An ‘Adirondack’ Labour Day Weekend – 45 years ago.

[NS VIA FAN]

An ‘Adirondack’ Labour Day Weekend – 45 years ago.



The new ‘Adirondack’ had just been inaugurated 3 weeks previous…..and I was off for a ride! I took CN’s ‘Scotian’ (no VIA back then!) from Halifax to Montreal and connected with Amtrak’s Montrealer to New York Penn Station.

The ‘Adirondack’ departed from Grand Central as part of the ‘Empire State Express’. There were many riding and some MTA coaches were also used and with their nearly opaque windows…..I spent most of the time riding in the vestibule up the Hudson.









At Albany-Rensselaer the thru cars to Montreal were split out and the Delaware & Hudson Railway took over. Back then….there was no question if there’d be a Dome on the Adirondack. There was! A CP Rail ‘Skyline’…leased to the D&H and repainted in D&H colours.

[NS VIA FAN]

The northbound and southbound trains met at Whitehall later that afternoon







Here’s our arrival at Montreal’s CP Windsor Station and my only disappointment? The Alco PA locomotive wasn’t leading!





…..then I headed over to CN’s Gare Centrale to catch the ‘Scotian’ back home.

[SouthernRailway]

What great photos; thanks for sharing!

Makes me wonder why states don’t just contract with private operators (other than bad Iowa Pacific) to run trains. Great-looking consist.

[Gilbert B Norman]

Mr. SRY, I note your point.

I think that any qualified private sector operator, from reviewing the "Hoosier State" and "Pullman Rail" (I'm going to call them) debacles knows that Amtrak, like any other bureaucracy, will fiercely guard what they perceive as their "turf".

While in no way am I endorsing "the Ellis Gang" as astute businessmen, they were "victims" of what can happen when some "slapdash" outfit tries to take on an entrenched Federal agency.

[MACTRAXX]

NS/VIA (and Everyone):

Five years ago a topic was posted about the D&H version of the Adirondack in the D&H Forum for a 40 years
ago tribute to the Albany-Montreal section of the train which ran with Alco PA passenger units as part of the
assigned locomotives along with dome cars and other D&H passenger cars in this service.

https://www.railroad.net/viewtopic.php?f=83&t=157280

Your pictures and memories of traveling on the Adirondack shows us how interesting that these trains were.

Back then now 45 years ago Amtrak was in its infancy (just three years old in 1974) and was nearing the
end of the "Rainbow Era" in which passenger equipment had their railroad color schemes replaced with the
Amtrak scheme during their first years of operation in Amtrak service.

The Adirondack of the mid 1970s was run as a D&H train with most if not all the equipment used only on this
route and not on any other Amtrak services. This is part of what made these trains special for the time...

MACTRAXX

[gaspeamtrak]

That was and excellent trip report! The pictures were excellent too..!
Thank you for sharing it with us !!! :):)

[ExCon90]

Mr. SRY, I note your point.

I think that any qualified private sector operator, from reviewing the "Hoosier State" and "Pullman Rail" (I'm going to call them) debacles knows that Amtrak, like any other bureaucracy, will fiercely guard what they perceive as their "turf".

While in no way am I endorsing "the Ellis Gang" as astute businessmen, they were "victims" of what can happen when some "slapdash" outfit tries to take on an entrenched Federal agency.

It helps a lot when top management takes an interest. When Bruce Sterzing was president of the D&H he established a duty roster of management people in Albany, one of whom was assigned every morning to walk the interior of the northbound train on its arrival from New York and note any deficiencies. If there was a pattern, Sterzing knew whom to call, and as president of a railroad he had some standing.

Great photos, too.

[Dcell]

Wasthis during the Bruce Sterzing era of the D&H? He had a real passion and flair for passenger service and I always felt he got a raw deal when he was forced out at the D&H. So did the passengers.

[ExCon90]

Yes, that was during the Sterzing era. Without him there wouldn't have been a dome on the Adirondack, or PA's--let alone in the blue warbonnet scheme.

[Tadman]

Yes what a great recollection, thanks for sharing. I think a lot of us lament the passing of the Ocean View from Amtrak service. While I fully understand the reasons, it would be nice some day to have something like a Via Panorama car that could run all the way into New York. This would mean less switching at Albany and full views all the way down the Hudson. I rode NYP-Albany round trip a week ago and it was super.

[Greg Moore]

NYP-ALB is one of my favorite ride, in part because it's in my back yard and I ride it frequently. But I think to because it really is a beautiful ride (more so than most of the NEC, at least from NYP-WAS).

I still recall the day I was riding northbound, on the river side, of course, and looked across the river and the lighting was perfect and I realized I was looking at exactly what inspired some of the Hudson River school of art (among my favorite). It was like looking into a painting and was beautiful.

The big shame of the failure of the Turbos was the size of the windows made the ride even better.