Lake Shore Limited discussion 2023 Q4 - 2024

[caravanman]

Just want to follow up on the bus substation from Boston to Albany. The bus did have an Amtrak attendant and he handed out snacks and water at the start of the trip. Thanks to this site I also brought food and glad I did. It made the trip bearable. I don't recommend this route though and I would look to circumvent it in the future.

Just as a matter of interest, did all passengers receive snacks, or just sleeper passengers?

 

[mldev]

Just as a matter of interest, did all passengers receive snacks, or just sleeper passengers?

All passengers received snacks and a small bottle of water.

 

[caravanman]

All passengers received snacks and a small bottle of water.

Strange that didn't happen on my journey from Albany to Boston a few weeks ago... I wonder who got all those snacks? A lot of Amtrak workers do seem to be a little overweight...

 

[Rasputin]

Just want to follow up on the bus substation from Boston to Albany. The bus did have an Amtrak attendant and he handed out snacks and water at the start of the trip. Thanks to this site I also brought food and glad I did. It made the trip bearable. I don't recommend this route though and I would look to circumvent it in the future.

The Boston - Albany bustitution route is certainly a disappointing experience and one that I will plan to avoid if possible. The train route, however, when it runs, is usually a pleasant experience and I always look forward to the nice run along the Westfield River in western Massachusetts.

 

[railiner]

Just want to follow up on the bus substation from Boston to Albany. The bus did have an Amtrak attendant and he handed out snacks and water at the start of the trip.

I am curious about this…
Do you know if it was an OBS attendant, who normally would staff the train, or could it have been a station employee who just boarded the bus to pass them out, and then exited before departure?

 

[mldev]

I don't know what OBS means. The person wore an Amtrak uniform and remained on the bus throughout the journey. He collected the tickets and seemed to be in touch with a dispatcher regarding additional passenger pickups etc. The bus driver announced at the beginning of the trip that the bus was a private coach under contract with Amtrak.

 

[jis]

I don't know what OBS means. The person wore an Amtrak uniform and remained on the bus throughout the journey. He collected the tickets and seemed to be in touch with a dispatcher regarding additional passenger pickups etc. The bus driver announced at the beginning of the trip that the bus was a private coach under contract with Amtrak.

OBS stands for On Board Service. However, the person you describe would seem to be a Conductor or Assistant Conductor who would be part of the T&E (train and Engine) staff. They are the only ones authorized to collect tickets, and typically the only ones who would be wearing a fancy cap (and uniform)

 

[zephyr17]

OBS stands for On Board Service. However, the person you describe would seem to be a Conductor or Assistant Conductor who would be part of the T&E (train and Engine) staff. They are the only ones authorized to collect tickets, and typically the only ones who would be wearing a fancy cap (and uniform)

Seems odd to have a conductor on a bustitution. I have never been on a regular Thruway or a bustitution where there has been a conductor or T&E crew. The last Amtrak bus I was on was a normal scheduled Thruway codeshare with Cantrail. The Cantrail driver scanned the ticket. The one time I was on bustitution from point of origin was LA-Santa Barabara on a Starlight bustitution due to bridge work at Montalvo. There was no conductor on the bus, and I seem to recall someone just looked at the boarding pass when boarding the the bus. I think it didn't get scanned until I got on the train at Santa Barbara.

 

[jis]

Seems odd to have a conductor on a bustitution. I have never been on a regular Thruway or a bustitution where there has been a conductor or T&E crew. The last Amtrak bus I was on was a normal scheduled Thruway codeshare with Cantrail. The Cantrail driver scanned the ticket. The one time I was on bustitution from point of origin was LA-Santa Barabara on a Starlight bustitution due to bridge work at Montalvo. There was no conductor on the bus, and I seem to recall someone just looked at the boarding pass when boarding the the bus. I think it didn't get scanned until I got on the train at Santa Barbara.

Ah, if it was on the bus it would be the responsibility of the Bus Operator to collect tickets if it was a Thruway. but on a bustitution usually there is an authorized Amtrak person to do that. I am not sure if that is just someone from the OBS side deputed with that authority or it is a T&E crew. AFAIK when I was bustituted between Albany and Buffalo on the LSL the ticket was checked when boarding, and then it was a nonstop run to Buffalo Depew, except for one rest stop. So, yeah, I don;t know for sure and it probably varies a lot from one bustitution to another.

 

[Rasputin]

On our New Orleans to Jackson bustitution in 2019 I don't believe any Amtrak employee was on our bus. We were on the thru New Orleans to Jackson bus. There was another bus which handled the stops between New Orleans and Jackson and perhaps there was an Amtrak employee on that bus.

A few days later on our Albany to Boston bustitution, there was a conductor on board. I don't recall whether he scanned tickets or not. Aside from handing out a small package of snacks to each passenger as they boarded, I did not see him interact with the passengers and he remained at the front of the bus. There were two blind women on the bus and they had to depend on the assistance of strangers. I assume that the Amtrak passenger list had flagged the fact that there were blind passengers on board but if it did, it didn't have any effect on our conductor. Rather disappointing.

 

[PVD]

does that conductor do a trip in the other direction, which may or may not be bustituted?

 

[railiner]

Tha

does that conductor do a trip in the other direction, which may or may not be bustituted?

That would explain a conductor riding, if he only worked a train one way…either to reach his train, or to get back to his home terminal…


Which end are the T&E crews based, between Albany and Boston?

 

[B&Ofan]

I just booked a trip from Seattle to Boston in early March. Of course one of the options was Empire builder to Lake shore Limited, however the only LSL option it gave me was CHI -. ALB on a New York Sleeper and ALB-> BOS on the Boston sleeper. In the past they have offered the change as a cheaper option (which I think is strange enough) but this is the first time I wasn't given a choice. I can see then not selling the Boston sleeper for travel between CHI and ALB but this seems like a bug (quirk) in the reservation system.

Also I think it is a flaw on there part that it would be cheaper to change sleepers in ALB. That seems like poor resource allocation. Am I missing something? Could someone explain this oddity?

Thanks.

 

[Septa9739]

It’s all market demand. The New York market is so much bigger than the Boston one that it’s likely not all rooms sellout in the 448/449 sleeper, so it makes sense (to Amtrak, or at least it did) to offer rooms in 448/449 to cover any unmet demand on the NYC side

 

[B&Ofan]

It’s all market demand. The New York market is so much bigger than the Boston one that it’s likely not all rooms sellout in the 448/449 sleeper, so it makes sense (to Amtrak, or at least it did) to offer rooms in 448/449 to cover any unmet demand on the NYC side

I'm not sure I quite understand. Why would they want me to take up space in the higher demand section when I am already utilizing the the lower demand section? I can understand (but still think it's a flaw) for it to be cheaper to change at ALB because if you buy early the NYP sleepers are in a lower bucket. It seems that between Chicago and Albany they should put the sleepers in the same bucket but sell the New York sleepers first.

Or am I still missing something?

 

[zephyr17]

There is something wrong with the way connections are set up in ARROW. They have an 8-448 connection in the system, but not 8-48. I don't think there is any logic behind it, it's almost certainly just a mistake in setting up city pairs. That has to be done manually.

I am virtually certain you could get a 8-48 reservation by calling.

PS-there's no issue with 49-7.

 

[B&Ofan]

that is odd as the connection I wanted was 8-448 but they only offered 8-48-448

 

[B&Ofan]

There is something wrong with the way connections are set up in ARROW. They have an 8-448 connection in the system, but not 8-48. I don't think there is any logic behind it, it's almost certainly just a mistake in setting up city pairs. That has to be done manually.

I am virtually certain you could get a 8-48 reservation by calling.

PS-there's no issue with 49-7.

Thanks for you insight! Now thinking about it that could explain the situation if they are putting all passengers on 448 first, that would explain why 448 sleepers are always in the higher bucket and why Boston passengers might have to transfer at Albany.

 

[Steve4031]

For us to book a city pair on the app or website, every possible city pair on both connection routes must be programmed correctly into Arrow. Surprisingly, there would be glitches in the connections between the Empire Builder and the Lake Shore Limited. These two segments have been the same for years.

 

[John Santos]

It is possible the 48 was totally booked, so they sold all the 448 roomettes, but later some of them were cancelled or still available between ALB and BOS, freeing up some of them but not for the full trip, or even that when they originally opened up 48/448 for reservations on your travel date last April or May, they offered both 48 and 448 to travelers between Chicago and destinations west of Albany and enough people booked those rooms that by the time you made your reservation there were no through roomettes all the way from CHI to BOS. The best strategy would be to swap rooms with someone in 448 who wasn't going past ALB (maybe their destination is west of ALB or they are transferring to a room or to coach in 48 for the last leg to NYP?) Amtrak doesn't seem to like reassigning rooms arbitrarily like this, though they do it if a car has been cancelled and sometimes for no apparent reason.

People might have chosen 448 for some particular reason other than destination, though I don't know what that might be. Maybe 448(sleeper)/48(coach) was cheaper, or maybe 48(sleeper)/48(coach) was also offered, and they didn't understand the difference. I found making reservations on the split trains confusing the first couple of times I made them, and the first time, I booked myself in a roomette on 449, switching to a roomette on 49 in Albany, not realizing I could have ridden 449 all the way. (On the return trip, I got a 448 roomette all the way, but that was mostly by chance.)

 

[Dan O]

My daughter and son in law are on the 49/Lakeshore Limited that left NYC on 12/20. They are in coach. The heat went out in their car so my southern California daughter is wearing 5 layers and is still cool. It's so cold that few bathrooms are working. The nearest one is 4 cars away. The sinks didn't work in those bathrooms. They ride Amtrak a few times a year or so and have for many years and this sounds like the worst trip they've had. My son in law was on the SWC that detailed near Cimarron KS several years ago so maybe not the worst for him.

 

[B&Ofan]

My daughter and son in law are on the 49/Lakeshore Limited that left NYC on 12/20. They are in coach. The heat went out in their car so my southern California daughter is wearing 5 layers and is still cool. It's so cold that few bathrooms are working. The nearest one is 4 cars away. The sinks didn't work in those bathrooms. They ride Amtrak a few times a year or so and have for many years and this sounds like the worst trip they've had. My son in law was on the SWC that detailed near Cimarron KS several years ago so maybe not the worst for him.

Sorry to hear that. I have ridden Amtrak quite a bit and that has never happened. I know that we are in quite a cold snap so I do not doubt your discomfort. That sounds extreme enough that I hope Amtrak made some compensations for your situation. Please know that such things are rare, however in extreme cold is when things are likely to break.

 

[Rasputin]

Sorry to hear that. I have ridden Amtrak quite a bit and that has never happened. I know that we are in quite a cold snap so I do not doubt your discomfort. That sounds extreme enough that I hope Amtrak made some compensations for your situation. Please know that such things are rare, however in extreme cold is when things are likely to break.

We were on 49 a few years ago in May and found on our way from the Boston sleeper near the front of the train to the dining car and back that every coach toilet except one or two was labelled out of service. They had evidently gone out of service sometime during the night. Fortunately for us the sleeping car toilets still worked. The conductor had no explanation. Completely unacceptable. If Amtrak was a real business every coach passenger on board should have been given a complimentary ticket.