I arrived at the station around 11:15pm only to find that Train #49 was running about 45 minutes late as it was set to arrive at 12:30am. I also realized that I not only left $17.00 in quarters at home in the trunk of my car but also had worn my work loafers to the station instead of my new New Balance Sneakers which would mean I’d need to pick up a pair of garbage sneakers on the trip as there was no way in “H E Double Hockey Sticks” I was gonna wear loafer shoes in an Amusement Park!!! Oh well, I guess I can be a clutz every once in awhile! I said goodbye to my parents (Thanks for once again driving me to the station at that late hour!) and stepped inside and had a nice conversation with a group of first-time passengers who would be heading to Chicago for the first time by train. I told them what they would be able to look forward to once they arrived there, including a 3 block walk to the Sears Tower which I visited last year! Shortly after I grabbed a Diet Pepsi from the vending machine, the Assistant Conductor took our tickets while we were all waiting inside the station. Train #49’s crew usually switches in Buffalo and runs to Toledo so the fact that the AC was already here was likely why she decided to collect tickets beforehand and hand out seat checks. After giving her my ticket, I walked outside to the platform to get set to take a night photo of the train. CSX Train Q-159 came by and stopped for a crew change down the tracks. Train #49 arrived in Depew at 12:28am, I took my night photo and sprinted down the platform with 2 suitcases, a camera bag and a tripod (oh how my feet hurt, ouch!!!! I’ll never wear loafers on an Amtrak Trip again!) I boarded Amfleet II Coach #25060 and eventually found a seat next to a passenger from Utica who was on his way to Cleveland for a concert. I started chatting with a couple passengers behind me briefly before settling into my seat. We left Buffalo-Depew at 12:38am, running 43 minutes late, though for this train, 43 minutes late isn’t bad. I got a quick phone call from one of my buddies who was working on CP Rail in Indiana. I had an interesting conversation with the passenger sitting next to me about classic cars before heading into the Café Car. We had an Amfleet II Café Car #28005 which had the old smoking lounge that the Assistant Conductor took up as her office. Of course now, there is no smoking allowed on Amtrak Trains anymore and thus the door from the smoking lounge was gone, the Assistant Conductor had stated in Buffalo that smoking breaks would be permitted in Cleveland and possibly South Bend. The consist for tonight's train is shown at the bottom of this page...
   I set up shop in the café car and started writing this travelogue. We stayed on Track #1 from somewhere past Buffalo to CP-47 where we would switch to Track #2 At CP-73, it was back to Track #1 as our station stop was coming up in Erie , PA. At 2:09am, we arrived in Erie at our next stop and left there at 2:11am running 50 minutes late. After leaving Erie, I continued chatting with the passenger next to me who would be getting off the train in Cleveland . We had one rather long speed restriction in the area around Ashtabula. We were able to pass CSX Train Q-113 between CP-134 and CP-140. A couple passengers sitting across from me had a GPS unit hooked up to their laptop which provided a detailed street level map of where the train was, it’s truly amazing that this is possible, you can literally know exactly where you are at virtually any time in your trip, that computer made my little Magellan SportTrac Pro GPS look like a baby toy!
   At the Eastlake Hot Box Detector, we switch to AAR Channel 59 on the railroad radio, this is 160.995Mhz. CSX added this channel in after their takeover of their portion of the Chicago Line from Conrail in 1999. I took a walk through the train to jot down car numbers from the coaches, then at Cleveland, where we arrived at 3:46am, I sprinted down the platform again in totally the wrong shoes to get the rest of the car numbers before sprinting back to the train to reboard in time! We left Cleveland at 3:57am running 37 minutes late. I then had a conversation with the passengers sitting behind me about a variety of topics. This was by far the one Amtrak train that at even at that hour of the night, there were lots of people still awake in my coach! I didn’t have a passenger sitting next to me for the rest of the trip to Sandusky. We had one red signal at CP DRAWBRIDGE just West of the station that held us up for a few minutes. We stopped in Elyria, OH and maybe picked up and dropped off one passenger before leaving there at 4:35am. At Sandusky, the Assistant Conductor told me which door would be open to get off the train plus we had a nice conversation about Amtrak before the train arrived in Sandusky at 5:07am. The train made a double spot as 1 sleeper passenger had to get off before I did.
   After grabbing my bags, I noticed on the platform in Sandusky that there is no payphone (no biggie, I have a cell phone) nor a phonebook, so I couldn’t call a cab (OK, now we have a problem!). The metal framework for the payphone however was still intact, could the phone have been stolen maybe??? I ended up getting a bus ride from the Sandusky Transit System to my hotel, the Econo Lodge on Cleveland Rd, in Sandusky. I was able to get an early check-in, I went to my room, took a much needed shower and finished up this Travelogue, and wow am I tired, having been awake about 20 hours! And so ends a long but good Day 1 of this vacation.