Pittsburgh station?
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The only place I've ever been given a hassle about storage, has been in Denver. I regularly attend a meeting in Colorado Springs, and it ends around midday. With the drive up and return of the rental, I have plenty of time to kill downtown even if the train is on time. Which it usually isn't. Instead of trying to work with you, they try and make sure they count the bags to charge the most money possible. No surprise that a few "bag storage" services park vans across the street and solicit business.
It's totally safe to walk from Amtrak's Pittsburgh station to get a sandwich from Primanti's at any hour. I've been in the Strip District a few hundred times after dark and never got hassled by anyone. However, I try to schedule my trains to avoid that PIttsburgh layover. I lived in Pittsburgh for 5 years and think it's a great town, but not near the Amtrak station during any of the layovers Amtrak schedules you for.
For example, when traveling from Cleveland to Philadelphia (same would go for Chicago to Philadelphia), Amtrak's default option is to take you on the Capitol Limited #30 to Pittsburgh, where you wait from 5:05 a.m. until the Pennsylvanian #42 departs at 7:30 a.m, arriving in Philadelphia at 2:55.
Amtrak's default routing gets you to Philadelphia faster, but I recommend that you should stay on the Capitol Limited to Washington and then take the Northeast Regional up to Philadelphia. You lay over in Washington from 1:05 to 2:05 p.m., then take #94 up to Philadelphia arriving at 3:54 p.m.. No 5 a.m. wakeup plus Union Station is nice for a layover - with the notable exception of when I was there during the insurrection!
All this being said, I have done that 5:05 a.m. Pittsburgh layover many times and did walk to Primanti's for a full sandwich each time. It's the same as an early morning Philadelphia layover and getting Pat's at 6 a.m. or whatever.
For example, when traveling from Cleveland to Philadelphia (same would go for Chicago to Philadelphia), Amtrak's default option is to take you on the Capitol Limited #30 to Pittsburgh, where you wait from 5:05 a.m. until the Pennsylvanian #42 departs at 7:30 a.m, arriving in Philadelphia at 2:55.
Amtrak's default routing gets you to Philadelphia faster, but I recommend that you should stay on the Capitol Limited to Washington and then take the Northeast Regional up to Philadelphia. You lay over in Washington from 1:05 to 2:05 p.m., then take #94 up to Philadelphia arriving at 3:54 p.m.. No 5 a.m. wakeup plus Union Station is nice for a layover - with the notable exception of when I was there during the insurrection!
All this being said, I have done that 5:05 a.m. Pittsburgh layover many times and did walk to Primanti's for a full sandwich each time. It's the same as an early morning Philadelphia layover and getting Pat's at 6 a.m. or whatever.
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Mailliw
OBS Chief
I live in Scranton and everytime time I tried default routing either direction the app gave me a layover in Pittsburgh; I just assumed it was because of the Truway Motorcoach to Philadelphia.
So eastbound I decided to take the CL all the way to DC then go to NYC and just take a bus home from there. I would've done the opposite westbound until I noticed I could get a Bedroom from Pittsburgh for $316 instead of over $700 from DC. I'm a little proud I planned all this in spite of Triweekly service.
So eastbound I decided to take the CL all the way to DC then go to NYC and just take a bus home from there. I would've done the opposite westbound until I noticed I could get a Bedroom from Pittsburgh for $316 instead of over $700 from DC. I'm a little proud I planned all this in spite of Triweekly service.
I think that's smart. Though the Capitol Limited from Chicago is scheduled to leave Pittsburgh at 5:20 a.m., a few hours' delay is unfortunately common, and it's not at all unusual for it to leave after the Pennsylvanian chugs out at 7:30. (Almost invariably on time, 'cause Pittsburgh is the origination.) So why not stay on the CL, get some uninterrupted sleep, and enjoy the beautiful scenery in the Laurel Highlands when you wake up. And don't worry (within reason) when you'll arrive in Washington. Trains to Philly leave all day.
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NEPATrainTraveler
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I live in the Wilkes-Barre, PA area and ARROW always tries to push the Pennsylvanian to CL connection on me. The late night layover makes me nervous and the early morning one doesn't sound great to me either, so I avoid this connection. I will admit though that it does look appealing when looking at sleeper room rates.
I booked CHI to WAS on the CL and then WAS to PHL on the NER (and then Martz Trailways to W-B) back in 2018, but cancelled those tickets (except for the Martz one, because you can't cancel those) due to a rough experience I had on the LSL. I ended up flying home instead. Looking back, I wish I would have kept my plans to arrive home on the train instead.
I booked CHI to WAS on the CL and then WAS to PHL on the NER (and then Martz Trailways to W-B) back in 2018, but cancelled those tickets (except for the Martz one, because you can't cancel those) due to a rough experience I had on the LSL. I ended up flying home instead. Looking back, I wish I would have kept my plans to arrive home on the train instead.
I live an hour North of Harrisburg. I'm not crazy about the Pittsburgh layovers either way. A few times I drove to Martinsburg WV to catch 29 to Chicago. They allow parking for $1 a day,but you have to get a parking permit from their city hall which can be done on line.
Of course, there was one of my Capitol Limited trips that arrived in Washington about 10 hours late. They held 66 (the last train of the night) for me about a half hour so I could connect to Baltimore. That was fine, but, boy did I get a lot of dirty looks from the other passengers when I boarded the train, and they figured I was the one who was holding them up.
(66 leaves Washington about 10 - 10:30 PM)I used to have friends who would take me out during that 7:30-11:59 layover between the Pennsy and the Cap. That kind of thing doesn't happen so much in your 30s lol.
