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The wife and I went to Montreal and Gaspe early last month. We started by having her mom drive us to the Hamilton NJ Transit station, where we caught the NJT NE corridor local to NYP. We overnighted in NYC at the Hotel Pennsylvania, which was somewhat tattered and dingy, but relatively cheap and very convenient. On 9/4 we took the Adirondak from NYP to Montreal Central Station. It was a beautiful ride, but some easily remedied problems detracted from the experience. Firstly, the boarding process in Penn Station is terribly disorganized and hectic. They called the train 1/2 hour before the scheduled departure time, at which point we lined up at the announced track. Several Amtrak employees then began working their way up the line shouting conflicting instructions: "Have your tickets out" "Have your ID's out" "NO ID's, tickets only"...then about 10 minutes in, another Amtrak employees comes walking up the line asking "Is there anyone for Montreal I haven't spoken to yet?", and I'm thinking "yet??" this is the first time I've seen the guy, and I was on line immediately after the train was called. So I speak up, and he tells me that my wife and I need to go over to a card table he is setting up. I tell my wife to go first, while I watch the bags. She completes the process, which involves a quick passport inspection and the issuance of luggage tags, and I go over....at which point they open the gate and the line starts moving, so my wife is left to move 4 bags as the line moves. We were able to keep our place and get good seats, but it was quite a fire drill, and could be easily better organized. Problem #2-several of the coach bathrooms were not functioning, and those that were became quickly overwhelmed and disgusting to the point that they were practically unusable(and I'm not a germophobe or anything like that...it was really bad)...again, an easy fix, to either have them working when they send a car out, and/or make sure they're cleaned frequently enough to not resemble porta-potties at a rock concert. Problem #3-Amtrak knows this train is going to be slow-ordered/delayed, and that there is very little chance of its passengers arriving in Montreal at any normal dinner hour, but basically from 4pm on, there is no food available on the train, and no effort at all made to accomodate passengers that are missing dinner because of Amtrak's lateness. In spite of these inconveniences I did really enjoy the trip. I think Amtrak needs to do a much better job of marketing, selling, and delivering on this run, which is truly one of the best train rides in the US. We overnighted in Montreal at the Fairmount QE, which was expensive, but worth it on our 2nd anniversary. On 9/5 we took Via's "The Chaleur" from Montreal's Gare Centrale leaving in the evening, bound for Gaspe. The Chaleur was running separately from the "The Ocean" on this date. Our train was longer than normal due to tour groups riding, and I can only imagine the length had it been connected to The Ocean, which, from the looks of the check-in line was also well patronized. In fact the line for The Ocean dwarfed our Chaleur line by about 25-1. I was very glad at this point I had decided to ride the Chaleur. The decision was intially based on my desire to ride in the stainless trainset, and was now paying extra dividends. Our train consisted of two F40 diesels, one painted in a red scheme, the other in traditional VIA colors, baggage, 2 coaches, skyline car, 2 chateau sleepers, diner, and 3 more chateau sleepers. We had a double bedroom in the 'Chateau Dolling' car, and really enjoyed the space(especially the private bathroom, after the Amtrak experience). Once the train pulled out of Montreal we went to the dome and enjoyed a bon voyage cocktail as we watched the sunset over the Montreal suburbs. Dinner that night was salmon and pasta for myself and pot roast for the wife. The food was several ticks above Amtrak, and the service was competent. Our dinner companions were a semi-retired couple from Calgary. The husband made a mid-dessert dash off the train at Charny to enjoy a quick pipe. After some time under the stars in the dome, we returned to our bedroom, which was turned down, and I had my first experience with sleeping perpendicular to the train's motion. The beds were far more comfortable than on a superliner, in my opinion. The next morning I awoke to incredible scenery as we were hugging the coast of the Bay of Chaleur. Breakfast was pancakes and sausage, followed by a trip to the dome to take it the coastal and mountain scenery of the area. I must admit, since it was my first time in a bona-fide dome, I was really enjoying myself. The 360 degree views, being able to see where the train is going, looking back...it was all very exciting. The time passed quickly, and we arrived in Gaspe in the early afternoon, roughly an hour late. We rented a car at the Gaspe train station and drove down to Perce, where we would stay for 4 nights au pic de l'aurore, a beautiful vacation property on a cliff overlooking the town and its namesake rock. After 4 days of hiking, swimming, whale watching, and eating the freshest seafood, we drove back up to Gaspe to catch the Chaleur to return to Montreal. We had the same two engines and long consist, although the extra sleepers on the back were vacant. As I understood it, the tours groups that come to Gaspe from Montral on the Chaleur then proceed in tour buses to the next destination, so the extra sleepers for the group coming out go unused on the way back. This was also the case for a couple employees who seemed to be necessary only for the ride out, and were able to relax in their civilian clothing for the return trip. The ride back was just as enjoyable, and under a different hue as there were some clouds rolling, as opposed to the bright sun we had coming out. We spent the entire afternoon in the dome, eating a simple lunch we had brought on board with us. Eventually it got on to dinner time, and since the train was relatively uncrowded, I confirmed with the service attendant that no reservations were needed, and we ambled down the dining car when we got hungry. VIA's diners are nicely appointed with etched glass, linen tableclothes and napkins, and actual chairs and tables, as opposed to booths. Our dining comanion was a nice fellow from Louisiana, who was spending his birthday onboard the train. We both had the cod, which was really surprisingly good...a nice piece of fish, encrusted and perfectly pan seared. We then retired to our bedroom in the 'Chateau Richlieu' car and listened to the Eagles game we had recorded on satellite radio from the previous day(a loss, unfortunately...quelle dommage). That night's sleep was hands down the best rest I've gotten on a train. We woke to an announcement for 'last call for breakfast' at 6:30am! The train was running early and would be in Montreal by 7:30, one hour ahead of schedule. We stayed on the pace and did indeed arrive early. Luckily our hotel was able to let us check in so early, and we were able to drop our bags. We spent 3 nights in Montreal at the Hyatt, which was not quite as upscale as the QE, but very nice nonetheless. This hotel was connected to the Place Desjardins, which was a large mall, complete with a grocery store. It could not have been more convenient. We loved Montreal. The civilty, the old juxtaposed with the new, and the mix of cultures all combined to make it a very unique experience. Finally the 14th rolled around, and we were once again in Gare Centrale to board the Adirondak for our return trip to NYP. A quick note on Gare Centrale-excellent food choices for a train station, with a nice seating area for those who wish to indulge. The trip home on the Adirondak was another great ride. This time the bathrooms seemed to be in much better shape, the train was only(!) two hours late, and bonus of all bonuses(bonii?), we saw a bald eagle soaring over and then diving into lake champlain...truly amazing. We overnighted in NYC that night at the Hampton Inn Madison Square Garden, which was small, but much nicer than the Pennsylvania (also more expensive). Next day we took NJ Transit from NYP back to Hamilton, where the mother-in-law was dutifully waiting to pick us up, completing a most excellent somewhat train-oriented vacation.
-------------------- "that's no way to run a railroad!"
~my grandfather, who worked on the NY,NH&H Posts: 14 | From: PA | Registered: Jul 2007
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I enjoyed your trip report enormously. I've been on the Adirondack round trip 3 times and do think it is the prettiest Amtrak ride east of the Mississippi. When I take it, we don't board in NYP so we don't have that hectic problem boarding; OTOH, when the train is busy, we don't always get the seats we want going up, and have to split up sometimes too. Going home is always better, esp as we can buy food at Premiere Moison to take on the train--was that one of the food places you enjoyed in Montreal? It is hard to get bad food in Montreal.
I am curious, how late was your train going up? You didn't say speecifically. I have never been more than 2 hrs late on this train, though I know more sometimes happens. We have never had bad toilets either--I really dislike when that happens.
I'm also curious, how much did you pay for the Hotel Pennsylvania & and the Hampton Inn, if you don't mind my asking (if you do, I understand if you don't want to answer)? When we overnighted near Penn Station last, we stayed at the New Yorker, which was no more than adequate, and $199 a night + (high) tax!!! This was last fall, high season in NYC.
Re Fairmont Queen Elizabeth: If you join their presidents club, you may get good offers on rooms, esp after your first Fairmont stay.
Posts: 2642 | From: upstate New York | Registered: Mar 2004
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Mr. Box - thanks for the trip report!! I too rode the Adirondack once, MANY years ago, and enjoyed it -- one of these years I need to ride it again. I also rode the Chaleur from Montreal to Gaspe back in 1983 and remember that nice trip and nice scenery. Check out my web site, railroadrich.com for a few photos I took "up that-a-away" back then -- go to the Railroad Stuff\Photos\Photo archives pages.
Posts: 2428 | From: Grayling, MI | Registered: Mar 2002
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quote:Originally posted by sojourner: I enjoyed your trip report enormously. I've been on the Adirondack round trip 3 times and do think it is the prettiest Amtrak ride east of the Mississippi. When I take it, we don't board in NYP so we don't have that hectic problem boarding; OTOH, when the train is busy, we don't always get the seats we want going up, and have to split up sometimes too. Going home is always better, esp as we can buy food at Premiere Moison to take on the train--was that one of the food places you enjoyed in Montreal? It is hard to get bad food in Montreal.
I am curious, how late was your train going up? You didn't say speecifically. I have never been more than 2 hrs late on this train, though I know more sometimes happens. We have never had bad toilets either--I really dislike when that happens.
I'm also curious, how much did you pay for the Hotel Pennsylvania & and the Hampton Inn, if you don't mind my asking (if you do, I understand if you don't want to answer)? When we overnighted near Penn Station last, we stayed at the New Yorker, which was no more than adequate, and $199 a night + (high) tax!!! This was last fall, high season in NYC.
Re Fairmont Queen Elizabeth: If you join their presidents club, you may get good offers on rooms, esp after your first Fairmont stay.
Is Premiere Moison that excellent bakery in the food hall? If so, then I successfully resisited the serious urge to gorge on what looked to be delicious pastries...
We were three plus hours late arriving into Montreal near 10pm...as best as I could tell, the schedule even allows for an hour at the border(which featured some fairly intensive interrogation by CBP, and a de-training for some unlucky passenger), but even with this and a lot of padding, we were still 3 hours late. Luckily we had a room on the gold floor which featured private, streamlined check-in, and the QE had an impeccable room service menu and we were able to splurge on a gourmet late-night dinner delivered to our room
as for NYC hotels, the Pennsylvania was $199 and the Hampton was $300...next time we will look at the New Yorker
Thanks for the suggestion and the positive feedback!
-------------------- "that's no way to run a railroad!"
~my grandfather, who worked on the NY,NH&H Posts: 14 | From: PA | Registered: Jul 2007
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Sounds like Premiere Moison. They have even nicer places around Montreal, e.g., one on Sherbrooke, where you can get a "bowl" of cafe au lait with your delicious pastry. They do good sandwiches too; I esp like the (even worse for you than pastry) "house" pate on their delicious long rolls, with mustard and some sort of pickle thingie. That is what I take on the train (with some pastries too, and a bread to take home). The first time, we worried that border crossing might confiscate our meat sandwiches so gobbled them down before we got there, but it seems to be no problem to take carryon food as long as it's lunch. We won't even consider coming south on the Sunday because Premiere Moison at the gare is closed and we cannot get the sandwiches.
In my experience, when someone is taken off the train, the train is always much later. But the latest we have been is about 2 hours.
The New Yorker (which is a Ramada New Yorker, I should mention!) is what my husband pronounced "adequate," no more. Lobby is OK. Rooms were shabby and dusty (no other dirt, but definitely dusty). So I'm not really recommending it. Price was the same as your Pennsylvania. There is a nicer Ramada on Lexington and 30th, Ramada East Side I think it's called, or it was nicer when I stayed there, some years ago. BUt that's definitely a walk from Penn Station; with luggage, you probably will want to take a taxi (though with not too heavy luggage on wheels, I've walked even further on a nice day).
Club Quarters on W 45 or 46 btw 5th &6th Av (Midtown I think it's called) is definitely nicer, small but very clean, modern rooms and gd location; I think it's usually the same price too(I'm not sure because the time I stayed there was January 2006, when it was definitely lower--but January is off season--booked on hotels.com (or maybe it was expedia.com). But, again, you may not want to walk from Penn Station to there with luggage either.
Really, the NYC hotel scene is vastly overpriced, esp in the fall. Summers and Jan-Feb are better. Some hotels also have better wkend rates.
Posts: 2642 | From: upstate New York | Registered: Mar 2004
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agreed on the NY hotels...we were really paying for the convenience of not having to wake up at 4am to get to NY for a 9am train...i labored under the belief that Club Quarters hotels reuired soem type of membership?
that's a funny story about eating your sandwiches before the border...you probably wouldn't make a very good criminal, eating the evidence, as it were
-------------------- "that's no way to run a railroad!"
~my grandfather, who worked on the NY,NH&H Posts: 14 | From: PA | Registered: Jul 2007
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quote:Originally posted by RRRICH: Mr. Box - thanks for the trip report!! I too rode the Adirondack once, MANY years ago, and enjoyed it -- one of these years I need to ride it again. I also rode the Chaleur from Montreal to Gaspe back in 1983 and remember that nice trip and nice scenery. Check out my web site, railroadrich.com for a few photos I took "up that-a-away" back then -- go to the Railroad Stuff\Photos\Photo archives pages.
Great pictures, Rich...it looks like Gaspe station has not changed much since 1983. Do you remember much of the trip? I had read the The Chaleur had fallen on hard times at some point, but was upgraded not too long ago.
-------------------- "that's no way to run a railroad!"
~my grandfather, who worked on the NY,NH&H Posts: 14 | From: PA | Registered: Jul 2007
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Mr. Box, did you take the boat out to Bonaventure Is? When we were there (with 3 children and a ***) it was a samll opn boat and very choppy water. As they sailed around the Is so we could see the birds from that view the boat tilted back and forth and I had a freaked out child on one side and a freaked out *** on the other both trying to get into my lap. When we finally landed and climbed to the top there must have been thousands of birds. Even the *** was awed. A that time Perce was really just a fairly small fishing vilage . I assume it has changed greatly?
Posts: 1577 | From: virginia | Registered: Jun 2005
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For those of you who do not know the workings of this forum those stars are portraying our pet of the canine variety. He was a lab mix. For some reason known only to it that word is not permitted
Posts: 1577 | From: virginia | Registered: Jun 2005
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Mr. Box - I don't remember that much about my 1983 trip. I have ridden on VIA since then, but that was on the Canadian only in 1999. I don't have any information about the Chaleur in recent years.
Glad you enjoyed my pix -- you looked at them just in time, since my web site is having problems now, and I lost half my pages last night!!! (they will be restored though)
Posts: 2428 | From: Grayling, MI | Registered: Mar 2002
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ms. train lady- we did indeed go out to bonaventure isle...we really enjoyed the hike out to the colony, and took the long way back, looping around the entire island...it was very beautiful and serene, what with the island being uninhabited...in fact we took the last boat home, and the park rangers came with us...everyone leaves the island at 5 every day
perce is still a small fishing village, but with some of the trappings of a touristy area
mr rich- i was having trouble getting to your trip reports...good luck on the fix!
-------------------- "that's no way to run a railroad!"
~my grandfather, who worked on the NY,NH&H Posts: 14 | From: PA | Registered: Jul 2007
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The Adirondack could certaily use some improvements from Amtrak - particuarly in terms of those on the "leisture" travel to those willing to pay more with perhaps a full business class or lounge of some sort - "premiere". The food is more to be desired - I also agree with that - and so are the Amfleet slit windows. This train has also been operating with high density equipment, which is not appropriate for the length this train endures. This is a trai that could benefit from a diner lite program, rather than food one can get on a Regional Cafe car. Having breakfast, lunch and dinner from this Amtrak Cafe car can get dicey. One used to be able to arrive early enough in Montreal to connct directly with the Ocean/Chaleur to have dinner aboard that train or have dinner in Montreal. But not any more! The border crossing is so inefficient!
They still haven't fixed the toilet problem on this train? It was a problem in March and als June when I was on this train.
And yes - this route is perhaps the most scenic of all the routes east of the Mississippi and it certainly doesn't get a train consist to promote such. Even if VIA would "loan" the Adirondack a Skyline car for attachment north of Albany and one has to pay for usage of the dome. It would be a hit!
The Chaleur is VIA's hidden jewel. Very scenic train ride, and thank goodness it still has a dome car - Skyline Dome. Hopefully track improvement money that's been allocated to this route will help to ensure its continuity. I found the trip FULL on my journey - with two to three coaches, Skyline Dome, Diner, and two Chateau sleepers (which was normal consist for this time of season). A lot of school children were using this train on my day of travel as a class trips!
And notice how VIA will add sleepers to accommodate a tour group! That's customer service and good marketing, which Amtrak lacks!
Posts: 337 | Registered: Jun 2003
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Um, the toilet modules on all Amfleet I cars (all 280 of them) have not been ripped out and retrofitted since March, no. Toilet problems have been there since the beginning (that would be 1976) on almost all of Amtrak's present equipment. Typical issues arise when passengers put foreign material into them and press the flush button. Anything as heavy as a paper towel can jam it up. I don't think they should have put a nice white wall in the restrooms the last time they were overhauled. Instead, they should have put a continually-repeating text, floor to ceiling, that reads, "Do not throw garbage in the toilet. It will break." Also, the Adirondack had been using Amfleet II cars (long-distance cars with larger windows and fewer seats per car) through mid-May when the equipment was needed elsewhere. Those cars are all 25 years old this year, and there aren't enough to go around. It's some issue about the toilets not working when people put garbage in them. Am II equipment has to cover three trainsets each (five coaches times three) for the Silver Star, Silver Meteor, Lakeshore Limited, Carolinan/Piedmont, Maple Leaf, and on occasion, Adirondack. Six have been wrecked beyond repair. Ten at a time are out of service for heavy overhauls (putting in the new upholstery as the budget allows) and around fifteen are out of service for regulatory issues (wheels out of round, et cetera) or operational issues (car-end doors inoperative, heat stuck on, toilet issues). In fact, about as quickly as they have become available, the Adirondack has been using a dedicated Business Class car, out of the twelve in service around the country. Personally, I'd rather see the dedicated Biz class cars in service on the Federal (BOS-WAS overnight, no more sleepers) than on the Adirondack. I think after the Adirondack-specific heritage equipment was decommissioned, Amtrak realized how futile it would be to upgrate the equipment on this train since it is automatically going to be overshadowed by the Canadians, who have invested in their equipment instead of being forced to cut corners everywhere by imbecilic politicians with stupid agendas. Now on to the track: CP has been working on several nagging issues and several ongoing projects north of Fort Edward, including installation of a passing siding which was washed away and not replaced ten years ago. The Adirondack has been canceled a dozen times this year because of tracks out of service after the inspection trains roll through. It's difficult to get a train through when your only track (single track main) cannot be used. As for the boarding circus in NYP, you're getting the deluxe treatment so the train can clear customs easier. Notice how most of the other trains aren't announced for boarding until five to ten minutes before they are supposed to leave. So, once again, you're getting what you are paying for.
Posts: 391 | From: Schenectady | Registered: Jan 2002
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Now that you mention it, they have put an amenity of sorts on this train. It doesn't have toilets, but it's a heck of an upgrade- 10031. See my other post.
Posts: 391 | From: Schenectady | Registered: Jan 2002
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