deltic
Established Member
- Joined
- 8 Feb 2010
- Messages
- 3,224
Spent a few days in Montreal and then caught the daily Amtrak train to New York yesterday. Unfortunately, I managed to forget my 'phone so no pictures but things havent changed much since k-c-p's visit (Eastern Canada by Rail (with pics) ) and his fantastic photos.
The Montreal metro is very well used and frequent but I was struck by the age profile of the passengers which was predominantly under 30 - admittedly I didnt travel on it during the peaks but it seems older people tend not to use it. The local overground commuter rail services on the other hand were virtually peak time only with only one of the six lines offering an hourly service throughout the day. As with k-c-p I travelled from Gare Lucien-L'Allier to St Constant to visit the rail museum. There is only one train a day now that you can do this on catching the 09.35 departure from Montreal and a 13.30ish return train (the last of the day). The museum is well worth a visit and has surprisingly few visitors, possibly because its too far out of town and difficult to visit for tourists.
On the way back as I arrived early at the station I caught the outbound train to Candiac (end of the line) - as there was no shelter at St Constant station and I was getting sunburnt! When I checked with the guard that it was the same train going back he asked me where I got on but there was no ticket check on either outbound on inbound trip (St Constant and Candiac are in the same fare zone hence no problem).
Despite this midday train being the last of the day into Montreal there were around 50 passengers on board - quite a few getting off at Montreal Ouest where there is a major new hospital complex. A number of stations on the line were being improved so I dont know if there are plans to improve the service. Given the marginal cost of running extra trains is likely to be fairly low I am surprised at how poor the day time service is.
So yesterday travelled from Montreal to New York on Amtrak's Adirondack. Amazingly cheap $69 for a 10hr train journey.
Despite Amtrak only selling as many tickets as there are seats they dont provide reservations on this train so people were queueing a good hour before boarding. The train was not particularly well loaded - a regular passenger remarked it was a lot quieter than usual.
On being allowed onto the platform passengers are roughly directed to different sections of the train depending on where they are travelling - New York passengers directed to the front, intermediate destinations to the rear.
Montreal station is under a large shopping/office development so is quite dark and the train itself only has emergency lighting on to begin with - so its rather dark on-board as people try to find seats.
The seats themselves are fairly comfy and have plenty of leg room plus sockets to plug in laptops etc. Wi-fi is only available once in the US. We started out of Montreal and slowly threaded our way through the Montreal suburbs stopping at a local suburban station where 2 people got on - a bit like a London Paddington - Penzance service suddenly stopping at Iver.
The journey through Canada was a bit like travelling on a preserved railway in the UK, very slow and on jointed track. Tickets were inspected - despite also being inspected before joining and a little marker was placed in the overhead racks so the inspector knew whose tickets had been checked. We then ground to a halt for over an hour at the US border while customs checks were carried out. It reminded me of east European crossings of the 1970s except the US border guards were much more polite. I was sent off to the cafe car to pay my $6 as the US electronic visa system is not accepted at land borders - one person was removed from the train.
We then set off into the US and the wifi worked fine for about an hour before dying and never returning - a common problem I understand.
At the border there was a Norfolk Southern loco on a freight train which was the only freight train seen on the whole journey although we passed a number of small yards with freight cars in them along the way. Apart from the Adirondack travelling in the opposite direction we passed no other services in the 8hrs travelling from Montreal to Albany.
The charm of the driver sounding his horn between 3-5 times at every crossing soon wore off and became a bit of a pain after a while. The extreme was when travelling slowly past one of the rail yards the horn was sounded every couple of seconds for what seemed like minutes.
Virtually the whole route to Albany is single track with seemingly few passing places. The train stopped at halts and shacks in the middle of nowhere that would have been closed decades ago in the UK.
On reaching Albany we stopped to change locos and to allow people to have a cigarette break. From there line speeds improved considerably and we passed a couple of Amtrak services heading north. Arrival at Penn station was about 20mins late and engineering works are still continuing at a station that makes Birmingham New Street platforms look pleasant and welcoming.
So off today to visit some of those places forum members kindly suggested and to meet and old friend.
The Montreal metro is very well used and frequent but I was struck by the age profile of the passengers which was predominantly under 30 - admittedly I didnt travel on it during the peaks but it seems older people tend not to use it. The local overground commuter rail services on the other hand were virtually peak time only with only one of the six lines offering an hourly service throughout the day. As with k-c-p I travelled from Gare Lucien-L'Allier to St Constant to visit the rail museum. There is only one train a day now that you can do this on catching the 09.35 departure from Montreal and a 13.30ish return train (the last of the day). The museum is well worth a visit and has surprisingly few visitors, possibly because its too far out of town and difficult to visit for tourists.
On the way back as I arrived early at the station I caught the outbound train to Candiac (end of the line) - as there was no shelter at St Constant station and I was getting sunburnt! When I checked with the guard that it was the same train going back he asked me where I got on but there was no ticket check on either outbound on inbound trip (St Constant and Candiac are in the same fare zone hence no problem).
Despite this midday train being the last of the day into Montreal there were around 50 passengers on board - quite a few getting off at Montreal Ouest where there is a major new hospital complex. A number of stations on the line were being improved so I dont know if there are plans to improve the service. Given the marginal cost of running extra trains is likely to be fairly low I am surprised at how poor the day time service is.
So yesterday travelled from Montreal to New York on Amtrak's Adirondack. Amazingly cheap $69 for a 10hr train journey.
Despite Amtrak only selling as many tickets as there are seats they dont provide reservations on this train so people were queueing a good hour before boarding. The train was not particularly well loaded - a regular passenger remarked it was a lot quieter than usual.
On being allowed onto the platform passengers are roughly directed to different sections of the train depending on where they are travelling - New York passengers directed to the front, intermediate destinations to the rear.
Montreal station is under a large shopping/office development so is quite dark and the train itself only has emergency lighting on to begin with - so its rather dark on-board as people try to find seats.
The seats themselves are fairly comfy and have plenty of leg room plus sockets to plug in laptops etc. Wi-fi is only available once in the US. We started out of Montreal and slowly threaded our way through the Montreal suburbs stopping at a local suburban station where 2 people got on - a bit like a London Paddington - Penzance service suddenly stopping at Iver.
The journey through Canada was a bit like travelling on a preserved railway in the UK, very slow and on jointed track. Tickets were inspected - despite also being inspected before joining and a little marker was placed in the overhead racks so the inspector knew whose tickets had been checked. We then ground to a halt for over an hour at the US border while customs checks were carried out. It reminded me of east European crossings of the 1970s except the US border guards were much more polite. I was sent off to the cafe car to pay my $6 as the US electronic visa system is not accepted at land borders - one person was removed from the train.
We then set off into the US and the wifi worked fine for about an hour before dying and never returning - a common problem I understand.
At the border there was a Norfolk Southern loco on a freight train which was the only freight train seen on the whole journey although we passed a number of small yards with freight cars in them along the way. Apart from the Adirondack travelling in the opposite direction we passed no other services in the 8hrs travelling from Montreal to Albany.
The charm of the driver sounding his horn between 3-5 times at every crossing soon wore off and became a bit of a pain after a while. The extreme was when travelling slowly past one of the rail yards the horn was sounded every couple of seconds for what seemed like minutes.
Virtually the whole route to Albany is single track with seemingly few passing places. The train stopped at halts and shacks in the middle of nowhere that would have been closed decades ago in the UK.
On reaching Albany we stopped to change locos and to allow people to have a cigarette break. From there line speeds improved considerably and we passed a couple of Amtrak services heading north. Arrival at Penn station was about 20mins late and engineering works are still continuing at a station that makes Birmingham New Street platforms look pleasant and welcoming.
So off today to visit some of those places forum members kindly suggested and to meet and old friend.
