Segment 1: Buffalo To Sandusky, OH On Amtrak's Lake Shore Limited

   I started planning this trip back in July of this year, I decided that I wanted to ride Amtrak to Cedar Point as I’ve done every year except last year since 1996. I had hoped that this year there wouldn’t be another hurricane to almost end my trip before it began! I would be riding Train #49 – The Lake Shore Limited to Sandusky, OH from Buffalo to visit Cedar Point, then head to Chicago 3 days later on Train #49 for some railfanning and exploration of the city, I’d then head out to Galesburg, IL on Train #5 – The California Zephyr, spend the night, come back to Chicago on Train #6 – The California Zephyr, then ride down to DC on Train #50 – The Cardinal, then up to Boston on Train #66 – The Old Federal (Now a Regional Train since it has no Viewliner!), then back home on Train #449 – The Lake Shore Limited – Boston Section. I booked several of the tickets using Amtrak’s web site as they were Rail Sale Seats and thus were very cheap. Whatever tickets I wasn’t able to book via Rail Sale, I was able to get via my AAA discount. The total cost for the 7 tickets was $210.60.
   I arrived at Buffalo-Depew Station around 11:15pm and found out that Train #49 – The Lake Shore Limited was running about 35 minutes late, really not too bad for this train. I headed outside and chatted with a few passengers then got set up for a night photo of the train, at 11:55pm, running 25 minutes late, Train #49 arrived with P42DC #66 followed by #69 for power. I took my night photo then dragged my two suitcases down the platform to board the train. The consist for tonight’s train is shown at the bottom of this page.
   I was seated in Amfleet II Coach #25110, the first coach in the New York Section of the train. We didn’t have to make a double spot in Buffalo to allow other sleeper passengers to board the sleepers on the other end of the train, so at 12:12am, we departed Buffalo, 42 minutes late. I had a quick chat with the passenger sitting next to me, he was from Detroit and was riding to Toledo. After we got past CP-DRAW, I headed to the café car to plug in my laptop to start writing this travelogue. I had a very nice conversation with the train crew whom I had rode with on a previous trip last year, we discussed a variety of topics, mostly related to Amtrak and railroading in general. I sat with the crew as we made our stop in Erie, PA and left there at 1:40am, running still 42 minutes late. Surprisingly, there wasn’t much freight traffic on CSX to slow us down. We had one minor slowdown just West of Erie as our train was issued a Form D to protect a crossing as it was having false activation problems. After that it was clear sailing to Cleveland, we arrived in Cleveland at 3:09am. A smoking break was allowed while we waited for about 6 minutes in Cleveland for baggage to be loaded and unloaded from the train. I personally don’t smoke, but decided to get off the train to take a breather, though not enough time was available for another night photo. I reboarded the train, and we left Cleveland at 3:15am, thanks to some padding in the schedule, we now were only 19 minutes late. I continued to chat with the crew in the café car as we arrived in Elyria, picked up a couple passengers and left there at 3:38am, now only 11 minutes late! I plotted our course on my GPS as we were at a cruising speed of around 79mph until we got stopped somewhere East of Huron, OH for about 30 minutes, no trains passed us while we waited but there was one report of a stalled vehicle on the tracks up ahead so that likely had something to do with the slowdown. After that, we had one more stop signal to wait through before they moved us to Track #1 at CP-240 to get into the Amtrak Station, at 4:57am, running 55 minutes late, Train #49 arrived in Sandusky and so the first leg of this trip now came to an end.
   Shortly after I got off the train, I found a phonebook at the payphone at the station and looked up the number for a local taxi in the area to take me over to my hotel. I found this cab company which will remain nameless, whom I called at 5:00am. I was told that a cab would arrive in “a couple minutes”, well at 5:45am, I called back the same cab company and was told once again that the taxi would arrive in “a couple minutes”. By 6:30am, I had now been awake about 23 straight hours, and so I once again called back for a third time as the cab still didn’t show up, this time I get someone else on the line who tells me they can’t find their driver! I then explained that I was fighting very hard to stay awake and that I had to get a cab! Again, nobody shows up, so finally around 7:20am, I took a bus ride on the Sandusky Transit Service over to my hotel, the Howard Johnson Express Inn on Cleveland Rd. in Sandusky. The hotel was very nice and clean, had 2 double beds, a microwave and refrigerator and cable TV, good enough for me!
   I put my luggage away and walked over to the nearby McDonald’s as I hadn’t eaten a regular meal since around 1:30pm the previous day! I picked up some breakfast, took it back to the room, ate breakfast, made a few phone calls, and went to bed. And so ends the first and longest day of this trip thus far!

Amtrak's Lake Shore Limited - Thursday, September 23rd, 2004 - 80 Axles
Number:	Car/Engine Type:	Name:	Description:
66	P42DC		Power
69	P42DC		Power
1711	Heritage Baggage		Baggage Car (From Boston)
62048	Viewliner Sleeper	Wayside View	Sleeping Car (From Boston)
25060	Amfleet II Coach		Coach (From Boston)
25071	Amfleet II Coach		Coach (From Boston)
43363	Amfleet I Cafe Car		Cafe Car (From Boston)
25110	Amfleet II Coach		Coach (From New York)
25019	Amfleet II Coach		Coach (From New York)
25101	Amfleet II Coach		Coach (From New York)
8521	Heritage Diner		Dining Car (From New York)
62000	Viewliner Sleeper	American View	Sleeping Car (From New York)
62001	Viewliner Sleeper	Atlantic View	Sleeping Car (From New York)
2522	Heritage 10/6 Sleeper	Pine Creek	Crew Sleeper (From New York)
1164	Heritage Baggage		Baggage Car (From New York)
?????	Road Railers (4)