RAILROAD.NET

Arborway - Thanks to your post I found some interesting material about the attempted discontinuance of 448/449 during the spring of '97. MA negotiated a deal with Amtrak that kept the train, and a main offering by the state was the construction of a new mail/express facility just east of the station to service the train. Of course, Amtrak has not been handling mail/express since Gunn discontinued it circa 2001, so this did not turn out to be much of an incentive to keeping the train in the long term.
Andy

Arborwayfan wrote:That was in winter or spring 1997. They got so far as to sell tickets on the buses for a while.

A kind of funny story:
Sometime in the spring of 1997 I made a reservation Champaign-Chi on the CONO, Chi-NYP on the Three Rivers (via Pittsburgh and Philly, lots of mail cars), NYP-BOS unreserved or reserved on the night train, and then back BOS-NYP-CHI-CHM via the Lakeshore Ltd. When the plan to bustitute was cancelled, Amtrak helpfully changed my reservation to Lakeshore in both directions. So kind, really, to think about that. But I wanted to ride the Three Rivers and I had dinner plans with a friend in New York. I did get that part of the reservation put back, but they had to override the software that wanted to charge me a lot extra to "change" my reservation back to what I'd asked for. But they did change it to what I'd wanted, and in 99% of cases what they did initially would have been right.

And don't forget all the money just spent to make Rensselaer more efficient just for 448/449 and also for the rebuilding and maintenance of the Post Road Branch also just for 448/449:

On April 30, 1972, Penn Central Transportation removed the track on the Post Road Branch, forcing passenger trains to make a reverse movement along the current Schodack Subdivision. The abandoned line was assigned to Amtrak in the 1976 formation of Conrail, and Amtrak reopened it on October 28, 1979 with Conrail trackage rights for freight. These rights were assigned to CSX Transportation in the 1999 breakup of Conrail.

Lots of wasted money if 448/449 disappears.

New menu goes in effect January 16:

https://www.amtrak.com/content/dam/proj ... u-0119.pdf" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

I'm confused. Are you confused?

-otto-

Still looks like the "Panera Bread model of food service" is in effect, but, now allowing a "warm" Breakfast offering
on a "Fancy" roll !

What if Amtrak rented out it's café cars...

benboston wrote:What if Amtrak rented out it's café cars...

Talk about that here: http://railroad.net/forums/viewtopic.php?f=46&t=87399" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

What is the normal consist of the LAKE SHORE this winter? Does the café come from NY or Boston?
Thanks!
Andy

If it has not changed from about 2-3 months ago the car comes from Boston. Had dinner a year ago when there was a dining car and got food from the cafe car a few months ago. Would recommend bringing your own food/snacks/beverages, I may have had beeter meals on an airplane. Also note the hours of operation, you don't want to be left hungry.

Correct about the cafe car. And remember, if you're a coach passenger, they "enhanced the experience" to use their words, by eliminating ANY coach passenger access to the dining car.

Here's No. 48 arriving in Utica, NY on Feb 12, 2019 in blizzard-like conditions:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3kqIwQuksxU&t=4s" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

ut-1 wrote:Here's No. 48 arriving in Utica, NY on Feb 12, 2019 in blizzard-like conditions:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3kqIwQuksxU&t=4s" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

Where is the Boston sleeper?

Backshophoss wrote:Still looks like the "Panera Bread model of food service" is in effect, but, now allowing a "warm" Breakfast offering
on a "Fancy" roll !

If that’s the warm offering from the City of New Orleans, it’s a bit rough. Similar to gas station heat-and-go sandwiches.

bostontrainguy wrote:And don't forget all the money just spent to make Rensselaer more efficient just for 448/449 and also for the rebuilding and maintenance of the Post Road Branch also just for 448/449:

On April 30, 1972, Penn Central Transportation removed the track on the Post Road Branch, forcing passenger trains to make a reverse movement along the current Schodack Subdivision. The abandoned line was assigned to Amtrak in the 1976 formation of Conrail, and Amtrak reopened it on October 28, 1979 with Conrail trackage rights for freight. These rights were assigned to CSX Transportation in the 1999 breakup of Conrail.

Lots of wasted money if 448/449 disappears.

IIRC Amtrak could have had the Post Road at start-up but was not interested because there was no Lake Shore on A-Day, and hence no need for it. In fact, nobody needed it.

Later when the current LSL began running (1975?), THAT's when the backup move became necessary until the Post Road was relaid.

Isn't that how it went?

That's how it went, but I can't give you dates. I did that backup move once, and it was done pretty effeciently.

scoostraw wrote:IIRC Amtrak could have had the Post Road at start-up but was not interested because there was no Lake Shore on A-Day, and hence no need for it.

Did Amtrak have anything from the railroads other than rolling stock on May 1, 1971?