I am looking at traveling from the East Coast to San Diego next April. My sister lives in Macungie, PA. Lots of trains go through there, but unfortunately, no passenger service...It is a small town southwest of Allentown. Conceivably, we could board the train anywhere between NYC and Harrisburg, but the best option is probably Philadelphia. It looks like the best option is a Northeast Regional from PHL to WAS, probably #141. 125 is another option, but with the ontime record (not) of Amtrak, I would worry about a one hour connection? We would do a bedroom on the Capitol Limited to Chicago, and another bedroom on the Southwest Chief. Another option is the Cardinal, boarding directly in PHL, or later in WAS. BUT...OMG, what makes those Viewliner bedrooms so much more expensive than the Superliner bedrooms??? Any advice out there? CJ
Needing advice in constructing cross country trip
- Thread starter Carolyn Jane
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The fact that there are only 2 of them on the entire train for the Cardinal. The Cardinal runs with 1 Viewliner sleeper only. And the single level Viewliner's only have to Bedrooms in the car, along with 12 roomettes.
The Capitol on the other hand has 10 Bedrooms, as it uses the bi-level Superliner equipment. A Superliner sleeper has 5 Bedrooms on the upper level, and with 2 sleepers in the train, that gives them 10 to sell.
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Diecastaussie
Train Attendant
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- Sep 17, 2012
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WOW!
We are doing almost the exact reverse journey in March.
We will catch the Coast Starlight from Los Angeles to San Francisco (Oakland) then the California Zephyr from San Francisco (Emmeryville) to Chicago then the Capitol Limited from Chicago to Washington and finally the Northeast Regional from Washington to New York to connect with our cruise back through the Caribbean and Panama Canal to Los Angeles (Long Beach).
I agree with you that the Roomettes and Bedrooms are very expensive options, but, we have "bitten the bullet" and booked these on the first three legs of our journey; we figure that we can survive the final 3 hour journey from Washington to New York in a coach seat.
Hope that you enjoy your journey.
Garry :lol:
gn2276
Service Attendant
You could take train 43 the Pennsylvanian from Paoli PA (PAO) which is only 32 miles away to Pittsburgh, then tr 29 the Capitol to Chicago, tr 3 the Southwest Chief to LA and then one of the Pacific Surfliners to San Diego. This routing would look like this
Train 43 Pennsylvanian Departs Paoli PA (PAO) at 1:12 PM
Arrives Pittsburgh (PGH) at 8:05 PM Duration 6 hours 53 mins
Train 29 Capitol Limited Departs Pittsburgh at 11:59 PM
Arrives Chicago at 8:45 AM Duration 9 hours 46 mins
Train 3 Southwest Chief Departs Chicago at 3:00 PM
Arrives Los Angeles at 8:15 AM Duration 43 hour 15 mins
Train 768 Pacific Surfliner Depart Los Angeles at 9:45 AM
Arrives San Diego at 12:30 PM
Train 43 Pennsylvanian Departs Paoli PA (PAO) at 1:12 PM
Arrives Pittsburgh (PGH) at 8:05 PM Duration 6 hours 53 mins
Train 29 Capitol Limited Departs Pittsburgh at 11:59 PM
Arrives Chicago at 8:45 AM Duration 9 hours 46 mins
Train 3 Southwest Chief Departs Chicago at 3:00 PM
Arrives Los Angeles at 8:15 AM Duration 43 hour 15 mins
Train 768 Pacific Surfliner Depart Los Angeles at 9:45 AM
Arrives San Diego at 12:30 PM
I considered that, but I don't fancy boarding a sleeper at midnight...stowing baggage, exploring the facilities, going right to bed to get up before 8am (granted, we would gain an hour with Central Time zone...), not really my idea of getting my money's worth out of my bedroom. CJ
henryj
Conductor
I don't live there, but..........doesn't Allentown have public transportation to Philly and NY? Try Trans-Bridge bus lines. Little over two hours to NY with multiple departures. From NY you have multiple options to Chicago or via the Crescent and Sunset Limited thru New Orleans to LAX. http://www.transbridgelines.com/daily.htm
That's how my mom starts all the trips that she takes with me, boarding a TransBridge bus to NYC. She walks the 8 blocks down to Penn Station to meet me. TransBridge at their main terminal at 2012 Industrial Drive even offers long term parking for a reasonable fee. And it's right off of Route 22.
In my mom's case she never uses that long term parking, since my sister lives only 5 minutes from the terminal in Allentown, so she parks at my sister's place and they drive her over.
henryj
Conductor
Bieber Tourways goes direct to Philly. http://www.biebertourways.com/schedules/Philadelphia.20120517.pdf $13 one way. Susquehanna Trailways also goes to Philly.
Mackensen
Lead Service Attendant
Well, I *do* live in the Lehigh Valley and I regularly use Trans-Bridge Lines between there and New York. The buses are fast and comfortable and have complimentary wifi. It's a good option. Alternatively you could drive to the nearest SEPTA station (Lansdale?) and take the train into Philadelphia. From Philly go either to New York or Washington and catch a long-distance train.
There is a Bieber station just up the road from my sister...CJ
Stellar1
Train Attendant
You can have someone drop you off at the Lansdale Septa Station. I'm pretty sure they don't allow overnight parking there. Then you can take the SEPTA Train from Lansdale into Philadelphia 30th Street Station - it's about an hour ride in. Another alternative is that you can drive to Philadelphia Airport and park in the long term parking ($11/day). You can take the SEPTA Train from the terminal to 30th Street Station - this is about a 17 minute train ride.
I'd recommend taking a northeast regional train from Philly to Washington, then taking the Capital Limited to Chicago. I've been on the Capital Limited several times, and it's very scenic going through western Maryland and West Virginia into Pennsylvania. You can be sound asleep by the time you get into Pittsburgh, so you don't have to worry about switching trains if you took the Pennsylvanian to Pittsburgh. BTW, the Pennsylvanian does not have checked baggage, so you'd have to carry all your bags on that train and then check them when you got to Pittsburgh.
If you take the Capital Limited, you can check your bags in Washington all the way to San Diego.
I'd recommend taking a northeast regional train from Philly to Washington, then taking the Capital Limited to Chicago. I've been on the Capital Limited several times, and it's very scenic going through western Maryland and West Virginia into Pennsylvania. You can be sound asleep by the time you get into Pittsburgh, so you don't have to worry about switching trains if you took the Pennsylvanian to Pittsburgh. BTW, the Pennsylvanian does not have checked baggage, so you'd have to carry all your bags on that train and then check them when you got to Pittsburgh.
If you take the Capital Limited, you can check your bags in Washington all the way to San Diego.
Another option is to go to the Colmar station, which is located right off of Rt 309, although that stop does have fewer trains than does Lansdale.
I don't think we would want to park at PHL airport, because at the end of our rail journey, we board a ship in San Diego and transit the Panama Canal to FLL. From there, we stay on the same ship to Harwich, UK. Then we have a couple days in the UK, take a four day cruise on Queen Elizabeth, then fly to Venice for a 12 day Adriatic/Italy cruise. Then we fly back, probably to JFK. On June 3.
This train ride was a whim of mine...We loved seeing the railroads on our road trip in July/Aug, and I downloaded the Fred Harvey story Appetite for America onto my Kindle, and have read all but the recipes at the end. We toured the station in Dodge City, and the Painted Desert Inn in the Painted Desert National Park. Didn't know about the station in Winslow, and we did stay there overnight...This is my sister:
We may have to do a 'Fred Harvey' journey...CJ
This train ride was a whim of mine...We loved seeing the railroads on our road trip in July/Aug, and I downloaded the Fred Harvey story Appetite for America onto my Kindle, and have read all but the recipes at the end. We toured the station in Dodge City, and the Painted Desert Inn in the Painted Desert National Park. Didn't know about the station in Winslow, and we did stay there overnight...This is my sister:
We may have to do a 'Fred Harvey' journey...CJ
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