Official "Maple Leaf" Thread

Are you taking it both ways? Just do each way on a different side?

Hmm, shouldn't that be do the up and down trip on the SAME side, Greg?

(Fireman's side up = west view; Fireman's side down = east view).

No matter; just enjoy!

Sit on the engineers side west of ALB for the best views of the yards in SYR, Lyons, ROC, and BUF.

What are the chances of me getting the cafe/business car with the 2-1 leather recliner seating on the Maple Leaf business class? I'm thinking of taking the train in the summer. I rode the Pennsylvanian last September and had this business class car from NYP to Pittsburgh and it was very comfortable.

Thanks!

Depends on the rotation, rode 64 tonite and it had 2 and 1 last week it had 2-2 seating.

Thank you.

Am I correct that this train always runs with Amfleet II coaches? Is there such a thing as Amfleet II business class or would they end up putting an Amfleet I business class on there (which would be a waste of my upgrade money).

I took the Maple Leaf Friday morning from New York to Syracuse, and I was hoping folks here might be able to explain our peculiar track assignment. Upon meeting up with MNRR, we stayed on the westernmost track (number 4), normally the southbound local, until Croton-Harmon. All the southbound rush-hour trains ran on the easternmost, normally Poughkeepsie-bound tracks. At Younkers, a Poughkeepsie-bound MNRR train pulled alongside us on Track 3. So does anyone know why? At Hastings and Dobbs Ferry, the northbound platforms were crowded with commuters waiting for the train to New York, which made me think that they expected it there. I saw that there was construction on some of the southbound platforms--did that have something to do with it?

Incidentally, the Maple Leaf was nearly full up to Albany -- I counted 49 empty seats out of the 239 in the four coaches, and all but a couple of the 15 seats in business class were taken. North of Albany, coach emptied out (maybe 60 percent full), but business class filled up. At Schenectady, we met up with the southbound Ethan Allen (six minutes late), and from across the platform, and through two sets of windows, it looked nearly deserted

I may be wrong, but isn't it not quite Ethan Allen season yet?

TCS rules are in effect on all four tracks in this territory. Any train can run in any direction on any track. Probably track or
some other work is causing but it should not make any difference in your trip. Appropriate announcements can be made at
all station stops. The days of train orders, manual blocks etc are long gone, today the dispatcher pushes a couple of buttons
on a computer and an announcer makes the announcements and probably no time lost either.
Noel Weaver

Isn't it easier for them to run the Amtrak's on track 4 since coming of the Sputen Dyvil bridge they would otherwise have to cross over 3- 4 main tracks to reach the "normal" westbound tracks, which might delay any local traffic in the area? Just a thought.

Jon

gprimr1 wrote:I may be wrong, but isn't it not quite Ethan Allen season yet?

According to the Amtrak website the Ethan Allen runs daily throughout the year.

The Ethan Allen indeed does run all year long... perhaps the comment on "not Ethan Allen season yet" refers to the winter when the train is more popular since Rutland is relatively close to both Killington and Okemo, major ski resorts.

Yes, that's what I meant. It's no where near ski season yet, and the leaves also have not really started to turn according to the internet.

Oh contrare (spelling)....
Leaves are definetely changing up here. When I took the Adirondack in mid August, lots of color, mainly in the swampy areas. And I passed through Swanton VT today and the leaves were also quite colorful.

Getting back on topic though, reverse platform boarding situations are in effect for stations between Tarrytown and Ossining, as per the Metro North service advisory page at
http://www.mta.info/mnr/html/serviceupdates.htm so that could've been why you ran NB on the usual SB tracks. When I took the Adirondack north from Penn Station to Rouses Point (NY), we ran on the right side (IIRC the NB local track) but that was an early morning departure and also on a Saturday.

I wonder about the long-term viability of the Maple Leaf as a through train to Toronto now that GO Transit is extending their service to Niagara Falls: 4 trains a day each way on weekend and holidays until October 12.

It’s only an experiment for now but will GO eventually go daily and VIA exit the market leaving the local service to GO and the Maple Leaf an orphan at the border?

Or will it be an opportunity for Amtrak to serve Toronto as an “Amtrak only” operation (not jointly with VIA) Running non-stop between the Border and Toronto Union where passengers would go through Customs at a pre-clearance facility similar to the Amtrak Cascades in Vancouver?