posted
I had a nice time on my long-planned autumn train rides. On Oct 2 I took #69 Adirondack from NYP to Port Kent on Lake Champlain. The train was pretty full and the toilets (none of them) worked after Albany. The conductor stupidly said they ran out of water even though they used that blue stuff. Anyway the scenery was pleasant enough especially the wetlands around Lake George and the water fowl. Arrived Port Kent about an hour late so I had to wait about 90 minutes til the next ferry. There is a restaurant and gift shop at the ferry landing. No problem. Quite chilly crossing to Burlingame arriving about nightfall. I negotiated the local public transport successfully to get to my hotel and to Essex Jct next morning. #55 Vermonter arrived on time and almost empty. We traversed the length of VT going through beautiful countryside of rolling hills dotted with blazing copses alongside rivers and through quaint looking towns gradually picking up more and more passengers. There was some astonishingly rough track in VT. By Amherst the train was pretty full. At Springfield there was some odd backing up manoeuver. The full train arrived at the teeming anthill of Penn Station on time. What a day! The next day I took #91 Silver Star from NYP to Richmond. On time departure and ontime all the way to Alexandria whereupon we began to lose time arriving Richmond about 20 minutes late. Very pleasant ride on a full train. The diner was empty when I had lunch: the caesar salad which at $6 was a bargain since it included all the ice tea I could drink. The toilets worked OK but the accessible one near me was inaccessible because the door slamed shut (rough track!) and locked with no one inside. I told this to 2 different conductors and neither one came up with the key or time to unlock it. The constant traffic in the other one reduced it to a repulsive state (we humans are some times a stunningly careless species) – and this train was going all the way to Miami! On the Friday I continued my journey on #79 Carolinian from Richmond to Durham NC. It pulled into Richmond a few minutes late to load a large group of us and maintained that the duration of my trip. Again very busy train, full most of the time with lots of offing and oning at each stop. That’s all the training I managed to get in this trip. It was all new track to me except the NEC bits; very pleasant and relaxing; great scenery. I would recommend that Adirondack/Vermonter loop to anyone next fall. I could have been a week later probably for maximum color but it was great.
Posts: 326 | From: San Antonio Texas USA | Registered: Dec 2003
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Climbing toward 5,000 posts like the Southwest Chief ascending Raton Pass. Cautiously, not nearly as fast as in the old days, and hoping to avoid premature reroutes. Posts: 4203 | From: Western North Carolina | Registered: Feb 2004
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posted
Very Nice Report along with nice things to say thru my neck of the trip. A few years back I was taking the Vermonter back to New Haven from Montreal, I had taken the Adriondak up. The track from St Albans to Springfield Ma had not passed muster from the Amtrak Staff so we bussed it through VT apperantly the track repairs haven't been refurbished. Although it was a bus the scenery is beautiful and actually you can see alot more from the bus. The benifit of having a Amtrak bus was that it only stop at the train stations not everytown along the way as Greyhound must. It wasn't a bad trip. One incident when the bus stopped outside of St Albans to gas up and we where allowed to pick up some snacks or use the facilities. A passanger was left behind, Ooops, well Amtrak paid for a cab for her to catch up.
Yes always have gotten hung up outside the VIA tracks and you hit frieght terriotory above Richmond. Its a shame that Richmonds Staples Mill station gets the majority of the traffic while its beautifully restored Main St Station gets only the Newport News trains and the Union Station now a Science Museum only parks a tourist train.
PS-There is talk and some study and it being a Gubnotorial election this year- About adding commuter trains linking Springfield Ma to New Haven CT with continuing or connecting service to New York City, here's hoping.
Posts: 516 | From: New Haven, CT USA | Registered: Feb 2005
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Loved your pictorial, I have a question. I saw a picture of the Turbo Rohr equipment. I remember seeing them in New York when Amtrak still used Grand Central Terminal. Are these still running? when did they operate? could you tell me some of their history if you could.
Thank you
Posts: 516 | From: New Haven, CT USA | Registered: Feb 2005
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posted
There was a lengthy discussion on the Turbotrain sometime in the not too distant past. There was a virtual soap opera with the players being the state of New York, Amtrak, and CSX. The short version is that New York wants these things to run again, but they want somebody else to pick up the tab. They are fuel hogs, and also by now are fairly old. Usually old railroad equipment can go through several rebuilds economically, but for these that is questionable.
"Strange back-up move of the Vermonter at Springfield" This is necessitated by the nature of the connection at Palmer. Thanks to the poor track conditions of the B&M portion of the line between Springfield and White River Junction, the train was switched to an all Central of Vermont (now New England Central) route back during the time the Montrealer was running. It then went to the Conrail (now CSX) line at Palmer, but due to the geometry of the connection, it was then aimed backwards for the run to Springfield. To get it aimed front end forward again for the remainder of the trip, it then needed to continue to back up the wye leg to the north. After completing this manover, the front of the train is then properly aimed for New Haven and New York. In the northbound direction, the reverse of these moves takes place.
Posts: 2808 | From: Olive Branch MS | Registered: Nov 2002
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