I used to use the MARC train to commute to DC everyday which rides the same lines as the Amtrak cars but that isn’t what you are asking. I have also taken the train to several different places. It is significantly shorter than driving and busing but not too much else. I used to take the train to Philadelphia and New York City fairly often. They tended to be cheap since they are relatively close and faster than flying since you have to deal with all the taxiing back and forth and luggage. For anything farther than that the train takes way too long. To get to Chicago to San Antonio is basically an overnight trip (yuck) and in many cases is now more expensive than flying. To go from one destination to any other there will be stops along the way. Most of them you won’t have to change lines on depending on how the tracks lie (there are websites showing the lines somewhere, look up the hobo websites they could tell you how to get there for free but have a really long ride, but an incredible story to tell later) but for the most part you will have to transfer, much as you have to on planes nowdays.
I once traveled from Chicago to DC - took 18 hours and since I was too cheap to pay for a sleeper, it was fairly uncomfortable. While I find the “clickety-clack” soothing, every once in a while the tracks go BANG BANG BANG BANG BANG! or the train sways going around a bend or someone suddenly walks right by your head, and I found it difficult to sleep. It wasn’t quite dark enough, it wasn’t quite quiet enough, and I was surrounded by snoring strangers.
The next morning, there were mountains outside my window - wow! (Okay, really big hills. Anyway, I was impressed.) We were in Pennsylvania, going through lots of little blue-collar towns with streets going up at very steep angles. The rest of the ride, through Pennsylvania, West Virginia, and Maryland, was very pretty.
The staff knocked themselves out trying to make us happy, answering questions, getting pillows, informing us of possible delays, apologizing for stuff that wasn’t remotely Amtrak’s fault (just outside the DC station, we slowed to a stop because some Metro trains had been rerouted on to “our” track and we had to wait for them).
I was traveling the week after Christmas, so there were a lot of people doing holiday traveling - don’t know what it’s like the rest of the year.
If you don’t fly or would hate to drive/deal with traffic on a long trip, I imagine it would be great. But pay for a sleeper, and bring your own sandwiches.
I used to take Amtrak from New York to Boston all the time as an undergrad. $14 and point-to-point service. I loved it.
Oh, God – another Rochester Sufferer. I tried taking Amtrak to Rochester from NYC, but they take the LONG route around, by way of Albany. I couldn’t take that – it took forever. I broke down and bought a car (which you need in Rochester, anyway – public transit there is the pits).
Ten years ago this month, I returned from a year in Japan with a special Amtrak pass that’s only available to non-residents (it’s akin to the Eurail pass). 45 days’ unlimited Amtrak coach service, coast to coast, $300. So I flew into SF, stayed with my godmother for about ten days, then gradually made my way back to DC with stops in Denver and Lincoln, Neb.
Kinda the best and worst of Amtrak. The staff couldn’t have been nicer (great food, too!) and the scenery was utterly stunning, especially the Sierra at sunset, dawn on the Great Salt Lake, and the Ruby Canyon. Then - and remember, it’s August in Utah - the a/c went out for about half the train. Not fun.
Although we’d been three hours late at Salt Lake - in fact, that was the only reason I’d been able to see dawn there - by Denver we’d made up about 2.5 hours. I disembarked and spent four days with friends, then reboarded, bound for Lincoln (an 8-9 hour trip, roughly 9 pm to 5:30 a.m.). Repeat at Lincoln. Then another 8 hours or so to Chicago, where after about 4 hours’ layover I caught a Philly-bound train whose carset was a holdover from the 50s (or earlier). Another transfer at Philly took me down to DC, where I emerged a drooling, drained wreck. (I think. I honestly don’t remember much past Chicago.)
I’d do it again with a sleeping car, and treat the trip itself as the vacation. It’s not a practical mode of transportation outside certain high-density corridors.
I take the NY-DC train all the time to see my family. It’s thoroughly practical, the employees’ service attitude has much improved, and it’s generally reliable. Just on Friday I tried the new Acela train, which is worth it for the comfort although it certainly isn’t really “high speed.” You shave only about 15 minutes off the 3 hours it took before. NY-Boston results in greater time savings, but a lot of that is because in planning for Acela Amtrak finally electrified the entire route. Previously you’d lose 20-30 minutes in New Haven switching to diesel.
Way back when I was in college I got tired of sleeping on hard plastic chairs in the terminals at O’Hare and Midway during various delays (this was before the “camp O’Hare” cots were available) and looked into Amtrak.
Since I was traveling between Chicago and Detroit, which is one of the dense rail-travel corridors, there were three trains a day. It cost less than the airlines (at the time). Door-to-door, it was (when everything worked like it was supposed to) about an hour faster than flying because it was easier for me to get to the train station, I didn’t have to be there an hour before we left, no security guards pawing through my luggage, etc. and the train station was closer to my parents house than the airport was. You do have more leg room than in a plane. It is much easier to get up and walk around. On the down side, the food varied from just edible to upchuck. If you have to stop suddenly the luggage in the overhead racks tends to rain down on the passengers. I find it more relaxing to clickety-clack, although as others have pointed out, to some people this is more of a BANG! BANG! BANG!
I have been in two train accidents - fortunately minor from the viewpoint of those aboard the train. I’ve also had scary crap happen to me in cars and airplanes, too, so go figure.
Whether trains are a good thing or not depends on your route of travel and how you yourself view the trip. After months of working and going to college full time seven days a week, having 5-6 hours in which I was forced to sit and do nothing was a relief. Other people find it maddening.
Me, I can’t stand traveling commercial airlines. Ick. I’ll drive, take the train, or fly the damn plane myself.
Damn, OxyMoron, I wish I’d known about that, and could have gotten it. I did my cross-counbtry Odyssey twenty years ago, and since there was no Amtrak Railpass availabe I had to do it on Greyhound. And at that, it was still more expensive – $321.85 for 30 days unlimited travel (and this was ten years before your rip, so if you factor in inflation, it was even more expensive). The one bright spot is that Greyhound goes more places than Antrak. But not in as much comfort or style.
Technically, when I came back to the US I became a “resident” once again, but (thank god) not once did anyone check the Japanese visa on my passport (which you’re required to have on you if you’re using the pass).
I have no idea if this pass is still available - I assume it is. It worked just like Eurailpass, with a cheaper rate for under-27s. (I was 22.)
For a starving-studenty type of person it was great. Assuming the price is still comparable, I’d recommend it for foreign trekkers - especially since Amtrak’s retired a lot of the crappy trainsets.
Thanks everyone, I appreciate the info, especially Jeff Olsen. I thought that it would be nice and relaxing to go by train, but if I have to go to San Antonio, then to LA then to Vegas by BUS, then I’m not having it. I never got any kind of ‘fare’ from amtrak, and for two of us to fly from Abilene (surprisingly it’s cheaper from Abilene) to Vegas is no less than $490. If the train was cheaper, albeit longer, it may have been nice to go that way. Granted West Texas, New Mexico and Nevada aren’t really ‘exciting’ places, I think the clickety clack and the time spent with the new wife would be great.
I’ve flown many many times and although I haven’t done it in a few years, I never really get excited about being pressed between two tall people. Yeah, it’s faster if you don’t count the layovers that ya sometimes get.
But thanks for the info guys, again, I appreciate it. I don’t think the spouse to be was thrilled about going by train, but I thought it might be a little romantic… especially if we were robbed by some guys with bandanas on horses…
That’s a real bummer, Legomancer. :mad: That conductor deserves to be fired, if not slugged in the mouth!
I took the Coast Starlight to San Francisco and back in July 1982. Of course, I had to trundle my big suitcase down to the local bus stop, ride about a mile to an arterial street, then take an express bus downtown, to Union Station. Then–San Francisco is on a peninsula so the Coast Starlight stops in Oakland–I rode a bus across the Bay, and got off in the Transbay Terminal at Third and Howard, a block from Market. The streetcars go through that terminal, but they don’t run on weekdays (The Muni Metro, a subway, runs Monday through Friday) so I had to walk a block up to Market to catch an electric bus, to get down to my hotel at Mason and Market. Amtrak’s service seems better than SF Muni’s. (After all, cable cars haven’t run on Market Street since about 1912. )
I’m riding Amtrak this coming February on the “Perch Express” ! It’s a train that takes Wisconsinites to North Dakota to do some ice-fishing on Devil’s Lake. The only other time I rode Amtrak was from Milwaukee to Chicago, a short trip. I would be interested to hear some more details of what a longer trip is like.
August, I’d say the Capitol Limited certianly qualifies as a long trip. My first trip was in June '93 for a family reunion. Not really much to see until the train reaches Harpers Ferry, just metropolitan DC then Maryland suburbs then Maryland countryside. I was completely amazed at the Harpers Ferry station. “What the? The platform here extends over a river! Wow!” I wouldn’t recommend this route to people who have a problem with tunnels, there’s a bunch between Harpers Ferry and Pittsburgh. At other times, the train is essentially in a large trench. With no rock walls in the way, there is some really nice mountain scenery. The train stops in Cleveland for an hour (about midnight to 1AM). I had enough of sitting in coach and went up to the observation car for the rest of that trip. Later that morning, a boy, age 10 or so, joined me. The two of us had a nice conversation about games and stuff. Near the South Bend station is some sort of railroad museum. The engineer usually allows time for passengers to take pictures of the old boxcars and steam engines. The only engine I recall appeared to be a Mikado class. From South Bend to Chicago, much of the scenery on the north side is Lake Michigan.
I’ve also made that trip for Christmas, that time Amtrak was running a Metroliner (double-deck cars). Again, I spent much of the trip in the observation deck, which in a Metroliner is above the café car. I got into a conversation with a couple who were about the same age as my perents. This observation deck also had a video screen, on which was shown “Tin Cup”. One end of the obersvation deck was the train’s smoking section, but smoking was not allowed during the movie. This, along with not being able to drink where he wanted, upset one jerk who was ejected from the train at the next stop.
My first trip on Amtrak was in July '88, New Orleans to DC. Only things I remember about that trip was there was something wrong with the AC, making my car too cold. And somewhere in Georgia, I saw what looked like mini-tanks on flatbed cars, three per car.
to San Francisco and back in July 1982. Of course, I had to trundle my big suitcase down to the local bus stop, ride about a mile to an arterial street, then take an express bus downtown, to Union Station. Then–San Francisco is on a peninsula so the Coast Starlight stops in Oakland–I rode a bus across the Bay, and got off in the Transbay Terminal at Third and Howard, a block from Market. The streetcars go through that terminal, but they don’t run on weekdays (The Muni Metro, a subway, runs Monday through Friday) so I had to walk a block up to Market to catch an electric bus, to get down to my hotel at Mason and Market. Amtrak’s service seems better than SF Muni’s. (After all, cable cars haven’t run on Market Street since about 1912. 
)