Amtrak Empire Service (New York State)

Yeah, the bus service at ALB sucks.
BUT, last time I was there, I noticed they had finally made a change.

I've complained before about a little known bus terminal at the lower level that had never been used.
BUT... now there's the Vermont Shires Connector that departs and arrives there.

https://www.vttranslines.com/vermont-shires-connector/" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

This is actually geared to get people from VT to the train station.

Amtrak needs to work on more connections like this.

NaugyRR wrote:Junkie are you on duty tomorrow? The better half and I are going to the city for a few hours to get away for a bit on 284/259 out of RHI. We figured it'd be a nice day to ride along the river and grab some Shake Shack, haha.

Day off. A year or so ago I would have been the engineer on 259. Shake shack a favorite. Saturday gonna be busy busy busy. Go down the concourse to the Magnolia Bakery and grab a banana pudding you wont be disappointed. Chocolate or vanilla. Their cakes and cup cakes are outstanding.

hs3730 wrote:I'm on train 255 right now (NYP-ALB)... and the cafe car is open. I think I'm in the twilight zone. Attendant announced the unusualness of this over the PA, and when I tried to get more details as to the circumstances the conductor simply said "it's a long story".
Anyone know what sorcery this is?

Amtrak 68 ran into a water issue. No not the lake, the MMC in MTR flooded due to a sprinkler issue. 255 equipment turned in Albany for 68, passengers where bused down.

Railjunkie wrote:

NaugyRR wrote:Junkie are you on duty tomorrow? The better half and I are going to the city for a few hours to get away for a bit on 284/259 out of RHI. We figured it'd be a nice day to ride along the river and grab some Shake Shack, haha.

Day off. A year or so ago I would have been the engineer on 259. Shake shack a favorite. Saturday gonna be busy busy busy. Go down the concourse to the Magnolia Bakery and grab a banana pudding you wont be disappointed. Chocolate or vanilla. Their cakes and cup cakes are outstanding.

Magnolia is always a favorite when we're down; I usually get the chocolate cheesecake and a couple of the brown sugar cookies. I used to enjoy Two Boots pizza when they were down in the concourse as well, but the new pizza place the corner is pretty good too.

Railjunkie wrote: Amtrak 68 ran into a water issue. No not the lake, the MMC in MTR flooded due to a sprinkler issue. 255 equipment turned in Albany for 68, passengers where bused down.

Thanks! That's pretty amazing that a problem in Canada resulted in cafe car service for us... the theory in my head was way off, it involved the Ethan Allen since 255 is the Friday Only train that replaces the Ethan Allen's M-TH departure.

My first thought from "water issue" was "Victoria Bridge problems?" heh...

hs3730 wrote:Anyone know what sorcery this is?

Sounds like NYS and Amtrak came to terms. Very nice to hear that.

gokeefe wrote:

hs3730 wrote:Anyone know what sorcery this is?

Sounds like NYS and Amtrak came to terms. Very nice to hear that.

Terms on what??? Food service??? Perhaps you should re read the last few posts. Reading is fundamental.

Railjunkie wrote:Terms on what??? Food service??? Perhaps you should re read the last few posts. Reading is fundamental.

There had been earlier indications that the Cuomo administration was working on this.

gokeefe wrote:

Railjunkie wrote:Terms on what??? Food service??? Perhaps you should re read the last few posts. Reading is fundamental.

There had been earlier indications that the Cuomo administration was working on this.

On one train??? IF food service were to come back on local trains, this was a rare event don't hold your breath. Work a yard job in Albany, walk past the commissary everyday and haven't seen a thing. Cuomo doesn't give a rats a$$ about trains in upstate NY or the people who ride

You weren't kidding about Saturday being busy, were you Junkie? We barely found seats on 284, and when we did it was the one coach that had almost no air conditioning going. That, coupled with a pretty lengthy wait north of Poughkeepsie for a maxi to clear, made for a car full of cranky people; I felt bad for the conductor, poor bastard was getting nagged at pretty hard by some less than understanding folks.

Oddly enough, 284 had the Cafe open. While getting a Pepsi I asked the attendant when this started, to which she responded, "it's always been this way, when was the last time you rode?"

NaugyRR wrote:You weren't kidding about Saturday being busy, were you Junkie? We barely found seats on 284, and when we did it was the one coach that had almost no air conditioning going. That, coupled with a pretty lengthy wait north of Poughkeepsie for a maxi to clear, made for a car full of cranky people; I felt bad for the conductor, poor * was getting nagged at pretty hard by some less than understanding folks.

Oddly enough, 284 had the Cafe open. While getting a Pepsi I asked the attendant when this started, to which she responded, "it's always been this way, when was the last time you rode?"

MNRR has been doing track work just south of Poughkeepsie, single track normally till 1900 everything takes a hit there. You cant please everyone, most people dont care what your explanation all they know is they are not moving.

As for the cafe being open, all the 28x 29x 63/64 69/68 and the LSL will have working cafe cars. Local trains will not.

Railjunkie wrote:You cant please everyone, most people dont care what your explanation all they know is they are not moving..

Why should they care? Amtrak published the schedule, they should follow it. Track work? Does Amtrak not own a telephone or have an email account to contact Metro-North and find out what's planned?

I don't get why this is so hard for people to understand. If the schedule says the train leaves station X at time A, and arrives at station Y at time B, then there's zero reason why I shouldn't expect that to be the case. It works like that everywhere else in the industrialized world.

NaugyRR wrote: Oddly enough, 284 had the Cafe open. While getting a Pepsi I asked the attendant when this started, to which she responded, "it's always been this way, when was the last time you rode?"

284 operates from NFL to NYP, so it offers cafe service.

A number of years ago, I had MOUNT VERNON on the rear of train 284 and we treated the Conductor and the AC to a “full Irish breakfast” - a nice alternative to an Amcafe breakfast. Some of the essential ingredients come from an Irish butcher in Sunnyside Queens, not far south of Sunnyside Yard.

A tip of the Porter’s cap to the ground crew at NFL, that does their good work without the advantages of a S&I shop facility.

Nasadowsk wrote:

Railjunkie wrote:You cant please everyone, most people dont care what your explanation all they know is they are not moving..

Why should they care? Amtrak published the schedule, they should follow it. Track work? Does Amtrak not own a telephone or have an email account to contact Metro-North and find out what's planned?

I don't get why this is so hard for people to understand. If the schedule says the train leaves station X at time A, and arrives at station Y at time B, then there's zero reason why I shouldn't expect that to be the case. It works like that everywhere else in the industrialized world.

You can expect all you want but when going from one railroad to another one must remember their trains will get priority over us, their playground their toys. The work being done is on the first interlocking south of the station. 3 station tracks go into 2 main tracks, there is no wiggle room. So you will sit at the division post until that single track becomes available. Be it 5min or 5 hours. The contract of carriage guarantees you a seat the schedule times in this case are a suggestion. If they had hit it right they would have gone straight in and out with little to no delay. A lot depends on how quick the foreman clears his gang, which way the RTC has traffic, and where his trains are.

Amtrak and MNRR both know when and where the work will be taking place. In the case of above Ill bet that stop sign is there all week but the major work will be done on the weekends when there is less traffic. Hence the single track.

Saturday mornings can get very busy on northbound trains heading to Upstate NY. I’ve done plenty of trips to Upstate NY on Saturdays. Between Spuyten Duyvil and up to just north of Poughkeepsie, MNR gets the priority. Yes they have been doing a lot of trackwork and right now on weekends, every other MNR train goes to Poughkeepsie while others go to Beacon. Amtrak trains can be subjected to delays.
The trains that continue north and west of Albany-Rennselaer will continue to offer cafe service. Select one of those trains if you want a cafe experience, even when traveling from NYP to ALB. Don’t get your hopes up about food service returning to the trains that only run between ALB-NYP. Whatever NY state says goes.