For family vacation this year, we spent a week in Montreal. I persuaded everyone (three of us) to take the train; I’ve mentioned my fondness for trains. The Adirondack leaves New York Penn Station at 8:15 am with a scheduled arrival in Montreal of 7:11 pm. I have been in train stations all over the US and Europe and NY Penn Station is by far one of the worst and a true disgrace to the United States; enough on that point.
There are 19 scheduled stops in places like New York stops in Poughkeepsie, Hudson, Schenectady, Saratoga Springs, Ticonderoga, and Port Henry and glides past the beautiful Lake Champlain.
The Adirondack crew was very nice and helpful. The service is all coach class, and I admit, I would have preferred a first class option, but I guess there is not enough demand for that. The food service is mediocre, but beats what you’ll find on domestic airlines.
Yes, it is an 11-hour train ride (actually 13), but the scenery all along the ride is absolutely beautiful. I hear it is even more so in the fall. CANTIC is the first stop in Canada and a border-crossing checkpoint for northbound passage into Canada. This is where the unplanned additional 2 hours come from. The train pulls onto a siding; the crew gets off the train and about a dozen Customs agents board and reviews everyone’s passport/paperwork. Depending upon what they find, that can take some time. There were no incidents, but let’s just say some folks had some “explaining to do”.
Here are a few photos
If you’re the kind of person who enjoys a relaxing, slow and scenic pace once in a while, you will enjoy the Adirondack New York to Montreal run. I said that there were three in our party. Two of the three enjoyed the ride and one was the impatient, “are we there yet” one. We’ll ship her Air-Express next time.
You will hear more about train travel in my new novel, “The Torch is Passed”, coming out later this Fall.
Visit my website at http://www.authorbillpowers.com
The re-release of The Pharm House will be out in September 17, 2015 and is now available for pre-order on Amazon
Soon followed by the sequel, The Torch is Passed in November 2015.