Lake Shore Limited - Silver Meteor - or both?

I am considering taking an overnight train (in a roomette) for two upcoming business trips.  I would be traveling alone.

The two options are the Lake Shore Limited (Chicago - Albany) and the Silver Meteor (Charleston, SC to New York).  On each trip I would fly in the outbound direction and take the train back.  Work pays for me to fly first-class, so the train is competing with a first-class airline ticket.

I am not a train nut, but I enjoy them.  I used to work on a tourist railroad for six summers while in high school and college.  Believe me, you can get pretty sick of riding the same few miles of track several times a day.  But it has been many years since I did that.

So... should I go for it?  I know that this is a biased community, but I'm just looking for a little reassurance here.

For the Lake Shore limited, the cost of a roomette is just about the same price as the cost of the hotel that I would stay in on that night.  I normally stay that night and fly home first thing in the morning.  On the other hand, I will be without a room from the time I check out in the morning until I board the train.  My meeting ends at noon, so that leaves me with a long time with no home base.  Also, I will have a 3.5 hour drive home after I reach Albany.  (Compounded by the fact that I will have to make that drive to the airport in Albany, NY on the outbound.  I was going to park my car at the train station and take an Uber to the airport.)  I live in a rural area, so I am used to driving long distances, but this is still about two hours farther than the airport that I normally would fly out of.

For the Silver Meteor, I have the same issue with not having a hotel room for many hours.  The good news with the Silver Meteor is that I can connect to a shuttle at Penn Station that takes me to a the airport where I can catch a flight that lands about 1 hour from where I live (on a 9 seat plane that flies to a very small airport).  The train gets into New York at 11:00 AM and the shuttle leaves Penn Station at 3:55 PM, so there seems to be enough padding that I should not have a problem.

In short, taking the train is not ideal, but it's an appealing adventure.  I am just not sure if taking two trips within the span of a couple of weeks would be too much.  If I only took one trip I think that I would take the Silver Meteor since the logistics work better.

Thoughts?

I think overall it would work out okay to do both. Chicago - Albany seems more of the sure bet; you won't have to worry about missing a connection, and Chicago has a nice lounge available for sleeper car passengers, which also has baggage storage (unattended but only accessible to those with lounge access,) nice bathrooms, and a shower. There's also complimentary snacks and non-alcoholic refreshments. It'll stay open until boarding for the Lake Shore Limited in most circumstances (we had an hour-delayed departure on the Lake Shore Limited and we could stay in the lounge until boarding, despite the official close time of 9 PM.)

The Charleston, SC station would likely hold any bags needed, though possibly would require a fee to hold the bags. Checked baggage is also an option for any bags you won't need during your overnight; that would be free for the first two bags and bags could be checked in early. In terms of delays, there were 11 delays over the past year where your shuttle connection would have been missed, with a twelveth that may have resulted in a missed connection (train arrival was 3:47 PM, leaving only 8 minutes to make your connection.) Overall, if you're okay with self-insuring that connection to a small extent (about 3.3% of the time,) I'd say go for it.

As a sleeper passenger, you have the use of the Metropolitan Lounge in Chicago Union Station. The lounge provides tables with built-in plugs where you can work on your laptop, as well as comfortable chairs. In addition, it provides free coffee, soft drinks and snacks. I find it quiet enough to work in.

I agree that the Lake Shore is probably the best choice here, as it’s a relatively short ride and you’ll have access to the Met Lounge in Chicago, which is huge and pretty luxurious. The only thing I would note is that unlike the Silver Meteor, which has a full service dining car serving a wide variety of hot and cold entrees, desserts, and sides, the Lake Shore Limited has a very limited selection of primarily cold, pre-made boxed meals. With the latter, there is only one option at breakfast (some Greek yogurt, fruit, a muffin, and a granola bar), and while there are five options for lunch/dinner, there is only one vegetarian option (a cold hummus vegetable wrap) and only one hot option (a short rib with 140% of your daily recommended fat and 81% of your daily recommended sodium). But it is a short ride, so it’s not THAT big a deal.

jebr said:

missed connection (train arrival was 3:47 PM, leaving only 8 minutes to make your connection.

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What missed connection are you talking about? :huh:  OP is goingfrom Charleston tto NYP - all SM and all one train.

the_traveler said:

What missed connection are you talking about? :huh:  OP is goingfrom Charleston tto NYP - all SM and all one train.

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I have to catch a shuttle to the airport at 3:55 pm.  

Which airport? Kennedy, Liberty, or Laguardia?

If your flight is from Laguardia you can take the Long Island Railroad to Woodside and get the Q70SBS to LGA from there. Or to Kennedy take the Long Island Railroad to Jamaica and get the air train.

For Liberty get off the Meteor in Newark and take New Jersey Transit to EWR.

Seaboard92 said:

Which airport? Kennedy, Liberty, or Laguardia?

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Actually, White Plains.  Cape Air has a shuttle that connects with their flight from White Plains to Lebanon, NH.  It’s sold as a single ticket.  I live an hour from Lebanon, as compared to 3.5 hours from Albany.

Im leaning toward the Silver Meteor right now.  If it’s more than 4.5 hours late, an unexpected night in New York won’t kill me.  I could even take the Vermonter the following day to White River Junction.   That’s just a couple of miles from the Lebanon airport.   But I’m still really tempted to do both.   

Truthfully, my biggest concern is that I won’t sleep well.

My only caveat would be the link from the Silver Meteor (scheduled arrival at 11 AM) and airport shuttle (3:55 PM departure). I know it SEEMS like enough time (4 hours 55 minutes) but anything more than a 4 1/2 hour delay on the Silver Meteor might be a problem for connecting. Delays that long are not unheard of. 

I went ahead and booked the Lakeshore Limited.  I still think that I will book the Silver Meteor, but I will take some time before I commit.

The booking process was pretty annoying.  I wanted an odd numbered roomette.  My theory is that since the sleeper car usually travels with the roomettes toward the rear, the larger (and non-toilet adjacent) seat would be facing forward in the odd numbered rooms.  

I called to make the reservation, only to be told that all of the odd numbered roomettes were more expensive.

I went ahead and made an online reservation and got roomette #2.  I then called and asked to change my room.  The first agent I spoke with insisted that it would be more expensive to switch rooms.  I called back and got a different agent who was able to change my room with the help of her support staff.  I am now in room #3.  I was hoping for room #1, but after all of the confusion I was not going to push my luck.

The airlines figured out how to let you pick (and change) a seat a LOOONG time ago.  I don't know why Amtrak can't figure this out for its sleeper passengers.

Two more questions. 

1) This reservation is not until October, 2019.  What are the odds that the new Viewliner II sleeper will be on the train by then?  Traveling alone, I'd actually rather have the toilet in the room.

2) When should I expect them to call for boarding?  The train is scheduled to leave at 9:30 PM.

VTTrain said:

One other question.  This reservation is not until October, 2019.  What are the odds that the new Viewliner II sleeper will be on the train by then?  Traveling alone, I'd actually rather have the toilet in the room.

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I’m also somewhat dreading the arrival of the V-II sleepers and the removal of the toilets, and I would say that the odds are decently high that at least some will be out on the rails by then. However, considering CAF has only delivered like three cars in the past five months or something, I really wouldn’t count on it being one way or the other. Time will tell.

VTTrain said:

I went ahead and booked the Lakeshore Limited.  I still think that I will book the Silver Meteor, but I will take some time before I commit.

The booking process was pretty annoying.  I wanted an odd numbered roomette.  My theory is that since the sleeper car usually travels with the roomettes toward the rear, the larger (and non-toilet adjacent) seat would be facing forward in the odd numbered rooms.  

I called to make the reservation, only to be told that all of the odd numbered roomettes were more expensive.

I went ahead and made an online reservation and got roomette #2.  I then called and asked to change my room.  The first agent I spoke with insisted that it would be more expensive to switch rooms.  I called back and got a different agent who was able to change my room with the help of her support staff.  I am now in room #3.  I was hoping for room #1, but after all of the confusion I was not going to push my luck.

The airlines figured out how to let you pick (and change) a seat a LOOONG time ago.  I don't know why Amtrak can't figure this out for its sleeper passengers.

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Yeah, this is an ongoing issue with Amtrak. You actually are supposed to be allowed to call and switch room numbers at no charge. You shouldn’t even need the agent’s “support staff” to do it. But since plenty of USA-RAIL agents have no idea what they’re doing or what Amtrak policy is, they often try to charge people for this stuff.

However, are you booked on train #48 or train #448? Because the #448 (Boston section) sleeper is at the front of the train, and therefore the even number Roomettes will be facing forward.

VTTrain said:

2) When should I expect them to call for boarding?  The train is scheduled to leave at 9:30 PM.

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The LSL starts boarding pretty early. Expect them to start letting sleeper passengers on around 8:30 PM.

I am on 48.  I wanted to be farthest from the locomotive so the horn wouldn’t be as loud when I am sleeping.