Sunday, March 11, 2012

Like Father, Like Son: A Shared Train Adventure To Williamsburg

    Fathers and sons make the very best relationship in any family.  A father teaches his son how to play football, how to fix a car, and even how to build and run a model railroad.  Did you know that fathers and sons also share one other thing in common?  Fathers also enjoy the same things that their sons are into.  My dad and I have been into trains since I was an infant.  We’ve also been into amusement parks for a long time. In the April of 2008, I was having a hard time with my teaching job in Jersey City.  I was really struggling during that year.  To get me away from all of the stress, my dad and I agreed to go on a train trip, a trip which we still talk about to this very day.  That was the year we took the train to Williamsburg, VA, to visit Busch Gardens.

    Spring break had finally come.  The countdown finally hit “zero”.  Two weeks to traveling, I made the train reservations and bought the park tickets.  My dad made the hotel reservations.  I couldn’t have been happier to get out of the classroom for two days just to enjoy some fun time with my dad.  We took the train out of Newark Penn Station.  Since it was going to be a seven hour train ride down, I booked us in the business class car.  It was really awesome having the menu in the front pouch of our seats.  Even more interesting was that there was another family in the same car going to Busch Gardens.  When we pulled into Washington DC’s Union Station, we both watched the changing of the engine.  I had my digital camera in my hand, snapping away.  Watching them taking away the AEM-7 electric engine, and watching the powerful P-42 Genesis diesel couple up to our train was quite incredible.  I used to take pictures of the engine change in New Haven, CT when I used to travel to and from Kingston, RI.  Once the new crew was on board, we pulled out headed south to Virginia. 

    My dad remembers his days of taking the train to Washington DC, when he attended the University of Maryland in College Park.  Neither one of us have ever traveled by train south of Washington DC.  As we crossed over the Potomac River into Virginia, we had just three and a half more hours to go.  Speeding along the banks of the Potomac River, we passed a variety of freight trains, including the famous Tropicana juice train.  A northbound juice train passed us, and shortly later we stopped to let a southbound juice train pass on our left.  After pulling out of Alexandria, we continued on to Woodbridge, Quantico, and Fredericksburg.  Another three northbound freights passed us.  The trip couldn’t have been more exciting.

    With just an hour left in the trip, the train made a scheduled stop at Richmond’s Staple Mills station.  Just after leaving Staple Mills, we encountered an unexpected delay.  A CSX maintenance of way crew was doing track work, briefly holding us up.  During the wait, we bonded with everyone in our car.  It was fun talking to everyone and hearing about where they were headed.  We arrived in Williamsburg close to schedule.  Our hotel was less than ten minutes from the Williamsburg station.  It was seven o’clock, and we were still wide awake.  No train ride has ever tired us out.   

    The next morning, we took a short taxi cab ride to the Busch Gardens-Europe front gate.  What a day we had!  We tackled just about every single ride, including the roller coasters.  We rode on all five coasters; The Griffon, Alpengeist, Apollo’s Chariot, The Big Bad Wolf, and the Loch Ness Monster.  In between rides we even took a ride on the park’s train.  Now, that was a beautiful ride!  It was such a fun ride, we rode on it twice. We capped off our visit to Busch Gardens-Europe with the 3D ride, Curse of DarKcastle.      

    When our day was over, we headed back to the hotel.  After having a light dinner in the hotel’s sports restaurant, we headed back to the room.  We were yawning like no tomorrow.  Our train ride back to Newark was the next morning.  In the morning, a taxi cab took us to the Williamsburg station.  Our train was right on time, and we made good time on our way back north.  When we arrived in Washington DC, we watched the yard crew change the engine.  We watched the P-42 Genesis diesel get uncoupled, and watched it pull away.  Minutes later, we watched the beautiful Bombardier HHP-8 electric engine couple up to our train.  We watched one the yard workers fasten the jumper cables connecting the engine to the train.  Before we knew it, we were back on board with a new crew.  We left Washington Union Station, continuing our trip back to Newark.  We made great time on the way home.  Fathers and sons sure know how to have a good time together.

    Going to Busch Gardens-Europe by train was one incredible idea I shared with my dad.  My dad coming along for that trip was an experience I will never forget.  For Father’s Day, you know what I’m getting him for a present?  That was one incredible trip we went on.  I cannot wait to take the train with my dad again.  He had a great time traveling with me, too.  I guess why they say “Like Father, Like Son.”

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