Amtrak's Lake Shore Limited Arriving At Buffalo-Depew Station,
Friday, January 17th, 2003 at 8:20am.
For my first trip in 2003, I thought I should head back to Utica again as I was here back in December to do my Christmas Shopping. This trip would be simpler than the last one as a stop in Syracuse wasn’t necessary so I could spend my entire time here. There was a store in the nearby Sangertown Mall called “As Seen On TV” that I wanted to visit again as I had spotted the store on my last trip but had less than 5 minutes to actually check out the place! I also wanted to get in some Trainwatching if time permitted at Utica. Amtrak was running a 25% Off Special available both on the web site and over the phone so I purchased my ticket from Buffalo-Depew to Utica for Train #48 – The Lake Shore Limited for $34.50 online. My ticket for the return trip on Train #49 was a Rail-Sale Seat available online only that I was able to get for the incredibly unbelievable low price of $6.20! I arrived at the station in Depew at around 6:45am (Thanks Dad for the ride!) and headed inside right away to pick up my tickets as they were purchased online for pickup at the station. I was surprised to see 2 of my former grade school teachers waiting in the station for the same train I would be riding. I picked up my tickets from the agent and went over to chat with my former 5th and 6th grade teachers who were headed to Croton-Harmon to visit family. The agent told us that Train #48 was set to arrive somewhere near 8:30am, so I headed to the vending machines to pick up some generic twinkies and a bottle of orange juice. At about 8:20, I headed outside to the platform to get set up to take a slide of the train as it had arrived. The crew bases for the Lake Shore have been moved and now a new crew generally takes over in Buffalo instead of Cleveland. The conductor on the train this morning was one that I rode with back in December, so we remembered each other from that trip. It was snowing and the temperature was probably 10 degrees if that, this would become a factor as it would have an impact on just about everything for the train and for myself as well. At 8:27am, Train #48 arrived with P42DC's #166 and #190 for power. The consist for today's train is shown at the bottom of this page. I rode in Amfleet II Coach #25115, a non-refurbished coach with the old red interior. This car had 2 broken toilets due to the sickeningly cold temperatures that the train had to endure for the entire trip. Thankfully, bathrooms were located in the next coach just as you walked in the door and were functioning normally. This unfortunately is something that Amtrak has to deal with when temps get to near zero in the Winter as pipes under the car can freeze which could cause a bathroom to be out of service. Due to all the snow the train was kicking up, the vestibules between coaches became filled with a decent amount of snow! Talk about walking in a “Winter Wonderland”, thankfully, there was rock salt placed on the floor in the vestibules where people walk so it would be safe for people to walk throughout the train. I took an aisle seat on the right side of the coach as I thought the window seat was taken by another passenger who wasn’t there when I boarded. I would come to find out later on that when the tag over the seat was placed in a horizontal direction over both of the seat numbers, then that tag meant that it was two people traveling to the same city. A tag was placed over my seat and I took the aisle seat not knowing it was already taken. Shortly after leaving Depew at 8:35am, 1 hour and 35 minutes late, I headed to the Dining Car, a Temoinsa Rebuilt Heritage Diner with an absolutely beautiful interior. I have always thought that these were some of the nicest dining cars that Amtrak has, though I found out from one of the servers in the car that these cars are not well liked by the crews as the work area is smaller due to the “bar” that was placed in the car, which is only used by the crews I might add. I was seated with a passenger on his way back to Boston. I had the French Toast as their griddle wasn’t working in the car so they had no pancakes. I also had a side order of Sausage and Home Fries with a Diet Pepsi to drink. The food was fresh, hot and delicious! Amtrak has definitely gotten it right when it comes to the dining car food and I’ve always said this as I’ve had several good meals in the dining car over the years. Shortly after breakfast, they closed the car down as breakfast service was over. I headed back to my coach seat to find it occupied by another passenger, I reported this to the car host and was given the rude response “What do you want me to do about it?” I ended up finding another seat on the opposite side of the car and moved my camera bag and jacket. As far as the rude remark from the car host, this is one problem that Amtrak needs to address, I work in customer service so I know that you have to treat your customers like royal if you want them to return. Rude remarks like that will only turn people away and obviously, that’s not what Amtrak wants. I personally wouldn’t let a rude comment ruin a trip for me, but it is something I tend to remember, and in many cases is one thing that will negatively stick out in someone’s mind if they’ve had a bad trip or a similar bad experience. I understand that the crews are under a lot of stress right now because of the funding situation that Amtrak is in but making rude comments in front of passengers won’t increase ridership and could leave a bad taste in the mouths of passengers. We left Rochester at 9:45am, gaining 4 minutes but still running 1 hour and 35 minutes behind schedule. I would find out later on that this was caused by unknown “equipment problems” in Chicago. I met a couple railfans in the coach next to mine who were headed to New York and had all their railfan gear with them. I had my scanner hooked up to an earphone for the entire trip to hear the detectors and such as I generally do during all my trips. One of the railfans I talked to had his notebook computer hooked up to his cell phone allowing him to connect to the internet while on the train, how neat! Train Travel has certainly changed quite a bit, since more and more people are bringing notebook computers and cell phones onboard! Somewhere near Milepost 349, we had to stop for about 15 minutes to let a couple freights pass us. Amtrak Empire Service Train #286 would also pass us. We would be on our way once again and I headed into the Dining Car again this time to get permission to photograph the interior. The server asked me how long it would take and I said 2 minutes so she said “OK Hurry Up! We’re gonna open up soon!”, I grabbed my camera bag and took a few slides of the car being set up for lunch. Again, what a beautiful interior! After taking the slides and having a nice chat with the conductor (earlier) I picked up a bottle of Dannon Spring Water and headed back to my seat. We arrived in Syracuse at 11:31am, running over 2 hours late as we lost the time waiting for those freights to pass us as I said before. After leaving Syracuse, I ended up partially dozing off and missed the Kirkville Hot Box Detector before reawakening and listening to the scanner. We passed through Rome and I knew Utica was coming. For Railfans, there are 3 Hot Box Detectors between Syracuse and Utica, located in Kirkville, Oneida, and Whitesboro. A few minutes after passing the Whitesboro detector, our train pulled into Utica Union Station and I got off. I kept my camera out so I could photograph a few of the cars before the train left, there were also a few car numbers I still needed to get which I got when the train left Utica. At 12:40, I arrived into Utica, 2 hours and 14 minutes late, I didn’t let this bother me as I had no connections to make. I walked into the station as it was very cold out and my first destination would be the Sangertown Mall on a Utica Transit Authority Bus. Inside the station, I picked up a Diet Pepsi and a “Cashword” Scratch-Off Lottery Ticket (My Favorite NY Lottery Game), I then walked out to the bus stop and waited in the vestibule of the station so as to not freeze to death! I talked to a passenger waiting for a Greyhound bus who was headed to Dallas, Texas, personally, I’d rather take the train! I rode the bus over to the mall for $1.40, the ride took 30 minutes and I had lunch at Subway in the mall before visiting the “As Seen On TV” Store. I bought a 2 CD Set called “Into The Night” there, a good collection of 80’s and 90’s music that can also be ordered online from Musicspace.com. I rode another bus back to Utica Union Station and would end up reentering the station and setting up shop on the overhead platform overlooking both mainlines as it was way too cold to be outside trainwatching. How cold? Try maybe 0 to 5 degrees! I can’t believe I traveled through this very same area back in August 2002 with the temp at 95 degrees! Amtrak Train #281 arrived into Utica and I was able to photograph it from overhead, and a CSX Freight also passed by. I went back into the main hall of the station and picked up a few Amtrak postcards as well as the January 2003 Issue of Railpace Magazine from the small shop inside the station which also carried some HO Scale Model Trains as well as other railroad items of interest such as baseball caps, pins and iron-on patches. A quick check of Train #49 showed that it was running 35 minutes late and had already left Albany so all was well. Meanwhile, Amtrak Train #64 arrived well after sunset and upon a quick look of the train as it rolled by, the first 3 of 4 coaches were nearly FULL! Ridership seems to be decent on that train! I waited awhile longer and read some more of the Railpace magazine until I heard over my scanner that Train #49 was arriving in Utica, an announcement was then made and I was the first one on the platform waiting for the train. It was at this time that I realized just how seriously cold it really was! As the train arrived, I was holding my notepad with one hand and my pen with the other, as I was writing, my pen quit working and my fingers began to literally freeze up! Easily, the temperature was some 10 degrees below ZERO! It seemed like an eternity just walking from the station to my coach! I’ve lived in Western New York my entire life but I don’t honestly remember being anywhere where it was THAT COLD before!!! I boarded and found 2 empty, unoccupied (I’ll explain later) seats in my coach so I grabbed the window seat and got settled in. Shortly after being seated, A member of the crew came by and took my ticket, and told me the dining car was open. We left Utica at 6:31pm running 49 minutes late. I sat at my seat until we passed the Whitesboro Hot Box Detector some 4 miles away and I then headed to the Dining Car. We had another Temoinsa Rebuilt Heritage Diner on this train, YES, 2 in the same day! I waited to be seated and was asked to wait in the Café Car as they had to clean a few tables. The car looked to be nearly full and the crew seemed very busy! I waited in the Café Car, an Amfleet I that was modified with tables in odd locations on one end, a bar in the middle, and regular tables on the other end. Another passenger had started an interesting conversation that a bunch of us joined in on regarding how much fun it was traveling and meeting people on Amtrak, to which I answered “Great, now write your Congressman and tell him everything you told us!” I also added that on the train, you have a bigger seat, bigger window and can walk around all you want. Another passenger mentioned that in a plane you’d be cramped up and someone might toss you a bag of peanuts and that’s it! The conversation lasted several minutes before we were all called to the Dining Car as our table was ready. I was seated with this passenger, a guy from Toledo, Ohio along with a couple from Connecticut. All 4 of us decided to have the Filet Mignon. Shortly after being seated, our server, Mr. Wilson gave us all our salads and rolls then took our orders. This was my first experience having Filet Mignon and let me tell you, this is just one more thing that Amtrak has truly gotten right when it comes to food on the train!!! The Filet Mignon came with Mashed Potatoes, Rice Pilaf and some mixed veggies, I had a Diet Pepsi to drink and the meal was delicious, one of the best I’ve ever had on Amtrak! All 4 of us decided to have dessert as well, 3 of us had the Amtrak Signature Dessert and one passenger had the slice of pie (can’t remember the flavor), it was all delicious! While we were eating, we arrived into Syracuse and began to wonder why we had been sitting at the station for an unusually long amount of time. I would come to find out later on that 2 intoxicated passengers had to be removed from the train and placed in police custody and this took about an hour along with the regular station work. We all left the dining car and headed our separate ways, I headed back to my coach seat to now find 2 people sitting where I was (remember I said before “I’ll Explain Later” regarding the 2 “unoccupied” seats). I nicely explained that one of the seats was mine, and so of course the passenger in the aisle seat agreed to move even though the window seat was technically mine! I didn’t feel like complaining since I was not planning to spend the rest of my trip in my coach seat anyways, though I did lose my copy of Railpace Magazine for some reason as I left it on my seat (hoping this would be a signal that the seat was taken!) and returned to find it was gone! I never found it but oh well. I proceeded to take down the rest of my car numbers, the consist for tonight’s train is also located at the bottom of this page. I was in Amfleet II Coach #25102, in the Boston Section of the train, this was a refurbished Amfleet II in decent shape. We left Syracuse having lost an hour due to the removal of the intoxicated passengers, having left at 8:20pm now running 1 hour and 39 minutes late. I walked back to the Lounge Car a bit later to get a pack of M&M’s and the bartender had recognized me from my last trip as she was the bartender on that train as well. Things were relatively uneventful arriving into Rochester and leaving there at 9:48pm having lost a few more minutes. After we left Rochester, I could tell, we were flying! Doing damn near 80mph for most of the way obviously hoping to make up some time between Rochester and Buffalo. At CP-410 we moved from Track #2 to #1 to allow a couple freights to pass before stopping at CP-429 to let one freight pass us so we could get back onto Track #2 to pull into the station. At 10:50pm, the train arrived into Buffalo-Depew Station running 1 hour and 51 minutes late. Overall, a decent but very very COLD trip. The crew was friendly in both directions but the cold weather really took its toll mechanically on the train’s bathrooms. This is unfortunately something that has to be dealt with when you run a train in this type of cold weather. This has been an unusually cold winter though also so hopefully something like this won’t become the norm and I really don’t think it will. Until next time when I take my next trip on the Lake Shore, Happy Railfanning… |
 Amfleet II Coach #25015, one of the first to be repainted in the new "Phase 4B" paint scheme. This is very similar to the "Phase 4" scheme only the blue color is a bit more teal shaded and the new Amtrak Logo with new lettering has also been applied, a very respectable paint scheme if you ask me!  OK, this is what happens when a train runs several hundred miles through the snow! I had to get a picture of this as this vestibule was covered with about 5 inches of the white stuff! Thankfully, the train crew made sure that the actual walkway between coaches was cleared of snow and adequately salted. I must admit, this was one of the most unusual things I've ever seen on an Amtrak Train!  An interior view of probably some of the absolute nicest Dining Cars in all of Amtrak's fleet. This is Heritage Diner #8507 featuring a complete Temoinsa Rebuild of its interior. The seats in these cars are very comfortable and the decor gives the car a 1950's retro look.  This is a bar/seating area for the crew in the Dining Car. The Temoinsa Rebuilds have this feature though its not very well liked by the crews as it makes their kitchen area that much smaller.  Looking down the main walkway around the kitchen area in the dining car. It's amazing what the talented crew can do with food in such a small space!  Looking East towards Utica Union Station on a very cold Friday Afternoon. This photo was taken as soon as I got off the train.  Viewliner Sleeper #62033 - "Scenic View" on our train's New York Section. During the Winter months, The Lake Shore only has 1 Viewliner in both the New York and Boston Sections. During the summer, expect 2 Viewliners on the New York Section with still 1 on the Boston Section.  Heritage 10/6 Sleeper #2507. This car is now used as a Crew Dorm/Lounge. This car was built by Budd in 1950 for the Union Pacific Railroad as a 10&6 Sleeper "Pacific Northwest". Later UP #1428 "Pacific Northwest". Later Amtrak #2621 "Pacific Northwest", after its HEP Conversion, it became Amtrak #2893 "Pacific Northwest".  Baggage Car #1715. This was a former Budd Coach that Amtrak converted into a baggage/mail car as part of a massive project in the late-1990's to expand its Mail & Express business. These cars do haul mail but are also used for baggage as well.  Something I sincerely hope we don't have to continue looking at on the end of passenger trains! Amtrak is slowly phasing out its Express Freight business which hopefully will make ugly road railers like the one pictured above on the end of the Lake Shore, a thing of the past!  This is an overhead view taken from inside the overhead pedestrian walkway that brings you to Track #2 (CSX Track #1). The little bit of trainwatching that I did today had to be done from inside here because it was WAY TOO COLD to spend any length of time outside!  Now arriving on Track #2 is Amtrak Empire Service Train #281 with P32AC-DM #700 for power. This train would stay here a few minutes as the crew had a hard time getting a door to close all the way on one of the coaches. Train #281 runs every day between New York Penn Station and Niagara Falls.  This CSX Freight passed by #281 before I got a chance to photograph its lead engine. If you follow the track the freight is on, you'll vaguely see in the above photo that the old New York Central Tower 30 is still standing and that line runs right next to it.  Amfleet I Coach #82069. This was one of the Capstone Cars that Amtrak rebuilt in the late 1990's with more spread out seats and updated interior amenities. If they flawed on one thing, its that God-awful multi-shaded blue paint scheme! Thankfully, there are no plans to keep this paint scheme and as cars are shopped, they will get a nice coat of fresh Phase 4B paint as seen in the photo at the top of this travelogue. (On a side note, I rode in this car back in 1999 when it was Coach #21654!)  Train #281 leaving Utica, this was the last photo I took due to the shortened winter day. This proved to be the coldest trip I've ever taken on Amtrak! |
Amtrak's Lake Shore Limited
- Train #48 - January 17th, 2003 - 68 Axles |
|||
Number: |
Type: |
Name: |
Description: |
166 |
P42DC |
Power |
|
190 |
P42DC |
Power |
|
1718 |
Heritage Baggage |
Baggage Car (To Boston) |
|
1208 |
Heritage Baggage |
Baggage Car (To Boston) |
|
21006 |
Amfleet I Coach |
Coach (To Boston) |
|
25091 |
Amfleet II Coach |
Coach (To Boston) |
|
20138 |
Amfleet I Cafe Car |
Metroliner Style Cafe Car (To Boston) |
|
8507 |
Heritage Diner |
Dining Car (To New York) |
|
25015 |
Amfleet II Coach |
Coach (To New York) |
|
25007 |
Amfleet II Coach |
Coach (To New York) |
|
25115 |
Amfleet II Coach |
Coach (To New York) (My Car) |
|
62033 |
Viewliner Sleeper |
Scenic View |
Sleeping Car (To New York) |
2507 |
Heritage 10/6 Sleeper |
Pacific Northwest |
Crew Dorm/Lounge (To New York) |
1715 |
Heritage Baggage |
Baggage Car (To New York) |
|
????? |
Road Railers (5) |
Road Railers |
|
Amtrak's Lake Shore Limited
- Train #49 - January 17th, 2003 - 90 Axles |
|||
Number: |
Type: |
Name: |
Description: |
165 |
P42DC |
Power |
|
201 |
P42DC |
Power |
|
1524 |
MHC |
MHC (From Boston) |
|
1541 |
MHC |
MHC (From Boston) |
|
1159 |
Heritage Baggage |
Baggage Car (From Boston) |
|
1193 |
Heritage Baggage |
Baggage Car (From Boston) |
|
62037 |
Viewliner Sleeper |
Southern View |
Sleeping Car (From Boston) |
25042 |
Amfleet II Coach |
Coach (From Boston) |
|
25102 |
Amfleet II Coach |
Coach (From Boston) (My Car) |
|
28037 |
Amfleet I Cafe Car |
Cafe Car (Set Up Like Old Amfleet II Style) (From
Boston) |
|
8531 |
Heritage Diner |
Dining Car (From New York) |
|
25094 |
Amfleet II Coach |
Coach (From New York) |
|
25107 |
Amfleet II Coach |
Coach (From New York) |
|
25093 |
Amfleet II Coach |
Coach (From New York) |
|
62043 |
Viewliner Sleeper |
Sunset View |
Sleeping Car (From New York) |
???? |
Heritage 10/6 Sleeper |
Pacific Northwest |
Crew Dorm/Lounge (From New York) |
???? |
Heritage Baggage |
Baggage Car (From New York) |
|
????? |
Road Railers (5) |
Road Railers |
|
   |
