Biography

I grew up in Pine Ridge, about one mile from the Fairfax Hospital, in Fairfax County, Virginia. In about 1952, I remember traveling on the Washington and Old Dominion (W&OD) Railroad (the "Virginia Creeper") from Falls Church to Roslyn. This train ran from Bluemont to Roslyn and Alexandria, VA, with a branch to Great Falls, which ceased operations earlier. I graduated from Fairfax High School (1963), the College of William and Mary, BS, Biology (1968) and the University of Connecticut, MS, Zoology (1974).
I spent a year (1966-1967) working for the Smithsonian Institution in Venezuela collecting mammals and parasites. I was in the US Army (1969-1971) and spent a year in Japan, outside Toyko. That was first experience with a well run train system and with a ride on their Bullet Train, which traveled at 130 mph at the time. I have worked for the Office of Pesticide Programs at the Environmental Protection Agency for 36 years (1973 to 2009). During that period, I have ridden the Virginia Railway Express (VRE), a Washington/Virginia commuter rail system since its beginning in 1992. Now I am paying more interest in Amtrak and want to stimulate ridership and new service, especially in Virginia. I am a member of the Virginia Association of Railway Patrons (VARP), www.varprail.org, which has been promoting passenger rail in the state for 30 years and a member of Cvillerail, www.Cvillerail.org, which was major reason for the establishment of the new Amtrak Train to Lynchburg, the subject of this blog.

Sunday, December 27, 2009

Ridership between DC and Lynchburg Hits 460!

Ridership for the New Amtrak Train was 300 for the AM run and 160 for the PM run at the Manassas Station on December 27, 2009 (Sunday) for a grand total of 460, the highest number that my brother and I had recorded for a single day. That actual number of riders (460) is over three (3) times the expected number of riders (140) estimated in the June 2, 2009, Agreement between Amtrak and the Virginia Department of Rail and Public Transportation (VDRPT).
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