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Lori

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This may be a silly question, but I am traveling from chicago to boston (potentially) on this train. A co-traveller is deathly afraid of heights. Does this train go through any mountains or over bridges?
 
And being on a train, you can position yourself not to see heights (keep your eyes focused on the interior during crossings). Much better then in a car, I'd say.
 
Most of the bridges on the route are basically over small rivers at ground level, mere feet above the water. I believe the highest bridge on the route is over the Hudson River, which is just west of Albany; and that's not very high either. There are some low bridges over city streets. There are no mountains whatsoever on the entire route -- it used to be called the "Water Level Route" for a reason.

You're never going to be more than one story above the ground or water on the entire route.
 
neroden said:
jis said:
Is it that flat through the Berkshires where it crosses the Appalachian watershed?
Click to expand...
It still hugs the river basins.
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The highest point on the route I think is in there somewhere. Pittsfield is around 1100'. The summit which is east of Pittsfield at MP 138.7 (Washington), is a little higher, river basin or not. That is way higher than the rest of the route. I don't think the Berkshire section was ever called the "Water Level Route". That monicker applies to the New York to Chicago route. I am yet to hear a trained geographer call the Berkshires a "River Basin". Whatever....
 
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Yeah, it goes up a bit in the Berkshires, but you're running along the river with the mountains above you; it's not going to trigger fear of heights. From Springfield it's up the Westfield River, up Depot Brook, over the pass, down the East Branch Housatonic River, up the Southwest Branch, over the pass, down Fairfield Brook & Cone Brook, cut across Furnace Brook, back up Flat Brook, over the pass at "Tunnel Hill Road" (one 500 ft. tunnel, the only one on the route IIRC), down Stony Kill, and finally the Post Road Branch to Albany.

This isn't totally flat, but if you can tolerate being on the second floor of a building, it's not going to trigger your fear of heights. The heights are all above you, and frankly they aren't that high anyway. It isn't like Scranton.
 
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Yeah, the Indiana thing is sort of like the continental divide summit in the high plateau in Wyoming. No significant mountains or anything. Just altitude. In a way that is different from the Berkshires summit, where there is actual visible mountains (or hills as I see them, after having been to the Himalayas almost everything else is a hill anyway :) ), You do climb up a valley where the river is flowing to the east (into the Connecticut basin) and then down a valley where the river is flowing west (to the Hudson basin).

neroden said:
Yeah, it goes up a bit in the Berkshires, but you're running along the river with the mountains above you; it's not going to trigger fear of heights. From Springfield it's up the Westfield River, up Depot Brook, over the pass, down the East Branch Housatonic River, up the Southwest Branch, over the pass, down Fairfield Brook & Cone Brook, cut across Furnace Brook, back up Flat Brook, over the pass at "Tunnel Hill Road" (one 500 ft. tunnel, the only one on the route IIRC), down Stony Kill, and finally the Post Road Branch to Albany.

This isn't totally flat, but if you can tolerate being on the second floor of a building, it's not going to trigger your fear of heights. The heights are all above you, and frankly they aren't that high anyway. It isn't like Scranton.
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Specially when approaching on the Lackawanna Cutoff and the newer interstates, since they are built near the top of the ridges and not in the valleys.
 
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Some of those high roads in Scranton actually scare the hell out of me. The Pennsylvania Turnpike NE Extension particularly, with its gigantic, aging steel bridge from hilltop to hilltop.

Anyway, there's nothing like that on the LSL.
 
neroden said:
Some of those high roads in Scranton actually scare the hell out of me. The Pennsylvania Turnpike NE Extension particularly, with its gigantic, aging steel bridge from hilltop to hilltop.
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And then there is the spectacular Tunkhannock Viaduct, seemingly as solid as earth itself! Amazing that it was one of the first, then state of the art, concrete structures built to that scale!

tunkhannock-header.jpg
 
I love the Northeast extension. Nearly no cops, excellent scenery, and coming back from the Poconos at night, I can really open my Benz up.
 
This is my home train. There is not much height the whole length of the trip from CHI to BOS. You can see mountains beside you through the Berkshires. The route out of Albany heading to Massachusetts is very rough until you cross the border into Mass. But if you are aware of it ahead of time, you can act accordingly, like don't try to walk around the train or drink a glass of something. It is rather noisy also.

This is still the way it was when I traveled in April. I am hoping that they work on that section some time soon.
 
Green Maned Lion said:
I love the Northeast extension. Nearly no cops, excellent scenery, and coming back from the Poconos at night, I can really open my Benz up.
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It's the section from exit 112 to 131 which scares me, specifically. The coin-throw bit after the end of the ticket system.

And you really can't go very fast on that section, it's far too twisty. There's an actual 120 degree turn at the Clark's Summit end, as well as several sharp 90 degree turns.

The rest of the NE extension is fine.

But that bit at the end from Wyoming Valley to Clarks Summit has this bridge:

https://maps.google.com/?ll=41.483827,-75.690876&spn=0.005666,0.009184&t=h&z=17

Street view from below:

https://maps.google.com/?ll=41.483293,-75.691139&spn=0.000708,0.001148&t=h&z=20&layer=c&cbll=41.483293,-75.691139&panoid=eUy6cI2JHZwLygJ635bQ4Q&cbp=12,320.61,,0,-26.39

I started taking I-81 for that segment of travel instead.

The viaducts of the DL&W (there are several others in the same style as the Tunkanhonnack Viaduct, including the Nicholson Viaduct) look much more solid than the NE Extension bridge.
 
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neroden said:
Green Maned Lion said:
I love the Northeast extension. Nearly no cops, excellent scenery, and coming back from the Poconos at night, I can really open my Benz up.
Click to expand...
It's the section from exit 112 to 131 which scares me, specifically. The coin-throw bit after the end of the ticket system.

And you really can't go very fast on that section, it's far too twisty. There's an actual 120 degree turn at the Clark's Summit end, as well as several sharp 90 degree turns.

The rest of the NE extension is fine.

But that bit at the end from Wyoming Valley to Clarks Summit has this bridge:
Click to expand...
I know it stinks with all of the construction, but there's always I-81 on the other side of the valley. I always get off at Pittston and never take the upper section unless there is an accident on 81.

The worst thing about the NE extension is how when someone "really opens it up" and then has an accident there is no alternate route when they close the road down. It would also take longer to reach medical treatment facilities
 
neroden said:
The viaducts of the DL&W (there are several others in the same style as the Tunkanhonnack Viaduct, including the Nicholson Viaduct) look much more solid than the NE Extension bridge.
Click to expand...
Wait.... Nicholson Viaduct is Tunkhannock Viaduct. It is the viaduct across the Tunkhannock Creek in the town of Nicholson. Perhaps you mean the Delaware River Viaduct near Slatreford, or the Paulinskill viaduct in Hainesburg on the Cutoff? Or there is another viaduct a little further north of Nicholson, I forget its name off the top of my head. Route 11 passes under the cutoff at that one.
 
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neroden said:
Green Maned Lion said:
I love the Northeast extension. Nearly no cops, excellent scenery, and coming back from the Poconos at night, I can really open my Benz up.
Click to expand...
It's the section from exit 112 to 131 which scares me, specifically. The coin-throw bit after the end of the ticket system.
And you really can't go very fast on that section, it's far too twisty. There's an actual 120 degree turn at the Clark's Summit end, as well as several sharp 90 degree turns.

The rest of the NE extension is fine.

But that bit at the end from Wyoming Valley to Clarks Summit has this bridge:

https://maps.google.com/?ll=41.483827,-75.690876&spn=0.005666,0.009184&t=h&z=17

Street view from below:

https://maps.google.com/?ll=41.483293,-75.691139&spn=0.000708,0.001148&t=h&z=20&layer=c&cbll=41.483293,-75.691139&panoid=eUy6cI2JHZwLygJ635bQ4Q&cbp=12,320.61,,0,-26.39

I started taking I-81 for that segment of travel instead.

The viaducts of the DL&W (there are several others in the same style as the Tunkanhonnack Viaduct, including the Nicholson Viaduct) look much more solid than the NE Extension bridge.
Click to expand...
If I had your car, I bet I'd be going faster than I do now. One of the things that really impresses me with it is the low COG. I drive a BOF SUV, and are therefore limited in how fast I can drive.

The safety issues of driving on roads are really easy to deal with- if you can see other cars near you, you should never be doing more than 5-8 over the average vehicle speed. I'm talking relatively empty roads.
 
I love the NE Extension - we go rafting on the Lehigh River every summer, and usually take 83 to 81 to 80 on the way up, and then we'll come home 80-476-95. Looks like I miss the fun part of the road, though. I'll have to find an excuse to drive up to Scranton.
 
jis said:
neroden said:
The viaducts of the DL&W (there are several others in the same style as the Tunkanhonnack Viaduct, including the Nicholson Viaduct) look much more solid than the NE Extension bridge.
Click to expand...
Wait.... Nicholson Viaduct is Tunkhannock Viaduct. It is the viaduct across the Tunkhannock Creek in the town of Nicholson. Perhaps you mean the Delaware River Viaduct near Slatreford, or the Paulinskill viaduct in Hainesburg on the Cutoff? Or there is another viaduct a little further north of Nicholson, I forget its name off the top of my head. Route 11 passes under the cutoff at that one.
Click to expand...
I'm thinking of the little one a bit north of Nicholson. The other two you mention are also the same design -- I guess it was a bit of a "standard design" for the Lackawanna.
 
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