 Windsor, CT | Northeast Regional: New Haven — Springfield Shuttle | Springfield, MA  |
| Hartford, CT | Vermonter |
Windsor Locks, CT is one of the original 'park & ride' stations and can't even be described as an AmShack but an AmStop would be more descriptive. The stop consists of a tiny low-level 10 foot long low-level concrete platform that is complete with a tactile warning strip and only one door can be opened on the train service to the station. The other amenities on the concrete platform is a bus shelter with a white roof and sign on it saying 'Designated Smoking Area,' facing the track, an old pointless arrow sign with a modern logo sticker saying Windsor Locks facing the street, a square trash can, and a plastic tub containing rock salt for the winter. The little platform does face the Connecticut River through some trees so at least there is some scenery in the concrete jungle that is the station. There are simple metal railings along the concrete pad platform. To leave the platform there is a ramp longer than the platform itself (but no wheelchair lift to make the platform ADA complaint, the ramp might also be too steep) and 4 steps down to the station's 100 space park and ride lot, with cracked concrete and ADA parking space signs but no lines for the spaces. The stop has received funding for a wheelchair lift. The platform has to exist (and be so high) in the first place because the ballast of the tracks are raised up a bit, I assume to prevent flooding. Two other amenities are around the platform a pay phone and a modern Amtrak Information sign and panel so the train schedule can actually be posted. The station parking lot leads out to an exit to Main Street just south of Exit 42 on I-91 and the interstate highway's Dexter D. Coffin Sr. Bridge (a civic leader) where it crosses the Connecticut River. There is no sidewalk to leave the station at but an old Pointless Arrow grey sign to indicate there is a train station. Strangely there is another park and ride lot just north of Exit 42 along main street for commuter bus service into Hartford. The station's other feature are two Clothing and Shoe Donation boxes by the station's exit. Train service to the station is from the daily Vermonter, plus all Shuttles and the daily Northeast East Regional thru train, except for the second southbound morning thru train on Saturdays (#147) and Sundays (#146) that bypasses the station. Amtrak has always stopped at this little parking lot in Windsor Locks. The 1875 New York, New Haven, and Hartford Railroad Station was closed by the PennCentral in 1971 (I guess just before Amtrak) and sits abandoned on Main Street a mile north of today's station.
All photos were taken on 16 August, 2012
