Here's a bare bones summary of our July 4th trip on The Adirondack,  Albany/Montreal/Albany.  This is strictly by the numbers, a report on the train, it's condition, and it's schedule.  

For Railfans who want the fuller version,   I'll soon be uploading the fleshed-out, article version (text format) to the Railfans Library Section under the filename Railtrip.txt.
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The train arrived Albany about 1:20, about 5 late.  Approx eight coaches and two cafe cars Northbound from NYC.  Engine change and car removal at Albany.  Two coaches, Cafe Car, and two more coaches continued on for Montreal.  I apologise to all the railfans, for I don't know the proper designation for the locomotives or the cars.

We boarded immediately.  The train was quite crowded, but the A/C was working just fine.   The cars were in good condition, and while not really dirty, they looked as if they had been occupied for nine hours.  The only seating available was a pair of center seats facing each other, so our knees all knocked for the first while.  The crowd thinned out considerably within a few stops north of Albany, and we were able to rearrange our seating.  The Conductor (Dom) was very helpful.  The other passengers were quite friendly.  

We departed Albany on time, at 150, for the 6:25 trip to Montreal.  Also on time out of Saratoga Springs,  but were 9 late leaving Glens Falls.  I don't know where the delay came in.  Tony, in the cafe car, was also pleasant and friendly.  Prices are high.  Three soft drinks, candy bar, danish:  $6.30.   Later, when we had sandwiches and hot dogs for dinner, I was pleasantly surprised.  The flavor and quality were quite acceptable, even though it was prepared, microwaved food.   Some pax near us had boarded in Baltimore, and wished there could be a real diner for their 13 hour trip.  I would tend to agree.  

By 330 we were on a siding waiting for the Southbound #68 to pass, and there was no TP in the Ladies rooms of the first two cars.  By 5:00, the Cafe car was running out of snack items.   Tony said that the train was stocked in DC  (origin  6:15 AM) to normal levels despite the holiday weekend.  He told me that he got some stock from the southbound train while we were both stopped on the siding near Whitehall.

The ride was pleasant and fairly smooth the whole way.  Some of the time the rail joints were audible, sometimes not.  (I guess that would be welded rail.)   At times we seemed to be traveling very fast (mostly the first hour or two north of Albany), at other times the speed was more moderate.  However, we continued to lose time  between stations even without major delays,  just one or two minutes per leg.   The crew told me that they were speed restricted due to poor track condition, and thus couldn't keep up with the schedule.  But to lose 2 minutes on a scheduled 40 minute leg only requires a speed loss of two to three mph.  Some of you railroad people might explain:  is it possible that 60 is dangerous but 57 is OK?  That 40 can't be done, but 38 is fine?  I was starting to get the idea that they weren't even trying to keep schedule,  but I could be dead wrong on this.

Virtually every station we passed was in a state of embarrassing disrepair, with a bright new blue and white Amtrak sign stuck somewhere on the wall.

Canadian Customs, at Cantic, PQ,  involved a long wait, then the inspectors, then another long wait.  I'm sure this is normal and explainable.  The Canadian inspectors were very friendly.   

We arrived at Montreal Central Station at 915, 1 hour late.

The southbound leg two days later was very similar.  Departed Montreal on time, and gradually lost time throughout the trip.  The exception southbound  is that Amtrak has a built in schedule pad between Saratoga Springs and Schenectady.  The leg only takes about twenty three minutes, but the schedule allows fifty seven minutes.  The southbound must wait there for a northbound freight to pass.  If Amtrak is on schedule, they wait about thirty minutes.  If they're running behind, this is a window where they can recover.  We were 56 minutes late arriving at Schenectady, but only 30 late when we left five minutes later.   We arrived at Albany at about 540 PM, twenty late.

All in all, an enjoyable trip.  I'd like to see some improvements, but I'd do it again.  

John Gaquin