Getting to the Gathering

[MARC Rider]

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.

 

[AmtrakBlue]

114 is one of several trains that have bookend motors. They do not turn those trains therefore the BC cars may be at the front or the back of the train. In this case the southbound trains have the BC cars at the back.
181 -> 114 -> 129 -> 198

There are other trains that run like this

 

[MARC Rider]

Part 2 -- Albany to Montreal

Woke up early, went down and had breakfast, pretty decent for one of those free hotel breakfasts. Then I went ou and walked around Empire State Plaza and over by the old Albany station on Broadway. The Adirondack doesn't leave until 11:40, so I had plenty of time to get into the station. When I got there, I checked out the to-go stuff in the cafe, but I didn't see anything that interested me, and things weren't much cheaper than what they charge in the cafe, so all I bought was a bottle of Sarato9ga Spring Water. Nobody asked me to show my passport and get the silly mtrak stickers for crossing the border, though some people who boarded with me had them. The gate attendants just waved me though on the basis of my e-ticket, and the conductor scanned it without asking to see my passport, or anything. A good thing for Amtrak that CBSA let me into Canada.

The Adirondack had 4 Amfleet 2 coaches and a full cafe. The Amfleet 2 coaches were great. In fact, when they switch to Airos for this train, the experience will be a bit downgraded, except that I suppose they will be offering business class.

We left Albany on time and had some fun 100 mph running to Schenectady, but between Saratoga and Fort Edward, we crawled to a creep for a good while and lost a lot of time. The conductor said something about track inspectors find something wrong with the tracks that needed to be fixed, so they couldn't let us go a regular speed. A bit later, north of Westport, we were held up in a siding for a good long while waiting for the southbound Adirondack to mass us. Then, we had to stop for a signal on that scenic stretch right before Port Kent. We ended up getting into Gare Central at more or less the scheduled time, but this train had been arriving an hour or more early during the previous few days, so it was a bit of a disappointment. And I never like sitting in a train that's stopped and not moving.

Had a bit of problem in the cafe car, with the POS tablet not working, the same problem we had the previous day on the Ethan Allen Express. As a result, the cafe could only take cash for most of the trip. I got an Amtrak stromboli and a coke for lunch and didn't bother with supper until after I got into Montreal. In defense of the POS, I will say that cell service along the route is very spotty. I wish I had brought a book to read.

The route gets scenic north of Whitehall, as you're running along the southern extremity of Lake Champlain, which looks more like a river here. You get a glimpse of Fort Ticonderoga before the train turns inland for a while, and then really good expensive view of the Lake around Port Henry as the lake widens north of Crown Point. The most scenic part is north of Westport, where the train hugs a cliff maybe 50 to 100 feet above the lake with views of the widest part of the Lake and the Green Mountains of Vermont in the background. After port kent, the hills disappear, and the route isn't as scenic. Finally, we left Rouses Point, but before we could cross into Canada, the crew had to hand-throw the switch that led us from CPKC to CN. We rolled across the border; as we crossed the highway, we could see come of the border markers. The railroad was right next to the CBSA crossing station, and we stopped for our border inspection.

I though getting checked on the train was great. We didn't have to stand in line, we just stayed in our seats and let the CBSA border person and her two henchmen deal with us in place. They were pretty efficient, we had already filled out our customs declarations, so she didn't have to ask ambiguous questions about what we were bringing in. Just a few questions about the purpose of my trip ("tourism" as accepted without further questions) and had I visited Canada before. They did the whole train in under an hour. I don't know why the border agencies don't like inspecting people on the train. Seems like it was more efficient than making everyone get off with their luggage and stand in line. Of course, it's easy for CBSA, the train is right at their port of entry. The tracks aren't near the port of entry into the USA, so the CBP folks must have to get into a car and drive down to Rouses Point to do their thing.

We moved on, but soon stopped again when we got to Cantic, as the switch is set for the tracks coming in from Vermont, and again, the switches have to be hand operated. After that we started moving along pretty well at about 50 mph (or maybe that should be 80 km/hr.) The track was rough, not sure what CN did with all that money they were given to fix the line. I must have been really bad. Then we got to St. Jean sur Richelieu, where there was a really sharp curve and running right through town that slowed us down some more. Finally, a zig-zag approach into Montreal and then back on the main line with smoother and faster running, and before we knew it, we were crossing the bridge and entering the city. As I said, we got in around the scheduled time of 8:15 PM. We went up the escalators and then had to figure out how to get of the Gare Centrale, which is sort of embedded in other buildings in the area. I made my way to Rene Levesque Blvd for the short walk down the street to my hotel and poutine dinner. Another ride done -- about 9 hours on the train. And then on for a day in Montreal!