Passenger Trains > AMTK-NY to VIA survey

I\'m planning on taking Amtrak from Albany, NY to Canada to take VIA west. I know the Canadian (actually the Super C but we\'ll let \'em call it whatever)leaves out of Toronto but if you were me, considering two options would you A.) take Amtrak to Montreal and connect through Toronto or B.) Take Amtrak to Toronto and connect there.
I have not-so-pleasant memories of Toronto traffic ("the construction festival is is full swing this morning" - as heard on FM radio )and food that was at best less-than-good but Montreal was quite entertaining. As you can see I\'m leaning east but I\'m open to suggestions on either plan.
Thanks.


TCS - south of Thankorage, Alaskya no mo.

Made this trip many times. If you would care to e\'mail me I\'ll fill you inTopcoatSmith wrote:

> I\'m planning on taking Amtrak from Albany, NY to Canada to
> take VIA west. I know the Canadian (actually the Super C but
> we\'ll let \'em call it whatever)leaves out of Toronto but if you
> were me, considering two options would you A.) take Amtrak to
> Montreal and connect through Toronto or B.) Take Amtrak to
> Toronto and connect there.
> I have not-so-pleasant memories of Toronto traffic ("the
> construction festival is is full swing this morning" - as heard
> on FM radio )and food that was at best less-than-good but
> Montreal was quite entertaining. As you can see I\'m leaning
> east but I\'m open to suggestions on either plan.
> Thanks.
>
>
> TCS - south of Thankorage, Alaskya no mo.
>
> [%sig%]

I would go via the Adrirondack as it is the most scenic route in the east. I have never been delayed by customs there but put all your documents out for inspection on the fold out table which speeds it all up plus the agents will appreciate your efforts.


Chris http://www.trainweb.org/chris

If you take Amtrak #69 to MTL, you then would be able to do the dinner thing. After dining you would be able to try out Via\'s Enterprise(actually the Cavalier but we\'ll let\'em call it whatever) with its Renaissance cars. You will roll in at 08:20, in time for your 09:00 departure on #1.

Have fun!

Gerry, Ottawa ON

Well as a person who is from Canada, and who love train rides I have an idea for you. Take the train to Montréal and then take train 51 to Toronto, and then in the morning you will make the transfer to the Canadian. Thats 1 idea I say to do that could work. You get the chance to ride on the new Ren Cars, and everything, and you dont have to get a hotel room at all.

Telus6429
Ian
Windsor,Ontario
http://www.trainweb.org/swontariotrain/index.html

Disheartening to see Americans supporting that country in light of their "support" for us protecting ourselves. I and my sister canceled our trans-Canada rail trip. Even our President Bush won`t go up there! Flame on. I`ve got my asbestos jock-strap on.telus6429 wrote:

> Well as a person who is from Canada, and who love train rides
> I have an idea for you. Take the train to Montréal and then
> take train 51 to Toronto, and then in the morning you will make
> the transfer to the Canadian. Thats 1 idea I say to do that
> could work. You get the chance to ride on the new Ren Cars, and
> everything, and you dont have to get a hotel room at all.
>
> Telus6429
> Ian
> Windsor,Ontario
> http://www.trainweb.org/swontariotrain/index.html
>
> [%sig%]

buddha wrote:

> Disheartening to see Americans supporting that country in
> light of their "support" for us protecting ourselves. I and my
> sister canceled our trans-Canada rail trip. Even our President
> Bush won`t go up there! Flame on. I`ve got my asbestos
> jock-strap on

Well this Canadian won\'t flame you, but you should realize that not all Canadians support the Canadian federal government\'s position on the war in Iraq and many of us are embarrassed at the way our Primeminister and his cronies disrespect our closest neighbour and largest trading partner. But unless your government is contemplating regime change in Ottawa as well, there\'s not much we can do about it until the next election.

I can understand our primeminister\'s position though, even if I don\'t agree with it. Canada\'s foreign policy over the last few decades has been predicated on the supremacy of multilateral bodies like the U.N. as a counterbalance to what would otherwise be a very one-sided power relationship with the U.S. However, in a uni-polar world with no effective multilateral institutions (the U.N. has become a joke) we risk angering our friends to the south at our peril. Jean Chretien hasn\'t grasped that idea yet.

OTOH, without our current federal government we\'d probably be talking about the dismantling of VIA Rail instead of a trans-Canada rail excursion.

By the way, I concur with Telus6429\'s suggestion that going first to Montreal and then taking the Enterprise and its guaranteed connection with the Canadian is the way to go. That way also involves minimal stop over time in Toronto, the SARS hotspot of north America.

..John Reay, Bowmanville, ON

Pathetic.

I am really sorry my country didn\'t help yours to create chaos and more terrorism in this part of the World (but, after all, you didn\'t really needed our help for this, did you?).

I am really sorry my country didn\'t help big oil US croonies such as Dick Cheney\'s Halliburton to takeover Iraq\'s oil fields. This will so much help the average American citizen. But again, you didn\'t really need our help there too.

I am really sorry my country didn\'t help yours to kill civilians and destroy their home to create despair, poverty and terrorists. But you made it quite well without us anyway.

I am really sorry my country didn\'t help you to replace the this dictator with one of your own (you know, a country leader which will be democratically elected by the White House). But anyway, we agree with your choice (we don\'t have much choice ourselves, don\'t we).

I am sorry my country didn\'t help you to mess Internation relations with dozens of this World\'s nations by ignoring the United Nation\'s will. Still didn\'t really needed our help to do it, president Bush is very good at this. He acts alone.

I am sorry your country didn\'t sign the bioweapons Control Treaty while Washington was being attacked with anthrax by terrorists. Mine did. But your country doesn\'t need our advice.

I am sorry your country didn\'t sign the Child Work Ban treaty. After all, what would Nike do if it were illegal to use child to make their shoes? Mine did. And your country still doesn\'t need our advice.

I am sorry my country signed the Kyoto protocol because it thinks pollution and Global Warming is a serious concern while yours does not care much about the future. It\'s funny to read that one of president Bush\'s scientific commitee, which was supposed to provide him with evidences that global warming is a myth, was dissolved when it was found to be an impossible task.

I am sorry my country was found guilty of protecting its environment when it banned Ethyl Corporation\'s MMT fuel additive and was therefore sued succesfully by Ethyl, so Ethyl could continue to poison us (and you too, btw). Oh, your country is so proud to protect its commercial freedom...At any price.

I am sorry my country is under commercial attack from yours. While President Bush is claiming to the World that everybody should embrace free market and free trade, your country is boosting protective measures, for steel, agriculture, lumber.. Witness the Canadian lumber and Canadian Wheat trade tarifs (I really wonder what the WTO will claim about them...), and massive Federal subsidies for agriculture. Yes, I am so sorry for not being hypocrit.

Beside, I am sorry to read that your country\'s economy is going bad bad and bad, that trade deficit is growing, that Government budget deficits are skyrocketing, that the President\'s friends lied about a few billions...Oh nothing really important.

I foresee that economic recovery will be very difficult. Infrastructures, citizens lifes and the very fundamental needs for prosperity are being neglected in the sake of short term profits. And about this upcoming war with...well, some country, we\'ll see when we\'re there.

My country almost went broke in 1993. Yours is slowly headed the same direction. Beware! It was painful to get out of there.

Damn, I am so sorry buddha. I m so sorry for living in such a country of assholes.

Please forgive me.

JF

I want to as an American apologize to the Canadians for what buddha said. If you cancel your trip to Canada because they don\'t support us in Iraq or refuse to eat french fries or anything like that, your actions are not Patriotic as you may be led to beleave. They are childish, plain and simple, and you need to grow up and deal with the fact that what we did in Iraq under international law was illegal, it would only become legal if we found weapons of mass destruction which i have heard nothing of us finding. Therefore at present the United States is a criminal nation, or more specifically President Bush is a criminal, understand these are not my opinions, this is law, argue all you want but if it were before a non-biast judge you would loose. Understand this, when we invaded Iraq we unlawfully attacked a soveriegn nation, something we have no right to do, and if you say that we are protecting ourselves, look at how Iraq faught in a war, can you honestly say they were a threat! As for you Buddha, its people like you that make me ashamed to call myself an American. AS FOR THE TRAIN TRIP, go New York to Montreal, then take the Enterprise overnight to Toronto, Canadian from there to Vancouver. Its a great trip, I took the Canadian before it was Un-American to go to Canada.

I suggest you take Amtrak\'s Adirondack to Montreal, a Via train from Montreal to Toronto, and then Via\'s Canadian westward.

Better scenery on Amtrak\'s Adirondack to Montreal than Amtrak\'s Maple Leaf to Toronto.

I also enjoy visiting Montreal.

As a Canadian living in Toronto, I would advocate a more eccentric way of travelling from New York to Toronto to connect with The Canadian. Take the Lake Shore Ltd. to Buffalo, taxi across the border to Niagara Falls Ont., stay overnight there, and the next morning take Via\'s General Brock to Toronto with a connection to The Canadian. Whenever I travel to New York or Chicago this is the only route I take. On the Lake Shore you have sleeping cars and a diner, The Amtrak trains that proceed direct to Toronto or Montreal are coach only with no diners. Of course if you are not as fussy as I am in demanding first-class services, then perhaps going via Montreal as suggested by others would be the second best way--but I strongly advise that you avoid the 12 hour Maple Leaf from New York to Toronto, that is one of Amtrak\'s worst trains.

I have no problem explaining with my political views off-list. This is indeed a RR discussion forum.

Flame me on privately at duracell@flashmail.com if you wish.

Beside, to get back to the original subject, not only is the scenery very good on the Adirondack, but you could also have a nice dinner at one of Montréal\'s many good restaurants before getting on the Renaissance and their very deluxe bedrooms cars on 51. Don\'t worry, you won\'t likely verbally aggressed because you\'re American!

Btw, #51 has a 3 hours layover at Kingston during the night, and is generally getting into Toronto on-time, so I wouldn\'t worry about missing the connexion. Don\'t know about the timekeeping of the General Brock though.

JF

Been a pleasure to read most of these posts and I\'ll take the MTL, #51 version after visiting La Belle Province by auto from NY. I have family in many parts of Canada and we all have differing opinions of the war but don\'t take it personally.


TCS - play nice, play VIA.

Hey TCS,

Glad you are doing the Montreal thing. If you have any time in MTL try to get to Dorval just to watch many trains.

If you need any pointers or tips let me know.

BTW-"buddah", asbestos comes from Canada and causes cancer,and is very itchy, enjoy your jockstrap!!!!

\'Nuff said.

It\'s funny you still remember her name, we had almost forgotten her...

I want to ride a railway that provides PASSENGER SERVICE! , not "guest transportation". The article in the currentest issue of TRAINS is not news to me.


TCS - bridge built, going over now.

>>Disheartening to see Americans supporting that country in light of their "support" for us protecting ourselves.

The trouble with religion and politics is that too many people take them seriously!

Train riding... now THAT\'S serious!