Planes, Trains and Automobiles
Posted on 06/16/2018 5:23:30 PM PDT by US Navy Vet
My wife and I are thinking about going from Omaha to Wash DC and up to NYC and back next May.
The food was decent and the accommodations were nice even with small children. They had booked us in a handicapped room with fold out bunks for the kids, a shower and an almost queen size bed on the bottom where my wife and I could not only sleep comfortably but engage in fairly vigorous marital activity while the children were asleep above. The motion of the train was an added bonus to enhance said activity as was the noise of the train motion which gave us an extra layer of privacy. Fun times until the train stopped!!
In addition to the stop near Minot, there were a number of other such stops with lesser delays as if BN was reminding Amtrak who owned the lines.
Depends on which route you take but, by and large, comfortable traveling. I’ve enjoyed the trips I’ve taken, which have spanned the country. Try for one with an observation/bar car. Sipping a cold beer while the Rockies parade by is great!
Western Europe has the population density to support a railway system. 463 people per sq mile in an area that's a little over half the size of Alaska. Our population is skewed heavily to the two coasts, with a few islands in between. Very few people want to take a 3000 mile train trip and there simply isn't enough population between the coasts to make it worthwhile. It worked only as long as we didn't have air service and the Interstate network.
I take one every year or so cross-country. Always go first class with my own room.
25 years ago it was very nice in those cars with food and drink available pretty much 24/7 and a conductor (or 2) at your call. Now, the cars are dilapidated, you’re lucky if there’s a pot of bad coffee, and you can wait a half hour if you need help with something.
I still love traveling by train and it’s not a huge inconvenience but it used to be something very special.
Mrs. L and I rode the California Zephyr about 20 years ago. Always got a private room and it was a very, very nice way to travel.
I’m sorry to hear things have gone downhill.
L
Oakland to Bakersfield is pretty sweet.
I rode from Vancouver to Seattle. Reserve seating. Had the best tasting split of merlot I’d ever had. I saved 2/3 the cost over the least expensive air fare and this was the most expensive Amtrak rate available. Extremely pleasant trip. Total time was only marginally longer than that required for air travel considering wait time to check in. Baggage claim and check much easier. Seating extremely roomy at 4 person table with plush seats, no seatbelts. Excellent scenery.
Last August, Denver to SF over the Rocky Mountains. Beautiful countryside, we had a family bedroom for me wife and me and had a great time. The ride and room were comfortable, the beds slept great, the food was good and we were more or less on time. Then we took the train from SF to LA, again, great 11 hour ride through magnificent scenery of agriculture and ocean front rails. I highly recommend it but like others, only if you have the time and money.
My daughter, grand daughter, and me took one from Slidell,La., to Charlottesville, Va., in 2016. My grand daughter was about 10 months at the time so it was a wonderful way to travel with a little one. We got a cabin. The conductors were wonderful and the fellow travelers we met were nice. Met a really nice couple in which the guy was a navy vet so we had a nice conversation about the military, current events, politics, fishing etc. It was a 24 hour trip but it was nice. Not cheap though but taking into account the time, gas and stress of traveling with a little one by car it was well worth it. On time too.
The food was not the best and the menu was limited but it came with the roomette so no out of pocket there. Pack snacks and water and if you drink bring your own, alcohol is expensive. AC worked fine so you may want to pack a little blanket. My daughter likes her own pillow so she brought one also. View was nice of course.
Hi Vince Ferrer,
Thank you so much for the update on the Union Station. We were really impressed by the beautiful structure. We hope to return someday. We got there in the early hours and there was only one guard. He took us around and explained where everything was like bathrooms, coffee, and snacks. He explained so much about the history. He was a very sweet man. Again, thank you, Sir. My husband thinks it is neat that it is a hub now.
Unless you don’t have a sleeper. Found the general areas to be relaxing but long trip you might get put next to a snoring baby panda that wakes you up thinking the trains gonna crash.
As an avid AMTRAK traveler, I’m so disappointed that all long distance travel from Florida west is now discontinued unless you take the train north from Jacksonville to DC, NY and then northwest to Chicago where you must choose a route northwest, southwest or west to the west coast.
My halcyon days of traveling to California, Oregon, etc. via the Sunset Limited and Coast Starlight are long gone due to an AMTRAK accident in an Alabama bayou many years ago that was never repaired — thus, no more west bound trains from Jax west.
Train travel with a sleeper (a must have for long distance) is pricey, but the comfort, safety and experiences of train travel is well worth it. Florida is now an AMTRAK unwanted step-child.
Hi mairdie,
Thank you and many hugs to you. It was one of those lifetime moments that you just want to keep close to yourself. Our hotel Denver had guests from the Democratic Convention of 2008. A lot of people in fancy dress. We felt part of history even though we did not vote for them. We told them how nice they looked when we crossed their paths.
I sincerely thank you for your comments. You were exactly like the nice people we met on the train.
Bummer.
Now I work in downtown Denver, and the transformation around the station has been phenomenal. Union Station has been refurbished, but it is still a working train station. The same Amtrak office you were at is still there. But there are restaurants, stores, and the second floor is a hotel. Outside the doors are the rail lines. Most light rail coming to downtown connects here, which includes the new commuter rail line from the airport. Amtrak as well. Also, underneath the rail lines is an underground bus terminal that is the destination for 22 bus routes. You can get anywhere from there.
For most of my life I have hated the Denver bus system, because it never worked, but today is a different story, at least for commuters going downtown. The Union Station hub has been so successful the real estate around it has become some of the most valuable in the state.
Don't know if my experiences as a pre-teen back in the 1960s travelling from Oakland to Seattle and back will be of much use to you, but...
The Negro porters were very friendly.
The bathrooms were stinky (tobacco).
The food in the dining cars was adequate.
Regards,
It would have been nice if the windows had been a little cleaner and less scratched up, but the view was still quite beautiful.
This was only a few hour trip each way so no sleeper car or diner car required. They had a diner car but it was packed so I just went back to business class for more coffee and sweet rolls.
Arlo Guthrie - City of New Orleans
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TvMS_ykiLiQ
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