October 9th
Cape Cod Central Railroad ~ Diamond Class

Although it was fairly rainy during our drive out to the Cape last night, by morning the conditions had intensified into a full-blown Nor’easter. For those of you unfamiliar with the local vernacular, a Nor’easter is a larger than usual weather depression with lots of wind and rain. They typically blow in off the Atlantic, generally coming out of the northeast I should imagine, thus the name. This particular storm was forecasting up to 8” of rain with wind gusting to 40-50 mph. Localized flooding was also predicted.

While chatting with Peter about my travel plans last night, we decided that given our late arrival in Hyannis (we didn’t get to bed until almost 3:00am) and the inclement weather, we might be better served to sleep in, head into town for breakfast and then take a drive out to P-Town as the locals call it – Provincetown to the rest of us.

And so we did. I forfeited the $45.00 I’d paid for my Diamond Class seat under the super dome and instead enjoyed a breakfast of Eggs Benedict at the popular Keltic Kitchen (there was a 15 minute long waiting list for breakfast) before heading out to the eastern terminus of US 6 at Provincetown.

I’ve always had an interest in the old US federal highways because many of them had interesting histories before they became federal roads back in the 1920s and 30s. For example, parts of the famous Route 66 were known as the Beale Trail, a popular trade route back in the day. Parts of US 30 follow along the old Oregon Trail. By the way, for those of you unfamiliar with the difference between Federal vs Interstate, the old federal highways are denoted as US XXX as opposed to the interstates which would be I-XX.

US 6 was of particular interest to me because I grew up in Colorado and US 6 bisects the entire state east to west. In Denver it’s 6th Avenue while to the west and across the Rockies it shares much of its route with Interstate 70. It terminates these days in Bishop, California though prior to the interstates it used to go all the way to San Diego. I’ve driven all of US 6 west of Kansas and most of US 6 east of Pittsburgh except for the section east of Boston. Although I didn’t technically drive it today, it was nice to see the far eastern cape and if nothing else, today’s ride provided added impetus to drive the rest of highway east of the Colorado/Kansas border.

Here’s an incomplete map of all the roads I’ve driven just in my old 1988 Mazda B2200 pickup. I kept that truck for 21 years and went through three engines and almost 500,000 miles with it. If you were to factor in all the other roads I’ve driven in either rental cars or my own, this map would be a lot more orange, particularly back east.



Everywhere I’ve driven in my Mazda truck


After our half-day tour of the East Cape, Peter ran me over to the Hyannis/Barnstable airport where I picked up a rental car, bid adieu and thank you to Peter and then headed off through the wind and rain on down the coast to Essex, Connecticut.


October 10th
The Valley Railroad Essex Steam Train & Riverboat Ride ~ First Class

The Valley Railroad Steam Train & Riverboat excursion starts with a 12 mile ride aboard the historic Essex Steam Train from Essex Station up to Chester, CT. with scenic views of the Connecticut River along the way. The train then reverses direction back to the Deep River Station/Landing where passengers who have purchased the riverboat tickets can board the riverboat “Becky Thatcher”. The riverboat brings people on a 75-minute trip up the Connecticut River to the East Haddam Swing Bridge and then back to Deep River Landing. The train then retrieves passengers to bring them back to Essex Depot. The total time for this trip is about three hours.

Rather than provide a blow by blow account of these excursion rides, I think I’ll just give you a brief overview and provide any additional commentary as needed under the relevant photo.



Valley Railroad steam locomotive #40 at Essex Depot


All aboard at the Essex Depot


My car awaits


Interior of Pullman Parlor Car “Great Republic”


Wetlands along the Connecticut River


The Becky Thatcher awaits at Deep River Landing


Riding the Becky Thatcher


The Connecticut River
This is an aerial view of part of the section of the Connecticut River that we traveled


The steam train rolling alongside the Connecticut River
Photo courtesy of the Valley Railroad Co.


One thing worth noting here is that for most of this trip the only sign of humanity was an occasional – and I do mean very occasional – house or cottage. There was no road paralleling us and overall I thought this was a great way to see and enjoy some of the surprisingly pretty landscape of south-eastern Connecticut.

After we’d returned to the Essex Depot, I was looking at a 130 mile drive across Connecticut into the Catskill Mountains of New York. Therein lay an unexpected though hardly surprising side benefit of this multi-state train excursion through New England. The fall colors were spectacular, and some of the small towns I drove through in western Connecticut were downright idyllic. I took note because when most people think of fall colors in New England, Vermont and New Hampshire often spring immediately to mind. And deservedly so, of course, but don’t count out Connecticut! And for sure don’t count out just about anywhere in New York!



New England Fall Colors


New England Fall Colors


New England Fall Colors in my rearview


My motel outside Catskill, NY


October 11th
Delaware & Ulster Railroad ~ Rip Van Winkle Flyer ~ First Class

The Ulster and Delaware Railroad Company was originally founded in 1866. It was often advertised as “The Only All-Rail Route to the Catskill Mountains.” Back in the day it went through many popular tourist hot-spots, delivering city dwellers for a few days of tranquility amidst the stunning beauty of the Catskills. Through the early 1900s, a number of elegant hotels kept business going, some of which were sponsored or even built by the railroad. In addition to the passenger business, there were also plenty of farms and creameries as well as businesses shipping coal, stone, ice and various wood products. As with so many railroads though, the rise of the automobile spelled the end of the railroad.

After years of inactivity, the railroad is now run by the Catskill Revitalization Corporation and runs excursion trains throughout the summer and fall with special trains at various holidays and key times of the year. Today I am riding aboard the Rip Van Winkle Flyer, the name given to a special thrice weekly excursion that runs along the Delaware River and features a three course lunch.

The train consist leads off with a kitchen car of unknown origin followed by a beautifully restored dome car off the Missouri Pacific’s Colorado Eagle that once ran between St. Louis, Kansas City, Colorado Springs and Denver. Behind that was a dining car from the Atlantic Coast Line that once plied the rails between New York and Florida with a variety of named trains. A coach from the Minneapolis & St. Louis Railway was third in line and had been converted to an attractive lounge. Taking up the rear of the train was a good looking teardrop end observation lounge car from the New York Central Railroad that used to serve the New York to Cleveland and Detroit route. It had been converted for dining car use.



The Rip Van Winkle Flyer awaits at the Arkville, NY station


Dining under the glass dome


The Lounge Car


The Rip Van Winkle Flyer rolling along the Delaware River
Photo courtesy of the Ulster and Delaware Railroad


My dining car at the end of the train


We were extremely fortunate to have taken this trip on a beautiful autumn day – mostly sunny with just an occasional cloud. The autumn colors were not quite peak, but were still quite pretty.



Scenery along the Delaware River


Scenery along the Delaware River


Scenery along the Delaware River


Scenery along the route


Aside from the classically beautiful autumn colors along the route, we were served a delicious lunch of Chicken Marsala with a nice quality salad. The meal was surprisingly good in both presentation and taste. Unfortunately a large tour group had booked the dome car but I did manage a picture of it prior to their arrival. As for me I was shunted off to the very last car with just three other passengers, but regardless both the scenery and the meal were first rate.



Lunchtime scenery


Luncheon place setting


Luncheon Salad


Chicken Marsala


Following our mid-afternoon return to Arkville, I drove on to Oneonta, New York where I spent the night in preparation for the next day’s visit to the Baseball Hall of Fame in nearby Cooperstown, NY.


October 12, 2019
Cooperstown, NY ~ Baseball Hall of Fame

So the next morning I enjoyed a leisurely breakfast at a nice little diner just up the road from my hotel and then set off up NY 28 to Cooperstown, an idyllic little town located smack dab in the heart of the Catskills. The first sign of trouble came when traffic slowed to become a mild traffic jam on the outskirts of town. I did notice an option to park outside of town and then get bussed in, but I decided to press on into town.

Oh. My. God! There were so many people milling about the quaint shops and restaurants in the downtown district that it looked more like an amusement park than the quiet little town I’d envisioned. Speaking of park, parking was all but non-existent with the exception of a few spots that were clearly marked limiting your time to just 15 minutes.

The star attraction was of course the Baseball Hall of Fame and judging by the sheer number if people milling about the entrance, I didn’t see a visit being anywhere near as pleasant as I’d originally envisioned it. The problem for me is – I don’t do crowds well, and today was just waay too crowded. And of course, I should have figured as much, it being a beautiful Saturday afternoon in the height of autumn colors while right in the middle of baseball’s playoffs.

I briefly considered stopping for lunch somewhere in town but there was no available parking. Sigh… Oh well. It was still a beautiful day and as I sped off out of town on yet another gorgeous tree lined roadway, I resolved to someday return to Cooperstown, perhaps in the middle of winter on a weekday afternoon!