What a different trip and day Saturday March 1st was. Ridewithmehenry got to Denville, NJ ok. But because of the line up at the ticket machine and because of the slowness of the machines to transact business, three of the four of us had to forego buying tickets until aboard the train. Seems Hoboken was holding some kind of Irsih gig in lieu of a parade and all the people had to go. This showed to be the as the train crew had to open more and more 8 car consist as we headed toward Newark. Most of the young celebrants (you could tell them: young, dressed in green) got off at Newark and boarded the Hoboken train. We encountered similar groups cross town at Newark Penn Station. The Newark Light rail was probably the biggest kink in the dy as it was not operating according to printed schedules and I had seen any notices on the Web site....we should have had about 10 or so minutes before he train left but he was blowing his horn waving at us to board in haste. Later, on the way home, there was no train at either of two times scheduled...the latter at 4:55 never showed and the 5:18 arrived, boarded and left at 5:11! We did get to Newark Penn with plenty of time for a second Breakfast at Mickey Dee's before going up to platform for tracks 3 and 4. Amtrak was using #3 and we watched the 10:14 Acela departure and were asked not to take pictures by the Amtrak Assistant Station Master. But he was such a character entertaining and engaging passengers even earning applause from the crowded waiting room on the platform for his repertoire! We boarded our 10:32 push pull all stops train to Trenton where we boarded the RiverLine Light rail (diesel powered interurban?) train and one of the most interesting rides one can find in NJ. At Camden we made the change to the PATCO service all the way to the 16th and Locust terminal, got the Broad St. Subway one stop to Phila. City Hall, then an trolley car to 30 St. Sta. for lunch. We rested more than fanned at 30th St. but got to talking with another Amtrak Rep who was most friendly and accommodating not just to us but also to the other customers queing up for northbound Amtrak service at stairway 3. He was well appreciated by all who sought to ride Amtrak! Next came our ACELA Express to Newark. We left about a minute or so late and were in Newark about 2 minutes to the good. IT was a fast, fast, fast ride. But I found it rather rough and noisy especially tiptoeing through the interlockings while trying to attain speed. The elevator style split sliding door clicked open and close slightly; maybe perhaps we were sitting over the trucks make it seem noisy and a little rough. At the speeds we attained, it was not easy to watch out the window and see anything except things further away. Buildings, structures, landmarks flew by the window you didn't have time to see or understand...even Princeton Jct. station got by us unoticed simply because I turned my head! Definitely this is a service for people who want to get where they are going in style and quickly and it should be a big part of the American transportation system. High Speed Rail is needed. But. It is for people who want and need this kind of service, who have to be there ASAP, who have to have the accouterments of travel that is offered, who are willing or able to pay for it. At the moment, with track speeds what they are, the extra cost of the Acela between NY and Philadelphia is probably not worth the cost for the less than 10 minute difference. However, I am sure it might be NY to D.C. or NY to Boston. And in the future when speeds are raised, most certainly will be. Back in Newark we got the Light Rail train to Broad St station with the confusion of lack of schedules as I mentioned above. And upon getting to the platform for our train back to Denville another curious and unexplained even: a train from Hoboken to make all the stops to Summit comes in...push pull style...loaded up and went. It is not in the timetable and was not advertised on NJT's website nor in the timetable! Well, we got back to Denville and went onto Carmella's in Netcong for a great Italian meal and was home by 11:45PM just short of 19 hours after departing!i
RIDEWITHMEHENRY is the name for our almost monthly day of riding trains and transit in either the NYCity or Philadelphia areas including all commuter lines, Amtrak, subways, light rail and trolleys, bus and ferries when warranted. No fees, just let us know you want to join the ride and pay your fares. Ask to be on our email list or find us on FB as RIDEWITHMEHENRY (all caps) to get descriptions of each outing.
Just curious, what was the ACELA fare, and what was the approximate total fare for the day?
Regular fare, Newark or New York to Philadelphia is $99...weekends only Sr. fare $84.15. But if demand goes up, so does the price.....
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