by SST
For several months my friend and I talked about taking Amtrak from Depew to Niagara Falls so that we could view Buffalo Central Terminal from track side. As life would have it, something always got in the way and it took us a while to do it. Well we finally did it this past Sunday. Only $16 one-way.
WE drove to Niagara Falls and dropped off his Jeep. We then bought our one-way tickets there. The agent was great and told us that our train was at least 2 hours late. He said there is a lot of construction all over the place. He did say the train could make up time. We bought our tickets for the 2:50pm departure. The Maple Leaf.
There was an Amtrak train parked along the dead-end siding. Locomotive #702. Looks like they were doing maintenance work on one of the cars. After looking it over we then drove to the scenic falls to check out any potential “scenery” that maybe in the area. Nothing to make a note of so we hopped on the thruway back to Depew in my car.
When we arrived at the station we were advised that the train was in Syracuse and was 2 hours delayed. Not a serious problem though. Neither one of us had to be anywhere and we would just watch trains going by. Finally at 5:10pm the signals changed and off in the distance came the Maple Leaf. We boarded and were underway by 5:15 or so.
I had my new camera with me. It was agreed that my friend would take the still photos and I would take the movies. My first on the list was Frontier. Big mistake. Due to a rather long auto-rack train I only saw a brief glimpse of the entrance at Harlem Rd and then a brief glimpse of the exit near Old Broadway. Couldn’t see a thing. Oh well.
Of course the next big item and the reason for the whole trip is Central Terminal. But a surprise came into view. Somewhere very near Mills Welding is an original green and white Penn Central boxcar. I didn’t know it was there and therefore I didn’t get a picture of it. I didn’t have the best seat in the house so I didn’t have much of a forward view.
Well the Terminal came into view and of course that’s when the sun dimmed out behind the clouds. I filmed it anyway from the passenger platforms to the freight house. Despite the dirty tinted windows and no sun, it actually came out okay. It was kinda of exciting to be in a train rolling along side it. I recommend it to everyone.
After Central Terminal we stopped downtown and then departed. I don’t know if anyone got on or off. I wasn’t paying attention although there were a few cars parked there. When we departed we rolled underneath our little tunnels underneath Main st. Small scale NY City.
At this point I was sitting on the left side of the car so that I could see Lake Erie as we headed north. Then came the Niagara River and then the Black Rock Canal. It was an impressive view going underneath the Peace Bridge. I tried to get a picture of International Bridge but we were not in a good position to photograph it even though I could see it.
As we past the International Bridge and then the belt line I started to realize how big the rail yard was that existed there. Am I right that it was the ERIE between the Belt Line and the Bridge? I know the Belt line was NYC. Anyway it looked pretty big. There still are a few rails in the ground in random places. Lots of history around here.
As we moved north there were various businesses along the line with sidings in place. Most looked useable and some didn’t.
The next area that I wanted to record was the western end of the Peanut Line, still in service, and then cross over the Erie Canal. So as we approached the curve where we “deviate” from the original row of the NYC I jumped over to the right side of the train. Just then I remembered the train station below but it was too late to jump back. I missed. Anyway, we cross over Ellicott Creek and there is the ERIE trestle next to us. Then I see the Peanut coming so I turn on the camera and start recording. I get the Peanut and just as we are about to cross the Erie Canal I run out of memory and I miss the shot. Needless to say, I was mildly annoyed!
We passed through N. Tonawanda and I expected to accelerate in this section but we actually slow down. I think a lot of people jump the tracks in this area. I would say these are not “standard” crossings. Once we passed into Wheatfield we picked up speed.
As I discussed in a thread last year while bike riding I “found” the original tracks into Niagara Falls. It appeared that the Wheatfield water treatment plant was serviced by rail. Well, the view from Amtrak contradicted that. The original row is severed from the current line. No service available.
Next on the list is Niagara Falls Airport. We past near the approach lights and then the northern entrance near Lockport Rd. It was interesting to note how the siding that runs along Walmore rd is connected to the line. I always just assumed that it ran parallel to the track and then joined it. It actually does a big loop. If you’re headed toward Niagara Falls then the siding loops hard left to parallel Walmore Rd.
But the big eye opener for me was the size of the Niagara Falls rail yard. As we entered the yard I could tell that many many many rails have been ripped up. But there are still many switches with rails attached that are still on the ground. I could see that 5 or 10 rails would converge to one switch and then just a few yards was another switch with just and many rails converging to it and on and on it went. I never realized how big that Yard was. With out having done any research on it I would guess it was bigger than Frontier Yard is today. I’m going to fly over this area again and pay strict attention to it this time.
We pulled into the station and got off the train. We got into the Jeep and pulled around front to watch it depart. Loco #20 was on the lead. To be honest it was a let down coming into the Falls simply because the ride was to short. It was different riding Amtrak I think because I was actually going somewhere. I had a different feeling than riding an excursion train. An excursion is like; this is the way it was. Whereas with Amtrak; this is the way it is.
With all the talk about trimming and eliminating Amtrak I would strongly suggest that everyone try this at home.
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WE drove to Niagara Falls and dropped off his Jeep. We then bought our one-way tickets there. The agent was great and told us that our train was at least 2 hours late. He said there is a lot of construction all over the place. He did say the train could make up time. We bought our tickets for the 2:50pm departure. The Maple Leaf.
There was an Amtrak train parked along the dead-end siding. Locomotive #702. Looks like they were doing maintenance work on one of the cars. After looking it over we then drove to the scenic falls to check out any potential “scenery” that maybe in the area. Nothing to make a note of so we hopped on the thruway back to Depew in my car.
When we arrived at the station we were advised that the train was in Syracuse and was 2 hours delayed. Not a serious problem though. Neither one of us had to be anywhere and we would just watch trains going by. Finally at 5:10pm the signals changed and off in the distance came the Maple Leaf. We boarded and were underway by 5:15 or so.
I had my new camera with me. It was agreed that my friend would take the still photos and I would take the movies. My first on the list was Frontier. Big mistake. Due to a rather long auto-rack train I only saw a brief glimpse of the entrance at Harlem Rd and then a brief glimpse of the exit near Old Broadway. Couldn’t see a thing. Oh well.
Of course the next big item and the reason for the whole trip is Central Terminal. But a surprise came into view. Somewhere very near Mills Welding is an original green and white Penn Central boxcar. I didn’t know it was there and therefore I didn’t get a picture of it. I didn’t have the best seat in the house so I didn’t have much of a forward view.
Well the Terminal came into view and of course that’s when the sun dimmed out behind the clouds. I filmed it anyway from the passenger platforms to the freight house. Despite the dirty tinted windows and no sun, it actually came out okay. It was kinda of exciting to be in a train rolling along side it. I recommend it to everyone.
After Central Terminal we stopped downtown and then departed. I don’t know if anyone got on or off. I wasn’t paying attention although there were a few cars parked there. When we departed we rolled underneath our little tunnels underneath Main st. Small scale NY City.
At this point I was sitting on the left side of the car so that I could see Lake Erie as we headed north. Then came the Niagara River and then the Black Rock Canal. It was an impressive view going underneath the Peace Bridge. I tried to get a picture of International Bridge but we were not in a good position to photograph it even though I could see it.
As we past the International Bridge and then the belt line I started to realize how big the rail yard was that existed there. Am I right that it was the ERIE between the Belt Line and the Bridge? I know the Belt line was NYC. Anyway it looked pretty big. There still are a few rails in the ground in random places. Lots of history around here.
As we moved north there were various businesses along the line with sidings in place. Most looked useable and some didn’t.
The next area that I wanted to record was the western end of the Peanut Line, still in service, and then cross over the Erie Canal. So as we approached the curve where we “deviate” from the original row of the NYC I jumped over to the right side of the train. Just then I remembered the train station below but it was too late to jump back. I missed. Anyway, we cross over Ellicott Creek and there is the ERIE trestle next to us. Then I see the Peanut coming so I turn on the camera and start recording. I get the Peanut and just as we are about to cross the Erie Canal I run out of memory and I miss the shot. Needless to say, I was mildly annoyed!
We passed through N. Tonawanda and I expected to accelerate in this section but we actually slow down. I think a lot of people jump the tracks in this area. I would say these are not “standard” crossings. Once we passed into Wheatfield we picked up speed.
As I discussed in a thread last year while bike riding I “found” the original tracks into Niagara Falls. It appeared that the Wheatfield water treatment plant was serviced by rail. Well, the view from Amtrak contradicted that. The original row is severed from the current line. No service available.
Next on the list is Niagara Falls Airport. We past near the approach lights and then the northern entrance near Lockport Rd. It was interesting to note how the siding that runs along Walmore rd is connected to the line. I always just assumed that it ran parallel to the track and then joined it. It actually does a big loop. If you’re headed toward Niagara Falls then the siding loops hard left to parallel Walmore Rd.
But the big eye opener for me was the size of the Niagara Falls rail yard. As we entered the yard I could tell that many many many rails have been ripped up. But there are still many switches with rails attached that are still on the ground. I could see that 5 or 10 rails would converge to one switch and then just a few yards was another switch with just and many rails converging to it and on and on it went. I never realized how big that Yard was. With out having done any research on it I would guess it was bigger than Frontier Yard is today. I’m going to fly over this area again and pay strict attention to it this time.
We pulled into the station and got off the train. We got into the Jeep and pulled around front to watch it depart. Loco #20 was on the lead. To be honest it was a let down coming into the Falls simply because the ride was to short. It was different riding Amtrak I think because I was actually going somewhere. I had a different feeling than riding an excursion train. An excursion is like; this is the way it was. Whereas with Amtrak; this is the way it is.
With all the talk about trimming and eliminating Amtrak I would strongly suggest that everyone try this at home.
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