Philadelphia to Brunswick ME

Today September 6 my son Chris and I embarked on a rail trip from the Lehigh Valley of PA to Lewiston ME to attend Chris's older brother Nathan's bachelor party as he is getting married next month.

We started out very early around 5 AM to drive to the nearest SEPTA rail station Lansdale which is about an hour and 15 min from our houses. I tend to be obsessive about being early. We were aiming for train #6591 leaving at 6:56 AM but actually got there early enough for the prior train. However I wanted to get a SEPTA Key card and that took a while so we waited for 6591 which arrived on time. It was an express that made stops as far as Fort Washington then ran express to Temple U.

View of Center City from the SEPTA train

30th St. Station upper level

We got to 30th St. Station in plenty of time for our train to Boston, Acela 2154 due out at 8:36 AM. While waiting we got some breakfast at Dunkin Donuts. Our train was running 4 min late so left at 8:40.


The train got into Penn Station more or less on time. We exited the East River tunnels and headed over the Hell Gate Bridge for nice views of NY.

After the bridge things slowed down a bit from there to New Rochelle, I suspect due to construction for MNR East Side access. We lost about 10 minutes here although we arrived in New Haven on time, even though we had the usual pokey ride on Metro North.

After New Haven things picked up considerably. We decided to get lunch at the cafe rather than waiting until we got to Boston. Chris got a hot dog and I indulged my weakness for cheeseburgers.

We just entered Rhode Island and our speed is picking up. I'll report more when we get to Boston and transfer to North Station for the Downeaster segment of the trip.

Made it to North Station in plenty of time. My son has a bad hip plus he had a large suitcase so we need to use the elevators where possible. Fortunately the downtown stations are well equipped even though some of the elevators were not easy to find. But the T staff were helpful.

Downeaster left on time. Some delays going through Andover due to malfunctioning crossing gates that the crew had to flag us across.This made us about 15 minutes late. They may be able to make up some of this time. We have a good crew. I recognized Jamie our cafe attendant she is very attentive to the BC.

Some additional delays. We went into a siding just north of Durham to wait for a freight. Then at Portland 688 the last Eastbound of the day is in the station and only one train can platform at a time so we are being held outside the station. Probably about 30 minutes total delay.

Philadelphia-Brunswick is a trip I would like to make if the Rockland service is restored.

Literalman said:

Philadelphia-Brunswick is a trip I would like to make if the Rockland service is restored.

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That’s what I’m waiting for, to close the missing Portland to Brunswick gap on my complete Amtrak map. I would like to do Rockland, as part of one trip rather than have to do two separate ones, but if Rockland does not seem in the near future, guess I’ll have to “bite the bullet” and do just Brunswick the next time I cruise thru Portland.

Today (Sunday) we are making our return trip. Bachelor party last night was good and I was moderate on the alcohol so no problems getting up early so my older son could drive us to Brunswick to get train 692 leaving at 7:10 AM.

We arrived there in plenty of time to watch the train pull into the station from the yard. The usual 5 car consist with P42, Horizon car, 3 AM fleet coaches, a split cafe/business class fleet, and a P42 instead of the usual Cabbage. We were in business class again and settled into our seats. Departure was on time and right afterwards the cafe attendant came around to get drink orders. 2 gratis coffees arrived soon after.

We stayed on time until just south of Lawrence where we had to wait for an MBTA. There was some slow running at this point. The arrangement of the Haverhill line is puzzling at Ballardvale where the double track abruptly ends and there is only 1 track through the station, then double track starts up again. So why don't they put in the 100 feet or so and have a fully double track railroad through there?

We were able to pick up speed after that and got into North Station only 5 minutes down. We then got on the Green Line to Park St. then Red Line to South Station. We just missed a Red Line train and had to wait 12 minutes (Sunday headways) but were rewarded by getting to ride one of the few new CRRC cars.


Now waiting at South Station for Acela 2255 which leaves at 1:10 PM. Using the time to get lunch and catch up on my trip report.

This might be our train on track 10. The little train in the distance is #449 the Lake Shore Limited for Chicago.

Got on our Acela. Found out I had selected a table seat so tried to change to another seat but there were no seats pairs left. Turns out the table seat not bad, across from us was a young lady with a cute little dog. One advantage was the dog took up no leg room so I could stretch out. We just left New Haven and are on time so far. I decided to indulge in a bottle of white wine. On Acela you get an actual half bottle which is 2 generous glasses. Hopefully it will have worn off by the time I have to drive home.

In spite of delays on Metro North due to tracks out of service and single tracking on the "NY Connecting" between New Rochelle and NY we arrived at Penn Station a few minutes early. Almost everyone on the car got off including our table mate and her dog.

At New York we got two new table mates, young men who had flown in from LA and were attending the US Open Tennis final. I found out Sinner had won as expected. We decided to get something to eat as we would be getting home late. I got the Chicken Caesar Salad which was pretty good. It had spring mix rather than the usual Romaine which was fine. Chris got a burger and a hot dog I guess he was hungry .

Got into Philly on time and had about 20 minutes to wait for our train to Lansdale which showed up with a set of the venerable Silverliner IVs which were built in the 1970s and seem to go on forever.

So I guess that is about it for this report. All in all everything was pretty much in time, the crews were good, a great trip overall.

Some notes on things I intended to add but forgot:

On the Downeaster trip to Brunswick Friday, the conductor was very good about letting us know the reason for delays - crossing gates malfunctioning requiring the crew to flag us across, being put into a 30 mph siding to allow a freight to go by, having to wait outside of Portland for another train. I wish all crew were like him.

At South Station I got lunch at this little diner place in the middle of the concourse. Something called the Acela Club sandwich - turkey and bacon, lettuce, tomato it was decent. I also had a couple of vegetable Samosas (they do a little Indian food) they were OK but I've had better. Chris wanted to try the Chicken Tikka Masala but they were out of it so he ended up at McDonalds.

Both ways we had the speedometer app on Chris' phone running for the entire trip. Downeaster was at 79 mph in several spots especially between Wells and Saco. On the Acela BOS - PHL we got near 150 south of Sharon until Attleboro then again south of Providence. There was also a stretch west of Jersey Ave through Princeton Jct. where we got to 145 or so.

I have to say SEPTA Regional Rail is pretty impressive compared to most commuter rail operations in this country (looking at you MBTA).

BlackDiamond said:

I have to say SEPTA Regional Rail is pretty impressive compared to most commuter rail operations in this country (looking at you MBTA).

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Agreed! Linking the former PRR and RDG lines thru Center City was something that Boston only dreamed about when they did the "Big Dig"....

While New York never connected Pennsylvania Station to Grand Central Terminal, they did eventually get LIRR trains into GCT, and with the Empire Connection can bring MNCR trains into Penn Station two different ways, as well as fully connect all routes (which they can't at GCT)...

railiner said:

Agreed! Linking the former PRR and RDG lines thru Center City was something that Boston only dreamed about when they did the "Big Dig"....

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Now if only they could run the SEPTA trains with decent frequencies that would allow it to be a real useable regional rail system.

With the Sep. 8 schedule changes, Septa plugged some (maybe all) of the two-hour gaps in regional rail service. The Media and Sharon Hill trolleys still have lame weekend evening service: hourly.