Mind the Gap

It's arguably the most wonderful time of the ….. you know. For me that meant it was time for another ride on the rails. I had booked a round trip on Amtrak's Pennsylvanian to Pittsburgh several weeks ago, long before we all knew there would be an Arctic blast that hampered travel across the country during one of the busiest periods of the year. Fortunately my plans did not involve any airplane travel, but the lingering effects of the storm were still causing problems for trains in the Northeast when I departed D.C. on the 24th.  First, let's just take a minute to enjoy Union Station's annual holiday decorations. So yes, the departure board showed many trains that were delayed by multiple hours, delayed indefinitely or canceled outright. My first train, a Northeast Regional, was about an hour and a half late into D.C., as it had encountered mechanical problems at its point of origin in Richmond due to the cold. But all in all, not too bad when put in the larger context o

One Saturday earlier this month wasn't a particularly great day weatherwise in the DMV, but of course it was a great day for a Metro ride that I was long overdue to take.  The long-awaited Silver Line extension out to Ashburn via Dulles International Airport opened in mid-November amidst great fanfare and anticipation. And for good reason. I mean, Dulles travelers for many decades had to make the journey by auto, or shuttle, out to the terminal. For Marylanders, that meant crossing the American Legion Bridge. With the Silver Line link now complete, all three D.C.-area airports have a rail transit option (Dulles and National have Metro, and BWI has a MARC/Amtrak station). Dulles isn't exactly convenient to access by Metro from my Montgomery County abode. But I didn't need an excuse to ride the rails. Plus, I hadn't even ridden the original Silver Line between East Falls Church and Wiehle-Reston East since trains began running on it in 2014. So this was a chance for me to