GMA Amtrak Itinerary

[Eric B 1,073]

Good Morning America started it's cross country Amtrak trip yesterday, in MA. they said they left Worcester, and stopped in Palmer. By the time of the broadcast, they were in Stockbridge. But Stockbridge is not on the Amtrak mainline, but rather on the Berkshire scenic railway, which branches off of the mainline at Pittsfield. But that line only seems to lead down to Danbury (and I imagine, becomes the MNRR; and while Mapquest shows theline going all the way through; Windows Live shows it ending at Kent, CT).

And they weren't coming down to NYC, they were continung straight west to Niagara, where they were today. So how did they do that? I would think they would have to back up to Pittsfield, but at the end of the show, it looked like the train was pulling out of the Stockbridge station continuing west.

 

So they are allowed to take the Amtrak cars (with the two antique cars on the end) off the Amtrak rails onto these branch lines? They're supposed to go to all 50 states, amd many states out west are off of the Amtrak lines, so unless they're going to be taking cars or helicopters from the nearest Amtrak station towns to those states), I imagine there might be more use of nonpassenger railroads?

[Fred G 63]

They headed back north from Stockbridge to Pittsfield to join the main.

 

Here's a photo at Stockbridge and an explanation

[Pablo M 201 35]

If that only came around close so I could get photos of the train.

[Eric B 1,073]

OK. I had seen that pair of locomotives on the track next to it at the end of the show. So I guess they were probably relaying to a switch past the station so the locos could pick them up.

 

Just curious, is it possible to continue on the line all the way down to Danbury and connect with the MNRR?

[Fred G 63]

OK. I had seen that pair of locomotives on the track next to it at the end of the show. So I guess they were probably relaying to a switch past the station so the locos could pick them up.

 

Just curious, is it possible to continue on the line all the way down to Danbury and connect with the MNRR?

 

Yeah it sure is possible. That's the route the Housy takes bringing stuff to and from Danbury. Those of us who rode the Farewell to the FL-9 MN Trip rode same line between Danbury and Canaan.

[Eric B 1,073]

Thanks.

To close this out, it turns out they didn't even go across the country with the train. They went to Niagara Falls, then to Ohio, then circled around through West Va, and then to DC, and that was it. The following week, they were back in the Times Sq studio. They really made it sound like the train was going across the country.

[Fred G 63]

Sounds more like cross country in 1808 than 2008.