Part 1 -- Baltimore to Albany
Northeast Regional 114 was scheduled to leave Baltimore at 10:53 AM, so I ordered a Lyft for 9:50 to make sure I got to the station on time. As happened the driver came early, so I got to Penn Station before 10. When I got in the station, I saw there was a Northeast Regional leaving at 10:19. I thought, Hmmm, might as well take the earlier train, as the connection Amtrak gave me was only 40 minutes. So I took out my phone, fired up the Amtrak app to modify the rez, and low and behold, it told me my 30-day login was over and I needed to log in again. Of course I didn't have the password anywhere on my phone (I do now), so I had to haul out my laptop and find it on my web browser. When I went to modify the reservation, though, it didn't show the 10:19 train available as a valid connection. Anyway, it was getting to the point that I was going to miss the 10:19 anyway, so I just bagged it and waited for 114.
When They announced 114, I went down to the platform and waited at where the end of the train is, as that's where business class has been for years. Well, not now, as I found out, business class is at the front of the train, and I didn't have time to walk up the platform to get there. So I boarded, and had to work my way through the masses of people who think there are going to be empty coach seats at the rear of a train that boarded in Washington, where everybody boards from the rear of the train. They really need to have assigned seating for coach as well as business class. That was really the only unpleasantness of the trip. When I found my seat, it had a lousy window view, so I took out the app and changed my seat to one a few rows back that I could see had a decent window, and that was that. We were about 5 minutes late into New York, not sure why, and, of course, with my car at the front of the train, I had a long walk on the platform to get to the Moynihan escalator. I went up to the Metropolitan Lounge and got my free lunch, a caprese baguette and soda and had barely finished it when the lounge attendant came by and told me that 291 was boarding at track 6.
I wasn't too far back in the line and was able to snag a single seat in the Ethan Allen Business class car. We left on time and got into Albany on time. A pretty routine ride, except that the cafe car attendant was having problem with his POS table. (POS means "point of sale," it can also mean something else not suitable for a family-oriented discussion group.) For a little while, has was having to operate the cafe on a cash-only basis. This was not the last time I encountered this on my trip. Upon arriving in Albany, I called a Lyft, and I was taken to my hotel on State St. in the sleepy downtown. My dinner was a local craft beer and very good hamburger at a nearby brewpub, and then off to sleep, ready to catch my ride to Montreal the next day.
Northeast Regional 114 was scheduled to leave Baltimore at 10:53 AM, so I ordered a Lyft for 9:50 to make sure I got to the station on time. As happened the driver came early, so I got to Penn Station before 10. When I got in the station, I saw there was a Northeast Regional leaving at 10:19. I thought, Hmmm, might as well take the earlier train, as the connection Amtrak gave me was only 40 minutes. So I took out my phone, fired up the Amtrak app to modify the rez, and low and behold, it told me my 30-day login was over and I needed to log in again. Of course I didn't have the password anywhere on my phone (I do now), so I had to haul out my laptop and find it on my web browser. When I went to modify the reservation, though, it didn't show the 10:19 train available as a valid connection. Anyway, it was getting to the point that I was going to miss the 10:19 anyway, so I just bagged it and waited for 114.
When They announced 114, I went down to the platform and waited at where the end of the train is, as that's where business class has been for years. Well, not now, as I found out, business class is at the front of the train, and I didn't have time to walk up the platform to get there. So I boarded, and had to work my way through the masses of people who think there are going to be empty coach seats at the rear of a train that boarded in Washington, where everybody boards from the rear of the train. They really need to have assigned seating for coach as well as business class. That was really the only unpleasantness of the trip. When I found my seat, it had a lousy window view, so I took out the app and changed my seat to one a few rows back that I could see had a decent window, and that was that. We were about 5 minutes late into New York, not sure why, and, of course, with my car at the front of the train, I had a long walk on the platform to get to the Moynihan escalator. I went up to the Metropolitan Lounge and got my free lunch, a caprese baguette and soda and had barely finished it when the lounge attendant came by and told me that 291 was boarding at track 6.
I wasn't too far back in the line and was able to snag a single seat in the Ethan Allen Business class car. We left on time and got into Albany on time. A pretty routine ride, except that the cafe car attendant was having problem with his POS table. (POS means "point of sale," it can also mean something else not suitable for a family-oriented discussion group.) For a little while, has was having to operate the cafe on a cash-only basis. This was not the last time I encountered this on my trip. Upon arriving in Albany, I called a Lyft, and I was taken to my hotel on State St. in the sleepy downtown. My dinner was a local craft beer and very good hamburger at a nearby brewpub, and then off to sleep, ready to catch my ride to Montreal the next day.