Visit Michigan by Train

It had been way too long since our family rode the train for pleasure. This summer our daughter wanted to go to the beach and we all agreed that was a good idea. Silver Beach came to mind since we have been there before and liked the place. It is also served by Amtrak and that makes it easy to get to for a long weekend away. We also had enough guest rewards to cover the trip, so with the tickets bought we anxiously awaited for July 4^th which was our day of departure.

The entire family woke up on the fourth ready to go. We checked the train status, grabbed our bags and off we went to the station. The Amtrak Southwest Chief was right on schedule that morning. Oh boy here it comes.

Southwest Chief arriving in La Plata, MO

I work the Amtrak station so I am always glad to see the train but when I get to ride somewhere on it. It brings out that kid like excitement. Before we knew it we were on our way to Chicago. It was so nice to kick back, relax, visit and take a nap or two.

Along the way I played my usual game of seeing what I could catch outside the windows of the train with my camera. It kind of worked. It is very hard to catch the unexpected at 80mph. When you do it is pretty cool though. When we got into the outskirts of Ft. Madison the train slowed down preparing for its Station stop allowing me to get a few shots of some goodies in the yard.

Ex BN fuel tankcar

A neat bridge in Ft. Madison

BNSF shoving platform in Ft. Madison yard

All too soon the skyline of Chicago was in our view so we made sure we had all of our stuff accounted for and waited to step off the train. Once in the station we checked on the track our next train the Pere Marquette was going to be loading. Then we went and sat in the great hall. Took a few photos of it and watched the people. Almost everyone who walked in the hall was looking up at its beauty.

It was time to go to the waiting room so we could board our next train. I love walking out on the platforms and seeing all the trains lined up ready to go.

I pointed out to Amy and Karri that our train had the 406 Heritage Unit on it. I know one photo that will be taken as soon as I get to our destination. We got the first row of seat in the car behind the lead unit.

It was fun listening to the engine work as it pulled our train.

The Pere Marquette train was new territory for all of us. It goes through a lot of industrial area. Gary Indiana was neat to see with all the steel mills and trains seemed to be everywhere.

Part of our route parallels the South Shore but we did not get to see one of their trains on this trip.

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