12 replies to this topic

[gregh]

Hi, this is my first post and I'd like to ask some questions. I hope I'm in the right forum. My wife and I are from Australia and are travelling by AMTRAK in September from Boston to Tucson. We have Roomettes on the Crescent and Sunset Limited. These are my questions. On the Northeast corridor train from Boston to New York - do the seats reverse so that you are always facing front or are half the seats always going backwards? Is there space for 2 suitcases each about 28" long? What sights should we specially look out for? what side of the train are they on? We have 2 hours in New York before we catch the Crescent to New Orleans. Would this be enough time to get to the Empire State building from Penn station? (sorry it's not a train question but I need a local's help) On the Crescent to New Orleans, what sights should we specially look out for? what side of the train are they on? On the Sunset Ltd from New Orleans to Tucson what sights should we specially look out for? what side of the train are they on? Do either of these trains have 'dome' observation cars? Any other hints for us first timers on Amtrak? Has anyone had any experience of bringing your own special meals into the Dining car? (my wife must eat gluten free and Amtrak have said they can't do anything special. for example she'd like to bring her own cereal for breakfast and ask for a bowl and milk.) Thanks in advance. Greg

[AlanB]

Greg,

Welcome! This forum is as good as any for the questions that you've asked. I'll try to tackle some of them for you.

On the Northeast corridor train from Boston to New York - do the seats reverse so that you are always facing front or are half the seats always going backwards? Is there space for 2 suitcases each about 28" long?

Almost all the seats will face forward, only a select few at very end of the car will face backwards. And you don't want to sit in them anyhow, since there are no windows there. There will be more than enough room for your suitcases in the overhead racks above your seat or they can be placed in a floor luggage rack at one end of the car. I'd recommend above your seat though, as it does make it easier to keep an eye on your bags. There are usually no problems with luggage, but still better to have it close at hand if one can.

You didn't say which stop in Boston you were planning to board from, but if it's South Station, you might wish to consider getting a Red Cap. They'll get you out to the train ahead of the crowd, giving you first choice at seats and of course help with the luggage. In my opinion it's worth the few bucks in tip to avoid the line and get priority boarding.

What sights should we specially look out for? what side of the train are they on?

The best sights are on the left side of the train, mainly when one is riding along the eastern coast of Connecticut on the Long Island Sound. That's not to say that looking out the right side should be avoided either, but the left is better for the bulk of the ride. However, right before diving into the tunnel into Manhattan the train will cross the Hell Gate Bridge. This is an impressive and imposing concrete arch bridge over the East and Harlem Rivers between the Bronx and Queens.

The bridge provides one of the best views of Manhattan around. You'll need to look out the right side of the train though to see Manhattan. Not saying that the view to the left isn't nice either, but most people love the view of the Manhattan skyline.

We have 2 hours in New York before we catch the Crescent to New Orleans. Would this be enough time to get to the Empire State building from Penn station? (sorry it's not a train question but I need a local's help)

If your train is on time, you'd have enough time to walk over and look at the Empire State Building from the ground. But you definitely will not have enough time to go up to the top, as the wait is typically quite long. Penn Station is located between 33rd Street on the north side and 31st street on the south side, 7th Avenue on the east and 8th Avenue on the west. The Empire State Building is on 34th Street at 6th Avenue, about a 10 to 15 minute walk depending on your luck with traffic lights and pedestrian traffic.

Try to find an exit from Penn that is on the 7th Avenue side. If you're leaving NY in a sleeper on the Crescent, then you can store your bags for free inside the Club Acela Lounge. The lounge can be found to the far left of the NJ Transit ticket windows as you face them, when standing in the Amtrak concourse which is on the 8th Avenue side of the station. Walk past the West Gate for tracks 7 & 8 on the left side of the escalator and you will see a sign on the corner of the wall. There is a doorbell to the left of two gold doors. Ring the bell and wait for the click to open the door. Show the attendant at the desk your tickets for the Crescent and they can point you to where you can store your bags for a bit.

You can also enjoy the free soda, coffee, relaxing chairs, and the clean rest rooms inside the lounge while waiting for your next train to depart.

On the Crescent to New Orleans, what sights should we specially look out for? what side of the train are they on?

On the Sunset Ltd from New Orleans to Tucson what sights should we specially look out for? what side of the train are they on?

Far too many to talk about here. My recommendation would be to check out the route guides on the Amtrak site. These same guides should be in your rooms onboard, again assuming that you have sleeping accommodations, but if you don't or just in case they are missing you can print them out or if you're bringing a laptop with you store the PDF on your laptop.

The Crescent's route guide can be found here and the Sunset's here.

Do either of these trains have 'dome' observation cars?

Sadly neither will have a dome observation car; they are largely a thing of the past here in the US. Amtrak only owns one such car and it will not be on your routes. The Sunset however will have what's called a Sightseer Lounge car. This car is both a cafe car and an observation car. It has nice big floor to ceiling windows that will let you easily see out both sides of the train. What you cannot do however is see over the front or the rear of the train.

Any other hints for us first timers on Amtrak?

If you haven't already done so, please check out our Hints & Tips.

Has anyone had any experience of bringing your own special meals into the Dining car? (my wife must eat gluten free and Amtrak have said they can't do anything special. for example she'd like to bring her own cereal for breakfast and ask for a bowl and milk.)

Officially Amtrak cannot allow personal food into the dining car per US health regulations. It's possible that they might look the other way with a small box of cereal, but beyond that I think it highly unlikely that they will permit you to bring in anything else. While I always highly recommend eating in the dining car whenever possible, do keep in mind that you can have your sleeping car attendant bring you your meals in your sleeping/seating accommodations. They can also bring you that bowl and a carton of milk for the cereal if they won't let her consume it in the dining car.

I do note that Amtrak does not mention Gluten Free on their special food's page, but I would recommend trying to call and verify that they cannot provide such service to your wife. Even if they do have it available, still be sure to bring a backup just in case the train is delayed or something goes wrong and the meals don't get loaded onto the train.

[KevinKorell]

The Crescent really doesn't have too many highlights along the way. But if you have never seen the sights of Washington, DC, I suggest the right side of the train. After the train comes out of the tunnel that begins just after departing Union Station, you can see the Washington Monument, Jefferson Memorial, and the Pentagon all on that side. You also can see some of the buildings that belong to the Smithsonian Institute. Another highlight is near the very end of the run, between Slidell and New Orleans as the train literally goes to sea. The track crosses Lake Ponchartrain on a causeway giving the illusion you're sailing. Either side of the train would work here, though there is more water to see from the right side.

[gregh]

Thanks for the tips, guys. Just what I wanted. Didn't know we crossed Hells Gate bridge - will definately look out for that.

[gregh]

Greg,

Welcome! This forum is as good as any for the questions that you've asked. I'll try to tackle some of them for you.

You didn't say which stop in Boston you were planning to board from, but if it's South Station, you might wish to consider getting a Red Cap. They'll get you out to the train ahead of the crowd, giving you first choice at seats and of course help with the luggage. In my opinion it's worth the few bucks in tip to avoid the line and get priority boarding.

Thanks for that tip.
A couple more questions on this train 171 from Boston to NY (8:20am from Boston South stn).

Does anyoneknow how crowded this train gets? There will be 4 of us travelling (2 children under 6) and we would like to have 4 seats together. Would this be likely if we caught the train from Boston sth?

We are staying closer to the Rte128 station than Boston, so if we caught the train at Rte128-Westwood, what's theliklihood of getting 4 seats together? -- or even from Providence RI?

Where on the train is less crowded? front or back?

If we manage to get 4 seats together - 2 in front of the other, is it possible to reverse the direction of the front pair so that 2 face 2? Can the conductor arrange this?

Again, thanks in advance
Greg

[KevinKorell]

Thanks for that tip.
A couple more questions on this train 171 from Boston to NY (8:20am from Boston South stn).

Does anyoneknow how crowded this train gets? There will be 4 of us travelling (2 children under 6) and we would like to have 4 seats together. Would this be likely if we caught the train from Boston sth?

We are staying closer to the Rte128 station than Boston, so if we caught the train at Rte128-Westwood, what's theliklihood of getting 4 seats together? -- or even from Providence RI?

Where on the train is less crowded? front or back?

If we manage to get 4 seats together - 2 in front of the other, is it possible to reverse the direction of the front pair so that 2 face 2? Can the conductor arrange this?

Again, thanks in advance
Greg

Greg,

There is no way to ensure that you will get 4 seats together. Obviously the earlier you board (i.e. South Station or Back Bay), the better your chance of getting the facing seats. People who board as single travelers will usually sit alone in a seat for two or the four seater rather than sitting next to somebody else, until they HAVE to. A good conductor in seeing a family boarding, particularly with children as young as yours, will ask people to move so that a family can be seated together.

How crowded a particular Northeast Regional train gets depends on the season and whether any events are going on in the online cities the train passes through. The fact you are going to travel in September, after most schools are back in session, should be helpful to you since there should not be as many young families travelling together.

As to any particular part of the train that might not be as crowded, I think people are pretty much spread out. At Boston South Station, due to the nature of the station, most people will take a seat near the rear of the train since they won't have to walk as far. At Boston Back Bay Station, the opposite is true, as the entrance is near the front of a New York-bound train. So by the time it gets to Route 128 the passengers are well dispersed.

The seats are not moveable. They do not "flip" as some do on commuter trains. The only place you will find 2 facing 2 seats is at one end of the cars. However the negative is that these seats usually do not include a window.

Any other questions please feel free to ask!

[The Dutchman]

"On the Northeast corridor train from Boston to New York
What sights should we specially look out for? what side of the train are they on?

We have 2 hours in New York before we catch the Crescent to New Orleans. Would this be enough time to get to the Empire State building from Penn station? (sorry it's not a train question but I need a local's help)"

Running South through Providence sitting on the Left side you might be able to see the harbor and the hurricane surge gates, which are impressive structures. Keep an eye out running through the old fishing villages of Westerly RI and Stonington CT, classic New England harbors. At New London to the South over the harbor bridge you will see the General Dynamics shipyard where they build the Navy submarines; to the North the Coast Guard Academy on the West side of the river with the "Eagle" sail training ship, which is actually a war prize from the German navy and was built in Bremerhaven as a square-rigger sail trainer. On the East (North) side of the river is the navy sub base but I suspect you will not be able to see much of that.

Running past New London you will bend out along the Shore and can see the island chain at the East End of Long Island Sound over to Long island, which is part of the State of New York. One island, Plum Island, is a research facility for all manner of dangerous microbes from the days of germ warfare with the Soviets and is off limits!!!

Just before New London you swing past Mystic; look to the North for the unique road swing bridge at the narrows of Mystic harbor, we call it the singing bridge. The entire span lifts with just 50 hp, due to carefully balanced counterweights. Further upstream is the classic whaling museum and its ships although unless some are transiting the waterway you probably will not be able to see them.

Just a bit further and you run over the Niantic River Bay causeway; to the North (left side) you see the Niantic harbor and all manner of yachts. This is classic New England.

At the Connecticut River some 17 miles past New London you will pass over a drawbridge, quite ancient, which is scheduled to be replaced with government Stimulus funds.

Keep in mind that all the trees you will be seeing are all re-planted by natural means since about 1830, when the colonials had cut down just about every single tree. The "cut line" extended up to about 1/3 the way into New Hampshire, the local economy being wood-based. The forests you see are the result of seeds dropped by birds from the Adirondack Mountains in Upstate NY, so none of the wood you see is actually native to Southern New England.

The Hell Gate Bridge into New York is the first major bridge built in the NYC area. If you look closely at the upper part of the span you will note that the metalwork does not connect into the towers. The compression load is all on the lower arch into the foot of the bridge and the upper arch is there to provide stiffening. When the bridge was first built circa 1899 the Mayor's office was flooded with alarms from the citizens who thought the builder had made an error in construction, and the bridge was about to fall down; the builders then extended the upper arch to within about 8 inches of the towers to create the optical illusion that the arch was actually connected to the towers. That did the trick and the public was pacified. The bridge actually takes the tracks from the Mainland to Long Island, and then you run into Manhattan by a tunnel under the East River, although admittedly I have never paid any attention to that part of the run. Most daily commuter take a different set of tracks through the South Bronx and pass into Manhattan from the North, via the Metro North Railway, over a lift bridge over the Haarlem River and then into Grand Central Station at 42nd Street. The Queensboro Bridge at about 63rd Street Manhattan to Long Island is a majestic structure; it looks like a suspension bridge but actually is not. The design is a counterbalance link structure of solid tension links with the multiple spans acting as counterbalance weights. It is a design duplicated from the railway bridge across the Firth of Forth in Scotland, where the principle was first developed. The other major bridge of this design is across the St. Lawrence River at the City of Quebec in Canada.

After the fall of the World Trade Center Towers the tickets for the observation deck at the Empire State increased in price (originally ten bucks). There is usually a huge line. Then again, you might get lucky if they are having a slow day. Bring some US coins to work the binoculars on the deck; the kids love that.

Welcome to America and enjoy your stay!

Jan van Eck
The Dutchman
Essex, Connecticut

[gregh]

Thanks Jan and Kevin. That's great info for a new visitor. Jan - your info on bridges is really welcome. Hell's Gate seems to be the 'model' for the Sydney Harbour Bridge where I come from. I see you're from Essex Conn. I see there is a tourist train and river boat ride from there. Can you tell me if it's worth doing. Looks like only a day trip from Boston, or maybe we should overnight in Essex? Thanks again for all your time in composing the replies. Yankee hospitality is certainly something. Greg

[The Dutchman]

"I see you're from Essex Conn. I see there is a tourist train and river boat ride from there. Can you tell me if it's worth doing. Looks like only a day trip from Boston, or maybe we should overnight in Essex?" The "Essex Steam Train" is a line that runs from the Essex Station, exit 3 on Route 9, North up to the Haddam - Route 82 crossing (exit 7). Distance is perhaps 10 miles or so. The engine is a replica of a 1930's steam unit, I recall with wheel arrangement 4-6-2 or something pretty close. What happened was that during the Japanese invasion of Mainland China, the US Govt shipped over some engines for use by the "Nationalists" that were fighting back. After the War the Chinese eventually decided to duplicate these engines, dismantled one, and then meticulously back-engineered the engine down to the bolt sizes and threads, then to be used both internally in China and ultimately sold as an export item. So the Essex train has an authentic American steam engine, fastidiously built exactly as if it came from the Baldwin-Lima-Hamilton factory, except that is was actually machined and cast in China! The run is all very nice, and the boat ride is "nice," but personally I wouldn't drive all the way down here from Boston just to go ride on it. Then again, I am probably a bit jaded. If you decide to come down into Southern New England by rental car for the day, then by all means stop over at Mystic Seaport, Mystic CT, and poke around there. You will get a really good insight into how the old seafarers from New England operated. The old-time New Englanders made their money on fishing, whaling, commerce, and smuggling. What they will NOT tell you, as the subject is totally taboo, is that more "big money" was made in slaving than in anything else; profits from slaving, for both the boat builder and the slavers, were so great that the boat could be paid off in one trip and still generate a 100% profit on the resale of the slaves. Slavers were built starting in Mystic and then along the coastal towns all the way up to past Boston, with big concentrations sourced from the ports in Rhode Island (ironically founded as a haven from persecution by religious refugees from Boston). Such is life. When visiting Boston, take a peek inside the Old "Fanuil Hall" building, to see a map of Old Boston in 1776. The city was actually built on a narrow peninsula with a "neck" perhaps 150 meters wide at what is today the "Copley Square." A Stockade was built there, with 9,000 British soldiers inside and about 16,000 Colonials outside. that standoff continued for a year, while Ethan Allen and his band of Vermonters trekked all the way to Saratoga, New York to raid a British fort and seize the cannon, which they then dragged all the way back (no roads; they cut their own). Using the cannon, they forced the British to decamp to Halifax and that set off the "revolutionary" war. What is today Beacon Hill was one of two extinct volcanos; starting about 1830 these volcanoes were systematically dismantled and the rubble used to fill in the surrounding water, particularly "Back Bay," making today's Boston. Since you are a rail buff, be sure to take a quick ride around on the Boston trolley system, always nostalgic. Boston had a very extensive rail system in the City, mostly underground and elevated, some remnants of which are still around. If you like I can send you a book with tons of photos up to your Hotel on loan. At one time the light-rail system, termed "interurban," would allow a traveler to run from New Hampshire all thy way South to about D.C. on interchanging trolley and interurban electric cars. Pieces of the old railbed are still around, but the trackage is long gone. Now we sit in traffic jams and call it progress. By car, there are a number of other nice seaports, for example Port Judith, RI, where you can buy lobster on the dock and have it cooked for you. By all means, treat yourself to a New England lobster meal, with melted butter, also New England clam chowder soup, or you will be missing out on some special treats. By car in Boston, I suggest a side trip up to Salem, Mass, to see the old witches hanging area, and to visit the old sea captain's houses. That is a well-organized area and just by stopping in at the tourist info center you will be pointed in the right direction. Be sure to visit the one house where the captain built a secret staircase in behind his fireplace through a bookcase, so he could climb up to the third floor bedroom without his wife knowing - that bedroom was where the servant maid slept! They let you climb the staircase. Past Salem, you can mosey up to Marblehead to see a real cod-fishing seaport, classic New England. The Dutchman

Edited by The Dutchman, 23 August 2009 - 07:05 PM.

[gregh]

We've completed the first leg of our trip - from Boston to Birmingham AL. Amtrak trains are quite good and we enjoyed the 'cozy' roomette on the Crescent. The Dining car food was great and the cafe car surprisingly empty so we rode lots of time there. Boston to New York is quite scenic but NY to AL has TOO many trees to see anything! Thanks to all who offered advice on the forum. One more question..... does New Orleans have a taxi stand and do taxis meet the Crescent at 7:30pm? (we were VERY surprised by the lack of facilities at Birmingham station - I'd hate to arrive there at night)