River Runner questions

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Joined
May 25, 2006
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1,552
Location
Central Florida
We will be in CO and KS this spring and are considering including a return on the River Runner from KC to St. Louis (then Southwest to Atlanta). Has anyone taken that route recently? What is the BC car like and is it worth the additional cost? Where is it positioned on the train? Any scenery of note on the trip? I assume it’s standard Amtrak cafe food.

While I’ve been in KC on Amtrak SWC (and various pre Amtrak trains) and St Louis on the TE and other trains I’ve never ridden between those cities, other than on I-70.
 
The River Runner is a great Route along the Missouri River and through Jeff City, the Capital.

We rode it during the St Louis Gathering between STL and KCY.Ive been on it several times also.

Coach is OK( Horizon Cars), but BC is usually the Cafe Car with the nice 2x1 Seating. The Cafe Menu is standard Amtrak Fare. ( so so @ High Prices).IMO BC is Worth the Upgrade for sure.

I suggest yall pick up some to go food in KCY, there's really good B-B-Q across the Tracks from Union Station, and the Harvey House Deli in the Ststion has good Sandwiches.( there was a real Harvey House there back in the "Golden Days" of Union Station).
 
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Thanks, Bob, great info.

We’ll spend the night in KC so BBQ is definitely in our plans. Too bad the Royals aren’t playing in town that week. We’ll see how it compares to our gold standard: NC spicy vinegar based. Don’t care for SC mustard based and a tomato base sometimes masks the good smoky real BBQ taste.
 
My wife and I have taken BBQ runs to KC from STL. I'll second Bob's suggestion on business class. Now, we don't do the same day runs because Amtrak has shortened the turn. Jack's Stack is the BBQ place across the tracks. The river is on your left heading east, BTW.

Lots of high ridges, so internet can be spotty. IIRC on the left side, you might also get a glimpse of the museum of transport a few minutes before Kirkwood, a nice old-timey station. Lots of folks like taking pictures of it.
 
One more thing: the business class car is usually behind the engine (Midwest Chargers of late). There are usually a few deadhead Viewliner baggage cars, maybe a diner on the rear. Axle count, I assume.
 
I've taken the River Runners several times between Jefferson City and either Kansas City or St. Louis. Both trains can be crowded on weekends, particularly on Friday and Sunday. The trains can fill up in Kirkwood going west and in Jeff City in both directions. Jefferson City and Herman are both worth stopovers so you might consider leaving KC in the morning, making an intermediate stop to look around in either city, and then take the evening train the rest of the way to St. Louis.
 
Business class is the 2-1 seating in the cafe car. It's all right, I used it so I was closer to the cafe. Not much to eat in the cafe but I got tea repeatedly.
 
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