The "lollipop loop" Baltimore to Boston and return via Albany

[MARC Rider]

My main reason for taking this trip was to ride the Boston Section of the Lakeshore Limited, as this is one of the few Amtrak routes in the northeast that I haven't ridden.

My Itinerary:
Baltimore to Boston on the Acela, overnight in Boston
Boston to Albany on 449, overnight in Albany
Albany to New York Penn on Empire Service train 280
New York Penn to Baltimore on the Crescent (19)

Amazingly, all of my trip segments operated according to schedule, with no mechanical problems or other major delays. I did see that riding a long-distance train southbound between NEC points might not be the best idea, at least not until Amtrak does something about their boarding procedures. The only other downer was the downpour in Boston the first afternoon. After the weather cleared that it, conditions were perfect.

I was also able to railfan a bit in Boston and check out the Mattapan trolley. Unfortunately, because of the pouring rain, all I did in Mattapan was stand under the canopy at the station and wait for the next car back to Ashmont. I had though about finding a bus and cutting across to the nearest MTBA commuter station for a ride back to South Station.

My first trip segment was on Acela 2154, departing Baltimore of 7:25 AM. I didn't see any need to get up at 4 to catch 2150. During the 50th Anniversary promotion, I snagged a $116 Acela BC fare for this train. (Actually, there was a $50 promotion on offer, but it was non refundable and I also wasn't sure I could apply an upgrade coupon. However, $116 is about the absolute cheapest I've ever found for an Acela ticket between Baltimore and Boston.) Two days before the trip, I applied my upgrade coupon, and I was upgraded to First Class. They assigned my a window seat, but one of a two seat pair. I tried using the app to change my seat, and it wouldn't let me. First it said the functionality was "not available at this time," then it said "call an agent." Well, I didn't want to bother with sitting at the phone for an extended time to deal with an agent, and this particular seat was OK, so I just let it slide. Anyway, the first class seats were being sold on this train for more than $300, so my $116 ticket was a nice bargain.

After a fast Uber drive, I ended up at the station:


Looks like 2154 is on time, and the Silver Meteor is arriving 19 minutes early. Also note that the departure board is showing the Vermonter as going all the way to St. Albans, but I don't think the Vermont service has resumed yet. Baltimore is the only station I know where they don't adjust the departure board to account for truncated trains.

The train arrived on time, and I found my seat. It was a window seat, and there was already somebody sitting in the aisle seat with his laptop and phone out. Uh-oh. Of course, he was fine about letting me get i to my seat, and I was soon served breakfast. Acela First still has the diminished food service, and I had the omelet for breakfast. I noticed that the car had a lot more passengers than I had seen previously this year, and also, there were now two attendants serving us.

It was a typical ride up the corridor, but somewhere around Wilmington, my seatmate decided to join a Zoom meeting. Of course, this might not have been his preference, but rather that of the big boss. Whatever, I was subjected to listening to a one-sided conversation of the most dreaded aspect of my work life -- the staff meeting. After that, he got on his phone and was having a conference call about some sort of personnel issue that I didn't really want to hear about. At least no names were named and nobody's privacy was compromised, but I really wish Amtrak would offer private cubicles for people who want to use Amtrak trains as rent-free conference space. In the end, it wasn't such a big deal, as the guy got off in New York, and I had the seat pair to myself for the rest of the trip.

The ride to Boston was the usual NEC North experience -- "low speed rail" to New Haven (though maybe we did a little more 70 mph running than usual), then 80-90 mph along the eastern Connecticut coast, with the 140-150 mph stretches in Rhode Island and Massachusetts. They held off on serving me lunch until New Haven, where I ordered the shrimp with "brandied lobster sauce."



It was OK, not as good as the "short ribs" (really a pot roast), but it was clear that it was heated up in a convection oven, not a microwave, given that it was hot, heated evenly, and there was some browning around the edges. I do hope they resume the regular Acela food service (in both First and the BC cafe) soon. I think the ridership and revenues are recovering, and they do need to worry about the competition.

I had purchased my ticket all the way to South Station, but I had found a good price on a hotel in the Back Bay. Thus, I decided to deboard the train a stop early, as this hotel was about a 5 minute walk from the Back Bay Station, whereas had I continued to South Station, I'd have to ride the Red Line to Park Street, and then the Green Line to Copley. I did this without telling any of the train staff, and it seemed that nobody cared. I rode up the escalator and found myself in the Back Bay waiting room.



Oooh, those granite seat benches look hard! The statue, by the way, is of A. Philip Randolph. Also, the Amtrak ticket office appeared to be closed. (This was about 1:30 in the afternoon.) The departure board only showed MTBA commuter trains. I'm not sure how an Amtrak passenger is supposed to know when to go down to the platform. In any event, for future travels, while I might deboard at Back Bay if it's more convenient, I think I'll go to South Station to wait for my outbound train when I leave.

Before I left for the hotel, I decided to get my T 24 hour pass. For some reason, the TVM did not recognize my Charlie Card. Well, it recognized it at first, but after I swiped my credit card, it claimed it didn't recognize the Charlie Card. I had to get a human attendant to accompany me while I performed the transaction again. This time it worked. I guess the machine realized if it didn't cooperate, it was going to get operated on by a repair crew.

The clouds lifted a bit when I arrived, and it was a short walk to my hotel, where I was able to check in. After dropping my stuff in the rooms, I was ready to head off and check out the "Mattapan High Speed Line.

 

[Cal]

Great review so far, looking forward to read the rest.

 

[MARC Rider]

Out the door, over to Boylston Street, and up the block to the Copley Green line station. Down the stairs, and, what's this? A faregate?

The last time I was in this station, which I'll admit was in 1998, there were no faregates, you just dropped 85¢ into the farebox, and that was that, unless you went out towards the end of the line, where you might have to add another 50¢. Now, it seems that a single subway fare is $2.40.

I changed at Park Street, which is in an old trolley tunnel that's billed as the oldest subway in the US, to the Red line and rode that out to the end of the line, in Ashmont.



You go up some stairs, out one end of the station, and there's a trolley loop. Didn't get too much time to look around, as it was pouring rain and a trolley was pulling in, so I joined the crowd heading to board.

Yup, there were genuine 1940's PCC streetcars. Not a historical trolley route, not a museum, not a replica, but real old trolleys, just like the ones that passed my house in Philadelphia that are in actual day-to-day transit service.









The line is entirely grade-separated, and seems to run mostly through the woods. It's a funky blast out of the past, reminding me of the Red Arrow trolley lines I rode in suburban Philly when I was a kid. (Two of those lines are still around, though with modern light rail cars. I'll have to check them out on my next trip up there.) One thing that seemed weird was that even though the cars had fareboxes, even equipped with Charlie Card readers, nobody was collecting fares that day. Once you got to Ashmont, you had to pass through faregates to get on to the actual Red Line subway trains, but out here, it seems like it's free trolley rides for all. They don't even have the deal that the Staten Island Railway has where you have to pay at the terminal.

Back at Ashmont, I got on the Red Line and rode back to Downtown Crossing. Then I got on the Orange Line and rode to Haymarket.
I came up out of the subway, and was so totally turned around by the irregular street grid, I was walking the wrong way for a couple of blocks before I regained my bearings. My destination was the North End, where I was looking for some dinner. I had thought of going back to an Italian place I'd eaten at in years past, but decided that I was in the mood for lobster, and the most reasonable price for a whole lobster I had seen on the net was at the Boston Sail Loft.

I started with a Dark and Stormy, which pretty much described the weather outside.


Next, a cup of their famous clam chowder,



Finally, the main attraction, a whole lobster on a bed of steamed mussels.



Although the price was right, and the clam chowder was good, I though the lobster was a bit overcooked, and the mussels didn't have any flavor. But the lobster was still tasty, so I'm not complaining too hard. And I had a nice view from my table.



After dinner, I had to go back out in the rain and walk back through the North End. I'm sure glad I had remembered to pack an umbrella! When I got back to Hanover St., I though that maybe a little dessert was in order, so I went into the Cafe Vittoria for a cappuccino and a cannoli.



Then, back through the rain to the Haymarket Station, and the Green Line to Copley. Once nice thing about having my hotel located so that I used the Copley Station was that every single Green Line train stopped there, and I didn't have to wait long.

Back at the hotel, I chilled out, and then went to bed, ready for my ride on the Lake Shore Limited.

 

[caravanman]

Another very enjoyable read!

The Back Bay waiting room reminded me a little of Gaudi's Park Güell columns in Barcelona.

How do you research your trips, you seem to find obscure local transit options, and interesting off the radar places to see?

 

[MARC Rider]

Another very enjoyable read!

The Back Bay waiting room reminded me a little of Gaudi's Park Güell columns in Barcelona.

How do you research your trips, you seem to find obscure local transit options, and interesting off the radar places to see?

For local transit, I look at the web pages of the local transit operators:
For example:
MBTA - Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority

Now, it's a little easier in Boston, because MBTA runs everything -- the buses, subways, commuter rail, even some ferry lines.
New Jersey Transit in New Jersey and SEPTA in the Philadelphia area are similar.
In other cities, there are multiple operators (San Francisco Bay area, Los Angeles, New York, Chicago, etc.)

Also, Google Maps is my friend. You can turn on public transit instead of traffic conditions, and get traces of various rail lines, although it's not 100% complete. Even on the standard map, transit and rail stations are indicated and clicking on them can provide more information, and also a link to the operator's website. Once you know where the routes and the stations are, you can then measure distances from the stations to hotels, restaurants, points of interest, etc. About the only thing it doesn't tell you is whether or not the neighborhood you need to walk through is a "bad" (i.e., high crime) one. I also use Google Maps to find restaurants and hotels and points of interest. It's very helpful for seeing whether the location of the hotel/restaurant/point of interest is within convenient distance of transit, and, with a bit of skepticism, the reviews can help find the better places.

 

[MARC Rider]

What a difference a day makes! The next morning dawned bright and clear, and I actually needed a fleece jacket when I first went out.

First stop was to get a good exterior of Back Bay Station in good light.


Next, breakfast, as my hotel didn't offer a free one. After a search on Google Maps, I decided on Charlie's Sandwich Shop for an old-fashioned breakfast. I got 2 eggs over easy with corned beef hash and hashbrowns.



The eggs were cooked very nicely. The hash was tasty, but not cut up and cooked in the traditional way. The potatoes were OK. The bread was "meh." I think maybe the butter on it wasn't really butter. I also ordered a fruit cup, which had some nice strawberries and blueberries, but was mostly banana. I hate the texture of banana, but I managed to choke some down before I gagged too much. The coffee was a light roast, but nice and hot.

After checking out of the hotel, I rolled my bag down to the Copley Station and caught the Green Line to Park.



And then the Red Line to South Station.



All of the stations were fully accessible, and I didn't have to haul my roller bag up or down stairs.

As I entered the South Station concourse, I realized why this station didn't make the list of the 20 most beautiful train stations in the US -- it has become a bit of a construction zone. Most of the gates to the tracks are blocked off, most of the eateries are not open, and even the uncomfortable metal tables and chairs are gone. I looked in vain for the redcap who usually sits by the entrance to the Metropolitan Lounge, as I had wanted to drop my bag with him so I could find some lunch to take on the train. I think a Northeast Regional had just come in, and he was out trainside, and, indeed, that seemed to be the case, as he soon came by wheeling a cart with a bunch of bags accompanied by a lady. She was apparently taking 449 with me, but in a sleeper. After getting her settled in the lounge, he took my bag to hold it, and I was off.

I had a bit of time, so the first thing I did was go back to the subway, ride back up the Red Line to Park St. and walk around Boston Common a bit.



The Massachusetts State House. On this trip I also got to see the New York State Capitol in Albany.



Here's the headhouse for the Park Street Station, part of the Tremont Street Subway, considered the first subway tunnel in the US, built in 1897.

Back at South Station, I went over to Susan's Deli on Essex Street, right across from the station, and recommended to me a few years ago by the redcap who took my bags when I came really early. Because I wasn't going to be eating for an hour or two, I couldn't get any kind of messy sandwich or anything with mayo or coleslaw, so I just got a corned beef on rye with mustard. Then I turned back to the station.


Here's the construction. The redcap said they're building a hotel over the tracks between the concourse and the bus station.


Boston -- from the entrance of South Station at Simmer St. and Atlantic Ave.


The Boston Metropolitan Lounge. The snackies were behind a counter. No self serve at this time, but the attendant gave me a can of Coke that I drank while waiting for the train, and a bag of pretzels that I took with me to accompany my sandwich when I ate lunch.

Finally, it was time to board 449, the Lakeshore Limited to Chicago, and out friendly redcap rolled our bags out to the platform and the waiting train.



The consist:
2 P42 Locomotives, a Viewliner 1 sleeping car, a split cafe/club(business class) car, and 2 Amfleet 2 long-distance coaches.

 

[OBS]

Great report so far.
Back bay ticket office was unstaffed about 4-5 years ago.
Susan's deli by South Station is a favorite with all Amtrak employees in Boston.

 

[MARC Rider]

All Aboard the Lake Shore Limited, Boston Section!

I had booked business class for this segment of the trip. This got me a single seat in the 2X1 club section of the cafe car.



Having the redcap take me out was a good move. I was the first person aboard and had my pick of the seats. I had a seat on the right hand (north and east) side of the car, which may have not only had the best views, but also kept the sun out of my eyes. I settled in and the train started filling up. Every business class seat was filled by Worcester . Looking ahead to the sleeper car, it looked like it was filling up pretty well even before we left South Station, and more people got on at Back Bay and Worcester. I went back to the coaches at one point, and it looked like they were about half full. In the business class, only about 3 people were traveling overnight; most of us were getting off at Albany or stops before Syracuse. The proportion of coach passengers going to Chicago or points in Indiana was higher in the coaches. (This was determined by a quick glance at the seat checks.)

After I got settled in, it was time for lunch.



The corned beef sandwich from Susan's Deli, well, it wasn't Katz's of New York, but it was pretty good. The pretzels came from the Metropolitan Lounge, the ginger ale was one of my free unlimited non-alcoholic drinks as a perk of business class. They also give business class passengers on 449 one free alcoholic drink. I ended up getting a red wine and cheese and cracker plate for a nosh after we left Pittsfield.

The ride was pretty scenic, but it has close in views, and very hard to photograph because of the vegetation growing right next to the tracks. There are a lot of lakes and ponds in eastern Massachusetts, and it's pleasantly hilly. The Berkshires a a bit more rugged, but the summit of the line is a flat open area with ponds and meadows. Right west of the New York Border, where the train passes Canaan and Chatham is sort of familiar territory to me, as it parallels NY route 295, which is part of our regular drive up to Maine in the summer. I remember seeing the tracks as I drove by, now I got to see the highway.

I have an app on my phone called "GAIA GPS," which is mostly designed for hikers, but it allows one to record tracks of your journeys. I recorded our trip from a point north of Sturbridge (which is when I remembered I could do this) to Chatham New York. The app sucks battery power like anything, so I closed it then to make sure my phone was recharged on arrival at Albany, as I was going to need to call and Uber to get to my hotel.





As one can see from the speed and elevation profiles, climbing up the Berkshires did slow us down a good bit. However, one should take this GPS data with a grain of salt, as we really did stop to 0 mph in Springfield and Pittsfield, even though the speed trace shows otherwise. Also, the elevation trace shows us crossing the Connecticut River at an elevation below sea level, which I think is unlikely.

In summary, this stretch I recorded was 109 miles, done in 2:28 with 6 minutes stopped time, average speed of 46 mph while moving, average speed including stops was 43 mph. The fastest speed was about 60 mph. We also started speeded up beyond Chatham as we approached Albany, and as we got over 6 mph, the train really started rocking and rolling. I think it's the tracks, not the Amfleet car I was riding, as I've ridden in them at 125 mph and a much more stable ride.

As we approached Worcester, we say the towers of the restored Union station over the skyline. Too bad the foreground view is a junkyard.



Climbing into the Berkshires:





The summit of the line is in an area called the Hinsdale Flats, which pretty much describes the place. The altitude is about 1500 ft above sea level.





Here's a view of a P42 that's leading up a Springfield Shuttle in, where else?, Springfield.



Although we started off running a few minutes behind schedule at Framingham and Worcester, we made up the time, and actually arrived into Albany 17 minutes early. We didn't seem to be held up by freights, so I think the rather long run time (5 hours) is due more to the condition of the track than congestion. Google Maps suggests that the driving time from Boston to Albany is 2:43 (not counting rest stops), but I think that's rather optimistic for a 170 mile drive. If they could decrease the scheduled time on the train to 3 or 4 hours, I think that a corridor service would be quite competitive with driving. As we were deboarding I overhead several passenger talk about how much they enjoyed the ride and how relaxing it was compared to driving.

My hotel was the Marriott Fairfield Inn in Downtown on State St. (There are no hotels in Renssselaer.) There's not really very much at all near the station, and there were no taxicabs waiting outside. Most everybody was getting picked up by somebody who lived there. Fortunately, there was an Uber driver nearby, who turned out to be a good old boy in a rather battered Jeep. It was about a 5 minute drive over to Albany, and by 6:15, I was in my hotel room and ready to take a walk and see what I could of downtown Albany.

 

[MARC Rider]

Albany train station:

Here is the old Albany Union Station, which closed in 1967:



I read up on it, and it says that it served both the West Shore Line and the Main Line, but the station is located south of the rail bridge from Rensselaer. Apparently the Penn Central wanted to abandon it because a lot of the trackage was going to be replaced in Interstate 787. However, I still can't figure out how they used to run the trains through from New York to Buffalo. Was there another bridge from Rensselaer south of the current bridge, or did they do a back-up move into the station?

Here is the current Rensselaer Station that now serves the Albany area. I've seen the old Amshack (Or should that be a "PennCentralshack?), so this station is indeed an improvement, but, of course, it can't hold a candle to what used to be.



Inside, it seems roomy, but I think it's a little small for the 9th busiest station in the Amtrak system.



Here's the only access to the platforms. There really isn't enough room to have people both board and deboard if two trains arrive (or leave) at the same time. In our case, we had to line up and wait for all the passengers to clear from the Maple Leaf, which arrived about the time our Empire Service 280 was about to leave. By the way, the Maple Leaf was truncated in Albany, which seemed strange, as they could run it all the way to Niagara Falls, given that there are facilities for turning trains there. Also, from consulting an old timetable, I thought that 280 originated in Niagara Falls, and was a little worried that it might be running late. However, when I arrived at the station, I found that 280 was also originating in Albany. While they do seem to have close to hourly service between NYP and ALB, during the day, I'm not sure what's running beyond there.



I'll post more about the ride from Albany back home, but in the next post, a few picture of the city.

 

[EchoSierra]

If you didn't want to ride the green line to the red to get to South Station, you could have hopped on a train at Back Bay to South Station. All MBTA trains from Back Bay to South Station are free.

I did a similar trip last month. I did Boston to Springfield on 449, Springfield to New Haven on the Amtrak Hartford Line (formerly known as the Shuttle), and then went home on the Northeast Regional. Every train was late, (but because every train was late, I was able to make all of my connections!). 449 was almost completely full in Coach out of Back Bay, and became completely full after we picked up 2 in Framingham, and 1 in Worcester.

 

[Brian Battuello]

It's worth going to South Station just to have a chance at a decent seat. See redcap posts earlier. At Back Bay, it is every man for himself.

 

[jis]

Albany train station:

I read up on it, and it says that it served both the West Shore Line and the Main Line, but the station is located south of the rail bridge from Rensselaer. Apparently the Penn Central wanted to abandon it because a lot of the trackage was going to be replaced in Interstate 787. However, I still can't figure out how they used to run the trains through from New York to Buffalo. Was there another bridge from Rensselaer south of the current bridge, or did they do a back-up move into the station?

There was another bridge. See this photo... The bridge in question is the on in the bottom right corner. There is absolutely nothing left of it today as far as I can tell. The bridge further upstream is the LAB Bridge that is used by Amtrak today.

 

[Bob Dylan]

There was another bridge. See this photo... The bridge in question is the on in the bottom right corner. There is absolutely nothing left of it tiday as far as I can tell. The bridge further upstream is the LAB Bridge that is used by Amtrak today.

I remember that bridge and getting off in Albany instead of across the River @ the current Station.

 

[railiner]

That is a real shame, that they rerouted the trains for a highway. They should have at least kept a couple of tracks for passenger trains to use the Albany station.

 

[MARC Rider]

After I got settled into the hotel in Albany, I took a walk up the hill to see the Capitol and the Empire State Plaza. The area south of the Capitol in the late 1960s was sort of slummy and decrepit, and it was Governor Nelson Rockefeller's bright idea to kick everyone out, tear down the place, and build a sterile brutalist architectural monument. Had he not done that, the yuppies probably would have discovered the neighborhood in the 1990s, all the old 19th and early 20th century buildings would have been renovated, and the area would now be full of trendy boutiques, bars, restaurants and $1,000,000 condos all supporting the tax base of the City of Albany.



The classy-looking 19th-century edifice in the background is the new York State Capitol, one of the few in the country that doesn't have a dome. The ovoid thing to the right is supposed to be a perfmoning arts theatre called the Egg, but it looks more like a flying saucer ready to launch into intergalactic space.


The building in the background is the New York State Museum, but I think the architect was looking at pictures of the Forbidden City in Beijing when he designed it.


These are "Agency Building 2" and Agency Building 3." I'm sort of surprised that after almost 50 years they haven't been renamed for some "deserving" politicians.



I'm not sure how the building stays up.



Here is the Egg, ready for takeoff....



Looking down on the city, here's a building that looks like someone cloned the Chateau Frontenac in Quebec City and transported it down The Lake Champlain Canal to be erected in Albany. In reality, this used to be the headquarters of the Delaware and Hudson Railway and is now the administrative offices for the State University of New York (SUNY).



I got a better view at dinner when I went to the Parish Public House and got a table on the sidewalk. I had a glass of cider (made in New York) a cup of gumbo, and a plate of jambalaya. Cajun cookin' in upstate New York! Is this a great country, or what?



I think this is what the Amtrak Shrimp and rice meal was trying to approximate. This one was, of course, a lot better. Nice and spicy, but not so much so that I couldn't eat it.

After I finished with that, it was a short walk back to the hotel, where I went to bed in anticipation for the final trip home.

 

[Brian Battuello]

Great photos, thanks!

 

[Abe26]

Great photos and report!

The Albany station definitely deserves a refresh.

Why isn't there a station in downtown?

 

[railiner]

Great photos and report!

The Albany station definitely deserves a refresh.

Why isn't there a station in downtown?

The bridge and route that made that possible, is long gone. They might be able to build a station on the Albany side of the river, but it would be very costly, and further from downtown then the fairly new Rensselaer station is...

 

[jis]

Great photos and report!

The Albany station definitely deserves a refresh.

Why isn't there a station in downtown?

Because downtown is currently not reachable from New York. Kind of pointless having a station which no train can get to

It might be worthwhile dusting off the more practically feasible Gondola Plan instead and actually build it. Looks like they are still trying to get it funded.

http://capitalgondola.com/

 

[Abe26]

The bridge and route that made that possible, is long gone. They might be able to build a station on the Albany side of the river, but it would be very costly, and further from downtown then the fairly new Rensselaer station is...

What happened to the bridge?

 

[jis]

What happened to the bridge?

It was removed when they decided to build highways and parking lots at the location of the rail yard and platforms. Back then they believed that no one would ever travel by train to Albany as time went on. Boy, were they wrong!

 

[Cal]

FYI @Abe26, this was discussed (with images) just a few posts up.

 

[MARC Rider]

Rail Trek: The voyage Home

I woke at a reasonable hour the last day, and after showering and packing, I went downstairs and found the "grab and go" breakfasts being offered by the Fairfield Inn in place of the usual breakfast buffet.



Pretty much the equivalent of a Flex meal breakfast, except they had the packaged hard boiled eggs, an item I think Amtrak should stock in its cafe cars even if they do go back to traditional dining everywhere. I took these up to my room and nuked the sandwich with the in-room microwave. Not fine cuisine, but it did the job.

After I ate, I went out for a short walk down Broadway to find the old Albany Union Station, a picture of which appears in a previous post. Then I returned to the hotel, and a little after 9 AM, checked my room, left a tip for the maid, and went down to the lobby to get a ride to the station so I could catch my 10 AM train to New York. Unfortunately, the proposed gondola described by jis hasn't been built yet, so I had to use Uber, as I don't think there's a single taxicab left in Albany, at least from my observation. It was really surprising that at 9:15 AM on a weekday morning in the state capitol, there were very few Uber drivers out and about. I had to wait about 15 minutes for my ride to come. Of course, part of that was that he first had to drop somebody off, and then, he took what I considered (at least from the map) a very strange route to my location. Then, he drove up the street, and zipped right by me even though I was waving my arms frantically. He must have decided that he needed to go around the block to get me, which is what he did. After that, the drive to the station was fine. A curious observation was that both of my Uber drivers in Albany did not offer to help be load my suitcase into the car trunk, whereas both of the Uber drivers in Baltimore did offer such service. I guess it's too small a sample to make generalizations, but I guess we can do so anyway.

In the station, as I've mentioned, the (Albany)-Rensselaer Station only one rather small concourse that leads to the stairs and escalators to the platforms. There isn't enough room to handle a crowd of people getting off a train and a crowd of people boarding a train at the same time. For some reason, the Maple Leaf (#63) is scheduled to arrive in Albany a little before my train (Empire Service #280) departs. Thus, our crowd of #280 passengers had to wait jammed up in the waiting area as the crowd of Maple Leafers discharged and made their way past us. There was nobody getting on the Maple Leaf, because, until the Canadian border is reopened, they're truncating the train in Albany. Why they're doing that instead of truncating it in Niagara Falls, NY is a mystery known only to Amtrak management. The other unique thing about the Albany-Rensselaer boarding process is that the gate ushers still examine your tickets before they let you on the concourse. They also have priority boarding for business class passengers, which is maybe why they're doing it.

Not that it mattered. We were soon allowed to the platform, and I found a seat in one of the Amfleet 1 coaches. I noticed that the nifty luggage racks at the end of the car, which are handy for those of us who are rapidly losing upper body strength and are thus having difficulty with overhead luggage racks, have been turned into nifty bicycle racks. I had noticed this on my Pittsburgh circle trip, when I say a couple of guys detrain from the coaches with me at 30th Street, pushing their bikes. I had wondered where they stowed them, until I needed to find a luggage rack on the Northeast Regional the next day. Well, there was nobody with a bike on my train today, so I stuck my bag there and figured I'd deal with it if any cyclists showed up. They didn't, and that was that. I had a seat pair to myself, and as I settled in, the conductor made his announcements and noted that there was no food service on this train. (a 2.5 hour trip)

No food service is standard for the New York - Albany runs of the Empire Service. What was odd to me was that the January 2020 (pre-covid) timetable for the Empire Service shows #280 as originating in Niagara Falls and carrying a cafe car. (Empire Service-New York-Toronto-January022020 (amtrak.com) ) When I got to the station, though, it seems that 280 now originates from Albany and has no food service. I think they've cut back the service west of Albany considerably. I hope it gets restored soon. I didn't care too much about there being no food service, as I planned for lunch during my layover in New York. Our consist was 4 to 5 coaches and a split business-class (2x1 seating)/cafe car, with the cafe part closed.

With that, we were off. The Albany-New York routes is, in my opinion one of the great scenic train rides of the United States. North of Poughkeepsie, you see the Hudson River and changing views of the Wall Of Manitou (also called the Catskill Escarpment). South of Poughkeepsie (actually, south of Beacon), you pass through the Hudson Highlands. Once past Croton-Harmon, you have a full view of the Palisades of the Hudson all the rest of the way into New York City. If you're going southbound, you sit on the right side of the train looking forward, if going northbound, sit on the left side. Frankly, the ride is so scenic, they should put a dome car on the route, except that dome cars don't fit into Penn Station. Maybe they could hook a dome car on to at least one train at Croton-Harmon. Or use those single level viewing cars that are used on some of the scenic runs in Switzerland. Anything but a small-windowed Amfleet 1 car.

A few shots of the views:



A tug pushing a barge with the Wall of Manitou in the background.



The Wall of Manitou



Some rich guy's yacht.



The I-84 Beacon-Newburgh highway bridge


The U.S. Military Academy at West Point in the Hudson Highlands.



The Bear Mountain Bridge in the Hudson Highlands. Lowest elevation on the Appalachian Trail between Maine and Georgia.



The recently decommissioned Indian Point nuclear Power plant, near Peekskill



Metro-North EMUs at Croton-Harmon



The George Washington Bridge.

The first 30 mile stretch of the ride, from Albany to Hudson, was really fast. My GPS was showing us going close to 110 mph! After that, the usual top speeds were more like 80 - 90 mph. There was some slow running around the Bear Mountain Bridge and into Peekskill, but generally the ride was quick, and we stayed on time (well ,we were 8 minutes late into Croton-Harmon), and we got into New York 8 minutes early. (Train 280 of 06/24/2021). I spent most of the ride fiddling with my camera. There were still a lot of problems with trackside vegetation messing the view, but there were a lot more open areas than on my ride over the Berkshires. I found that I could get better picture composition by using my telephoto, the views were wide enough that the Micro 3 4ths 45 mm (equivalent to 90 mm in 35 mm format) captured the views, plus the lens zooms to 150 mm, allowing me to get some distant stuff, too.

All too soon, we passed the George Washington Bridge, and soon entered a pseudo-tunnel, more like someone obtained the air rights over the tracks and built over it. We popped in and out of daylight, you could sometimes see the river and New Jersey, and there were various shafts that let the light in, too. Finally, as we approached Midtown, we entered a real tunnel, and I could hear the screaming flanges as we made a very sharp turn. I think the lights went out for a second, too. Perhaps that's when the P32 switched to electric operation. Then we were in the big open railyard cavern at the west end of Penn Station, and soon we were at the station and stopped.

I was sitting near the front of the train, so I needed to move to the rear if I wanted to pop up in the Moynihan Train Hall. There were signs directing us there, but they were placed on the platform, so you had to look down to notice them. It seems like they've cleaned up the platforms a bit, and the lighting down there is brighter than it used to be. I finally found the up escalator at the far west end of the platform and rode up to find I was on Track 6, and my escalator spit me up right by the entrance to the Metropolitan Lounge! Another escalator ride, and I was soon settled in for my layover.

 

[Dakota 400]

except they had the packaged hard boiled eggs, an item I think Amtrak should stock in its cafe cars even if they do go back to traditional dining everywhere.

I agree. I have not seen hard boiled eggs packaged that way, but, it would be a good protein substitute to a breakfast sandwich offered in the Cafe Car for those who don't want the carbohydrates of the biscuit/crossiant/whatever.

 

[AmtrakBlue]

When flex, or maybe it was contemporary, dining started they offered the hard boiled eggs. I was not happy when they stopped offering them. What I did on subsequent trips was go somewhere before boarding my trains and buy the 2 pack hardboiled eggs. As I recall, the Walgreens across the river from CUS has them.