When I headed up to New Haven last August for my Long Day Wending my Way to Rhode Island trip the conductor on the local train from Fordham to Stamford didn’t punch my ticket so in Stamford I bought a new ticket from Stamford to New Haven for $6.75 and decided to save my full Fordham to New Haven ticket for my next trip. This full ticket was going to expire on Saturday so I decided that today was the perfect excuse to head up to West Haven to get photos of that station and do a 300 points AGR points run on the Amtrak Vermonter and Shuttle since I’m presently 11,000 points shy of Select+ for next year and don’t have any heavy traveling planned in the future right now.
After all my adventures taking the bus to the subway to get to Fordham I decided to just walk. It’s a nice 3 mile walk to start my day and I arrive at the under construction Fordham plaza at 8:51, just 3 minutes before the scheduled departure of my Local Train to Stamford to connect to the Express. Signs are up that bridge plates are currently in use on the northbound local track.
At 8:56 they announce the train to North White Plains will arrive on the express track and to wait for the conductors permission before going out on the bridge plates. The usual deadheading northbound trains pass through and the automated voice says my train is running 5 minutes late while the status monitors say 7 minutes late.
At 9:02 a human announces the next train to arrive on the express track will be the 8:54 train to Stamford and to spread out with 8 available bridgeplates on the platform and to also wait for the conductors permission to board. The conductor punches my ticket to New Haven and says to exit the left side of the train for the transfer. I say “I’ll still make it even though were late?” I’m asking because I’m curious about the answer. The response is “Believe me, you will make it”
- 9:23 – Stopping at Larchmont I notice this station has has LED signs for train trips as a Danbury Line diesel passes heading to New York City.
- 9:35 – In Port Chester I notice the station is covered in plywood
We arrive in Stamford at 9:48 alongside a deadheading diesel trainset. There is a live voice announcing trains That is doing a poor job. My express train pulls in on time at 9:56. Were connecting to the Waterbury Branch, a line I want to ride again (but would also make a point of planning a longer layover in Bridgeport for a photo essay.
10:36 – Stop in Bridgeport passing the Waterbury Shuttle as we enter, three Shoreliners and a new Brookville unit. All in MTA livery. Someone sitting ahead of me has clearly gotten off the Waterbury branch and has a paper ticket the conductor punches a line down, not a new scanner/printer ticket.
I get off at the new West Haven Station at 10:55. I enjoy over 45 minutes there getting a photo essay of the new station. The only train action is an Acela passing in each direction. I can’t get as good a photo essay of the front of the actual waiting room Connecticut decided to build because two MTA cop cars are parked outside the station, the cops in them shooting the breeze. They leave right as I walk out of the station to the nearest street.
There my bus, route B pulls up at 11:35 and I pay my $1.30 (actually $1.35, I have a dime but not a nickel) for what will be a cheep but long (an hour and a half) 19 mile ride to Wallingford. Google Transit says 42 and then 101! Stops. In theory I could take the bus all the way to Meriden for just $1.30 but that’s not worth it since the $4.50 fare is the same Wallingford to Berlin or Meriden to Berlin. At least CT transit buses have comfy cloth seats and not the plasticky ones of Nice Bus. My first bus is wrapped as we go through West Haven and a man with a shopping cart tries to get by a lady with two inch nails and a walker. The bus gets packed as we near downtown.
I get off in downtown at 12:15 and see my bus route C pull up. Google tells me 12:25 and we slowly make additional stops downtown, the driver joking with locals as we pull up to the time point stop to await our 12:25 departure time. It is a newer hybrid without an ad wrap. A man lacks change and asks the bus no one gives him any. The driver tells him to come back up and gives him change I think pocketing the difference not giving him quite a dollar in quarters nickels and dimes that would be required for full change.
I put my iPhone on and zone out, the stop and go nature of the bus making reading too much. The next thing I know were in North Haven and getting to Wallingford. There is a conversation with the driver about transfers and how since the C is so long often the transfers expire before you get downtown. The ride is long but isn’t so bad. I don’t think I will do it on my way back to save $3.20 considering that that also would give up a ride on a direct New Haven Line train home to Fordham.
I get to Wallingford at 1:20 and walk over to the platform where a bunch of excavators are doing construction. I check and find out its 27 minutes late. The Vermonter hasn’t gotten to New Haven yet. I just better get to Berlin by 2:45 when the station house closes. I sit on a bench and read my book waiting for the Vermonter.
At 2:16 I See the light of the cab car. Vermonter #56 finally pulls in at 2:18 and one of the oldest women conductors I have opens the trap slowly of the rear cafe car saying “Don’t worry, we didn’t forget about you. I then realize all 3 of my Amtrak rides today should be in push mode since the Vermonter is always weyed in St Albans so the locomotive leads it through Vermont and the cab car from Palmer. I find two empty seats and the conductor comes. She is slow with her scanner. I plug my phone in to try and keep it from dying.
At 2:29 we stop in Meriden, I’m told 7 minutes to Berlin. Hopefully I just have time to snag some interior photos. We pass some water, great fall colors reflecting off it.
The Vermonter arrives in Berlin at 2:37, 41 minutes late.
I go straight into the station and quickly do a photo essay of the waiting room. I don’t get the locomotive pushing the Vermonter out of the station. It has that raw, some paint peeling authentic look I always enjoy. It is about to close but there is one last customer to help. The agent has waited to help him because he wants to be available for assistance when the Vermonter stops. I get my interior photos and head out to the post office, an errand I need to do. I buy something to eat at the Dairy Queen and return to the station to finish my photo essay.
The Southbound Vermonter #55 looks like its on time but loses 6 minutes simply stopping in Hartford boarding a bunch of passengers. There 4 of us waiting for it and we board when it pulls in 5 minutes late at 3:50. I enter and don’t find any seats. I pass the conductor have him scan my ticket and tell him I’ll just sit in the cafe car for the short ride. I sit down and a man waring an Acela hat, Amtrak ID badge but no uniform asks me if I’ve just boarded and chosen a seat. I tell him yes but I’m only going to Meriden and this seemed easier. He accepts that saying “Just wanted to make sure you weren’t going to be one of those passengers setting up an office in here” The conductor sits across from the other employee and they chat. Soon he tells me to get up for Meriden and makes the announcement. I stand in the vestibule and enjoy the whoosh of air from the door he opens. I step off in Meriden at 4:00 as some people board.
There enough people boarding that I manage to walk up to the next grade crossings for some photos of the Vermonter leaving. Meriden is crowded with people sitting on the platform. There not waiting for trains but for buses. I take a walk around sad feeling downtown Meriden and get my photos (again). I’m not to disappointed this station is closed, it’s basically a bus station/stop built in the 1960s that feels like a predecessor to an AmStation.
Shuttle Train #475 pulls in 1 minute early, at 4:03. I get my photos and the conductor is tapping on the platform. As I grab my iPhone he asks my last name. I tell him and get scanned that way. One passenger lacks a ticket and the conductor sells him a $6 ticket (Berlin cost me $3 extra!). This transaction takes place with the money handed waiting to board and the actual paper ticket punch on the train itself.
At 5:12 we stop in Wallingford to let one person off and no one on! We get the New Haven is next announcement in 15 to 18 minutes. The conductor includes the cross platform transfer information, Metro-North on tracks 12 and 14, and ConnDot Shore Line East Commuter Rail Service. He concludes with “On behalf of your Springfield based crew, thank you for choosing Amtrak, the railway, the right way.” As I zoom south of Wallingford I think of my perfectly fine bus ride that didn’t feel like a total stud and from West Haven and in some ways was easier with the quick transfer than getting off and walking the distance from downtown New Haven to the station.
Train 476 arrives in New Haven 10 minutes early at 5:25. My plan is the 5:52 through train to Fordham but I realize I can make the 5:33 express that skips Fordham but will let me make an evening photo stop at Westport and get to Fordham only 6 minutes later (and enjoy an express run). I finally went through Metro-North’s fares and found that the fares to New Haven to Westport and Green’s Farms are free stopovers to Fordham. I go into the station through the tunnel, buy a ticket and go back through the tunnel to crowded track 14. I guess this train originates at New Haven-State Street. I get some yard photos near the platform. It comes in at 5:31, old M3s. I head up to the front for the window but soon a trainee sits down, replacing the veteran who will guide him. This opens the door and blocks the window. We leave at 5:33.
- I hear discussion about how many cars so we have? The PA system is shot and garbled. A conductor comes up and he says six cars.
- We stop at the 7 car marker in Bridgeport don’t open. Via radio there told were an 8 car train and slowly pull up. The engineers telling the same conductor nearby, “that’s the last time we’ll believe you!”
- After Bridgeport we pass the Waterbury Shuttle trainset again. I hear over the radio: “Report of a Man in a wheelchair in the grade crossing, restricted speed at Division Street Ansonia.” Then I hear while we stop at Fairfield Metro: “Remain at Derby until told otherwise.”
- Skipping Southport and Greens Farms I hear them discuss how there are often deer in this area.
I get off at Westport for a fun but too short dusk photo stop. I buy my final ticket paying the $12 in total ($4.75 then $6.75) and get on the 6:34 train. I read until Stamford, entering the station is a bit slow I think possibly waiting of a platform and then have a nap through the express portion of the run. The next thing I know we’re losing ventilation with the third rail mode change. We get to Fordham about 7 minutes late at 7:35.
I walk through past the construction site in front of Fordham plaza where the Bx12 is now stopping and dip my card on a bus waiting for me. We pull away at 7:38. There is the usual traffic. I’m off at the A train at 7:57. A quick check of the Transit times app tells me 5 minutes, no need to run and we leave as scheduled at 8:02. I get off at 181 Street at 8:09, nearly record time. This time much faster than walking.