Taking Amtrak

[ChiTownScion]

The last long distance Amtrak trip that I took was a Chicago- Emeryville (SF BAY) round trip a few years ago with my 2 older sons. Absolutely loved it- but the train (Cal Zeph) ran late in both directions.

We got the Family Bedroom, which takes up the entire car width on the lower level of the Superliner Sleeping Car. That meant that the younger of my sons (14 at the time) had to sleep in one of the child beds- about the size of a baby crib- with his long legs hanging over the side, but he was cool with that. We ate steak every night, saw great scenery (the Rockies, the Great Salt Lake, the deserts of Utah and Nevada, the Sierra Nevadas, etc.) and got in some memorable train watching. Had a great time- and I'm booked for a trip from Seattle to Chicago with my wife soon in a full bedroom.

 

[Fading Fast]

The last long distance Amtrak trip that I took was a Chicago- Emeryville (SF BAY) round trip a few years ago with my 2 older sons. Absolutely loved it- but the train (Cal Zeph) ran late in both directions.

We got the Family Bedroom, which takes up the entire car width on the lower level of the Superliner Sleeping Car. That meant that the younger of my sons (14 at the time) had to sleep in one of the child beds- about the size of a baby crib- with his long legs hanging over the side, but he was cool with that. We ate steak every night, saw great scenery (the Rockies, the Great Salt Lake, the deserts of Utah and Nevada, the Sierra Nevadas, etc.) and got in some memorable train watching. Had a great time- and I'm booked for a trip from Seattle to Chicago with my wife soon in a full bedroom.

I haven't done any overnight Amtrak trips, but I've done the entire Northeast corridor including the extension to Portland Maine. I've also taken Amtrak from NYC to Albany several times. The core Northeast corridor line - especially the Acela (Amtrak's kinda high-speed train - runs at just over 100 mph for a small part of the trip, otherwise its about 70 mph) - is pretty well maintained and usually runs on time. If it didn't, it would loose its customer base quickly as competing roads, buses, planes are all very competitively priced and viable and it is customer base has a large business person component.

But even the Albany run has been pretty good as to being on time. However, the train cars on the Albany line are a clear step down from the Northeast corridor, but overall, not bad. That said, they are all dated and just doesn't give you a "this is a fresh, healthy business that is replacing its cars on a reasonable schedule" confidence and feel. Away from the greater security concerns, image if you got on airplanes with 1980s interiors and style.

That said, the the Albany line runs along the Hudson for about 80% of the trip with incredible views. I usually read on trains, but I have spent hours just looking out the window on the Albany line. And the Northeast corridor run has some parts - especially in Connecticut - that are right along the ocean and gorgeous. And while a lot of what you see is just urban decay and the not-great real estate that tends to abut train tracks, there are still some time-travel-like old factories to see or an occasional scenic shot of a bridge, some neat looking village or something that pops up almost out of nowhere.

For me, it is the only civilized way to travel the Northeast. Driving is crazy with traffic all the time. Buses are torture chambers to my motion sickness issues and have all the traffic issues anyway. And planes require dealing with TSA and getting to and from the airports which, especially in Boston and New York, can be brutal. The train departs and arrives right in the middle of the city, has comfortable seating, almost no security hassles and - as noted - some great scenery. Once one honestly includes the to-and-from airport times, the train is competitive time wise with planes (with NYC to Boston being about an hour longer by train if the plane and drive to / from the city is on time, which isn't that often) and driving.

 

[Babydoll]

My cousin is a conductor for Amtrak. She loves her job!

I've taken the Coast Starlight down the West Coast many times. It used to be the way I got to my Grannie's house by myself before I could drive. I loved going alone to visit her.

 

[AmateisGal]

We took Amtrak from Denver to California back in 1990 for a high school band trip to Disneyland. I quite enjoyed it. But I was only a freshman, a farm girl who'd barely been out of the state of Nebraska, so it was definitely an adventure!

 

[Babydoll]

My first out-of-state trip without family was riding a tour bus from my small hometown outside Seattle to San Pedro (L.A. area) to go on a cruise to Mexico. The group of students was the jazz choir and band from the high school - about 70 of us. I got stuck sitting between two very stinky, squirrely freshman boys in the very back seat of the bus next to the lavatory. Let's just say it was NOT a fun 24 hour drive for me.

Amtrak would have been more fun.

 

[AmateisGal]

My first out-of-state trip without family was riding a tour bus from my small hometown outside Seattle to San Pedro (L.A. area) to go on a cruise to Mexico. The group of students was the jazz choir and band from the high school - about 70 of us. I got stuck sitting between two very stinky, squirrely freshman boys in the very back seat of the bus next to the lavatory. Let's just say it was NOT a fun 24 hour drive for me.

Amtrak would have been more fun.

Oh man. That would not have been fun AT ALL.

 

[LizzieMaine]

I rode overnight from Philadelphia to Pittsburgh on a bus next to a sweaty 300 pound man who was smoking a stinking black rope of a cigar the whole trip. I was 20 years old and realized that it was a memory I would retain for the rest of my days. Oh, and when we stopped in Pittsburgh to change buses, my feet were stuck to the floor by something, I never wanted to know what.

As for long distance train travel, the last time I took the train from Portland to Boston, I was suffering from a bad case of sciatica and had to walk with a cane. I was unable to sit because of the pain, so I stood in the back of the car, leaning on my cane the whole trip, and choking on screams every time the train hit a bump. But that was still more fun than riding the subway when I got into Boston!

 

[Babydoll]

Sounds like my first flight I took alone - from Minneapolis to Seattle. 300 pound fella sitting next to me, and partly in my seat. He fell asleep on my shoulder and drooled!!!!!!!! I was mortified. But I'm petite, so I couldn't move him off me. Ew. 20 years later, and I still remember it. So gross.

 

[Warden]

Reviving a seven-year-dormant thread - might be a record.

Hey I got a record

 

[ChiTownScion]

I went to college (early- mid 1970's) about 200 miles away and utilized Amtrak for weekends, Easter, Thanksgiving, etc. This was back when Amtrak had its "Heritage fleet," the castoff cars from the old intercity rail travel days. The cars were usually in decent mechanical shape, but the coaches would often lose their steam heat in dead winter.

To my father's consternation, I'd pay extra (out of my own pocket, mind you) to secure a roomette, even though it was a short 4 hour trip. The coaches were filled with pot smoking undergrads, semi- literate enlisted military types, whiny children and other assorted unwashed riff raff that made the extra $10-15 for a few hours of quiet study in a private room well worth it. The heat never gave out in first class- even in those days before Amtrak switched to electrical head end power for heating and air conditioning.

Coach travel isn't nearly as bad now: the Horizon, Amfleet, and Superliner cars are well lit, kept cleaner, and less noisy. Still and all, I prefer business class on short trips, and insist upon a first class sleeper for overnights. Not only pricier, but harder to book because they fill up faster- but I really do prefer a more relaxing and private experience- at least as much as any common carrier can provide. Amtrak's employees are a lot better now as well: less of the old railroad crowd, many of whom had a definite attitude of entitlement and regarded passengers on a passenger train to be a nuisance.

 

[Fading Fast]

... Amtrak's employees are a lot better now as well: less of the old railroad crowd, many of whom had a definite attitude of entitlement and regarded passengers on a passenger train to be a nuisance.

I've noticed this too. Especially (but absolutely not exclusively) with the younger employees who seem enthusiastic and engaged. It's been a big change from ten and twenty years ago. And it does make a difference to your trip to have a positive crew.

Also, to your business class comment - I'm always surprised at how small the incremental cost is. I, too, usually "pay up" for business class as it isn't that much more and you get more room and, maybe, a bit more attentive service (plus a few freebies - non-alcoholic drinks, papers and, sometimes, snacks).

 

[ChiTownScion]

I rode overnight from Philadelphia to Pittsburgh on a bus next to a sweaty 300 pound man who was smoking a stinking black rope of a cigar the whole trip. I was 20 years old and realized that it was a memory I would retain for the rest of my days.

And dang! You could have taken the train and rode the famous Horse Shoe Curve just west of Altoona and had a pleasant memory!

But I do understand how even the most miserable travel experience can make you appreciate the good ones in the future even more. On an almost spur of the moment whim, I decided to check out a Mennonite college in Virginia as a possible transfer alternative back in 1973. I bought a round trip coach train ticket to Washington DC. It was such a hellish experience- uncomfortable seats, poor AC in August, bad track, behind schedule performance- that, in disgust, I got off in Charlottesville Virginia and grabbed a bus to the college town.

While the college visit was pleasant, the trip back was just as bad, catching the westbound train at about 1 AM in Staunton Virginia. There's just something about boarding a train in the middle of the night in a town that you'd never even heard of before: a little eerie, but exciting in the sense that you think about people that have boarded from that same old station over the years, alone, and in the middle of the night as well. Off to war, to college, to elope, to the big city to chase a dream, whatever. Darkness all around in the town, and you're alone in a waiting room under those old 40 watt bulbs, bathing in their yellowish incandescence.

Anyhow... I'll never take anything but a sleeper overnight on a train, but I think that I appreciate that comfortable bed and clean sheets more than I would had I never had such an ordeal before. Just like prime rib tastes better when you can remember those years of surviving on salami and mac & cheese, I suppose.

 

[Hercule]

Nice to hear train travel might be better than a few decades ago. I'd have to see it though. My experience (early 90s - Lakeshore limited) was that it wasn't much if any savings over flying and took 5+ times as long, being at the mercy of freight lines and all. Had to get on in the middle of the night which was always problematic as passengers on since Chicago had settled in and spread out, and the train crew weren't very helpful.

This one sounds more interesting, maybe a bucket list type trip: http://all-that-is-interesting.com/trans-siberian-railway-2

 

[ingineer]

Fading Fast has got it right, the Lakeshore Limited is not a bad train relatively recently.
There are 100 volt receptacles to power up your netbook and phone.
A dining car with expensive food and beer.
The stations are a travesty, a Greyhound terminal looks like an upgrade.
My last experience was 3 years ago to retrieve my Motorcycle and not without some incidents,
Near Buffalo , the Immigration service came onto the train and removed a Syrian student without any identification, How he got on is a mystery to me since I had to show my passport to get a ticket.
Darn shame that Russia has better train service and spend more than triple we do.
What was that 1978? that the NE corridor was upgraded. That kept my company and a lot of others in Business
Say Goodbye to the trains in Maine
http://www.railpace.com/hotnews/

 

[LizzieMaine]

Yep, the Maine Central just got outbid for the Brunswick-to-Rockland run by another outfit, one which has no interest whatever in passenger service. So much for the Downeaster actually going, you know, actually toward the down east.

Meanwhile, our railroad station's latest incarnation is as a trendy hipster restaurant called "Trackside." Which is better than its former incarnation, "City Hall."

 

[Fading Fast]

Yep, the Maine Central just got outbid for the Brunswick-to-Rockland run by another outfit, one which has no interest whatever in passenger service. So much for the Downeaster actually going, you know, actually toward the down east.

Meanwhile, our railroad station's latest incarnation is as a trendy hipster restaurant called "Trackside." Which is better than its former incarnation, "City Hall."

This sounds bad. I thought all passenger service on the down east was Amtrak - who is Maine Central? So does this end any further advancement of passenger service in Maine?

 

[LizzieMaine]

Amtrak only runs as far up the coast as Brunswick. Maine Central was primarily a freight handler that ran the Brunswick-to-Rockland line and operated a limited passenger service, but when it came time to rebid the contract, they lost out to a Canadian company that's only interest in taking over freight operations. Freight is a very big deal here because of the cement factory, but the Canadians don't do passengers and aren't interested in starting.

There was a lot of talk in recent years about extending the Downeaster to Rockland via a Brunswick-to-Rockland connecting run via Maine Central, but that's now off the table. Very disappointing, and unless something changes, that's it for passenger service here.

 

[Fading Fast]

Amtrak only runs as far up the coast as Brunswick. Maine Central was primarily a freight handler that ran the Brunswick-to-Rockland line and operated a limited passenger service, but when it came time to rebid the contract, they lost out to a Canadian company that's only interest in taking over freight operations. Freight is a very big deal here because of the cement factory, but the Canadians don't do passengers and aren't interested in starting.

There was a lot of talk in recent years about extending the Downeaster to Rockland via a Brunswick-to-Rockland connecting run via Maine Central, but that's now off the table. Very disappointing, and unless something changes, that's it for passenger service here.

Heartbreaking. My dream of going all the way up the coast via the train is dying.

While I've read conflicting things - I read too much about trains and train history - I believe passenger service in the US was never really profitable and only made money on a few lines or if the passenger train companies could leverage passenger service to get postal service or other revenue generating ancillary business. That said, I doubt if a plane ticket to Boston would really only cost me $250 or if I could drive from here to Kalamazoo with only a handful of tolls in-between if the government wasn't subsidizing airports and roads.

 

[ChiTownScion]

Amtrak only runs as far up the coast as Brunswick. Maine Central was primarily a freight handler that ran the Brunswick-to-Rockland line and operated a limited passenger service, but when it came time to rebid the contract, they lost out to a Canadian company that's only interest in taking over freight operations. Freight is a very big deal here because of the cement factory, but the Canadians don't do passengers and aren't interested in starting.

There was a lot of talk in recent years about extending the Downeaster to Rockland via a Brunswick-to-Rockland connecting run via Maine Central, but that's now off the table. Very disappointing, and unless something changes, that's it for passenger service here.

Is this website for the Maine Eastern Railroad outdated, Lizzie?

http://www.maineeasternrailroad.com/

 

[LizzieMaine]

Maine Central is still running the show thru the end of their current season, yes.