Amtrak's ADIRONDACK

Railjunkie wrote:Lets remember the cafe on the Adirondak is in the middle of the train with tables on both sides there are no revenue seats to be sold.

So long as border control policy requires that no revenue seats may be sold, that is the right choice of equipment.

The other Empire trains (including the Maple Leaf) as well as the Ethan Allen have the "Café/Club" which has half dinette and half business class.

The Maple Leaf becomes a VIA train at the border,including T&E and OBS crews,since the T&E and OBS crews run thru
on the Adirondack,Customs checks the entire Train for contraband items,the Cafe needs to be vacated.
When the Fenced platform is created at Montreal,and the train is "sealed" till it gets to the US side of
the border,then Amtrak might be able to sell "Biz"class seating since the US Customs clearance will
be done at Montreal,not at the border.
Having the Customs clearance done at Montreal,will also help the return of the Montrealer when the track
access issues from Vermont are ironed out.

Since the Amtrak/Iowa Pacific Hoosier State now has a dome car, perhaps any website coding changes to accommodate that service can be also added to the Adirondack. I assume now it's first-come & fills immediately?

Today's, Friday's and Saturday's #69 Adirondack are all sold out NYP-SAR.
Despite all the "excuses" for not adding a coach, it does seem that Amtrak
could find a coach to add to #69 out of NYP and take it off as part of the'
locomotive change at ALB, and add it to the southbound #68 as part of that
locomotive change. Amtrak does this procedure, only in reverse, during the
time frame the "Great Dome" runs on the Adirondack.

Dick H wrote:Today's, Friday's and Saturday's #69 Adirondack are all sold out NYP-SAR.
Despite all the "excuses" for not adding a coach, it does seem that Amtrak
could find a coach to add to #69 out of NYP and take it off as part of the'
locomotive change at ALB, and add it to the southbound #68 as part of that
locomotive change. Amtrak does this procedure, only in reverse, during the
time frame the "Great Dome" runs on the Adirondack.

Sometimes folks reserve space on a train that they do not intend to pay for and use, Amtrak will only hold such space for a limited time, maybe you should try in the morning early Friday, you might do much better then.
Noel Weaver

I don't know whether this is still valid, but I remember being told some years ago that the witching hour is midnight: Any space which is due to be paid for by today and isn't is wiped out at midnight tonight, and at 0001 tomorrow will show as available. Might be worth a try, as Noel suggests.

I thought the witching hour was 2 AM, but that may have changed. The last time I took the Adirondack to Montreal it showed as sold out. I had to take an earlier train to Albany and then there was space on the Adirondack.

I do not know if this procedure works on the Empire Service, Adirondack, etc, but on the Downeaster
the reservation system works on real time. For example, if the system says there are 100 passengers
boarding at Portland on #682, the conductor and A/C will have scanned these passengers tickets within a
few minutes of leaving Portland and the conductor files a report to the system. If he scanned only 98 of
the Portland passengers, the other 2 seats will open up for stations down the line. They also do the
"overnight sweep", as referenced above,

On another subject, the "Travers" race is at Saratoga on August 29th. No final decision has been made,
but there is a possibility that Triple Crown Winner American Pharoah will be in the race. However, the
New York Racing Commission has already capped the attendance at 50,000. Whether there will be any
extra train service seems unlikely, as the track is not adjacent to the station, as was the Belmont race.

The above date could have been on the days of an extreme heatwave we had. D&H puts on a 10 mph restriction to all timetable speeds above 25mph, when the temperature is above 95 degrees.

I looked at the Dixieland link, and it showed a big hit between Rouses Point and Plattsburgh, which I can't explain, since I wasn't there. The freights are usually long gone at this hour. Anything is possible, such as a freight which was running late.

D&H is very good about handling Amtrak, If the freight wouldn't make RP by 68's departure, it would be held in Bluff Point Siding. This makes the delay something like a train that had plenty of time, but had trouble enroute from Plattsburgh. Maybe track patrol found a problem. These are only guesses, and not what actually happened. As I said, D&H bends over backwards to keep Amtrak on schedule.

Dick H wrote:Today's, Friday's and Saturday's #69 Adirondack are all sold out NYP-SAR.
Despite all the "excuses" for not adding a coach, it does seem that Amtrak
could find a coach to add to #69 out of NYP and take it off as part of the'
locomotive change at ALB, and add it to the southbound #68 as part of that
locomotive change. Amtrak does this procedure, only in reverse, during the
time frame the "Great Dome" runs on the Adirondack.

Ummm...as previously indicated and as practiced, if NYS or Amtrak decided to take it upon themselves to add 10 cars to a train, it can be done...to Albany. This is routinely done on train 281 around Thanksgiving and on 63 in the fall. There isn't room for more than 7 pieces of equipment in RUD which is why you can't add more equipment to SAR. This is not an excuse. It is a FACT. If your garage holds one car, can you put two cars of the same size in there?

If the WYE in NFK holds 9 cars and an engine, I can't send 9 cars if the train has 2 engines.

It's that simple.

I don't disagree with ThirdRail7's comments. I am only suggesting adding one coach to 68 and 69
between NYP-ALB in both directions, which can be added/removed at Albany during the loco
change.

By the way, as of Tuesday at 11:00PM, #69 is sold out NYP-SAR for Wednesday, Thursday,
Friday and Saturday and #68 is sold out SAR-NYP on Sunday.

This happens even on the Maple Leaf for early morning travel from NYP to Albany. Amtrak really needs to add a train in between the Adirondack and Maple Leaf between NYP and Albany, serving intermediate stops. Business class is regularly sold out on Ethan Allen and Maple Leaf to Albany the opens up north or west of Albany.

This is, by no means, a new problem for Amtrak. Been ongoing for YEARS!!!!!

A revenue analyst should be specifically assigned to these "once a day trains" so as to maximize their revenue and not distort results.......

Sure a car (or two) could be added and dropped at Albany - if Amtrak wanted to. Do you think this would fly in the private industry? No way!!!!!!

jp1822 wrote:This happens even on the Maple Leaf for early morning travel from NYP to Albany. Amtrak really needs to add a train in between the Adirondack and Maple Leaf between NYP and Albany, serving intermediate stops. Business class is regularly sold out on Ethan Allen and Maple Leaf to Albany the opens up north or west of Albany.

It's not Amtrak's decision to add another train to the schedule between Albany and New York City, that decision belongs to the State of New York which is subsidizing these Empire State services. If the state isn't willing to subsidize another train, Amtrak shouldn't and can't run it by federal law.

jp1822 wrote:This is, by no means, a new problem for Amtrak. Been ongoing for YEARS!!!!!

But two things are different now. In the past, CSX could be blamed for an unwillingness to change.

Before Amtrak rehabbed 60 Amfleet cars, took the Shuttles out of service and lost the equipment contract for the Hoosier State, a lack of equipment could be blamed.