During my short time as Asst. Track Supervisor at Collinwood, March - June 1966, 25, 26 (the Century) and 27 (New England States) ran via the Lakefront. 28 (NE States) ran through the Terminal. Tracks 1 and 2 on the Lakefront were therefore passenger mains, and an official of the Lake Division Track Dept. had to ride the rear of a passenger train over them once every week (or two). It was mostly deadhead time, because the west end of the Lake Division was BE at Berea, and there were no stops between Cleveland and Toledo.
I usually paired off with our Division Engineer of Track, driving with him to Toledo to catch 26, and then picking him up at Collinwood. That was the only eastward passenger train on the Lakefront, so he had to ride the rear of the obs. Tough duty, but it ate into my supper time. Gary got to eat in the diner on 26. No. 4 (Mail and Express) was the other eastward first-class train on the Lakefront, but he spent an hour or so at the mail hall around 3.00 a.m. and that was not really desirable. He didn't have a diner, either.
We usually used 27 the other way, because it was just easier during the VERY early morning hours. No worry about getting into the observation car at 3:30 a.m. - there was none.
One Saturday morning I had to go to a meeting in Toledo, and I rode out on 201 from the Terminal with John Thompson, our Track Supervisor at Linndale and a real, true great guy to work with. We were standing out on the rear platform across the Cuyahoga River Bridge and through Linndale, but then we started picking up speed and the moving air commenced to become uncomfortable. John suggested that we might be better off inside the door looking out, and I agreed. Just as we closed the vestibule door behind us, one of our passengers flushed the hopper in the car ahead and we were treated to the sight and sound of "Splat, Splat, Splat" on the window of the vestibule door. John just looked at me, grinning, and said, "That was good timing, eh?"