For various reasons, I had put off planning for my eclipse travels until it was almost too late. Between that and work schedules, I was limited in my travel plans. That said, having experienced totality in 2017, I was determined in seeing it again this time around, even it meant sitting in a car for hours on the way back.
About two weeks ago a thought struck me: "was it possible that the Adirondack schedule would work?"
Sure enough, looking at it, I could board in Albany, and take it north to Port Henry or even Westport, get off, enjoy the eclipse and then get on the southbound train. I can't recall why I choose Port Henry over Westport, but I did. A pair of tickets and I was golden. The next day my son decided to join us, but in a mistake in communication, he bought his tickets to Westport. Fortunately he was able to change that on the day of departure while at the station.
Now I figured I wasn't unique in my idea, but I didn't realize how many others would have the same idea!
There were folks from NYC who rode the train the entire way. A woman behind us who got on the train in Albany and met the rest of her family in Saratoga. Another father/daughter pair and many more.
Originally I was a bit undecided about the two choices. Port Henry gave me more time on the ground and the best chance of not missing the eclipse because of the train being late, etc. On the other hand, Westport had planned activities rather close to the train station.
In fact, according to the conductor, 130 people were scheduled to get off at Port Henry (and I assume get back on there). Doing a little digging, it looks like on an average day, Westport has a total of 7.7 arriving or departing. So to say this was probably their busiest day ever is probably not an exaggeration. I later overheard a local (I assume the town supervisor) mention that Amtrak had contacted him only a few days previously to let him know 150 people were getting off at Port Henry.
So fortunately, they put together a small get together at the area around the train platform. This included a local with a portable trailer pizza oven (a bit expensive, but so worth it) and some local Amish selling wares. But overall, it was a nice comfortable place to enjoy the eclipse.
I should note that Amtrak ran its standard length Adirondack with 4 coaches and one cafe care. I highly suspect they could have sold out more seats had they added a coach or two.
Sure enough, Southbound, the Adirondack was late, but only about 10-15 minutes and from the best I can tell, that was all due to taking longer than usual at Westport. My guess is Westport didn't have quite as many people, but probably far more than usual.
So, overall, Amtrak was 100% the right choice and delivered.
(side note, I had bought fully refundable tickets in the event that the cloud cover looked bad, or if it was extremely late arriving at Albany).
Anyone use take advantage of Amtrak for this event?
About two weeks ago a thought struck me: "was it possible that the Adirondack schedule would work?"
Sure enough, looking at it, I could board in Albany, and take it north to Port Henry or even Westport, get off, enjoy the eclipse and then get on the southbound train. I can't recall why I choose Port Henry over Westport, but I did. A pair of tickets and I was golden. The next day my son decided to join us, but in a mistake in communication, he bought his tickets to Westport. Fortunately he was able to change that on the day of departure while at the station.
Now I figured I wasn't unique in my idea, but I didn't realize how many others would have the same idea!
There were folks from NYC who rode the train the entire way. A woman behind us who got on the train in Albany and met the rest of her family in Saratoga. Another father/daughter pair and many more.
Originally I was a bit undecided about the two choices. Port Henry gave me more time on the ground and the best chance of not missing the eclipse because of the train being late, etc. On the other hand, Westport had planned activities rather close to the train station.
In fact, according to the conductor, 130 people were scheduled to get off at Port Henry (and I assume get back on there). Doing a little digging, it looks like on an average day, Westport has a total of 7.7 arriving or departing. So to say this was probably their busiest day ever is probably not an exaggeration. I later overheard a local (I assume the town supervisor) mention that Amtrak had contacted him only a few days previously to let him know 150 people were getting off at Port Henry.
So fortunately, they put together a small get together at the area around the train platform. This included a local with a portable trailer pizza oven (a bit expensive, but so worth it) and some local Amish selling wares. But overall, it was a nice comfortable place to enjoy the eclipse.
I should note that Amtrak ran its standard length Adirondack with 4 coaches and one cafe care. I highly suspect they could have sold out more seats had they added a coach or two.
Sure enough, Southbound, the Adirondack was late, but only about 10-15 minutes and from the best I can tell, that was all due to taking longer than usual at Westport. My guess is Westport didn't have quite as many people, but probably far more than usual.
So, overall, Amtrak was 100% the right choice and delivered.
(side note, I had bought fully refundable tickets in the event that the cloud cover looked bad, or if it was extremely late arriving at Albany).
Anyone use take advantage of Amtrak for this event?
Check out QuiCR, Quick, Crowdsourced Responses for businesses.
