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It did indeed run via New London. There was even a middle-of-the-night stop at Willimantic which I actually used on one trip.

Why not just switch off the St. Lawrence & Atlantic at Danville Junction and follow the main Pan Am line down to Royal Junction, joining the existing Downeaster route there? There is no need to use any track that isn't already in active freight or passenger service.

So, the first train did go north to Montreal on Monday. For some reason, both it and the Maple Leaf didn't get out of NYP until after noon, with the Adirondack reaching Montreal just before 2 a.m. The first southbound left Montreal on Tuesday about an hour late.

Well, based on endpoint population, I'm sure Boston-Montreal is a bigger market than, say, Boston-Bangor. But any potential train route crossing the border faces the added challenge of dealing with both countries' border agencies, who seem to view train inspections as extra work and hassle. And...

I think this is only true of the Florida trains, Cardinal and the Crescent, at least when it was discharge-only north of Washington. The Roanoke trains, which do carry local corridor passengers, stay in Washington until the advertised departure time. On the morning run from Roanoke and...

What could be better for Christmas than snow on the evergreens outside your window? The weather outside may be frightful, but the train will be warm inside, the food is good, and so is the view from the dome or the rear-end observation car. You might even get a good deal on the fare. As jiml...

Definitely that gravel patch was a track. I'm sure there were at least four tracks when I first was there. There also was a big train shed that once covered them all, which I have seen in photos, but I think that was removed by the early '80s.

Is Halifax really down to just two tracks now? I guess it has been quite a few years since I've been there. I can remember when it still had multiple tracks and local trains heading out to Sydney, Yarmouth and Moncton as well as the Ocean/Atlantic, and the tracks and platforms for that level of...

Amtrak's reservation system continues to show the Adirondack available for booking to points north of Saratoga Springs beginning Sept. 11 northbound and Sept. 12 southbound. That's less than two weeks away, though I suppose it still might be that they just haven't gotten around to canceling...

I don't think we'll see a car-competitive time without the massive cost of building an entirely new right of way. But as Lordsigma points out, in the era of cell phones and laptops, there are a lot more people who'd be willing to consider a longer trip time if it means they have superior comfort...

Yeah, what I remember of the LIRR Montauk line is that it hits all the beach towns from Westhampton to Montauk, but most or all of the stations are a good distance, often a mile or more, from the beach. In Montauk in particular, walking would involve navigating along the shoulder of a road that...

It's not Amtrak of course, but via change at Newark, the NJT North Jersey Coast Line serves a whole series of beach towns, within walking distance of the shore, from about Asbury Park down to Bay Head.

When the Turboliners covered most of the Empire Service trains in the 1980s and early '90s, most of the coaches had half the seats facing one way and half the other. The trains had cabs at each end so could reverse direction without needing a wye. I got used to riding facing both directions...

I see the Globe editorial at some point was updated to say that, although the Legislature failed to appropriate the requested $12 million, the Healey administration found an alternate source of funding to advance the project. It doesn't say what that alternate source is or whether it adds up to...

OMG we are off to a bad start. "What can happen next?"

Well, perhaps things have changed in the four years since I last rode it, but I think you should be able to count on getting a cell signal at Jasper, Edmonton, Saskatoon and Winnipeg. Possibly at a few other smaller stops, though most of these are of very limited duration, or the places where...

The Capitol had a dome car at that point, which made it a special treat in my book. The Calumet as I recall was quite well used. It plodded through Hammond-Whiting and two stops on the south side of Gary, which looked deserted and a bit scary and where I couldn't see whether anyone actually...

Well, there was a period in the late '80s when the Capitol did run as a separate train on the PRR through Valparaiso. Coming back from Chicago on one trip in '89, I actually took the Calumet, and I believe rode on the upper level of one of these cars, then wandered about the town for an hour or...

I have a long way to go to catch up to Nat Read, but I have covered all the LD routes except the Spokane-Everett leg of the Empire Builder. Otherwise, the parts of the current Amtrak map that I haven't ridden: Lynchburg-Roanoke, Richmond-Newport News, Petersburg-Norfolk, Raleigh-Greensboro...

It will be a big improvement. I have been on 448 when it arrived in the city of Worcester and then stopped short of the station, waiting for the lone platform to open up. Worse, in those cases it wound up trailing an all-stops commuter local from Worcester to Boston, which is a good way to turn...