Brian Whatcott wrote in
:

On Thu, 30 Oct 2008 22:28:07 -0400, Wayne.B
wrote:


Hope you got to enjoy the ride down the Hudson River. In good weather
it is one of the hidden gems of the east coast. ..


Such a pretty view down the river from West Point.
And watch out for the chain when it's o stop the British Navy
raiding.

Brian W


I've ridden the AMTRAC train down the Hudson River canyon...about 3' off
the water, it looked like! I'd come from Syracuse and they split the
train in Albany, sending half of it to NYC and the other half to Boston
in just a few minutes. All the "house batteries" failed to keep the
cars lit while the engine (charger) was disconnected and an electric
engine replaced the diesel beasts. Amtrac needs new house batteries on
every car in the fleet.

Just before we came to West Point, the dining car had last call for
breakfast and I had hauled myself out of my cozy stateroom sleeper after
a nice shave/shower in fresh clothes. I sat with a variety of travelers
and we stayed in the dining car, now that the rush was over, lingering
for over an hour drinking railroad coffee, helping them finish up the
last of the pastries they kept delivering and watched West Point go by
in the morning sun. What a great trip down the Hudson it is by train!
If you ever get to go, please do so.

Stuffed to the limit with leftovers and leaving our porter a big tip for
such a great time, we all retired to the lounge to enjoy the underground
before going our separate ways at Grand Central Station in the middle of
the Manhattan human body disposal plant. There were bodies sleeping on
the floor everywhere in tattered clothes ruining the trip.

New York made up for it, though. It took me 12 days to get from GCS to
Penn Station to continue the trip to Charleston! They shouldn't put
train stations anywhere near that many electronics and camera stores!