Mind the Gap

A 9:30 p.m. departure generally isn't ideal, but I was OK with it this time as they finally made the announcement for train #48, the eastbound Lake Shore Limited. I was long overdue for a good night's sleep.  The Lake Shore Limited runs as one long train from Chicago to Albany-Rensselaer overnight. At Albany, the train is divided in two with half heading south to New York and the other half heading east to Boston. When I booked the train, Amtrak gave me the option of booking one sleeper all the way to Boston or booking one sleeper from Chicago to Albany and another sleeper from Albany to Boston. The second option saved me $170, so I went with it. The sleeper we boarded in Chicago was in the back half of the train, so we didn't have to walk far. After pulling out of Chicago Union Station, I watched the bright lights of the city slowly fade away. And after about an hour or so, I turned in for the night.  I slept soundly during the night and don't believe I woke up once du

I confess that it hasn't been that long since my last train trip, which you might have read about. I find that there is a certain withdrawal symptom that comes from any train trip -- after I finish one trip it isn't long before I begin pining for the next one.  So it's with that in mind that I this summer I planned a "triangle" type route throughout the Midwest, which will give me a chance to ride a couple of trains I haven't been on before, one being the famous Acela. I convinced my friend Eric to come along for the ride from D.C. to Chicago, Boston and then back to D.C.  The first leg, Amtrak's westbound Capitol Limited, I won't go into too much detail about since I wrote about it during my last trip. Like my last trip on the Capitol, the consist featured only three Superliners today: a coach car, sleeper and dining car. I lament the equipment shortage Amtrak has been experiencing since the start of the pandemic. As late as 2019 this train was runnin

Overnight our train crossed from Arizona into California, and we were heading through the picturesque San Gabriel mountain range as the sun rose on our final day. My dad and I got up early in order to grab breakfast in the dining car -- our last meal onboard.  There's honestly no better way to start the day than noshing on delicious French Toast and bacon, while slowly gliding through a beautiful mountain range. I tried to savor the moment, as this was the last scenic bit of the journey before we entered the Los Angeles metropolitan area.  The train somehow had managed to make it to California and only lose an hour of time, although upon looking at the schedule it's clear that there is significant padding that is included pre-emptively in anticipation of delays.  When I got back to my room, we were already starting to roll into the LA suburbs. The train made stops in Riverside and Fullerton, both of which are on LA's Metrolink commuter rail line.  The train continued to win