People on a delayed train

The service personnel stay with the train all the way to Chicago, but conductors and engine crew change along the way. For this reason, the conductor is much happier than the service personnel, who have had to deal with anxious passengers on a train that falls further and further behind schedule. Conductors are often found at tables in the diner, filling out paperwork.

The British tour group leaves at Cleveland at around 1:30p. They've clearly missed their connection in Chicago, the 2:20p California Zephyr. The plan is to fly to Omaha and meet the train there. The sleepers and lounge become very empty after their departure.

Of the Americans in the lounge car, there happens to be a bearded white-haired man with his wife and niece. The trip is her graduation present. I notice him because of his Pentax *ist D digital SLR camera. He turns out to be a Pentax service representative. "Pentax and Nikon are the only lens companies making cameras," he says, "Everyone else is a camera company, that's why their optics aren't as good." Seems reasonable, though he may just be spotting opportunity here, as I'm carrying a Nikon. He demonstrates the *ist D's matrix metering on the difficult lighting conditions of the train interior, which is one-and-a-half stops darker than the outside scenery. It does a pretty good job, but I bet the shadows are gone forever in the limited dynamic range of the sensor and no amount of digital dodging will bring them back.