Spending the night at an Amtrak station

[mycalpal]

I can tell you that Boston's South Station is open 24 hours and when traveling up to Maine I usually stay with friends in Boston, however on a couple of occasions I took the Silver line from South Station out to Logan Airport and spent a few hours overnight there. The trip back in to South Station on the Silver Line is actually free. It is cleaner and safer and has better seating than South Station. While this is not an option I would recommend, having arrived into Boston as late as 2:30am on the Lake Shore Limited, I can't see spending easily $250-300 on a hotel room in Boston for a few hours. Good Luck!

 

[Anderson]

While RVR is open overnight, my experience is that the station staff will try to badger you to move on if you don't have an onward ticket. One time I got stuck there for about 90 minutes when my ride home overslept as I was inbound on 98 (so I was there from about 0430 to 0600) and I had the attendant going to the "trouble" of running off a price list for the trains to NPN for me.

 

[benale]

I rode to San Diego to kill an overnight. I had sleepers on my seven day trip from Seattle to New York using The Coast Starlight,Sunset Limited and The Crescent, so to avoid paying for hotels I killed an overnight riding on an overnight thruway bus to San Diego and back on a Surfliner and as I mentioned I spent the night at New Orleans station while connecting from The Sunset to the Crescent. Couldn't see spending money for a hotel room being the layover time was eight hours.

 

[GaSteve]

I rode to San Diego to kill an overnight. I had sleepers on my seven day trip from Seattle to New York using The Coast Starlight,Sunset Limited and The Crescent, so to avoid paying for hotels I killed an overnight riding on an overnight thruway bus to San Diego and back on a Surfliner and as I mentioned I spent the night at New Orleans station while connecting from The Sunset to the Crescent. Couldn't see spending money for a hotel room being the layover time was eight hours.

How long ago was that? My experience talking to pax who were not allowed to stay was last summer.

 

[railiner]

I used to do that often, in my younger days, when traveling on employee passes...on buses , and later on trains, and finally on airline "red-eye" flights.

For example, if I wanted to 'kill' an overnite in Chicago, I would take the CONO down to Cairo ( when it was still stopping there), and catch the northbound back. I monitored the on time performance of both trains, and if necessary, adjust my turnaround point.

Saved on several nights in hotels that way....

 

[jis]

While RVR is open overnight, my experience is that the station staff will try to badger you to move on if you don't have an onward ticket. One time I got stuck there for about 90 minutes when my ride home overslept as I was inbound on 98 (so I was there from about 0430 to 0600) and I had the attendant going to the "trouble" of running off a price list for the trains to NPN for me.

Interestingly, one time about three years back, I did a day long stay at RVR arrive by 89 depart by 90 taking pictures of trains and was not bugged by anyone. Soon after I arrived I talked to the station agent and asked him what would be a good safe place or two to get myself settled in to take good pictures of trains, both passenger and freight. He suggested a couple, and no one ever bothered me. I guess the classic Amtrak cap was a dead giveaway? Who knows?

 

[railiner]

Like in everything else, the way railfans are treated by employees, varies very greatly. As long as they are polite and follow directions, they can receive anything from great hospitality, usually in a smaller, one agent town; to cold hostility in a larger station.

I have been on the receiving end of all thru the years.

Of course, since 9-11, things are much tighter than the used to be...