2016 CP Holiday Train

I posted this in the CP section with no answer as of yet. So I am posting it here with the hopes of getting an answer or two since it's going to be in NY.
It's scheduled to be in Saratoga on the 26th at about 720pm (Stop before is Mechanicville at 545pm).
After everything is over in Saratoga, where will the train tie down for the night as the next stop is Fort Edward at 1235pm on Sunday?
What frequency would be best to monitor for the CP Holiday Train? And for Amtrak (Ethan Allen Express is scheduled to arrive at 615pm)?
I plan on getting up there for about 3pm. Park at the Amtrak station and just wait around, maybe see a few trains pass by. Does anyone think that'll be a problem?
Thanks all. Much appreciated for any answer.

The CP Holiday train should tie down in Saratoga based on what they have done in the past. Could be right at the station on one of the 2 platform tracks or it could be in the yard. I would think they would just tie down at the station. At the station you should be able to get pictures after they tie down but the yard has no public access.

Your plan to get to the station early and wait is a good one as you will have a good parking spot. There is plenty of parking at the station but it will fill up as it gets closer to train time.

Amtrak at Saratoga will be on the CP road channel for the D&H North End. The Holiday train will also be on the same road channel but could also be on the Yard channel. I don't have the channels handy.

The Saratoga and North Creek is running their Polar Express at 5:30 (~8 sold out passenger cars often including a pair of ex LIRR bilevels). There will definitely be a parking crunch! At least the Ethan Allen's arrival will free up a few parking spaces for latecomers for the CP Holiday Train. Adirondack also scheduled at 4:45 PM.

I will be up in that area the following day for the Holiday train. I was wondering if anyone was familiar with any other CP train traffic from Fort Edward to Rouses Point at any point in the day and overnight? Hoping to catch at least 1, if not more, CP road trains while up there

Traffic between Saratoga and Rouses Point on the weekend would be as follows...

NS trains 930 and 931 run daily. Right now it seems the NB 931 runs at night and the SB 930 is running out of Rouses Point in the morning. But these trains have been inconsistent. They tend to run with NS power including NS run through foreign power like UP and BNSF. CP trains 252 and 253 also run daily but I have not heard many reports about these. I am pretty sure both cover most of the line at night with the SB 252 sometimes arriving in Saratoga in early morning daylight. There will also be loaded and empty ethanol trains which can show up at any time. I am pretty sure this is currently running at 2-3 trains a week right now.

I think your best bets would be the 252 in the morning near Saratoga or 930 sometime during the day north of Fort Edward.

Thank you very much! I appreciate all the info!

This year I have only been to Saratoga station twice, both times Sunday evenings. 253 rolled by at around 5:30 PM (a Sunday in July) and 7:30 PM (this past Sunday). Only road freight I saw both times.

Got to Saratoga at about 605. Access to the station's parking lot was restricted due to the Polar Express. But the police said you can either wait till 630 when the polar express crowd leaves and they were going to open it up or you could park in the store's parking lot (across from Station Lane) and walk. We waiting till 645 and decided to do the walk. Wasn't that cold and the kids were full of energy. Parking lot opened around 7pm. Glad we walked. Much easier to leave.

It was crowded and people were held on the platform just until the Saratoga and North Creek cleared the station and once Amtrak's Ethan Allen left. Very organized and it was a great time and the kids loved it. A mini-van was STUFFED with donated food for the local food bank.

CP Police had a few trespassers who were walking through the woods from the overpass just north of the station. They had their hands full.

Hung around and watched the crew tie the train down right at the station. Got some nice pictures right next to the engine.