Buffalo-Depew Station

Traveling from Austin to Toronto, Canada in August. There will be an extended wait in the Buffalo-Depew station. Any recommendations? Safety? Food?

Welcome to AU!

If the Lake Shore Ltd is on time, as well as the Maple Leaf, you would have 6 hours and 25 minutes between trains....

While that is not the worst connection, it is rather long to just 'hang out' at Depew, with not much to see or do, other than read, or use a smartphone/computer for diversion.

You might consider finding a way over to see Niagara Falls, by renting a car, or some other means....and then pick up the Maple Leaf at that location (check with Amtrak to see if you could use your existing tickets that way....

Welcome to AU from a fellow Austinite who has made this trip many times. ( my late wife is buried in the Toronto suburb of Oakville on the Maple Leaf Route).

Railiner has a good idea but Id suggest you save a visit to Niagara Falls for when you have more time.

Since there is really nothing to do/see around the remote Depew Station,I suggest you hop an Uber or Lyft downtown,( there is a City Bus but its pretty involved and takes a long time)store your luggage at the Small Exchange Street Station with the friendly agent, and visit the Beautiful City Hall,( the Free View of the area from the Dome is outstanding),check out the many Historic Wonderful Old Buildings, have Lunch @ the Anchor Bar (Buffalo Wings were invented there!)and then catch the Maple Leaf to Toronto.

You didn't mention your Train arrangements ( Sleeper/ Coach ??) but riding in Business Class from Buffalo to Toronto is totally worth the slight upcharge from Coach.( nice 2x1 Leather Seats in the Cafe Car and priority on Customs/Immigration at the Border)

short ride from Depew Station to the Walden-Galleria shopping mall if you like that kind of time killer

I spent a year there one day. There are machines that sell sandwiches and snacks, but that's all. After the fact, I found out that the friendly agent will tell you about places that will deliver food. As "Bob" said, there is a bus, but I don't know where it goes. I probably should have found out rather than wait.

Safe. Extremely boring. It's in the middle of nowhere between two freight yards.

Perhaps the most sensible thing to do is to take a taxi downtown, and change your ticket to get the Maple Leaf at the Exchange Street station instead of Depew. Carrying all your luggage with you. (Hope you packed light.)

There is a bit more to see and do in downtown, but I'm not sure there would be a place to store their luggage at Exchange it is a no checked baggage station.

Did I hear that Exchange Street is also unstaffed and not even open?

Since I like being on trains, I would schedule my Lake Shore ride to Rochester or Syracuse and then catch the Maple Leaf coming back to BUF and Toronto.

Any problem with on time performance of the LSL would need to be addressed by getting off at one or the other. Those of you with Smartphones can pull that off

If the Buffalo Exchange Street Station is indeed now Closed and/Or Unstaffed as Dave indicates, I second Bill's idea of riding to Rochester!

The downtown is right by the Station as are the Pretty Waterfalls, while the Syracuse Intermodel Station is located in the Middle of Nowhere.

Not sure how the New Rochester Station is coming along, I didn't think the Old one was all that bad as Amshaks go???!!

The building at Exchange St sustained severe ceiling damage due to water. I'm not sure what the status of the building is. It has no baggage service, but it used to have a ticket agent I don't know if it still does. I think there is a temp shed but I'm not sure.

Railroad Bill said:

Since I like being on trains, I would schedule my Lake Shore ride to Rochester or Syracuse and then catch the Maple Leaf coming back to BUF and Toronto.

Any problem with on time performance of the LSL would need to be addressed by getting off at one or the other. Those of you with Smartphones can pull that off

Click to expand...

Ha! That's actually a good solution. I'd pick Rochester because the Rochester station is right downtown and there's a lot to see. Syracuse... the location's not *bad* exactly but there's a sidewalk shortage and it's a bit scary to walk anywhere.

So that's three of us saying "change trains in Rochester". If your train is running *really* late you can always hop off in Buffalo. But under normal circumstances, you'll arrive Rochester at 9:50 AM and leave 2 PM, which gives a reasonable amount of time to wander around Rochester -- you can even get a decent lunch.

neroden said:

Railroad Bill said:

Since I like being on trains, I would schedule my Lake Shore ride to Rochester or Syracuse and then catch the Maple Leaf coming back to BUF and Toronto.

Any problem with on time performance of the LSL would need to be addressed by getting off at one or the other. Those of you with Smartphones can pull that off

Click to expand...

Ha! That's actually a good solution. I'd pick Rochester because the Rochester station is right downtown and there's a lot to see. Syracuse... the location's not *bad* exactly but there's a sidewalk shortage and it's a bit scary to walk anywhere.

So that's three of us saying "change trains in Rochester". If your train is running *really* late you can always hop off in Buffalo. But under normal circumstances, you'll arrive Rochester at 9:50 AM and leave 2 PM, which gives a reasonable amount of time to wander around Rochester -- you can even get a decent lunch.

Click to expand...

Syracuse's station as I recall, is near Destiny USA(formerly Carousel Center). Which is a very large shopping mall(and one of the largest in central New York state), if you're into that. Little else nearby, though, so unless you really badly want to shop and browse in stores, I probably wouldn't pick there.

Honestly, I'd pick Rochester over Syracuse if you don't transfer over to the Maple Leaf from Buffalo-Depew, or don't want to take a cab/Uber/Lyft from Buffalo-Depew to downtown and then wait at Exchange Street for the Maple Leaf. You could easily walk south from the station into downtown, and there are things to do there per what I see on the map. Someone else who's visited Rochester before(haven't, just ridden through there, and the whole NYC-Chicago route on LSL), can better suggest things to do on your layover before the Maple Leaf arrives. Another advantage is that the Rochester station is staffed, unlike Buffalo-Exchange St. This is based on looking at the pdf of the Maple Leaf schedule just now: https://www.amtrak.com/ccurl/406/724/Maple-Leaf-Schedule-040917,0.pdf

I go into Syracuse a couple of times a year and based on that experience would vote for Rochester. Not sure what has been done at Exchange since the flood damage, like I said, it used to have a ticket agent but no baggage service...not sure of its current state. But it is near some interesting things. No place for luggage is a problem in any case...

I was going to suggest Rochester, but I've clearly been beaten to it. You'll be much less bored spending a couple of those hours on trains rather than in Depew, which is basically just a railway junction, plus , you'll be able to geta decent meal in Rochester, with a reasonably safe amount of wiggle room for a late LSL.

some years ago a fast ferry ran across the lake from Rochester to Toronto, no longer an option, but it was fun while it lasted

So the only reason to wait at Depew would be if you liked to watch freight train operations in a railyard.