as everyone else has said, it's the same equip from Washington all the way to Toronto, with a crew change at the border. I rode the train from New York to Toronto in Sep 05, we left New York with 2 P32 (probably the AC/DM units) and 9 amfleet cars. At Phoughkeepsie we dropped off a P32 and 4 cars and continued to Toronto with the rest of the train. Customs in Niagara Falls ON and a crew change (plus a restock of the Cafe Car with VIA goodies - I hate Pepsi and Via serves coke so YAY!!!)
Maple Leaf crosses the border Would any one be able to inform me if Amtrak operate equipment from Buffalo N.Y to Toronto, or is it CN. If they do operate equipment what equipment would typically be used. Okane Okane, Here is a typical consist with car line numbers for train #97 (Maple Leaf) 2006/12/02 711,48151(café),25047(03),25021(04),25061(05),25107 Via Rail head end and tail end crews operate the train between Toronto and Niagara Falls. Via food items are exchanged for Amtrak food items at Niagara Falls.
I can understand the exchange of US and Canadian crews, but why change out all food items? Are the US and Canadian food health laws and regulations that different? Maybe I shouldn't have eaten that omelet when I was in Halifax in '95? It might have killed me....mg:
The Via tail end crews are responsible for their own assigned food and drink supplies. They pay for any shortages. There are also different labeling regulations. In Canada, Via food must be handled according to the Federal Hazardous Waste Regulations. Even worse than a Halifax omelet.
Shortage accountability makes sense, but defining food as Hazardous Waste.......now I KNOW I shouldn't have eaten that Omelet....mg:
Strange that they put Canadian crews on the Maple Leaf into Toronto but the Adirondack US crews run all the way into Montreal.
Al, it could be a local thing implemented only at the Niagara Falls border. In Sept. '04, my wife and I were on a Great Lakes cruise that included Lakes Erie and Ontario, both of which are one half in Canada. We had no problems with US Security, Immigration, or Customs at Detroit, Cleveland, Erie, or Buffalo. But at Rochester we were detained, interrogated, and searched (patted down) by US Border Patrol agents. It was obvious they were paranoid that the US citizens, all with US passports, were smugglers and/or illegal immigrants. What was most strange was that the two British and one Norwegian were waved straight through without question after showing their passports.
I went for a breakfast in Central Station in Montreal a couple of week end ago and had the chance to chat for a while with the engineer of the Montreal-New york Amtrak train . There was no paranoia at all from his part and he saw right away that I was just an "amateur" of trains . It was clear this guy loved his job and still had fun speaking about them . He was an Amtrak engineer ( like all the rest of the crew ) and told me is ride would be something like 10 hours ( it's a 7 hours drive in car from downtown to downtown ) . He told me his locos ( P42s ) were serviced at the VIA Rail facilities . He was impressed how our VIA F40ph were still in so great shape after seing them while he was waiting for his locos .
