Cascades, Canadian, Maple Leaf, Lake Shore and Empire Builder

[zephyr17]

Okay, I said I was going to blog this time and I will. This will be the first "normal" version of my annual November New York via Canada since 2019. No buses, no avoiding VIA's Canadian and staying in the US because they were keeping you in your room on it, no avoiding extra border crossings because of random testing and general weirdness.

Day One (Saturday, 10/29)
A friend of mine picked me up to catch Cascades at 6:30 this morning after a much too short a night due to last minute prep/packing. I always forget something, hopefully not this time, but time will tell. Went to breakfast at Denny's (the one place both of us were sure was both open and had quick service), then off to the Everett, WA Amtrak station, arriving at 7:40 am. Checked my big bag (which weighed in at 49 1/2 pounds, talk about cutting it close! Well, I need 8 days worth of clothes to make it to my first laundromat day, plus the duffel I use onboard the Canadian, plus a fifth of vodka and 6 little bottles of tonic). The station agent came out to talk with my friend and I, said she thought she recognized my name (I used that station a lot before COVID cut Cascades service to it). Told a funny story about a bunch of happily buzzed Irish on the train a couple weeks ago when she and her husband (also an Amtrak employee) were on.

The new, three Horizon car Cascades 516 showed up right on time. It is the first time I've been on an Horizon Cascade. First, the good.

The crew was the typical friendly, accommodating Cascades crew. Welcoming, no hassles about passengers using the cafe tables even if they weren't consuming cafe products (which turned out to be important, more on that in a bit). A good crew. I must say, Seattle based OBS are usually good to stellar and this crew was no exception.

We were dead bang on time almost the whole way. The only delay was we had a long dwell in Bellingham because the station wasn't staffed today for some reason, so the train crew worked the checked baggage themselves. What a concept! At least for bags and bikes checked there. Don't know if they accepted baggage. We made up almost all of the time loss, arriving at Pacific Central Station a whole 2 minutes late.

Once at Pacific Central I had the smoothest and best primary inspection experience with CBSA I've ever had. Presented my NEXUS card and declaration. The agent asked the reason for the trip, told her I was taking the train to Toronto, asked how long I was staying in Toronto, told her just overnight, heading to New York the next day. She asked if I was taking Amtrak to New York, I said yes, she smiled and said "you've done this before" and wished me a nice trip. Went out of my way to declare the booze (the rules are technically you must declare all liquor even if not asked, and I protect my NEXUS card least partly through zealous compliance. That thing is just too handy to lose. As a condition of NEXUS membership, you expected to know and proactively comply with all the rules). She said "enjoy it" and waved me on. I was there for maybe 60-90 seconds.

Now, the bad. BC on those Horizons is crappy. No overhead luggage racks! BC was almost full, with three seats open at Everett and two passsengers boarding. I wound up as a "single" on the double side in a bulkhead seat with half a window on side and a storage closet across the aisle with no tray table. Those Horizon BC cars are like really bad imitations of the Amfleet half BC/cafes. I got a seatmate taking the last BC seat at Bellingham, and we agreed that Amtrak shouldn't even sell that row as BC. Take out those seats and use the space for luggage storage, which those cars are desperately short on. It is a good thing I checked the big bag (compliant in dimensions as an Amtrak carry on, BTW). There was no room for it on the car.

After clearing Customs and Immigration, walked over to the Main Street/Science World Skytrain station, crossed Main Street at surface level because the elevators are on that side and loaded a Translink Day Pass on my Compass "Concession" (read "senior") card. I am up in Vancouver enough that I got a permanent card. Took an Expo Line train to Burrard and humped all my crap to my hotel about a 1/2 mile to my hotel at Burrard and Nelson. They had a room ready, thank God, 'cause I'd had it at that point.

Wandered out a couple hours later, took the bus to money up with CAD at a ScotiaBank (no out of network fees for BOA accountholders there) and grabbed an early dinner at a favorite pub on Granville. Really good fish and chips. Still don't like "mushy peas" though. I wonder who considered the adjective "mushy" to be positive.

Writing this in the hotel bar and will head up to room and bag it for today. Maybe no report tomorrow as it is a layover day and will just wander around doing usual Vancouver stuff. Added a long layover in case I had to deal with random testing, which was still in force when I made the reservation.

Out on VIA 2 on Monday, October 31st.

 

[OBS]

Enjoy your trip! Hope to get my Via travel in during the winter. Looking forward to your experience with the "buffer" car.

 

[zephyr17]

Days Two and Three
I am going to take advantage of the board's spiffy draft auto save and kind of do it as I go along. This entry will probably cover up through boarding. It is also in no particular chronological order.

This is the very first time I've ever had a problem with VIA ticketing. They had changed my room, since the 218 car I had been booked into apparently was not going to run and it dropped to a manual ticket at that time. I arrived at the station a bit early to work that out. It turned out VIA had stuck on an additionalcharge of an extra $722! I think it lost discount fare class when they moved me. The agent asked me if I had done anything to reservation, I said I hadn't, VIA had just moved me. He worked on the computer for a bit, then was able to print out my ticket (without charging me extra). I got to the station about at about 12:30, 1/2 hour earlier than I usually do, to work that through. Glad I did. Was clear of that before well before check in started. Was the second sleeper plus passenger in line to check in. Now out on Pacific Central Station's Panorama Lounge patio, waiting to board and listening to the scanner.

Spent a couple hours doing a bit of fine tuning the scanner set up last night based on my 2018 Canadian Railway Guide, prior experience at Vancouver with station service frequencies, and the new array of quick frequency changes the last mile or so into Pacific Central Station that I picked up coming in on the Cascades Saturday. Basically reorganizing it with a scan bank for pre-departure and a scan set from here to the Fraser River Bridge. Once clear of that VIA is pretty easy, just the CN end-to-end road channel and VIA's onboard service channel. CN "RTC" (Canadian for "dispatcher"-those do change with the territory, unlike the road channel) if I want, and a set for the eastward run on CP through the Fraser/Thompson Canyon paired track.

Okay, picking it up. Onboard and underway. Got room set up, fully duct taped and wired up. Left on time, sitting at Brunette just short of New Westminister.


Got more pix, but getting a parsing response error message, so will post this and try another post.

 

[zephyr17]

Okay, shot from Pacific Central Station patio, bumper car Thompson Manor and Glacier Park.



I like to keep the cords well out of the way.


Beats the heck out of that Horizon BC...

 

[Steve4031]

Enjoy. I will be following this one.

 

[zephyr17]

Day 4

Great ride so far. Dinner was excellent last night, rack of lamb. Haven't really picked up the current trend of taking pictures of food, so no picture of it.

Just about to leave Jasper, 2:45 down. Which isn't terrible as far as VIA Canadian timekeeping goes. Had two different freights break down ahead of us. Conceivable we might make up the time by Winnipeg, thanks to VIA's enormous pass, but not by Edmonton. Jasper- Edmonton has always been one of CN's black holes anyway.

Maybe because we were running late so people's plans got thrown off, but there was space open in the Park dome through Yellowhorse/Red Oass

Winter has arrived in Jasper, snow covered, about 28° F.

View of Thompson Manor from Glacier Park's Bullet Lounge




Washing the domes...

 

[jiml]

View attachment 30229

There's a picture worth the proverbial thousand words.

 

[railiner]

Okay, shot from Pacific Central Station patio, bumper car Thompson Manor and Glacier Park.
View attachment 30209


I like to keep the cords well out of the way.
View attachment 30210

Beats the heck out of that Horizon BC...
View attachment 30212View attachment 30211

I noticed that sign restricting the Park "railfan seat" to Prestige Class passenger's...that would upset me if I was in Sleeper Plus Class. Is that at all times?
I would prefer that they would instead restrict one entire Park car to Prestige, and the other open to Sleeper Plus with no restrictions, when running two during the peak season....

 

[zephyr17]

I noticed that sign restricting the Park "railfan seat" to Prestige Class passenger's...that would upset me if I was in Sleeper Plus Class. Is that at all times?
I would prefer that they would instead restrict one entire Park car to Prestige, and the other open to Sleeper Plus with no restrictions, when running two during the peak season....

Sleeper Plus has unlimited access to its own Skyline dome, two Sleeper Plus Skylines in peak season. The railfan seat in the Skyline(s) is available (though it's a table in those).

The forward most row in the Park's dome is reserved for Prestige no matter what the load. Two to four dome rows are usually reserved for Prestige in the Park, depending on the load. I have never seen an attendant ask someone to move, most people seem to respect it.

Personally, I respect it during the day. I love riding domes at night and there are few to no people are up there then. I take the railfan seat in the empty or near empty dome then and no one has ever said a word and the attendants know darn well I am in Sleeper Plus.

Sticking a finished end Park in the middle of the consist where the Sleeper Plus cars are is infeasible. You can't put a diaphragm on one so that would prevent passage through it, as well as turning the Bullet Lounge into an aisle even if you could. Skyline domes are designed for mid train service.

 

[JWM]

I don't know what Via/CN/Canada Transport is up to with this "bumper" car is. Those Budd cars have been operating safely since the mid-1950's, they are well maintained etc. Blocking that view out the rear is a bummer.

 

[railiner]

Sleeper Plus has unlimited access to its own Skyline dome, two Sleeper Plus Skylines in peak season. The railfan seat in the Skyline(s) is available (though it's a table in those).

The forward most row in the Park's dome is reserved for Prestige no matter what the load. Two to four dome rows are usually reserved for Prestige in the Park, depending on the load. I have never seen an attendant ask someone to move, most people seem to respect it.

Personally, I respect it during the day. I love riding domes at night and there are few to no people are up there then. I take the railfan seat in the empty or near empty dome then and no one has ever said a word and the attendants know darn well I am in Sleeper Plus.

Sticking a finished end Park in the middle of the consist where the Sleeper Plus cars are is infeasible. You can't put a diaphragm on one so that would prevent passage through it, as well as turning the Bullet Lounge into an aisle even if you could. Skyline domes are designed for mid train service.

Thanks for that clarification…I forgot that there was one Park, and that the rest were Skylines.
Wish they didn’t have that table in the Skyline, because the railfan seat is then facing backwards.

 

[zephyr17]

Yeah

Thanks for that clarification…I forgot that there was one Park, and that the rest were Skylines.
Wish they didn’t have that table in the Skyline, because the railfan seat is then facing backwards.

Agree there, also wish they hadn't turned them around ar some point so the dome stairs were still in the back so night viewing was better. The Skylines were delivered that way but IIRC, the switch happened under CP operation, so can't blame VIA for that. Not sure about the tables, I don't recall those in Skylines when I rode it back in the 80s, but not positive.

 

[railiner]

Yeah

Agree there, also wish they hadn't turned them around ar some point so the dome stairs were still in the back so night viewing was better. The Skylines were delivered that way but IIRC, the switch happened under CP operation, so can't blame VIA for that. Not sure about the tables, I don't recall those in Skylines when I rode it back in the 80s, but not positive.

Agree here again. The stairs belong in the rear. That was one fault of Santa Fe's Super Chief "Pleasure Dome"...It was very luxurious with only 18 2&1 seats, but the stairs were forward.
When I rode the VIA Rail train to Jonquiere a few years ago, they had already installed the tables in the Skyline dome.

 

[zephyr17]

Agree here again. The stairs belong in the rear. That was one fault of Santa Fe's Super Chief "Pleasure Dome"...It was very luxurious with only 18 2&1 seats, but the stairs were forward.
When I rode the VIA Rail train to Jonquiere a few years ago, they had already installed the tables in the Skyline dome.

They've had the tables since I started riding it regularly again, call it 2008 or 2009.

 

[jpakala]

As an upper berth passenger in1967 I rode the Park observation dome a lot and no domes had tables or backward seats. It was great.

 

[zephyr17]

Day Four (afternoon),Five and Six, and Seven

Well, various kinds of excitement. Both 1 & 2 in the station at the same time in Edmonton. A text emergency alert of a murder in Melville, SK. A window broken in the Park Car, rock or a bullet? Smart money seems to be on bullet. A potash train broken in two. A pretty good VIA crew calling screw up.

Where to begin?

Edmonton. We were running about 3 hours late, and 1 got there before we did though wasn't scheduled to leave until 11:59 pm. So both trains were there at the same time. They engineers coordinated over the radio, and 1 went into what they called the "back track", a track beside the platform track and did not do its station work. We backed into the platform track, did our station work and left. 1 moved onto the platforms track after we left.

Bad picture of 1 on Edmonton's "back track" as we were backing in. Note it is a lot longer than we were. I think we were the first "winter" consist (Vancouver is the train's base. Consists are made up there and go round trip to Toronto).



We were still down about 2 hours in Saskatoon thr next morning. We were making up time, unlike a few years ago, CN was setting up tight meets for us, no putting us in a siding and leaving us there for two hours at a time if there was an opposing train within 100 miles. But dispatchers, excuse me, RTC, can't prevent a potash train from pulling a knuckle and breaking in two between sidings on single track. So we lost the hour we made up and another hour to boot. RTC snuggled us up a freight right behind us on the siding to wait for the broken potash to clear. I was in the diner for lunch when the potash train finally roared by. The diner burst into spontaneous applause.

Along about this time, people's cell phones started going off with emergency alert texts. Someone got murdered in Melville, SK and the suspect had not been caught.

Later that afternoon, I was up in the Park we were approaching Melville and something hit the center panel of the Park's forward dome window, shattering it. General opinion based on the force of the impact, is someone took a shot at us. The SM came up and asked us about when it happened, he had to write up an incident report. I was able to work out with my Canadian Trackside Guide happened on Hubbard (? the book is packed away right now) siding. We were passing a train at the time, we had already come off the end of a short stretch of 2 main track at Jasmin, but hadn't gotten as far the next siding past Hubbard. So I showed the SM it had happened around MP 28.4 of the Watrous Sub, which he said helped.


We were about 3 1/2 hours late again out of Melville and the SM announced we might not make Winnipeg until 1:00 am. But CN did keep us moving and we got into Winnipeg about 11:30 pm, only about 90 minutes late. I didn't get off the train, and remained in my roomette while they did the crew change and serviced the train. Along about 12:00 am, they were calling on the radio asking if anyone had seen the outgoing engineers. About 12:15 am the station agent came on and said VIA crew calling hadn't adjusted the call time for the engineers for our earlier arrival and they were called for 1:30 am. I pulled the blind and went to sleep.

Woke up, opened the blind, saw we were moving through woods, turned over and went back to sleep. Woke up for real at Sioux Lookout about 8:30 am.

My general habit on both VIA and Amtrak is to put on yesterday's clothes, get breakfast, then shower and put on fresh clothes after the early shower rush is done with. Had to ring for the attendant to get a another "shower kit" (two bath towels, with a little soap and shampoo in a plastic bag), having already used the two towels I got in Vancouver. VIA has a designated towel bin for used towels in the shower, with the shower kit, no stack of towels in the shower, usually on the seat, and no red bag full of used towels squatting on the floor. Makes the dressing area a lot more open, plus it is bigger than Amtrak's showers in the first place.

They've stopped making shower "appointments" like they still were doing in March, so the shower is unlocked when no one is using it and you can use it any time again.

Again, CN dispatching was fairly good through the day meets were mostly tight with little delay, but lost more time, we were almost 4 hours down by Armstrong. Meals were uniformly excellent, had a burger for lunch. My only complaint about the burger is it was cooked medium well, but that is a Canadian health reg, and all burgers are like that up here, not just on VIA.

In a tribute to padding, while nearly 4 hours late at Armstrong, we were only about 90 minutes late into Hornepayne. This time VIA crew callers had their act together and the outbound engineer was there. However, more excitement in Hornepayne, someone on board was having trouble breathing and they radioed ahead and had paramedics were waiting for us. Got off and walked around a bit. The paramedics had the gurney out and ready, but the general consensus was they did load anyone on the ambulance and when the left they didn't have the lights on. Can't say I blame the person if they refused transport. I wouldn't want to be stuck in Hornepayne, either.



While CN dispatching had generally been good over the whole trip, most delays were not in their control, trains breaking down (or in two), at Hornepayne they reverted to their bad old ways. They held us for like 90 minutes for two westbound stack trains. Dinner service while sitting in Hornepayne.

After dinner, I headed back to the Park for more a last night of dome riding. I love dome cars at night, and now bring along little 8" square (roughly) pieces of cardboard I can use as baffles over the floor lights on the first three rows to improve night viewing. Usually I am alone up there, but three other people came up around the time I did. I had a martini, and that started a trend. We ended up having a little martini up in the dome.
By the next morning, we had gone from over 3 hours late of Hornepayne to 13 minutes early in Parry Sound.

They were doing a "brunch" service that morning, but the menu was breakfast except for vegetarian lasagna. No complaints, though.

After breakfast, de-duct taped and packed up my roomette as we went from rural Ontario to exurban Toronto, and finally to Toronto Union Station. We arrived at about 12:45 pm, nearly 2 hours early. We had "made up" nearly 5 hours between Hornepayne and Toronto and had been between 90 minutes and 4 hours late the whole way. Now that is some impressive schedule padding.

My bag was about the last one that showed up on the baggage conveyor, but it did show. Gathered all my stuff up and started hauling it to my hotel for my overnight layover.

While apparently eternal construction project that is Toronto Union Station is nearly done, they are still messing around in the back. Had a bit of trouble finding the back exit from the VIA concourse, they've shifted things around again and are still working back there. The back way is by far the closest and quickest to my hotel.

Am actually finishing this up onboard the Maple Leaf, but want to get this posted. Will do a further post on general thoughts on the VIA Canadian and one on today's ride on the Leaf.

 

[Steve4031]

A great report. Thank you.

 

[zephyr17]

Well. I was working on the Maple Leaf report, but hadn't posted it, and the site dropped it. It was like 90% done. Oh well, should have made a copy.

Anyway, here it is again, the Maple Leaf.

After settling in to my hotel, went back to Union Station (the "front" way, just to change things up) to eat an early supper at WVRST, which now has a location right in the station, just inside the University Street entrance on the lower level. I've been to WVRST at the first/main location on W. King St. on longer layovers, and know I like it. Their hours at Union Station are tailored to commuters, btw. Had a "kaas" (cheese kielbasa) sandwich and several steins of Paulaner Munchener Helles.

Got up at 6:30, packed my remaining things. Had done most of the big repacking to eliminate the separate duffel the night before, checked out at 7:30 and walked back to Union Station the "back" way, arriving at the gate at about 7:40.

The VIA gate agent started getting people lined up for boarding in two lines at about 7:45, one for border crossers, another for Canadian destinations. The number of people crossing the border was far and away the largest number I've ever seen on the Leaf. It had to have been at least 50. In my previous crossings on it, it has been no more than 20, often far less. The agent went down the line checking documents and passing out the special border crossing baggage tags, the first time I recall then doing that on the Canadian side. BTW, skipping ahead a bit, US CBP doesn't pay any attention to them, either. After he checked everyone in line, he called to board Business Class, and all the BC passengers went up to the platform.


We boarded through the rear vestibule of the rear Amfleet I, crossed over to the cafe/BC and went through to BC in the rear. I got a seat on the single side, though it only had half a window. BC only had one empty seat once everyone boarded, and all the BC passengers were going across. Contrary to some reports here, BC passengers were seated in BC for the run to the border.

We left on time, but in Hamilton, we stopped and the engineer called RTC (dispatcher), saying the signals indicated we weren't lined for the correct route. I was unable to catch most of RTC's side of the conversation, but at one point the engineer said "...we don't stop there..." After a bit more garble from RTC, the engineer replied "...permission to take the signal...". Soon enough after that, RTC apparently relined the plant and we were on our way after about 10 minutes.

VIA staffed the train with a service manager and a cafe attendant. They didn't offer any hot food, which I didn't expect, and the menu was not really breakfast oriented, unless you consider a turkey sandwich a breakfast item. Still, I thought it was classy of VIA to staff it for the short ride, and she stayed open until we left St. Catherine's, a pretty short distance from Niagara Falls. I had yogurt with granola and some coffee, btw.

At Niagara Falls, ON, the SM came on the PA with a thanks for riding message and said Amtrak conductors would be boarding to take us across the bridge. The conductors came on, spoke about the border inspection procedures and we slowly made our way across the Whirlpool Bridge, first time since 2018 as we were bustituted on my 2019 trip.

At Niagara Falls we all piled off the train with all our stuff, everyone in both BC and coach through the rear vestibule of that last Amfleet I. Once out on the platform, I saw that in the process of saddling up my stuff, I had apparently flipped my Customs declaration out of the backpack pocket I'd stashed it in. I told the CBP officer on the platform and asked if they had more inside. He said not to worry about it, he'd get me one. So I joined towards the end of the longest border inspection line up I've ever seen at the Niagara Falls station. Sure enough, a few minutes later that CBP officer came down the line with a declaration form for me.

At the back of the seating area there was a counter, so when I reached it, I dropped out of the line to fill it out on the counter. The people who had been just behind me very graciously invited me to resume my former place after I finished my replacement form.

Unusually for most border inspections, they've started doing the Customs inspection before the immigration inspection at NFL, probably due figuring out the placement of the massive X-ray machine they've put in since my last trip. That X-ray probably dashes the last, faint hope of the return of onboard inspections at NFL. No way is CBP going to schlep that thing onboard.

Although I resumed my place in line, I was still behind an Eastern European babushka whose baggage consisted of like 10 tied off Walmart bags on a collapsible laundry cart, and who seemed unclear on the concept she was crossing an international border. The CBP agents were quite gentle with her although she got quite flummoxed when asked about food ("...eggs? I've got eggs..."). Eventually she got all the Walmart bags on the X-ray conveyor. I thought for sure they would pull her into secondary ag inspection, but they didn't.

I put all my stuff on the conveyor, declared my fifth of vodka and went on to Immigration. The CBP agent was quick, professional, and polite. I did not get the question about why I was in Niagara Falls when I live in Washington that I often get, although the agent did spend what seemed an unusually long time reviewing his computer screen. I do have a rather extensive history of US/Canada land crossings, perhaps he was reviewing that.

Anyway, I was cleared and for the first time, the train was already open for reboarding once I got through.

Looking back over the Whirlpool Bridge into Canada.

As I said, everyone in BC crossed, but not everyone made it back on the train at NFL. There was a family of 4 speaking French. I do not know if they were Quebecers or French, and the (presumed) father had been punctilious about filling out their names on the useless border bag tags, which nobody else did. I do not know if they were just ticketed to NFL or if they got held/not admitted by CBP. I do know that there were free seats in BC all the way to New York, which typically fills up through upstate New York. Light load or seats booked but not occupied?


The Amtrak attendant opened the cafe after Buffalo Exchange Street. He was personable, friendly and professional and was open when he was supposed to be. He came back and made announcements on opening and closing to BC before making the general ones.

My only real complaint: the bathroom in the car was closed with the "occupied" light permanently on. I asked about it, wanting to go and he said it was out of order. I very innocently replied that it had been working out of Toronto (which it had been). He looked a bit nonplussed and muttered something about the water, the conductor, who was seated at a table tight beside us in the aisle and overheard this, gave a slight smile. I didn't press it, and went up to the next car, where the sink wasn't draining and was filled with something that looked like soup.

He also made an announcement about no laptops in the cafe, but otherwise didn't appear to have a bee up his butt about passengers using tables while not actively eating.

The conductor NFL-ALB was friendly and downright jovial. We were early into Syracuse and he let passengers off for a bit. The passenger behind me detrained and I took the opportunity to move back to that one acquiring a full window. Out on the platform I asked if it was okay, he said sure and asked if I moved the "slip of paper above my seat"
I replied I had moved the seat check and he said "Great".

At some point I had a chicken panini. It was okay. It made me miss VIA, though.

13 minutes early into a Schenectady and the conductor called another smoke break and said we had enough time to go down into the new station there. I did, and it is quite nice.

Still was 5 minutes early into Albany. Looked at asm.transitdocs.com and it looked like everything coming out of Penn was delayed, some by a lot. 448 was already there. Went up into the station, had a beer at little cafe/coffee place there. Left Albany on time for a quick run down the Hudson and arrived at Penn Statiom about 10 minutes early. My impression is they are spotting trains a bit further west than they were last year. In any case, in this episode of NYP escalator roulette, the closest escalator brought me up into Moynihan.


So I humped everything from 8th & 33rd to my hotel on 37th between 5th & 6th.

Next installment, day trip/points run to Philly (where I am finishing this off).

 

[Maglev]

Thank you for the detailed trip report! I admire your dedication for going up to the station and having a beer in Albany.

 

[zetharion]

Great report so far! Winter Canadian is on my bucket list far into the future.

 

[zephyr17]

A Day Trip to Philly. NE Regional and Acela Business

I lost the day count, sorry, but it's a long trip.

Anyway, on Wednesday, I took a day trip down to Philly. It was partly a points run (it'll get me over the line for Select status renewal) and partly to see the National Constitution Center, which I missed on my Independence Hall Philly run last year.

I went down on NE Regional 125 (saver, $19). I had intended to use the lounge passes I got for Select this year, but for the life of me could not find them. Hope they go electronic next time because I hopeless with actual, physical items these days. However, I decided I had a lot of points, so I cashed some in for two lounge passes.

Got to Moynihan at about 10:30 am for my 11:35 train. I bought that lounge pass and intended to enjoy it. The lounge pass was on my Amtrak app and was scanned with no issues at Moynihan's Met Lounge.



Got the famed breakfast bialy, which was excellent, with lots of bacon stuffed in it, and settled in to wait for them to call 125.



They called 125 at around 11:10 in the Met Lounge, but when I got down, the line up was already pretty long for track 14. I didn't try to dodge it through the West End Concourse or anything, but took my place in the queue. I sort of understand the use of gate agents/dragons monitoring platform access at Penn. Those platforms are narrow and further obstructed by the support columns for MSG (grrrr!). I was held up just before going down to platform level and it was clear they were coordinating to control the number of people on the platform.

Soon enough they let me down and I walked far down to consist and boarded on the coach behind the cafe after peeking in the windows to see how many people were in it.

It was very sparsely populated, like maybe 10 people in my coach when I boarded. Grabbed a window seat on the right side so as to have the best possible view of the wonders of New Jersey.

Right on time we departed Penn/Moynihan, and descended beneath the Hudson.

Fast run down to Philly. Didn't bring scanner, didn't want to burden myself with it in Philly and prior experience showed that between cab signalling and ACSES PTC there really is not a heck of a lot of radio traffic on the NEC so wasn't much of a "value add" as we used to say in my pre-retirement days.

I have to say I enjoyed the remaining classic Pennsy caternary supports and the position color light signals.

Got into Philly right on time, went over to the SEPTA concourse to avail myself of the free transfer to Jefferson Station. Have to say the SEPTA displays are quite confusing, being split by line. The MN displays at GCT and LIRR at Penn are much more intuitive to me. In any case, the optical scanner at the handicapped gate let me through on my Amtrak ticket, a SEPTA employee directed me to the right platform for the next train heading to Jefferson and I enjoyed 30th Street Station magnificent headhouse and the classic Bush trainshed at 30th's suburban track level.


Wound up on the "wrong" end of Jefferson Station in some kind of shopping mall. My intended destination was Reading Terminal Market and a DiNic's roast pork sandwich. Found my way out of the mall, onto the street, and back to Reading Terminal Market and my sandwich.

Went to the National Constitution Center, when I was done there, walked over to Rotten Ralph's, a quasi-dive bar I discovered last year. Hung out there until about 7, then got a Lyft back to 30th Street Station.

I buzzed in to 30th Street Station's Metropolitan Lounge, got my other lounge pass scanned and went in. I was the only person in the lounge at first! This was my first time in Philly's lounge and I liked it very much. The attendant was great and it's on a balcony with a lot of Pennsy memorabilia. Very nice little lounge.


The attendant called the lounge elevator to track 4 and it took me down to track level. I was the only person from the lounge for Acela 2126.

I took the Acela back, wanting a reserved seat back from Philly, having heard of issues with seating at PHL northbound. The NE Regional BC seats were over $100 and the Acela was $49. No brainer.

Fast ride back to NYP. The Acela does get up and go, and seemed smoother than the Regional.


Next installment, on 49 tomorrow...

 

[Mystic River Dragon]

I’m glad you enjoyed 30th Street and the lovely Philly lounge.

The mall you ran into at Jefferson is called the Fashion District and is a renovation of the Gallery Mall. Renovated because the Gallery had a reputation for being a bit rough with lots of empty stores.

As far as I can tell, not much of a difference—basic stores and lots of empty storefronts last time I was at Jefferson and ended up at the “wrong” end for getting to Reading Terminal Market. To be fair, it’s been a couple of years since I was there, so there might be more stores now.

Basic food court on the bottom level.

Everyone still calls it the Gallery, and it doesn’t seem to be the tourist attraction they hoped it would be.

Glad you found your way out of there and to RTM—a much more worthwhile destination.

 

[zephyr17]

The Lake Shore Limited. 11/12, Day 15.

Sorta getting the reporting back on a more timely basis, as I am sitting in Chicago's Metropolitan Lounge on Sunday 11/13 having arrived a bit early in Chicago.

Arrived at Moynihan Train Hall at about 12:40 pm having walked from my hotel on 37th between 5th & 6th. I was pretty much beat after a very late night and walking about 5 miles a day every day for week, which I am unaccustomed to.



Amtrak gave me a scare on Friday when I got an automated call from them. With the issues the Builder had been having all week, and knowing that 8(12) was cancelled during to equipment balancing and probably getting crews fully rested, I had been fearful of my ride getting cancelled. Happily it was a warning that it was expected to be a heavy travel day and that checked baggage would have to be checked 2 hours in advance(!). Also that there would temporarily no day parcel check available in Chicago.

Anyway, Moynihan did not really seem any busier than usual, and the Metropolitan Lounge was fairly empty.

Knew I was going to be there awhile, settled in and had an excellent Santa Fe Chicken sandwich and equipped myself with a good salad to eat onboard the Lake Shore instead of the sad, little limp excuse for a salad served with Flex.

They called the train in the lounge about 3:20, although there was already a line up for Track 6 when we got down there.

Roomette 2 was on the platform side, so I was able to use the Windex wipes I brought to good effect cleaning the filthy windows. Used about half the pack, but I had the only clean windows on the train. A good thing, as it was a sunny afternoon and the normally filthy window would have been pretty much opaque from sun glare. Another item to my standard Amtrak kit if traveling on eastern LDs.

Much to my surprise, 4911 was a Viewliner II, as was 4912. So both NY sleepers are Viewliner IIs now.

This was my first time in a Viewliner II and overall, I have to say I like them better than the V Is.

Pros:
- Seems like more outlets. Two by the head end of the of the bed, two by mirror. Did not have to break out my power strip for my CPAP and chargers, a first for Amtrak.
- An actual, by God, thermostat controlling the wall heat instead of a mystery dial. Furthermore, it actually seemed to work! I noticed floor/wall heat coming up when I did not want it. Found the thermostat (was looking for a dial), turned it down from 73° to 68° and the heat stopped! And it maintained 68°!
- Simple, straightforward rocker switches controlling the lights instead of the weird panels on the Is.
- Little extra storage (and lack of potty). Nice little cubby suitable for a backpacks under the step where the toilet is on the I's. I wasn't a fan of the V I roomette's toilet, so the extra storage is an improvement in my view.
- Curtain material is thicker than the lighter dark blue stuff that replaced the old blackout curtains. Also the track guides for the window are intact and not half broken (yet).

Cons:
- The luggage cubby is noticeably smaller. Barely fit my bigger bag and couldn't get it behind the rail. Much less deep. Cannot think of a reason for this change.
- Door lock. No old fashioned Pullman lock. Lock built into door that operates a hook the grabs onto something in the jam. Discovered that you have to press the door hard against the jam to turn/operate it. Felt like I locked myself in when the thing was very reluctant to turn. Thing also unlocked itself in the middle of the night and the door rolled open with a bang. I wonder how long it'll be until they get retrofitted with Pullman locks like everything else.

Overall, I like the V II's better than V Is.

The SCA, David, and "sleeper lounge" attendant (didn't catch the name) were about the best I've ever had in the east. Friendly and attentive, a nice change from my usual experience on the Eastern LDs.

Quick afternoon run up the Hudson on a pretty, sunny fall afternoon.





I was completely wiped out and decided on an early dinner at 5. Riding up Hudson I am always put in mind of Eva Marie Saint, Cary Grant, Gibsons, and little trouty but nice. A TV dinner of flex dining short ribs was, well, what it was. The attendant was very nice, though.

We were a bit early into Albany, I briefly headed up into the station, then back down to watch them put 449 and 49 together. Engine 707 which took us from NYC was uncoupled and pulled away, and the backed a third engine down to 449 on Track 1. They got it hooked up, tested, etc, pulled 449 forward and backed it down to couple onto 49 on Track 3. I am not sure why we needed three engines for a 10 car train, the Water Level Route isn't exactly the Rockies, but three we had.

We were ready to go on time, but the station came on and told us operations said to hold for 9 passengers who had missed their connection and had been put on 253. So we held for 253.

The 9 pax were apparently all on a group ticket and were bound for Buffalo. So 253 shows up and the crew comes on the radio with station about getting the "...nine buffaloes..." on board. Makes a nice image...

I was done in, rang for SCA David to have my room made up for the night. He turned up reasonably quickly, put the bed down and wished me a good night.

I went down hard and pretty much slept for about 10 1/2 hours, waking up in Buffalo where my door banged open and another time pre-dawn.

Woke up for good as we were pulling into Waterloo, IN and we were pretty much on time. Weather entirely different from the previous afternoon, it was snowing pretty good in northeastern Indiana.

For once, NS didn't put anything in front of us, even west of Porter. Clears all the way across Indiana and into Chicago (NS require all signals to be called, not just less than clear). We got to Chicago 37 minutes early at 9:35 and I was in the Metropolitan Lounge by 9:45 am.

Finishing this aboard the Builder. More on that later.

 

[zephyr17]

Quick Builder report.

We've got two Siemens. Two engine alerts with loss of HEP since Chicago. On the radio, engineer to conductor after the second alert: "Gee, these units are fun!"

 

[trimetbusfan]

The Lake Shore Limited. 11/12, Day 15.

Sorta getting the reporting back on a more timely basis, as I am sitting in Chicago's Metropolitan Lounge on Sunday 11/13 having arrived a bit early in Chicago.

Arrived at Moynihan Train Hall at about 12:40 pm having walked from my hotel on 37th between 5th & 6th. I was pretty much beat after a very late night and walking about 5 miles a day every day for week, which I am unaccustomed to.
View attachment 30410
View attachment 30414

Amtrak gave me a scare on Friday when I got an automated call from them. With the issues the Builder had been having all week, and knowing that 8(12) was cancelled during to equipment balancing and probably getting crews fully rested, I had been fearful of my ride getting cancelled. Happily it was a warning that it was expected to be a heavy travel day and that checked baggage would have to be checked 2 hours in advance(!). Also that there would temporarily no day parcel check available in Chicago.

Anyway, Moynihan did not really seem any busier than usual, and the Metropolitan Lounge was fairly empty.

Knew I was going to be there awhile, settled in and had an excellent Santa Fe Chicken sandwich and equipped myself with a good salad to eat onboard the Lake Shore instead of the sad, little limp excuse for a salad served with Flex.

They called the train in the lounge about 3:20, although there was already a line up for Track 6 when we got down there.

Roomette 2 was on the platform side, so I was able to use the Windex wipes I brought to good effect cleaning the filthy windows. Used about half the pack, but I had the only clean windows on the train. A good thing, as it was a sunny afternoon and the normally filthy window would have been pretty much opaque from sun glare. Another item to my standard Amtrak kit if traveling on eastern LDs.

Much to my surprise, 4911 was a Viewliner II, as was 4912. So both NY sleepers are Viewliner IIs now.

This was my first time in a Viewliner II and overall, I have to say I like them better than the V Is.

Pros:
- Seems like more outlets. Two by the head end of the of the bed, two by mirror. Did not have to break out my power strip for my CPAP and chargers, a first for Amtrak.
- An actual, by God, thermostat controlling the wall heat instead of a mystery dial. Furthermore, it actually seemed to work! I noticed floor/wall heat coming up when I did not want it. Found the thermostat (was looking for a dial), turned it down from 73° to 68° and the heat stopped! And it maintained 68°!
- Simple, straightforward rocker switches controlling the lights instead of the weird panels on the Is.
- Little extra storage (and lack of potty). Nice little cubby suitable for a backpacks under the step where the toilet is on the I's. I wasn't a fan of the V I roomette's toilet, so the extra storage is an improvement in my view.
- Curtain material is thicker than the lighter dark blue stuff that replaced the old blackout curtains. Also the track guides for the window are intact and not half broken (yet).

Cons:
- The luggage cubby is noticeably smaller. Barely fit my bigger bag and couldn't get it behind the rail. Much less deep. Cannot think of a reason for this change.
- Door lock. No old fashioned Pullman lock. Lock built into door that operates a hook the grabs onto something in the jam. Discovered that you have to press the door hard against the jam to turn/operate it. Felt like I locked myself in when the thing was very reluctant to turn. Thing also unlocked itself in the middle of the night and the door rolled open with a bang. I wonder how long it'll be until they get retrofitted with Pullman locks like everything else.

Overall, I like the V II's better than V Is.

The SCA, David, and "sleeper lounge" attendant (didn't catch the name) were about the best I've ever had in the east. Friendly and attentive, a nice change from my usual experience on the Eastern LDs.

Quick afternoon run up the Hudson on a pretty, sunny fall afternoon.
View attachment 30415

View attachment 30417
View attachment 30418

I was completely wiped out and decided on an early dinner at 5. Riding up Hudson I am always put in mind of Eva Marie Saint, Cary Grant, Gibsons, and little trouty but nice. A TV dinner of flex dining short ribs was, well, what it was. The attendant was very nice, though.

We were a bit early into Albany, I briefly headed up into the station, then back down to watch them put 449 and 49 together. Engine 707 which took us from NYC was uncoupled and pulled away, and the backed a third engine down to 449 on Track 1. They got it hooked up, tested, etc, pulled 449 forward and backed it down to couple onto 49 on Track 3. I am not sure why we needed three engines for a 10 car train, the Water Level Route isn't exactly the Rockies, but three we had.

We were ready to go on time, but the station came on and told us operations said to hold for 9 passengers who had missed their connection and had been put on 253. So we held for 253.

The 9 pax were apparently all on a group ticket and were bound for Buffalo. So 253 shows up and the crew comes on the radio with station about getting the "...nine buffaloes..." on board. Makes a nice image...

I was done in, rang for SCA David to have my room made up for the night. He turned up reasonably quickly, put the bed down and wished me a good night.

I went down hard and pretty much slept for about 10 1/2 hours, waking up in Buffalo where my door banged open and another time pre-dawn.

Woke up for good as we were pulling into Waterloo, IN and we were pretty much on time. Weather entirely different from the previous afternoon, it was snowing pretty good in northeastern Indiana.
View attachment 30419
For once, NS didn't put anything in front of us, even west of Porter. Clears all the way across Indiana and into Chicago (NS require all signals to be called, not just less than clear). We got to Chicago 37 minutes early at 9:35 and I was in the Metropolitan Lounge by 9:45 am.

Finishing this aboard the Builder. More on that later.

I had an SCA named David on the Cardinal over the summer! One of the best SCAs I’ve ever had. Probably the same guy..