Maple Leaf from New York to Niagara falls

[TracyK]

I will soon be visiting from the UK, staying in New York. I want to visit Niagara Falls and would rather travel by train from New York. It is a long journey but I don't mind that if the scenery is good. Has anybody travelled this route? Is it scenic or should I think about flying?

Thanks

Tracy

 

[AlanB]

Tracy,

At least IMHO, this is one of the more scenic rides on the east coast. The first 90 miles or so going north towards Albany, finds the train running alongside the Hudson River. This offers wonderful views of the river, the Pallisades (a set of cliffs in NJ), West Point Military Acadamey, and many mountains.

After Albany, the train turns due west. Many miles of the journey are not spent running alongside the Erie Canal, which again is rather scenic in my opinion.

So if you want a nice relaxing and scenic ride, this may well be a good alternative. Sit on the left side of the train going to Niagra and the right side going to NY.

However, be warned that the train can and often does run late, sometimes 2 to 3 hours late. So if you need to arrive at a specific time, then it may not be the best choice.

 

[TracyK]

Thanks so much for the reply. It sounds lovely.

Tracy

 

[engine999]

You may want to consider one of the Empire Service trains going to Niagra Falls, they may not be as late. That is if you are not going to Niagra Falls, Ontario.

 

[been there]

even if going to the canada side, get off in the US and take a cab to/thru the border - it is relatively painless. Canada customs can hold you for an hour or more before they let anybody off on the canada side - DEFINITELY not the way to go.

 

[AlanB]

even if going to the canada side, get off in the US and take a cab to/thru the border - it is relatively painless. Canada customs can hold you for an hour or more before they let anybody off on the canada side - DEFINITELY not the way to go.

Well based upon my experience this past July, Canadian customs was 100% better than US customs.

Going into Canada, we had 5 agents checking people and we were finished in a little less than an hour.

Coming home into the US, we had only one agent checking people. Meanwhile 4 other lazy agents stood around a laughed & joked with each other. This caused our train to be over 3 hours late, thanks to some very lazy US customs agents. :angry:

It's no wonder that terrorists make their way into the US so easily, when those charged with protecting us can stand around and make jokes. :angry:

 

[Anthony]

even if going to the canada side, get off in the US and take a cab to/thru the border - it is relatively painless.  Canada customs can hold you for an hour or more before they let anybody off on the canada side - DEFINITELY not the way to go.

Well based upon my experience this past July, Canadian customs was 100% better than US customs.

Going into Canada, we had 5 agents checking people and we were finished in a little less than an hour.

Coming home into the US, we had only one agent checking people. Meanwhile 4 other lazy agents stood around a laughed & joked with each other. This caused our train to be over 3 hours late, thanks to some very lazy US customs agents. :angry:

It's no wonder that terrorists make their way into the US so easily, when those charged with protecting us can stand around and make jokes. :angry:

And yet, if you or I were to make a joke in the presence of the agents, God only knows what would happen :lol: :lol:

 

[AmtrakWPK]

seems to me an anonymous note sufficiently detailed to ensure it is taken as authentic , with date, time, train number, and so forth, ought to be sent to U.S. Customs headquarters for action. I would suggest cc'ing it to the congress members and senators in whose jurisdiction that crossing is located. And make a notation on the note sent to Customs that it IS being cc'd to the representatives and senators. Maybe also that it is being cc'd to several media outlets in that broadcast market. This is an election year, and senators and representatives are usually looking for things to do that say "Look - I'm doing my job!!" Hopefully one or two or more others also decided to do that, in which case something might actually happen to correct matters.

 

[AlanB]

And yet, if you or I were to make a joke in the presence of the agents, God only knows what would happen :lol: :lol:

That's for sure, in the middle of all of this nonsense, we had the conductor walking through the cars telling everyone that they needed to remain seated until the customs officers were finished.

After two hours of sitting there doing nothing I decided that my rights as a US citizen entitled me to the use of the bathroom. Even convicted criminals have that right, but apparently according to the conductor and/or those morons from customs, we're not entitled to that right.

Thankfully I wasn't challenged, but had I been I probably would have peed right on the customs inspector.

I don't mind having to endure a customs inspection, but it shouldn't be at my expense, while lazy customs inspectors stand around and do nothing, while causing a 3 hours delay to a train.

That doesn't help security one bit. Maybe it's time to rethink how we do customs or at least rethink those whom we entrust to do customs. :angry:

Can you tell how mad I am. And this happened two months ago in July and I still haven't cooled down from the nonsense I saw. It's crap like this that has the terrorist's winning. If our agents actually did their jobs, we wouldn't be in as much danger. But no, they'd rather tell jokes, than do their jobs. :angry:

Mind you that's not to say that all the agents don't do their jobs. I just saw a report on one agent who did happen to catch and detain one of the intended 9/11 terrorists. That's why there were only 19, as the 20th got caught by one agent who wasn't too busy telling jokes. Kudos to that particular agent. It's just too bad that there aren't more like him, who take their responsabilities seriously.

 

[AlanB]

seems to me an anonymous note sufficiently detailed to ensure it is taken as authentic , with date, time, train number, and so forth, ought to be sent to U.S. Customs headquarters for action. I would suggest cc'ing it to the congress members and senators in whose jurisdiction that crossing is located. And make a notation on the note sent to Customs that it IS being cc'd to the representatives and senators. Maybe also that it is being cc'd to several media outlets in that broadcast market. This is an election year, and senators and representatives are usually looking for things to do that say "Look - I'm doing my job!!" Hopefully one or two or more others also decided to do that, in which case something might actually happen to correct matters.

That might not be a bad idea, WPK, especially since it wasn't just me on that train. I had several other railfan friends on that trip with me. I'll have to see if I can't encourgae a few of the others to write in too.

After all there is strength in numbers.

 

[efin98]

I was on the same trains as Alan this past July and I got a different impression of what was going on. There was a lack of people to focus on getting passengers through customs and a focus on collecting money was what delayed the train for nearly an hour on the US side. On the Canadian side customs went through quickly as there were two people checking identification and the customs card, the US had one person doing that and one person just going through collecting money from those who had to pay for buying more than the duty-free limit. That single person could have saved a full half hour for passengers if he had been allowed to check identification and customs cards before seeking money from those who owed it. The cards are collected from passengers anyway so those who owed money would keep their card until the money was collected and those who did not owe would have their card collected on the spot once they had passed inspection.

But then again nothing went right on the Maple Leaf to New York that day, an extra hour added onto our already half hour late arrival into the US started the ball rolling on that day.

 

[engine999]

I would suggest you right a letter to NY representatives and the head of homeland security. If they are paying these people, they should do their job, not have fun.

 

[tp49]

My girlfriend had a bad customs experience on the Adirondack coming back from MTR two years ago. At the customs stop the only people who were having their Passports scrutinized were Asians and hispanics, not only that the agent was quite rude as well. We were both upset and I got in contact with the appropriate people and the agent was later reprimanded. It's not limited to the Niagara Falls crossing that's for sure.