Just returned from my Amtrak Autumn Express trip and thought I would jot a few lines about my weekend adventure.
Friday October 23. 2015
Drove up to CLE on a foggy Friday morning and arrived at the station with plenty of time for the eastbound Lake Shore Limited #48. My favorite agent was on duty and he said 48 was on time out of TOL and might even be a little early into CLE. About 30 passengers waiting for the train. Lots of NS freight action outside the station and the Cleveland skyline was lit up nicely at this early hour.
At 5:30 LSL 48 arrived with P-42 locos 77 & 93 heading the consist. To my surprise, all of the coaches were at the rear of the train and all sleepers up front. This is typical for Capitol Ltd trains but very different from the normal LSLs. With the change of schedules for the Boston section (no Boston Sleeper), the decision to run a Boston stub train out of Albany allowed this entire train to be sent to NYP.
I have not ridden in coach for any long distance for many years and I was at first a little gun shy about what I would find. But it turned out well as my third coach in the line emptied out of CLE bound passengers and so I was able to find a seat at a window without any problem. The conductor did not assign seats just the car we were in. Albany passengers to the left (3rd coach) and NYP passengers to the right (4th coach). I asked my car attendant (whose name I forgot, but he did a nice job of keeping restroom clean and floors picked up and was a friendly man as well) when breakfast was served and he noted it would be 6:30am.
We had a long wait in CLE to board passengers since the train was early. But we then had to wait for a freight to pass so all that OTP went out the window..
But finally on our way as we passed the giant Collinwood Yards (now CSX but once a mighty New York Central facility) and were on our way across NE Ohio.
At 6:30 I made my way to the diner via the other two coaches and cafe-lounge car. Unfortunately, my thoughts about coach were reinforced after passing through the cars of the living dead. :giggle: . Bodies sprawled everywhere and a not so nice aroma of humanity.
Our diner crew was up and at em and very friendly. My server Joe was someone I recognized from other trips and he was ready to make my morning more pleasant. Just one other passenger at this hour so I had a seat by myself. Scrambled eggs, croissant and a glass of milk were the bill of fare and all were well cooked and tasty. We talked about the new consist and he said it was possible that this arrangement might become permanent. Only hassle was that all Boston passengers would have to detrain in Albany to catch the stub train to Boston. Sleeper passengers might not like that even though it is a mid afternoon transfer.
I returned to my seat around 7:30 and the morning sunrise was quite nice out my window. I still had no seatmate until Erie when a family from Tiffin, Ohio boarded and I sat with their 20+ year old son who was sitting across from mom and dad on the aisle. He talked a little about their planned trip to NYP to visit his new nephew. But he was mostly engrossed with his music on the phone so I just enjoyed the scenery as we came close to Lake Erie and the vineyards along the tracks.
As we arrived in Buffalo Depew there were many passengers getting off and a long line of newbies boarding. My seatmate and his family decided to move to the front of the car with their other relatives (8 in all) so I thought I might have a new seatmate. Yes, it was now a young businessman who other than a brief hello spent his entire time talking to his business associates in NY and NJ. I ascertained that he was headed to NYP after a business trip to Buffalo and that he was in the "plastics design" mode of business. He was a good seatmate and no problems there.
We arrived in Rochester about 40 minutes late and had to spot the train four times due to track and platform construction. This caused a greater delay and now we were 1 hour 15 minutes late as we left town. We continued to have numerous slow orders with lots of track work, but it was a nice sunny day so I enjoyed the ride.
After Syracuse, the train emptied out again and so my former seat mate moved to an available window seat and I was alone again.. Went to lunch at 11:30 and had two sisters who were traveling to NYP as dinner mates. They had very interesting stories to tell about their 911 experiences and riding trains and planes. We enjoyed Am Burgers and Veggie Burgers as we traveled through Syracuse and on toward Utica.
After Utica, I was approached by a young girl who wanted to know if the seat beside me was available. I said yes and she said thank you and she would be back. She was gone a few minutes and then emerged from the next coach with her heavy luggage, small bag and purse. She seemed very nervous and after situating her bags, she just sat in her seat and clung to her purse. She said she need to move to avoid a very dicey situation in the other car. That was the extent of our conversation and I decided to just let her calm down a bit. I was going to suggest that she talk to a conductor but under the circumstances felt it better to let her handle her own anxiety.
When I departed in Albany she again thanked me for letting her sit there and I wished her well.
I had been in contact with PennyK who was on her way to the Albany to join other AU members on the Autumn Express Tour and found her train was also running late. We agree to meet at ALB and share a cab to the Hampton Inn in downtown Albany. It was my first visit to the ALB station since our other LSL trips never allowed time to move far away from our car. It is a very impressive modern structure, some nice architecture, glass gateways to observe trains moving in and out of the station, and friendly Amtrak staff. Enterprise Rental Car booth on the premises along with a USPS post office, souvenir news stand and a small deli cafe.
PennyK arrived about an half hour after my train and we moved to grab a cab. A bit of a rip off charging $11/person for a brief ride across the river but after some negotiating we managed to reduce the fare somewhat. Our driver was a quirky lady who seemed ready to handle anyone who gave her a hassle. She did give us a brief tour of the downtown past the state house and other buildings before dropping us off at the Hampton Inn on Chapel St.
After checking in we decided to do a brief walking tour of the area and find someplace for supper. A beautiful former railroad station now owned by SUNY university system, many government buildings, and some interesting bars and restaurants along our route. Decided on dinner at the Capital American Eatery & Lounge, a nice place with some atmosphere and relatively inexpensive menu choices. PennyK had the salmon and I chose the chicken parmesan with angel hair pasta. Both were very good, service was decent and portions excellent. Since it was getting cold (around 30 degrees outside) we opted to return to the hotel via the nice Palace Theatre where a Rocky Horror Picture Show event was planned for later in the evening. Since we had no appropriate costumes we decided to head back to the Hampton Inn. It had been a long day and I decided to retire for the evening while Penny wanted to check out the hotel bar for a nightcap. We heard from our other compatriots who were staying at the Hilton and Marriott and planned to meet up with them at the station on Saturday morning for our Autumn Express ride.
Saturday October 24. 2015
Met PennyK in the breakfast room at 6 am and we had some eggs, yogurt, fruit, etc to start the morning. As we were sitting there it was obvious that several other early morning risers were planning to take the railroad trip. We were approached by a man who asked us if we were riding the Amtrak Autumn Train today and we acknowledged that we were. His name was Scott and he was employed by Metro North and had driven up for the trip last night. He offered to save us cab fare and give us a ride to the station. Since he seemed like a personable guy and not a "serial killer" :giggle: we took him up on the offer.
We appreciated the ride to the station and after checking out the two heritage locos in the yard that would pull our train. P-40 #822 and P-42 #145, we headed for the station. We met AlanB and his mom and Jishnu from our AU group and later found Alice from California in line for our trip. We managed to arrive at the station before 7 which put us near the beginning of the line. Over 500 passengers were scheduled for today's trip and we wanted to secure window seats. The conductor finally allowed people to move downstairs to the train and we found nice seats in the last coach ahead of the trailing cafe car.
As the train filled up we assumed that we would have seat mates but as luck would have it both Penny and I had our seats alone for the entire trip. We met Brian Gallagher who was making sure the boarding process and the train were all ready to go at the scheduled 8 am departure. There were regular Amtrak conductors on the train and a staff made up of volunteer Amtrak personnel who distributed information and the nice lunch bags to each passenger. An Amtrak Police officer also made the regular rounds throughout the trip, but our passengers remained civil and it was an easy trip for him that day..
We crossed the Hudson River and soon arrived in Schenectady where about 40 additional passengers boarded. Some of them were not as happy since there were no window seats available by this time on the 8 coach train. A word to the wise,, always try to board a train at its origin if you want the best seat selection Everyone did get a seat and there were a few no shows on the sold out train. We eventually headed north along the Adirondack line for a distance until we reached the Mohawk Yards controlled by Canadian Pacific RR. Our rate of speed was diminished somewhat from the higher speeds of the mainline but we quickly moved east toward the Mechanicville Yard and intermodal facility newly opened in 2012. This line was once controlled by the Delaware & Hudson RR. As we moved slowly across the Hudson River bridge built in 1901 we now began operating over the Pan Am Railways Southern Trackage line.
Without going into every single detail of the trip, suffice it to say that the colors on the mountain sides were still quite bold, the many rivers and streams we followed along the 142 mile route were very scenic, the quaint New England towns were interesting with their old depots, former industrial buildings and old branch lines that jotted in and out of our trackage.
We eventually crossed into Vermont and back into Massachusetts during the day as we crossed the Berkshire Mt range. The highlight was going through the Hoosac Tunnel, a 4.75 miles historic structure completed in the 1870s and many years of political struggles and loss of life in its construction. We eventually arrived at our terminus in Greenfield, MA and after a few minutes in the East Deerfield Yards, once a Boston & Maine RR facility, we started back along the same route. Since the train was turned, we all were able to view the scenery from the opposite side of the train which was nice.
It took a little longer than expected to turn our train so I headed up to the concession car where I found some Amtrak pins and magnets to add to my collection. Unfortunately, there were no souvenirs of this trip available since the trip had only recently been approved and there was no time to produce T-shirts, pins etc for the trip. A big loss for Amtrak in sales but such is life.
Stopped to talk to Alice who was in another coach and then returned to my seat for the remainder of the ride. Enjoyed the new scenery on my side of the window. The nice box lunch from Panera Bread included a turkey sandwich with lettuce, tomato, etc. Oven baked chips, a super large chocolate chip cookie, and water. It came in a nice insulated carrying tote bag with the emblem of the trip...Amtrak train emerging from the Hoosac Tunnel, on the side.
My biggest concern was making sure our Express train returned to Albany in time to make my LSL 49 back to Cleveland on Saturday evening. The expected return time as 5:50pm but we were running at least 45 minutes late and I was a bit concerned about my connection. But the conductor was confident that we would arrive on time for both my train and a New York bound train that other passengers were wanting to board. After a brief stop in Schenectady to drop off those passengers, we moved quickly to Albany and we arrived around 6:30PM. WHEW!
I was scheduled to meet our AU friend Shanghai, who was riding the LSL to Chicago that evening. After lots of train maneuvering with all the track work taking place in Albany, sleeper passengers eventually boarded the train at 7:30.
Shanghai was waiting to meet me in the diner and we enjoyed some good conversation over a steak dinner. Our seatmates were from Las Vegas and had been on an Amtrak Vacations Tour of the east and were on their way back home via LSL and SWC. Finished off my meal with my favorite cheesecake dessert and then we said goodnight and made our way back to our sleeper in the 4912 Car.
Our SCA was a nice guy. Had the bed ready to go on our return and I sat up a while after calling my wife as the rain began to fall east of Utica. A bit of a bumpy ride but did manage to get some sleep. Our train arrived in Erie Pa only 30 minutes late but we soon came to a stop and sat on a siding for over two hours due to an accident involving a freight and a vehicle somewhere west of Erie. Got some sleep in the quiet car and eventually made it to Cleveland around 6am. Shanghai was up and heading to breakfast as I detrained and we said our well wishes as I walked up the platform to my car.
Then another hour long ride to get home and glad to see my wife and the cat after a long and exciting two days of riding trains. Lots of double points for those rides too
I highly recommend riding the Amtrak Autumn Express and hope they come up with a nice ride for 2016.
Friday October 23. 2015
Drove up to CLE on a foggy Friday morning and arrived at the station with plenty of time for the eastbound Lake Shore Limited #48. My favorite agent was on duty and he said 48 was on time out of TOL and might even be a little early into CLE. About 30 passengers waiting for the train. Lots of NS freight action outside the station and the Cleveland skyline was lit up nicely at this early hour.
At 5:30 LSL 48 arrived with P-42 locos 77 & 93 heading the consist. To my surprise, all of the coaches were at the rear of the train and all sleepers up front. This is typical for Capitol Ltd trains but very different from the normal LSLs. With the change of schedules for the Boston section (no Boston Sleeper), the decision to run a Boston stub train out of Albany allowed this entire train to be sent to NYP.
I have not ridden in coach for any long distance for many years and I was at first a little gun shy about what I would find. But it turned out well as my third coach in the line emptied out of CLE bound passengers and so I was able to find a seat at a window without any problem. The conductor did not assign seats just the car we were in. Albany passengers to the left (3rd coach) and NYP passengers to the right (4th coach). I asked my car attendant (whose name I forgot, but he did a nice job of keeping restroom clean and floors picked up and was a friendly man as well) when breakfast was served and he noted it would be 6:30am.
We had a long wait in CLE to board passengers since the train was early. But we then had to wait for a freight to pass so all that OTP went out the window..
But finally on our way as we passed the giant Collinwood Yards (now CSX but once a mighty New York Central facility) and were on our way across NE Ohio.At 6:30 I made my way to the diner via the other two coaches and cafe-lounge car. Unfortunately, my thoughts about coach were reinforced after passing through the cars of the living dead. :giggle: . Bodies sprawled everywhere and a not so nice aroma of humanity.
Our diner crew was up and at em and very friendly. My server Joe was someone I recognized from other trips and he was ready to make my morning more pleasant. Just one other passenger at this hour so I had a seat by myself. Scrambled eggs, croissant and a glass of milk were the bill of fare and all were well cooked and tasty. We talked about the new consist and he said it was possible that this arrangement might become permanent. Only hassle was that all Boston passengers would have to detrain in Albany to catch the stub train to Boston. Sleeper passengers might not like that even though it is a mid afternoon transfer.
I returned to my seat around 7:30 and the morning sunrise was quite nice out my window. I still had no seatmate until Erie when a family from Tiffin, Ohio boarded and I sat with their 20+ year old son who was sitting across from mom and dad on the aisle. He talked a little about their planned trip to NYP to visit his new nephew. But he was mostly engrossed with his music on the phone so I just enjoyed the scenery as we came close to Lake Erie and the vineyards along the tracks.
As we arrived in Buffalo Depew there were many passengers getting off and a long line of newbies boarding. My seatmate and his family decided to move to the front of the car with their other relatives (8 in all) so I thought I might have a new seatmate. Yes, it was now a young businessman who other than a brief hello spent his entire time talking to his business associates in NY and NJ. I ascertained that he was headed to NYP after a business trip to Buffalo and that he was in the "plastics design" mode of business. He was a good seatmate and no problems there.
We arrived in Rochester about 40 minutes late and had to spot the train four times due to track and platform construction. This caused a greater delay and now we were 1 hour 15 minutes late as we left town. We continued to have numerous slow orders with lots of track work, but it was a nice sunny day so I enjoyed the ride.
After Syracuse, the train emptied out again and so my former seat mate moved to an available window seat and I was alone again.. Went to lunch at 11:30 and had two sisters who were traveling to NYP as dinner mates. They had very interesting stories to tell about their 911 experiences and riding trains and planes. We enjoyed Am Burgers and Veggie Burgers as we traveled through Syracuse and on toward Utica.
After Utica, I was approached by a young girl who wanted to know if the seat beside me was available. I said yes and she said thank you and she would be back. She was gone a few minutes and then emerged from the next coach with her heavy luggage, small bag and purse. She seemed very nervous and after situating her bags, she just sat in her seat and clung to her purse. She said she need to move to avoid a very dicey situation in the other car. That was the extent of our conversation and I decided to just let her calm down a bit. I was going to suggest that she talk to a conductor but under the circumstances felt it better to let her handle her own anxiety.
When I departed in Albany she again thanked me for letting her sit there and I wished her well.
I had been in contact with PennyK who was on her way to the Albany to join other AU members on the Autumn Express Tour and found her train was also running late. We agree to meet at ALB and share a cab to the Hampton Inn in downtown Albany. It was my first visit to the ALB station since our other LSL trips never allowed time to move far away from our car. It is a very impressive modern structure, some nice architecture, glass gateways to observe trains moving in and out of the station, and friendly Amtrak staff. Enterprise Rental Car booth on the premises along with a USPS post office, souvenir news stand and a small deli cafe.
PennyK arrived about an half hour after my train and we moved to grab a cab. A bit of a rip off charging $11/person for a brief ride across the river but after some negotiating we managed to reduce the fare somewhat. Our driver was a quirky lady who seemed ready to handle anyone who gave her a hassle. She did give us a brief tour of the downtown past the state house and other buildings before dropping us off at the Hampton Inn on Chapel St.
After checking in we decided to do a brief walking tour of the area and find someplace for supper. A beautiful former railroad station now owned by SUNY university system, many government buildings, and some interesting bars and restaurants along our route. Decided on dinner at the Capital American Eatery & Lounge, a nice place with some atmosphere and relatively inexpensive menu choices. PennyK had the salmon and I chose the chicken parmesan with angel hair pasta. Both were very good, service was decent and portions excellent. Since it was getting cold (around 30 degrees outside) we opted to return to the hotel via the nice Palace Theatre where a Rocky Horror Picture Show event was planned for later in the evening. Since we had no appropriate costumes we decided to head back to the Hampton Inn. It had been a long day and I decided to retire for the evening while Penny wanted to check out the hotel bar for a nightcap. We heard from our other compatriots who were staying at the Hilton and Marriott and planned to meet up with them at the station on Saturday morning for our Autumn Express ride.
Saturday October 24. 2015
Met PennyK in the breakfast room at 6 am and we had some eggs, yogurt, fruit, etc to start the morning. As we were sitting there it was obvious that several other early morning risers were planning to take the railroad trip. We were approached by a man who asked us if we were riding the Amtrak Autumn Train today and we acknowledged that we were. His name was Scott and he was employed by Metro North and had driven up for the trip last night. He offered to save us cab fare and give us a ride to the station. Since he seemed like a personable guy and not a "serial killer" :giggle: we took him up on the offer.
We appreciated the ride to the station and after checking out the two heritage locos in the yard that would pull our train. P-40 #822 and P-42 #145, we headed for the station. We met AlanB and his mom and Jishnu from our AU group and later found Alice from California in line for our trip. We managed to arrive at the station before 7 which put us near the beginning of the line. Over 500 passengers were scheduled for today's trip and we wanted to secure window seats. The conductor finally allowed people to move downstairs to the train and we found nice seats in the last coach ahead of the trailing cafe car.
As the train filled up we assumed that we would have seat mates but as luck would have it both Penny and I had our seats alone for the entire trip. We met Brian Gallagher who was making sure the boarding process and the train were all ready to go at the scheduled 8 am departure. There were regular Amtrak conductors on the train and a staff made up of volunteer Amtrak personnel who distributed information and the nice lunch bags to each passenger. An Amtrak Police officer also made the regular rounds throughout the trip, but our passengers remained civil and it was an easy trip for him that day..
We crossed the Hudson River and soon arrived in Schenectady where about 40 additional passengers boarded. Some of them were not as happy since there were no window seats available by this time on the 8 coach train. A word to the wise,, always try to board a train at its origin if you want the best seat selection Everyone did get a seat and there were a few no shows on the sold out train. We eventually headed north along the Adirondack line for a distance until we reached the Mohawk Yards controlled by Canadian Pacific RR. Our rate of speed was diminished somewhat from the higher speeds of the mainline but we quickly moved east toward the Mechanicville Yard and intermodal facility newly opened in 2012. This line was once controlled by the Delaware & Hudson RR. As we moved slowly across the Hudson River bridge built in 1901 we now began operating over the Pan Am Railways Southern Trackage line.
Without going into every single detail of the trip, suffice it to say that the colors on the mountain sides were still quite bold, the many rivers and streams we followed along the 142 mile route were very scenic, the quaint New England towns were interesting with their old depots, former industrial buildings and old branch lines that jotted in and out of our trackage.
We eventually crossed into Vermont and back into Massachusetts during the day as we crossed the Berkshire Mt range. The highlight was going through the Hoosac Tunnel, a 4.75 miles historic structure completed in the 1870s and many years of political struggles and loss of life in its construction. We eventually arrived at our terminus in Greenfield, MA and after a few minutes in the East Deerfield Yards, once a Boston & Maine RR facility, we started back along the same route. Since the train was turned, we all were able to view the scenery from the opposite side of the train which was nice.
It took a little longer than expected to turn our train so I headed up to the concession car where I found some Amtrak pins and magnets to add to my collection. Unfortunately, there were no souvenirs of this trip available since the trip had only recently been approved and there was no time to produce T-shirts, pins etc for the trip. A big loss for Amtrak in sales but such is life.
Stopped to talk to Alice who was in another coach and then returned to my seat for the remainder of the ride. Enjoyed the new scenery on my side of the window. The nice box lunch from Panera Bread included a turkey sandwich with lettuce, tomato, etc. Oven baked chips, a super large chocolate chip cookie, and water. It came in a nice insulated carrying tote bag with the emblem of the trip...Amtrak train emerging from the Hoosac Tunnel, on the side.
My biggest concern was making sure our Express train returned to Albany in time to make my LSL 49 back to Cleveland on Saturday evening. The expected return time as 5:50pm but we were running at least 45 minutes late and I was a bit concerned about my connection. But the conductor was confident that we would arrive on time for both my train and a New York bound train that other passengers were wanting to board. After a brief stop in Schenectady to drop off those passengers, we moved quickly to Albany and we arrived around 6:30PM. WHEW!
I was scheduled to meet our AU friend Shanghai, who was riding the LSL to Chicago that evening. After lots of train maneuvering with all the track work taking place in Albany, sleeper passengers eventually boarded the train at 7:30.
Shanghai was waiting to meet me in the diner and we enjoyed some good conversation over a steak dinner. Our seatmates were from Las Vegas and had been on an Amtrak Vacations Tour of the east and were on their way back home via LSL and SWC. Finished off my meal with my favorite cheesecake dessert and then we said goodnight and made our way back to our sleeper in the 4912 Car.
Our SCA was a nice guy. Had the bed ready to go on our return and I sat up a while after calling my wife as the rain began to fall east of Utica. A bit of a bumpy ride but did manage to get some sleep. Our train arrived in Erie Pa only 30 minutes late but we soon came to a stop and sat on a siding for over two hours due to an accident involving a freight and a vehicle somewhere west of Erie. Got some sleep in the quiet car and eventually made it to Cleveland around 6am. Shanghai was up and heading to breakfast as I detrained and we said our well wishes as I walked up the platform to my car.
Then another hour long ride to get home and glad to see my wife and the cat after a long and exciting two days of riding trains. Lots of double points for those rides too
I highly recommend riding the Amtrak Autumn Express and hope they come up with a nice ride for 2016.
