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Passenger Trains > Lake Shore Ltd trip reportDate: 08/24/16 13:39 Lake Shore Ltd trip report Author: march_hare My boy and I rode out to Chicago on the Late for Sure overnight. Better trip than I had imagined in some ways.
First, no Boston section this week, so no switching at Albany-Rensselaer. They managed to lose time during the station stop anyway. Dunno about this. How come every Lake Shore I've been on loses at AR? I honestly don't believe I have ever left westbound on time. They did do an engine change, slowly enough for our roomette to get quite warm and stuffy. But it cooled down nicely once the HEP came back on. Down about 15 min on departure. Tried to locate somebody for a dinner reservation prior to,departure and was told 8 PM at the earliest. Not a good hour to wait with an autistic kid on board, so I inquired about room delivery. No problem there. Then, a few minutes later, one of the dining staff came by and offered immediate seating prior to departure. Jumped at the chance there. Turkey meatballs were pretty good, and the beef semi-stew was as well. Microwaved to be sure, but I'd compare it to first class airline fare. And they serve a micro brew IPA, so they were on my good side. Dining car car staff was first rate, under difficult conditions. My previous experience with an amdinette in LD service was two years ago on the Cardinal, and it was an unmitigated disaster. Understaffed, with a well meaning but rookie waiter, and a supervisor who really missed her calling in a hospital morgue, or some other place where you don't interact with the public. This time, a crew of 4, one doing all the chef duties, plus two waitstaff and one supervisor. Not sure what the job titles are these days, but they worked together well as a team. Bantering back and forth, you could tell they'd worked together before. But they did stow crap on two of the tables, diminishing their peak seating capacity at a time when there were people waiting. And the trash bags in the aisle in front of the center cooking/serving station are obstructive and unsightly to say the least. There's got to be a better way to handle trash than this. The Water Level Route up the Mohawk Valley has some god awful track surfacing! Between St Johnsville and Utica, hit several stretches with intense side to side shaking. Worst ride I've had in a decade or more. An an hour down by sunrise, and pretty much maintained that all the way to Chicago. NS track work clearly a better ride, also appeared to have a lot more freight traffic than CSX. The signage at Chicago Union really needs to be improved. Upon arrival on the south side of the station there is not a single sign anywhere of how to get to the north side. (Or even an indication that there is a north side). If I hadn't been to CUS many times before, I would have been utterly dazed. Really really poor design. The only indication is a couple of small signs referring to even or odd track numbers, but they don't tell you where to go and the pictogram they use is the sort of thing most places use to indicate light rail or trolley connections. The European folks I talked to were baffled. Now esconced at the HI Express next to the Aurora Metra station, watching trains out the window. Tomorrow going to a number of good watching locations along the racetrack. Date: 08/24/16 19:11 Re: Lake Shore Ltd trip report Author: UP951West Be sure to post your shots along the racetrack.
Date: 08/24/16 22:51 Re: Lake Shore Ltd trip report Author: wzd Ah, yes, that great side to side shaking in the diner - same thing happened to me back in April.
It feels like the train is about to become airborne or otherwise leave the tracks. At that point we still had a full diner - happened to be the Viewliner Diner Prototype. Date: 08/25/16 03:41 Re: Lake Shore Ltd trip report Author: mp51w The Comfort Suites at Aurora is now a Holiday Inn express?
Date: 08/25/16 06:34 Re: Lake Shore Ltd trip report Author: joemvcnj Yep.
http://bit.ly/2blh25j Just a short METRA train ride from Amtrak at Naperville. I think a good alternative expensive and dangerous Chicago. Date: 08/25/16 07:21 Re: Lake Shore Ltd trip report Author: march_hare You want rooms in the even 3000 series. Unless you don't like the sound of HEP generators at 5AM.
No problem for us. We're there now. Pesky landscapers have mostly obscured view of the BNSF freight main. Posted from iPhone Date: 08/25/16 10:19 Re: Lake Shore Ltd trip report Author: njmidland I was on the AAPRACO trip a couple of years ago. If I didn't know what routes Amtrak uses, I would have sworn that the ex-Erie from Buffalo to Binghamton was a passenger mainline and the ex-NYC from Syracuse to Schnectedy was some broken down branch. Roughest ride in the last 20 years!
Date: 08/25/16 13:15 Re: Lake Shore Ltd trip report Author: kbmiflyer mp51w Wrote:
------------------------------------------------------- > The Comfort Suites at Aurora is now a Holiday Inn > express? Yes, it converted last year. Unfortunately they dropped most of the railroad memorabila but it is much nicer and very modern. The other unfortunate part is that room rates seem to be much more expensive (I am having a hard time finding a rate under $150 on weekends, and it is over $225 labor day weekend). Still a great place to watch trains. The only hotel on a rail line in Chicago that I know of. Date: 08/25/16 13:36 Re: Lake Shore Ltd trip report Author: Lackawanna484 Several people have mentioned that the Lake Shore seems to tak about the same amount of time in Albany, with or without dealing in the Boston cars.. That was true during last year's bustitution, too.
Date: 08/25/16 17:45 Re: Lake Shore Ltd trip report Author: jp1822 Lackawanna484 Wrote:
------------------------------------------------------- > Several people have mentioned that the Lake Shore > seems to tak about the same amount of time in > Albany, with or without dealing in the Boston > cars.. That was true during last year's > bustitution, too. This train can be on time all the way to nearly the bumping post at Chicago and encounter some random delay that will make it 30 or 45 minutes late. The stop in Albany has been "studied" endlessly into how to improve it - get the Lake Shore in and then get it out. Eastbound - of the FEW times I've taken this train - it does seekk ti do better. Date: 08/26/16 04:36 Re: Lake Shore Ltd trip report Author: DavidP There hasn't been any switching of the LSL at Albany for well over a year, with the exception of the power change. The 448/449 stub train arrives and departs from an adjacent track to 48/49. Even before Amtrak dropped the through cars the switching had been reduced to two moves - removing/adding the P32ACDM on 48/49 and separating/combining the two sections between the second and third coaches. Power ran through from Chicago to Boston. Not sure why this seems so complicated.
Dave Date: 08/26/16 12:48 Re: Lake Shore Ltd trip report Author: sums007 They are still planning to resume thru service from Boston on Tuesday, October 4.
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