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That crossing is odd, Y shaped. I wonder if the car driver backup up not far enough because the gate was closed behind her too? It is hard to tell from the video whether the crossing gates close the entrance and exit to the tracks. Either way that was a close one and she was fortunate not to get badly injured.
 
That is just south of the Andover station, where there are two crossings right next to each other off an multi-way intersection (Pearson St, and Essex St, meeting Railroad St.) it's possible that the driver was waiting for vehicle traffic to clear when the gates started to come down. Then panicked and didn't realize they were not clear.
 
Does anyone think that the P42s might stay for the Downeaster and not get replaced for the next 10 years?
 
AmtrakGuy365 said:
Does anyone think that the P42s might stay for the Downeaster and not get replaced for the next 10 years?
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Airo trainsets will replace the P42/Amfleets on the Downeaster between 2026 and 2031, they say.

Currently 125 diesel Chargers are rolling out of the factory in Sacramento for long distance trains, not on Airo's. Transparency and reporting as usual are paper thin on the project, making it sound like all Airo's except those for Washington State DOT will use dual-power Chargers, either catenary or battery. Seems unlikely the Downeaster would use a dual-power locomotive.
 
JamesWhitcombRiley said:
Airo trainsets will replace the P42/Amfleets on the Downeaster between 2026 and 2031, they say.

Currently 125 diesel Chargers are rolling out of the factory in Sacramento for long distance trains, not on Airo's. Transparency and reporting as usual are paper thin on the project, making it sound like all Airo's except those for Washington State DOT will use dual-power Chargers, either catenary or battery. Seems unlikely the Downeaster would use a dual-power locomotive.
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I was under the impression that they would use the dual modes for the Downeaster mainly for commonality of equipment with the NEC fleet. If the MBTA electrifies to Haverhill that would be a bonus, although since the Downeaster is routed to the Lowell line via the Wildcat in order to serve Anderson/Woburn there is only a short part of the Haverhill line used.
 
JamesWhitcombRiley said:
Airo trainsets will replace the P42/Amfleets on the Downeaster between 2026 and 2031, they say.

Currently 125 diesel Chargers are rolling out of the factory in Sacramento for long distance trains, not on Airo's. Transparency and reporting as usual are paper thin on the project, making it sound like all Airo's except those for Washington State DOT will use dual-power Chargers, either catenary or battery. Seems unlikely the Downeaster would use a dual-power locomotive.
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Are the P42s going to be made into cabbages at least?
 
Moderator's Note: MBTA Electrification related posts moved to the pre-existing MBTA discussion thread in the Commuter Forum at:

https://www.amtraktrains.com/threads/mbta-discussion.82098/page-17
Please continue the MBTA electrification discussion in that thread, and leave this thread for discussing Downeaster.

Thank you for your understanding, cooperation and participation.
 
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The DownEaster was half-price for everyone recently. A lot of the times seniors get a half-price fare..

It’s been years since since I a new menu that was developed for the DownEaster, but has never been put in place. I watch ther menu and one or two things change each time a ride. Some oldies are - The cheeseburger is pretty good, the red hot is a treat, The beef bean burrito is good,, they will be fired. Of course, the Portland bottled sodas are nice, I had the red wine with a cheeseburger and was a decent pairing for train food, the egg and Jimmy Dean with sausage is a bit heavy for me so I prefer the Jimmy Dean with Canadian bacon.

So I appreciate the food on the DownEaster.
 
I had planned an Old Orchard Beach run for this Sunday with a friend, but was disappointed to find that the winter schedule, which skips OOB, kicked in October 10th. I suppose we could Uber from Saco, but it just wouldn't be the same. It is the only stop that is seasonal. Would it kill them to make just one more stop?

Gives me something to look forward to next spring.
 
Brian Battuello said:
I had planned an Old Orchard Beach run for this Sunday with a friend, but was disappointed to find that the winter schedule, which skips OOB, kicked in October 10th. I suppose we could Uber from Saco, but it just wouldn't be the same. It is the only stop that is seasonal. Would it kill them to make just one more stop?

Gives me something to look forward to next spring.
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Biddeford and Saco have a transit system that also serves OOB.

Too bad the Biddeford and Saco Street Railway isn't still running that had open cars that ran between Saco and OOB. Unfortunately that service was discontinued in 1939. There was a group of young men from Boston who came up to ride the last cars in 1939 and ended up buying one for $150 which was the start of Seashore Trolley Museum the world's first transit museum.
 
Brian Battuello said:
https://spectrumlocalnews.com/me/ma...g-to-maine-to-improve-downeaster-rail-service
Article about increased Downeaster funding. Doesn't say much except for "track improvements" but presume details to follow.
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$500k of the money is earmarked for the Rockland extension and a new station at Falmouth. I suspect for 500k these are just studies. The remainder of the $28 million is identified as for track improvements to increase reliability which sounds like adding more sidings. I thought the extension of the Wells siding and building a second station platform had already been funded earlier (completion now pushed to 2024) so presumably this would be for new additional track work elsewhere. No details at the NNEPRA site nor at other press reports. Perhaps when the recent board meeting minutes are published there might be more details.
 
Yes, but then I'd have to see if the return train would stop if I stood and waved and looked pathetic.

A thousand years ago in the era of paper tickets, we made a teletype reservation months ahead for a small town in Utah. We were standing by an abandoned depot and the train stopped. The conductor said we were lucky the engineer saw us because the railroad stopped serving the town weeks earlier. News to us and our tickets. Ah, the days before the internet...
 
Brian Battuello said:
Yes, but then I'd have to see if the return train would stop if I stood and waved and looked pathetic.

A thousand years ago in the era of paper tickets, we made a teletype reservation months ahead for a small town in Utah. We were standing by an abandoned depot and the train stopped. The conductor said we were lucky the engineer saw us because the railroad stopped serving the town weeks earlier. News to us and our tickets. Ah, the days before the internet...
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Greyhound and Trailways also had many flag stops on US Highways. Losing comprehensive bus service in the 1980s and 90s was worse than losing trains here and there post 1970, ask Canada.
 

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