Elyria, OH (Amtrak's Lake Shore and Capitol Limiteds)

Elyria, OH is a station on the Lake Shore Limited and Capitol Limited and has been an Amtrak station since Amtrak reinstated on service on the Water Level Route in 1975. The station’s building burned down on October 25, 2013 with passenger amenities now limited to a bus shelter.

The station is located on an elevated embankment just east of where the tracks cross over Bridge Street. The station itself consists of a low-level (below track-level) platform on the southern side of the 3 track ex-New York Central mainline. A train can stop on the middle track (opening) one door at a small track crossing to a small asphalt boarding area. There is no platform for the north track. For passengers there is a small black shelter with a built in bench on one side and a few sets of additional black attached chairs on the opposite side. Next to the shelter is an Amtrak information panel and a wheelchair lift enclosure down the platforms. There is one outdoor wooden bench in front of the information panel. The platform is lined with a few modern silver Elyria, OH platform signs.

To leave the platform passengers head down a concrete ramp that switchbacks once to a parking area below the platform. There is a small paved parking area with two Accessible parking spaces. The rest of the parking lot leads back to an area that’s either unpaved or paved with brick. Access to the station is from an entrance area shared with a building for the Lorrain County Health and Dentistry and requires passing by an abandoned industrial winch. The station entrance by the intersection of East River Street and Buckeye Street contains an old Amtrak pointless arrow blue "Rail Passenger Station" sign.
Photos 1-35: August 11, 2019

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Sign for the Rail Passenger Station by the brick entrance driveway with the station in the background

The industrial wench at the station entrance

The pillar for the businesses at the station and the separate Rail Passenger Station sign

The industrial winch a hazard to cars entering the station's parking lot

The parking lot's pavement is made of different surfaces

The ADA parking area that has been modernized and well paved

An ADA parking space and lookout area from the elevated platform above

At the bottom of the ramp, the only way up the grassy embankment to the train platform

Looking up at the platform's Amtrak information panel

Looking down the ramp and past the platform's shelter

Station information and the two train timetables for the two trains in each direction that stop at Elyria in the wee hours of the night

A very vague traveling on Amtrak information panel for an unstaffed station saying a caretaker or volunteer may be on site and that Trains May Be Late.

A crack has formed in the middle of the platform

Another this is an unstaffed Amtrak facility sign and how to get reservation

Inside the shelter with both the built-in bench and extra seating

Looking the other way in the shelter. This set of benches by the entrance may violate the ADA since a wheelchair can't enter the shelter

Outside the station's shelter

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