At 12 pm on our second day on the LSL (Friday), Ernesto came by and told us we should head down for lunch. He reminded us that the train separates at Albany and the dining car goes with it. We had just finished breakfast at 11 am, but we decided to head down anyway since we were still remembering our rumbling stomachs after we missed lunch the day of the bus bridge (Wednesday).
We went down to the dining car and were seated immediately at a table with two people holding a baby. Their daughter was sitting behind them at a table with three kids, and they had the youngest one with them. The baby was fussing, and again there seemed to be no sense of urgency in getting any orders taken. After sitting in the diner for 15 minutes without even being greeted by the server, we gave up and went back to the sleeper to nap the afternoon away. We started to get hungry around 4:30 pm, and just when we were about to go the lounge car to grab a hot dog or something, an announcement came on that the lounge car would be closing in preparation for the train separating in Albany.
At this point we were delayed anywhere between 2-3 hours. The bad news is that we were now going to miss our final connection, the little stub train (an engine and two coaches) that travels between Springfield and New Haven. It travels through south Hartford and Wallingford and provides connections in New Haven to the Northeast Regional and Acela trains.
After the trains separated in Albany, Ernesto asked us to come down to the lounge car for dinner. I was pleasantly surprised at the dinner service on the 448 for the sleeper pax. They closed the lounge car to coach pax, and our SCA acted as our waiter. There were no menus, but the two options for dinner was a cold beef medallion meal with rice or a warm pasta dish. We opted for the warm pasta dish and ate with Bill and Mary again. We had such a nice time with them!
While in the lounge car, the conductor came by and asked if any of the sleeper pax had connections in Springfield. We mentioned that we were supposed to connect to the 479, and the conductor said that they would find us a way home. We weren't enthused by the idea of a taxi all the way back to Wallingford, so thankfully my in-laws agreed to pick us up.
We finally pulled into SPG at around 8:15 PM, about 2.5 hours late. I really enjoyed the scenery through the Berkshires from ALB - SPG. Also the train was nice and quiet and there were only a few people left on the train. It was nice and calm - how I envisioned our entire trip being!
Overall, despite the extended delay, I enjoyed the trip, although I am glad to be home. I think I might keep my long distance train travel to just one overnight trip, instead of an extended cross country trip. But in any case, we had a great adventure, and it is one that we definitely won't forget.
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