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| Trip Planning & A Big Change Of Plans: |
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This was supposed to be my first trip on Amtrak in 2011, but it ended up being the second, and here's why: This trip was originally scheduled for August 27th, 2011 and it was supposed to go to Albany, NY. That trip was all set to go until Hurricane Irene essentially put the kibosh on it really quick! Due to the impending hurricane, Amtrak began cancelling all service in the northeast. The service to Albany was cancelled over a period of a couple days meaning the day I was set to travel, only limited service was running. I was originally ticketed for Empire Service Train #286 to take me from Buffalo-Depew to Albany-Rensselaer station. I would stay there for 3 hours and explore the Exhibit Train then take Empire Service Train #283 back to Buffalo. This would end up not happening initially because Amtrak cancelled both of those trains. I contacted Amtrak Guest Rewards about getting the tickets switched over (the tickets were purchased with 6000 points) to 2 other trains that were in fact running (#280 to get me there and #281 back home). After getting this organized with Guest Rewards, I drove back to the station (having already been there once and finding out my trains were cancelled) and had the tickets reprinted. The ticket agent had to wait on hold for about a half hour with AGR due to the enormously high call volume associated with people calling Amtrak to modify or cancel reservations due to the hurricane. The ticket agent was able to reprint the tickets for the new trains which would mean I'd be riding very early in the morning and thus would come back earlier in the day. I went home that night and was just about unable to sleep (I work nights and find it extremely difficult, if not impossible to go to bed early) before driving back to the station only to find out that Train #280 was running an hour late due to the fact that the crew wasn't rested! So I decided that since late trains tend to get later and the possibility of being stuck for 3 days in Albany (where I may not have been able to find a hotel even if I tried) was not something that would work for me, I voluntarily postponed the trip. I called AGR again and had the tickets switched for a trip later in the year for when I do my Christmas Shopping in December. I will say this: Amtrak Guest Rewards was excellent in handling all of these details. The program is set up to be very user friendly and the agents on the phone were a joy to work with! Now all that said, I was bound and determined to see this train one way or another!
So, it was back to the "virtual" drawing board, better known as the internet! I checked Amtrak's 40th Anniversary Web Site for the train to see where its upcoming stops would be and began to put together an itinerary that would take the least amount of time (the original one was only supposed to be a day trip). I wanted to put together a trip where I could rely entirely on Amtrak to get me there (no need for a taxi/rental car/etc. which was how the original Albany trip was set up) and so I decided the next best option was Jackson, MI. Now the reason I wanted to do this in the least amount of time possible was because the weekend the train was scheduled for its visit to Jackson, was also the weekend after my last trip where I went cross-country had ended, and I was running very low on vacation time from work! Thus, I had to get this trip in as quickly as possible! In the end, EVERYTHING worked out great! This would be the first time I ever visited the state of Michigan so a chunk of this trip would be new territory for me! I booked my tickets both online and over the phone with Amtrak. I booked Train #49 - The Lake Shore Limited from Buffalo-Depew to Toledo, OH where I would take the Amtrak Thruway Bus to Ann Arbor, MI then take Amtrak Train #353 - The Wolverine from Ann Arbor to Jackson, MI. The Exhibit Train would be parked at the station so there was no need to go any further as everything was at the station. On the same day, I would take Wolverine Train #352 back to Ann Arbor, then the Thruway Bus back to Toledo, OH then Train #48 - The Lake Shore Limited back to Buffalo. The total cost for the train and bus tickets was $146.00. The bus was provided by Metro Cars and was a guaranteed connection with the Lake Shore Limited as well as with the Capitol Limited. As I said before, this trip was happening on the heels of another that had just ended so I didn't have much time to relax after getting home from that trip before this one would begin. |
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| Friday Night, October 7th, 2011: |
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| I drove to the Buffalo-Depew Amtrak Station and had an interesting experience trying to find a parking space there since this weekend was Columbus Day weekend as well as Thanksgiving weekend in Canada so there would be a lot of people travelling on Amtrak and thus the parking lot at the station was absolutely packed to the gills as people were parking on the lawn in some spots! I was able to park my car on the pavement but I essentially had to "make a space" to do so! I headed inside the station and Train #49 was running late and was now set to arrive around 1:15am. At 1:03am, running 1 hour and 8 minutes late, Train #49 arrived. The consist for tonight's train is shown below: |
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146 |
P42DC |
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Power |
837 |
P40DC |
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Power |
1762 |
Heritage Baggage |
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Baggage Car (From Boston) |
62040 |
Viewliner Sleeper |
Summer View |
4920 - Sleeping Car (From Boston) |
25032 |
Amfleet II Coach |
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Coach (From Boston) |
25069 |
Amfleet II Coach |
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Coach (From Boston) |
28022 |
Amfleet II Diner-Lite Car |
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Cafe/Lounge Car (From Boston) |
25000 |
Amfleet II Coach |
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Coach (From New York) (My Car) |
25063 |
Amfleet II Coach |
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Coach (From New York) |
25123 |
Amfleet II Coach |
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Coach (From New York) |
25076 |
Amfleet II Coach |
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Coach (From New York) |
8510 |
Heritage Diner |
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Dining Car (From New York) |
62038 |
Viewliner Sleeper |
Spring View |
4911 - Sleeping Car (From New York) |
62005 |
Viewliner Sleeper |
Cape View
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4912 - Sleeping Car (From New York) |
1231 |
Heritage Baggage |
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Baggage Car (From New York) |
800748 |
Private Car |
Golden Sand |
Coach (Deadhead Move) |
800124 |
Private Car |
Scenic View |
Full Length Dome Car (Deadhead Move) |
800045 |
Private Car |
Caritas |
Business Car (Deadhead Move) |
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I originally boarded Coach #25069 but the seat I found that was available looked a bit "soiled" so I decided to take a seat in Coach #25000. This was the exact same coach I rode in on my trip 2 weeks ago! We made a double spot at Buffalo-Depew Station and at 1:20am, running 1 hour and 21 minutes late, we departed. I was seated in Aisle Seat #32 next to a college student from Syracuse, NY who was on her way to Erie, PA to visit her boyfriend attending school there. I set up my Garmin GPS to show the her where we were in relation to the Erie Station. At 2:45am, running 1 hour and 9 minutes late, we arrived at Erie, PA. I moved to window seat #31 after the passenger next to me got off the train and we ended up making a double spot at the Erie station due to a passenger who needed assistance with a wheelchair was boarding there. At 2:57am, running 1 hour and 21 minutes late, we departed Erie. I now had another passenger sitting next to me who boarded at Erie however this person, (and I'm really trying to be nice here) hadn't showered in awhile! Needless to say, I walked to the Cafe car and chatted with the crew between Erie and Cleveland! The Assistant Conductor on this train was the same one I had on the Capitol Limited from Toledo to Chicago on my last trip so we both recognized each other right away from that trip. I told her about how that trip ended up and the rest of the ride to Cleveland was uneventful. We arrived at Cleveland at 4:27am and a very brief smoking break was permitted. There wasn't enough time for photography (and I didn't have my tripod anyway) so I stepped off the train to briefly get some air. I told the crew I would be looking for another seat in the same coach after we leave Cleveland due to the aforementioned passenger sitting next to me who needed to learn the importance of Speed Stick! Thanks to some schedule padding, we departed Cleveland at 4:35am, running 50 minutes late. I took window seat #27 and now didn't have a passenger sitting next to me. I decided now to just relax and listen to the scanner as the train meandered across northern Ohio. We passed our eastbound counterpart, Train #48 about near Olmstead Falls, OH. We made our next stop at Elyria, OH and departed there at 5:06am running 48 minutes late. Next up was Sandusky, a familiar stop for me since I use this train every year to go to Cedar Point! We departed there at 5:43am running 48 minutes late. We started getting approach signals starting around Clay Center, OH which isn't far from the Toledo Station. At 6:39am, running 44 minutes late, we arrived in Toledo where I would get off the train so as to catch the bus to Ann Arbor, MI. I could see the Norfolk Southern Office Car Special train was parked a few tracks over at the Toledo Station but not in a place where it could be photographed. I walked into the station, then followed the sign to the bus waiting outside.
The bus was provided by a company called "Metro Cars" and was a guaranteed connection from this train. After boarding, the bus driver asked us to tear off the stubs on our tickets and give the main portions to him. This is something that will otherwise render a train ticket as void (unless the conductor tears the stub for you) but I guess the rules are different on the bus! We departed the Toledo Amtrak Station at 7:00am running a half hour late. I decided I was gonna use this time to just doze off so I put on a sleep mask and tried to fall asleep on the bus! I don't remember much after we left Toledo but I decided to "wake up" at Dearborn, MI and my stop in Ann Arbor was next. We ended up getting stuck in traffic between Dearborn and Ann Arbor and ended up getting to Ann Arbor at 9:29am running 49 minutes late. I now had to find something to do for awhile since my connecting train to Jackson wasn't scheduled to arrive in Ann Arbor until 12:29pm!
I asked one of the ticket agents at the station if he knew of any good restaurants in the area and he directed me to a place called the "Northside Grill" which was a short walk from the station. I made the short walk over to this restaurant which was more of a neighborhood family sit-down restaurant. The pancakes, hash browns and corn beef hash I had for breakfast were all very good and the service was very good also! I took a few photos of the nice fall color that was evident here as this area was nearing peak for fall colors! The original Michigan Central passenger station is located next to the Amtrak station and houses an upscale restaurant called the "Gandy Dancer". I walked back to the station and noticed something rather strange looking down the street. I found out it was a stationary track with a hopper car on it in front of a building owned by Barracuda Networks that looked like an entrance track to a mine though the track just ended in the woods so it was all for show! I then walked back to the station and just hung out since there was essentially no freight running on this line and word has it that the State of Michigan is looking into buying this line from its current owner Norfolk Southern as this route is likely to be upgraded for high speed rail in the future. This line is the original Michigan Central line which later became part of the New York Central System. It hosts 6 Amtrak trains a day (3 in each direction that run between Chicago, IL and Pontiac, MI) that make up Amtrak's Wolverine Service. These trains run with a locomotive on each end to facilitate push-pull operation and generally run with Horizon Fleet coaches and café cars as well as an occasional Amfleet I café car. At 12:20pm, running 9 minutes early, Train #353 arrived in Ann Arbor. The consist for today's train is as follows: |
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126 |
P42DC |
Power |
58002 |
Horizon Fleet Café Car |
Café/Business Class (My Car) |
54571 |
Horizon Fleet Coach |
Coach |
54547 |
Horizon Fleet Coach |
Coach |
54578 |
Horizon Fleet Coach |
Coach |
54527 |
Horizon Fleet Coach |
Coach |
79 |
P42DC |
Power |
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| I was ticketed for "Business Class" and took window seat #12 in the Horizon Fleet Café Car #58002. We departed Ann Arbor on time at 12:29pm. I was seated in front of a couple who were from Ann Arbor who were beginning a cross-country trip of their own. They weren't railfans but thought it would be interesting to travel by train. I gave them some good travel advice based on my thousands of miles of Amtrak travel over the years! The fall colors were nice to see however the sun was shining in the window on my side of the train making most photography not the best so I just sat back and had my free Diet Pepsi (little perk for riding in Business Class). At 1:10pm, the train arrived in Jackson, MI to what seemed like Amtrak's version of the Super Bowl!!! Based on where the Exhibit Train was parked, I knew I could get a decent "meet" shot with the train I just departed from and the exhibit train. So I darted to the end of the platform and ran across the tracks at the street crossing then got set to take my photo on the other side of the tracks! Shortly after Train #353 left, Train #350 arrived heading east! This provided more photo opportunities with the exhibit train in the photos as well! And now, here's some photos taken on the way to Jackson, MI and shortly after arriving there! |
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The original Michigan Central Passenger Station in Ann Arbor, MI. Today, the station
is home to an upscale restaurant called "The Gandy Dancer". |
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| Some of the beautiful fall colors in Ann Arbor this Saturday morning in mid-October! |
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| Amtrak's station at Ann Arbor, MI. |
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This hopper car is on what looks like a mine track next to Baracuda Networks' building in
Ann Arbor just down the street from the Amtrak station! |
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Amtrak Wolverine Service Train #353 arriving at Ann Arbor with P42DC #126 on the lead.
This is the train that will take me to Jackson. |
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| Having just arrived at Jackson, is Train #353. Horizon equipment is the norm on these trains. |
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And here we have what looks like a meet between Train #353 and the Exhibit Train. Truthfully, Train #353 was moving away
from the Exhibit Train but you really can't tell in what looks like a still photo!
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Shortly after Train #353 departed, eastbound Wolverine Train #350 arrived with P42DC #29 on the head end.
This train originated in Chicago and is headed to Pontiac, MI. |
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And now, peaking behind Train #350, is Amtrak's 40th Anniversary Exhibit Train!!!
In this photo, we see Amtrak of the 1980's next to the Amtrak of today! |
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