My Narrative - The Finished Product

Anyone who has perused the blog postings on my MySpace page will no doubt tell you that I have a thing for trains. I can't say for sure when it all started, but I know that I've been waving to the engineers in passing locomotives for as long as I can remember. Because it's not really feasible for me to work on the railroad (hmm, I wonder if they employ technical writers?), I sort of treat my enthusiasm for trains as more of a hobby than a lifestyle.

I'm not some rich old guy who has the time on his hands to hangout by the tracks all day, but sometimes on weekends I'll head down to Ybor City and look for some nice trains to spot. Amtrak runs two trains into and out of Tampa daily, and I like to watch those because they're reliable, and I can know for certain of where and when they will be, thanks to the train status feature on Amtrak's Website.

The trains in question are the daily north- and south-bound Silver Star service. The two trains run daily, as I said before, between New York Penn Station and Miami. Departing Miami at around 9:00 a.m. on any given morning, the Star arrives in Tampa a little after 2:00 p.m., heads up through Orlando and Jacksonville and then through Georgia and the Carolinas overnight, pulling into the magnificent Washington Union Station at lunchtime the following day. After a station stop in D.C., the Star then delivers its passengers into the heart of Manhattan the same afternoon with plenty of time for dinner and the theater later in the evening. When the traveler has had his fill of New York, he simply boards the southbound Star and enjoys a comfortable return trip to sunny Florida.

The consist, or "makeup", of the Silver Star generally includes two power units (locomotives), one baggage car, one crew dorm/lounge, two-to-three passenger sleepers, one dining car, one lounge car, and three-to-four coaches. Each sleeper in Amtrak's inventory has a unique name, and when I go trainspotting I always try to note the names of the sleepers on the particular train I see that day. For a list of the names assigned to the class of sleeper used for the Silver Star, click here.

Naturally, my interest in trains extends far beyond the schedule and sleeper service of the Silver Star. I encourage anyone who has not experienced the world of railroading and train travel to research it a bit. While trains do not provide the speed that airplanes offer (with one notable exception in the Northeast between Washington and Boston - Amtrak's Acela Express gets you from downtown to downtown more quickly than flying when you factor in rides to and from the airports), they do offer a low-stress, comfortable, and affordable way to see America.

Emery's Remix of the Narrative

Elizabeth's Remix of the Narrative

Emily's Remix of the Narrative

My Remix of Lindsey's Narrative

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