 Utica, NY | Empire Service | Schenectady, NY  |
| Maple Leaf |
Amsterdam is an intermediate stop on the two extended Empire Service Trains and the Maple Leaf. The Lake Shore Limited bypasses (and always has) the station. The city has been served continuously during the Amtrak era. The current small red brick station house with a gabled roof was built in approximately 1973 after the old New York Central Station was destroyed to facilitate the building of the ramps for the new NYS Route 30 Bridge along the Mohawk River about 2 miles east of today's station that is also along the river. The previous station was located in the heart of downtown Amsterdam while today's station is on the edge of town directly across from the Welcome to Amsterdam sign along Route 5 and lacks real sidewalk access. Plenty of signs in downtown Amsterdam direct passengers to the station. Most are standard highway sings except there is one old, totally unique green one with what looks like a streamliner and perhaps the NYS DOT T logo.
The small station house was staffed until about 1994 (The May 1994 timetable has the symbols for both an unstaffed station and one not open for all departures). A caretaker opened and closed the small waiting room (with the sealed, closed ticket office) until August 2011 when Hurricane Irene caused the Mohawk River to flood and inundate the station house. As of October 2013 the station house is still closed; fencing on all four sides surrounds it with signs saying "Station Under Renovation." There are a couple of dumpsters sitting the fenced off area for demolition debris. For waiting passengers two white domed bus stop style shelters have been erected in what were parking spots just east of the depot. Two Port-a-Johns provide restrooms next to the shelters. The shelters include built in benches and random serial numbers.
The station has two tracks with a simple and short low-level side platform directly along the depot. It is along the northern track about four cars can platform. One main and a secondary pedestrian crossing let the doors at each end of one car lines up with the southern track opposite the one that platforms. The edge of the simple tar platform is made of wood and is unsteady. There are a couple of yellow stools available (sitting on the platform) to make the step onto the train smaller but the uneven wooden edge means conductors have a hard time keeping the stools steady for passengers and they don't really help. Along the edge is a very simple painted yellow line. In addition to the already mentioned fenced off depot and shelters, the platform has two modern (delivered before Irene) metal platform signs at each end. There are a few more signs attached to the depot (these are a hybrid version, white but with the new Amtrak logo in blue) and the only information on train departure times is a bulletin board hanging on the station house within the construction site. The depot also has the remains of a PA system. Next to the shelters is the small, brown wheelchair lift enclosure, although with the unevenness of the platform it would be extremely hard to have a wheelchair board or detrain the south track via the grade crossings. Along the platform, between it and Main Street (Route 5) is a tiny 16 space parking lot that has no posted rules. The parking lot and station is across Main Street from a World War I memorial. There are two driveways into the parking lot. The directly at the entrance to the station is from Route 5 while a short driveway (with some ancient looking lampposts) leads west a short distance from the parking lot also to Route 5 to a traffic light shared with Guy Park Avenue across from the driveway.
All Photos taken on 4 October, 2013
