Lake Shore Limited - running Superliners now?

[TiggerPU88]

Hi! We have a trip planned for June and were told by Amtrak Vacations that our LSL Roomette from NYP-CHI is in a Superliner. I had thought the LSL only had Viewliners because of the NY tunnels and so I said I didn't think this was accurate. Of course Amtrak says it is a Viewliner route and that is what I have seen here. However, I just saw a trip report posted on the Amtrak Fans Facebook group... with double-deckers (so Superliners) on the LSL. Is this true? Are they switching over? And might that mean that 4911 is actually a Superliner not a Viewliner I? Thanks!

 

[jis]

Hi! We have a trip planned for June and were told by Amtrak Vacations that our LSL Roomette from NYP-CHI is in a Superliner. I had thought the LSL only had Viewliners because of the NY tunnels and so I said I didn't think this was accurate. Of course Amtrak says it is a Viewliner route and that is what I have seen here. However, I just saw a trip report posted on the Amtrak Fans Facebook group... with double-deckers (so Superliners) on the LSL. Is this true? Are they switching over? And might that mean that 4911 is actually a Superliner not a Viewliner I? Thanks!

No. LSL is not running Superliner. Some Amtrak agents, in addition to Amtrak Vacation agents have made such absurd statements in the past. They just don't know what they are talking about. 4911 is going to be a Viewliner I. No chance of it being a Superliner.

 

[CCC1007]

I don't think running superliners is even physically possible on the LSL, and a quick search of the Amtrak reservation site shows that they are no longer making a distinction between the two types of sleepers on the reservation page. It seems that Amtrak's IT department has struck again...

 

[jis]

I don't think running superliners is even physically possible on the LSL, and a quick search of the Amtrak reservation site shows that they are no longer making a distinction between the two types of sleepers on the reservation page. It seems that Amtrak's IT department has struck again...

Yes, the user interface continues to be a hot mess with no seeming possibility that it will get fixed anytime soon. I am convinced that their hiring criteria for doing this work is getting a failing grade in user interface design and coding.

 

[StanJazz]

There have been a few times when there was a major delay into Chicago that they would run the LSL with Superliners to Albany, and you would have to switch to another train the rest of the way. Chicago doesn't have enough spare equipment to make up a single-level LSL if the train from New York is really late. I remember reading about it before, but it is really rare. Maybe once every 10 years. The Cardinal has also run with Superliners to Washington a few times due to a late arriving train from New York.

 

[jis]

There have been a few times when there was a major delay into Chicago that they would run the LSL with Superliners to Albany, and you would have to switch to another train the rest of the way. Chicago doesn't have enough spare equipment to make up a single-level LSL if the train from New York is really late. I remember reading about it before, but it is really rare. Maybe once every 10 years. The Cardinal has also run with Superliners to Washington a few times due to a late arriving train from New York.

Yes, the LSL has run to Albany at least once with Superliners. Of course now they don't even have enough Superliners hanging out in Chicago to quite pull that off.

The Cardinal for a while was a Washington DC to Chicago train regularly equipped with Superliners.

 

[zephyr17]

Amtrak Vacations is a third party travel agency that licenses the Amtrak name, it isn't Amtrak and is not organizationally connected to Amtrak. They are well known for not knowing what they are talking about.

The LSL is a Viewliner train. Superliners do not meet clearances in Penn Station.

 

[Cal]

owever, I just saw a trip report posted on the Amtrak Fans Facebook group... with double-deckers (so Superliners) on the LSL. Is this true?

I'd love to see this trip report.

 

[TheVig]

I should have screenshot it the other day. The site was showing the Crescent running Superliners breifley. It's been corrected.

 

[TiggerPU88]

I'd love to see this trip report.

It was posted yesterday, 4/23. It was a man taking his daughter.

 

[Bob Dylan]

Yes, the user interface continues to be a hot mess with no seeming possibility that it will get fixed anytime soon. I am convinced that their hiring criteria for doing this work is getting a failing grade in user interface design and coding.

Better call Indeed!

 

[TiggerPU88]

I should have screenshot it the other day. The site was showing the Crescent running Superliners breifley. It's been corrected.

Thank you! That explains it.

 

[Ryan]

If you're thinking about the video I think you're thinking about (father and daughter boarding in Rochester), I'm not sure where you're seeing Superliners. They're Viewliners.

I'd love to see this trip report.

Come join us: Amtrak Fans | Facebook

 

[joelkfla]

If you're thinking about the video I think you're thinking about (father and daughter boarding in Rochester), I'm not sure where you're seeing Superliners. They're Viewliners.

View attachment 28178


Come join us: Amtrak Fans | Facebook

That's a VL II diner.


Somebody mistook the double rows of windows for 2 levels.

 

[jis]

Suffice it to say that there was a thread on AU back in 2010 regarding the single day on which the Lake Shore operated with Superliners between Chicago and Albany. There was a connecting single level train to New York at Albany and the Boston section passengers were bused from and to Albany.

https://www.amtraktrains.com/threads/superliner-lake-shore.31150/
And then there was a thread in 2014 somewhat similar to this one, triggered by yet another confused Amtrak agent. It even has a photo of a Superliner at AFAIR Syracuse posted by our own @Ryan

https://www.amtraktrains.com/threads/lake-shore-limited-running-a-superliner-surely-not.60088/

 

[TiggerPU88]

Thank you everyone! The combination of the "two-story" narrative and the Amtrak Vacations insistence that they are now Superliners had me doubting what I thought I knew to be true. I'm glad to know my original supposition was correct! Now to try to get switched from 4911 to 4912... Thanks again!

 

[StanJazz]

Once years ago, I was on a western train out of Chicago, and I talked to some people in the dining car. They had just connected from the Superliner LSL and said that the upper restroom in a sleeper malfunctioned, and the lower-level baggage area got soaked. I am glad that didn't happen to my luggage.

 

[railiner]

Yes, the LSL has run to Albany at least once with Superliners. Of course now they don't even have enough Superliners hanging out in Chicago to quite pull that off.

The Cardinal for a while was a Washington DC to Chicago train regularly equipped with Superliners.

Wouldn't they have to contend with some high level platforms at a couple of stops, now?

 

[Ryan]

And then there was a thread in 2014 somewhat similar to this one, triggered by yet another confused Amtrak agent. It even has a photo of a Superliner at AFAIR Syracuse posted by our own @Ryan

Close, that was on the upper level of WAS.

 

[BlackDiamond]

Wouldn't they have to contend with some high level platforms at a couple of stops, now?

My thoughts also. I don't believe there are any low level platforms at Albany anymore.

 

[Eric S]

My thoughts also. I don't believe there are any low level platforms at Albany anymore.

Also Rochester and Syracuse, right?

 

[jis]

My thoughts also. I don't believe there are any low level platforms at Albany anymore.

Albany actually still has a low level platform, about 250' of it. I have walked on it, so it is there.

Also Rochester and Syracuse, right?

Both have very short low level platform, less than a car length at Syracuse and maybe a car and a half at Rochester. They sort of have to have it as fire escape from the high level platform.

But no one in their right mind would operate a Superliner train on that route.

 

[Green Maned Lion]

But no one in their right mind would operate a Superliner train on that route.

That seems to be a suggestion that chances of a Superliner on the Waterlevel are high.

 

[John Bobinyec]

Could Superliners run from Albany to Boston?
jb

 

[jiml]

Could Superliners run from Albany to Boston?
jb

I think this was covered recently and the problem was the catenary in Back Bay station IIRC.