#681 was scheduled to be bused from Exeter to Portland. #683 was bused from Exeter to Dover, where a special two car trainset took the passengers east to all Maine stops. System seemed to work well.
#684 was bused from Portland to Exeter. #686 left Portland with the two car trainset with around 60 passengers, picked up a few more at Saco and Wells and there were seven or eight at Dover. Unfortunately, NNEPRA dropped the ball and had chartered on a single 47 passenger coach to take the passengers to Exeter and there were reported around 16 waiting at Durham. Through the efforts of the Amtrak crew and the C&J driver, they were able to get another C&J coach, which arrived at Dover about 15 minutes after the first coach left. By the time both coaches got to Exeter and transfered their passengers to the train, #686 was about an hour late leaving Exeter. The two car trainset deadheaded back to Portland.
On at least one day last week, the bustitution at Wells was all fouled up with a less than full size bus and unmarked SUV from the VIP company being too small for the number of passengers. Another ball dropped by NNEPRA. Some of those folks in the office should be out and about to insure that these planned bustitutions go as smoothly as possible.
Dick H
