Visiting friends, Rail fanning &
#Niagara Falls.
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Background:
Now that I have a community where I can share my experiences, It made me much more curious to travel and share them with you.
I have had a chance to travel by AMTRAK during my first visit in 2010 when I wished to Visit Niagara Falls from Chicago. We were a group of ex-collegues coming in from all parts of USA, all wanting to meet at Niagara Falls. But one of the group members cancelled which led to the cancellation by one after another. Among all, I was the only one who was traveling by train. I waited until the last day and got demotivated, forcing me too to cancel the journey.
During my next two visits, I didn't get a chance to plan this trip.
But during this trip, the fact that one of my friends staying about 200 kms to Niagara Falls, made me re plan and take up that Chicago-Niagara Falls- Chicago Journey.
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As soon as I was given a green signal by my family to travel to USA this year again, I made my Amtrak Bookings to Niagara Falls by a Resrved Coach seat on Lake Shore Limited Service.
/blog/post/1198356So the first weekend in USA is spent by Train Travel..
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Now the experience:
#Chicago (CHI) -
#Buffalo (BUF)
26 SEP 2014
I stay about 30 miles north west of Chicago from where my Amtrak service departs. But to get to downtown, I had three options of which all are complex
1. Drive in - Car parking issue
2. Union Pacific North West Metra Suburban RailRoad service connected by Pace suburban bus service 208 to my location of stay. Transfer at Cumberland or Des Plaines Metra stations.
3. Chicago Transit Authority CTA Metro Blue line connected by Pace suburban bus service 606 to my location of stay. Transfer at Rosemont CTA station.
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I chose to take option 2, in which I traveled many times earlier too. But since its a Double Decker, I chose this. I had to leave from my residence early before sunset because the in bound trains to Chicago are less in evenings and would dry up after 8 pm.
5:00 pm: I took the PACE bus service 208 to Cumberland metra station. Please note that there won't be ticket vending staff or machines at all stations. For the station as small as Cumberland, few of the express trains won't stop. I got down from the bus (One fare from anywhere to anywhere $1.75).
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5:40 pm: I found that the station was deserted. Checked at the time table in station and found that next inbound train is at 6:20 pm. So got some time do some rail fanning Captured the pics & vids of some passing through trains.
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6:20 pm: The Metra Inbound train to Chicago Ogle-vie Transportation Center arrived on time. Got into the lower deck since upper deck was full.
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7:10 pm: Got down from the Metra at Chicago OTC and walked into the Chicago Union Station (CHI) for my onward Amtrak Connection 48, Lake Shore Limited to Buffalo (BUF). God, I got to know that the train which was to depart at 9:30 pm would depart at 00:30 hrs due to the delay in arrival of the pairing train. Same was the case with Capital Limited bound for Washington, DC too. It was delayed by 5 hrs). The issue is, the train had arrived by then, but the same crew will return and they need rest. Nothing to do, went back to OTC to have Biriyani at the Indian Food outlet in the OTC food court.
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9:00 pm: Came back to CHI and sat down in the waiting lounges waiting for the time to tick 00:30. There were regular announcements of expected departure with a clause that it may change in the due course.
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27 SEP 2014
00:00 hrs the announcement at last was out" Your train is ready for boarding". Then started another havoc. We would have a reserved ticket but there won't be any seat number allotted. So you got to board first to get your seat of choice. But they would first let the Sr. Citizens and Disabled to board then followed by regular passengers. It took merely 30 minutes for me to cross the boarding gate. As the officer was delaying too much to let go one by one. There were crew standing near the door of each coach to let us know which coach to board based on where I would de-board. Lakeshore Limited would have a split rake towards Boston as well numbered 448/449. There won't be any destination boards displayed on these trains.
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1:00 pm : I am now on a reclinable leg rest seat just like our semi sleeper buses. The good part is that no one chose to sit beside me. There were lot of Indians travelling to BUF for Niagara with their families, visiting parents and friends. Lone travelers were less. So I happily fell asleep as I was almost at a crashing stage by then.
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6:00 am: I woke up early and found that We are still in Toledo (TOL), OH. Got confused. Anyway nothing that I could do. Went into the dining car and seated myself in a corner. Ordered for a continental breakfast with oat meal for $9. As I sat in, a Rail Enthusiast group from New Zealand came and occupied the place that is vacant. The group leader John sat infront of me.. They all had badges which read "Rail Enthusiasts from New Zealand".
The Newzealand group came in from SFO to CHI by California Zyphir and transferred to Lake shore limited for onward journey to New York
So I could easily bring them to talk with me about a lot of railways around the world. From the Darjeeling Himalayan Railway to Neelagiri Mountain Railway, to Shatabdi's to Durontos to Vancover Railway, London Tubes, American Railway, Hong Kong Trams, Japan High Speed train, etc,.. etc... I asked them about their experience in India. Few of them not visited scared of getting infected. :(. John visited in 1980 to Delhi.
Williams was another guy who was sitting along with us. John kept introducing me to everyone in his group. I spoke what we do as a Rail Enthusiast in India. What is IRI. How we help users with valuable information. ASked them if they have any such groups on Facebook or whereever. They didn't have one. All are Above 40s. They said it would be a good idea to start such forum in New Zealand too. They would give it a thought.
Chatted with the New Zealand team for good time. Soon we were at Sandusky (SKY), OH.
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9:00 am : We were at Elyria (ELY), OH. I got back to my seat and had a nap. The train was further dellayed while I was asleep.
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12:00 pm :I woke up and found that we had crossed Cleveland (CLE), OH of which I couldn't capture a pic. Hell lot of freight traffic. BOBYN, BNFS, Double Decker Concord, BTPN, RO-RO, etc...
I called up my friend to start late from SYR. Even if they start then, they would arrive at BUF before me.
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13:30 : Erie (ERI), PA. The train started hitting 130 kmph now. We don't find any intermediate stations at all. Lot of distance between station to station. All these stations are small when compared to what we see in India. Abandoned Platforms, buildings etc.. etc... US uses its railroad more for freight than passenger traffic.
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14:45: Finally the in train announcement came in saying, ":We are sorry for the delay, we are now approaching BUF for a smoke stop in next 15 minutes. People can get down, have a smoke and come back since the train will not stop anywhere for long durations until final destination. Thanks for riding Amtrak".
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15:00: We arrived at BUF, a good 6 HOURS late... My friend was waiting for me in the station. We would soon have to get running since we have less time to visit Niagara. We could make it there by 15:45 and got into the Maid of the Mist Cruise to get closer Niagara and took some good pictures enjoying the BLUE Water.
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An awful journey....Return trip was much more pathetic....Will write up soon.
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Pictures:
1. Me at Cumberland Metra Station
2. Chicago Union Station Main Building
3 & 4. Reserved Coach Seat Car inside
5: Toilet - Flight like
6 & 7: Dining Car Menu
8. My Breakfast - Continental Breakfast from the Menu $8.75
9: My new Rail Fanning Friends from New Zealand (John on the left - tour leader, William on the right, group member)
10: Dining Car inside view
11. Sandusky station Building in Ohio State. Code SKY
12:
#Sb of SKY
13: Lounge Car which serves Snacks & beverages (Soft, Hot & Alcoholic)
14. Wills (Sears) Towers from Union Station, 110 floors, once the world's highest tower.
15. Leg Room between the seats
16: Elyria Station Board, Ohia State. Code: ELY
17: Erie station abandoned Platforms. State Pennsylvania, Code: ERI
18.
#SB pic of ERI. Painted some one else..saying Union Station Erie. Which is not a Union Station.
19. The Semi Sleeper Seating in Coach Class.
20. Buffalo Station
#SB, Code: BUF, State: New York Up state.
21. Station Building BUF
22 & 23. The train that I rode
24. Coach Door from inside.
25 & 26. Niagara Falls
