Lake Shore Limited NY to Chicago

[Winecliff Station]

Hello everyone! I tried doing a search to answer this question but can't seem to find the information I need. I'm considering an overnight round trip to Chicago from NY in a roomette or full-sized room and was wondering if you are confined to your room the whole trip, or is there a lounge to stretch out a bit. When I say lounge I don't mean those cafe-car looking things but a comfortable lounge with couch or easy chair type seating. If there is no lounge, can you sit in an unoccupied coach car seat for a change of scenery?

Thanks for any information you can give me.

 

[jis]

There is a Lounge but no couches or easy chairs. It has seats by tables. In fact it was built as a Diner (Viewliner II) with double row of windows like in the Viewliner Sleeper that you will be in, and is now used as a Lounge for Sleeper passengers. It is very spacious and bright inside. When we traveled in a group during the recent OTOL Fest we spent most of our time there during the day (well our trip was a daytime trip from Rochester to Springfield, and we of course had to move out of there before Albany since we were in the Boston section, and the Lounge goes to New York).

 

[PaulM]

Hello everyone! I tried doing a search to answer this question but can't seem to find the information I need. I'm considering an overnight round trip to Chicago from NY in a roomette or full-sized room and was wondering if you are confined to your room the whole trip, or is there a lounge to stretch out a bit. When I say lounge I don't mean those cafe-car looking things but a comfortable lounge with couch or easy chair type seating. If there is no lounge, can you sit in an unoccupied coach car seat for a change of scenery?

Thanks for any information you can give me.

I believe sleeping car passengers have the use of the former viewliner diner as a lounge. It has fairly comfortable table seating, but is not a real lounge car from the old days.

You will get a variety of answers regarding sitting in coach; but my response is that if there are empty seats; i.e., no seat check, then go for it. Even a very officious coach attendant won't throw you off the train.

 

[AG1]

There isn't a luxury lounge as depicted in the train movies set in the 1940s and 1950s. You are not restricted to your room in that you may roam the train to the diner/lounge, cafe car, and coaches. You cannot occupy an empty coach seat unless the coach attendant gives you permission to do so. The windows in the coaches are much smaller than in the sleeper. I don't see any advantage to sitting in the coaches unless you want to meet new people.

 

[jis]

Speaking of window size, the Lounge (Viewliner II Diner) windows are exactly the same size as the Sleeper (Viewliner I) windows. The Amfleet II Coach and Cafe windows are vertically smaller, and they have only one row of them as opposed to two rows in the Sleeper and the Lounge.

I do agree with AG1's assessment.

 

[Winecliff Station]

Thanks for all of the input.....sounds like the Lounge will work so I won't need to roam the coach cars lol. And come to think of it, we'd get on in Rhinecliff in the late afternoon, and on the trip back at 9pm so there might not be a whole lot of waking hours to worry about anyway.

Now I just have to figure out when to go....

 

[niemi24s]

Now I just have to figure out when to go....

Let AmSnag... http://biketrain.x10.mx/amsnag2.0/amSnag.php ...show you the cheapest travel dates for your upcoming trip. This is much easier than using the Amtrak website as you can make a fare search and get the fares displayed for a 30 day time period.

 

[Winecliff Station]

Thanks.... I'd heard about that site but couldn't find it

 

[StriderGDM]

Yeah, you do NOT get a seat in coach. But, the seats in the Roomette tend to be comfortable enough. I tend to stay in my roomette a lot on the LSL, especially since it's mostly at night.
Remember, the LSL no longer has a full dining experience. You get basically a reheated box dinner/breakfast in the diner cum lounge.

 

[Winecliff Station]

Well that is disappointing.....is that what the dinner plate with a line though it means when you see it among the symbols at the heading of each fare selection?

 

[OlympianHiawatha]

I have never had any trouble or issues taking up a vacant Coach seat for a while in order to get a change of setting/scenery.

 

[Rasputin]

I have never had any trouble or issues taking up a vacant Coach seat for a while in order to get a change of setting/scenery.

I have never found this to be a problem either although I can see that it might be an issue on a train which is almost full and the crew is trying to keep count of their available seats.

 

[Deni]

I have traveled between Chicago and NYC a lot over the years (living in both cities for a long time) and I almost always opted for taking the northeast corridor down to D.C. and then Capitol Ltd. To Chicago. Takes longer but I really enjoy the Cap so much more than LSL. I've come to loathe the LSL over the years.

 

[Seaboard92]

I really like the LSL going westbound. The last time I rode it I honestly felt somewhat at home as we zipped across upstate New York after dark. Even though I’ve never lived in NY. But crossing a bunch of cities similar to mine after dark just felt so similar. The capitol limited is lovely going eastbound down sand patch.