Have planned Amtrak trip of my dreams.

[cheapfurcoat]

I have planned out the trip I have been dreaming of for many years.

The wife, 4 year old son and myself are riding from Cleveland, Ohio to Klamath Falls, Oregon and back this October.

We have always wanted to ride Amtrak cross country with sleeper service and I was born in Klamath Falls but never really saw it as I was whisked back to Ohio right after I was born. So we are doing this dream trip for myself as well as the family.

We will be riding train #29 to Chicago in coach seats. Then #27 with a Family Bedroom. Then #11 in coach from Portland to Klamath Falls. The return trip will be vice versa riding trains#14, #28 and #30 respectively.

We will be spending 3 days in Klamath Falls to see the sights in the area.

My main concern (since this trip is mostly about the train ride experience),

is the habitual and extreme lateness of train #14 and it's missing our connection with train #28 in Portland. If I am correct, there's only about a 2 hour window to that connection. I don't relish the thought of missing my reserved Family Bedroom and riding coach for 3 days bach to Chicago.

Now I am planning on renting a car to bomb around the Klamath Falls area anyway. Would I be smart to rent from a main stream car rental firm so that if the northbound Coast Starlight is late, we can drive to Portland and not miss our reservations?

Was the Family Bedroom the right choice for a 2 parent-1 child family?

Also, any veteran riders of these trains are welcome to chime in about the visual as well as on train experiences.

The trip is 3 months away and I am already excited about it.

 

[battalion51]

Just throwin this out, but what if on the return to Cleveland you took 11 to say Sacremento then caught the EB Cal Zephyr to Chicago. This way you'd see some new sights on the way home. You'd probably want to opt for a sleeper on the Starlate since it's approx. 10PM-7AM, but that's your choice.

 

[boyishcolt]

Yes Mr. Furcoat the Family sleeper is the best choice

and any time you travel long distance and your buget allows i would book a sleeper bye all means.

i would have a sleeper on all parts of your trip

enjoy and have a great time

 

[Guest]

Now I am planning on renting a car to bomb around the Klamath Falls area anyway.

I really hope you mean "bum around" the Klamath Falls area.

 

[engine999]

Sometimes they will hold a departing train so the connections can be made. If not that, there is a chance you will be bussed to a station ennroute to catch up with the train. Also if you have the funds definatley consider taking bat51's idea going to sac then to chi. Its supposed to be a very scenic trip.

 

[battalion51]

Now I am planning on renting a car to bomb around the Klamath Falls area anyway.

I really hope you mean "bum around" the Klamath Falls area.

Maybe we know what the next terrorist plot is. (GASP) :lol:

 

[engine999]

No the election has to be it, they want to hold it off for another 4 years. :lol: :angry: :angry: :angry:

 

[spot1181]

I took that same trip last November and was bussed from Eugene to Portland to make the connection. I have a report somewhere in the trip report section. Spot.

 

[Guest]

Thanks for the responses so far.

I guess I am showing my age or maybe my ethnic background but when we used to go "cruising" as teens, we called it "bombing around".

I guess in today's ever increasing political correctness, that phrase could possibly get one detained in certain instances

As far as extending the trip, We will leave it as-is. Broke the piggy bank for the trip and my wife needs to be back home for work. Besides, I want to see Marias Pass in the daylight so the eastbound EB looks like the way to go.

This will be our second Amtrak trip. the first was to Chicago for our honeymoon and back. We did not opt for sleeper service then. We were young and poor

 

[capltd29]

Refering to bombing around- I wouldn't be surprised if you see some kind of gov't agents at your door soon <_< thanks to the Patriot Act

 

[Guest]

Most law enforcement and government officials-- federal, state, and local-- have sort of frowned upon bombing long before the Patriot Act was passed.

Actually, even as a lowly civilian, I've never been a big supporter of it.

 

[Guest]

My single best advice: Change everything. Fly to Florida, ride the SL start to finish then turn right around and do the return. Best bang for your buck that way, you'll get a good extra 3-4 days rail time that way.

 

[Amfleet]

My single best advice: Change everything. Fly to Florida, ride the SL start to finish then turn right around and do the return. Best bang for your buck that way, you'll get a good extra 3-4 days rail time that way.

Thats about the WORST advice someone could give. Considering your wasting your money on a plane ticket only to board further away from your originating point and on the worst on-time performing train, the Sunset Limited, on the Amtrak system. If one were to actualy make the connection to the Coast Starlight in LAX from the Sunset, you will still most likely be delayed hours on that train caused by the UP.

 

[battalion51]

I'm with Jon on this one. Who in their right mind would get on the Sunset. Oh that's right I would! :lol: We'll see what happens. At least my equipment's already in Sanford waiting for me! Maybe we'll have a prayer of leaving JAX on time. :blink:

 

[engine999]

I would be glad to get on the sunset, two extra days of train travel at no expense to myself. :lol: :lol: Bat51 you will be lucky if you can get to dld on time. :lol: Actually the train begins to get late between dld and jax then its like a black hole.

 

[battalion51]

Well I can tell you exactly why they get late, it's because they usually get put in the hole for 97. Then it's all down here from there.

 

[engine999]

Well I can tell you exactly why they get late, it's because they usually get put in the hole for 97. Then it's all down here from there.

Everytime I have seen the sunset, 97 is either put in the hole for it or 97 is so late I dont see it till after the sunset is halfway to jax from palatka. So it questionable, but i thought Amtrak used the late trains get later theory. Why not let csx get the sunset late? :lol: :lol:

 

[battalion51]

In theory you should stick the later train to keep the other on time, but there is another major factor, outlawing. If the crew from 97 has been on duty for a while and will be in danger of going on the law if they don't have a good run dispatchers will go with crew time before they will go with ontime.

 

[engine999]

Usually the jax crew has only been on an hour and the sfd crew has probably been on about 2 hours(probably a little more). At that point I would want the ontime train to get through to jax first. Dose anyone know the procedure for T&E crews that are scheduled to work a train arriving at 9:00 Am. If that train is not expected to arrive till 9:00 pm can the awaiting crew come into work later then they would if the train were on time?

 

[battalion51]

Let's address this in two parts. First, the 97 vs. 001 issue. 001 is JAX based crews like every other train through there. The JAX-SFA crew on the Sunset overnights in Sanford with OBS. Their job is less than 6 hours, and almost never exceeds 7 hours beginning to end. Meanwhile 97 who is also based out of JAX takes 10 hours on a good day to do the run, most nights 11. Crews have 12 hours from the time they go on duty before they outlaw. So which train needs priority if 97's crew sat around JAX for an hour or two while they were on duty? 97.

Secondly, crews go on duty 45 minutes prior to scheduled departure in off corridor territory, on-corridor employees go on duty 40 minutes prior to departure. If a train is late enough the crew will be set back, meaning they are not told to report to work until the new specified time. If a crew is set back more than once they are paid from the time of their first set back on, even though they are not on duty.

 

[AmtrakWPK]

Thanks B51 That was great! Filled some gaps, probably for most of us! Does the Jax-SFA (actually Jax-ORL-SFA, I guess....) crew sometimes start west of Jax? I know one time we got on P002 at Jax when it was somewhat late (somewhere around 11pm in Jax, I think), I was monitoring with the scanner during the trip south, and they terminated at SFA, bused us to WPK from there, specifically because the crew would have outlawed before they could have returned the train to SFA if they had continued to ORL. (That was the conversation with the AA dispatcher). I know that another valid reason to terminate at SFA is to have the equipment ready for the next day's P001, but this particular time the primary reason apparently was to avoid going on the law. If they actually took over the train at Jax, they shouldn't have been outlawing anywhere near that quick, unless there had been some other crew shuffles because of other late MIA-JAX trains and this crew had already worked part of another shift....?? I don't know if that is done or not. It would sure create a heck of a headache for admin to keep track of. Thanks for helping us non-railroad folks understand how this all works.

 

[battalion51]

It is possible that they did take the SFA crew out west to pick up 02 and bring it to JAX then stay with it for the remainder of their assignment. It is also possible that they didn't get set back far enough and were on duty long enough before 2 arrived that they wouldn't have made it down to Orlando turned the train and then make it back to Sanford without outlawing, as it is another 2-4 hours to go to Orlando from Sanford (with turning the train). It is also possible that they were looking at an abbreviated rest period had they run to Orlando, as the crews must have an 8 hour rest period between runs, or make the whole round trip from JAX-SFA-JAX in under 12 hours.