Trying to travel by train. Anyone familiar with Amtrak?

Factual Questions
1

So I want to go back home for awhile in a month or two. I’ve driven this route a couple of times (from here to Morongo Valley, CA; a bit out of Palm Springs), but this time I want to do something different. Flying is ungodly expensive and a pain besides. Greyhound is right out; I’ve traveled by Greyhound once and that was enough. I want to take a train. I like trains in general, but other than the occaisonal local light rail I don’t think I’ve ever even seen a passenger train. I figure it’ll be cheaper than flying and a new experience.

Unfortunately, Amtrak’s website sucks. Apparently, there are stations in Mountain Home and Boise, but the site can’t find a route from them to Palm Springs, Ontario or San Ber’dino. I can’t find any schedules for the stations in Mtn. Home or Boise. Amtrak’s site can’t even find those stations on Mapquest. After finding a route map on the site, it looks like the closest station to me that even has a track running to it is in Elko, Nevada. If I gotta drive to Elko to hop on a train, screw it, I’ll drive all the way.

So I guess my question is: Is Amtrak listing rail stations that don’t even exist? Are they maintaining stations that exist but don’t have any trains going there? Or does Amtrak’s site just really, really suck?

2

The only station I’m seeing on Amtrak’s route-map PDF in Idaho is in Sandpoint. I note with some amusement that it takes 9 hours to get from where you are to Sandpoint and the only way to do it is to make a long detour through Oregon and Washington. Why is there no north-south highway in Idaho that is faster than 12 hours?

It looks like Amtrak’s website is currently having problems. I have put in several routes, all of which I know are currently in service, and on some of them it’s choking. The train I’ve taken from school, for instance. Though it’s taking Boston-DC okay, and Albuquerque-Chicago fine.

Anyway, it looks to me as if you get to Nampa, ID you can take a bus to Portland. That will take about 10 hours. It then takes about 30 hours to get to LA, and another 2 hours to Palm Springs or one of your other choices. What the heck is Amtrak doing that it takes them twice as long as driving to get to LA?

Amtrak does list stations it connects to through bus company partnering. That’s how I found Nampa. That said, I’m not sure why they’re listing all these stations that they apparently do nothing with.

3

I’m not really familiar with Amtrak, and I Am Not A Travel Agent, but with a general knowledge of the western US, maybe this will get ya going.

For one thing, Amtrak connects to some cities with its own bus service (I think you can only use it if you’re continuing on via train somewhere). So there might be cities listed that don’t have trains running through them.

The train north of Boise runs generally through Chicago, Spokane, then to Seattle/Portland (the train splits into two at Spokane, maybe, with each half going different destinations) (maybe, I think). Are you willing to drive to Spokane? If not, try seeing how Amtrak would get you to Portland; maybe by bus from Boise to Spokane. Anyhow, catch the train in Sandpoint or Spokane, and take it to Portland - I think the name of the train is #28, the “Empire Builder.”

From there on, it’s simpler; take the Coast Starlight down to L.A., then catch the train east towards Palm Springs.

I can’t say that the connection times will work out very well. It’ll probably work best if you break your trip into the three or four separate segments, rather than overwhelm the Amtrak computer program. If all else fails, call the Amtrak toll-free number.

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Train travel has it’s own pace, it’s own rythym. Very relaxing in some ways, very irritating in others. Ah, sleeping in coach is only a little better than trying to sleep on a bus. More leg room, but the same basic problem of no comfortable sleeping position. Just a point to consider.

4

Meh. I checked out train travel from San Diego to San Francisco, once, and realized that AmTrak, at least in California, combines the speed and efficiency of bus travel with the economy of flying.

5

Wow, that sounds like a pain in the nuts. I think I’ll drive, and wait until I can take a trip to a country with a real rail system to ride a train.

6

Yeah, Amtrak is going down Ann Rand style. It just can’t compete with cars and the bigger distances in the US compaired to Europe.

But, try calling the help line. Sometimes certain lines are closed due to weather (depending on when you travel),

7

Amtrak used to have a train (The Pioneer, IIRC) that ran from Portland, OR to Salt Lake City, UT via Boise, ID. When they killed that train a few years ago, they put an Amtrak “Thruway” bus to cover part of this route. This bus apparently stops in Nampa, Boise, and Mountain Home on I-84, hence the Amtrak listings for these as “stations”. These are comfortable buses, but not trains, and the stops will probably look like regular bus stops but with an Amtrak logo (i.e. they’re not manned stations; you buy your ticket on the bus).

So, you can get from Mountain Home (MTM in Amtrak-speak) to Salt Lake City (SLC) on an Amtrak bus, which will get you onto a train without having to go to Sandpoint or Spokane (which are, to put it mildly, a little further North than you probably wanted!).

Amtrak used to have a train that ran from Salt Lake City to LA via Las Vegas and Palm Springs, but they canceled it a few years ago (sound familiar?). So, you could have gone from Mountain Home to Palm Springs with one change of train until recently, but not any more. If you punch “MTM” and “SAC” (i.e. Sacramento) into the Amtrak trip planner, you’ll see that you can leave MTM at 12:45pm on Day 1, and arrive at SLC at 6:45pm. Then take train #5 at 11:59pm from SLC to SAC, arriving at 2:15pm on Day 2.

Now punch “SAC” and “BFD” (i.e. Bakersfield) into the trip planner, and you’ll see a train (#704, the San Joaquin) leaving Sacramento at 4:25pm and arriving at Bakersfield at 9:43pm.

Now comes the fun part: Amtrak trains don’t run south of Bakersfield, so you’re back on a Thruway bus again. If you plug “BFD” and “PSP” (the Palm Springs Amtrak bus stop) into the trip planner, you’'ll see that the only bus leaves BFD at 1:55pm and arrives at 7:05pm. So, you’d be stuck for over 16 hours in Bakersfield. Bwahahaha!

Alternatively, you could take the bus that leaves BFD at 9:50pm (it’ll wait for the incoming train) and arrives in Los Angeles at 12:35am (i.e. about 36 hours after leaving Mountain Home). There’s a train (the Texas Eagle) that goes from LA to Palm Springs, but it only runs three days per week. To be honest, you’d be better off taking Greyhound or some other service at this point (or perhaps getting a friend or relative to pick you up in LA?).

So:

  1. Yes, the Amtrak online reservation system sucks, and often responds in the same manner as the country bumpkin in the old joke, who when asked by the tourist how to get to a certain place responds “You can’t get there from here”.
  2. You can do it end-to-end via Amtrak, but I wouldn’t recommend it. You’ll either have to overnight in Bakersfield or LA , or you could take a Greyhound for the last leg from either of these to Bakersfield.
  3. The above routing gives you a 2 hour 10 minute wait in Sacramento. This may sound fine, but less so if you bear in mind that the train from SLC to SAC can be several hours late, since it comes all the way from Chicago, so you’d be stranded in Sacramento.

In summary, it’s possible to do it, if you (as Civil Guy suggested) split your supplications to the Amtrak computer into several segments, but all in all I think the computer’s doing you a favor in not giving you a route. You could do it, but you’d end up asking yourself why you’d bothered.

Which is a shame, because riding trains in the Great American West can be an amazing experience. You see parts of the landscape that are completely missed by someone driving on a freeway.

I hope this answered your specific questions about the process, even if it doesn’t provide you with a satisfactory solution!

8

Regarding the cost of flying versus Amtrak, I’ve found that the train is usually much cheaper if you don’t mind sitting in a coach the whole way–which is obviously not a great option for an overnight trip even if it is much roomier than a bus seat. The situation largely turns on its head if you book a room, and especially if you are travelling alone, since the rooms are built for two. Depending on the situation, however, taking Amtrak with full accommodations onboard can be competitive with the airlines, especially if time is not a major consideration. We’re taking the Starlight through its entire route from Seattle to L.A. next month, on a one-way trip (we’re traveling the other way by sea), and found that the $441 fare, which includes a room and meals onboard, very competitive with the one-way airfares. I couldn’t find anything better using the online travel services, and the cruise line wanted $350 add a flight on to our package.

I’d say the OP is bedeviled by the same difficulties that beset small-town dwellers everywhere: you can get there from here, but it’ll be expensive and difficult. America’s transportation system is concentrated along the major routes between large population centers. Even Greyhound, which hasn’t been doing that well financially, has had to cut some routes, leaving many locales without any intercity transportation at all.

9

Amtrak’s web site does kind of suck, but if you call them on the phone, one of their Friendly Operators will be more helpful in helping you work out how to get where you want to go.

I like travelling by train. It’s slow but relaxing.

10

The Coast Starlight is a very nice train, indeed. I find the train cheaper than airlines, and a* lot *nicer than a bus. And, you get right on & off, with none of the “get there an hour before and pay through the nose for short-term parking” stuff that you get with an airline. Sure, the actual travel time is much slower with a train, but when you add in getting to the airport, with all the traffic, parking, waiting, security, and such- for a short trip (San Jose to SLO for example) the train is about the same time. I find you can nap quite nicely on the train.

But for our OP- it doesn’t look good. Try a few “discount travel sites” (I like “Travelzoo”)- you’d be amazed at the discounts on airfare.

Antionius- Amtrak does indeed run trains south of Bakersfield, but only along the CA coast. the above mentioned “Coast Starlight” goes at least to LA, and I think to San Diego.

11

The Starlight doesn’t go any farther than L.A.; however, it arrives at about 9PM and then there’s a train that leaves for San Diego about an hour later.

12

This is an interesting situation - only in the past few decades have we really had the idea that we could get anywhere in one day. If you’re getting accomodation en route, it has to be offset against the cost of accomodation elsewhere. And, while no bargain, I suspect the cost for a night on Amtrak isn’t far off what any hotel would charge.

13

If you want to get a sleeper car, Amtrak is pretty expensive. Five years ago I was paying an $114 a night to travel (that includes food). Nice though. New Orelans -> San Antonio -> Chicago -> San Francisco – four day journey.

14

If you want to get a sleeper car, Amtrak is pretty expensive. Five years ago I was paying an $114 a night to travel (that includes food). Nice though. New Orelans -> San Antonio -> Chicago -> San Francisco – four day journey.

15

That’s $441 for the two of us, FTR.