Coordinating a Canadian/Algoma Central Trip

[Anderson]

I'm hoping to grab a round trip on the Algoma Central's service up to Hearst and back. However, this presents a bit of an interesting puzzle worthy of a Mathematics department...

Solve for the following parameters:

-Depart no earlier than March 21 from Washington, DC

-Pick up the Canadian in Toronto

-Connect to the ACR with a round trip to/from Hearst; this leg must be completed before the end of March

-Return via the Canadian (as I believe all track south of the Canadian's route will retain service on the tourist train) to Toronto

-Return to WAS

-Minimize excess time spent with connections beyond Toronto

-A soft preference exists for keeping as much of the trip during the week.

So...any help?

 

[Anderson]

Ok, trying to coordinate this a bit further:

-It looks like I might need to deal with an up-down-up trip (or down-up-down) due to the actual area getting cut.
-Algoma Central goes north Thursday, south Friday, north Saturday, south Sunday, north Monday, south Tuesday [no service Wednesday]

-The Canadian goes west on Tuesday and Saturday. I can connect to the Canadian via the Maple Leaf (same day from NYP) or the Adirondack (overnight in MTR, day train to TWO).

-Selecting the Tuesday departure puts me in Oba on Wednesday.

-The Canadian returns from Oba on Friday and Monday.

So...

-If I depart Toronto on a Tuesday, I get to Oba Wednesday evening. I depart for Heart Thursday, return south Friday, come back north Saturday, and catch the Canadian on Monday.

-If I depart Toronto on a Saturday, I get into Oba on a Sunday. I depart for Hearst Monday, return south to Sault Ste Marie on Tuesday...and then I need to probably find my way across the border rather than heading back north. This might be doable with a Thruway...and some unknown (legal) means of getting from Sault Ste Marie, Ontatio into Michigan.

Conforming Canadian departures are going to be March 22 and 29 (Saturday) and March 25 (Tuesday). So, to flesh out the plausible itineraries:

For March 22

-Leave NPN at 1720 on Mar. 21 (Fri)

-Arrive NYP at 0300 on Mar. 22 (Sat)

-Depart NYP at 0715 on Mar. 22 (Sat)

-Arrive TWO

-Depart TWO at 2200 on Mar. 22 (Sat)

-Arrive Oba, ON on Mar. 23 (Sun)

-Depart Oba, ON on Mar. 24 (Mon)

-Arrive Hearst, ON on Mar. 24 (Mon)

-Depart Hearst, ON on Mar. 25 (Tues)

-Arrive S.S.M., ON on Mar. 25 (Tues)

--Then what? I could spend a day in SSM, catch the train back to Oba, etc. Or is there some way to get back to the US?

For March 25

-Leave NPN at 1720 on Mar. 24 on 66/67

-Arrive NYP at about 0300 on Mar. 25

-Leave NYP on the Maple Leaf at 0715 on Mar. 25

-Arrive TWO on the Maple Leaf that evening

-Depart TWO on the Canadian at 2200 on Mar. 25

-Arrive Oba, ON on the Canadian on Mar. 26 (Wednesday)

-Depart Oba on the ACR for Hearst on Mar. 27.

-Arrive Hearst, ON on the ACR on Mar. 27

-Depart Hearst, ON on the ACR on Mar. 28

-Arrive Sault St Marie, ON on the ACR on Mar. 28

--How could I return to the US from Sault St Marie?

For March 29

-This option seems to falter as I would wind up in Hearst on Mar. 31 with a discontinued train and no obvious return option.

Edit: And it looks like Oba is going to be a problem, since I cannot find any sort of lodging there. The nearest stuff seems to be in Hornepayne.

 

[SubwayNut]

Bring a tent, a warm sleeping bag, and camp for the night? (Too bad it isn't summer) for the layovers.

I think the easiest thing to do would be just a round-trip to and from Sault Ste. Marie. That would unfortunately involve some rides on Indian Trailway Routes all subsidized by the state of Michigan. (Looking this information up was sort of research related, I'm in the process of writing a grad school paper evaluating intercity transportation options to rural Areas, Amtrak will definitely be in there so there is some benefit for me, if you do take these bus trips I would deeply appreciate a report, particularly on crowding and usage).

I was just playing around with Bus schedules on the Indian Trails Website and the two different Amtrak's Indian Trails Thruway connections to St. Ignace that follow different routes but arrive at 11:40pm and 11:50pm respectively have direct connections to buses to Sault St. Marie, Michigan:

The Bus leaves Ignace at 12:15am and arrives in Sault Saint Marie, Michigan at 1:08am. For some reason Amtrak doesn't offer a thruway connecting to another bus to these buses.

You can also connect to Sault Saint Marie via the Wisconsin side and across the Upper Peninsula, changing buses in Escanaba, Michigan from the Amtrak Thurway connection there from Milwaukee. It's dead overnight, leaving Milwaukee 9:45pm Arriving Sault Saint Marie 7:45am (too close for comfort for me at least to get across the border and catch the 9:00am Railway train).

To get across the border take the bridge bus it runs every hour. If you caught the 7:00am bus (first one from the Michigan side) I think you'd make the 9:00am train departure, trip is about 20 minutes over the bridge. The last bus from Canada leaves I think at 6:30 weekdays, 4:30 weekends. You could make that connection going south to (if the trains on time).

Wish there were better options!

Return is similar: The via Lower Michigan (I think that's the right term) bus leaves at 7:40am to connect in St. Ignace, via the UP and Wisconsin via Escanaba is at 1:13am.

I think this would be a great trip, If only the Ontario Northlander still ran you could very easly connect to that train going the other direction from Hearst, there is a connecting Ontario Northland Bus leaves Hearst once a day at 5:00am and connects to the Ontario Northlander Polar Expess:

Ontario Northlander Bus:

Dp. Hearst - 5:00am

Ar. COCHRANE - 7:45am

Polar Express train: Lv. 9:00am do a same-day round trip getting back to Cocharne at 9:42pm (it runs Monday through Friday)

Connections at 11:45pm back to Hearst. (guess you'd be stuck spending a full day in Hearst before the next Algawa Canyon train back)

Day bus to Toronto Dp. 8:30am Ar. 9:15pm (You can connect from the Polar Express to a bus to Timmons directly Ar. Timmons 11:30pm, Bus Dp. 11:30am Ar. Toronto 9:45pm) – strangely no overnight Northlander buses. The 5:00am bus from Hearst spends all day on the road and can eventually get you to Toronto (9:15 to 9:45pm)

 

[Swadian Hardcore]

I found some bus options for you:

If you happen to take Indian Trails, they're pretty good, they have D4505's with Premier seating, very similar to Greyhound D4505's except with cloth seat covers and a bit less legroom. You could take an Indian Trails-Greyhound combo from Sault Ste. Marie (US) down to Toledo and catch the CL to Washington. That bus combo would be $66 with a multitude of transfers. NOT RECOMMENDED

Perosnally I don't recommed taking so many buses with so many transfers, so I would suggest instead that you ride Greyhound Canada from Sault Ste. Marie (Canada) straight to Toronto and catch the Maple Leaf. That would be CAD $63. The route has two schedules a day, one by day and the other overnight. It always uses Greyhound's elite equipment because it's a through route from Calgary. There's no more overbooking so don't worry about that.

By now, Greyhound's better than Indian Trails for sure.

So I would say you either take the Canadian back to Toronto or Greyhound Canada.

 

[Guest]

First of all you do not have to ride by the end of March. The AGR train will be running through April 30.

Second, do not attempt a connection with the Canadian at Oba. No facilities.

Third, while the bus connections at the Soo have already been noted., you may also be interested that there are Ontario Northland buses from Hearst to Toronto via Cochrane and North Bay.

 

[Swadian Hardcore]

Checking Oba station, it's just a sign post in the middle of nowhere. Not a good place to transfer at all. You could try connecting at Franz, where VIA's Lake Superior RDC meets the Algoma Central, but that is also a sign post.

I don't really know any good way out of this, except possibly bus connection at both ends of the Algoma Central. Too bad ONR cancelled the Northlander, now you risk riding a J4500 to Hearst. While it's not a horrible bus, the J4500 is notably unreliable. What if it breaks down it the middle of nowhere or suffers an air-conditioning failure?

Maybe just go for a connection at Oba, or hope that your ON Bus will not be a J4500.

 

[Anderson]

First of all you do not have to ride by the end of March. The AGR train will be running through April 30.

Second, do not attempt a connection with the Canadian at Oba. No facilities.

Third, while the bus connections at the Soo have already been noted., you may also be interested that there are Ontario Northland buses from Hearst to Toronto via Cochrane and North Bay.

Is this confirmed? If so, I can punt my trip by a week or two as a result, and things get a lot easier.

(Oh, if only the Northlander was still running, this would make a nice "loop" trip)

 

[SubwayNut]

Re the extension: I read this somewhere other than this board, Here is another source. If only I hadn't already fully booked (including flights) an April spring break trip.

 

[neroden]

Yep, the extension of service is until April 29th (or maybe April 28th -- not quite clear on whether the 29th is the last day WITH service or the first day WITHOUT service).

http://captrains.ca/update-minutes-how-to-donate-survey-workshop-dubreuilville-meeting-media-coverage/

Honestly, if you're going that way I might try to take the White River-Sudbury VIA line as well. It's another "essential service" which is likely to be cut.

The transfer points between the Algoma Central and either VIA line are... in the middle of nowhere. Probably a trip best taken if you're a serious camper/hiker. I have read reports of people who transferred at both Oba, for the Canadian, and Franz, for the White River-Sudbury line. They were the sort of people who would happily go on multi-day hikes. For them, this was relatively luxurious. For a city-lover like me... not a transfer I'd make.

 

[Swadian Hardcore]

Riding the Lake Superior would be interesting indeed, it uses RDC equpment and runs through the middle of nowhere. It shouldn't get cut since it goes through some very remote territory. But the ACR got cut anyway.

I'm a hiker but not a camper, so this connection might not work for me.