My oldest son Nathan and I took a day trip to Boston on Amtrak's Downeaster Sunday September 3rd, business class.
I drove down to his house in Lewiston on Friday. Saturday I volunteered at Seashore Trolley Museum as they were short of operators that day. Normally we like to have 6 operators with 2 cars running and a motorman and conductor on each, with a 3rd crew to relieve the other two for breaks, lunch, etc. and to handle other duties such as assisting in boarding. Besides myself only one other had volunteered but by the time we opened 3 others had shown up so we were OK. The weather was perfect so we had a good crowd needing both our open car Conn #303 and closed car Conn #1160. Nate came with me and took a few rides. We headed out at 3 so we could get home in time for church (5 PM liturgy) as we would be away all day Sunday.
Sunday morning we had an early start as Lewiston is about a half hour from Brunswick and our train (#692) left at 7:10. We ended up getting there in plenty of time and took care of parking. At Brunswick there is a lot in the block next to the station where you enter your plate number at the kiosk and pay $2 per 24 hour period. The equipment pulled in from the yard at about 7:00 consisting of P42 #94, the usual coaches and business class car, and NPCU #90220. We boarded the business class car which is the first car of the train Southbound (RR Eastbound). The car is set up as half business then a cafe and tables in the other half, with 2 x 1 seating in the business section. Shortly after boarding the cafe attendant came by to see if we wanted coffee or anything else to drink, which was of course free in business, at least for the first drink. She also announced that we could get food once we left Freeport the next stop. As is typical there was only one other couple in Business at this point but the car does fill up once you get to Portland. After Freeport we got breakfast sandwiches and a muffin each as we were pretty hungry as we hadn't had time to eat breakfast before leaving the house.
The train was pretty much on time for the trip although we did lose a couple of minutes between Portland and Saco. There was one slow spot possibly due to recent track work. I was running my speedometer app for most of the trip and I timed it at 77 mph for one stretch between POR and OOB and several stretches of 75 mph.
I was curious if any progress had been made on the siding extension and second platform at Wells. From what I could see the roadbed had been graded and some sub ballast put down. there were also rails dropped for a second track at the road crossing just south of the station. No activity yet on the second platform.
By the time we left Woburn we were 7 minutes late. Coming in to North Station we stopped for a few minutes opposite the Boston Sand and Gravel plant, probably waiting for a platform track, but still made an arrival at BON at 10:38 only 8 minutes late.
Our main activity was to check out the Museum of Science which is a short ride on the Green Line from North Station. After charging up our Charlie Cards we headed to the outbound Green Line platform where a train for Union Square pulled in a few minutes later. Oddly enough the countdown clock at our platform still showed the destination as Lechmere. I guess parts of the system haven't been updated yet for the new extension.
The museum was pretty interesting. We also attended a planetarium show on the universe and the electrical show with various Tesla coils. They have a decent cafeteria there where we got lunch. It was pretty crowded but we found some seats facing the large windows that look out over the Charles River where you can watch the various boats including Duck Boat tours and see Red Line trains crossing the Longfellow Bridge. I first came to the museum in 1961 when I was 11. One exhibit they had at that time was a computer built by an MIT grad student that could play checkers. I was fascinated by that and I credit it for sparking my interest in computing that led to a 40+ year career as a software developer. The current museum has changed a lot since then. One thing I like is they have added a lot of interactive exhibits for kids in areas such as computer science and various areas of physics.
After the planetarium show it was time to head back to North Station to catch train #697 due out at 5:20 PM. We headed back to Science Park station. A 2 car train pulled in a few minutes later but with an announcement that the second car was out of service so we all jammed into the front car which was pretty full, maybe not as bad as those scenes of a Mumbai suburban train. Fortunately we were only going 1 stop. The train ran pretty slowly which could have been the well publicized slow orders or perhaps because of the out of service rear car. Anyway we got to BON in plenty of time to wait for our train which boarded at 5:10. The Business class car is the first car after the NPCU so it was a quick walk to the car and we found a pair of seats. The car was almost completely full. While we waited to leave the cafe attendant came around to take drink orders. I got a water for now, with plans to get something stronger later on. The train left on time and after the cafe opened for business I got a white wine for myself and a beer for Nate. We had decided to wait and get dinner after we got off the train.
The train was on time the whole way until after Wells. After or station stop at 7:08 we pulled into the siding and waited for #698 which was due at 7:15. It was a few minutes late arriving at 7:22 so that made us about 13 minutes behind schedule. We did make up a little time and pulled into Brunswick at 8:50 only 10 minutes late. We got the car and headed over to Sea Dog Brewery in Topsham just across the river from Brunswick which I knew was open until 10 PM. After some dinner on their outside patio along the river we headed home. It was a good trip, everything was close to on time, the weather was perfect in the 70's maybe low 80s in Boston. The crew were pleasant, especially the cafe attendants who really look after you in Business class.
I drove down to his house in Lewiston on Friday. Saturday I volunteered at Seashore Trolley Museum as they were short of operators that day. Normally we like to have 6 operators with 2 cars running and a motorman and conductor on each, with a 3rd crew to relieve the other two for breaks, lunch, etc. and to handle other duties such as assisting in boarding. Besides myself only one other had volunteered but by the time we opened 3 others had shown up so we were OK. The weather was perfect so we had a good crowd needing both our open car Conn #303 and closed car Conn #1160. Nate came with me and took a few rides. We headed out at 3 so we could get home in time for church (5 PM liturgy) as we would be away all day Sunday.
Sunday morning we had an early start as Lewiston is about a half hour from Brunswick and our train (#692) left at 7:10. We ended up getting there in plenty of time and took care of parking. At Brunswick there is a lot in the block next to the station where you enter your plate number at the kiosk and pay $2 per 24 hour period. The equipment pulled in from the yard at about 7:00 consisting of P42 #94, the usual coaches and business class car, and NPCU #90220. We boarded the business class car which is the first car of the train Southbound (RR Eastbound). The car is set up as half business then a cafe and tables in the other half, with 2 x 1 seating in the business section. Shortly after boarding the cafe attendant came by to see if we wanted coffee or anything else to drink, which was of course free in business, at least for the first drink. She also announced that we could get food once we left Freeport the next stop. As is typical there was only one other couple in Business at this point but the car does fill up once you get to Portland. After Freeport we got breakfast sandwiches and a muffin each as we were pretty hungry as we hadn't had time to eat breakfast before leaving the house.
The train was pretty much on time for the trip although we did lose a couple of minutes between Portland and Saco. There was one slow spot possibly due to recent track work. I was running my speedometer app for most of the trip and I timed it at 77 mph for one stretch between POR and OOB and several stretches of 75 mph.
I was curious if any progress had been made on the siding extension and second platform at Wells. From what I could see the roadbed had been graded and some sub ballast put down. there were also rails dropped for a second track at the road crossing just south of the station. No activity yet on the second platform.
By the time we left Woburn we were 7 minutes late. Coming in to North Station we stopped for a few minutes opposite the Boston Sand and Gravel plant, probably waiting for a platform track, but still made an arrival at BON at 10:38 only 8 minutes late.
Our main activity was to check out the Museum of Science which is a short ride on the Green Line from North Station. After charging up our Charlie Cards we headed to the outbound Green Line platform where a train for Union Square pulled in a few minutes later. Oddly enough the countdown clock at our platform still showed the destination as Lechmere. I guess parts of the system haven't been updated yet for the new extension.
The museum was pretty interesting. We also attended a planetarium show on the universe and the electrical show with various Tesla coils. They have a decent cafeteria there where we got lunch. It was pretty crowded but we found some seats facing the large windows that look out over the Charles River where you can watch the various boats including Duck Boat tours and see Red Line trains crossing the Longfellow Bridge. I first came to the museum in 1961 when I was 11. One exhibit they had at that time was a computer built by an MIT grad student that could play checkers. I was fascinated by that and I credit it for sparking my interest in computing that led to a 40+ year career as a software developer. The current museum has changed a lot since then. One thing I like is they have added a lot of interactive exhibits for kids in areas such as computer science and various areas of physics.
After the planetarium show it was time to head back to North Station to catch train #697 due out at 5:20 PM. We headed back to Science Park station. A 2 car train pulled in a few minutes later but with an announcement that the second car was out of service so we all jammed into the front car which was pretty full, maybe not as bad as those scenes of a Mumbai suburban train. Fortunately we were only going 1 stop. The train ran pretty slowly which could have been the well publicized slow orders or perhaps because of the out of service rear car. Anyway we got to BON in plenty of time to wait for our train which boarded at 5:10. The Business class car is the first car after the NPCU so it was a quick walk to the car and we found a pair of seats. The car was almost completely full. While we waited to leave the cafe attendant came around to take drink orders. I got a water for now, with plans to get something stronger later on. The train left on time and after the cafe opened for business I got a white wine for myself and a beer for Nate. We had decided to wait and get dinner after we got off the train.
The train was on time the whole way until after Wells. After or station stop at 7:08 we pulled into the siding and waited for #698 which was due at 7:15. It was a few minutes late arriving at 7:22 so that made us about 13 minutes behind schedule. We did make up a little time and pulled into Brunswick at 8:50 only 10 minutes late. We got the car and headed over to Sea Dog Brewery in Topsham just across the river from Brunswick which I knew was open until 10 PM. After some dinner on their outside patio along the river we headed home. It was a good trip, everything was close to on time, the weather was perfect in the 70's maybe low 80s in Boston. The crew were pleasant, especially the cafe attendants who really look after you in Business class.
