An ‘Adirondack’ Labour Day Weekend – 45 years ago

[NS VIA Fan]

An ‘Adirondack’ Labour Day Weekend – 45 years ago.



The new ‘Adirondack’ had just been inaugurated 3 week previous…..and I was off for a ride! I took CN’s ‘Scotian’ (no VIA back then!) from Halifax to Montreal and connected with Amtrak’s Montrealer to New York Penn Station. Then it was over to Grand Central where we departed from as part of the ‘Empire State Express’. There were many riding and some MTA coaches were also used and with their nearly opaque windows…..I spent most of the time riding in the vestibule up the Hudson.













At Albany-Rensselaer the thru cars to Montreal were split out and the Delaware & Hudson Railway took over. Back then….there was no question if there’d be a Dome on the Adirondack. There was! A CP Rail ‘Skyline’…leased to the D&H and repainted in D&H colours.

 

[NS VIA Fan]

The northbound and southbound trains met at Whitehall later that afternoon







Here’s our arrival at Montreal’s CP Windsor Station and my only disappointment? The Alco PA locomotive wasn’t leading!



…..then I headed over to CN’s Gare Centrale to catch the ‘Scotian’ back home.

 

[jiml]

Another great flashback in pictures! Thanks for including two of my favourite locomotives as well - the D&H PA and an FPA-2, if I'm not mistaken. (Also a big FPA-4 fan.) The PA's looked every bit as good in D&H livery as they had on Santa Fe.

 

[Bob Dylan]

Thanks for sharing, brings back many Happy memories of riding the Rails on CN and CP back in the Day!

 

[railiner]

Great nostalgia! Thanks so much for posting.
Just to be clear...one reading this might be led to believe that the train was a D&H train from Albany to Montreal, and D&H even treated it as if it were...
But the fact is, it was an Amtrak train all the way. D&H was one of the many railroads that joined Amtrak in the beginning, to give up its passenger trains.

 

[velotrain]

I believe the high bridge in the third image is at Poughkeepsie and it is now a ped/bike bridge - Walkway Over the Hudson State Historic Park.

I liked the vestibules also - they made it easy to dash from side to side, and you could even open the window for a quick shot when no train staff was around, and even then they were largely sympathetic.

 

[lstone19]

FWIW, my Day 1 (8/6/74) picture of the first southbound at Whitehall. The square format suggests I took these on an Instamatic and unfortunately, the picture I took of the northbound meeting the southbound a few minutes later is slightly out of focus.

 

[jiml]

FWIW, my Day 1 (8/6/74) picture of the first southbound at Whitehall. The square format suggests I took these on an Instamatic and unfortunately, the picture I took of the northbound meeting the southbound a few minutes later is slightly out of focus.

View attachment 14940

Has there ever been a better-looking locomotive?

 

[railiner]

Has there ever been a better-looking locomotive?

I know the ALCO PA's are a fan favorite, but to my eyes, the more familiar shape of an EMD 'E' is more aesthetically pleasing...especially the earlier slanted noses of the E-6 and the unique stainless steel Burlington E-5's. I do like the last E-8 and E-9 sides better, with the grill and porthole's over the earlier ones...
And nothing stir's me so much as the 'chant' of those GM 2-stroke diesel's....

 

[jiml]

I know the ALCO PA's are a fan favorite, but to my eyes, the more familiar shape of an EMD 'E' is more aesthetically pleasing...especially the earlier slanted noses of the E-6 and the unique stainless steel Burlington E-5's. I do like the last E-8 and E-9 sides better, with the grill and porthole's over the earlier ones...
And nothing stir's me so much as the 'chant' of those GM 2-stroke diesel's....

I think part of it stems from there being far less of them than the GM equivalents. The way the Santa Fe (and D&H) painted theirs really set them apart - especially when compared with more mundane schemes like L&N. That having been said, I'm partial to cab units of any variety.

 

[NS VIA Fan]

I know the ALCO PA's are a fan favorite, but to my eyes, the more familiar shape of an EMD 'E' is more aesthetically pleasing...especially the earlier slanted noses of the E-6 and the unique stainless steel Burlington E-5's. I do like the last E-8 and E-9 sides better, with the grill and porthole's over the earlier ones...
And nothing stir's me so much as the 'chant' of those GM 2-stroke diesel's....

My favorite units were MLW FPA-4 passenger units with a nose profile very similar to an ALCO PA. Here’s 6767 at Truro NS with a long eastbound Ocean Limited in May ‘72.



We did get GM (EMD) FP9s in the Maritimes occasionally but the norm was an MLW unit. (Halifax 1974)



There were only three ‘E’ units ever bought new by a Canadian railway. The CPR bought them for a locomotive pool in conjunction with B&M on the Montreal-Boston run. They eventually were used on the Atlantic Limited. (Below at Saint John, New Brunswick in 1971)

 

[NS VIA Fan]

FWIW, my Day 1 (8/6/74) picture of the first southbound at Whitehall. The square format suggests I took these on an Instamatic and unfortunately, the picture I took of the northbound meeting the southbound a few minutes later is slightly out of focus.

Thanks for that! Really like that old Instamatic shot!

I've been going through a few of my old instamatics lately and impressed how well the colours have held up.

 

[jiml]

My favorite units were MLW FPA-4 passenger units with a nose profile very similar to an ALCO PA. Here’s 6767 at Truro NS with a long eastbound Ocean Limited in May ‘72.

We did get GM (EMD) FP9s in the Maritimes occasionally but the norm was an MLW unit. (Halifax 1974)

There were only three ‘E’ units ever bought new by a Canadian railway. The CPR bought them for a locomotive pool in conjunction with B&M on the Montreal-Boston run. They eventually were used on the Atlantic Limited. (Below at Saint John, New Brunswick in 1971)

Great pictures (as always)! I really have to start digging mine out. Living in Southern Ontario all my life, it was interesting to see the separation of the cab units as you've described. If you were east of Toronto, MLW's would be most prevalent on CN. If you wanted GM units you'd either have to look at CP or go west of Toronto. The three things I remember most about the FPA-4's (and 2's) was their aggressive look, the speeds they were capable of, and of course the unmistakable sound. Oddly a few did wander west as far as Winnipeg - usually as part of a Canadian/Super-Continental consist. When VIA took over the F's and FPA's became more mixed, with F's from both founding railroads showing up everywhere, especially as the FPA's were retired.