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The skills of Amtrak ticket agents vary considerably. I think the $3100 reservation should have been flagged and an override by a supervisor that approves the bookings that are out of whack. The good news is the family will travel again while others say never again.

In the article that was a miss quote that they would have to pay over $400 per seat and coach. I believe that includes the car. I saw a price of $79 for the AT Coach seat - not including car.

This little vacation from Florida to Pennsylvania was an ideal trip for the auto train. It was a straight shot from Virginia to their destination in Pennsylvania which pleased parents.

To summarize the cost differences I’d say driving was about $750 gas, war and tear - $1500 for three nights and two rooms which night $200 a day for meals or $800 for four days. Well what do you know $3050 by car $3100 by train and the next trip the train will be about $500 cheaper with Roomette instead of the extra family room. And they’ll be in like flint with priority boarding.

The convenience they will have with a family room and a nearby remote will make the trip and order of magnitude more comfortable.
 
max_ellis74 said:
4 or 6


So is that a yes or a no
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A stock 2020 Tundra appears to have a height of around 76.2" Used 2020 Toyota Tundra Specs & Features | Edmunds

For only the height restriction, this _should_ mean less than 8.8" lift is OK. Assuming everything else remains stock including stock wheels and tires otherwise you would need to add those up too.

What I see a problem with (and I have never tried to use the auto-train) is the length of a stock Tundra 4 door appears to be 228.9", but that is 12.9" longer than the maximum Amtrak "Extended Vehicles" length?
 
UserNameRequired said:
What I see a problem with (and I have never tried to use the auto-train) is the length of a stock Tundra 4 door appears to be 228.9", but that is 12.9" longer than the maximum Amtrak "Extended Vehicles" length?
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Surprised at that...Lincoln Town Cars and Cadillac Fleetwoods from the mid-seventies are both about 234" long...they used to be "frequent flyers" on the old A-T in that era....
 
lordsigma said:
Amtrak appears to want to look into improvements at both stations. https://procurement.amtrak.com/sap/bc/webdynpro/SAP/ZWA_PP_BUSSOPP;sap-ext-sid=Go75LWkewWeIpd8Oz4Y5Nw--Krq6Ilf_22oc4tbgQCw0Jg--/~wd_key/AMTRAK LORTON-SANFORD EXPANSION PROJECT DESIGN SCOPE.PDF?sap-contextid=SID:ANON:saecapp89p_ECP_10:jGXdRg2TwkQR9ldV3-85Smco4HtGeulCWKi20eDg-NEW&sap-wd-resource-id=WD0117&sap-wd-browserStandardURL=X&sap-wd-filedownload=XIt
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Good to hear! While I think the stations are adequate, more space for vehicles is definitely needed. I suspect Amtrak may be getting pressure from local government agencies as traffic frequently backs up onto city streets. If an inbound train is late it can be a real zoo. And in Sanford it requires two tracks to load/unload the train which requires additional switching.
 
 
joelkfla said:
What's a DOR? I
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"Designer of Record", as mentioned in the document in section 1.5. It is buried deep in it. It may be viewed as a test detecting whether the document was read thoroughly before commenting on it or not :D
 
According to Amtrak's website, my upcoming trip on the Auto Train is completely sold out.

My spouse and I are traveling in coach. Do we need to show up early to be assured of two seats together, or are the agents pretty good about keeping adjacent seats open to accommodate couples that check in closer to the deadline?
 
If there's one thing you can count on with Amtrak, things change. Or sometimes they are hard to guess.
Maybe when the train is very full they assign seats?
 
We just rode the Auto Train for the first time in June. When we showed up, they already had assigned seats for us. The coach seating was only about 50-60% full, and they spread everyone out in the 4 coaches. I was on the Zephyr once and they had 3 coaches but jammed everyone into two. We booked way back in November, and we were assigned a little over halfway back in the first coach, which led me to believe these were essentially assigned when I made the reservation (there were maybe one or two families forward of the stairs, and I think 3 or so families behind the stairs).
 
Any recent Auto Train dinner menus available? It's been over a year since we've been on the Auto Train and wasn't sure if much had changed. We usually end up getting to the station near the deadline, and often all the early dinner times are gone.
 
THANKS

I miss the chicken tenders (I'd bring honey mustard along for the trip). :)

It does look like the dining car has had an upgrade (have not eaten in there since pre-pandemic).
 
I thought that I would update you all with my experience on the Auto Train and manual transmission car.

After having lunch at one of our favorite restaurants in Sanford, we drove over to the Auto Train station.

After waiting to reach the car check-in area, the first Amtrak car employee said, let me get another guy because I am not the best with manuals.

He called another guy over who said don't worry I have been driving manuals my entire life and I currently drive a Honda Civic SI with a manual.

He then said you have a very cool car, I have always wanted to drive one of these V10s and that was that, we got out, took our overnight bags and went inside to check-in.

The train ride itself was fine, the HVAC could have been a little cooler but other than that, it was perfectly fine.

On the return the car check-in was no problem, the guy could drive a manual and that was that.

It was a great vacation and being able to drive my car on the Skyline Drive was awesome.
 
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