On the Lake Shore Limited

Tim and I both were very tired, so we put our beds down and tried to sleep. After about 10 minutes, we came to a hard stop. Tim asked me to get out the scanner to see what was going on. Anytime there is a delay, a train scanner is an amazing tool, because you can hear the communications between the conductor, engineer, and dispatcher.  I learned that we had some sort of hose on the back of the baggage car that came loose. Supposedly it was something used for back up moves, but the hose was shredded and the train staff warned the dispatcher that whoever came through this section of track next might want to move slowly. They also said they would need a few moments to get everything secured. We lost HEP (head end power) for about five minutes, but then the HEP was restored and we were on our way. That delay was about 20 minutes.

I finally fell asleep and woke up the next morning at 9:30 AM, eastern time. Wow! That is the latest I have slept on the train during this trip, but it felt great to sleep in. We got nervous that we might miss out on breakfast in the dining car, so we rushed down there to eat.

The dining car was completely full and we were asked to just wait at the end of the car. Let’s just say that the crew on the LSL was not quite as happy and chipper as the crew on either one of our Empire Builder trains. We had to wait about 20 minutes for a table to be ready for us. Our server Miles was downright surly, and he had a frown on his face the entire time I was in the car. He walked away while the other couple we were seated with was asking him a question, and when we asked for more coffee, he also just walked away. He did come back with the coffee pot, but I wasn’t sure what we were going to get. We had tipped the staff on the EB generously even though the meals are included with the ticket price, but I refused to tip Miles after he had such an attitude.

I also noticed that there was a young family sitting across from us in the dining car. I am not sure if they were Amish, Hutterite or Mennonite, but they were speaking a language that was somewhere between English and German. The adults looked to be in their early 20s and they had two young daughters (I would estimate 2 and 4 years old). I am going to have to look up more information about these groups on google, and I also noticed a large party of members of this group in one of the coaches.

By the time we finished breakfast it was 11 am, and we headed back to the sleeper to relax and nap. Ernesto, our SCA, showed up right when we returned and wanted to know about changing the linens. Well, we had left the beds down and the door open when we went to breakfast and were gone for 90 minutes, so I told him he would have to do it later. Ernesto suggested we go to lunch at 12 pm so we could be sure to get into the diner before the train separated in Albany, but frankly, I am not hungry at all. However, I want to be sure that we do get some food and don't have a day without lunch again.

I joked with Tim that we now have only about 5 hours left of our journey to Springfield, MA and that it was actually less time than the trip from Minneapolis to Chicago. He joked that it made him feel worse - not better - about the time left on the train. I don't think multi-day train travel will be in his future...

We are now approaching Rochester and then we will go onwards to Albany!