We Interrupt Your Daily Routine for an Amtrak Train

The Thursday morning plans of Ed Ribinskas did not include railfanning.

He planned to drop his wife, Ursula, off at a dentist appointment in Willoughby at 9:40 a.m., doing business at the post office on the way.

There were also plans to stop at the bank and a couple other places.

Then he saw that Amtrak’s eastbound Lake Shore Limited was running late and not due out of Cleveland until 8:30 a.m.

He also saw that No. 48 was being led by the Phase III P42DC heritage unit No. 145.

That got his mind to doing some figuring. If they left home at 8:40 a.m., they could hit the post office and make the one minute drive over to Railroad and Elm streets just east of the former New York Central passenger station in Painesville.

He got to the crossing at 9 a.m. and five minutes later No. 48 came charging past.

They made it to the dentist appointment with two minutes to spare.

No. 48 was late because it was stuck behind Amtrak’s eastbound Capitol Limited, which struck a vehicle at West Perry Road in Ligonier, Indiana.

Police reported that the driver of the motor vehicle, William Sanford, 41, of Warsaw, Indiana, was killed.

No. 30 was given a new crew at the scheduled station stop in Waterloo, Indiana, and arrive in Cleveland at 8:07 a.m., six hours and 22 minutes late.

No. 48 arrived in Cleveland at 8:20 a.m., two hours and 42 minutes late.

The police report said Sanford drove onto the railroad crossing in front of the Amtrak train at about 10:50 p.m. No Amtrak crew members or passengers were injured.

Tags: Amtrak, Amtrak P42 locomotives, Amtrak P42DC, Amtrak P42DC 145, Amtrak photography, Amtrak photos, Amtrak's Lake Shore Limited, Edward Ribinksas photographs, Painesville Ohio