rhallock wrote:from an email of Clark Johnson's. He operates the car Caritas of High Iron.
Sep't. 14-22 AAPRCO Convention in Burlington, VT
Schedule:
The AAPRCO private cars will assemble in Albany (Rensselaer) on Sep't. 13. The High Iron car or cars will move Chicago to Albany on Sep't. 12
Sep.t. 14: Albany to Utica then to Thendara, NY on the Adirondack Scenic RR for lunch. Then back to Albany.
First of all, Clark Johnson's advertisement for the AAPRCO convention trip contains an error. The AAPRCO "Green Mountain Flyer" special train is scheduled to spend the night of September 14th parked in Utica, not in Rensselaer. On the morning of September 15th, the train will operate from Utica to Saratoga Springs, where it will park for two nights, allowing passengers to explore the greater Saratoga Springs - Lake George area, and ride the Saratoga & North Creek dinner/excursion train.
BR&P wrote:Just curious, why not take the train all the way to Thendara?
Good question, especially since any rare mileage riders onboard the special would wonder why they are not getting as much of the Adirondack Scenic mileage as possible. It may be an issue of time and scheduling of events, such as the off-train lunch activities at Otter Lake and the desire to be back in Utica by a certain time of late afternoon or early evening. Another might be track conditions northeast of Otter Lake, or the ability to run the power around to the other end of the train at one location rather than another location.
Is the route FRA class II track all the way from Utica to Otter Lake? The AAPRCO convention special trains usually use a minimum of two Amtrak P42 locomotives for power.
I've never ridden this route before. Unfortunately, Amtrak and CSX will not allow private cars to be switched between regularly scheduled Amtrak trains and the Adirondack Scenic RR at Utica.