# Last days of the Federal trip



## efin98 (Aug 7, 2004)

This is my first trip report so it might be a little bare-bones.

As part of a larger trip to Toronto by way of Amtrak's Maple Leaf I went to New York on the Federal. It was my first trip heading southwest on the NEC to New York and the first overnight Amtrak trip I would take.

I arrived at South Station in Boston an hour early and watched the commuter rail action. There wasn't much action as it was after the evening rush hour and most of the day's trains had departed. There was still a fairly large crowd of people waiting inside the air conditioned waiting room though, most likely waiting for the Federal or the arrival of one of the delayed arriving trains.

9:30 came around and I headed out to where the Federal would be boarding, but found out on the platform that there would be a delay due to a few problems with our train. The engine had a hose that needed to be replaced and it was done fairly quickly, but due to the testing that the conductor wanted done it was delayed 15 minutes. Those who were waiting on the platform were treated to an arriving Acela Express train, arriving on the next platform. That did give us a bit of a relief for a few minutes while the final preperations were done before we could board.

We were allowed to board immediately after the test were done and I took a seat in the first available coach(third back, first open coach for New York passengers). The coach was old looking, with crimsom colored upholstery with multi-colored stripes on it. It was pretty comfortable, but I was hoping for a newer coach. Oh well.

We departed 15 minutes late at 10:00, making great time down to Providence with some light boardings at Back Bay and Rt. 128 stations. Providence saw several dozen people exiting and about a dozen boarding, which cost us two minutes.

We were off again but ended up losing power for a minute just beyond the station for the first time. We lost one more minute between New London and New Haven due to some slow passengers boarding. New Haven saw us lose three more minutes due to more slow boardings(can't blame the passengers though, but the quicker they boarded the quicker they could get to sleep!). We passed several waiting freights after New Haven, looked like they were heading northeast via the NEC. We were slowed a bit at spots so we got excellent views of their lights.

At around South Norwalk made a trip to the restroom, something I had not done on the two previous Amtrak trips I had taken. It was something that was interesting, trying to stay upright while remembering to lock the door properly. There was a little bit of a mess in there, looked like the restroom was not cleaned out from the last run earlier that day.

Back to the rails, we were still behind schedule while we snaked our way through Westchester County down into the Bronx. It was interesting to see the scenery change from rural, to suburban, to urban in a span of 20 to 30 miles. We snaked our way through the Bronx and I saw the 6 subway train of the New York City Transit Authority, I hadn't known it passed so close to the NEC nor was it visible from the train.

I was on the lookout for the Hellsgate Bridge, which I forgot to look out for the first time I rode through the area. It appeared out of nowhere and rose above the river quickly, with the skyline of New York faintly visible through the arch. I got a chance to photograph the N subway trains below the bridge, with one train waiting for it's next inbound trip.

Beyond the bridge in Queens we were slowed for a few minutes. It looked like a few Long Island Railroad trains were switching into the yard or coming from Penn Station, but they were too far away to see their destination signs. We were given to OK to enter the East River tunnels, which came up quickly ahead(so close, yet so far away for those few minutes).

We finally arrived at 2:35, 36 minutes late and after a journey of 231 miles it didn't seem too bad of a delay.

On July 20th I took the same route back to Boston. Due to a bad ordered car that had developed massive problems along the route the Federal was two hours late. The work was done quickly as there was alot of quick thinking on the part of the crew at Penn Station and the train and the car was removed with little additional delay.

The delay did gave me a nice plus- I got to see the entire NEC between New York and Boston in daylight! Only the New London to Boston portions were most likely going to be in daylight if the train was on time, but the delay put the entire trip in daylight! The previous two trips on the NEC that i had made also were no help as they were made in darkness so I could actually see outside the window now.

Unfortunately I had just come from Toronto on the Maple Leaf so I was tired and missed alot of the action outside the window in Sunnyside Yard and on MetroNorth's portion of the line. I fell asleep soon after entering the East River Tunnel and woke up just after Norwalk, fell asleep again at New Haven and then finally woke up for good at New London. I was half asleep for the remainder of the trip, seeing nothing that interested me in Rhode Island or Massachusetts. After being up for 24 hours I am glad I at least got to see some parts of the route, but would have loved to see more.

Final arrival in Boston was about and hour and a half late thanks to schedule padding in New York and quick thinking at Penn Station. The coach that I got was refurbished with new seats and plenty of great features that were lacking on the old coach I took down to New York. A shame it was the only such coach I rode on in the entire length of my trip.


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## engine999 (Aug 7, 2004)

Thanks for the detailed report. Do you know what the problem with the car on the northbound federal was?


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## efin98 (Aug 7, 2004)

We weren't told much, but if it had to be removed at Penn Station it must have been something electrical or airconditioning related.

I do have to give credit to the crew that removed the car and added it's replacement, they worked quickly with minimal delay at the station.


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## P40Power (Aug 19, 2004)

Great trip report, but one question though, why is it called the "Last Days of the Federal trip" was it taken back when the train was still the Federal and ran with a sleeper and such? (even if it was taken last year when it was still the Federal, it probably didnt have a sleeper then either)


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## efin98 (Aug 19, 2004)

I chose that because at the time the 66 and 67 were still the Federal, and I think the name was stripped from the route within a week or two after the trips.


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## Superliner Diner (Aug 20, 2004)

efin98 said:


> I chose that because at the time the 66 and 67 were still the Federal, and I think the name was stripped from the route within a week or two after the trips.


The name was stripped from the train back in April, officially when the new timetable became effective on April 26th. Since then it's simply known as the generic name Regional.

On July 2nd, the train was re-extended back to Newport News, VA, like it did when it was the Twilight Shoreliner. The equipment runs through Washington, DC, instead of requiring passengers to transfer to a stub train there. The change of trains had negatively affected ridership. However, with this move there was no change of the train's name.


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## efin98 (Aug 21, 2004)

Superliner Diner said:


> The name was stripped from the train back in April, officially when the new timetable became effective on April 26th. Since then it's simply known as the generic name Regional.
> On July 2nd, the train was re-extended back to Newport News, VA, like it did when it was the Twilight Shoreliner. The equipment runs through Washington, DC, instead of requiring passengers to transfer to a stub train there. The change of trains had negatively affected ridership. However, with this move there was no change of the train's name.


I knew about the extention in early July, but I didn't know that it was actually stripped of it's name back in April. I didn't pay attention to the announcements at South Station so I didn't hear whether it was called "The Federal" or "Regional #67" as I was already on the platform watching the train back up into the station. I did hear it called "The Federal" at Penn Station in New York on several occasions, including on the solari board and by the PA announcer both in person when I asked about the delay and over the PA system in the station. I guess they must be slow in adapting to calling the train a regional, but since they called it "The Federal" I would give them the benefit of the doubt in it being still "The Federal" during that time.


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