Amtrak's SUPER SCENIC Ethan Allen Express from Rutland, Vermont to New York

Train travel in the USA still has a reputation. You see, even though there have been many improvements in passenger experience recently which are totally welcome, most of that is centred around America's fairly limited high speed rail ambitions. And despite corporate appearances, Amtrak is still stuck in the past in so many ways. Rutland to New York takes about four to five hours to drive on a good day, but the train manages to be slower still. It'll take us 5 1/2 hours to complete the 250 miles through beautiful New England, an average of just 45 mph with 10 intermediate stops on our way into New York. I'm avoiding the traffic stress today and taking in the wonderful views of Vermont and New York State in the autumn. Come with me as I travel. Business class on board this once daily Amtrak service. Let's ride the Ethan Allen Express. Rutland station is very close to the centre of town and takes the form of a modest building built in 1999. Although Rutland has had a station of some sort or other as far back as 1853, the line sees a fair bit of freight traffic. The Vermont Railway and the Clarendon and Pittsford Railroad Company both operate through Rutland. The station itself really is quite modest. Amtrak sends a grand total of 1 train per day to Rutland, and our 8:35 AM departure is the only service we'll be aboard this train today consisting of one General Electric P32 ACDM locomotive dating from 1998, hauling 4 Amfleet Coach class cars and one Amfleet Combination Cafe and Business class car, all of which date from the early 1980s. Just though the train needs to be shunted into the platform. Thanks. Have a good day and you cheers. Boarding is from the high level accessible platform through one door and thankfully we don't have far to walk. Here's our Cafe business class combination car at the back of the train. We'll check out the Cafe later, but for now let's appreciate the dated but fabulously spacious 1-2 layout of business class that greets us in the Passenger Saloon. This place really does feel like a time capsule, but not necessarily in a bad way. The seats are large and spacious, and they'll do just fine for this five and a half hour trip down to New York. The first stretches of this trip are slow. We diverge from the route to Burlington straight after leaving Rutland and head W to Whitehall and get our first taste of the beautiful Vermont countryside on this fresh November morning. Let's take a quick look at the seat. As I said earlier, these are pretty big and the leg room they give is easily comparable to US domestic first class on the airlines. There's also a slightly fiddly foot rest if you're on the shorter side, which as you can see didn't quite work properly. As well as a small seat back pocket, there's a decently sized and pretty sturdy table which flips down from the seat in front. No problem. For any size of laptop, there's a reading light, and for laptops and mobiles, hair dryers, microwaves, whatever else you want to bring on board, there are charge points at every seat. The seat also features a slightly goofy recline system, which isn't too intuitive, but the recline it gives is pretty sweet and way better than most European trains. It may surprise you to learn that this train features Wi-Fi and it's free for everyone in both coach and business and worked fine throughout. This is definitely better than most American air carriers, and sending tweets with pictures and catching up on emails in areas with no cell reception was really easy. All right, that cafe car we passed earlier? Let's check out breakfast. I went for the Jimmy Dean Muffin. At $5, it's not cheap, but business class passengers have free hot and cold drinks, which makes the value proposition of breakfast a little bit better. The train wasn't busy and the Cafe car only had a few visitors, but it was civilized, quiet, and getting breakfast helps break up a long journey. Here's the full menu if you're interested. We soon Passover the Champlain Canal at Whitehall. We've just entered New York State from Vermont. We now leave the Clarendon and Pittsford Railroad, which we've ridden since Rutland, and join the Canadian Pacific Line S from here. It's very sunny now. The curtains are a bit useless, but why would you want to block out that scenery anyway? This part of the world is full of tricky to pronounce names like Schenectady where we stopped briefly. One of many such stops on route today. I'm always grateful to followers who track my flights and trains, but I even got a line side shot sent to me here. Thanks for the video, Kyle. You can follow my escapades in real time on Instagram and Twitter at the handle Paul_Winginit and on this video, please don't forget to like, leave a comment and subscribe. I have loads of rail content coming this year, which you'll love. If you like this video, the state's capital of New York is not New York City, but rather Albany, which is the most significant intermediate stop on the Ethan Allen Express. Albany Rensselaer Station is technically not in Albany, being across the river in, well, Rensselaer, of course, but this is where the train gets busy. Even in business class. Albany has much better Amtrak service than Rutland, with 10 trains per day in each direction, including the Lakeshore Limited to Chicago, one of Amtrak's signature overnight trains. Let's take a look at coach class. It's perfectly serviceable and in a more modern white colour scheme. However, the seats have quite a bit less leg room, although they're not what I'd call tight. There are no free drinks in here though, but this will suit most people down to the ground. The toilets were surprisingly modern and very clean. Oh, and don't forget to lock the door, unlike the occupant I surprised on the way in. This is Poughkeepsie and the northern extent of the Metro North suburban rail system. New York is definitely not far away now. The most significant landmark South of Poughkeepsie is this imposing military installation. This is West Point, where the US Army trains its officers and is also the oldest continuously occupied military post in the United States, dating back to the American Revolution. And talking of the Revolution, it turns out Ethan Allen was a Revolutionary War patriot who headed the Green Mountain Boys. I love named trains and think they're one of the best things Amtrak has chosen to keep from the golden age of rail travel. So we are now on the final approach to New York's Penn Station and time for some conclusions. First, I travelled business class and paid $103.00 one way. Coach class would have cost $72. These prices booked in advance are not cheap for rail travel compared to Europe. For $31.00 more though, I think you can just about justify business class on this trip. It's five hours and 30 minutes. The seats are twice as comfortable and you can get through quite a few free drinks in that time. Plus, if the train's busy, those solo seats in business class are great. If you're travelling alone. I am a huge fan of Amtrak and will always fight it's corner. It's an American institution and the trains are just so different to back home. I love Amtrak and I think you should take Amtrak too. This was a lovely peaceful trip and a day well spent. I wonder which Amtrak routes a whole ride next time. Thanks for watching and I will see you in the next video. Bye for now.