Amtrak’s Downeaster service operates daily between Boston’s North Station and Portland, Maine, with selected trips continuing to Freeport and Brunswick. Passengers travel in coach or business class in cars with reclining seats, Wi-Fi, electrical outlets and rest rooms. A café car serves beverages and casual food with a few “down east” favorites like clam chowder. Business-class passengers enjoy larger seats that recline fully, a free newspaper and a free nonalcoholic beverage. Passengers must buy their tickets in advance of boarding the train with a few exceptions. If the ticket office at your station is closed, you can buy a ticket on the train, but an additional fee is charged.
The Downeaster stops in Woburn and Haverhill, Massachusetts; Exeter, Durham and Dover, New Hampshire; and Wells, Saco and Old Orchard Beach, Maine. Woburn, incorporated in 1642, is one of the oldest cities in New England. The Baldwin Mansion, built in 1661, and the H.H. Richardson-designed public library are the town’s highlights. Haverhill was the birthplace of poet John Greenleaf Whittier. His home is open from April to October. The “Great Dam” built in the 1640s provided power for Exeter’s mills. Durham has a sandy ocean beach and Dover is the oldest city in New Hampshire. Wells, Saco and Old Orchard Beach feature ocean beaches.
If you’re traveling to Portland by train from anyplace but Boston, you’ll need to get from South Station or Back Bay Station to North Station once you arrive in Boston, because the Downeaster is the only Amtrak service using North Station. You’re on your own -- Amtrak doesn’t provide transportation between the stations. You can take a taxi or public transportation. The MBTA Orange line operates between Back Bay and North Station; trips take about 15 minutes in ideal circumstances. North and South Stations are about a mile apart, probably longer than you want to walk with luggage. You can take the Red line and transfer to the Orange line at Downtown Crossing.
While some routes might be circuitous and lengthy, it’s possible to get to Boston and on to Portland from any city Amtrak serves. The trip from Los Angeles to Portland takes about three days, but passengers ride on two of Amtrak’s classic routes -- the Southwest Chief with its domed observation cars and the Lake Shore Limited along the shore of Lake Michigan. The Empire Builder chugs across the northern United States, passing through the plains before climbing into Montana’s Big Sky country. Keep in mind when you’re booking Amtrak travel from points other than Boston to Portland that Amtrak may assume you want to take their thruway bus service to Portland rather than making the transfer between stations in Boston.
