Newbie questions about the Lake Shore Limited Chicago to Boston

[lesonyr]

Hi All,
I just booked my first overnight train trip. Very excited.
I booked a Roomette and my ticket says "Room 1". How do I know which side of the train it is on? I would like to be on the lake side (Chicago to Boston).
In an unrelated question, I noticed that the Roomettes went way up in price two days after I bought my tix. Lucky me. But what's the deal? Do they really go up that much in price when availability drops or something?
Thanks for any and all info.

 

[zephyr17]

Yes. There are 5 to 8 yield management fare buckets the highest typically being double or more the lowest one.

All inventory on a given departure is allocated across some or all of those buckets. Factors that have been noted that seem to affect the allocation are actual sales, projected demand and time to departure. Amtrak yield management has gotten quite aggressive recently. When the inventory allocated to a lower bucket is sold out, the next higher bucket with inventory allocated is shown.

Viewliner sleepers typically run bedroom end forward, so 1 should be on the right. Note the Lake Shore does very little running on the shores of the Great Lakes.

 

[PVD]

The title of the thread says Chicago to Boston, if that is the case, you would run along the lake at night in the dark when it does. Not really sure which way the Boston sleeper faces, the first NY sleeper usually provides the vestibule for the diner, but I don't remember which way Boston faces. Might want the river canal side crossing NY in daylight.

 

[Willbridge]

The title of the thread says Chicago to Boston, if that is the case, you would run along the lake at night in the dark when it does. Not really sure which way the Boston sleeper faces, the first NY sleeper usually provides the vestibule for the diner, but I don't remember which way Boston faces. Might want the river canal side crossing NY in daylight.

As a Westerner I sometimes find the scenery back East unimpressive, but I enjoy the river views on the LSL route and the mountainous portion east of Albany.

 

[joelkfla]

The title of the thread says Chicago to Boston, if that is the case, you would run along the lake at night in the dark when it does. Not really sure which way the Boston sleeper faces, the first NY sleeper usually provides the vestibule for the diner, but I don't remember which way Boston faces. Might want the river canal side crossing NY in daylight.

It faces forward, with the door right behind the engines, so Roomette #1 should be on the south side.

@lesonyr, since the LSL carries a full dining car which serves only Flex food, the diner should be open for you to sit and enjoy the scenery between meal periods. But you'll have to walk back thru the Cafe car + 5 coaches to get to it, because the Boston sleeper is at the opposite end of the train from the diner.

 

[PVD]

Thanks, I've been in the Boston sleeper a couple of times but drew a blank on which way it faced.

 

[Brian Battuello]

I always enjoy the stretch along the Erie/ooops, New York State Barge Canal.

And the Berkshires east of Albany can be very scenic, with a small river winding under the train.

And you can sit and enjoy the view of downtown Boston as you wait behind an MBTA Purple Line train to enter South Station

 

[Rasputin]

And the Berkshires east of Albany can be very scenic, with a small river winding under the train.

The Westfield River. I always enjoy that section.

 

[Mystic River Dragon]

As a Westerner I sometimes find the scenery back East unimpressive, but I enjoy the river views on the LSL route and the mountainous portion east of Albany.

I always enjoy the stretch along the Erie/ooops, New York State Barge Canal.

And the Berkshires east of Albany can be very scenic, with a small river winding under the train.

And you can sit and enjoy the view of downtown Boston as you wait behind an MBTA Purple Line train to enter South Station

The Westfield River. I always enjoy that section.

Thank you all for giving a plug to the LSL Albany-Boston section scenery.

The NYC to Albany section gets a lot of terrific reviews for the trip along the Hudson (and deservedly so), but the LSL ride through the Berkshires in the fall is gorgeous and not mentioned as often. Even spring and summer are nice if you like gentle mountains full of trees in any season.

It’s nice enough that both my Connecticut cousins have taken me on day trips (by car) up there (Norman Rockwell museum and a tiny rail museum — Chester Railway Museum, I think—both in the spring.

And then I was lucky enough to get to take the LSL from Albany to Boston in the fall and see the gorgeous colors before it got too dark.