The train crew assigned seats at this stop and I was assigned seat #35 in Amfleet II Coach #25012 in the New York section of the train which was a window seat on the engineer's side (right side) of the train which is the side I prefer to sit on. One of the first things I noticed about this train was the fact that it had a total of 15 cars! The last time I was on the Lake Shore Limited with that many cars would have to have been back in the Mail & Express days when the train easily could have had like 28 cars with all the trailers and box cars on the rear of the train! Obviously, the extra capacity was due to the Thanksgiving Holiday travel rush! We departed Schenectady at 7:37pm, running 6 minutes late. I decided to go have dinner anyway in the dining car even though I had eaten earlier because I don't ride this train very often and the Heritage Diners are among my favorite cars on Amtrak! The car on tonight's train was #8558 which is a former Southern Railway Dining Car built by Budd in 1949 that was conveyed to Amtrak in 1979 after the Southern Railway stopped running passenger trains as they didn't join Amtrak in 1971 but rather continued running their own passenger service for an additional 8 years.
I asked the server if they had a turkey dinner available being that yesterday was Thanksgiving and I had read online somewhere that this was an available meal option today. He told me they did have turkey and it came with rice or mashed potatoes and cranberry sauce! I selected the rice as the side dish and would have that for dinner. The salad they served me before dinner had croutons on it which was a nice touch considering every train I rode on during my trip in October cross-country, didn't have croutons on the salad! I know, it's not that big of a deal but still, I like croutons on my salad! There were two other passengers who were seated across from me who were from New York City on their way to Champaign, IL though they liked to keep to themselves and thus didn't talk very much which I totally respect. The turkey was very good though the dining car crew must have been very busy as I waited probably a good half-hour for the food to arrive after I ordered it. I had a Diet Pepsi with dinner which cost $19.00. I decided to just go have dessert in the lounge car. I had a cinnamon roll and another Diet Pepsi while briefly chatting with the crew in the cafe car before heading back to my seat as I was just gonna relax the rest of the night as this day started for me at around 2:30am this morning and I was getting tired!
At 8:53pm, we arrived in Utica, the next stop and departed at 8:56pm, running 12 minutes late, no big deal! I started listening to my iPod to try to relax. I also plugged in my iPhone 4S and pulled up the maps app to see where I was! Things were uneventful all the way to Syracuse where we arrived at 9:46pm where a smoking break was permitted. Using the flash on the camera, I took a few photos there before reboarding. Due to the long train and short platform, we had to make a double spot in Syracuse to handle baggage (as there is a baggage car on each end of the train) and we were on our way out at 10:05pm, now 24 minutes late. Shortly after leaving Syracuse, the lights were shut off in my coach and a final announcement was made stating when the next smoking breaks were to be along the route as well as other train information. I continued to just relax on the way to Rochester. I got a text message from a friend of mine there telling me he would be at a road crossing in East Palmyra (he was doing a video of the train) and thus to look for him. Thanks to the maps app on my phone, I found the road he was on and saw his car as we whizzed by. We arrived in Rochester to a huge crowd boarding the train at 11:21pm. The train had to make a double spot there as well for baggage and we departed at 11:37PM running 37 minutes late.
Shortly after leaving Rochester, I photographed the inside of the dining car and would spend the rest of the ride relaxing at my coach seat until one of the coach attendants walked through and told us Buffalo-Depew Station was next. I got up and grabbed my tripod and camera bag and at 12:27pm, running 32 minutes late, Train #49 arrived at Buffalo-Depew Station. As soon as I got off the train, I noticed right away that it was downright COLD outside!!! What a difference 24 hours can make!!! I eventually headed home and so ends an incredible day riding 4 Amtrak trains and riding in 2 dome cars, a first for me!
Amtrak and VIA should do this type of an arrangement on more trains as it would free up equipment that Amtrak could use on other routes while temporarily providing work for VIA's sidelined equipment as well. All of the VIA cars were in excellent shape considering these cars are Budd-built cars from the 1950's. It is a testament to Budd's incredibly high build quality as to the fact that these are 50+ year old cars that are in service today. Amtrak's Heritage Diners are all Budd-built along with all the Amfleet Cars, and they have proven themselves over and over again as being of extremely high quality! The view from inside a dome car is like nothing you will ever see anywhere else! If you have a chance to ride in Amtrak's "Great Dome" in the future, I highly suggest you do so, as you will get a most unique view of the railroad, and of America, and maybe meet new friends along the way, I know I did! Included below are a few photos I took on the way home on the Lake Shore Limited. Until next time, which would be only 3 weeks after this trip ended, when I'm back in Albany Christmas shopping and using Amtrak to get there, Happy Railfanning!!!
|
|
