atomicmecha

Union Station here in Washington, DC celebrated its 100 anniversary over the weekend. And how else would you celebrate a major train stations big birthday but to have a nice collection of trains that have been at the station over the years come in and show off. They had old trains, and new trains to showcase.

Now the lighting inside was all but not. So I did the best I could with these pictures. Hope you enjoy!



















This is looking north from the station... all lines enter and leave in this direction...



they had the new Amtrak cars there on display to show off what its now like to ride the train... its better then the airplane, and none of that crappy 3 hour security check. Sure it takes a few more hours, but it's a much better ride personally.
Standard seating...


Standard sleeper with bunk beds...


I forgot to get pictures of the first class car and the dinner car. But you can get a steak dinner (and a good steak dinner) for $14 on the train. Ain’t bad if you ask me...

Back to the old stuff...











My dad says this looks like a city bus on train wheels. This thing is one of 5 (I think) still in operation pulling commuter trains around Maryland. It’s all electric and was built to be compact and smaller then a full size diesel engine so that it required less maintenance and could run faster between stops.


Amtrak’s premier train...


An old presidential dinner car...




Union station main entrance... this is 180 degrees left to right


Union station mall...


Some outside shots...




The freedom bell from Pass & Stow


Union station looking north from the front...


And with it being only 2 blocks away, couldn't pass up a chance to get a shot of the capital...



hope you enjoyed the pictures!



did anyone else happen to make it to this over the weekend?

Frog Rubicon

Great pics!

If you like old trains, I invite you to visit the Canada Science and Technologie Museum of Ottawa, On

http://www.sciencetech.technomuses.ca/

meljr

My mom and I took the train from Montana to DC when I was about 3 years old. There weren't many black people in Montana in the early 1950's and the first one I remember was a porter on the train. I more or less shadowed him for the two days it took to get to Union Station in DC. I didn't see another white face, except for my family and one other who live in the same public housing project until my dad graduated from med school three years later in 1956 and we moved to Denver where there also weren't any black people to speak of.

Our time in DC was very enjoyable and the black people who lived in our project as well as my friends and classmates in school treated us much better than the blacks, or "Negroes", as they were politely called at that time, were treated by whites. Thanks for the architectural shots, they brought back some good memories.

-meljr

shon

Great photos. I'd really like to ride one of those old trains. You've done them justice.