My trip was supposed to take place last November, but hurricane Sandy cancelled our conference.
Union Station - Chicago
Here was my route and some pictures of my journey!
Enjoy!
Stacy
Union Station - Chicago
Chicago
We pulled out of Chicago just after 6PM. The city is very impressive! I toured the train, got cozy in my roomette, grabbed a Chardonnay and relaxed. Let the journey begin!
South Bend:
To many.....synonymous with Notre Dame University. It's also the place to set your watch ahead one hour. We are on east coast time, now!
Waterloo
The last stop in
Indiana. Founded in 1856, the town was named for its co-founder, Miles Waterman. Some
wanted the town to be named Waterman, but he declined this honor and
supported
Waterloo, a popular name not
only in this area but across the U.S.; there are 30 such towns in 26 states currently in existence.
Indiana/Ohio State Line
Cleveland
The largest city in the state, a leading manufacturing, trading and cultural center in the Midwest,
and home to the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame
Museum. The city lies on the southern shore of Lake Erie,
at the mouth of the Cuyahoga
River; the half-mile-wide
river valley divides the city into
an east and west side.
Ohio/Pennsylvania State Line
Pittsburgh
It sits between the Allegheny and Monongahela
Rivers, which join here to form the Ohio River.
George Washington first surveyed the site in 1753 after being sent to report on its military
potential.
Pittsburgh has 446 bridges,
besting Venice Italy, and its steeply sloped topography can be traversed by 712 sets of stairs comprising
more than 24,000 vertical ft. – greater than San
Francisco, Portland and Cincinnati combined.
Long known as the “Steel City,”
a more appropriate name today might be the Renaissance
City. The first such
renaissance occurred following World War II when a $550 million program to cut pollution was
put into effect. The 1970s and 1980s offered yet a second
renaissance, shifting from a manufacturing economy to one based upon
service and technology, and an urban transformation bringing about new
office and shopping complexes. Today, not a single ton of steel is
produced here or anywhere nearby.
Just outside of Connellsville, Pennsylvania daylight breaks on Saturday!
Saturday Morning Pancakes
Kaufmann’s Run marks a small stream flowing down from the famous home, “Fallingwater,” designed by Frank Lloyd Wright and commissioned by the Edgar Kaufmann Sr., owner of the famous
department store in Pittsburgh.
Saddle Rock Curve Shortly after leaving Markleton, the train veered left and a large boulder, shaped like a western saddle, becomes visible on the right.
Meyersdale
To the right side of the train is Mount Davis,
the highest point in Pennsylvania
at 3,213 ft.
Sand Patch marks the summit of the Alleghenies and the
Eastern Continental Divide. Rain falling on the west end of the
tunnel flows to the Gulf of Mexico and rain
falling at the east end of the tunnel flows to the Atlantic Ocean.
Pennsylvania/Maryland State Line
The state line doubles here as the famous Mason/Dixon Line. Known by most people as the dividing line between free and slave
states before the Civil War, the line was actually surveyed between
1763
and 1767 to settle another dispute – which state owned which
land. English astronomers Charles Mason and Jeremiah Dixon
undertook the task to divide Pennsylvania,
Maryland, Virginia
and West Virginia (then a part of Virginia).
This natural gap in
the mountains has provided people with East/West passage for centuries. On the east end
is famous Lover’s Leap. Legend holds than an Indian princess fell in
love with
a federal soldier; the couple wished to wed but the
princess’ father forbade it. In despair, they climbed to the top of a
1,000-ft. cliff of Wills Mountain (to the right) and leapt to their death.
Maryland/West Virginia
State Line
Kesslers Bridge/Graham Tunnel
When entering and exiting the
1,592-foot tunnel, we are in West Virginia – but while traveling through
it, we are in Maryland.
West Virginians are prone to joke that you see
the best
part of Maryland inside the tunnel.
What remains of the round house, perhaps?
MARTINSBURG
The station, a red brick four-story building with
two wooden porches, is the oldest working train station in the U.S., having been in continuous use
for over 160 years. Built in 1847, it is
the only structure in Martinsburg to survive the destruction of the Civil
War, and is a designated a National Historic Landmark. The town and the railroad complex on the left changed hands many
times during
the conflict.
From here on into Washington, there were gently rolling hills and peaceful farmland. There were also the haunts of both Confederate
and Union armies.
HARPERS FERRY
This is where Virginia, West
Virginia and Maryland
meet, as do
the Potomac and Shenandoah
Rivers, was called by
Thomas Jefferson “perhaps one of the most stupendous scenes in
nature.”
Originally a trading post, George Washington located a federal arsenal here in 1798, a decision that proved pivotal to events some 60 years later. The town became famous when, in 1859, abolitionist John Brown and his small band tried to seize the facility and touch off a slave revolt in the southern states. Colonel Robert E. Lee rushed federal troops to the scene on trains, the first time in history that a railroad was used for military purposes. The raid was soon ended and Brown hanged.
The Appalachian Trail
A white lock tender’s house
on the right side of the train and the ruins of a canal mark the crossing of the longest
continuous footpath in the world, the 2,050-mile-long Appalachian
Trail.
Rockville
The second
largest city in Maryland.
After we pulled out of the station, note a small white church on a hill, St.
Mary’s, final resting place of F. Scott Fitzgerald. The author had expressed his
desire to be
buried in the country!
Union Station - Washington D.C.
On approach, to the right, a glimpse of the blue and gold dome and bell tower of the largest Roman
Catholic Church in the U.S., the Shrine of the Immaculate
Conception. It is also the site of Catholic
University.
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