and…
I was up at about 7:30 AM and headed for the train station at 8:15, after saying goodbye to Jen (Jason had already left). They are coming down to D.C. on Friday so I will see them soon. I had to wait for 3 crowded #4 trains before I could squeeze on, but I got…
Sitting directly in front of me in First Class on the Acela to New York today was Gilmore Girls Lauren Graham (a.k.a. Lorelai Gilmore). Having lived in L.A. for so long, I was used to this sort of thing and remained calm, even though I knew that he11o_sunshine would be excited about it. It was…
I was able to use one of my free upgrade to upgrade to Acela First Class. I’ve ridden Acela First Class once before, last year and it’s actually pretty nice. Those who’ve ridden the Acela train know that the entire train is business class, and very nice. The advantage of First Class is (a) a…
I’m not sure I trust the results of my little experiment. I was getting “weak” satellite signals. In any event, the “peak” speed on my GPS read 120 MPH. It didn’t seem like we were going 120 MPH, but then again, how would I really know
I frequently take the high-speed Acela train between Washington, D.C. and New York. The train makes the trip in 2 hours and 50 minutes, and I’ve frequently wondered what speeds the train reaches. It’s easy to calculate the average speed, assuming a distance of 200 miles: just over 70 MPH. But I want to know…
With the extreme heat, the D.C. Metro is running less frequent trains, at slower speeds. During rush hour today, after I left work, this was pretty obvious. The platform at Pentagon City was packed. The Yellow line train that came was pretty full, too, and not only that but one of the cars (the one…
After the gym tonight, I climbed onboard the Yellow Line as usual for the quick trip to Mount Vernon Square where I waited to transfer to the Green Line. And then something strange happened: Not one, but three Green Line trains came through the station and they were all packed solid. There was no chance…
I caught the 10 AM Acela back to DC this morning. It was nice because the train was not too crowded. I sat in the quiet car, as usual, and this time, I was a little annoyed.
I got back home from New York at around 3 PM. The train was almost empty and there was a library like silence in the quiet car that made it a very pleasant ride back home. I finished up I. Asimov on the way back and will start in on In Memory Yet Green later…