Longest trip in coach

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Hi,

I have taken many long distance trains from end to end, such as Chicago to Lax and New Orleans to Lax in coach.

The trip that had the longest continual travel was from Emy to New York, via Chicago and Washington in coach... I spent what felt like an hour in the shower once I got to my New York hotel :)

( I have taken an all coach railpass trip which covered 12, 500 miles in 15 days... but did get off the trains for the odd hotel night!)

Ed :cool:
 
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Back in 1987 my mom and me did a trip from Newton Kansas to LA. Spend a few days there and rode the SL to SF in a roomette. That day was my tenth birthday. After visiting family caught the Zephyr and rode all the way to Chicago. A quick trip to Milwakee. Then back to Newton. This was a three week trip. Except for the Starlight it was all coach.
 
When she was a toddler, my DW took a round trip journey from LA to Providence RI, all coach, would have been in the late 60's.. MOL vividly recalls the stark difference between the Santa Fe and the Pennsy. DW did a round trip on Amtrak from LA to GBB back in college. As for me, 3 hours in coach is more than enough punishment.
 
Hubby and I began our Amtrak travels in the '90s with a coast-to-coast trip in coach, one "night off" in each direction: eastbound, we traveled from Pasco WA (PAS) to BOS, with an overnight stop in CHI to visit his uncle and sleep in a bed. Westbound, we traveled from BOS to PAS with an overnight stop at the Izaak Walton Inn which included both a bed AND stretching our legs on the snowy cross-country ski trails the next day, before getting back on the EB. The passenger load was light enough west of CHI that we each got a pair of seats at night. East of CHI, we had to sleep sitting up, which Hubby can do but I cannot. After that, we started getting roomettes for the portions we thought would be crowded. Now we are so old and spoiled that if we can't afford (or have points for) a roomette on an overnight portion, we don't go. Day trips, we're still fine with coach.
 
I took a trip on the SWC for its full length from Chicago to Los Angeles in 2011, not by choice. I along with my uncle and his granddaughter were to go on the CZ from Chicago to Sacramento, then up to Seattle. But the CZ was cancelled, and the only alternative was to go to Los Angeles on the SWC by coach, and up to Seattle on the CS. We did so, reluctantly. I would never willingly choose to do that. I have to have a bed to sleep in. And not be surrounded by morons who yap on their damned cell phones all night. Nor with young couples who alternate between profanity-laced arguments and playing their

( c )rap music full blast. And with coach attendants who were nowhere to be seen and did nothing about the noise on the rare occasions they actually showed their faces. Short distances I am totally fine with.
 
Back in 1966, Omaha - Seattle on the UP "City of Everything."
 
I have my longest coach trip planned is booked for next month. I leave WOR on the Lake Shore LImited to CHI, then CHI to WAS on Capitol Limited, then Silver Star to ORL for lunch, then Silver Meteor back to NYP, Lake Shore LImited to CHI, California Zephyr to SAC then Coast Starlight to PDX. All with no overnight stays.
 
June the Coach Rider said:
I have my longest coach trip planned is booked for next month. I leave WOR on the Lake Shore LImited to CHI, then CHI to WAS on Capitol Limited, then Silver Star to ORL for lunch, then Silver Meteor back to NYP, Lake Shore LImited to CHI, California Zephyr to SAC then Coast Starlight to PDX. All with no overnight stays.
Click to expand...
:eek: WOW!!!! I Used to do Marathon Trips like this back in the Olden Days, but Now if the Trip is more than One Night in Coach, I need to find a Cheap Hotel or a Low Bucket Roomette! ;)

My Longest Trip in a Coach without a Break was Riding the Canadian from Toronto to Vancouver! (It used to be 4 Days and 3 Nights before the current Schedule and Ran on the More Scenic "Southern" Route through more of the the Rockies, Calgary and Thunder Bay! :wub:

"Oh, I was so much Older then, I'm Younger than that now!"--Bob Dylan
 
Coming back from Nam November 1971: Went Oakland to Alexandria VA, without a break, but by sleeper Denver to Chicago.

Oakland to Denver: At that time was on the UP across Wyoming, then pulled backward Cheyenne to Denver. The train length essentially doubled east of Denver. Had a UP dome which I spent a good bit of time in across the Sierra. A Burlington dome was added at Denver.

Chicago to Alexandria on the James Whitcomb Riley or George Washington, forget which name was being used. Fast down the ICRR tracks to Kankekee, then very slow and rough on the PC tracks across Indiana, then a nice ride, much of it in a dome across West Virginia. The dome was taken off in Charlottesville.
 
My longest coach trips, both in 1973:

  • Essex Jct., VT to Washington, DC in an ice storm. Flights were grounded, so a lot of people took the train. All the coach seats were taken, so I ended up sitting in the "smoking lounge" (the men's bathroom) in one of the big red leather chairs, for the whole trip. The train was 6 hours late getting into WAS, so the whole trip took 21 hours, and I missed my birthday party that was going on in DC....
  • Paris to Bordeaux to Bergerac, France. I was on a school trip that started with a red-eye flight from Montreal to Paris on an Air Canada 747. From there, it was 7 hours to Bordeaux on one of SNCF's old coach cars with wooden compartments (no TGVs then!), followed by another hour on a DMU (I think, I was pretty bleary by that point) to Cyrano's home town. Not a hugely long trip, actually, but it sure felt long.
I wasn't able to sleep on vehicles in my younger days, so both of these were a lot less comfortable than Amtrak coach would be today.
 
3 days each on two trips in Summer 2000. I was living in Seattle and got a job for the summer in Maine. Got on the Empire Builder in Seattle and rode to Chicago for two days. Immediately got in line for the Lake Shore Limited (EB was late and the LSL had an earlier departure back then, so I had absolutely no time in Chicago) and took that to Boston. At the end of the summer did the same in reverse except started at NYP.

They still had the smoking compartments on the trains back then and those became the party rooms. On that trip those rooms were rocking the entire time. Cigarettes were not the only thing being smoked. Glad I gave up smoking years ago, and glad they got rid of smoking on the train, but they were a lot of fun.

I rode the EB in coach between Chicago (where my girlfriend - now wife - was living) and Seattle on several other occasions, both before and after, but only that one summer did I do the full coast-to-coast. I turned 30 that summer in Maine so that was about the last time I could handle a trip that long in coach. No way my back could handle that now. I think the last time I did a long distance train in coach was the EB from Chicago to Seattle in 2002.
 
Not very far, honestly. Chicago to Albuquerque, which is 25-26 hours.
 
Spokane-Chicago-Little Rock. 1992. Just got done with USAF SERE training, and wanted a break. Went to the transportation office to arrange travel to Little Rock AFB. They told me I had to fly, unless I had a valid reason for taking the train. I stood there, at attention, looked em right in the eye, and explained I had a terrible fear of flying. (Hard to keep a straight face-was standing there in a flight suit with wings on my chest.....). I got a smirk out of em - and a coach ticket on the EB to CHI, and then CHI-LRK. Me up with some other mil guys transferring for training, spent most of the trip in the downstairs smoking lounge drinking beer. Was down there actually, when we arrived in STL, where I realized I had an old girlfriend who had moved there. Jumped off, spent the night and day there, then caught the train the next night. Was an adventure for sure. I couldn't do it now, but after sleeping on the ground and other less pleasurable accommodations provided at the POW training portion of SERE, an Amtrak coach seat was just about heaven. Did make it to little rock for C-130 training. Eventually.
 
30 day rail pass with my wife. Albany Oregon (ALY) CS to Sacramento, CZ SAC-CHI, CL CHI-WAS, Silver? WAS - KIS. Spent a week with my dad when he was living in Melbourne, FL.

Return trip KIS-WAS, CL WAS-CHI, SWC CHI to ABQ. We spent 2 nights in Albuquerque then had our son pick us up in Victorville. After a day he dropped us off at Adelanto for a nearly empty bus to Bakersfield. San Joaquin to Fresno where we rented a car to go to Yosemite. Returned car after 3 days and rode SJ to MTZ waited a few hours for the CS all the way back to ALY on the 30th day.
 
Coachseats is my name after all, so my longest trip in coach was during a 30 day railpass trip- when I called up to make the reservation, the lady was like....are you sure about this? Don't you want to take a break or something? Below was my itinerary. Now that I am married and have kids we do sleepers unless a short trip!

Sandusky to Cleveland

Cleveland to Buffalo

Buffalo to Toronto

Toronto to Vancouver

Vancouver to Seattle

Seattle to LA

LA to Houston

Houston to New Orleans

New Orleans to Atlanta

Atlanta to Philly

Philly to Fostoria

Fostoria to Chicago

Chicago to Osceola

Osceola to Denver

Denver to Emeryville

Emeryville to Seattle

Seattle to Chicago

Chicago to Fostoria
 
For the past few years I've been riding the Crescent from NYP to ATL in mid March (in fact, this year's trip is 3/19 out, and 3/23 back), 17 hours each way

I've never taken sleeper class, as I'm spending enough on the hotel in ATL as it is (technically, nothing is stopping me other than habit). As long as I've got an Amfleet II, I'm good :)

---PCJ
 
New Orleans to DC round trip back in 1998. That was a little too long for my taste and it turned me off of train travel for a few years unfortunately. From here on out if I need to go that distance it's either in a sleeper or on a plane.
 
RVR-DLD in December 2006, and the reverse just after the new year. It was my first LD trip, booked after I saw stratospheric airfares and asked my grandmother if I could look into the train instead (my parents had mentioned taking the train to FL, so I knew they still ran down there). First and only voluntary non-sleeper overnight trip, but I enjoyed it all the same. Yes, I can still envision getting to my seat and chatting with a former railroad manager who was traveling on a pass...and then trying to sleep in my suit and tie...

(I also remember the lousy vegetarian pasta on the way home...it was a bit undercooked...fortunately, breakfast on the way down sold me on Amtrak already)
 
My longest trip in Coach was in 1994: Amtrak 1, "The Sunset Limited", Miami to Los Angeles, via Orlando, Jacksonville, Pensacola, New Orleans, Houston, San Antonio, El Paso, Phoenix, and Palm Springs. We left Miami in the morning (a Friday) and arrived Monday afternoon after a slight delay.

It was a beautiful trip and one which I shall never forget! The scenery was absolutely beautiful the entire route. On our approach into Pensacola very early on the second morning of the trip, the train stopped on the railroad viaduct in the middle of Escambia Bay which lies directly east of the P'cola station. It was dark when we stopped and as the darkness turned to daybreak, people began to wake up and notice that we were right out over a very large body of water.

Due to the misty morning, the shore could not be seen, and as they awoke some people were quiet frightened and a few ladies screamed! Then the whole car was wide awake and people wondering if we were in "The Twilight Zone" or if we became an "Am Boat" overnight. It was quite a sight and as the Sun came up through the mist it all looked so surreal being parked out on that bridge! The southern US is beautiful by train and I've always hoped that someday I would be able to take the same journey again.

Speaking of surreal, on another trip from Seattle to Los Angeles on "The Coast Starlight", in 1990, on a very rainy day, we climbed up into the mountains on the track just south of Eugene, Oregon and came out and above a layer of clouds to see a large full moon on the left side of the train and the sunset on the right side of the train. It was absolutely beautiful and seemed as if we were flying! Until then, I had never rode "above the clouds" on an Amtrak train.

My first Amtrak trip was Chicago to Boston on Amtrak 449, "The Lake Shore Limited" on September 6, 1985.

I have traveled on every current Amtrak Long Distance Train except the Adirondack, Crescent and Heartland Express, all of which I hope to do when I retire. Before they were cancelled, I frequently rode "The Broadway Limited" to and from New York City and occasionally "The Desert Wind" from/to Los Angeles, Las Vegas and Chicago.

Go Amtrak!
 
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One of the last year's Amtrak Broadway Limited from NYP to Chicago, then Southwest Chief to LA, then to San Diego all coach. A few days in California then back on the Chief to Chicago, and Lake Shore Limited to NYP. All coach. I had a blast but I didn't sleep much.

Ever since then it's been sleepers only for overnight.
 
In 1997 I did a long "circle" tour/trip, with no overnight layovers in any cities along the way, just a few hours between trains.

KCY-OMA - Thruway van

OMA-MTZ - California Zephyr

MTZ-PDX - Coast Starlight

PDX-CHI - Empire Builder

CHI-NEW - Southwest Chief
 
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