New York City Trip Log - Getting There (Part 2)
In the previous entry of my New York City travel log, I talked about the first few hours of my trip. This entry will deal with the rest of the train ride. If the train runs too long, I will split it - but I hope it won't come to that. As before, this entry is partially based on notes I took during the trip.
Sleeping on Lake Shore Limited
During my previous Amtrak trips, I noticed that the seats were more comfortable and had more legroom than, say, airplane seats. They also had fairly comfortable leg rests. The windows had curtains. As with airplanes, the lights were dimmed to the minimum. And, considering all the cramped, uncomfortable places I've managed to fall asleep at over the years, I figured that sleeping on Lake Shore Limited wouldn't be that hard.
Except I slept in on Sunday, which didn't help my sleep cycle AT ALL.
I spent the next five hours twisting and turning every which way, trying to find a position I could fall asleep in. No luck. No luck at all. The lack of actual pillow didn't help (I used my jacket as a makeshift pillow - not the same thing). Along the way, I realized that, if I rolled myself into a ball, the bottom half of the seat and the leg rests were just barely big enough to serve as a makeshift bunk.
Not that it helped me sleep any.
At around 4:00 AM, I decided to take a little walk. My legs were cramping up and, heck, it wasn't like I was getting any sleep.
Turned out, the train stopped at the Cleveland station.
The station is a relatively modern building. It doubles as a stop for The Rapid - Cleveland's rail transit system. Fast trams travel from Cleveland suburbs into downtown and make a curve along Lake Erie, through the city's former industrial center. In the ideal world, the trains would drop off and pick off passengers when train is at the station, providing a convenient connection. But the sad reality of the current Amtrak schedules is that all Amtrak trains stop at Cleveland at the dead of night, long after the Rapid stops running.
It's hard to make out in the picture, but when I looked out the window, the Rapid tracks were clearly visible. Their presence taunted me with possibilities unfulfilled.
And, across the street, Tower City, which used to be Cleveland's Union Station, glowed in the darkness.
Just then, the train took off. I sat in the lounge, trying to get some shots of the passing Rapid stations, but the train moved too fast to let me capture anything but smeared blurs. So I decided to go back to my seat and tried to catch more sleep.
I gave up at 7:00 AM. I went to one of the coach car's bathrooms and went through the morning ritual. There was no shower - that privilege is reserved for sleeping class passengers - but I could do just about everything else. The bathroom even had sockets for electric razors and hairdryers.
When I got out, I was surprised that there was nobody else waiting to use it. Most passengers were still sleeping.
Breakfast in the Dining Car - 8:00 AM
Most Amtrak long-distance trains have dining cars. Lake Shore Limited's dining car was special because it was "heritage." That's Amtrak-speak for older train cars it inherited from private railroads. This dining car had a built-in kitchen. As in, a kitchen were you can actually cook food from scratch. During the Bush (Jr) years, Lake Shore Limited replaced the heritage dining cars with a more modern dining cars that didn't have a built-in kitchen - just a place where you could heat up frozen food. Long-time passengers swear that the food got worse. During the Obama Administration, the heritage dining cars were returned to service, and the passengers were happy again.
With all that in mind, it was only natural that I would want to try to get breakfast at a dining car.
Now, I knew that if you wanted to eat at a dining car, you had to make a reservation. A dining car attendant was supposed to walk around and take them. But that didn't happen. So, at 8:00 AM, I decided to check out the dining car and see what was going on.
When I walked in, one of the attendants directed to one of the open tables:
"But what about the reservations?" I asked.
"What reservations? We don't need reservations. Come on, sit down."
And so I did.
I ordered something mid-range. Amtrak food is always a little overpriced, but I decided that I had enough money not to go for the cheapest option. So I would up ordering scrambled eggs with potatoes and sausages. The breakfast came with a complimentary coffee and juice, and refills were free.
I tried to take pictures of the dining car menu. When the attendant noticed, she told me I could take the menu, which was certainly... unexpected. Welcome, but unexpected. But since you readers don't have a copy, I am going to post a picture of it anyway.
On dining cars, nobody gets to sit alone unless the train is really, really underbooked. I ate my breakfast with a pleasant 30-something man. He picked up on my accent pretty quickly and asked me where I was from.
After nearly 14 years in this country, I knew exactly how it was going to play out. But he surprised me. He knew more Russian words than most Americans did. He had some grasp on Russian geography (he knew where Vladivostok was) and demonstrated a decent grasp on Russian history. But most surprisingly, he actually saw Nu Pogodi - a popular Soviet Looney-Toons-style cartoon about a wolf chasing a rabbit. After nearly 14 years in this country, this was the first time I ever heard an American mention Nu Pogodi. He said that he saw it on Youtube. He mentioned that he has a Russian friend, which would explain his better-than-average Russia-related knowledge, but I couldn't help but wonder if there was more to his story than that.
Oh, and as it turned out, you are expected to tip dining car attendants. Not a big deal - just something unexpected.
Riding past Buffalo, NY - 8:50 EST
The city of Buffalo used to be a bustling manufacturing hub and a sizable manufacturing center. But, like so many towns of this nature, its economy has been declining since the 60s as industry tricked out. The results are... sobering.
As the train approached the city station, it passed by the Buffalo Central Station. During the city's glory days, it was the city's biggest rail terminal. But as rail travel declined, so did the station. It was abandoned in the 1980s. Its current owner insists that it doesn't have the money to repair the property, so it is letting it rot until someone takes the station off its hands.
Today, Amtrak stops at Buffalo-Depew Station, which, as the name suggests, is actually located outside Buffalo, in the nearby city of Depew. Shortly after the passenger train stopped, the members of the U.S. Border Patrol got on the train and went through to check everybody's documents.
I was sitting at the lounge, talking to a retired marine. He wore a "United States Marine Corps Veteran" cap, and the short sleeves of his shirt revealed a U.S. Marines tattoo. He was visiting his daughter, who teaches in South Bend, Indiana. He told me about all the places he's been to during the service, all the cities he visited. He barely saw any combat, but he still had plenty of interesting stories to tell.
When the Border Patrol walked past us, they asked me for my ID. But they took one look at the man I was talking to and told him:
"Don't worry, sir - you don't have to show us anything."
I guess that's military solidarity for you.
Rochester, NY - 10:12 EST
Rochester surprised me. It was supposed to be one of the wealthiest cities in the state of New York. At first, the view outside the window seemed to bear it out.
But when it pulled up to the station, I saw... this:
It was clear that Rochester's Amtrak station used to be much busier than it is now. The abandoned platforms indicated as much. But I could not understand how the city as wealthy as Rochester would have a station that looks so.. decayed. Surely, the city could spare a few thousand dollars to at least put a new roof on the platform shelter. Galesburg could afford to maintain its station. Elkhart could afford to maintain its station. Why couldn't Rochester?
Riding and Sleeping through New York - 16:00 EST
After chatting with the Marines veteran for a while, I decided to get back to my seat. I felt a little sleepy, and I figured I would take a little nap.
That nap would up lasting until a little over noon. The sleep that eluded me for the entire night caught up with me in vengeance and did not let me go until I was more or less rested.
When I did wake up, the world outside was covered with snow.
I called Randi to see if there was snowing in New York City, but she assured me that no, there was no snow. It was raining a little, but that was it.
I went back to the dining car to get myself some lunch. Out of curiosity, I decided to get something called the "Angus Burger." It turned out to be... a large, juicy burger. Go figure.
Once again, beverages were complimentary, so I decided to get myself some tea.
After paying for my lunch, I went back to the lounge. Even though it was snowing like mad, there were some surprisingly cool views.
It was hard not to be impressed by the size of the mountains. Even in this weather, they looked staggeringly tall. I don't think I have ever seen mountains this tall in real life. The clouds covering the mountaintops only added to their mystique.
At Ultica station, I saw Adirondak Scenic Railroad train. This tourist-orientated railroad takes riders around Adirondak mountains. Interestingly, some trains run during the winter, around the holiday season.
At 3:35 PM, Lake Shore Limited arrived at Albany-Rensselaer Rail Station. This is where the New York and Boston section of the train would normally be split up. It is also the place where the train changes locomotives. In order to enter the New York Penn Station, the Lake Shore Limited has to switch to a hybrid locomotive that can draw power from the third rail (more on that later).
The train arrived late, so it only spent half an hour at the station. But half an hour was more than enough. The passengers were allowed to leave the train and walk around. They just couldn't leave the station.
And it looks like I am going to have to cut off this post after all. Hopefully, I'll be able to fit in the rest of my Amtrak trip to New York City in the next part.
Sleeping on Lake Shore Limited
During my previous Amtrak trips, I noticed that the seats were more comfortable and had more legroom than, say, airplane seats. They also had fairly comfortable leg rests. The windows had curtains. As with airplanes, the lights were dimmed to the minimum. And, considering all the cramped, uncomfortable places I've managed to fall asleep at over the years, I figured that sleeping on Lake Shore Limited wouldn't be that hard.
Except I slept in on Sunday, which didn't help my sleep cycle AT ALL.
I spent the next five hours twisting and turning every which way, trying to find a position I could fall asleep in. No luck. No luck at all. The lack of actual pillow didn't help (I used my jacket as a makeshift pillow - not the same thing). Along the way, I realized that, if I rolled myself into a ball, the bottom half of the seat and the leg rests were just barely big enough to serve as a makeshift bunk.
Not that it helped me sleep any.
At around 4:00 AM, I decided to take a little walk. My legs were cramping up and, heck, it wasn't like I was getting any sleep.
Turned out, the train stopped at the Cleveland station.
The station is a relatively modern building. It doubles as a stop for The Rapid - Cleveland's rail transit system. Fast trams travel from Cleveland suburbs into downtown and make a curve along Lake Erie, through the city's former industrial center. In the ideal world, the trains would drop off and pick off passengers when train is at the station, providing a convenient connection. But the sad reality of the current Amtrak schedules is that all Amtrak trains stop at Cleveland at the dead of night, long after the Rapid stops running.
It's hard to make out in the picture, but when I looked out the window, the Rapid tracks were clearly visible. Their presence taunted me with possibilities unfulfilled.
And, across the street, Tower City, which used to be Cleveland's Union Station, glowed in the darkness.
Just then, the train took off. I sat in the lounge, trying to get some shots of the passing Rapid stations, but the train moved too fast to let me capture anything but smeared blurs. So I decided to go back to my seat and tried to catch more sleep.
I gave up at 7:00 AM. I went to one of the coach car's bathrooms and went through the morning ritual. There was no shower - that privilege is reserved for sleeping class passengers - but I could do just about everything else. The bathroom even had sockets for electric razors and hairdryers.
When I got out, I was surprised that there was nobody else waiting to use it. Most passengers were still sleeping.
Breakfast in the Dining Car - 8:00 AM
Most Amtrak long-distance trains have dining cars. Lake Shore Limited's dining car was special because it was "heritage." That's Amtrak-speak for older train cars it inherited from private railroads. This dining car had a built-in kitchen. As in, a kitchen were you can actually cook food from scratch. During the Bush (Jr) years, Lake Shore Limited replaced the heritage dining cars with a more modern dining cars that didn't have a built-in kitchen - just a place where you could heat up frozen food. Long-time passengers swear that the food got worse. During the Obama Administration, the heritage dining cars were returned to service, and the passengers were happy again.
With all that in mind, it was only natural that I would want to try to get breakfast at a dining car.
Now, I knew that if you wanted to eat at a dining car, you had to make a reservation. A dining car attendant was supposed to walk around and take them. But that didn't happen. So, at 8:00 AM, I decided to check out the dining car and see what was going on.
When I walked in, one of the attendants directed to one of the open tables:
"But what about the reservations?" I asked.
"What reservations? We don't need reservations. Come on, sit down."
And so I did.
I ordered something mid-range. Amtrak food is always a little overpriced, but I decided that I had enough money not to go for the cheapest option. So I would up ordering scrambled eggs with potatoes and sausages. The breakfast came with a complimentary coffee and juice, and refills were free.
I tried to take pictures of the dining car menu. When the attendant noticed, she told me I could take the menu, which was certainly... unexpected. Welcome, but unexpected. But since you readers don't have a copy, I am going to post a picture of it anyway.
On dining cars, nobody gets to sit alone unless the train is really, really underbooked. I ate my breakfast with a pleasant 30-something man. He picked up on my accent pretty quickly and asked me where I was from.
After nearly 14 years in this country, I knew exactly how it was going to play out. But he surprised me. He knew more Russian words than most Americans did. He had some grasp on Russian geography (he knew where Vladivostok was) and demonstrated a decent grasp on Russian history. But most surprisingly, he actually saw Nu Pogodi - a popular Soviet Looney-Toons-style cartoon about a wolf chasing a rabbit. After nearly 14 years in this country, this was the first time I ever heard an American mention Nu Pogodi. He said that he saw it on Youtube. He mentioned that he has a Russian friend, which would explain his better-than-average Russia-related knowledge, but I couldn't help but wonder if there was more to his story than that.
Oh, and as it turned out, you are expected to tip dining car attendants. Not a big deal - just something unexpected.
Riding past Buffalo, NY - 8:50 EST
The city of Buffalo used to be a bustling manufacturing hub and a sizable manufacturing center. But, like so many towns of this nature, its economy has been declining since the 60s as industry tricked out. The results are... sobering.
As the train approached the city station, it passed by the Buffalo Central Station. During the city's glory days, it was the city's biggest rail terminal. But as rail travel declined, so did the station. It was abandoned in the 1980s. Its current owner insists that it doesn't have the money to repair the property, so it is letting it rot until someone takes the station off its hands.
Today, Amtrak stops at Buffalo-Depew Station, which, as the name suggests, is actually located outside Buffalo, in the nearby city of Depew. Shortly after the passenger train stopped, the members of the U.S. Border Patrol got on the train and went through to check everybody's documents.
I was sitting at the lounge, talking to a retired marine. He wore a "United States Marine Corps Veteran" cap, and the short sleeves of his shirt revealed a U.S. Marines tattoo. He was visiting his daughter, who teaches in South Bend, Indiana. He told me about all the places he's been to during the service, all the cities he visited. He barely saw any combat, but he still had plenty of interesting stories to tell.
When the Border Patrol walked past us, they asked me for my ID. But they took one look at the man I was talking to and told him:
"Don't worry, sir - you don't have to show us anything."
I guess that's military solidarity for you.
Rochester, NY - 10:12 EST
Rochester surprised me. It was supposed to be one of the wealthiest cities in the state of New York. At first, the view outside the window seemed to bear it out.
But when it pulled up to the station, I saw... this:
It was clear that Rochester's Amtrak station used to be much busier than it is now. The abandoned platforms indicated as much. But I could not understand how the city as wealthy as Rochester would have a station that looks so.. decayed. Surely, the city could spare a few thousand dollars to at least put a new roof on the platform shelter. Galesburg could afford to maintain its station. Elkhart could afford to maintain its station. Why couldn't Rochester?
Riding and Sleeping through New York - 16:00 EST
After chatting with the Marines veteran for a while, I decided to get back to my seat. I felt a little sleepy, and I figured I would take a little nap.
That nap would up lasting until a little over noon. The sleep that eluded me for the entire night caught up with me in vengeance and did not let me go until I was more or less rested.
When I did wake up, the world outside was covered with snow.
I called Randi to see if there was snowing in New York City, but she assured me that no, there was no snow. It was raining a little, but that was it.
I went back to the dining car to get myself some lunch. Out of curiosity, I decided to get something called the "Angus Burger." It turned out to be... a large, juicy burger. Go figure.
Once again, beverages were complimentary, so I decided to get myself some tea.
After paying for my lunch, I went back to the lounge. Even though it was snowing like mad, there were some surprisingly cool views.
It was hard not to be impressed by the size of the mountains. Even in this weather, they looked staggeringly tall. I don't think I have ever seen mountains this tall in real life. The clouds covering the mountaintops only added to their mystique.
At Ultica station, I saw Adirondak Scenic Railroad train. This tourist-orientated railroad takes riders around Adirondak mountains. Interestingly, some trains run during the winter, around the holiday season.
At 3:35 PM, Lake Shore Limited arrived at Albany-Rensselaer Rail Station. This is where the New York and Boston section of the train would normally be split up. It is also the place where the train changes locomotives. In order to enter the New York Penn Station, the Lake Shore Limited has to switch to a hybrid locomotive that can draw power from the third rail (more on that later).
The train arrived late, so it only spent half an hour at the station. But half an hour was more than enough. The passengers were allowed to leave the train and walk around. They just couldn't leave the station.
And it looks like I am going to have to cut off this post after all. Hopefully, I'll be able to fit in the rest of my Amtrak trip to New York City in the next part.