On the
morning of Saturday, September 26th, 1998, about 400 people gathered at the
Amtrak Station on Exchange Street in Downtown Buffalo for one of the best
rail excursions of the year, the Glass City Limited.
The trip, co-sponsored by Amtrak and the Western New
York Railway Historical Society, follows the old Erie Railroad mainline from
Buffalo to the famous Glass City of Corning, New York. While in Corning,
passengers would have a chance to visit the Corning Glass Works, the Rockwell
Museum, as well as the many fine shops along Market Street.
This years train consisted of 2 F40PHs #300,
and 280 respectively, pulling a 9 car train that contained an Amdinette,
4 Amfleet I Coaches, 1 Heritage Fleet Coach, 3 Connecticut DOT Commuter Cars,
and private car, Dagny Taggart owned by the West Texas and Buffalo
Steamship and Railway Company.
The train travelled along historic former Erie Railroad
trackage Southeast on what is now known as the Conrail Southern Tier Line,
passing through many small towns and villages as well as the famous bridge
over the Letchworth Gorge in Portageville, New York.
Historic Letchworth State Park
2 Overhead views from
atop the famous bridge over
Letchworth Gorge in Portageville, New York.
I must say, the view from that bridge is worth a million bucks!!! Passengers onboard really loved going over that bridge. After visiting Portageville, our train passed throuh Swains, Canaseraga, Hornell, Addison, and Gang Mills before arriving in Corning. We also passed a handful of freight trains along the way. Our train kept an average speed of around 50mph for most of the trip, but on the big bridge, we could only go 10mph since the bridge has become somewhat of a tourist attraction in Letchworth State Park. For the rest of the trip report, CLICK HERE...