Riding for the fun of it

[Orie]

This might be cheating because it's not just Amtrak. But right now my ideal rail trip would be

1) New York -> New Orleans on the Crescent

2) New Orleans -> Chicago on a Pullman bedroom on the CONO

3) Chicago -> LA on the Texas Eagle

4) LA -> Seattle on the Coast Starlight

5) Seattle -> Vancouver on the Cascade services

6) Vancouver -> Toronto on the Via rail Canadian

7) Toronto -> Windsor on Via rail

8) Cross the border to Detroit

9) Detroit -> Chicago on the Wolverine

10) Chicago -> New York on the Cardinal

That would be my dream trip. If we're talking strictly in the USA, than substitute steps 5-9 with the Empire Builder. One day when I have lots of points and a few thousand for the Via rail (and 2-3 weeks) I'll do it

I would also be perfectly fine substituting the Zephyr to San Fran for the Texas Eagle, and the Lake Shore Limited instead of the Cardinal for Chicago to NY.

 

[keelhauled]

I can't recommend a circle trip through NYC on Amtrak, because as far as I can tell, in order to do any of them you HAVE to stay in NYC overnight, and that's *expensive*. (Or, if you try to stay in Newark or something, complicated.) That's what wrecks most "eastbound" circle trip plans. Though if you're interested in spending time in NYC, that's quite another matter.

Well, NYP is open 24/7. It's not especially pleasant, but I have stayed there most of the night. Though it takes a special kind of frugalness to justify that.

 

[blueman271]

I can't recommend a circle trip through NYC on Amtrak, because as far as I can tell, in order to do any of them you HAVE to stay in NYC overnight, and that's *expensive*. (Or, if you try to stay in Newark or something, complicated.) That's what wrecks most "eastbound" circle trip plans. Though if you're interested in spending time in NYC, that's quite another matter.

Well, NYP is open 24/7. It's not especially pleasant, but I have stayed there most of the night. Though it takes a special kind of frugalness to justify that.

Or just a great night. Back in the summer of '13 I went into the city to meet my cousin and her friends and have some dinner and drinks. I planned on catching the last NJT NEC train back to my moms house in Rahway. Well something happened that night that caused that train to be delayed indefinitely so I found one of those all night food places that have beer taps, got the guy to pour me two large Brooklyn Lagers and went and found a seat in the NJT waiting room. After drinking my two beers, combined with everything else I had that night I dozed off and didn't wake up until about 530 am. So I spent the night in Penn Station not because I was frugal, but because I was drunk.

 

[tp49]

Since I work in Chico on the engine that is first-in and directly protects the Sierra Nevada Brewery...

You guys should do a house t-shirt and somehow incorporate the slogan "First Due To The Brew."

I'd buy one if y'all did.

 

[chakk]

It's not Amtrak, but you are your spouse should most definitely ride Via Rail's Canadian sometime between toronto and vancouver. I did it eastbound in February (and westbound in 1970, but that's another story). You will not be disappointed.

Sent from my iPhone using Amtrak Forum

 

[DaddyJim]

Last year the wife and I did the CHI - SEA , SEA- EMY , EMY-CHI Loop in 14 days. SEA and SFO are great cities...must see is Victoria BC and Butchart gardens.

On the CZ from EMY to DEN we missed the regular route and had to go from SLC to DEN on the northern route through WY as the track was washed out in CO. Hope to do at a later time.

Next trip we hope to do is CHI-LAX, LAX-EMY, EMY-CHI

All the rides are FUN!!!!!! :giggle:

 

[neroden]

It's not Amtrak, but you are your spouse should most definitely ride Via Rail's Canadian sometime between toronto and vancouver. I did it eastbound in February (and westbound in 1970, but that's another story). You will not be disappointed.

When you have a *lot* of free time. It's faster to go from Toronto to Vancouver via Amtrak. (Really. And if you like changing trains, it's more entertaining, too.) The Canadian also only runs twice a week much of the year. It's really a pure cruise, unusable for transportation unless you have an *extremely* relaxed schedule.

 

[Henry Kisor]

George, this is off topic, but did you once write about music for the Chicago Daily News and Chicago Sun-Times? I address you here because my regular logon is so screwed up that it's impossible to fix and so I post as a guest. Henry Kisor

 

[George K]

[off topic response!]

No, Henry, that's not me. Never had anything published in any newspaper, other than a letter to the editor or two.

[/off topic response!]

 

[benale]

Riding on Amtrak IS the vacation! I've traveled cross country by myself just for the ride. Several years ago I went from Seattle to New York the longest way possible..Coast Starlight, Sunset Limited and The Crescent. It took me a week. Sleepers all the way and I took a Surfliner to San Diego late at night and back first thing in the morning and I spent the night in the train station in New Orleans to catch an early morning Crescent.

These days I make "point runs" to accumulate AGR points and next Spring we'll be traveling from Toledo to San Luis bpispo and back the longest way..Capitol Limited,Empire Builder and Coast Starlight and on the return the CS,Texas Eagle and The Lake Shore Limited. I travel with my wife now and she loves trains,but she is not as fanatical as I am,so we will be spending a week exploring California between the train rides.

 

[Henry Kisor]

Thank you, George. I had you confused with someone else.

Now back to the purpose of this thread. I took the CONO yesterday from Chicago to New Orleans just for a little joyride. I'm staying in the Big Easy for three days as icing on the cake, but I'm mainly looking forward to the return trip Saturday.

By the way, the OBS crew was excellent on that run. It has been a LONG time since I encountered a subpar attendant.

And French toast was on the breakfast menu!

Only downer was the godawful rough track from Chicago to Memphis. I thought we'd derailed a couple of times and didn't get much sleep in my roomette.

 

[crescent2]

If your wife hasn't ridden LD trains before, I'd keep the first trip relatively short to see whether she likes it. I've never ridden most of the trains out of CHI, only the CL and Card, but the Cardinal is very scenic along the New River. That's an overnight trip, and the Cardinal's food wasn't nearly as good as on the trains that have a full dining car. They were out of some of the menu choices that get the better reviews.

 

[FormerOBS]

Took a long time for this to get around to the Capitol and Cardinal. The frequent delays on the Capitol are a problem. If it weren't for that, my first suggestion would have been a round trip from Chicago to Washington, using one of these trains in each direction. Summertime would be best because more of the good scenery would be seen in daylight. My favorite is the eastbound Capitol. Of course, that's largely because I've been over the route often enough to consider it an old friend. I'm something like Bre'er Rabbit, who said "PLEASE don't throw me in that briar patch!"

My version is "PLEASE don't put me on that Capitol Limited!"

For me, the Capitol is just like home.

Tom