Stormy Kara: 🚉 Taking Transit to the State Fair

 

[VIDEO] One goal I have at least for my own YouTube channel is to take a day trip to Springfield, ILL. At the least I do want to visit the Illinois State Capitol and perhaps one day visit the Illinois State Fair.

Stormy Kara who is another YouTuber I follow took Amtrak down there - one of the midwest regional services Amtrak offers - and then took a local bus to the state fair. He definitely has an opinion on the Sangamon Mass Transit District and how they do things. While Springfield is Illinois' state capital city it's still not the "metropolis" Chicago is.

You see what I did there.

Anyway, his visit to the state fair has sparked my interest though the only time I know about is when political events occur there as often covered by the Capitol Fax. Politicians from the Democrats to the Republicans will have their days there and of course what happens there will have consequences as far as elections. For example, there is a hotly contested race downstate going on between former 2022 GOP gubernatorial candidate Darren Bailey who hopes to take a congressional seat away from incumbent Republican Congressman Michael Bost.

Of course there will be more press if there is a Gubernatorial race as there was last year in 2022 and certainly in the Presidential race next year in 2024.

Regardless there is still plenty to do there at the state fair beyond politics. There are rides things to eat and of course agricultural exhibits which may well include a cow made of butter.

I really need to try to go next year.

Grounded Life Travel: We Broke Down... But Amtrak Made It Right

 

[VIDEO] Grounded Life Travel is a YouTube channel I've discovered when Amtrak announced a fellowship program for content creators to record their travels on Amtrak routes. I'm sure this is really seen as free advertising and perhaps these content creators on their social media get compensation in return for this advertising.

On this episode Grounded Life Travel will is a couple (I do believe they're from Atlanta) take a trip from Emeryville, California back to Chicago on board the California Zephyr. Unfortunately this is one of those trips that I have yet to take the train takes you due west through western Illinois, Iowa, Nebraska, Colorado, Utah, Nevada, and California. Emeryville is just east of San Francisco across the bay.

Since you're going west you go through Midwestern farmlands to the prairie then deserts and the Rocky Mountains going through many tunnels along the way. There is a stretch in California called the Donner Pass which is known for the party that got stranded there during a snowstorm.

Another thing Grounded Life Travel did in this video is give a rundown of their first class accomodation and what types of cars you might find yourself on. Better yet what model car you find yourself on I knew there were different models of Superliner Cars but I've never seen those distinctions broken down before. I've never been on a Superliner sleeper that didn't have a small closet for example.

Their photography ended in Ottumwa, Iowa as their train got up to nine hours late. It seems it started off with engine trouble and then there were other delays and it was in the wee hours of the morning that this couple finally made it into Chicago. They made sure to get a voucher for those delays in the days afterwards.

Live railroad webcam in Galesburg, Illinois

[VIDEO] I had talked about Illinois as a vast state beyond the Chicago metropolitan area. Try Galesburg, Illinois which is over two hours outside of Chicago. Actually it's closer to the Iowa state line than it is to even Naperville.

This live webcam is provided by Virtual Railfan and unless they find a sponsor it will be taken down in just about a whole month. The cam itself is located near the Amtrak station there and here's a bit more information about what you might see there:

Galesburg is on the Chicago Division/Ottumwa, Mendota & Brookfield Subdivisions. Amtrak trains that pass through include the California Zephyr, Southwest Chief, Carl Sandburg, and Illinois Zephyr.

I might have to share this with you later, however, Virtual Railfan also has a webcam in Quincy, Illinois which is another city close to the Illinois state line closest to the Missouri state line.

If you want to check out Amtrak schedules the best bet right now is to check out the Amtrak train tracker. As I write this schedules from the Amtrak website is largely unavailable owing to the pandemic and how Amtrak has to adjust to reduced schedules since we had been at a time of reduced travel. I'm sure that as the weather gets nice and pandemic hospitalization, infections, deaths, etc has improved more people with some preventative measures will likely travel.

I also want to add, surely things will open up further once we figure out how to treat this virus and/or we are able to produce a successful vaccine for this coronavirus. Time will have to tell, but I'm looking forward to the day when we come out of this pandemic.

Meanwhile I hope you would consider a subscription to Virtual Railfan to see a number of live webcams around the nation.

Amtrak keeping their trains clean #Pandemic

[VIDEO] I haven't used this blog to maintain any consistent updates to the coronavirus. Lately we're seeing the numbers as far as hospitalizations, ICU hospitalizations, deaths, and other factors go in the right direction. I appears through many efforts including social distancing and sheltering in place orders that gov't officials can finally say we're beginning to flatten the curve.

I'm an Amtrak fan and often enjoy traveling the country via railroad. And before all these shelter in place orders around the nation there was unfortunately one report of an Amtrak passenger -  a student who came home from study abroad in Italy one hotspot for this contagion - was found to be sick when she took the train from Chicago to St. Louis.

I'm sure in light of that story at least we see this video posted on Amtrak's YouTube account showing cleaning procedures on their trains. Perhaps this will keep Amtrak's customers base assured that America's passenger railroad will do their part to keep their vehicles clean.

Regardless with these measures put in place I hardly see anyone traveling. I like to watch the webcams of Virtual Railfan through their YouTube channel and although I often focus on one location - a live camera in LaPlata, Missouri a stop of Amtrak's Southwest Chief - I see there arent as many passengers getting on or off trains there. On a normal train there would be a decent crowd getting on or off the train there. Also note this location has become a popular one and is said to be world famous and imagine that in a small town in Missouri.

I'd say right now it's hard to want to go somewhere right now regardless of the mode of transport. One dream of mine had been to go to WrestleMania and although I let time fly on going to this year's event - which in light of this pandemic was moved to a closed set with no fans and pre-recorded instead of the expected venue in Tampa Bay, Florida in front of 70,000 spectators. Still, once it became apparent that the coronavirus was really going to be a problem this year became the year I wouldn't have achieved my dream. At least there's L.A. for next year's WrestleMania.

Southwest Chief Amtrak journey

[VIDEO] The weather has been nice in Chicago over the holidays. So perhaps it's not that important to share this video of another trip report this time from the YouTube channel Dylan's Travel Reports. Dylan takes Amtrak from Chicago to Los Angeles, California on the Southwest Chief.

You will hear him only once on this video so I get the idea he's from the UK. What he sees in the American southwest he probably won't see in England, Wales, or Scotland. Of course, I've yet to see the geographical wonders of the world beyond the USA.

The Southwest Chief I have taken twice over the year and both times have experienced an interest journey heading west through Iowa, Missouri, Kansas into Colorado, New Mexico, and Arizona. Then reaching the Chief's final destination at Los Angeles Union Station. The final destination terminal is a wonderful example of art deco/Spanish colonial/mission revival architecture. Of course it doesn't entirely beat the architecture of Chicago's Union Station. You'll be able to see both in the video.

Anyone planning a vacation anytime soon?

Train Odyssey: Amtrak City of New Orleans

[VIDEO] One of my favorite YouTubers is youtuuba who likes to make videos about his various train odysseys on the Amtrak system. Recently he took a trip south on board The City of New Orleans train which he documents for us. This three hour video is only a part one, presumably part two shows us his journey on board Amtrak's Crescent train from New Orleans to Philadelphia. I will show part two once it's available.

As a frame of reference using some of my own YouTube videos. This train when it leaves Union Station backs out of the station and heads west on tracks that are a few blocks from 18th street. Or the tracks it heads west on will take you towards Cicero, Berwyn, Naperville, Aurora. Once the train backs up the train moves forward heading through the Sloop and then moves south along Lake Shore Drive through McCormick Place.

The train continues south eventually going through the neighborhoods of Bronzeville, Hyde Park, Woodlawn, Grand Crossing, Chatham, Roseland, and Pullman. Basically as it goes along Lake Shore Drive eventually the train will be coasting along Stony Island then Cottage Grove until leaving the Chicago city limits. The train will continue to go south going diagonally through the state of Illinois making stops in Kankakee, Champaign-Urbana, and Carbondale before leaving the state into Kentucky, Tennessee, Mississippi, and then to its final destination in New Orleans.

Here's some video I shot about my last trip on The City of New Orleans during the summer of 2018 as we ride through Bronzeville, Hyde Park, and Woodlawn. [VIDEO]

Three days through Big Sky Country

[VIDEO] If you have just over half an hour to watch this video it takes you on one journey I've never taken. It would be cool to take Amtrak's Empire Builder going by rail via Wisconsin, Minnesota, North Dakota, Montana into either Portland, Oregon or Seattle, Washington.

In the above video we're taking this journey from Portland, Oregon back to Chicago and we go through this area of the nation called big sky country. We're following the rail journey of a British national who's YouTube channel is mostly of him traveling around the world.

#tbt Riding Amtrak through the south side

Back in 2014, I took a quick trip during the holiday season to Memphis, Tennessee aboard Amtrak's City of New Orleans train and shot video on my iPhone. Luckily I got footage during the morning hours as we rolled through the south side back to Union Station downtown.

I had uploaded these videos to my YouTube channel and granted it's not the most exciting footage, however, how many people have seen the Roseland and Rosemoor area from this perspective. As we head into the heat of the summer, perhaps some winter scenery will help cool you down.

Here's footage of the train rolling through Roseland starting at 115th Street. [VIDEO]

Here's another shot from going through Rosemoor going past 103rd Street and we see the campus of Chicago State University [VIDEO]

Oh yeah we talked about Amtrak earlier this month!

Day in the life of an Amtrak conductor

[VIDEO] Once upon a time back in about the first grade, I wanted to work on trains. During that time I took my first cross country train trip to Washington, DC on board Amtrak. I got some nice children's activities books and example of which I got somewhere at home. It reminds me of my very first train trip, my parents even allowed me to keep the ticket stubs and the ticket jacket which unfortunately I've since lost.

I didn't know what they called all the people onboard the train. I didn't know anything about conductors or engineers or even the attendants. So I gave them jobs such as train owners or train drivers. Hell I didn't even know who did what on CTA as I dealt with them far more often than Amtrak over the years.

Either way transportation is fascinating, dealing in the movement and delivery of people and goods. Keeping things on a consistent schedule and insuring the safety of people and quality of goods. And to be able to see plenty of different places on your travels, potentially travel the world no matter the mode of transport is a very exciting career.

This is why I'm sharing this video from Amtrak careers which shows the day in the life of an Amtrak conductor. If only YouTube had existed in the 1980s I'd know more about this job and what it entails. Good thing for me is, it's not too late to take on this role and enjoy some of the peripheral benefits of travel that it entails.