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Thursday, September 27, 2007
Day 2: Never turn your back on a loaded train
Jon and I transferred from the Downeaster to the Lake Shore Limited in Boston this morning. The Downeaster trip was without incident, and despite the pains of moving four suitcases on the Boston MBTA subway trains, we were able to get to South Station with plenty of time to spare before the Lake Shore Limited stub train to Albany departed (more on the stub train in a later blog item). We dropped our bags off at the First Class Lounge, and strolled downtown to grab a sandwich for lunch.
Got on the Lake Shore, sat down, and relaxed.
Fast forward to 2:35 PM. We arrive in Springfield, Massachusetts, and I hear the conductor make the announcement that this is the only smoke stop on the trip to Albany. I also could have SWORN he said we had 15 minutes until we leaved. Now, I don’t smoke, and neither does Jon, but we both wanted to get a little fresh air and to take some pictures. So we get off as the train was loading a large pack of new passengers. Little did I know, those passengers were apparently marathon stair climbers.
About that time, my phone starts ringing, and it’s Ross Capon (that’s Ross on the left there) from the National Association of Railroad Passengers (NARP, for short). Ross was returning my call to clarify some facts on the Maine Eastern railroad and the Downeaster in general (which I talked about in my previous blog posting).
Anyway, take a look at the picture at the top of this blog item. That’s me on the phone with Ross. And that’s the train that’s starting to MOVE. Our train. As in, it was LEAVING. Without me. And Jon. And yes, the baggage car was open. Don’t ask me why.
I pretty much yelled, “Are they LEAVING us!?” and hung up on Ross (sorry, Ross!) and ran at the train waving my arms like a madman and screaming God knows what. The conductor stared down at me from the high-level door like a farmer stares at a cow that wandered out of the pasture. Good thing he didn’t have a shotgun, I guess. Anyway, I say (and the train is still moving, mind you), “I thought you said we had 15 minutes!”
“You thought wrong,” he shoots back. “Stand back, please.”
“Are you leaving us?” I’m desperate now. I can’t believe the trip is going to get torpedoed on DAY 2.
Thankfully, the train comes to a stop and we climb on like kids who wandered off on a field trip. But that was a close one, and I clearly wasn’t thinking straight. Thank goodness that conductor had the train stop for us. He didn’t have to, but thank goodness he did.
Lesson learned: Never turn your back on a loaded train.
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Day 2: The Downeaster, a state-supported train
Since I’m something of a train afficionado (see the video to be posted later today), people often ask me why Amtrak doesn’t just add more routes to make its service more convenient, because outside of the Northeast corridor, Amtrak trains don’t run every hour, or even every day in some cases. The simple reason is obvious: money. What may not be so obvious, however, is the fact that Congress has mandated that Amtrak, as a federally subsidized private company, may not start a new service without first guaranting that it is fully funded. That means that the financial burden falls to the states in which the service is going to run. Some states have embraced this philosophy: last year, Illinois instituted additional frequencies on many of its Chicago-based routes; North Carolina makes the Piedmont and Carolinian services possible; Washington state funds the Cascades service; and Vermont cuts a check for both the Vermonter and the Ethan Allen Express trains. Perhaps the poster child for state-funded services, however, is the Downeaster, which runs from Boston to Portland, Maine, and is funded primarily by the State of Maine. And the Downeaster is heralded by many of its supporters as the best performing short-hault route on tne entire Amtrak system. The on-time-percentage is extremely good, the cafe car carries Maine-native products, and the conductors are notoriously congenial.
The track on which the Downeaster runs is historically part of the Boston & Maine railroad, and service once extended much farther north past Portland on what was the Maine Central railroad. The state of Maine is now seriously talking with Amtrak about once more extending regular passenger rail service farther north to cities like Rockland. In the meantime, seasonal riders can hop aboard the Maine Eastern railroad, which runs from Rockland to Brunswick, Maine (the schedule fluctuates by the season, so check their website for specifics).
So, again, if you visit Maine, take some time to ride the Downeaster and the Maine Eastern. You’ll be stepping back into time, and the scenery is just beautiful.
Permalink | | Categories: Downeaster
