Boston Saga, Part 1: Derailed

The day before I left for Boston, I saw an ad for this movie. Meanwhile, Honor had been reading some of the train accident cases for Torts. Though these less-than-auspicious portents might worry the average traveler, I intrepidly headed out to embrace my train destiny.

Things started out a bit rocky. I had thought that the Amtrak station was at the South Bend airport; it's not. Oh, there are trains that leave the airport - the South Shore line with service to Chicago. Not what I was looking for. So I arrived at the airport about 45 minutes before my train was scheduled to depart only to realize that no train bound for Boston (via Albany) would ever be leaving from the South Bend airport. A sense of dread overtook me as I started back to my car. Fortunately, I knew Meghan was in town for the week and she was far closer to an internet-connected computer than I was. She was kind enough to look up where the actual Amtrak station was and give me directions to there from the airport.

Fifteen minutes and fifty cents later, I arrived at the South Bend Amtrak station. Which is basically a shack in the middle of nowhere that just happens to be next to some train tracks. I picked up my internet-purchased tickets from the window and found out that the train was running a little late. This was not terribly surprising, as many people I'd talked to had warned me that Amtrak is notorious for running behind schedule.

My train was scheduled to depart at 9:25 pm. Actual time of departure: 11 pm. So I'm running about 90 minutes behind. But no worries, the connection in Albany is guaranteed.

The train was nice. The seats are larger than airline or bus seats with a lot more legroom. The seats can be reclined quite a way back. There are even footrests. And there's plenty of room for your luggage.

I drifted off to sleep for a few hours. At about 4:30 am I woke up and realized the train wasn't moving. I looked out a window and realized that we were at a train station, so I figured it was just a scheduled stop.

I had just started to nod off again when a conductor began to address our car. It seems we weren't as far along as I had thought we'd be -- we were only in Toledo. Additionally, we would be in Toledo for much longer than the time generally alotted for the stop. A freight train ahead of us derailed, and was blocking us from going any further east. The conductor explained that he didn't know much more at that time. Depending on the extent of the derailment, we might be bussed elsewhere. Great. As we waited for more information, the conductor told us we'd be free to get off the train and wait in the Toledo station. I was still sleepy and fiarly comfortably situated, so I elected to stay put.

A short time later, the conductor once again addressed our car. The Toledo station had all the necessary equipment on hand to put the freight train back on the rails, but it would take some time. On the bright side, I wouldn't have to take a bus. But it did mean we'd be running WAY behind schedule.

The train was supposed to depart Toledo at 1:30 am. Actual time of departure: 10 am. I'm now running 8 1/2 hours behind. Lovely. It's about this time that I began to really regret taking Amtrak. I should have just sucked it up and bought a plane ticket.

After talking to a conductor, I found out that no matter how late we arrived in Albany, there would be a train to take me to Boston. So at least I don't have to worry about missing my connecting train and being marooned in Albany.

At around 1 pm (the time my second train was supposed to be leaving Albany), I called Honor to let her know that I'm running way behind schedule and wouldn't be getting into Boston that night. It looked like we had made up a little time, and now were only running 8 hours behind. So I told Honor that I'd give her a call when I got to Albany, around 8:30-9 pm.

But somewhere between Utica and Schenectady, more delays cropped up; signal "difficulties" brought our train to a crawl. At 9, I call Honor again and let her know that I'm still not in Albany, though I'm getting closer. We arrange to meet in Harvard Square early the next morning.

We finally pulled into Albany at 10 pm. We're back to 8 1/2 hours behind schedule. But at least there was a train there waiting to take me to Boston. That train pulled out of the station at about 10:30. After settling into my seat and giving my ticket to the conductor, I leaned back and drifted off to sleep. This leg of the journey went remarkably smoothly. We even made up quite a bit of time. According to the schedule, the second part of my trip was supposed to last 5 hours, 20 minutes. So I was expecting to get into Boston at 4 am at the earliest. Instead, we arrived at about 3 am. But at this point, the made-up time was of little consequence. It just meant I'd be waiting around the Boston's South Station until the subway opened up instead of sleeping onboard the train.

I killed about 2 hours at South Station, doing some reading and playing around with my laptop. Eventually one of the train station shops opened up (au bon pain) and I got some breakfast. A little after 6 am, I headed down the stairs to the South Station T stop. After an uneventful subway ride, I finally arrived at Harvard Square. I waited for a few minutes on a bench outside the T until Honor showed up. Although I arrived at Harvard Square about 11 1/2 hours later than I originally planned, it was all worth it when I saw Honor walking toward me.