DC-NYC Trip: Heading Home on the Lake Shore Limited
There seems to be a bit of a confusion about when the DC-NYC trip actually happened. And, in fairness, I didn’t really explain it on this LJ. So, here’s how it went down.
- March 19 - I left Chicago and headed for Washington DC
- March 20 - the Capitol Limited train gets delayed a lot on its way to DC, I make it to the Russian consulate, explore Washington DC a bit and head off to New York City.
- March 21-22 - I hang out with Randi and Don and visit the New York Public Library
Which brings us to Sunday, March 23, when I headed back to Chicago. A decent chunk of this entry was written on the train - I just added a few things and inserted uploaded pictures.
New York Penn Station
I didn’t get to see Don at all on Sunday - he had to work. So I pretty much hung out with Randi and Song. Randi was originally going to walk with me to Penn Station, but that plan fell through. Then, she was going to walk me to the Astoria subway station, but that didn’t work out, either. So she wound up walking me out the door, and off I went.
Randi made sure I left way ahead of time. Even though the N line train got delayed several times, I managed to make it to Penn Station with half an hour to spare.
Because it was late when I arrived at Penn Station on Thursday, I didn’t really explore it… well, at all. This time, I got a chance to walk around a bit. I got to see a few things I didn’t notice before.
Like an old(er)-fashioned departure table.
The United Airlines ticket counter (an artifact of an old deal with Continental Airlines)
And a shot of the old Penn Station headhouse (which, as I mentioned a few posts ago, was demolished to make room for Madison Square Garden)
Like the Chicago Union Station, Penn Station had a waiting area for passengers
Unlike Chicago Union Station, you can't just walk in and take a seat - you need to show a valid Amtrak or New Jersey Transit ticket. I guess the big difference is that Chicago North and South Amtrak boarding areas have storage lockers and the Penn Station waiting area doesn't
And one thing Chicago Union Station boarding areas definitely don't have - random live pigeons
In Chicago, the Amtrak staff assembles passengers in front of gate entrances before it’s time to board. Which, in retrospect, is what threw me off. When the intercom said that my train, the Lake Shore Limited, was boarding at Gate 8, I just went to Gate 8. And I realized that I didn’t know where the gate was. By the time I found it, a long line lined up in front of it.
Turned out, if I just waited a bit, I wouldn’t have had to look.
Racing Along Hudson River
I was alright while going to Penn Station. I was alright waiting for Lake Shore Limited. But as the train headed out of Manhattan… It hit me then and there that this is the first time I’ve actually seen Randi and Don in person since March 2011, and I’m not sure when I was going to see them again. I tried to keep it together, but I guess I didn’t do a good job, because my seatmate asked me if I was okay.
John, who was returning home to the Erie area after visiting a friend in New York, turned out to be a pretty pleasant conversationalist. I found out quite a few interesting things about Erie and that part of Pennsylvania in particular. I shared stories about growing up in Russia and living in Chicago. We bonded a bit over the discussion of Rust Belt cities and towns’ efforts to reinvent themselves. That’s why I didn’t take any pictures until after we left Poughkeepsie - I was legitimately enjoying the conversation.
A few shots outside the window.
John suggested that the ice on Hudson River looks pretty cool this time of year, and I decided to head down to the lounge car to get some pictures. And sure enough, he was right.
This time, the Lake Shore Limited lounge car was a bit different than the one I saw the last time I visited Randi and Don. The half to the left of the café counter looked familiar - tables with couch-like chairs. But the part to the right of the café car had a space of wheelchairs
And a table where a person in a wheelchair can sit, eat, open a computer, etc
Much as I praised the lounge cards - whether it’s the awesome Superliner cars or the more modest, but still comfortable Viewliner cars - they definitely aren’t all that inviting for handicapped individuals. So this is actually pretty cool
As I started writing it, the Lake Shore Limited has been racing through Upstate New York, along Hudson River, at top speed. One thing that made it different was that, somewhere along the way, I forgot to grab a Lake Shore Limited schedule. I remembered some stops from the last trip, but not all of them. Especially not in the Upstate New York. So, for once, there was this weird sort of suspense. I had no idea how many stops we had let before Albany-Rensselaer (where I could grab the schedule). And since I wasn’t rushing anywhere this time, I found myself weirdly fine with that.
Not that I had to stay in suspense for long. A few minutes after I wrote the preceding paragraph, we were pulling into the Albany-Rensselaer station.
Albany-Rensselaer Rail Station and Rensselaer intself
As I mentioned in my guide to long-distance Amtrak trains, when Lake Shore Limited reaches Albany-Rensselaer station, it splits into two parts. One part goes to Boston, one part goes to New York. When the trains return to Chicago, they join together. The process takes time, so passengers have a chance to get out and walk around.
The current version of the station was built in the station was built in the early 2000s. In 2011, only three out of the four tracks were in place. Three years later... that didn't really change.
To get to the station house, you need to go up to the walkway, and keep going. The station sits on a higher elevation relative to the tracks, so the walkway actually goes right into the first floor
The station shares a space with the post office - an artifact of a time when it had mail delivery contract with Amtrak
The station is also home to a Coffee Beanery location, where riders can grab coffee and pastries, and take advantage of the free wi-fi
I went to check out a store where riders could buy newspapers, magazines and snacks. I was amused to discover that, along with local newspapers, it carried newspapers from New York and Boston. The station gets a lot of trains coming from New York, but I'm pretty sure Boston Herald is for the Lake Shore Limited crowd.
The store also had something I didn't expect at all - and honest to goodness, old-fashioned comic book spinner rack. And it had current comics, too
The two times I stopped at Albany-Rensselaur Rail Station, I didn't really go outside the station. But I figured I had 15 minutes before I had to go back (and about half an hour before the train leaves), so I'd look around at least a little
The station is called "Albany-Rensselaer," because, while it's located in Rensselaer, Albany, the capital city of the state of New York, is within walking distance, just across Hudson River. Two bus routes from the local bus system stop at the station, letting the riders make connections in both cities.
I didn't go too far - just along the closest street. But I still got some good shots of Rensselaer
A firehouse that got converted into a restaurant called June's Restaurant. If Lake Shore Limited stayed at the station for more than an hour, I would have seriously considered checking it out
Oh, and here's what Albany-Rensselaer Rail Station looks like from the street level
Herick Street goes over the trench where the train tracks are and keeps going towards Albany. This "gate" marks its starting point
And here's a look at the trench itself
At this point, I decided to head back. And just as I got inside the station, I heard an announcement that was a bit garbled. Something about Lake Shore Limited and boarding. I rushed down the platform and back into my seat. It turned out that I could have stayed outside 10 more minutes, but I decided not to take any chances and stay put.
Evening on the Lake Shore Limited
We left Rensselaur a little past 7:00 PM. I was going to take a few pictures, than head to a café car and assemble some dinner. But then, John asked me if I could answer a few questions about Russian history. As tweelore, or, hell, anyone who’s interacted me for a decent length of time knows, I love teaching Americans about Russian history. It is my siren’s song.
By the time I finished my rundown of Motherland's, it was a little past 8:00 PM, and I was feeling hungry. So I went back to the lounge car, figuring I was going to buy some cheaper-than-dining car food.
And that's when I realized that the café counter was closed. And it had no food whatsoever.
Confused, I went up to the dining car, only discover a set-up that was different from what I was used to. The last time I rode Lake Shore Limited, it was the usual Amtrak dining car set up. You go to the table, you order food, Dining Car attendants bring you food, you pay once you’re done eating. But here, people were picking up food at the counter and brining them back to the tables.
“Excuse me, does this train have a café car?” I asked one of the crew members behind the counter.
“Yeah, up ahead, past the coach cars” he said.
I thanked him and headed there. As I walked, I made a mental note to get breakfast in the dining car. I wasn’t planning to, but the unusual train car set up intrigued me enough to try it out.
[This is the part where the picture of the dining car was supposed to go. Unfortunately, it turned out to be a complete crap.]
As it turned out, one the two halves of Lake Shore Limited joined together, it got two lounge cars - one from the New York section, one from the Boston section. Having two cafes on the same train was, obviously, a bit redundant. This didn't happen last time I rode the train, but according to the Boston lounge café attendant, this sort of thing happens a lot on Lake Shore Limited.
The server, incidentally… she wasn’t bad, but she definitely wasn’t quite what I was used to. She wasn’t manning the counter - she was sitting at one of the tables with a few other crew members, and she came up to the counter only when she saw me approach. She didn’t give me much time to decide. But she was pleasantly chatty, and I was amused to hear a server second-guess my order of cup of noodles. (“You know this is just Ramen, right?”). So it wasn’t a bad experience… Just not quite as professional as what I was used to.
Here's what I had for dinner. Total price - $11.00 (Remember what I said about Amtrak food costing a bit more than you'd expect)
After I finished dinner, I discovered another interesting feature. Most of the time, in Amtrak trains, the dining car acts as the checkpoint between the coach car crowd and the sleeping cars. If a coach car passenger tries to get into the lounge car, even when a meal isn’t served, a crew member would ask what he or she was doing and turn a passenger away. It was the same way for the two sleepers in the New York section. But for Boston section, there was no dining car between a lounge car and a sleeper - just another coach.
So, of course, I went in and took some pictures. Unfortunately, all of them were crap.
So I went to the "New York" lounge car. At first, it was just me and some guy with dining car food. But as I kept writing, more people showed up.
Amtrak’s long-distance trains are stereotyped as being primarily ridden by old people. And according to Amtrak statistics, a pretty sizable chunk of Lake Shore Limited ridership are seniors. But this Lake Shore Limited train, at least, had a lot of high school and college students on board. More than I’ve ever seen on every single long-distance train I’ve ever ridden - combined.
(In retrospect, I realize that the fact that a lot of high schools and colleges had spring breaks around this time had something to do with greater-than-average teen/early 20s population.)
A lot of teens and college students occupied both lounges, and they were pretty loud, but honestly, I don’t mind. I don't understand .all the Amtrak residency writers who talk about how nice it is to write in the quiet confines of a cabin. Sure, there are times that I like to be alone, but I love writing amidst voices and background noise. It gets the creative juices flowing. So long as they don't bother me, or get too loud.
Besides, the college students' give me plenty of potential writing ideas. When one of the girls tried to dance in the lounge car's wheelchair space using railing for support (remember - trains sway) all I could think was that I could totally do a short story based off of this.
I hung around at the New York lounge, writing and sorting photos, until around 9:30 PM. I knew Lake Shore Limited would make a made a smoke stop at Syracuse. I’m not sure if it did last time - everything after Rensselaer was kind of a blur. But so long as it did, I figured I might as well get out for a little bit before 10:00 PM, when Amtrak long-distance trains traditionally do “lights out.”
(As in they literally dim most lights in coach cars and the crew asks passengers to keep the noise down. "Lights out" traditionally lasts until 6:00 AM)
As I headed out the exit, I couldn't help but notice an ad for a "passenger comfort kit." Amtrak long-distance trains used to offer free pillows to coach car passengers, but that perk got eliminated last year thinaks to the sequester-related cuts. Instead, passengers can buy an $8 comfort kit, which contains a pillow. And a blanket. And eye mask, neck rest and ear plugs.
The beauty of the pillows was that we didn't have to take them with us. With comfort kits - outside Amtrak coach cars, what are they good for?
With this ad, it felt like Amtrak was taunting me.
I was surprised to discover that Syracuse station had a high-level platform - most stations right before and after it had a regular ground-level platform.
The snow surprised me a bit less.I knew it fell in Chicago this morning, and I wasn't surprised to see other cities west of New York affected.
I tried to get some pictures. Aside from the ones above, this is the best I managed to get
After we got back inside... I suppose I could have gone back to the New York Lounge, or even changed it up and set up shop in Boston Lounge. But John was trying to catch some shut-eye before he had to get off at Erie at 1:36 AM, and I didn't want to wake him him up. So I settled in my seat, pulled out my headphones and went back to listening to the latest episode of ceilidh_ann, mysticowl and RedHeadedGirl's Anglo-Filles podcast. At around 11:00 PM, I started to drift off and decided to pause the podcast and go to sleep.
Well, we're almost done. Just one more post to go before I finish the trip log. Which, hopefully, will break my streak of abandoned trip logs (that were meant to span more than three posts). Fingers crossed.