I have a nice morning with my cousins including their couple of young children who all decide to drop me off at the train station. We arrive maybe 20 minutes early. An older woman immediately comes out from the new Vermont/Connecticut River Valley tourism office behind the station welcoming us to wait inside there. She has a phone in her hand, she is clearly calling Julie and reports the train is 20 minutes late. I end up running inside and find some Amtrak information including some very old timetables.
The train pulls into Windsor, VT – (3 Photos) 5 minutes late at 11:37. One person gets off, 2 of us get on. The other passenger is in business class so they open the cafe car door that’s stopped a little farther up the platform than the train normally is.
I board, the first thing I notice is the seats have been flipped and all are facing forward. It’s the same trainset and five cars as yesterday with a locomotive at each end. I walk back through the train, the first two cars are packed. The 3rd car is relatively empty. It was probably just opened for occupancy in White River. My ticket is scanned for New Haven. I immediately check in with my train forums and find out that the northbound Vermonter has five normal cars and 3 Amtrak business cars including Beach Grove, Pacific Cape, and American View. I hope the northbound will be early into Springfield so I can photograph it entering during the layover.
- 11:40 – Cross the Connecticut River and go down the New Hampshire side.
We stop in Claremont, NH at 11:47 for 4 people. They open two sets of doors, next to each other.
- 11:59 – The train continues through the houses of New Hampshire and the fields in the floodplane of the Connecticut River.
- 12:03 – See the Connecticut River again and get the announcement for Bellows Falls.
- 12:05 – Were going very slowly through South Walpole, and then across the Connecticut along the falls at the dam.
We arrive in Bellows Falls, VT at 12:06 for about a dozen more passengers on our already quite crowded train. I notice Greyhound is stopping at the station at the same time. The crowds extend our dwell times and we finally leave at 12:09.
- 12:12 – Through the Bellows Falls Tunnel
- 12:16 – On the plains and through the town of Westminster. We follow the Connecticut River.
- 12:26 – The nice views of the water continue in and out of the trees beyond.
We reach Brattleboro at 12:37, for about 40 people. Just before the stop they open up the cab car, and open up two doors on the parking lot/platform. One door on each side of the car I’m sitting in I notice a new silver sign on the station building. The lift gets rolled out for an older gentlemen with a cane. We leave at 12:42 before the lift fully goes down. We then follow the Connecticut River out of town. It’s scenic.
- 12:49 – The train approaches Vernon, Vermont, the last town in the state. I wait for the crew to finish their scan before going sit on the opposite side of the car.
- 12:51 – An announcement from the crew “We are proud to announce the next station stop in approximately 20 minutes is Greenfield, Massachusetts for the first time.”
At 12:54 we slowly come to a stop by the Vermont/Massachusetts border. They announce here we go pulling onto the old Pan Am route. I see our first rail fans photographing us by standing on the tracks of the old route. We switch onto the new tracks with the old line going off to the east.
- 12:55 – The first bit of scenery along the new line is a nice green field that separates the two railroads with the former route fading off to the east.
- 12:58 – We go past a cemetery and the grade crossing of River Road. There moving the first people getting off in Greenfield back to the doors by me. Maintenance men are out in force and wave at the train.
- 1:02 – We cross a large dump or quarry of some sort. I hear branches brush he train. The track is good but not perfect. The track here is definitely in better shape than the old New England Central line.
- 1:06 – We cross over I-91 and continue through trees.
- 1:08 – Through Bernardston. We gain more speed. The conductors are hanging out by the doors, there timing here not down to a science yet.
- 1:10 – Greenfield coming up folks in 5 minutes for the first time in 47 years it’s my pleasure to announce. We’re just in trees.
- 1:12 – We cross under I-91 again and come into town. We’re overflowing at this next stop the crew announces, please move all bags and make all seats available.
We arrive in Greenfield–(10 Photos) at 1:14 to a packed platform. I run out for photos. An Amtrak cop is stationed on the platform I am joined by a seat mate.
We leave at 1:19. 12 minutes late. I’m joined by a mother and two tween boys clearly into trains from Amherst. She tells me they could see the train along the old route from their house and were out videoing the last train I was riding last night in the twilight. I warn her I’m going to run off in Northampton
- 1:21 – We go through more trees. The track isn’t in great shape. We slowly continue out of town.
- 1:23 – Cross the Greenfield River and continue south on the double-track railroad.
- 1:26 – Pass our first freight. everyone behind us is a family of six going to have lunch in NPT. That’s a good ticket riding on the first train between Amtrak’s two newest stations!
- 1:30 – Two BHM cabooses and a grade crossing full of railfans. We’re making much better time on this track than the old line.
- 1:31 – Pass the town South Deerfield, everyone is out with cameras waving. A bunch just riding to Northampton.
- 1:35 – 7 minutes to Northampton
- 1:37 – Another grade crossing, more photographers. We’re following I-91 making good time south.
- 1:38 – 3 or 4 minutes to Northampton. We enter following I-91.
- 1:40 – Pass Exit 20 on I-95.
- 1:41 – We go under I-91 and slowly enter Northampton.
- 1:43 – Now arriving Northampton. The bike path along the rail line is packed with people taking pictures.
We arrive as the first train into Northampton–(12 Photos) at 1:45 to a similar crowd standing on a nearly identical temporary wooden high level platform as Greenfield. I notice more media people here. I quickly get off and get my share of photos (enough to make a station page for now of each station). We leave at 1:51, 20 minutes late and continue south.
- 1:54 – Cross the Manhan River through an old mill and leave Northampton behind.
- 1:55 – Another grade crossing, more railroad employees with cameras. I see a sign for Holyoak.
- 1:59 – The conductors announce will be in Springfield in 20 minutes. There’s a neat stream.
- 2:00 – The opposite side of the train from where I’m sitting has a great view of the Connecticut River. I’m boxed in and the train is too crowded to get out for photos and to a window on the opposite side for photos.
- 2:03 – There is a nice view of the River and then we slowly enter Holyoke. In Holyoak we cross a series of bridges over canals.
- 2:05 – Pass an Amtrak police car is an area of construction along the tracks, could this be where the ceramonial groundbreaking took place and be the future Amtrak Station?
- 2:06 – A railroad junction with a bunch of photographers standing on the tracks as we cross yet another canal
- 2:07 – We cross the Connecticut River on a bridge near the Willimansett Bridge covered in construction material, not open to cars. The still open pedestrian path is crowded with railfans.
- 2:09 – We enter Chicopee and increase our speed.
- 2:12 – We have a nice view of the Connecticut River as we continue south.
- 2:15 – Over I-91 and its bridge. We slowly enter Springfield, including a park.
- 2:18 – We continue into Springfield going very slowly. We’re following I-91 that goes directly over the rail line. We keep following the highway approaching the crossover with the CSX Line and the Amtrak-owned line down to New Haven. If the train could skip Springfield it would be straight and smooth sailing.
- 2:21 – See some ballast and track work as I see the bridge used by the Lake Shore to cross the Connecticut River. Were going very slowly. A man at is car is there to photograph the train at a grade-crossing.
- 2:23 – Come to a stop. We soon see the Lake Shore Limited leave the Springfield Station and cross the Connecticut River to continue on its journey west. After today the Lake Shore will share no trackage with the Vermonter, just the tracks crossing each other outside the Springfield Station.
- 2:25 – We slowly cross the line used by the Lake Shore, have a great view of the twin rail bridges across the Connecticut and pull into the main Amtrak line to back into the Station.
- 2:26 – Come to a stop beyond the station. We continue further. There a couple Amtrak employees standing off the train on the tracks.
- 2:28 – We come to a stop under the Memorial Bridge. To soon begin our back in move.
- 2:30 – We slowly back into the station.
I notice some photographers out in force on some of the far tracks of the Springfield Station. We slowly enter the station backing in. We finish backing in and arrive at 2:34, 6 minutes early because of all the recovery time.
At this point I’ve been tracking the northbound Vermonter supposedly with company cars. It’s running nearly 30 minutes late, no chance the two Vermonters will pass within the Springfield Station. I check the Amtrak app and see that the next Springfield Shuttle, scheduled to leave at 4:05pm down to New Haven (where I was planning to switch to Metro-North already) is still the low-bucket price of $22. I decide to eat the $22 and bite the bullet to get the first Northbound Vermonter backing out of the Springfield Station – (40 Photos). I see the perfect bridge to photograph it form.
