JeffW
Train Attendant
Hi, all.
Since moving to Rochester, I've traveled the LSL a half dozen times or so back to my hometown. I avoid driving, since focusing on the road for nine hours is boring. Being well over six feet tall and quite active, the train is really my only option. Also, I convinced my wife to take the LSL home for Christmas this year, and she appreciated that we didn't lose two entire days to driving!
I won't elaborate too much, but here are the things I always notice on the trip.
Going west from Rochester, you're usually leaving around 11:30pm. When I find my seat quickly, I usually see the high falls, where the RR bridge is almost directly over the Genesee river falls headed toward Lake Ontario. I like to get a glimpse of the Kodak tower and the Rochester Redwings baseball field.
West of Buffalo, you get an excellent view of the Buffalo Central Terminal. During daytime it's quite sad and forlorn, during nighttime it's quite mysterious. I want to get out to explore it someday. For more info on this, look at http://buffalocentralterminal.org/ To say the least, this is absolutely amazing.
Further along, you'll see vineyards (easier to see during daylight), though you'll see more going up toward Niagara Falls and into Canada.
Not to be a downer, but I usually sleep through Erie, PA.
I usually wake up in Cleveland. Here, the Amtrak stop is just outside the Cleveland Browns stadium. Oh, wait, nothing to see here, going back to sleep...
Because I need more sleep, I also seem to sleep through Elyria and Sandusky.
Toledo is a nice stop: riding in from the East, you see the Toledo skyline and the I280 bridge over the Maumee river. It's a really lovely sight. The Toledo station is my "Amtrak stomping grounds," of sort. When I was a student, I spent many hours waiting for the LSL and Capitol Limited. One evening I was offered a swig of liquor by a homeless guy. I said "No, thanks," and he thanked me for being polite.
The stop in Bryan is interesting, if only because of the factory behind which it stops: Spangler Candy. Yeah, that's where Dum Dums are made! I think that's pretty cool...
West of Bryan, the RR meets up with US6, and you see mostly fields (actually, it's fields from west of Toledo until Goshen/Elkhart). Waterloo is a surprisingly popular stop because it's the closest Amtrak stop to Fort Wayne.
West of Waterloo, you'll see lots of Amish farms and homes, with quite a few horses, mules and the occasional donkey. It means a lot to me that I can see my grandfather's farm from the tracks. (Interesting sidenote--when my brother and I were once going for a joyride on one of his tractors, probably around 1990, we were sitting about 20 feet from the tracks when an Amtrak blew by) Immediately afterwards, you see the Elkhart County Fairgrounds (2nd largest county fair in the country), and you're in the city of Goshen. That's when I know to call my parents to let them know I'm about 15 minutes away.
The Elkhart station is nice: it was built to be a station along the NY Central RR. One evening when I was returning to Rochester, I was the only passenger waiting, so the attendant let me sit in the office with him and watch video clips of trains passing by. It also blows my mind that I only discovered recently that the Elkhart station is across from the New York Central Railroad museum (http://www.nycrrmuseum.org/)--I lived in that area for 22 years, and I never knew about this...
Anyway, that's a long bit of rambling that might interest those traveling along this route.
Since moving to Rochester, I've traveled the LSL a half dozen times or so back to my hometown. I avoid driving, since focusing on the road for nine hours is boring. Being well over six feet tall and quite active, the train is really my only option. Also, I convinced my wife to take the LSL home for Christmas this year, and she appreciated that we didn't lose two entire days to driving!
I won't elaborate too much, but here are the things I always notice on the trip.
Going west from Rochester, you're usually leaving around 11:30pm. When I find my seat quickly, I usually see the high falls, where the RR bridge is almost directly over the Genesee river falls headed toward Lake Ontario. I like to get a glimpse of the Kodak tower and the Rochester Redwings baseball field.
West of Buffalo, you get an excellent view of the Buffalo Central Terminal. During daytime it's quite sad and forlorn, during nighttime it's quite mysterious. I want to get out to explore it someday. For more info on this, look at http://buffalocentralterminal.org/ To say the least, this is absolutely amazing.
Further along, you'll see vineyards (easier to see during daylight), though you'll see more going up toward Niagara Falls and into Canada.
Not to be a downer, but I usually sleep through Erie, PA.
I usually wake up in Cleveland. Here, the Amtrak stop is just outside the Cleveland Browns stadium. Oh, wait, nothing to see here, going back to sleep...
Because I need more sleep, I also seem to sleep through Elyria and Sandusky.
Toledo is a nice stop: riding in from the East, you see the Toledo skyline and the I280 bridge over the Maumee river. It's a really lovely sight. The Toledo station is my "Amtrak stomping grounds," of sort. When I was a student, I spent many hours waiting for the LSL and Capitol Limited. One evening I was offered a swig of liquor by a homeless guy. I said "No, thanks," and he thanked me for being polite.
The stop in Bryan is interesting, if only because of the factory behind which it stops: Spangler Candy. Yeah, that's where Dum Dums are made! I think that's pretty cool...
West of Bryan, the RR meets up with US6, and you see mostly fields (actually, it's fields from west of Toledo until Goshen/Elkhart). Waterloo is a surprisingly popular stop because it's the closest Amtrak stop to Fort Wayne.
West of Waterloo, you'll see lots of Amish farms and homes, with quite a few horses, mules and the occasional donkey. It means a lot to me that I can see my grandfather's farm from the tracks. (Interesting sidenote--when my brother and I were once going for a joyride on one of his tractors, probably around 1990, we were sitting about 20 feet from the tracks when an Amtrak blew by) Immediately afterwards, you see the Elkhart County Fairgrounds (2nd largest county fair in the country), and you're in the city of Goshen. That's when I know to call my parents to let them know I'm about 15 minutes away.
The Elkhart station is nice: it was built to be a station along the NY Central RR. One evening when I was returning to Rochester, I was the only passenger waiting, so the attendant let me sit in the office with him and watch video clips of trains passing by. It also blows my mind that I only discovered recently that the Elkhart station is across from the New York Central Railroad museum (http://www.nycrrmuseum.org/)--I lived in that area for 22 years, and I never knew about this...
Anyway, that's a long bit of rambling that might interest those traveling along this route.
