(The following story by Erika Lorentzsen appeared on the Adirondack Daily Enterprise website on November 3.)
LAKE PLACID, N.Y. — Amtrak rail service’s “Great Dome” car will be operating until Monday, Nov. 12 between Albany and Montreal.
As a part of the Adirondack service and fall foliage tour, the added car will travel along western shore of Lake Champlain on route to Montreal.
The 85-foot-long car seats 90 passengers and is refurbished as 50-year-old “Great Dome,” where views can be had overhead and on the upper level windows. The dome section runs the full length of the car and is considered unusual, since train car domes are normally half the length. Thus, the panoramic views of Adirondack scenic mountains, lakes and rivers are more accessible.
“The much anticipated arrival of the ‘Great Dome’ car into New York State is certainly welcome news for our passengers who plan to travel through the Empire region this month,” said Mike De Cataldo, Amtrak’s general superintendent for the Northeast corridor, in a statement.
The only dome car still in service was previously used on the Chicago-Seattle Empire Builder, when the train was operated by the Great Northern Railway and Chicago Burlington & Quincy Railroad (later, the Burlington Northern Santa Fe Railroad).
Then, it was one of six similar Great Dome cars built in 1955 by the Budd Company for the Great Northern and carried the name “Ocean View.” The six cars were conveyed to Amtrak in 1971. This car was first renovated in 1985 and used in daily service on the Amtrak Auto Train between Washington, D.C. and Orlando, Fla.
Seats are available on a first-come, first-served basis and are not reserved. Passengers can experience riding in the dome car on the northbound train coming from Albany on Thursday, Saturday and Monday. The car will return from Montreal on Tuesday, Friday and Sunday. No trips are made on Wednesday.