Having arrived in the Midwest city of Chicago from a delightful trip on the Amtrak Empire Builder a couple of days earlier, our second leg on a coast-to-coast trip exclusively by train across the United States (see the Travel Report here), it was time to continue our journey eastwards! The next leg was the turn of the Amtrak Lake Shore Limited. Little did we know that the experience on this train would be very different!
Similarly to the Empire Builder, the Lake Shore Limited from Chicago serves not just one final destination, but two – New York City and Boston. Normally, the train runs as one eleven carriage train from Chicago and then splits en-route in Albany-Rensselaer station to serve the two east coast cities, however despite wanting to reach Boston, unfortunately, our trip didn’t go to plan.
Due to track work, the train line was closed between Albany and Boston, with rail replacement buses in operation from Albany to complete the rest of the journey.
Not being a fan of replacement buses, or any buses for that matter, myself and a friend were able to change our ticket free-of-charge for trains via New York – all via a helpful Amtrak representative via the website ‘live chat’ – very handy if you live abroad and don’t want a huge phone bill!
Normally the direct train between Chicago and Boston would take over 22 hours (19 hours for Chicago to New York), but for us it took nearly 25 hours to reach Boston.
In order to make a connection at New York onto the last Acela train of the day to Boston, we needed to leave the Lake Shore Limited at Albany and take an alternative train, the Ethan Allen Express on the same route that departed in front of the Lake Shore Limited. The arrangements were a little messy and frustrating, but we accepted the challenge without the bus – and on a positive side, it allowed us to experience more trains!
Here’s the full route map of the Lake Shore Limited as scheduled.
It is worth noting that there is another option to travel between Chicago and New York that takes a slower route via Cincinnati and Washington DC taking in the new River Gorge and Alleghany Mountains. This is the Amtrak Cardinal and one I hope to take in the future!
Onboard the Amtrak Lake Shore Limited
The Amtrak Lake Shore Limited has four carriages destined for Boston and seven for New York and both train-sets consist of Sleeping Cars and Coach Class cars. The Boston portion normally houses the Café Car and the New York portion houses the Dining Car for sleeping car passengers.
Unlike my previous travel report on the Amtrak Empire Builder, that uses ‘Superliner’ carriages, the Amtrak Lake Shore Limited uses alternative ‘Viewliner’ carriages. Between the two, only the Viewliner carriages can serve New York due to the height restrictions at platform level at the station.
So, how do the Viewliner carriages compare? Well in my opinion, less well, especially when sharing a Viewliner Roomette with another passenger (be it a friend or relative as you don’t share with strangers) as I did – more on that below!
Sleeping Car Accommodation
Sleeping Car accommodation on the Lake Shore Limited comes with a choice of Viewliner Roomettes and the larger, more expensive Viewliner Bedrooms. Meals are included in the Dining Car for all Sleeping Car passengers irrespective of specific accommodation and seats are converted to beds on request to the Sleeping Car attendant.
Viewliner Roomette
Viewliner Roomettes can accommodate up to two travellers per compartment in comfortable bunk beds. Unlike the Superliner Roomettes, the Viewliner Roomettes do feature two windows meaning both passengers can lie in bed and admire the view rather than only the lower berth!
There is a serious negative with a Viewliner Roomette, however. The toilet is inside the room centimetres from the lower bed, which is not the most hygienic! The future is changing and Amtrak is in the process of refurbishing the Viewliner Roomettes. This includes removing the toilet in the room and converting a roomette to house a new communal toilet.
Banking on being able to travel in a refurbished Sleeping Car, in the interests of saving cost, my friend and I did share a Viewliner Roomette – and on the day we were allocated an old one! We did have the option of using the toilet in Coach Class, however, the nearest one in the New York portion of the train was two or three carriages away through the Dining Car. We just had to manage.
Another negative associated with the Viewliner cars, and particularly the Roomette, is the storage of luggage. There is very limited space in the room and no space in the carriage unlike the Superliner cars. We had to improvise within the Roomette as you can see in the pictures below – luckily there was a strap to prevent any possible mid-night frights with a suitcase landing on you! To be fair to Amtrak they do offer luggage check-in which is carried in a baggage car, however we didn’t take the opportunity as we had a limited time to connect to our next train in Albany.
There is a shower room available in the carriage, however, this wasn’t working at the time of travel and ended up being used for luggage.
Viewliner Bedroom
The Viewliner Bedroom sleeps up to two people with two bunk beds to choose from. There is more space than a Roomette and includes an en-suite toilet/shower room.
Coach Class Accommodation
As usual for Amtrak services, there is Coach Class accommodation available on the Lake Shore Limited. Coach Class offers spacious reclining seats. Although not a fan of travelling overnight in a seat, these are some of the best seats out there.
Dining Car
Meals are included for all Sleeping Car passengers on Amtrak services. These are served in the train’s Dining Car on the Lake Shore Limited. As with the other carriages on the train, the Lake Shore Limited has a different type of Dining Car compared to the Amtrak Empire Builder, this also being of the Viewliner II type compared to the Superliner.
I’m a huge fan of the Dining Car on these trains – they have a wonderful ambiance with wood panelling and large windows allowing natural light to flood in. It’s a shame that the menu didn’t match up to this ambiance!
Prior to the COVID-19 pandemic, Amtrak replaced their freshly cooked meals, called ‘traditional dining’ with their ‘flexible dining’ menu which is little more than a microwavable meal. Unfortunately, being on this side of the Mississippi river, the Lake Shore Limited was one of the casualties of this change. The meal was filling and tasty, but the presentation was poor being served in the tray it was cooked in – not great having spent hundreds of dollars on the ticket.
There is also a Café Car available for Coach Class passengers to take snacks and drinks back to your seat.
Scenery
Despite the name, the views on the Lake Shore Limited are fairly limited – at least in summertime with trees lining the tracks and obscuring the view. The route does follow Lake Michigan and Lake Erie, however, the train in both directions sees these mostly during the night.
The final leg of the trip from Albany-Rensselaer to New York follows the Hudson river on the right hand side which is delightful.
Booking and Fares
Travel in the Sleeping Car on the Amtrak Lake Shore Limited doesn’t come cheap. Amtrak releases its figures at the end of each financial year and of all the long-distance routes, the Lake Shore Limited comes second with 351,000 people using the service in Financial Year 2023. Pricing is demand managed and this is clearly a high-demand route for Amtrak.
Coach Class accommodation as is the case with other routes is reasonably priced, however, you pay for what you get and you’ll need to sleep in a reclining seat.
The Lake Shore Limited can be booked directly with Amtrak online, alternatively, you can book Coach Class accommodation with Omio at the link below.
| Journey Leg | Coach Class | Viewliner Roomette | Viewliner Bedroom |
| Chicago to Boston | from $185,00 | from $628.00 | from $1527.00 |
| Chicago to New York | from $144.00 | from $668.00 | from $1511.00 |
Coach Class tickets can be booked at Omio.com at the below link.
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Conclusion
Having had a highly enjoyable trip on the Amtrak Empire Builder, the Amtrak Lake Shore Limited was disappointing by comparison. The beds were comfortable, the service great from the Sleeping Car attendant and the meals provided were tasty and filling, however, these were presented in an awful way – flexible dining just doesn’t make the cut for me. The toilet situation in the Roomette accommodation is embarrassing with the Viewliner stock, but it’s good to see this is being addressed by Amtrak in the refurbishment programme. I hope that traditional dining meals return to help to justify the high ticket cost.
This Travel Report was first published in March 2024.
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