Hello and good afternoon from bustling
midtown Manhattan. You join me outside Pennsylvania station, or New York Penn
station as it's more commonly referred to. Now, I'm very excited to be here today as
I'll be taking Amtrak's Lakeshore Limited service through to Chicago. This is one
of their famous long distance trains and I've booked a roomette for tonight's trip but before
all that, New York Penn has been given a bit of a makeover since I last took an Amtrak train so
first let's check out the new Moynihan train hall. First impressions are wow! What a difference this
is from the old dingy part of the station that used to be the home of Amtrak. Moynihan train
hall only opened about a year ago on New Year's day 2021. It's all housed within the James A
Farley building, which was originally a U.S postal service facility. Despite only becoming fully
operational last year, plans to convert this to be part of Penn station were first conceived back in
the early 1990s, with the renovation works being completed at a cost of $1.6 billion. Between the
9th Avenue and 31st Street exits, you'll find the Amtrak ticket office. Amtrak also offer a checked
luggage service to select destinations on most of their long distance trains, including Chicago,
and this is also where you check your luggage in. All passengers may check in two bags for free
regardless of their class of travel. You'll also find a few shops and cafe's scattered in various
parts of the concourse, however we shan't be needing these today as all sleeping car passengers
get access to Amtrak's Metropolitan lounge. Simply show your ticket to whoever's on
reception and they'll grant you access. Now, I think to emphasize just how amazed I was
with this lounge first I need to quickly show you a shot of the old and lifeless Club Acela lounge
that used to be offered here at Penn Station. Okay here goes; Now, I would say wow but that would be a massive
understatement this is a night and day difference from the old lounge, it's bright open and
stylish with more than enough seats to go around. A counter service with complimentary drinks
and snacks is offered as well as a paid bar service with a fairly wide range of alcoholic
drinks on offer. This lounge even has a small business centre and there are even luggage lockers
offered, should you wish to go off and explore New York without your bags before you catch your
train, and to top it off the staff working here in the lounge were amazing and very attentive.
I'm gonna go ahead and say that this is easily the best railway lounge I've ever visited,
nothing else even comes close to this for me! Now, if you ever find yourself in this
lounge, I can't recommend enough the Santa Fe chicken sandwich, it was
divine and was even served hot! If you head out onto the terrace, you'll get
some excellent views of the concourse below! Eventually, it's time to leave the tranquillity of
the lounge and head downstairs to board our train. All Amtrak trains are announced in the lounge.
Our train will be departing from track 6 today, which is rather convenient as it's located
right next to the entrance to the lounge. As I touched on at the start of the video,
we'll be catching train number 49, the Lakeshore Limited, which we'll be taking all the
way to its final destination of Chicago. Usually, this service will depart Penn station daily at
15:40, however this had temporarily been reduced to five days per week at the time of filming,
as a result of staff shortages due to Covid. There was then a problem with the escalator
and rather comically it took them around 10 minutes to come up with the ingenious idea
of getting us to walk down it. Lifts are also provided should you need them and I
can assure you that these actually worked. Here's what will be taking us through to
Chicago tonight, or at least partly. You see the train that starts in New York is only
one portion of the Lakeshore Limited. We'll join up with another portion of the train from
Boston a few hours after departure, in Albany. Now, I appreciate that the grim
platforms here at Penn station don't really allow me to properly show you the
rolling stock that features on today's train, so we'll have a better look at these in a
bit but for now let's go and find our roomette! The sleeping cars used on this route
are the single decker Viewliner cars as opposed to the famous double decker Superliner
coaches that are more common out West. This is due to a much tighter loading gauge on the
Eastern routes, namely the Superliners are too tall for the platforms here at Penn station.
Now, sleeping car passengers are automatically allocated a car and room number at booking,
so simply find the car printed on your ticket show it to the attendant, who will be waiting
by the entry door, and they'll grant you access. I've lucked out as the coach we're in
today is one of the new Viewliner II's. These were built by the American branch
of the Spanish manufacturer CAF and this particular example is practically brand new,
having only entered service last year in 2021. Here's our home for the next 19 hours or so,
in the form of this cosy little roomette. Now, before we set off let's just take
a quick look at our route for today; Our journey will see us covering 959 miles
or 1543 kilometres, as we initially head north through upstate New York to Albany before
heading west briefly crossing into Pennsylvania, followed by crossing both Ohio and Indiana
before finally arriving into Chicago, Illinois. Scheduled travel time is 19 hours
and 32 minutes and will very briefly hit a top speed in the region of 110 miles
an hour or 177 kilometres an hour. We depart New York on time at 15:40. As is always the case with Penn
station, the first portion of the trip mainly sees us traveling in tunnels
as we make our way out of Manhattan. Out of the tunnels and we find ourselves
heading north on the eastern bank of the Hudson, which we'll follow for around 130 miles to Albany. At Croton-Harmon, we pass a rather
large depot for Metro North Rail Road, whose services we ran
alongside for the time being. I must say, the scenery as we make our way
up the Hudson is really rather pleasant. There are plenty of lovely river views with
a backdrop of rolling hills on offer here. Soon, 17:30 rolls around meaning it's dinner time!
This service features Amtrak's flexible dining, as opposed to the traditional dining found on
a lot of the trains west of Chicago, so it's up to you as to whether you eat in the dining car
or just have your meals delivered to your room. Anyway on the way to the dining car.
We pass through the other sleeping car, which is an older Viewliner I coach,
which dates from the mid-1990s. For a look at this type of coach, be sure to check
out my review of the longer route between New York and Chicago, The Cardinal, which you'll find in
the top right corner of the screen now, although be warned it is an older video so perhaps view at
your own risk. Anyway, this is the dining car and I don't know about you but I think it looks very
classy indeed. It's another Viewliner coach and I think the fact that they've maintained the double
windows in here really adds to the overall look. Dinner is served in this
sort of pre-packaged setup. All meals are served with as many soft drinks as
you like plus one alcoholic drink. For sleeping car passengers meals are included in the price
of your ticket. It's currently not possible for coach passengers to eat in the dining car but
there was a Café car attached in Albany for them. For my dinner, I went for the enchiladas while
my better half opted for the slow braised beef. Trust me it all tasted quite a bit better
than it looks! All meals are served with a side salad and warm bread as well as the
choice of brownie or blondie for dessert. With dinner out of the way, I
think it's time for a room tour. The roomettes are set out in a 1+1
configuration across the aisle. Each roomette can accommodate up to two people,
with two seats facing each other when in daytime mode. The sliding doors can be
locked from the inside but not from the outside. A pair of privacy curtains are provided, although why they didn't just make the
door completely opaque I'll never know. By the door you'll find switches for the
main light as well as a little night light. I found the seats to be nice, wide and most
importantly for such a long journey, comfortable. There's a bar under the seat, which
you can pull on to recline it a little. The pedal is used for setting up the lower bed. In the panel above each seat you'll find a reading
light as well as what Amtrak calls an area light. There's also an attendant call button and an
on off switch for the PA speaker in the room. One of the seats also has this car style air
vent, although I think it's more intended to be used when the beds are set up. Each seat also
has access to not one but two plug sockets. Above this, you'll find a thermostat as well
as duplicated controls for the main lights. Each roomette also has access to a bin. There are more air vents by the window. Each
seat has a nice deep cup holder for your drinks. In between the seats is a fold out table. I'd say
they're large enough for two people to dine off of and unlike every other version of Amtrak's
roomettes, they're actually pretty sturdy! Curtains are also provided for the main windows. Over here you'll find steps up to the upper berth.
Unlike on the Viewliner I's, there isn't a toilet hidden under here. There's also a mirror
over here which of course has its own light. While there is no toilet in the room, the fold out sink that you'll find on
the older coaches still features here. Space for storing your bags can be
found in this little cubby hole. The upper berth can be pulled down fairly
easily, by turning this handle and pulling. Now, the upper berth is every bit as well equipped
as the lower berth with access to its own windows and curtains, reading lights, air
vents and storage. The only thing that's really missing up here is an additional
plug socket but hey, first world problems. Lastly, as for how much space you'll have, well
if traveling alone there's more than enough room but they are a little on the cramped side if
there are two of you but overall I'm a pretty big fan of these roomettes, but do let me know
your thoughts on them in the comments below. Darkness slowly creeps up on
us as we close in on Albany. About two and a half hours after departing
New York we arrive at Albany–Rensselaer, which as I mentioned earlier is where we'll
join up with the Boston portion of the train. This is also the first smoke stop or fresh air
stop of the trip, affording us the opportunity to step off the train for a breath of
fresh air and a cigarette if you wish. Our coach is right at the back of the train, with
the only coach behind us being the baggage car. There's plenty going on here in Albany,
with other trains serving the station including Empire services to Niagara falls,
the Ethan Allen Express to Rutland as well as the international Maple Leaf and Adirondack
services to Toronto and Montreal respectively. So, a better look at the consist. These two
general electric genesis P42 DC's will be taking us the rest of the way to Chicago.
Here's a look at another Viewliner I car, from the outside they look pretty much
identical to the newer Viewliner II's. Next is an Amfleet 1. Half business class,
half café car, these were built between 1975 and 1977. Behind this are a pair of Amfleet 2
coach class cars dating from the early 1980s. All of these coaches originated in Boston
and will now be attached to our train. While we wait for the attachment, here's a better
look at those P-42 diesel electric locomotives. Built between 1992 and 2001, they currently make
up the bulk of Amtrak's non-electrified fleet, however they are set to be replaced by brand new
siemens charger locomotives over the coming years. Now, I appreciate that the lighting here
isn't great at all, but this is one of the coach cars. The seating here is actually pretty
spacious, being laid out in a 2+2 configuration. I have a review of Amtrak's
long distance coach coming up, so why not subscribe and hit that
notification bell so you don't miss that! With station work now complete we
begin heading west towards Chicago. With it now being too dark to see much,
we get the attendant to set up our beds and decide to turn in for the night. The lower
berth is made up of fully reclining the two seats. Now, of course bedding is provided and you know
what it's a pretty good quality in my opinion! As I showed you earlier, the upper
birth is pulled down from the ceiling. A safety net is provided, so you shouldn't
need to worry about taking a tumble in the night! The only thing I
will say about the upper berth is that the mattress is a bit on the hard side,
especially when compared to the lower berth. After a good night's sleep, I decide to head and
check out the rest of the coach. Here's what you can expect from one of the full-sized bedrooms,
this is actually the accessible bedroom the other bedrooms are very similar although they also
feature en suite toilet and showering facilities. At the end of where the roomettes are,
you'll find coffee and bottles of water. Then moving further back we
find the coach's 28 roomettes. As I touched on in my room tour, unlike the older
Viewliner coaches, the Viewliner II's don't have toilets in the roomettes, but rather there are a pair
of communal toilets at the far end of the coach, and I found that these were kept fairly clean
and well stocked at all points of the journey. Roomette passengers also have access
to communal showering facilities. Towels are provided so you don't need to worry
about bringing your own. Now, the only other CAF sleeping cars I've experienced in the past were
the new Mark 5 coaches on the Caledonian Sleeper and, in keeping with their Scottish counterparts,
the shower's hot water on these coaches didn't work which certainly isn't great. Those of you
who also have experience with these coaches, is this a common occurrence or have I just got
unlucky? Be sure to let me know in the comments. Lastly, complimentary Wi-Fi is
offered throughout the train and while hardly the fastest, it's not bad
and I was certainly expecting much worse. Anyway, we're now just pulling into
our next station stop of Toledo, Ohio and to my utter amazement we're actually
only running a little bit late at this point. For those of you not familiar with
Amtrak's long distance trains, it's not uncommon for them to run several
hours late due to a whole host of reasons. Soon after Toledo, the sun begins to rise as
we cruise west towards Indiana and Illinois. It's soon time to head to the
dining car to grab some breakfast. I went for the omelette, which was okay,
accompanied by these rather nice chicken sausages and these rather horrible potatoes while my
girlfriend went for the Rail Road French toast accompanied by some syrup,
which I'm told was delicious. After breakfast, all that's left to do is
sit back and relax for the last few hours as the Midwest rolls on by. Almost all of the trip is spent sharing
tracks with a vast array of freight trains. In contrast to its passenger network, America's
rail freight network is one of the best in the world, with the U.S moving more cargo by rail
than any other country. With a few exceptions, namely on the northeast corridor between Boston
and Washington DC, freight companies own most of the track in the U.S with Amtrak paying them
to use it. That said though, federal law still requires freight companies to give priority
to passenger trains, in theory at least. At Elkhart, Indiana, we pull up alongside the
National New York Central Rail Road Museum. The New York Central Rail Road was founded in
1853, although they ceased operations in 1968 before their passenger services briefly merged
with the Pennsylvania Rail Road to form Penn central. They then went bankrupt a short time
later in 1970 and it was actually this that finally got then president Richard Nixon to sign
the rail passenger service act, forming Amtrak and saving many of the country's historic
rail routes including the Lakeshore Limited. Around 25 minutes later we arrive at our
final intermediate stop of South Bend. From South Bend, it's just one hour until Chicago. It's not long before we find ourselves
alongside electrified metro commuter lines as we close in on the outskirts of Chicago. Overall, I've had a fantastic time traveling
over from New York. Besides the cold shower, these Viewliner II coaches are fantastic in my
opinion and a nice change from the old and worn out coaches that I'm used to on Amtrak. As for
the cost, well we were traveling on a ticket from New York all the way through to Emeryville
in the San Francisco bay area, which cost $1,219 for two people, however a room on just the
Lakeshore Limited will set you back anywhere between just under $400 and over $700 for one
person, which needless to say is rather expensive. If two of you are traveling together in a roomette
then it seems to be a flat $144 extra. Now, I know you could fly between New York and Chicago
in a fraction of the time and at a fraction of the cost, however when traveling with Amtrak I think
you're more paying for the experience rather than a convenient way of traveling from A to B and the
fares do seem to be at least a little better value for money if you're traveling on a connecting
train as we were. So overall, a good but rather expensive experience but what did you make of it
all? Be sure to let me know in the comments below. We end up running alongside I-90 for a few
miles as we make our way towards Union station. No "trains are faster than cars" jibe from
me today as the traffic on the interstate generally went speeding on past us
but not to worry as I'm in no rush. We end up pulling into Chicago's
Union station around half an hour late at 10:20, which trust me by Amtrak
standards is practically on time! I'm now off to have a mooch around the station
before catching the famous California Zephyr to Emeryville later on in the day, expect that
review in a couple of months but in the meantime, I do hope you enjoyed the video. If you did
be sure to help us out by giving it a like. If you're new to the channel then be sure to
subscribe and enable notifications as I publish new trip reports every Monday and Friday. Thanks
a lot for watching and I'll see you on Friday!
