Replies

I live in the California Central Valley. There are trains that go from Sacramento to San Diego. We often visit San Diego and it would consider taking a train and then renting a car. However, the train does not go all the way to San Diego (the last time I checked) it stops on this side of the Grape Vine and they put the passengers on buses to go over the Grape Vine and then put them back on trains for the remainder of the trip. That is a sort of deal killer for me.

Add to that their schedules are not very good and then the expense, it is just so much easier for me to drive my family to San Diego then take a train.

When they get serious about passenger service I will consider taking the train again.

I live in the California Central Valley. There are trains that go from Sacramento to San Diego. We often visit San Diego and it would consider taking a train and then renting a car. However, the train does not go all the way to San Diego (the last time I checked) it stops on this side of the Grape Vine and they put the passengers on buses to go over the Grape Vine and then put them back on trains for the remainder of the trip. That is a sort of deal killer for me.
I didn't know they were still doing that. Back in the late '60s I worked in Stockton and had a job interview in San Diego. There was a lot of talk then about how low passenger traffic was killing the railroads, so I thought I'd do my bit and help them out (bit of a train buff anyway.).
BIG MISTAKE for reasons you pointed out. We were hustled off the train and did the bus-to-Los-Angeles bit, dumping me there at 1 a.m. in the morning, then continuing to San Diego at 6 a.m.

Add to that their schedules are not very good and then the expense, it is just so much easier for me to drive my family to San Diego then take a train.
I wised up REAL fast. When I went back to Stockton I took a flight to San Francisco where my wife picked me up - drove home with hours to spare and at about the same cost.

it stops on this side of the Grape Vine and they put the passengers on buses to go over the Grape Vine and then put them back on trains for the remainder of the trip

Amtrak owns a lot of buses. A fundamental problem with train systems is that they fail ungracefully. One brake pad catching fire anywhere in the system can bring the whole system down. Trains are simply uncompetitive for time-reliable transportation.