Christmas Shopping Trip 2007

   This trip is an annual tradition for me that started back in 2001. Over the years, the length of the trip and it's duration have gotten progressively bigger and this year was no exception. I would spend a total of 5 days and 4 nights on this trip. I booked the tickets shortly after completing my last trip in October. With my AAA Discount, the tickets cost $77.40. What I didn't plan for was very lousy weather including an ice storm when I got to Albany, but that's the risk I take when taking a trip like this in the unpredictable December weather in New York State.
   Fast forward to Friday, December 7th, 2007: I arrived at the Buffalo-Depew Amtrak Station around 9:35am. The ticket agent told me Train #48 - The Lake Shore Limited should be arriving around 10:30am. I spent a little time outside on the platform before heading back into the station to warm up. I had a quick chat with someone from Canada who was picking up a passenger from the train. After going back outside again, CSX Train #Q-283 came by and I had a quick chat with our Conductor for today’s trip as well as a hot chocolate from the vending machine inside. I also chatted with another passenger on his way to Albany. Just prior to the arrival of the train, the U.S. Boarder Patrol had arrived at the station and was checking citizenship of passengers. At 10:36am, running 41 minutes late, Train #48 arrived. The consist for today's train is shown at the bottom of this page.
   We departed Buffalo-Depew Station at 10:44am, running 44 minutes late. I boarded in Coach #25048 and walked down to coach #25119. This is an unrefurbished Amfleet II Coach with no AC outlets and the original red interior. Most of these cars have undergone some form of overhaul in recent years so this must be one of the few that hasn't been given that treatment yet. Being that this trip is only across the state, the lack of AC outlets wasn't a big deal, besides, there are outlets in the café car at every table. Just before leaving Buffalo, I caught a picture of a Canadian Pacific train on the NS Southern Tier Line that is within view of the Amtrak Station. Things were relatively uneventful out of Buffalo.
   The Coach Attendant came by and set up seat checks then an Assistant Conductor took my ticket. I sat back for a few minutes before venturing into the Café car to have a nice chat with the crew. I’ve rode with the Conductor and one of the AC’s before on a few occasions so we knew of each other already. After some chatting, I went back, grabbed my computer and showed this web site to the crew. We had several slow orders as we got closer to Rochester. At 11:45am, now running 1 hour and 13 minutes late, we arrived in Rochester. I could see from the café car window that they must have had to assist a disabled passenger as they were wheeling a wheel chair lift over to one of the coaches. We continued to sit in Rochester Station for unknown reasons as I continued to write this travelogue. Once we departed Rochester and the crew returned to the café car, I would come to find out that there was yet another inspection by the U.S. Border Patrol in Rochester which held up the train.
   Once we left Rochester, I put away the computer only to find that my seat was taken by another passenger. I decided that it wasn’t a big deal not having my seat back though I was told by the Conductor that I could have my seat back if I wanted it. I advised him that it wasn’t a big deal since I’m only riding to Schenectady. If I was going to New York, that would be a different story! Besides, I’d rather be in the café car anyways! At 12:45pm, it was time for my lunch reservation. This would be my first experience with “Diner-Lite” service as this train no longer has a Heritage Diner. The menu had various selections for lunch including a Garden Burger, an Angus Burger, a Grilled Chicken Sandwich as well as a pizza. There were also appetizers available including mozzarella sticks, chicken quesadillas, and Buffalo Chicken Wings. I decided to try the Angus burger which I’ve had before on a couple other trains and in the past it was actually quite good. This one was very good. It was hot and juicy and I ordered it with bacon and put mayonnaise on it as well. I had that burger which came with potato chips as well as an order of the wings. The wings were spicy but they were very small in my opinion, everything was hot. I had a Diet Pepsi to drink. The total cost for the meal was $15.00. I was seated with a college professor from California and someone who worked in the medical field from New York. We all had very nice conversations about a variety of topics including train travel. Lunch overall was actually quite good. I can see that if "Diner-Lite" is operated properly, then the food product is of decent quality.
   We plugged along and dealt with the numerous slow orders along the way, arriving in Syracuse at 1:34pm. I stepped off the train very briefly to get some air before reboarding. We were out of Syracuse at 1:39pm now 1 hour and 18 minutes late. We passed by the old Syracuse station which I believe may have been demolished as I don’t remember seeing the station building. We got stopped at CP-248 with a red signal and an EC-1 (This used to be called a "Form D" back in the Conrail days) was filled out detailing the next 4 slow orders. After that, we were on our way to Utica. At Utica, we arrived at 2:45pm, leaving at 2:49pm now 1 hour and 27 minutes late. The lateness of the train thus far isn’t a concern to me as the Enterprise Rent-A-Car where I'm renting my car from is open until 6pm. Amtrak Train #283 passed us somewhere between Utica and Herkimer. We had another couple slow orders before continuing on. I decided to call Enterprise when we passed CP-169 as that should have given enough time for them to meet me at the station. I called them, and they told me to call them back when I arrived at the station. Once past CP-169, we were on the 100mph track and finally at 4:08pm, running 1 hour and 2 minutes late, we arrived in Schenectady. I went into the station and called Enterprise again, and waited about 45 minutes before they arrived.
   At the Enterprise location in Schenectady, I had a choice on which car I wanted, either a Kia Optima or a Saturn Aura, and thus I chose a Saturn Aura as I wanted to test drive this car since it had decent styling. The car had Vermont plates on it which was no big deal, it was a car that Enterprise picked up from another location within the same region that spans into Vermont. After completing the necessary paperwork for the car, I drove over to my hotel, the Red Roof Inn on Wolf Road near the Albany Airport and checked in. After picking up some groceries at a local Hannaford Grocery store and a quick dinner at McDonald’s I hung out at the hotel. I later drove over to a buddy of mine’s apartment to watch a video on the New York Central observation car “Hickory Creek”. After watching the video and checking out some neat magazine ads for the New York Central from the 1940's, I drove back, to the hotel and called it a day.
   Saturday, December 8th, this would be my actual Christmas shopping day. After a quick breakfast at McDonald’s, I drove over to Lowe’s first to get one of the gifts I needed, then eventually over to the Crossgates Mall for the rest of my shopping. After being done with shopping, I drove back to the hotel and got a call from another friend of mine who needed help deciding what computer monitor to buy. I first drove up to Latham as I had read an article in the Albany Times Union newspaper that morning that CompUSA was going out of business for good. We had already lost our CompUSA store in Buffalo back in April, and now the Albany one was closing also. I took a drive up to that store only to find nothing was marked down as of yet (I was in the market for a new set of computer speakers which I eventually bought after this trip). I later met up with my friend at Circuit City and helped him pick out a monitor. He ended up getting the same one as I have currently, you can't go wrong with a good Viewsonic monitor! I then had dinner at the nearby Route 20 Diner, and so ends today…
   On Sunday, I wanted to watch the Bills game, and thus headed over to a Chili’s restaurant, had lunch and started watching the game. The Bills beat Miami 38-17 and the game was televised locally in Albany. I watched the rest of it in the hotel room and just relaxed and worked on the web site some more. I also did laundry at a nearby Laundromat on Central Avenue. Unfortunately this year, the weather didn’t cooperate much so no railfanning as we had a decent ice storm Sunday night into Monday. I enjoyed some Pizza Hut pizza and bread sticks in the hotel room and called it a night....
   Come Monday morning, after spending a good 20 minutes scraping 1/4 inch of ice off the rental car, I wanted to check out a store I found online called “As Seen On TV” and the only one close by was in Newburgh, NY which was a little over 80 miles from Albany. I filled up the rental car with gas and headed for Newburgh. Well, the store was there but they didn’t have what I wanted. I had lunch at a nearby McDonald’s, then went back to an FYE store in the Newburgh Mall and picked up a couple CD’s. I then drove back to Albany and picked up some more Diet Pepsi, Saratoga Spring Water and Tropicana Orange Juice at the nearby Hannaford Grocery Store. At the recommendation of a friend, I tried the wings at Wings Over Albany for dinner, they were very hot and tasted good! I then drove over to the nearby Coconuts Music and Movies store in the Stuyvesant Plaza as they were going out of business. I bought 3 CD’s there and drove back to the hotel. And so ends today...
   On Tuesday morning, I packed up everything, checked out of the hotel, and headed back over to the Crossgates Mall to pick up one more gift and have a quick lunch. I then put gas in the rental car so as to return it with a full tank as it was rented to me with a full tank. Enterprise then drove me back to the Amtrak Station where I waited in the waiting room for a little over an hour and had a chat with another passenger who was also heading to Buffalo on the same train as me. At about 1:40pm, the announcement was made that Train #283 would be arriving in Schenectady. I ventured out to the platform and was able to get a photo of a meet between our train and an NS freight on the old Delaware & Hudson (now Canadian Pacific) line that runs past the Schenectady station. At 1:46pm running 2 minutes early, the train arrived in Schenectady. 1:48pm, running on time, we departed Schenectady. I took a seat in Amfleet I Coach #82627. The consist for todays train appears at the bottom of this page.
   The first thing I noticed about this train after we left is that the consist is backwards compared to other Empire Service trains I’ve rode. Usually, the Cafe Car is behind the engine, but not today. I was told by a member of the train crew that this had something to do with the horn being audible in the Business Class section and thus putting this car on the end of the train would allow one not to hear the horn. I was also told this could have something to do with the Winter season. After leaving Schenectady, I went into the Café car and had a Hot Dog with a Diet Pepsi. I had another conversation with the same passenger whom I chatted with in the station in Schenectady. I noticed that the Amtrak Conductor is now required to call all signals over the radio. We left Amsterdam, our next stop at 2:07pm. Things were relatively uneventful as the train ran along the Mohawk River. I grabbed my computer and continued this travelogue. At 3:02pm, we arrived in Utica. Home of the Southern Terminus of the Adirondack Scenic Railroad. We departed Utica at 3:05pm, running 1 minute late. Outside of a slow order here and there, not much happened until just outside of Syracuse. I spent this time listening to my iPod and just relaxing. Upon arrival in Syracuse, we were granted a smoking break as we arrived there at 4:00pm, running 5 minutes early. I took a walk down the platform and got some air before reboarding. At 4:14pm We left Syracuse 9 minutes late. I picked up a Cheese and Crackers plate from the café car. I never knew what gouda cheese tasted like before this trip! We continued along until just outside of Rochester as we got slowed down by CSX freight traffic. We arrived in Rochester at 5:44pm running 19 minutes late. The stop in Rochester was quick and we were on our way at 5:47pm, or so we thought. An announcement was made that there was a bunch of freight traffic in the area and of course, we were stuck in it. It took awhile but by the time we got past Batavia and were back in Erie County again, things finally picked up speed. Running 1 hour and 13 minutes late, we arrived in Buffalo-Depew Station at 7:38pm. I got off the train where my Father was waiting to bring me home. And so ends an interesting Christmas Shopping trip for 2007. Overall, a decent trip across the state, continuing a tradition started 6 years ago. Diner-Lite isn't bad for food service, though I do miss the Heritage Diner on the Lake Shore very much. Until next year, Happy Holidays and Happy Railfanning...

Christmas Shopping Amtrak Trip 2007
Buffalo To Schenectady, NY On Amtrak's Lake Shore Limited & Empire Service
Friday-Tuesday, December 7th-11th, 2007


Arriving At Buffalo-Depew Station is Amtrak Train #48 - The Lake Shore Limited On Friday, December 7th, 2007