Albany NY-Burlington VT test run May 7

saw nothing on the news, yet i JUST got home from work... unfortunetly i was a good 30 miles or so east of rutland. if i do hear anything, i'll hollah.

shadyjay wrote:Tracks from Rutland, south to Bennington and the Pan-Am connection are in rough shape, though most of it (except the Pan-Am connection) sees service, albeit locals. Track would need A TON of work to get up to Amtrak standards. I'm guessing the easiest way to expand with the less cost would be to send the Ethan Allen via its existing route, then north to Burlington from Rutland, as those tracks are in much better shape. Guess I'll find out soon enough.

Hey Jay; I thought it was rebuilt with welded rail a year or so ago?

I thought I read recently that the branch from Pan-Am to North Bennington was upgraded, or at least rail dropped, but its o/o/s since Pan-Am interchange is done at Bellows Falls. The tracks I've seen south of Rutland have rough ties, light rail, and in some areas, full grass is growing between the rails. Some may think the line is abandoned, but I've seen trains on it. There may have also been some welded rail put in south of Manchester.

Amtrak/Vermont-related, I did hear of a project on NECR to put in concrete ties and welded rail in Roxbury, benefiting the Vermonter and NECR freights.

FYI - as I type this, the NB Vermonter is rumbling past my house in Waterbury, over an hour late.

-Jay

Vermont Railway runs from Rutland to North Bennington at least once a week. At North Bennington, there is Whitman's Feed Co. and transloading of plastic pellets. There is a lumber dealer in Manchester and an LP Gas company in Danby that get service.

Dick H

Had a chance to talk to one of the engineers who ran the test train last night. He said they had no problems and the railroad was in good shape, "better than what we see between Whitehall and Rutland". He also had a chance to talk to the head of the Vermont DOT who said they had just recieved 34 million dollars for the project, he expects the service to begin within a year to year and a half. It all depends on how fast the VTR can get repairs done to the track (according to the boys in the geometry car most of it was class 4) and Amtrak can get crews qualified.

Vermont wants this service to happen and it seems Amtrak is willing to play ball so hopefully this not just another pipe dream.

Surprise, this usual "nabob of negativism" thinks differently "'bout this one".

All the "ingredients' are in place; a lightly trafficed railroad that would consider any payments from Amtrak as "pure gravy", a state in which tourism represents a large part of their "gross domestic product', resident voters that want to promote passenger trains to "bring them in from the fields of sin", and lastly, a reflection of the Bush Administration's "let the States do it' Amtrak philosophy, this one may just get the 'highball".

Good luck!!!

Yeah. I can see it happening to because it has a clear focus and has a state already known to spend money on passenger traffic.

Would be nice.

I have always said that this would be a great extension for the Ethan Allen Express. It would put downtown Middlebury, Shelbourne, and most importantly Burlington online with Amtrak. I would think that such a train would carry a lot of college studens - I would presume - as well as the typical tourist to the areas. When I take the train to Vermont, I typically take the Adirondack northbound to Port Kent (and ferry over from there to downtown Burlington) or rent a car out of Plattsburgh, NY to get to Burlington, VT. This train option gets me to Burlington, VT faster than the Vermonter! Then southbound, I typically take the meandering Vermonter back home to the NYC metro area.

If Vermont DMUs the Vermonter route - hopefully offering a double frequency in doing so (and discharge/receive only beween New Haven and Springfield to protect Vermont's interest), the Ethan Allen extension to Burlington may be a nice trade off. Course, then we'll see if the DMU project gets extended to the Ethan Allen Express. I just hope in the DMU plan that comfortable seating, nice wrap-a-round windows and food service is offered. One would think DMU service would work best for short routes, rather than the longer Vermonter route. And the one-seat ride issue is going to be interesting to deal with!

I would hope Amtrak could get Vermont to extend the Ethan Allen Express to Burlington (if that's the intention) quicker than the timetable menioned above. A lot of infrastructure for stations is still in place from when the commuter train operated from Vergennes to Burlington and then the Green Mountain RR excursion operations.

In view of the fact that Amtrak has surplus "short distance' equipment, save a good COTS date, and stored locomotives as well, it would be pointless to order any "putt putts' for this service.

But then, it is a safe assumption that much of the assembly work of the oft mentioned DMU's would be done in Vermont, what makes economic sense will take a back door to "photo ops".

A DMU service from Bellows Falls to Rutland, for example, would be a better option than what the state is calling for in Vermont - or has been proposed to them. I don't know - I just think DMUs would be better served for two hour trips or less. And yes, Amtrak has plenty of high density Amfleets to certainly startup state supported service. Again, I have been on the Vermonter and its been packed southbound upon arriving into Springfield. Obviously, the DMU's would never be able to handle that type of capacity.

But then what about the places between Rutland and Burlington? Is there any way to run it from Boston maybe?

I assume the plan is to have the Ethan Allen Express turn around at Rutland

Gilbert B Norman wrote:In view of the fact that Amtrak has surplus "short distance' equipment, save a good COTS date, and stored locomotives as well, it would be pointless to order any "putt putts' for this service.

COTS:
"cost of train storage"??
"canoes on the stream"??
"carrying of tourists solely"??

Perhaps it would be helpful if we used the newspaper standard and people identified their acronyms the first time they use them in each post.

Mr. Ultra, you have a point:

COTS Cleaned, Oiled, Tested and Stenciled (railroad air brakes).

This means the periodic air brake maintenance that Amtrak chose to defer on the Amfleet cars they sent to New Orleans for storage.

I thought such was a generally accepted term within the railroad industry - but then, my last railroad paycheck was over twenty five years ago.

who wants to bet that Amtrak will try to pressure Illinois into purchasing DMU's for the new Black Hawk route?

Hmm... wonder if it's possible to join the Ethan Allen Express with the Vermonter and run as a "loops". NB EAE becomes a SB Vermonter, and so forth.

In any case, one thing I think Vermont does well with the EAE is adjust the weekend schedule to better serve the weekend tourist to the state from the city.

Could be interesting.