Great Rail replacement bus Journeys

[Old Yard Dog]

Currently on the last GRJ trip of the year to New England. We have just been told that the two morning Downeaster Boston - Portland ME trains have been cancelled tomorrow which is very disappointing as this is the only lengthy train journey on our trip.

The line Amtrak are spinning is that this is due to emergency engineering work which must take place in daytime with freight trains running at night.

Could I ask members whether this seems plausible - or are Amtrak simply cancelling trains due to low numbers of passengers?

We also lost out on the Cape Cod Central Railroad which was apparently sold out on an end of season Tuesday (not an official part of the trip)

 

[ac6000cw]

Sounds plausible to me - it's normal for freight railroads to do engineering work during daylight hours if possible.

The Downeaster is essentially a state-sponsored service with Amtrak as the operator, so more than just Amtrak would be involved in a decision to eliminate services from the timetable.

 

[QJ]

Very plausible. I had to enjoy a rail replacement journey from Montreal to Albany–Rensselaer vice the Adirondack for similar reasons some years ago.

What was worse was it was much quicker than the train it replaced.


Other North American rail replacement journeys I have endured were by reason of late running of the service I was on which would miss connections. The coach was used to cut across country to get ahead of the train I needed to connect with (was a regular occurrence at the time with the coach sat in the car park as standby for such eventualities).

The routes concerned were
- North Bay to Toronto Union (Cochrane to Toronto service)
- Bay St Louis to New Orleans (connection for Chicago) <> bus from Bay St Louis to Hammond (LA)

At least an alternative was provided.

Bad luck with missing out on the track. I too have been caught out with certain heritage lines being sold out when I have attempted to travel. Unfortunately many North American heritage operations go in for dining experiences with limited capacity rather than how most UK heritage lines operate. Many of the US lines get sold sold out weeks in advance as a result.

 

[185]

Lol... at least your bus may show up. Amtrak dumped 200 passengers at Emeryville forgetting to rebook the buses after a delay of nine hours.

 

[Old Yard Dog]

This holiday ended ironically with us travelling home on a bus replacement train!

It is almost impossible for old codgers like us to get from Heathrow to Ellesmere Port by train with luggage in tow due to the lack of luggage space on Virgin Trains and the need for multiple changes. So we gave National Express a go for the first time since 1979.

But the 1630 bus no 308 from Digbeth to Birkenhead got stuck in gridlock in Birmingham city centre and then again on the M6. Eventually the driver ran out of hours and we were all dumped at Stafford station at 2000 and told to make our own way home. Does anyone know whether this is a regular occurrence?

Earlier, despite our pleas, Great Railway Journeys refused to let us travel back from Portland to Boston with Amtrak even though there was a suitably timed train which did run. But they did tag us on to an enthusiasts special on the Conway scenic railroad which allowed us to grice the whole line.