LSL New Consist with Boston Sleeper

[printman2000]

It has been reported on another board that they observed 48 with the Boston sleeper up front, right behind the Boston baggage. I assumed all along this is what they would do, but it is nice to be confirmed.

Anyone here observed the new 48/49? I would love to see pictures and/or video.

 

[Joel N. Weber II]

Anyone here observed the new 48/49? I would love to see pictures and/or video.

IIRC, so far the Boston sleeper has only run in one direction, it's proably not until tomorrow that it starts running in the other direction as well.

 

[Anthony]

It's great to have a sleeper in Boston again!

 

[printman2000]

It's great to have a sleeper in Boston again!

Yes it is, now go take some pictures!!

 

[the_traveler]

It's great to have a sleeper in Boston again!

Yes it is, now go take some pictures!!

... And post them!

 

[J-1 3235]

It's great to have a sleeper in Boston again!

I'll second that!

 

[Mike S.]

Seach is our friend....here is the Boston Section in Warren, MA.

 

[printman2000]

Seach is our friend....here is the Boston Section in Warren, MA.

Cool. Next request, video of the entire 48/49 train.

 

[Rafi]

Wow, I was surprised they're running two engines at the head, but I now realize that those engines have to continue on to Chicago pulling the longer consist out of Albany. Also interesting that they have thrown a Horizon Dinette on the rear; I had assumed it would be a Diner-Lounge positioned behind the Boston sleeper, to serve as the cafe for the trip to Chicago and to prevent coach pax from wandering into the sleeper. Guess not!

Rafi

 

[Mike S.]

Rafi,

They might have a sign that says "Cafe Other End".

They consits from Alb to Chicago and Back is:

P42

P42

Boston Baggage

Boston Viewliner

Boston Coach

Boston Coach

Horizon Cafe

NYC Coach

NYC Coach

NYC Coach

Diner Lite

NYC Viewliner

NYC Viewliner

NYC Baggage

14 Cars...thats a long train.

 

[BuzzKillington]

Rafi,
They might have a sign that says "Cafe Other End".

They consits from Alb to Chicago and Back is:

P42

P42

Boston Baggage

Boston Viewliner

Boston Coach

Boston Coach

Horizon Cafe

NYC Coach

NYC Coach

NYC Coach

Diner Lite

NYC Viewliner

NYC Viewliner

NYC Baggage

14 Cars...thats a long train.

Does this car really need to have two baggage cars all the way to Chicago? You'd think it would be easier to either cut a baggage car at Albany or just stick the NYP luggage in an empty car to Albany and transfer it to the baggage car there since NYC is the only place they load baggage before Albany.

The extra baggage cars could be put on the Cardinal.

 

[Long Train Runnin']

Rafi,
They might have a sign that says "Cafe Other End".

They consits from Alb to Chicago and Back is:

P42

P42

Boston Baggage

Boston Viewliner

Boston Coach

Boston Coach

Horizon Cafe

NYC Coach

NYC Coach

NYC Coach

Diner Lite

NYC Viewliner

NYC Viewliner

NYC Baggage

14 Cars...thats a long train.

Does this car really need to have two baggage cars all the way to Chicago? You'd think it would be easier to either cut a baggage car at Albany or just stick the NYP luggage in an empty car to Albany and transfer it to the baggage car there since NYC is the only place they load baggage before Albany.

The extra baggage cars could be put on the Cardinal.

I agree it seems like its extreme to have both cars go to Chicago but I guess there is no other way to put checked baggage on a single level car.

 

[printman2000]

Wow, I was surprised they're running two engines at the head, but I now realize that those engines have to continue on to Chicago pulling the longer consist out of Albany. Also interesting that they have thrown a Horizon Dinette on the rear; I had assumed it would be a Diner-Lounge positioned behind the Boston sleeper, to serve as the cafe for the trip to Chicago and to prevent coach pax from wandering into the sleeper. Guess not!
Rafi

The LSL usually runs with the Horizon lounge car. At least, it has been for a long time. But I assume you are referring to the position of it. I guess putting it on the back of the Boston section makes it more central for the whole train when combined.

 

[the_traveler]

Rafi,
They might have a sign that says "Cafe Other End".

They consits from Alb to Chicago and Back is:

P42

P42

Boston Baggage

Boston Viewliner

Boston Coach

Boston Coach

Horizon Cafe

NYC Coach

NYC Coach

NYC Coach

Diner Lite

NYC Viewliner

NYC Viewliner

NYC Baggage

14 Cars...thats a long train.

Does this car really need to have two baggage cars all the way to Chicago? You'd think it would be easier to either cut a baggage car at Albany or just stick the NYP luggage in an empty car to Albany and transfer it to the baggage car there since NYC is the only place they load baggage before Albany.

The extra baggage cars could be put on the Cardinal.

I agree it seems like its extreme to have both cars go to Chicago but I guess there is no other way to put checked baggage on a single level car.

How about if they used something like a cabbage between NYP and ALB or even leave the baggage car sitting in ALB for the return trip (instead of running it all the way to CHI and needing extra ones)? :huh:

 

[AlanB]

Wow, I was surprised they're running two engines at the head, but I now realize that those engines have to continue on to Chicago pulling the longer consist out of Albany. Also interesting that they have thrown a Horizon Dinette on the rear; I had assumed it would be a Diner-Lounge positioned behind the Boston sleeper, to serve as the cafe for the trip to Chicago and to prevent coach pax from wandering into the sleeper. Guess not!
Rafi

Rafi,

When Amtrak returns full dining cars to the LSL, then hopefully the Diner-Lite car will go to Boston and serve its dual role of cafe car and dining car. But until then, the "dining car" always goes to NYP, always has. And there aren't enough Diner-Lites to put a second one into the consist for Boston, not to mention that it would probably get confusing to the pax as to which car is the cafe and which is the dining car if they look the same.

As for the cafe car being a Horizon, that's been the norm for the LSL since the change to Diner-Lite.

Why they put it at the end of the Boston section is a bit odd, but I guess that they are trying to keep the cafe car centered in the middle of the combined consist. Not sure why that rule doesn't apply to the dining car though. Note: This is the same way that things are done on the EB too, so there is a precedence here.

 

[AlanB]

Rafi,
They might have a sign that says "Cafe Other End".

They consits from Alb to Chicago and Back is:

P42

P42

Boston Baggage

Boston Viewliner

Boston Coach

Boston Coach

Horizon Cafe

NYC Coach

NYC Coach

NYC Coach

Diner Lite

NYC Viewliner

NYC Viewliner

NYC Baggage

14 Cars...thats a long train.

Does this car really need to have two baggage cars all the way to Chicago? You'd think it would be easier to either cut a baggage car at Albany or just stick the NYP luggage in an empty car to Albany and transfer it to the baggage car there since NYC is the only place they load baggage before Albany.

The extra baggage cars could be put on the Cardinal.

I agree it seems like its extreme to have both cars go to Chicago but I guess there is no other way to put checked baggage on a single level car.

How about if they used something like a cabbage between NYP and ALB or even leave the baggage car sitting in ALB for the return trip (instead of running it all the way to CHI and needing extra ones)? :huh:

First, Amtrak doesn't exactly have extra cabbages sitting around and second, it won't fit into NYP. So that idea is out.

Regarding transferring luggage in ALB, while it would be possible to cut off the NYP bag in ALB, now you're performing a second switching move plus you've got to transfer all that luggage. You've just increased dwell time, for little overall benefit. Not to mention that the NYP bag is the end of the train and has FRED on the rear, so now you've got to reset things to make the Viewliner the rear of the train.

If Amtrak wanted to do anything, it would be smarter to put the Boston bag on the rear of the consist and whack it off in ALB and transfer the luggage. But even then, that's still a lot of work; and you're exposing the luggage to weather unnecessarily.

The bottom line is that it's simply cheaper and more expedient to send both bags to Chicago. It's also how they did things years ago, before they started the stub train idea.

 

[printman2000]

If Amtrak wanted to do anything, it would be smarter to put the Boston bag on the rear of the consist and whack it off in ALB and transfer the luggage. But even then, that's still a lot of work; and you're exposing the luggage to weather unnecessarily.

Don't I know that. Last summer when it was still two separate trains, our luggage was soaked because of rain during the transfer.

 

[ThayerATM]

Rafi,
They might have a sign that says "Cafe Other End".

They consits from Alb to Chicago and Back is:

P42

P42

Boston Baggage

Boston Viewliner

Boston Coach

Boston Coach

Horizon Cafe

NYC Coach

NYC Coach

NYC Coach

Diner Lite

NYC Viewliner

NYC Viewliner

NYC Baggage

14 Cars...thats a long train.

Which of those cars is going to be 4911 toward CHI, and 4810 back?

 

[Joel N. Weber II]

Regarding transferring luggage in ALB, while it would be possible to cut off the NYP bag in ALB, now you're performing a second switching move plus you've got to transfer all that luggage. You've just increased dwell time, for little overall benefit. Not to mention that the NYP bag is the end of the train and has FRED on the rear, so now you've got to reset things to make the Viewliner the rear of the train.
If Amtrak wanted to do anything, it would be smarter to put the Boston bag on the rear of the consist and whack it off in ALB and transfer the luggage. But even then, that's still a lot of work; and you're exposing the luggage to weather unnecessarily.

The bottom line is that it's simply cheaper and more expedient to send both bags to Chicago. It's also how they did things years ago, before they started the stub train idea.

If they were going to cut one baggage car off at ALB, couldn't they put the NYP baggage car directly behind the dual mode locomotive? They might waste time in the yard disentangling that baggage car from the locomotive before attaching the locomotive to some other train, but that approach shouldn't increase the switching time forcing the LSL to sit at ALB any.

As for transfering baggage, when I took the LSL from BOS to SOB in December 2008, my checked luggage was unloaded from the New York City baggage car at SOB. While I can't rule out the possibility that my luggage managed to catch the train formerly known as the Twilight Shoreliner (it certainly got to BOS in time), I kind of suspect this may mean that they already transfer the baggage destined for the minor stops when the train is at ALB or something. I don't doubt that if they also had to transfer NYP to CHI luggage this would take a little longer, but is it anything more than a few minutes?

Then again, if the NYP baggage car only ran as far as ALB, I suspect they'd only end up freeing up one car, as I think two would be needed for the NYP<->ALB runs, and I think there are three LSL trainsets.

 

[AlanB]

Rafi,
They might have a sign that says "Cafe Other End".

They consits from Alb to Chicago and Back is:

P42

P42

Boston Baggage

Boston Viewliner

Boston Coach

Boston Coach

Horizon Cafe

NYC Coach

NYC Coach

NYC Coach

Diner Lite

NYC Viewliner <== 4810, 4910

NYC Viewliner <== 4811, 4911

NYC Baggage

14 Cars...thats a long train.

Which of those cars is going to be 4911 toward CHI, and 4810 back?

 

[printman2000]

Rafi,
They might have a sign that says "Cafe Other End".

They consits from Alb to Chicago and Back is:

P42

P42

Boston Baggage

Boston Viewliner

Boston Coach

Boston Coach

Horizon Cafe

NYC Coach

NYC Coach

NYC Coach

Diner Lite

NYC Viewliner <== 4810, 4910

NYC Viewliner <== 4811, 4911

NYC Baggage

14 Cars...thats a long train.

Which of those cars is going to be 4911 toward CHI, and 4810 back?

I think they have dropped the 4810 number and are now using 4811 & 4812. Might only be with trains booked before they started the Boston sleeper, but I have not heard of anyone being moved into the 4810 since they re-roomed everyone.

 

[ThayerATM]

Rafi,
They might have a sign that says "Cafe Other End".

They consits from Alb to Chicago and Back is:

P42

P42

Boston Baggage

Boston Viewliner

Boston Coach

Boston Coach

Horizon Cafe

NYC Coach

NYC Coach

NYC Coach

Diner Lite

NYC Viewliner <== 4810, 4910

NYC Viewliner <== 4811, 4911

NYC Baggage

14 Cars...thats a long train.

Which of those cars is going to be 4911 toward CHI, and 4810 back?

I think they have dropped the 4810 number and are now using 4811 & 4812. Might only be with trains booked before they started the Boston sleeper, but I have not heard of anyone being moved into the 4810 since they re-roomed everyone.

The TICKETS, that I'm holding in my hot little hand definitely say B/4911 and B/4810, for the trip in September 09. These tickets were issued 11JAN09.

Should I have heard something from Amtrak if there was a change in the car numbers regarding my tickets, or am I correct in surmising that the car numbers at that time will correspond with what's printed on my tickets?

 

[AlanB]

The TICKETS, that I'm holding in my hot little hand definitely say B/4911 and B/4810, for the trip in September 09. These tickets were issued 11JAN09.
Should I have heard something from Amtrak if there was a change in the car numbers regarding my tickets, or am I correct in surmising that the car numbers at that time will correspond with what's printed on my tickets?

Based upon the reports of others, I suspect that your numbers have changed. However for a trip in September, it's probably still a bit early for Amtrak to have reached people with reservations for that month who were affected by the changes. If there have been changes though, then yes, you should be getting a phone call from Amtrak.

Did you book the trip online? If so, see if you can still view the reservation, although based upon reports from others you probably cannot. But still worth a try to see what it says. If you can't view it online, then you'll either have to wait for Amtrak to call you or call them to find out where things stand.

 

[jis]

I got a reservation on 48 in July 09 for CHI - NYP that is in car 4812. The reservation was made after the Boston Sleeper went into service.

 

[ThayerATM]

The TICKETS, that I'm holding in my hot little hand definitely say B/4911 and B/4810, for the trip in September 09. These tickets were issued 11JAN09.
Should I have heard something from Amtrak if there was a change in the car numbers regarding my tickets, or am I correct in surmising that the car numbers at that time will correspond with what's printed on my tickets?

Based upon the reports of others, I suspect that your numbers have changed. However for a trip in September, it's probably still a bit early for Amtrak to have reached people with reservations for that month who were affected by the changes. If there have been changes though, then yes, you should be getting a phone call from Amtrak.

Did you book the trip online? If so, see if you can still view the reservation, although based upon reports from others you probably cannot. But still worth a try to see what it says. If you can't view it online, then you'll either have to wait for Amtrak to call you or call them to find out where things stand.

I booked the reservation by talking with an agent, thus no checking it online.

What's a reasonable length of time to wait in order to let Amtrak do what they're supposed to do? I'm not a person to leave things to the last minute. I like to have my ducks all in a row way ahead of time, unforseen circumstances aside.

Upon contact, if there IS a change of car numbers, does Amtrak issue new tickets when I go to the local station and turn in my current tickets?