Amsterdam & Albany, New York & Sandusky, Ohio
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July 24th, 2000 - Amsterdam, NY Bill and I arrived back at the station around 9am. Amtrak Train #284, the New York City-bound Mohawk was running approximately 10 minutes late. There was a handful of passengers waiting for this train when we arrived. |
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At 9:20am, Amtrak Train #284 arrived in Amsterdam. Today's train had its usual 4-Coach 1-Cafe consist and had P32AC-DM #705 leading. In what is for the most part, a normal practice, Amtrak stopped the train on Track #2. The Amtrak Station is still staffed only when a train arrives by a caretaker just as it has been for years.
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Here is a slide of the Amsterdam Amtrak Station in the year 2000. The station is clean and neat and is staffed about 30 minutes prior to the arrival of each train that stops here.
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The first freight of the day was this Eastbound Manifest with AC6000CW #609 leading on Track #2 at 10:50am while a family waiting for the next Amtrak Train looks on.
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The next Amtrak train to arrive is Train #63, the "Maple Leaf", bound for Toronto with its trusty F40 leading, today's unit being #273. The man holding the step box is the station caretaker who is chatting with Bill just as the train arrives in Amsterdam on Track #2.
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Next up is this stack train with Ex-Con #7388, a C40-8W whose former ID was Conrail #6263. The train was seen again on Track #2 at 11:46am.
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Train Q-387 is next with SD40-2 #8248 leading a Lease Unit on Track #2 at 12:02pm. At this point, we knew that Track #1 was out of service due to trackwork just West of here in Fonda, NY.
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OK, I guess this time I had to throw in a pic of myself at the station, here I am, wow wee!!
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Moving at about 60mph is Amtrak's Lake Shore Limited, Train #48 whizzing past the Amsterdam Station today with P42DC #30 leading a Phase 4 painted F40 at 12:45pm. As I said before, this train doesn't stop in Amsterdam unless there is an unforeseen circumstance such as a passenger missing a connection or something...
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And now, the second leg of my vacation would begin. Seen arriving in Amsterdam is Train #286, the Empire State Express with P32AC-DM #701 leading on Track #2. I had a Custom Class Ticket for this train which entitled me to a wider seat, a free Diet Pepsi and a copy of USA Today. This would also be the extent of time I would spend in Amsterdam this year as I was now on my way to Albany. Special Thanks to Bill Ensinger for driving me around when I was in Amsterdam. I boarded the train with a handful of people and quickly took my Custom Class seat. While on my short trip of approximately 45 minutes on this train, we entered into an area of High-Speed rail and our train, according to the conductor was now permitted to go 110mph. It felt like we most likely were doing that speed. After leaving the High Speed Rail, we made our station stop in Schenectady then proceeded down the Amtrak-only trackage into the Albany Station, which was jointed rail. We ended up on a single track that brought us right into Albany-Rensselaer Station. Albany was a service stop for the Empire State Express as well as a smoking break for passengers wishing to do so. |
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