THE DOWNEASTER is Amtrak’s daily train service along the New England coastline between Boston, Massachusetts, and Brunswick, Maine, in the north. It was the ideal car-free way for us to visit two additional states during our ‘Navigating New England’ summer vacation in August 2024.
Just ahead of the first journey, we received several emails from Amtrak encouraging/tempting us to upgrade our trip to BUSINESS using BidUp, which cleverly suggested how much you could offer to get upgraded and it was an opportunity to get upgraded at a lower fee, but we resisted as we were happy to sit in coach.
For each of our 3 Downeaster trips, we purchased 2 x Coach seats on the Amtrak website.
💰 TOTAL COST = $132.00
🚆 MILES TRAVELLED = 208 miles (approx)
We would recommend the Downeaster: it was a convenient, comfortable and cost-effective way at around $0.63 a mile to explore New England.
⬆️ BOSTON, MA TO OLD ORCHARD, ME (FRI AUG 2, 2024)
TRAIN 683
💰 COST: $30.00 x 2 = $60.00
⏳ JOURNEY TIME = 2 hrs 36 mins
11:50 - departed Boston North Station on time and with no onboard announcements
12:10 - Anderson RTC/Woburn, MA
12:27 - passed through Andover, MA
12:42 - Haverhill, MA
13:00 - Exeter, NH
13:11 - holding on a siding at Rockingham owing to heat restrictions
13:20 - got moving again
13:27 - Durham, NH
13:36 - Dover, NH
13:59 - Wells, ME
14:17 - Saco, ME
14:26 - Old Orchard, ME (late)
Boston North Station was quite a size and felt a lot more modern compared to Boston South Station, where we’d Ubered from. We had a 90 minute layover but didn’t want to venture too far, so explored the station’s food court and then sat outside in the sunshine people watching, forming our first impressions of Boston (it felt English).
Signage in Boston North Station was good and certainly much better than that in New York’s Moynihan Train Hall where we’d made a similar train journey around a week earlier.
We waited eagerly for the train information boards to reveal which track our train would be departing from. We could see the Amtrak trains in front of us through some glass doors, so we kept edging forward, inch by inch, solely to wind up the other passengers who were boisterously crowding around us wanting to get through the doors first. Small pleasures to relieve the boredom while waiting!
Once the track was revealed, we all shot forward like race horses. There was no need to panic of course, as there was an ample amount of seats available in the passenger cars.
After a negative experience with food from the catering car on a previous Amtrak trip, we avoided buying any food on this journey. We enjoyed sitting in our seats and taking in the impressive views as we travelled from Massachusetts, through New Hampshire and into Maine.
For a while we had to hold in a siding at Rockingham and then speed restrictions came in at 1pm: 15 mph below track speed owing to the excessive heat warning in place.
We arrived at Old Orchard Beach 25 minutes late but having enjoyed the comfortable ride.
⬇️ OLD ORCHARD BEACH, ME TO EXETER, NH (SUN AUG 4, 2024)
💰 COST: $17.00 x 2 = $34.00
⏳ JOURNEY TIME = 1 hr 21 mins
08:15 - the Downeaster pulled into OOB Amtrak station a little late
08:18 - departed OOB late by 5 mins
08:24 - Saco, ME
08:41 - Wells, ME
09:01 - Dover, NH
09:39 - arrived at Exeter, NH (late by 20 mins)
Even at 07:30 in the morning, the temperature was 72°F with humidity at 93%. The Amtrak station at Old Orchard Beach consists of a single outdoor platform, but fortunately we had a cold drink with us.
We excitedly watched the train arrive: you could hear its iconic horn sounding in the distance and then its warning bell ringing as the train slowed down alongside the platform. We weren’t the only ones to whip our phones out and snap pictures.
Once aboard, the guard made a very sensible announcement about the service being full today and that single riders should condense seats so that they had the choice of who they sat next to, making room for groups who would be boarding later. There then seemed to be no more announcements, such as when approaching stations or as to which door to exit from. As before, the seats were very comfortable and spacious but we were a little worried we wouldn’t be ready in time with our luggage as we arrived at Exeter.
⬇️ EXETER, NH TO BOSTON, MA (MON AUG 5, 2024)
💰 COST: $19.00 x 2 = $38.00
⏳ JOURNEY TIME = 1 hr 12 mins
06:40 - departed Exeter, NH (1 min late)
07:04 - Haverhill, MA
07:30 - passed through Wilmington, MA
07:33 - Anderson RTC/ Woburn, MA
07:52 - arrived at Boston North Station
We purchased the tickets for this journey the day before we travelled. Maybe this was a risk, but thankfully we got two coach seats without any issue.
We were surprised to see the platform at Exeter’s Amtrak station so busy at 6:30am, but from looking at the commuters’ clothing we deduced that they were on their way to work in Boston. Interestingly, they all crowded into the Business class coach - but we were pleased they weren’t next to us: even though we’d only walked a gentle 10 minutes from the Exeter Inn, the humidity was at 93% and our clean clothes were already soaked. The AC inside the train thankfully gave us instant relief!
As on the previous rides, the Amtrak staff we encountered were friendly and helpful. In fact on this one, the conductor greeted everyone on the platform with a cheery: “Good morning beautiful people!”
📌 THE DOWNEASTER
Boston / Old Orchard Beach / Exeter
🌐 amtrak.com
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