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Amtrak Auto Train! SuperLiner Cars! Major Coverage!


Brighton Local

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After my vacation in Florida came to an end, my friend & I drove up to ( not the airport !), the AmTrak Sanford Station. He put his car on AmTrak's Auto Train. The Auto Train departs Sanford, Florida, and rides parallel to I-95, and terminates in Lorton, Virginia. From what I saw, I thought the whole train was only 18 cars in length, boy was I off. Up front we had 2 PC-42 Genesis Locomotives, 16 SuperLiner Passenger Cars ( included Sleepers, Dinning Cars, Coaches, and Lounge Cars ), then 21 Auto Carrier Cars. All together a 37 car Train, plus the 2 Loco's! The crew member who made the announcement shortly after we departed Sanford, stated that our train was the longest Passenger train in the world, and we were a whopping 3/4 mile in length! We departed Sanford at 3:45pm on Saturday December 19, 2008, and arrived at Lorton, Virginia at 8:45am this morning ( Saturday, Dec 20) All together, a 17 Hr trip. This was the longest length in time I was ever on a train. 2 hot girls sat in front of my friend and I; Tried to initiate some conversation with them, by didn't get too far. Around 10pm, I was sitting in the lounge car with my laptop, operating a Metro North M7 via MS Trainz, and people began to watch me, and quickly asked if I was operating the train via laptop! and then they asked, if I was watching our train from satellite. At first, I told them, I was watching the tracks ahead making sure, we had a clear path, but then, I had stated 'no' to the ones who questioned whether or not I was an AmTrak employee. Dinner was at 5pm for us; sat with 2 nice people from Philadelphia. Sleeping was, 'eh'. Leaned back 2 seats for me, and had 2 pillows, and 2 blankets. At least 5-6 Southbound Freight Trains bypassed us overnight, which caused me to become awoken. At first, after we took off, it was nice and smooth, like the (B) heading to Brighton, nice smooth welded rails, but then as we approached Georgia, wow, we were being thrown back and forth. The 2 hot girls in front of us became frightened as we were still sitting idle in Sanford, when they coupled my 3 standing coaches to the 21 Car Auto Train. They became alarmed & thought we derailed, but Zach calmed them down by telling them, we were just being coupled up to the rest of the train :cool:. All in all, a nice and long ride. Would I do it again? Sure, just would rather see a lot more of a younger crowd. Girls, take the train more often!;)

 

Enjoy guys !

 

Zachary

 

Sanford Layup Yard:

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Sanford Station:

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OnBoard; SuperLiner Vista Dome/Lounge Car:

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More to come in the next post! ;)

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My SuperLiner Coach:

 

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Doors open between my coach and the Lounge/Vista Dome Car:

 

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Sanford Layup Yard; viewed from the upper level of my coach:

 

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Vista Dome/Lounge:

 

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Stairwell:

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Bathrooms:

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Builder Plate:

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Side Door to exit, no car coupled behind that door!

 

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Lorton, Virginia Terminal:

 

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More coming in the next post! :cool:

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Wow, this is some really neat stuff Zach!!! I'm glad you had a great time, and your trip was good, sounded like a nice crew member in the video :) What's the weather down there like?

 

Thanks BL! Had a great time, and the weather, hmm, lets just say it was complete opposite of here; 82 and Sunny :cool: hehe

 

Great pix, I might be in the Coastal Starlight this Feburary. Have to tell my dad to do that or do a trip along the shores of Cali...
Thanks!

 

I sure did take a liking to this. Wow. I'd like to take a ride on one of those one day. Awesome job. Wonderful pictures.

Thanks Dude!

 

Excellent recap, pics, and videos

 

Thanks Man..

 

:eek: :eek: :eek: :eek: :eek: :eek: :eek: Epic.

 

- A

 

Go choice of 'word; Andy, I like it :D

 

sweet

 

Thanks!

 

Great coverage and material. Looks like you had a great time out there. The weather looks awesome out there.

 

Next up is a Regional or Acela. :rolleyes:

 

Thanks for posting Z! icon14.gif

 

Thanks Harry! I enjoyed myself, and the weather was outstanding.. Regional or Acela, huh? :D

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Nice pics!!

 

Thanks Dude!

 

Great pics. I been on Amtrak only a few times such as the Northeast Corridor (ie: NY-Philadelphia) (NYC-Albany and San Diego-LA). I been to Florida several times but never on the auto train.

 

Next time i am going to Fla. i might do the 'auto train' between Northern Va. and Sanford(Orlando area)fla.

 

Thanks! Do it man, it was cool.. You get to meet lots of new people. :rolleyes:

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