So much better than when I did Amtrak fly/rail Denver-Chicago - NYC (Lake Shore) in the late 90's Back then the Lake Shore when arriving at Albany (from Chicago - reverse NYC to Albany) NYC Lake Shore passengers had to deboard and take seperate train while Boston bound remained on the train to continue on. It was a disappointment having a sleeper then having to board a regular seat coach. This btw caused some "oh poop" having to get suitcase from baggage .. just made it in time to get on the continuing train to NYC because the baggage idiots were in no hurry to unload. In fact I grabbed my suitcase while it was still on the platform to get on the connector on time. Nice to see going from/to NYC if you have a sleeper you have it for the whole trip. Also back then you didn't have the seperate waiting area for sleeping car passengers as is available now in NYC-Chicago-LA. And looking at other videos the Viewliners look alot better than the old Heritage class sleepers .. at least now in a roomette you can use the toliet if the lower bed in is place .. couldn't on Heritage as it covered the toilet .. when you needed to do your duty at night you had to raise the bed .. real pain.

One of only 2 Amtrak splits the other one is in Spokane WA.

this is to everyone that is watching this video right now how did the lake shore limited got split i hope you read this message whenever you have the time to read this message 🤔

In the case of someone riding through "intermediate" stops on the Lake Shore (Toledo-Cleveland or Cleveland-Albany for example), would the passenger be specifically assigned reservations to the NY section (48/49) or Boston section (448/449)?

used to ride this train from the 1980s to the year 2000 with my late mom . wed go into albany and use albany for a base whilst she went of and did genealogical studies of our family in the region.remember the sleeprs would split off to go to nyc and wed go to albany. the old desert wind would split and merge with the ca zypher in salt lake city. so would the old cascade. onetime mom remarked to a friend , oh look, the 3 trains are on time . suddenly air brakes went off, mom ad friend had to disembark, as there was a frieght train derailment further down the line .

Here's how it appears to work. 48 pulls in and they platform only the New York cars. The Boston section (448) is pulled off and moves forward to a switch. Then it reverses onto a different platform and receives and discharges passengers. Once that is complete it continues to Boston. At the same time, a P32ACDM is coupled to the New York section and then it continues to New York. In the reverse direction, 449 comes in first with the P42's. When 49 comes in, the P32ACDM is pulled off. 449 is then switched onto the same track and is coupled to it and the combined train continues to Chicago. Also, with the reservation system, if going between Boston and Albany, both the New York and Boston sections show separately. You can book coach or sleeper in either one for the same price if both are available. If you wanted to ride in a sleeper between New York and Chicago or one of the intermediate stops between New York and Albany, but there was only sleeper space in the Boston section, the online reservation system would require you to book separate tickets if you were going to ride in coach before Albany. If you bought a ticket by phone or in person, they would likely be able to sell you both as one ticket.

I work at the station and know the guy sitting in the cart

I think Albany Station was the last real expensive thing Penn Central did after they abandoned Albany Union Station. I think they had abandoned the station because the city wanted them to move the tracks to the other side of the river. with the new limited dining car I'm sure ridership will drop off the cliff.