It's 8:35 a.m. on Monday, February 19, 2001, and I've
just arrived at Union Station in Toronto, where I will be
taking the Maple Leaf to Rochester, New York.
The purpose of my visit to Toronto was to attend a
wedding last night. Since I arrived Thursday night on the
International, I did have some time to explore the city's
transit system, though. On Friday, I took the subway
downtown to Union Station. Toronto's subway was built in the
1950s or 1960s, and features stations of a plain, 1950s-type
design. However, the stations are immaculately clean, and
very frequent service is provided all day long. When I
arrived at Union Station, I spent some time looking around
this magnificent edifice. I noticed that the GO Transit
commuter train service has its own waiting room in the east
end of the building, and I picked up copies of its various
timetables. GO Transit runs a coordinated train-and-bus
service, with frequent rail service on the east-west
Lakeshore route, but with limited commuter service (mainly
during weekday rush hours) on the other five routes which
extend northwest, north and northeast. Looking at the
timetables, I noticed that two of these lines pass quite
near my cousin's home on northern Bathurst Street, and I
decided that on Monday morning, when I will be traveling in
to Union Station during the morning rush hours, I will try
to take one of these trains.
Toronto's transit system also features a network of
trolley lines, referred to by their historic name
"streetcars." On Friday, I decided to take Route 510, which
runs from Union Station along the waterfront, then north
along Spadina Street to Bloor Street, where it connects with
the subway. This line -- which appears to have been
constructed within the last few years -- runs on a dedicated
right-of-way in the middle of Spadina Street, with platforms
provided at all passenger stops. The trolley line terminates
in a tight loop inside a tunnel next to Union Station. I
boarded this trolley at Union Station and took it to the end
of the line at Spadina and Bloor. Interestingly, for the
first part of the ride, the trolley was nearly empty, but as
we proceeded along Spadina, it began to fill up, and soon
reached the point that not only were passengers standing,
but the driver had to skip some stops because there was
simply no room for anyone else aboard! At the final stop,
the trolley goes down a ramp into the subway station, where
passengers can easily transfer (at no additional charge) to
the subway.
Yesterday afternoon, I again rode the subway to
downtown. This time, I rode the eastern branch of the line
all the way to its terminus at the Kennedy station, then
continued on the Scarborough Rapid Transit -- a separate
line, also operated by the Toronto Transit Commission, and
which connects with the subway at Kennedy. This above-grade
line -- which was constructed only 15 years ago -- uses
special three-car trains. Its next-to-last stop is
Scarborough Center, a large shopping center, which was the
destination of most of the passengers in my car this Sunday
morning. On my return trip, I got off the subway at the
Main Street station, and boarded streetcar line #506, which
I took to the center of town.
This ride was a real thrill. Every newly-constructed
light-rail line in North America has a dedicated right-of-way
for at least most of its length, with platforms provided
at every station. And, as far as I can determine, every
other North American city with historic trolley lines (as
opposed to newly-constructed light-rail lines) -- which, to
the best of my knowledge, include only Boston, Newark,
Philadelphia, New Orleans and San Francisco -- retained them
because the lines ran, in whole or part, on dedicated
rights-of-way, including (with the exception of New Orleans)
tunnels under the downtown area through which buses could
not run. But this Toronto trolley line -- as well as a
number of others -- runs entirely in the middle of the
street, with vehicular traffic using the very same lanes as
the streetcars! In some cases, there are only two lanes of
traffic (with cars parked along the side of the street), so
that a stopped streetcar blocks all traffic proceeding in
that direction; in other cases, there are four traffic
lanes, and passengers have to wait along the curb and then
cross a lane of traffic to board the streetcar. My ride on
this line was a truly fascinating experience. This
streetcar line is well patronized, and serves a real
transportation purpose for residents of the areas through
which it passes.
This morning, my cousin Dov drove me to the Richmond
Hill station, the northern end of the line for one of the
five rush-hour-service-only lines extending out from
Toronto Union Station. Richmond Hill is served by four
southbound daily trains and five northbound trains, with my
8:00 a.m. departure being the final train of the morning.
The Richmond Hill station has a large parking lot and a
small, modern brick station building, at which an agent is
stationed to sell tickets during the two hours in the
morning when trains are scheduled to depart. I purchased a
one-way ticket for $3.85 and boarded the train, which
consisted of seven bi-level cars (of the same type used by
Metrolink in the Los Angeles area and Tri-Rail in southern
Florida) pushed by an engine in the rear. The cars have
seats arranged in facing pairs of four, but do not have any
tables between the pairs of seats. The train left promptly
at 8:00 a.m. and made three more stops on the way to
downtown Toronto. Quite a few passengers boarded at all of
the stops, and by the time we pulled out of the last
station, Oriole, all seats in my car were occupied and at
least one person was standing. (Luckily, I was able to stow
most of my luggage under the seats, as no other luggage
storage space is available on this commuter train.) I was
told that GO Transit hopes to add another car to this train
soon!
For the last part of our trip into Toronto, we followed
the beautiful Don River Valley, which cuts deeply into the
terrain just east of downtown Toronto. The tracks run right
along the river, and the line is quite scenic, with a number
of high viaducts towering above. (One of these viaducts,
which carries Bloor Street over the river valley, is
particularly interesting, as it also carries the eastern
line of the subway, which is underground for almost the
entire way, except for a brief appearance above-ground to
cross this deep valley on a viaduct which also carries the
roadway above the subway tracks.)
We arrived on Track 1 at Union Station at 8:40 a.m.,
two minutes late. This GO Transit train had proved to be a
very delightful and convenient way to reach Union Station
from the suburban area that I was staying in. I detrained
and walked into the station through a narrow passageway that
led to a room just east of the Great Hall. I noticed that
the departures board showed my train as leaving on time at
9:40 a.m. from Track 9, with boarding to begin at 9:10 a.m.
After looking around the majestic Great Hall, I walked down
the ramp to the boarding area under the tracks, where VIA
has provided seating adjacent to each gate (similar to the
arrangement found at most airports).
Two other trains were also boarding at this time,
destined to Ottawa and Montreal, respectively. There were
rather long lines for these trains, with fewer passengers
waiting to board our train. About 9:15 a.m., boarding for
our train commenced, with passengers being allowed to go up
the escalator to the platform in groups of about 20 at a
time.
When I arrived at the platform, I found that our train
was actually on Track 8 (on the opposite side of the
platform from Track 9). Today's Maple Leaf is pulled by F-40
engine #268 (still used on this train, apparently because
the Canadian crews are not qualified on the newer dual-mode
Genesis engines) and includes three Amfleet I coaches and a
cafe/Business Class car at the rear. (Interestingly, one of
the coaches, #21033, was on Train #286 which, just two weeks
ago, collided with a CSX freight train near Syracuse, New
York, injuring most passengers aboard. This car was
apparently at the rear of that train, and presumably was not
seriously damaged as a result of the accident.)
I headed for the rear car, where my Business Class
ticket entitled me to sit. To my dismay, I discovered that
this car, #48223, was not really a Business Class car, but
merely had coach seats on one side of the serving counter
and tables on the other. This was not what I expected when I
made my reservation for Business Class. At least there are
tables on this train, although I didn't have to have a
Business Class ticket to sit there! Well, I will complain
to Amtrak and perhaps receive a refund or voucher for at
least the $14 supplemental Business Class fare. (Neither
the VIA attendants nor the other passengers seemed to
realize that this car did not have the more spacious seating
to which a Business Class ticket is supposed to entitle
you.)
On the adjacent Track 10 were two VIA trains -- both
the train to Montreal and the train to Ottawa. These two
trains were made up of LRV cars, except that the rear train
had a "Heritage" coach in the rear for VIA 1 (first class)
passengers. The first train departed on time at 9:30 a.m.,
and the rear train departed one minute later. Then our
train departed promptly on time at 9:40 a.m.
Right after we departed Toronto, the cafe attendant
came by to collect tickets -- in keeping with VIA's policy
that all on- board service employees can perform any
passenger-related task. It soon dawned on me that she had
kept not only the ticket itself, but also the stub that is
supposed to be returned to the passenger. So I went back
and told her that I hadn't received my stub back. She
seemed a little surprised that I was entitled to my ticket
stub back, but did give the stubs back to me, as well as to
the other eight passengers sitting in my car. (Subsequently,
the service manager pointed out to her that she had
collected the wrong ticket from one of the other
passengers.)
I watched as we proceeded along the Toronto lakefront
and then swung a little inland, following the Lakeshore line
used not only by Amtrak and VIA, but also (as far as
Burlington) by GO Transit. We stopped briefly at Oakville
and Aldershot to pick up some additional passengers. Both
of these stations have modern but relatively attractive
station buildings. The Aldershot station has a very large
parking lot, which I observed to be quite full. I also
walked through the other three cars and counted about 85
passengers aboard, with about half of them in the front car.
After our stop in Aldershot, we reached Hamilton Jct,,
where our route swings to the left, leaving the line heading
towards London, Windsor and Sarnia (this is not the line
that the International takes -- it proceeds on a more
northerly route, via Kitchener and Guelph). We now started
swinging to the left, around the westerly arm of Lake
Ontario, visible to the left of the train for a few minutes.
Then we passed the very large historic Canadian National
station in Hamilton, which still appears to be in good
condition but is no longer used by VIA or Amtrak trains.
I decided to obtain a free beverage, to which my
Business Class ticket entitled me. An announcement had
previously been made that the coffee machine was not
working, so that no coffee, tea, or other hot beverages
would be available. I did obtain a can of orange juice, and
I moved over to a table, which offers much more comfortable
and spacious seating than the rather cramped seats in the
coach section of the car. When we came to our next
scheduled stop, Grimsby, we went by without stopping, since
no one was scheduled to get on or off here. We then passed
through a semi-rural agricultural area, and soon crossed a
river on a high bridge, with the stone abutments and stone
arches of a former single-track bridge visible to the right
of the train.
At 11:11 a.m., we stopped at St. Catharines, which has
a classic brick station that is still staffed by an agent.
A number of passengers got off here. During our station
stop, I heard the engineer receive a train order permitting
us to proceed. Soon afterwards, we crossed a drawbridge
over the Welland Canal.
After we departed St. Catharines, the service counter
in the cafe car closed down (although there was no
announcement made to this effect). The arrangement between
VIA and Amtrak regarding the operation of the Maple Leaf is
quite different from that in effect for the operation of the
International. In the case of the International, the change
between VIA and Amtrak crews is made on the American side of
the border. Moreover, on the International, the cafe car is
operated all the way from Chicago to Toronto by a VIA
attendant, with the same supplies being available for the
entire journey. On the Maple Leaf, by contrast, the crew
transfer takes place on the Canadian side of the border, and
the cafe car is operated on the Canadian side by a VIA
attendant, while in the United States it is operated by an
Amtrak attendant. As a result, all of the stock of food and
beverages must be removed from the train at Niagara Falls,
Ontario, and replacements from Amtrak stock must be loaded
on the train. Thus, the stop in Niagara Falls, Ontario has
to take a few minutes, at least.
We arrived at the Niagara Falls, Ontario station at
11:31 a.m., three minutes early. I detrained, along with a
number of other passengers for whom Niagara Falls was their
final destination, and took some pictures of the beautiful
brick station, with arched windows. The interior of the
station has been completely remodeled with a dropped ceiling
and is not particularly attractive, but the outside retains
its original charm. Interestingly, the facade on the east
side of the station has been rebuilt in a modern style, with
a stairway visible through large glass windows,
Our stop in Niagara Falls, Ontario lasted for 11
minutes. We then crossed the deep gorge of the Niagara
River, with a beautiful steel-arch railroad bridge, built by
the Michigan Central Railroad, immediately to our right. At
the ends of the bridge, the original stone abutments of an
earlier bridge (presumably the famous Suspension Bridge) are
visible. It took us only two minutes to cross the bridge,
and at 11:44 a.m. we stopped on the other side of the bridge
for U.S. Customs and Immigration inspection. Our railway
bridge is also used by auto traffic, which crosses on the
lower level, and the U.S. Customs station for auto traffic
crossing the border is just below us, with a stairway
leading up to the tracks. Soon, two customs agents boarded
the train. Their inspection of the few people in my car was
rather cursory, with no one being asked for passports and no
luggage inspected. To our left, I noticed an abandoned
stone building, overgrown with vines. Perhaps this is the
original station building.
The customs inspection lasted for nearly an hour. At
12:43 p.m., we proceeded forward, and four minutes later, we
arrived at the Amtrak station in Niagara Falls, New York.
Even after the lengthy customs inspection was completed, we
still had over 40 minutes to wait at the Niagara Falls
passenger station before we could proceed on our way. Why
so much time is built into the schedule here is not clear
(on the westbound trip, half an hour less is allowed for
border formalities and restocking of the train), but the
reason probably is that Amtrak does not want its Empire
Service train delayed by lengthy waits for customs
clearance.
An announcement was made that passengers were free to
step off the train to smoke or get some fresh air, so I
detrained and walked into the station. There was another
trainset between our train and the station, and to reach the
station you had to walk around the rear of the other train.
The Amtrak Niagara Falls station is a modern brick building
which seems to have been built in the 1950s. Its waiting
room features modern seating and white-painted cinder-block
walls. The station is located in a rather remote area,
although a timetable posted on the wall indicates that
hourly bus service is available to the center of town. A
main road runs adjacent to the station, but there doesn't
seem to be any direct access from that road to the station,
and you have to take some roundabout route to get there.
Since I had plenty of time to spare, I made a call to
my cousins in Rochester to let them know that the train was
(at least so far) on time, took a few pictures, and
reboarded the train. I took out some sandwiches that I had
brought with me and ate them at a table, accompanied by
another can of orange juice that I had obtained from the VIA
cafe attendant before he closed down the cafe car. I
noticed that two maintenance workers were attempting to
repair the defective coffee maker (they apparently
succeeded, since hot beverages were available once we
departed from Niagara Falls).
We departed Niagara Falls on time at 1:25 p.m., and
proceeded east and then south, primarily through industrial
areas, although for a short period of time we ran along the
Niagara River and passed underneath the Peace Bridge. Our
next stop, at 2:00 p.m, was the Exchange Street station in
downtown Buffalo. This is a small, modern brick building,
located in the shadow of overhead expressway bridges. Right
beyond here, we joined up with the Amtrak main line coming
from Chicago -- a route that I've traveled on many times
previously. This was the end of the new mileage segment for
me.
When I walked back to my seat, I noticed a young man
who had boarded at Exchange Street sitting in the adjacent
seat. Since I had no reason to sit there any more, I moved
my backpack and seat check to my table in the front of the
car, where I would be spending the rest of the ride. Soon,
we passed the abandoned Buffalo Central Terminal, a huge
station complex built by the New York Central on the
outskirts of the city. I was on a train that stopped at
this station in the late 1960s, when much of the main
waiting room was closed off and the entire place had an aura
of decay. It was abandoned soon afterwards, but the
building still seems to be structurally sound, and every so
often there is talk of rehabilitating it.
After our next stop, the Buffalo-Depew station, where
we left a few minutes later, I walked through the coaches
and counted about 140 people aboard. The third coach (which
had been used by VIA for passengers who were destined for
Canadian stations) was still largely empty, but the other
cars had at least one person sitting in almost every seat.
Then I returned to the table section of the last car and
spent the rest of the trip doing some work on my computer.
About 3:05 p.m., an announcement was made that we will
be arriving at Rochester, and we pulled into the station at
3:06 p.m., six minutes early! I detrained, walked through
the modern station, and found my cousin Joel waiting to take
me to his home, where I would be spending the night.
My trip today from Toronto to Rochester on the Maple
Leaf was very pleasant, even though I did not receive the
Business Class seat that I had paid for. The two-hour delay
for the border crossing seems inexcusable, though, and the
crew and other passengers indicated that the train is often
late despite the long time period allowed for customs.
Indeed, one of the guests at last night's wedding told me
that they drove from Teaneck to Toronto in eight and one-
half hours -- while Amtrak takes 12 hours for this trip!
Something must be done to speed up this train if it is to
become a viable transportation option for travel between
Toronto and New York.
Empire Service Rochester to New York City
It's 9:45 a.m. on Tuesday, February 20, 2001, and I've
just arrived at the Amtrak station in Rochester, where I
will be boarding Empire Service Train #286 to New York. I
arrived yesterday afternoon on the Maple Leaf from
Rochester, and visited my 93-year-old uncle in the evening,
spending the night with my cousins.
My reservation was made for a return on the Lake Shore
Limited, Train #48, scheduled to depart Rochester at 7:35
a.m. I actually did not want to leave Rochester so early,
but I assumed that the "Late Shore" would, as usual, arrive
an hour or two late, so that I could catch it at a more
reasonable time. Indeed, checking on the Internet, I found
that it had arrived over three hours late the last two days.
But, to my surprise, today the Lake Shore Limited departed
from Rochester only 25 minutes late! Having called Amtrak
and found this out, I decided not to make any effort to
catch #48, and instead I told my cousin to take me to the
station about 9:30 a.m. so that I could board Train #286,
scheduled to depart at 10:02 a.m.
When I arrived at the station, I first went over to the
ticket counter to exchange my ticket for Train #48 for one
valid on Train #286. While there is ordinarily a $30 fee
for changing an Amtrak reservation, this fee does not apply
for travel within the Northeast Corridor. When I told the
agent that I wanted to travel on Train #286, he simply
changed my reservation in the computer and then wrote "286"
in a circle on my original ticket. I then made a few phone
calls and awaited the arrival of my train.
Train #286 pulled into the station at 10:07 a.m. It
was headed by F-40 engine #286 -- so far as I can determine,
the only time I've traveled on an Amtrak train whose lead
engine number and train number were identical! (I did ride
behind engine #3 on the westbound Southwest Chief, Train #3,
on June 30, 1997, but that engine was the second unit on the
train.) The train consisted of five passenger cars -- a
Business Class/food service car and four 84-seat Amfleet I
coaches. All of the coaches were un-refurbished ones, with
the original red seats. It seems that the Empire Service
trains have become the stepchild of the Northeast Corridor,
with the newly-refurbished Acela coaches assigned primarily
to trains running between Boston and Washington, and
passengers traveling from Niagara Falls to New York
relegated to the un-refurbished coaches.
There were about 60 passengers waiting to board the
train in Rochester, but only one door was opened, so the
boarding process took six minutes. All New York-bound
passengers were assigned to the second coach, while
passengers for intermediate points were assigned to the
first coach. The last two cars were closed off. Even after
everyone boarded, there were a few unoccupied pairs of seats
in my car. Since I had two seats to myself, I didn't
complain about the rear two cars remaining closed. (Even if
the conductors wanted to keep those cars open for passengers
boarding at subsequent stops, they could have opened the
doors at both ends of the second car to speed-up the
boarding process at Rochester.)
Today, the Business Class car is #20129, which has the
luxurious Club Car seating on one side (this is the section
to which Business Class passengers were assigned) and Custom
Class seating on the other side. The Custom Class seating
section was unoccupied except for the two conductors. Well,
had I made a reservation for Business Class on today's
train, I would have gotten my money's worth! I didn't ask
about upgrading to Business Class, but another passenger
did, and he was informed that the Business Class has been
sold out for several days already.
When we arrived in Syracuse at 11:25 a.m., the
conductor opened the third car and directed all boarding
passengers into that car. Even though the new Syracuse
station -- part of an intermodal transportation center --
has a high-level platform, the boarding process took five
minutes, as again only one door was opened. We departed the
Syracuse station at 11:30 a.m., 13 minutes late. A few
minutes later, we passed the older Syracuse station in East
Syracuse, built by the New York Central Railroad in the
early 1960s and abandoned last year when Amtrak moved to the
new station. I noticed that the station building -- a
modern structure of no architectural significance -- was
scarred with graffiti, and grass was growing through the
cracks in the station platform. Then, at 12:08 p.m., we
passed Train #63, the westbound Maple Leaf.
Our next stop was Rome, which features an historic
brick station in rather poor condition. However, a sign
posted on the building stated: "Coming Soon: A Refurbished
Train Station." It's nice to see that this classic building
will soon be restored, hopefully to its original beauty.
I now went to the cafe car, where I purchased a can of
soda. I had hoped to sit down there (in the Business Class
section) and eat a sandwich that I had brought with me, but
the conductor said that I could not sit there and had to
return to my seat. Interestingly, this very same car #20129
has been on two Northeast Direct trains that I've taken
during the past year. In both cases, although a coach
passenger, I was able to sit in the more spacious seating
afforded by that car -- once in the Club section, and once
in the Custom Class section. Unfortunately, it looks like
that won't be possible on this trip, and I had to return to
my rather cramped seat in the 84-seat Amfleet coach.
At 12:28 p.m., we stopped at Utica, which (besides
Rome) has the only historic station building on the Amtrak
line from Albany to Buffalo. I noticed that New York
Central steam locomotive #6721 is on display on a side track
next to the station. I don't recall seeing this engine
there before; perhaps it was only recently put on display
there.
Soon after Utica, our line begins to run along the New
York State Barge Canal, the route of the historic Erie
Canal. This is a very scenic stretch of the route, with a
number of historic buildings along the way. The canal was
largely frozen, and the fractured pieces of ice, tossed at
various angles, made a particular interesting sight.
Our next stop, Amsterdam, features a small, modern,
brick station building on the outskirts of town. Here, as
at the previous two stops, all boarding passengers (there
weren't all that many of them) were directed to the first
coach. When we departed from Amsterdam at 1:31 p.m., we
were 23 minutes late. Boarding passengers were also directed
to the first coach at Schenectady, from where we departed at
1:49 p.m. By this time, that coach had become quite full,
with every pair of seats occupied by at least one person.
We arrived at the Albany station at 2:10 p.m. As we
approached station, I noticed the new Genesis engine #139 on
a side track. This engine -- like all those of the most
recent engine order -- is painted with Amtrak's new "three
sheets in the wind" logo. This is the first time that I've
seen an Amtrak engine painted in this scheme.
When our train pulled in on the main track, adjacent to
the station, I detrained. I observed the grand new Albany
station, nearly completed, just to the south of the existing
station (which will be razed for a parking lot when the new
station is completed). I also saw the abutments for a new
vehicular overpass, just south of the existing station and
north of the new station, which will improve traffic flow
from the station to downtown Albany. I walked into the
existing station, where a ticket agent informed me that it
is hoped that the new station will be in service by the
coming fall. I also picked up a copy of the Empire State
Passengers Association newsletter, which had an interesting
article about the new station. Plans for the new station
called for four station tracks, but construction of the
fourth track -- the one farthest east -- cannot proceed
until the existing Amshack (a/k/a "station") is demolished.
The article indicated that because of the defeat of the New
York State Transportation Bond Issue last November, the
final $10 million needed to complete the station will not be
available, and that, as a result, the installation of this
fourth track will not proceed until additional funds are
available. The existing station has only three tracks, so
there will not be a deterioration in service, but there are
times when three tracks are not sufficient to handle all the
trains served by this station, and a fourth track would be a
very welcome addition.
When I saw F-40 engine #286 at the head of our train as
it pulled into Rochester, I knew that we'd have to change
engines in Albany, since these engines cannot operate on
electric power and thus are not allowed to proceed through
the tunnel leading to Penn Station. Amtrak has now acquired
enough 700-series engines, which are capable of operating on
either diesel or electric power, to run all Empire Service
trains with these engines for their entire runs to Rutland,
Montreal or Niagara Falls, respectively, thus avoiding the
necessity for an engine change in Albany. Until recently,
the 700-series engines were in fact used on these trains for
their entire run. But last night, my online friend Matt
Donnelly from Auburn, New York alerted me to the fact that
Amtrak has recently been using the older F-40 engines on all
trains west of Albany, apparently because of the
unreliability of the newer dual-mode Genesis engines. That
that was indeed the reason was confirmed by the Amtrak
employee who was stationed at the crossing to Tracks 1 and
2. It is quite interesting that these F-40 engines, most of
which are over twenty years old, are considered more
reliable by Amtrak than the brand-new Genesis engines!
Thus, upon our arrival in Albany, our F-40 engine #286
was removed from the train and replaced by Genesis dual-mode
engine #713. We are scheduled to spend only ten minutes in
Albany -- enough time to board passengers and change crews,
but not enough time to change an engine (at least the way
Amtrak now does it; I have observed engine changes that took
less than ten minutes). So our stop lasted over 20 minutes.
In the meantime, northbound Train #281 to Niagara Falls had
arrived on Track 2, and that train, like ours, also had to
change engines.
We finally departed from the Albany station at 2:31
p.m., 26 minutes late. Train #281 to Niagara Falls departed
at the same time. I walked through the train and found that
all the cars were now opened, with many passengers who
boarded in Albany seated in the rear car. We proceeded
south very slowly, and I observed the beginning of the
construction of platforms for the new station. Then, only a
short distance south of the station, we came to a halt. On
the scanner, I heard a crew member of our train ask the CSX
dispatcher whether any train was coming on Track 2, as he
wanted to go out and inspect the engine. Soon, we moved
ahead for a few feet and stopped again. Finally, at 1:41
p.m., we proceeded ahead, with the comment being made on the
scanner that they heard some strange noise but couldn't find
anything wrong.
We now continued south along the beautiful Hudson
River, largely frozen in many places. At 3:01 p.m., we
stopped at the beautiful, historic brick station at Hudson,
N.Y., which has been nicely restored. When we left two
minutes later, we were 33 minutes late. Then I heard on the
scanner some conversations with the CSX dispatcher of this
line, which indicated that there was a single-track stretch
that we would encounter at some point north of Poughkeepsie.
He was trying to figure out how to juggle our train with the
northbound trains that we would have to pass on our way
south.
At our next stop, Rhinecliff, the doors were opened
between the first and second coaches, but there were no
available pairs of seats in either of these cars, so
boarding passengers had to walk two cars back to find seats.
By the time we departed Poughkeepsie at 3:43 p.m., we were
37 minutes late.
Now I decided to walk to the back of the train, and
spend a few minutes looking out of the end of the rear
coach. I discovered that there were now people sitting in
every pair of seats in that coach, too. One young man was
sitting on the floor in the empty space provided for a
wheelchair on this handicapped- accessible coach (the only
one on the train). He explained that he had given up his
seat in the rear of that car to an elderly woman who was
sitting there. Of course, there were other single seats
available elsewhere in the car, and I subsequently found a
few empty pairs of seats in the first two cars which had
been vacated by passengers who detrained at Rhinecliff or
Poughkeepsie.
Next, I walked down to the cafe car, where I obtained a
cup of tea and a bag of Red Hot Blue chips. Now, coach
passengers were permitted to sit in the Custom Class seating
at the rear of the car (except for the front two groups of
seats reserved for the crew) but, of course, nearly all the
seats were now occupied. So I brought my refreshments back
to my coach seat, from where I continued to observe the
beautiful scenery along the river.
This rail route along the Hudson River from Albany to
New York has been rated one of the top ten rail journeys in
the world. It's not quite as thrilling as the route of the
California Zephyr through the Rockies, but it is still a
magnificent train trip. I've done it many times before, but
each time is somewhat different -- on this trip, the ice on
the northern reaches of the river near Albany made it
special. Somehow, the cramped seating in an unreconditioned
84-seat Amfleet I coach doesn't seem as bad when you have
such beautiful scenery to look at!
South of Poughkeepsie, we slowed down quite a number of
times. It seems that some delays were due to a restrictive
signal, but at least once, communications on the scanner
indicated that the cause was the strange noise heard
emanating from the engine. As a result, we did not reach
our next stop, Croton-Harmon, until 4:31 p.m. Here, I
stepped off the train briefly. I noticed a Metro-North
train waiting behind us to move onto the track which our
train occupied. After two minutes, I heard the Metro-North
Hudson dispatcher inquire whether we were ready to proceed.
The response was that a detraining passenger had trouble
finding his wife and children aboard the train, but he
finally found them, and we departed at 4:35 p.m. Now we
were 52 minutes late, having lost another 15 minutes since
Poughkeepsie.
We made an unscheduled stop at Yonkers at 4:52 p.m.,
apparently to discharge a passenger who mistakenly boarded
our train (rather than her Metro-North train) at Croton-
Harmon. We then proceeded over the Spuyten Duyvil and under
the George Washington Bridge, heading down to our final
destination, New York Penn Station. I gathered my
belongings together and, after a brief wait outside of the
station for trains crossing ahead of us (it was, after all,
the heart of the rush hour), we arrived on Track 8 at Penn
Station at 5:18 p.m. We were 49 minutes late.
I had received an e-mail that Jeremy Abbott, a member
of the All-Aboard List, was going to be arriving Penn
Station on Train #68 from Montreal, scheduled to arrive at
7:50 p.m. However, subsequent messages on the list informed
me that that train had been annulled from Montreal to Albany
the last two days due to a freight derailment. When we were
about to leave Albany this afternoon, I thought that I had
heard an announcement that arriving passengers from Montreal
should take Train #262, departing at 3:05 p.m. Although
Train #68 does not ordinarily arrive in Montreal until 4:50
p.m., buses can make the trip much faster than the train, so
it would not be surprising if the "bustitution" provided by
Amtrak would have already arrived in Albany.
Thus, when we arrived in Penn Station, I went to
Customer Service office, where I was informed that Train #68
had in fact been annulled today from Montreal to Albany,
with the passengers having been "bustituted". That meant
that Jeremy might be on Train #262, scheduled to arrive at
5:29 p.m. and running 15 minutes late. Soon, the arrival
monitors indicated that Train #262 would be arriving on
Track 8, so I went down there to await the arrival of that
train. The train pulled in at 5:43 p.m., but I didn't see
anyone getting off who matched Jeremy's description. So I
decided that I should start heading home.
Having traveled all the way from the west coast by
train, I thought it would be only appropriate to end it by
taking a NJ Transit train home, instead of a bus. So I
walked over to the 33rd Street PATH station, where I took a
train to Hoboken and caught the 6:36 p.m. Pascack Valley
Line train to Anderson Street in Hackensack, where I arrived
at 7:02 p.m. After taking a local bus, I finally got home
at 7:30 p.m.
I must say that today's trip on Empire Service Train
#286 was somewhat disappointing. The old, 84-seat Amfleet I
coaches are really not suitable for a relatively long, seven-
hour trip, and the absence of any table seating aggravates
the problem. This was certainly a "no-frills" trip, and even
I, a railfan, got rather tired of it after a while. Only
the beautiful scenery of the Hudson River saved the day. I
don't think I could legitimately make a claim under Amtrak's
Satisfaction Guarantee, as I got all that I was entitled to,
but the trip really did not meet my expectations (wholly
apart from the late arrival of the train). If Amtrak really
wants to attract passengers to its Empire Service trains for
trips longer than the popular Albany-New York route, it
needs to improve the seating and other amenities available
on these trains.