As I mentioned in another post, I've been starting my Maine trips the last couple of years by riding the Silver Star southbound Baltimore to Washington, where my Dad picked me up. This was so that I could drive him up to Maine in his car. I stayed up, enjoyed the mountains and relatively cool weather for a week, and then I returned home on the Downeaster and Acela. Just a few note from the trip.
Here's Baltimore. Work is progressing nicely on the new platform for track 8, as well as new high-level platforms for tracks 2 and 3. Since the current station handles the existing traffic pretty well, I'm hoping that this expansion means that Amtrak and MARC are thinking of increasing the number of trains serving Baltimore.
Here's the new Track 22 in Washington Union Station. I had thought they were going to build it with a high-level platform, but I guess I was wrong. I know they need low level platforms to serve the VRE gallery cars and the Superliners from the Capitol, but I am eagerly looking forward for the day when they have at least one high level platform to service the increased numbers of Northeast Regionals going south to Virginia. It was a bit of a pain hoisting my suitcase down the steps, though the conductor was helpful with that.
Our cabin is a 2 1/2 to 3 hour drive from Portland. The original plan was to have a family member drive me down, but it turns out they were busy with pressing business regarding the cabin, so we used a car service that was available in the little town of Rangeley. For a fee more than the cost of my Acela ticket between Boston and Baltimore, I was driven down to the trtain tration, including a stop for a pizza lunch at Otto Pizza near the airport. There is absolutely no place to eat near the Portland Train and bus station, and no baggage service, so I couldn't even arrive early, store my bags and take an Uber to the Old Port. The place is very busy, lots of buses going to Logan Airport, South Station, Augusta, Bangor and to Bangor by the Coast Route. There are 5 Downeaster trains each way, and they are all now serving Brunswick. I had a coach ticket. By the time we scheduled the trip, Business class was sold out. Surprisingly, I got an opportunity to do a bid-up, which I tried, but wasn't successful. I wonder whether somebody outbid me, or whether Business class was still sold out, but the computer system still sent me the invitation to Bid Up. In any event, the coach was comfortable enough, and I couldn't complain about the $12 fare, about the only bargain I had on the whole trip.
All aboard for the Downeaster! We left on time, got into Boston about 15 minutes late. We held for a little while outside of Saco waiting for a northbound train to pass. Otherwise we maxed out at 70 mph, though there were some sections of slow running, too. The last 5 minutes creeping into North station were the most excruciating part. It was a nice ride, but the competing nonstop Concord Coach does the trip faster, assuming there's not traffic, which is not a good thing to assume on the Boston - Portland stretch of I-95 in the summer. I checked out the cafe car. It;s run by a contractor instead of Amtrak, so the menu is different. Lots of people were buying things, but nobody was staying and sitting in the cafe. The selection was less than the Amtrek NEC cafe car, but the prices were a bit lower. I got a coffee and a Whoopie Pie, which is something not sold on the NEC. The attendant added and mixed my cream and sugar for me, which might explain why the service was a bit slow. Anyway, I had my snack and enjoyed the ride.
One thing I noticed was that, despite the fact that this is an active freight railroad, they were able to build high-level platforms at almost all of the stations. I've seen discussions here on AU that this can't be done due to issues with clearance of freight cars, but they seem to have done it on this line. Speaking of freight, when we passed a yard, I saw locomotives in the livery of Guilford, Pan Am, and CSX (who now owns the line, I think.)
In any event, I was soon a North Station, and managed to use the QR scanner at the gate to let myself out. Works like checking through the SEPTA gates at 30th St. using an Amtrak ticket. I got in at 4:15 PM, and my plan was to spend the night and go out on the Acela the next morning. I stated at the Courtyard by Marriott around the corner from the station, where I've stayed before. Because I booked this trip on relatively short notice, the room charge was even more than the usual extortionate summer room rates in the major tourist destination big city. And they coded the wrong key card for me. I opened to door to the room and someone's suitcase and belongings were all over the place. Fortunately, no one was in the room at the time. It took three trips down to the front desk to finally get a key for my actual room, which was next door.
I spoent my evening in Boston braving to T to go to the South Station area to a bar called Dring, which has custom-made craft cocktails, then walked along the harbor to the North End, where I had an Italian seafood dinner at the Daily Catch. Not the one on Hanover Street, but another branch on Atlantic Ave. that has more space and takes credit cards, even if it doesn't quite hacve the same rough and ready atmosphere an open kitchen of the Hanover St. location. Then I went over to Hanover St. and the Cafe Vittorio, where I got a cannoli and an amaro.
This was a little after 6 PM on a Friday evening. I think the T needs a bit more frequency, no? I also made the mistake of taking the Green Line not realizing that there was a Red Sox game that night. This was mainly cause there was only a 3-minute wait for the green line as opposed to a 7-minute wait for the Orange Line. But when the Green Line train came it was a single car, which filled to capacity and more at Government Center with people transferring from the Blue Line. I got off at Park St. where an even large crowd, many in Red Sox jerseys, was waiting to board their ride to Fenway Park. I was glad to get off and continue my trip in less crowded circumstances. I did the same ride the next morning, the crowds were a lot less.
Here's dinner at the Daily Catch. Black pasta in garlic/olive oil with scallops and the house wine.
The next morning, I was ready for the Acela. A breakfast in my room form the Dunkin Donuts around the corner, include a (what else?) Boston Creme donut. The entrance to the T was just around the corner form the hotel, with an elevator that was handy given I was hauling a suitcase. I made it to South Station, and unlike last year, the air conditioning in the building was working.
I had managed to snag a first-class upgrade with a coupon, but the choice of seats was very limited, like only 2 seats available. I took a rear-facing single seat at a table with restricted recline, but it was on the scenic side of the train. I left my luggage with the redcap and hung out in the Club Acela until he came and collected us for early boarding. Well, someone had forgotten to tell the train crew that we were coming out, the doors weren't open, and we milled around on the platform for about 5 minutes before a conductor came and opened the doors so we could board.
We were off on time and kept to the schedule at least until we got to Stamford. First class was full, even from Boston (it usually doesn't fill up until New York), and the attendants were mighty busy. I got a chance to check out the new Acela First Class menu.
https://www.amtrak.com/content/dam/...menus/routes/Acela-First-Class-Menus-0523.pdf
I wasn't totally impressed. Both of the STARR Group featured entrees were vegetarian. I had the sesame noodles which were OK, but nothing special, and the salmon in puff pastry which was OK. However, their new wine list includes Pommery Champagne. Real champagne from France. Well, I wasn't going to pass that up, and had a few of them on the trip.
Here are the Sesame noodles.
And here's the salmon.
After Stamford, we started loosing time, stopping just outside New Rochelle, and then up in the Bronx. This was explained to us as being due to single tracking over the Hell Gate Bridge. And indeed, when we crossed the bridge, we could see that both tracks were there, but one track was missing its catenary wire. In any event, I think we left New York about 15 minutes late. Then we had a relatively slow ride down the corridor. Yes, there were a lot of 125+ sections and even the 135+ in central Jersey, but we also slowed down a lot, and even stopped a couple of times. The conductor got on and apologized for "commuter train" interference, but looking at the Asm.transdocs map, we were also following fairly closely behind the Crescent and a Northeast Regional Virginia train. In fact, when we got to Baltimore, the northeast Regional was still in the station, but it left before the Acela did, so I guess the Acela had to follow it all the way down to Washington. In any event, we got into Baltimore nearly an hour late. Not so good for the Acela.
As for me, I went outside, called a Lyft, and was soon home. And that's it for this year's Maine trip.
Here's Baltimore. Work is progressing nicely on the new platform for track 8, as well as new high-level platforms for tracks 2 and 3. Since the current station handles the existing traffic pretty well, I'm hoping that this expansion means that Amtrak and MARC are thinking of increasing the number of trains serving Baltimore.
Here's the new Track 22 in Washington Union Station. I had thought they were going to build it with a high-level platform, but I guess I was wrong. I know they need low level platforms to serve the VRE gallery cars and the Superliners from the Capitol, but I am eagerly looking forward for the day when they have at least one high level platform to service the increased numbers of Northeast Regionals going south to Virginia. It was a bit of a pain hoisting my suitcase down the steps, though the conductor was helpful with that.
Our cabin is a 2 1/2 to 3 hour drive from Portland. The original plan was to have a family member drive me down, but it turns out they were busy with pressing business regarding the cabin, so we used a car service that was available in the little town of Rangeley. For a fee more than the cost of my Acela ticket between Boston and Baltimore, I was driven down to the trtain tration, including a stop for a pizza lunch at Otto Pizza near the airport. There is absolutely no place to eat near the Portland Train and bus station, and no baggage service, so I couldn't even arrive early, store my bags and take an Uber to the Old Port. The place is very busy, lots of buses going to Logan Airport, South Station, Augusta, Bangor and to Bangor by the Coast Route. There are 5 Downeaster trains each way, and they are all now serving Brunswick. I had a coach ticket. By the time we scheduled the trip, Business class was sold out. Surprisingly, I got an opportunity to do a bid-up, which I tried, but wasn't successful. I wonder whether somebody outbid me, or whether Business class was still sold out, but the computer system still sent me the invitation to Bid Up. In any event, the coach was comfortable enough, and I couldn't complain about the $12 fare, about the only bargain I had on the whole trip.
All aboard for the Downeaster! We left on time, got into Boston about 15 minutes late. We held for a little while outside of Saco waiting for a northbound train to pass. Otherwise we maxed out at 70 mph, though there were some sections of slow running, too. The last 5 minutes creeping into North station were the most excruciating part. It was a nice ride, but the competing nonstop Concord Coach does the trip faster, assuming there's not traffic, which is not a good thing to assume on the Boston - Portland stretch of I-95 in the summer. I checked out the cafe car. It;s run by a contractor instead of Amtrak, so the menu is different. Lots of people were buying things, but nobody was staying and sitting in the cafe. The selection was less than the Amtrek NEC cafe car, but the prices were a bit lower. I got a coffee and a Whoopie Pie, which is something not sold on the NEC. The attendant added and mixed my cream and sugar for me, which might explain why the service was a bit slow. Anyway, I had my snack and enjoyed the ride.
One thing I noticed was that, despite the fact that this is an active freight railroad, they were able to build high-level platforms at almost all of the stations. I've seen discussions here on AU that this can't be done due to issues with clearance of freight cars, but they seem to have done it on this line. Speaking of freight, when we passed a yard, I saw locomotives in the livery of Guilford, Pan Am, and CSX (who now owns the line, I think.)
In any event, I was soon a North Station, and managed to use the QR scanner at the gate to let myself out. Works like checking through the SEPTA gates at 30th St. using an Amtrak ticket. I got in at 4:15 PM, and my plan was to spend the night and go out on the Acela the next morning. I stated at the Courtyard by Marriott around the corner from the station, where I've stayed before. Because I booked this trip on relatively short notice, the room charge was even more than the usual extortionate summer room rates in the major tourist destination big city. And they coded the wrong key card for me. I opened to door to the room and someone's suitcase and belongings were all over the place. Fortunately, no one was in the room at the time. It took three trips down to the front desk to finally get a key for my actual room, which was next door.
I spoent my evening in Boston braving to T to go to the South Station area to a bar called Dring, which has custom-made craft cocktails, then walked along the harbor to the North End, where I had an Italian seafood dinner at the Daily Catch. Not the one on Hanover Street, but another branch on Atlantic Ave. that has more space and takes credit cards, even if it doesn't quite hacve the same rough and ready atmosphere an open kitchen of the Hanover St. location. Then I went over to Hanover St. and the Cafe Vittorio, where I got a cannoli and an amaro.
This was a little after 6 PM on a Friday evening. I think the T needs a bit more frequency, no? I also made the mistake of taking the Green Line not realizing that there was a Red Sox game that night. This was mainly cause there was only a 3-minute wait for the green line as opposed to a 7-minute wait for the Orange Line. But when the Green Line train came it was a single car, which filled to capacity and more at Government Center with people transferring from the Blue Line. I got off at Park St. where an even large crowd, many in Red Sox jerseys, was waiting to board their ride to Fenway Park. I was glad to get off and continue my trip in less crowded circumstances. I did the same ride the next morning, the crowds were a lot less.
Here's dinner at the Daily Catch. Black pasta in garlic/olive oil with scallops and the house wine.
The next morning, I was ready for the Acela. A breakfast in my room form the Dunkin Donuts around the corner, include a (what else?) Boston Creme donut. The entrance to the T was just around the corner form the hotel, with an elevator that was handy given I was hauling a suitcase. I made it to South Station, and unlike last year, the air conditioning in the building was working.
I had managed to snag a first-class upgrade with a coupon, but the choice of seats was very limited, like only 2 seats available. I took a rear-facing single seat at a table with restricted recline, but it was on the scenic side of the train. I left my luggage with the redcap and hung out in the Club Acela until he came and collected us for early boarding. Well, someone had forgotten to tell the train crew that we were coming out, the doors weren't open, and we milled around on the platform for about 5 minutes before a conductor came and opened the doors so we could board.
We were off on time and kept to the schedule at least until we got to Stamford. First class was full, even from Boston (it usually doesn't fill up until New York), and the attendants were mighty busy. I got a chance to check out the new Acela First Class menu.
https://www.amtrak.com/content/dam/...menus/routes/Acela-First-Class-Menus-0523.pdf
I wasn't totally impressed. Both of the STARR Group featured entrees were vegetarian. I had the sesame noodles which were OK, but nothing special, and the salmon in puff pastry which was OK. However, their new wine list includes Pommery Champagne. Real champagne from France. Well, I wasn't going to pass that up, and had a few of them on the trip.
Here are the Sesame noodles.
And here's the salmon.
After Stamford, we started loosing time, stopping just outside New Rochelle, and then up in the Bronx. This was explained to us as being due to single tracking over the Hell Gate Bridge. And indeed, when we crossed the bridge, we could see that both tracks were there, but one track was missing its catenary wire. In any event, I think we left New York about 15 minutes late. Then we had a relatively slow ride down the corridor. Yes, there were a lot of 125+ sections and even the 135+ in central Jersey, but we also slowed down a lot, and even stopped a couple of times. The conductor got on and apologized for "commuter train" interference, but looking at the Asm.transdocs map, we were also following fairly closely behind the Crescent and a Northeast Regional Virginia train. In fact, when we got to Baltimore, the northeast Regional was still in the station, but it left before the Acela did, so I guess the Acela had to follow it all the way down to Washington. In any event, we got into Baltimore nearly an hour late. Not so good for the Acela.
As for me, I went outside, called a Lyft, and was soon home. And that's it for this year's Maine trip.
).
I'm suprised that you stayed such a short time considering the Hot/Humid Summers in the Baltimore/DC Area.
That is ridiculous! I think expanded service to Virginia is great, but it shouldn't come at the cost of downgrading service to/from WAS to a low-level platform. It severely impacts the service experience IMO, even for able-bodied people.
