question/answer thread

Discussion in 'New Roundtable' started by martin, Aug 20, 2012.

  1. martin

    martin Banned Forever

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    Have any of you ever gone cross country on amtrak? What was it like? Have you ever bought a railpass and just rode that fucker everywhere ?
     
  2. shane0911

    shane0911 Helping lost idiots find their village

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    Only the subway in S. Korea
     
  3. red55

    red55 curmudgeon Staff Member

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    PROS
    1. It takes you into some scenery that you rarely get to see from highways. Less human clutter in the mountains and deserts.

    2. It's comfortable travel . . . if you get a private room. You won't want to ride coach very far, its almost as bad as a bus. But if you want to sleep good at night, enjoy a picture window in the daytime, have some privacy with the lady friend, and not have to suffer fools stepping around you all the time, get a room.

    3. Trains are cool. Bogart traveled by train.

    4. Its slow travel. You have time to read a book and still watch the scenery. You can get up and move around the train.

    CONS
    1. It's slow travel. You have less time to spend at destinations.

    2. It's expensive. Especially if you get a room. More expensive than air fare.

    3. The railpass is for coach and is limited to a certain time frame and a limited number of segments. It limits your planning itinerary unless you are doing nothing but rail traveling.

    4. There are long stretches of decidedly unscenic travel. Do some reading up on the routes. A few trains like the California Zephyr and the Sunset Limited have long stretches of daylight mountain and desert scenery. Others like the City of New Orleans will bore you from New Orleans to Chicago.

    5. You sometimes miss good scenery at night. Pay attention to the schedule and the route. Some work better in one direction than another.

    6. Schedules are undependable. Trains are late a lot. Really late sometimes. It makes hooking up with friends a problem, as well as arranging for local transpiration and lodging.

    MIXED
    1. The food. It ranges from very good, cooked on the train, tasty entrees to pre-cooked, warmed up on the train, less tasty entrees only slightly better than airline dinners. But I'm easy on travel food. A decent club sandwich in the bar car works for me.

    2. The service. The golden days of outgoing friendly Conductors and Pullman porters is mostly gone. Service ranges from excellent to indifferent from train to train and from shift to shift.
     
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  4. martin

    martin Banned Forever

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    You know a lot about it. My 3 closest friends live in Lafayette and Santa Fe and Chicago. I figure I can buy a two week railpass and go from New York to New Orleans, chill a few days in laf, then the train to Los Angeles, chill, then to New Mexico, then Chicago, then back home. It's 400 and something, which is pretty good for going all over the place.

    Have you ever ridden, for example "the crescent" or the "lake shore limited" or the "southwest chief"

    I love trains and ride one every day, but maybe even I could get worn out going a zillion miles.
     
  5. LaSalleAve

    LaSalleAve when in doubt, mumble

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    I never even knew there was a passenger train that could take you from New Orleans to New York. How cool.
     
  6. martin

    martin Banned Forever

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    yeah it called the crescent and leaves daily both ways. many days each week only cost 148. takes a long time though.
     
  7. KyleK

    KyleK Who, me? Staff Member

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    I have no personal experience riding trains. However, the daughter of friends from Wichita Falls attends school at Groton outside of Boston. At the beginning and end of each semester, she rides the train to/from. They tell me they are able to move large amounts of luggage much cheaper on the train than via air.
     
  8. red55

    red55 curmudgeon Staff Member

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    I first rode the Southwest Chief as a child when it was the old Sante Fe railroad, pre-AMTRAK. They had vista domes then, which is a spectacular view. Only the California Zephyr and possibly the western Empire Builder is more scenic. The Sunset Limited from NO to LA is good but is not a daily anymore.
     
  9. martin

    martin Banned Forever

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    Man you are like a train expert. I had never heard of the Californian zephyr and the empire builder and sunset limited until yesterday and I have been reading about them ever since.

    The sunset limited is what I would ride, and yeah it isn't a daily, which makes my plans more complex. I don't recall ever seeing a double decker train because in New York they can't fit, but apparently they are all over the west. I want to ride one.

    Crescent/sunset limited/southwest chief/lakeshore limited would loop me around America nicely.
     
  10. red55

    red55 curmudgeon Staff Member

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    Consider Crescent/Sunset Limited/Coast Starlight/California Zephyr/Lakeshore Limited as well.

    Southwest Chief and Sunset Limited cover much of the same ground.
     

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