Lake Shore Lmited Food service

[Steve4031]

I know they made some changes to this,but i don't remember the details. I suspect that the experience ismuch dimnished from the full service diners.

I might be riding from NYP to Chicago. Does this new set up handle the load of passengers on this route? How is the crew morale?

Thanks

 

[ThayerATM]

I know they made some changes to this,but i don't remember the details. I suspect that the experience ismuch dimnished from the full service diners.
I might be riding from NYP to Chicago. Does this new set up handle the load of passengers on this route? How is the crew morale?

Thanks

Our experience was quite pleasant. We boarded a sleeper in ROC westbound on the first leg so all we really experienced was breakfast. The crew was efficient, and the food was good. The crew (everybody) was friendly. It's certainly not a "full diner" car, but it's far superior to "fast food." We were seated across the table from each other, alone. Lots of empty tables.

On the way back we experienced the wine and cheese thing upon boarding, and this time the diner was full. We were seated side by side, across the table from another couple, which I guess is the usual arrangement for meals. No problem with that.

Breakfast the next morning was a repeat of the first leg. Efficient, pleasant service, good food. Far superior to fast food, but certainly not full service diner class.

The interesting thing came before lunch. The train hit a semi-trailer about 20 miles out of ROC. Nobody was hurt, but the state police did have to do their investigation, and that held the train up for almost three hours. That pushed us into the lunch time; it was obvious that the diner crew wasn't ready for that kind of rush for lunch, but we did get seated side by side for lunch, by ourselves. The food was a little slower in coming than it was for breakfast, but when it did get there it was hot, and quite tasty. The entire train crew remained efficient, and pleasant.

 

[Steve4031]

Thanks

Did they have french toat?

 

[Green Maned Lion]

They did when I rode the train back in March. Better than on the Capitol Limited, btw.

 

[Steve4031]

Great. What would you recommend for dinner?

 

[Green Maned Lion]

Didn't get it. Took the Cap westbound, the LSL eastbound.

 

[Joel N. Weber II]

I found the beef short rib pretty unimpressive. It was certainly somewhat better than merely edible, though.

Amtrak really needs to figure out how to come up with a few more single level dining cars.

 

[JohnF]

I road the Lake Shore May 15/16 from Chicago to Buffalo where I caught the Maple Leaf to Toronto. We had the wine and cheese thing before leaving Chicago which was good. I only had breakfast in the diner and they had the french toast because that is what I ate. It is still good. I was in one of the newly rebuilt viewliner sleepers. It was nice. However, the CSX track was so rough you could not get much sleep. Just as you would doze off they would slam over another road crossing and jar you awake. We were only an hour late getting into Buffalo inspite of heavy freight traffic. The maple leaf was two hours late coming from NY.

 

[Green Maned Lion]

How are the Viewliners rebuilt?

 

[Amtrak OBS Gone Freight]

How are the Viewliners rebuilt?

I think he meant "refurbished."

OBS Gone Freight...

 

[Steve4031]

Thanks for the info. It sounds like the breakfast service is fine, but dinner is hit or miss.

If Amtrak ever gets the appropriate funding, they need a fleet of single level coaches, diners, and sleepers to replace what they got. The viewliners are Ok, they just need a refurbishing, and then they could be used to augment what is already there. OK, ill stop dreaming and deal with what we got.

 

[Amtrak Kid]

I sure hope they bring back the heritage diners (they are planning to) but who knows...

Corey

 

[Rail Freak]

I sure hope they bring back the heritage diners (they are planning to) but who knows...
Corey

Excuse me, dumbie is back :blink: , Heritage Diner?

 

[Joel N. Weber II]

The Heritage Fleet refers to the cars that Amtrak got used from the freight railroads when the freight railroads got out of the passenger business.

I believe the only Heritage cars Amtrak is still using in revenue service are the single level diners, and the baggage cars.

Up until the Viewliners were built, single level sleepers were all Heritage cars too.

 

[Rail Freak]

The Heritage Fleet refers to the cars that Amtrak got used from the freight railroads when the freight railroads got out of the passenger business.
I believe the only Heritage cars Amtrak is still using in revenue service are the single level diners, and the baggage cars.

Up until the Viewliners were built, single level sleepers were all Heritage cars too.

Revenue Service = ????

 

[p&sr]

Revenue Service = ????

Regular service open to the public on a pay-per-ticket basis.

(As opposed to special runs or insider-only service, or just moving trains around empty.)

 

[Rail Freak]

Revenue Service = ????

Regular service open to the public on a pay-per-ticket basis.

(As opposed to special runs or insider-only service, or just moving trains around empty.)

:blink:

Glad I asked, whew!!!

Thanx

 

[Steve4031]

I sure hope they bring back the heritage diners (they are planning to) but who knows...
Corey

Excuse me, dumbie is back :blink: , Heritage Diner?

I am not sure why you are calling this guy "dumbie" . . . I have always called those cars Heritage diners, even after the Teminosa rebuilds ( I know I misspelled that) so I see anything wrong with Amtrak Kid's remarks in the thread. I know the moderators here like to run a classy forum, and I hope to support their efforts.

If I am using the incorrect terminology, correct me and let me know. I enjoy learning everything possible about trains.

 

[the_traveler]

I sure hope they bring back the heritage diners (they are planning to) but who knows...
Corey

Excuse me, dumbie is back :blink: , Heritage Diner?

I am not sure why you are calling this guy "dumbie" . . . I have always called those cars Heritage diners, even after the Teminosa rebuilds ( I know I misspelled that) so I see anything wrong with Amtrak Kid's remarks in the thread.

I don't think RF was calling AK "dumbie" - I think RF was calling RF "dumbie is back"!

 

[RRrich]

I sure hope they bring back the heritage diners (they are planning to) but who knows...
Corey

Excuse me, dumbie is back :blink: , Heritage Diner?

I am not sure why you are calling this guy "dumbie" . . . I have always called those cars Heritage diners, even after the Teminosa rebuilds ( I know I misspelled that) so I see anything wrong with Amtrak Kid's remarks in the thread.

I don't think RF was calling AK "dumbie" - I think RF was calling RF "dumbie is back"!

Rail Freak, like me is a newby - and I didn't know what a "heritage diner" is either.

Thanks for asking Rail Freak.

 

[Steve4031]

OOPS My fault. Thanks for the heads up.

RF, I am really sorry about that. I reread your post and now I understand it. Again I apologize.

 

[Radparker]

I found the beef short rib pretty unimpressive. It was certainly somewhat better than merely edible, though.
Amtrak really needs to figure out how to come up with a few more single level dining cars.

My GF and I rode the Lake Shore Limited from Chicago to NYP (and then back a few days later) just about a week ago. The food was fine, but nothing amazing. I had that beef short rib myself. It was fine, as far as modern train food goes. But, nothing super special.

Speaking of which, when coming back, while in the Acela Lounge in NYP, we asked about upgrading to a bedroom (from a roomette). The lounge attendant looked it up and said there were bedrooms available, but recommended we upgrade on board to save money.

So, right when we boarded, we talked to our car attendant, who was adamant that there were no bedrooms available. We didn't get to poke around enough to see if the other cars had their bedrooms all in use, and it did look like one was closed off, in the middle of being refurbished, or something. So I never could tell if the attendant just decided he didn't want to deal with it, or if there really were no bedrooms. Anybody have an opinion there? Is there some certain way we should've handled it better?

 

[Joel N. Weber II]

I tend to think the bedroom is a downgrade, but that's just because of my height. (If you look carefully at the bed dimensions in the Amtrak timetable, you will find that the roomettes (and the Superliner Accessible Bedroom) have the 6' 6" lower births; all other room types have shorter lower births.)

This is probably the best place for onboard upgrade discussion.

 

[RRrich]

Since I am only 6'3", 250++ pounds and my wife a few pounds less (and several inches) we enjoy the extra room in the lower berth of a bedroom - no need to make up the upper.

Also the extra room of a bedroom is nice when you have to spend the day there as there is NO lounge or sightseeing car.

 

[Green Maned Lion]

The Lake Shore has a lounge.