I return to the station shortly before six and find the caretaker is just coming back to open the station waiting room. I hear him calling Julie (on an old flip phone) for the status of both Directions Ethan Allen Expresses (the northbound is due at 7:10pm) this evening. He tells us their both on time. Dusk nearly fully descends although the station’s new modern lampposts don’t turn on (I wonder if they even work) and the Ethan Allen Express, a six car train of 5 Amfleet-I Coaches and a Amfleet-I Club-Dinette led by a P32AC-DM (why it makes the trip from Fort Edward so much faster than the Adirondack, no engine change in Albany).
The crew opens up two doors, one at the Business Class/Cafe car at the rear of the train (for a Business Class customer) and the next car after that. We are all directed (except for the few people going to intermediate stops) to the middle car of the train which was closed until Fort Edward. The Ethan Allen leaves Fort Edward 4 minutes late. All the passengers who have boarded at the two stations in Vermont have fit in about a third of a car. I decide to sit on the right thinking there will be more lights on the non-river side of the train.
At 6:51 we arrive in Saratoga Springs to the Adirondack and North Creek Railroad’s unique trainset of two Metro-North C1s another full-length dome. The peace and quiet of my car ends with a dog making odd noises. Unfortunately the conductors haven’t opened up another car. We leave the station and pull up slightly. I wish there was a car on this train that had its lights off. The conductor comes through I mention that I thought dogs weren’t allowed on Amtrak. The conductor says “He says its a service animal but I think he might be bullshitting me, he might be getting off in Albany.” I notice the other conductor is wearing an old vest that says Empire Service on it with a pointless arrow badge (guess the Amtrak fashion police don’t get up to Vermont).
At 7:24 I see the lights and then platform of Schenectady as we slowly enter that station. I see that graffiti hasn’t been removed from the walls of the elevator up to the platform. There boarding everyone into my car again, about eight people, making my car have every set of seats taken. We leave on time at 7:28.
At 7:55 we arrive in Albany without an announcement. I see the new conductor walking through opening the door up to the rest of the train I step off entirely wanting to know how long the train is (we have five coaches plus the cafe car, two are unused). She eventually announces this is a layover point and we will depart at 8:05. There is nothing else in the station in Albany as we sit alone on track 2. As the new conductor comes through (I assume based in Albany) I notice she has a jacket on that also says Empire Service.
Hudson with its historic depot comes at 8:26, 4 minutes early and we are stopped farthest from the station passengers walking out over the grade crossing and 3 tracks to reach our train. We leave at 8:30 on time
At 8:50 we come to the lowly lit Rhinecliff platform as I watch about 30 people walk from the back of the train (where the main entrance is) to the front where there is an open door. We leave on time at 8:51 back into the darkness, a few lights across the Hudson.
8:55 – An Empire Service train zooms by the other way as we speed down the Hudson.
We get the announcement at 9:03 for Poughkeepsie and that the doors will be automatically opened from the middle to the rear of the train on the left side. We enter passing the usual Metro-North trains stored north of the station. We arrive on the middle platform on time at 9:05 to a couple of passengers waiting for the overpriced trip to New York (compared to Metro-North fares). We leave 3 minutes late at 9:08.
Croton-Harmon Comes passing the Harom Diesel & Locomotive Shops that is illuminated by its own light at 9:45 and the conductors are only opeing up two doors. The electronic sign says New York-Penn and the 10:03 train is Albany-Ress. I always like looking at the Metro-North Stations because they usually do such a good job of displaying Amtrak train’s destinations (like Montreal, PQ on my way up). It is an extremely fast stop and we leave into the night, right on time.
We pass Tarrytown at 9:54 and go under the Tappen-Zee Bridge. It’s a blur of Metro-North Stations as I am too tired to concentrate on writing.
At 10:02 we come into Yonkers, 2 minutes early, and leave at 10:03, 1 minute early (although Yonkers isn’t a D or an L) One person gets on who I believe is an Amtrak employee, 25 minutes to New York.
The Spuyten Duyvil Bridge is crossed at 10:09 and we enter Manhattan in view of the arch of the fairly dimly lit Henry Hudson Bridge.
It’s a fairly dark trip down the west side line at 45th Street as a sign says on an overpass. We come to a stop because some maintenance equipment but soon proceed. With the conductor actually announcing that the lights will go on and off due to switching (something I haven’t heard before) we slowly enter Penn Station.
Just like on Friday night, we are again early (due to recovery time) at 8 minutes, arriving at 10:27pm. For the record, the Adirondack I was on arrive 11 minutes early at 8:29, due to all the recovery time particularly changing engines in Albany. One of Amtrak’s most ridiculous scheduling situations means its scheduled for FED to NYP at 5 hours, 15 minutes, the Sunday Ethan Allen Express (it’s scheduled at ten minutes longer on the Monday thru Saturday scheudles) I was getting off of made the run in 4 hours, 10 minutes. We are again at my favorite location on the western end of platform and have to walk up this time just beyond the locomotive to get off behind another train and I quickly snap a few more photos including of a cart using the baggage elevator.
I realize I have finally figured out the staircase configurations of the Amtrak platforms and make sure I go to the second escalator, not the first. This takes me up to the exit concourse beneath the main departures hall with the big board, saving a walk up a flight of stairs. I walk over to the subway, Penn Station is nice and quiet. The most frustrating part of getting on the A train at this time of night is not knowing what platform it will arrive on (the local or the express). I actually checked the schedule on my laptop via AmtrakConnect (that was its usual slow-self) and found out the last express leaves West 4th Street at 10:51 on a Sunday night, just 5 minutes earlier then on weekdays.