Empire Service Trip-1/10/08-New York to Hudson

[cpamtfan]

My family was going to a winter retreat in the Catskills. Now it wasn't until 3 days before the trip that me and my mother booked the trip. So the price was high. I booked a train with cafe service (a.k.a New York-Niagra Falls) and boy was it worth it.

Jump ahead to the big day when my dad drops us off at the LIRR station on LI (he and my brother drove).

So our LIRR train ran mostly ontime but ended up being a couple minutes down. Since we were up front, we had to walk all the way across Penn Station. We arrived in the main waiting area in slowly watched the board change. Finally Empire Service Train 285 showed on track 6. All the regulars led the way down to the train. Now, we were directed to the car behind the loco, so it was a long walk. I wanted seats with a tray table, but the crowds were pileing behind us, so we had to take the last row. I then jumped off the train to take a pic of the loco and quickly back. Our train left on-time and were soon in the Empire Connection. After the conductor came, I went to the cafe as well as recording the consist:

P32ACDM 706

Amfleet I 82621-Capstone refurbishment (my car)

Amfleet I 21063-unrefurbished

Amfleet I 82022-Capstone refurbishment

Amfleet I UNK-Capstone refurbishment

Amfleet I 48192 half club/half dinette- Capstone refurbishment

There were no lines, so I was able to obtain my cheeseburger, hot dog, chips, choco chunk cookie, and Pepsi without problem. I am not fat, I was just really hungry(seriously) :lol: .

I then carefully walked it back to my seat. The burger and hot dog were great! Especially since they were prepackaged. And I wasn't expecting a HUGE cookie like that! It was also great! You can't beat the Hudson for such a short trip! We were just about ontime the whole run and arriver into Hudson around 4pm. Unfortuneatly, the crew positioned for the 5th door to open, so about 30 people had to walk through another car to exit. The crew was more than pleasant and I hope to ride it again.

cpamtfan-Peter

 

[AlanB]

So our LIRR train ran mostly ontime but ended up being a couple minutes down. Since we were up front, we had to walk all the way across Penn Station.

Actually if you were at the front of the LIRR train, then you would have been on the 8th Avenue side of Penn Station, which is Amtrak's side. The rear of the LIRR train lands under the main LIRR and NJT waiting areas. Sounds like you took an extra detour or something. :lol:

Thanks for the report though, glad you had a good trip. And yes, it's always a wonderful ride along the Hudson River.