It would be great to have a place you could go to online for that kind of information, similar to what you can get for the airlines.

Is there a place to get the average on-time record of various Amtrak routes, in particular the Vermonter?

Most Amtrak routes (excluding the Northeast Corridor routes between Boston and Washington, DC) and perhaps the stretch between NYC and Albany, have abysmal on-time records. I haven't taken the Vermonter, but I've taken the train to Montreal twice from NYC, and it was over an hour late both times (in both directions). Upstate and in much of New England, Amtrak doesn't own the rails but rather runs on freight rails and never gets priority.

I take the Vermonter about once every month or 6 weeks from Montpelier to Stamford Ct where my mother lives. It has a terrible on time record in my experience. The track north of Springfield MA has some bad sections despite a summer and fall of repair work. Also the northbound and southbound Vermonter trains try to meet in Springfield to switch some crew members and that often means that one train or the other is delayed.

Use this link to find on time performance of amtrak trains. You need to know destination city code and train number.
http://www.amtrakdelays.com/
For the Vermonter Train # 54 Northbound the average delay for Burlington, Vt (ESX) is 54 minutes.

Thanks for the Amtrak Delays link. That is pretty neat. I wonder where they get the information from?

I see what one of the others meant about north of Springfield. Into Springfield it has recently been averaging 10 minutes late, while into Montpelier 50 minutes late. Although I'm dubious that Amtrak is ever only 10 minutes late to anywhere

Actually the trains between NYC and DC tend to be on time (within 10 minutes for a several hour ride) almost all of the time. And NYC - Boston is usually the same.

Any place else in the country - god only knows.

One thing to keep in mind with the Vermonter is that some VT train stations like the one in Montpelier are very, very small. I would check on a taxi because the station is a long walk from the center of town. Also, the taxis don't run all night or every day!