What brought YOU to long distance train travel?

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My sainted mother, God rest her soul, was devoted to travel and especially loved train travel. She actually went to Glacier on the train in 1924 or so.

My first memory of LD train travel was about 1958 or so. On more then several occasions we would get on the OLD Zephyr, ride to Glenwood Springs (from Chicago) spend a night at the magnificent RR hotel there, and return the next day. My father especially loved it in the winter when there would be three feet of snow around the hot spring. Being and old Swede, he would jump out, roll in the snow, and jump back in the hot spring fed pool.

I am grateful to have had this background but saddened that I never passed the tradition on to my daughter, although I am taking She Who Must Be Obeyed around to my old haunts via LD. EB to Glacier this year, CZ to Yellowstone next (although 20 some odd years ago I took her to California on our honeymoon) via the CZ.

No matter how bad Amtrak gets, it still beats flying.
 
Here's one more whose first LD train trip was many many years ago as a kid. Our family took the UP's City of Los Angeles from Chicago to LA when we moved from the Detroit area to California when I was just a year old, and we took it again from Las Vegas to Chicago when we went out west (after moving back to Michigan) to visit our newly-moved-to-Sun City, AZ grandparents. We also had a great aunt who was an office worker for one of the railroads in Lafayette, IN, and my other grandmother routinely took the Grand Trunk to visit us when she lived in South Bend, IN and we lived near Birmingham, MI. We took that trip a few times too, to go visit Grandma while Dad was away on Air Force Reserve duty...lots of fun for a couple of kids like my brother and i!

Fast forward to the '90s, after i'd relocated to northern California. For Christmas that year, I flew back to Minnesota (where my folks were living, and my mom still does), then took the EB and CZ home. That meant an overnight stay in the Chicago area, which I did in Naperville--got off the EB in Glenview, then rented a car from Enterprise to drive to Naperville. That also meant starting the trip at one of the true jewels along the EB line, Red Wing, MN--the restored old depot, next to the city's riverfront park, holds a collection of railroad memorabilia that's a must-see. (Like Red Wing itself!)

Since I moved to Florida back in '07, however, I've made only two LD trips...one from Red Wing to Tampa via the EB, Cardinal and Silver Star, and once on the Auto Train departing from/returning to Sanford, FL. Both went well, and on each trip--just as on the EB & CZ--the people inside the train were as interesting as the scenery outside!
 
I had a conference in Chicago right before Thanksgiving. The roundtrip air from DC to Chicago wasn't bad, but to tack in Chicago to Fort Wayne for that time frame was...absurdly expensive. I thought about just renting a car and driving it then remembered, "Doesn't Amtrak run just a bit north of the city now in Waterloo?" So I booked CHI to WTI round trip on the LSL with enough time to catch my return flight at O'Hare and patted myself on the back for being thrifty.

Got on the train in CHI and found that, unlike the O'Hare experience, it was much less stressful, the seats were ridiculously roomy by comparison, and traveling out on the train had me gawking at the the city and everything that went by. I enjoyed it enough that I sort of wished I didn't have the return flight via O'Hare paid for already and could take the CL home to DC.

So I booked my winter break trip (I teach at a university in DC) on the CL round trip and had a great time. Paying around $152 round trip sure beats paying $450+ to get to the same location.
 
In 1946 I was too young to remember my first trip, on the Southern's Ponce De Leon/Royal Palm from Rome to Cincinnati and then connecting to various unnamed, or un remembered named trains to Pittsburgh.
I was 2, the war was over, and we were moving to my father's hometown. But from 1946-1963, we made that same trip or the reverse at least once, sometimes twice a year.

My many fragmented memories start from about the age of 5.
Since we rode coach, I was always wandering through the car, boldly sitting and chatting with other passengers or crew.
I remember once sitting with a signalman who gave me the largest peach I ever saw. Fried chicken was the mandatory carry on food and my mother claimed I never missed an opportunity to sample some of the best! :giggle: I remember one time when we were traveling SB and food orders were taken and delivered to coach passengers at a station stop somewhere in Kentucky-must have been problems in the diner.

In the early 1960's, we took a trip back to Pittsburgh on the City Of Miami from Jackson, Tn.

In 1966, I was going to Rome, but couldn't get there through Cincinnati anymore, so had to go east to DC and through Atlanta. At that time Union Station was huge, but only a station and deserted in the early morning darkness.
That was my last trip until 1979 when we took our children to Disney World on the auto train.

In 1984, dh was working temorarily in La., and I took the children to visit, via the Crescent and return by CONO. Since then I have steadily increased my number of LD train trips every year.

So, travel by train is in my DNA. :)
 
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In 1982 my plan was to drive my POS FIAT econobox from Los Angeles to Evansville, Indiana. Mercifully, the day I was to depart the FIAT (Fix It Again, Tony) died. What to do? I needed to get to Evansville. I dialed 1-800-USA-RAIL.

"How may I help you, sir?"

"I need a ticket on the next train out of town." Really, that's what I said.

I got a roundtrip coach ticket on the Southwest Chief to Kansas City, and then the Ann Rutledge to St. Louis. No service to Evansville, so my aunt would pick me up there.

The trains weren't so crowded then, there were more cars it seems, so I had two seats to myself, so sleeping wasn't so bad. There were no iPods, DVD players, laptops, etc., so things were more social. The bar car was a happening place.

Got to KC and it was like stepping back in time. A handful of us got off and walked into the dilapidated and decayed ruin of Union Station. Built to handle thousands, there were 6 of us. I wanted to make a call, and found a bank of phones. These were perhaps not the original phones from 1914, but they were for sure from no later than 1930s.

From then on, I've made that SWC trip as often as possible. I was very disappointed the next trip to disembark from KC not into the station, but an Amshack. The bank of old phones disappeared, too I get a roomette nowadays.

FormerOBS, the L&N depot in Evansville is no longer. It was demolished in 1985, despite much opposition, to put up a parking lot.
 
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In 1958 when I was 3, my mother took me to see my uncle in San Jose, and we rode the Coast Daylight from Los Angeles. I still remember the orange and red train, and I got scared in the long tunnel in Santa Susana Pass. We took the Coast Daylight several times when I was growing up, and I watched it degrade to simulated stainless steel and automat cars. That is one train Amtrak was an almost immediate improvement on, and Amtrak's quality of service and amenities on that route never dropped as low as the nadir it reached towards the end of SP's service.

My first overnight ride was on the Santa Fe Super Chief in 1970. That train was amazing, for one thing, it almost literally sparkled. The train felt like it had been delivered from the factory the day before. The food was great, and Santa Fe was everything it is still reputed to be. The Southwest Chief is still one of my favorite routes because it brings back memories of that trip, although the Southwest Chief itself is absolutely nothing at all like the Super Chief was.
 
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I stopped flying in 2010 when the TSA rolled out the naked body scanners and "enhanced" pat downs. I'm in a long-distance relationship, so in order to continue seeing my boyfriend, I began searching for an alternative method of travel. I came across Amtrak, and the rest is history.
 
Started traveling on LD trains 6 decades ago and haven't looked back. Also have flown more than 2 million miles. Longest trip aboard a ship was a few individual overnight journeys in Europe. And driven coast-to-coast in the USA 4 times, including one epic 30-day journey 4 decades ago when moving to California.

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First LD trip was on the Weary Erie from Salamanca, N.Y. to Chicago in 1951. It was long, it was dirty, and it was awful.

But my second LD trip was on the Zephyr from Chicago to Winter Park (and return) on a high school ski trip in 1956. It was wonderful. We sat up all night in the dome car watching the Mars light roll from side to side like Zorro slashing night-riding bandits. Never looked back, even after a flight in a Caravelle jet from Chicago to Hartford in 1958.

Now that we are retired my wife and I will travel by LD train everywhere we go in the U.S., provided we can get there that way. We take Holland-America cruises out of San Diego and take the Chief both ways from and to Chicago. Food's usually OK, crews (especially lately) pretty good, and who cares about OT performance if you're going to stay overnight at the destination before moving on?
 
Thank you, v v, for starting such an interesting thread. I was inspired by your adventure traveling through France and long for the opportunity to visit there. I grew up in the western suburbs of Chicago and from early childhood was able to view the trains of the Milwaukee Road, Chicago Northwestern, Burlington, Pennsy, B&O, Illinois Central, Rock Island, New York Central, Union Pacific and more, each with unique paint schemes, and all literally in my back yard.

My passenger-railroading bug was caught at the age of 3 when my father took me downtown on a maroon and orange Milwaukee Road commuter train complete with baggage car and shiny GP-9 power. It was love from then on. I have fond memories of the shiny, yellow Union Pacific streamliners gliding around the turn into our town on the Milwaukee West Line, just as spotless as it could be. I knew that one day I would ride all of these wonderful trains calling on Chicago. My first streamliner ride was the Hiawatha from Chicago to Milwaukee on a family day-trip in 1964.

In my profession as an airline sales manager, I flew most everywhere. However, in 1985, tired of all the hassle in airports and commotion trying to ride on space-available seating - I booked a seat on the Lake Shore Limited to Boston for an adventure before a sales meeting. I found a new way to travel and have enjoyed Amtrak ever since; having traveled over 150,000 miles on all trains except the Heartland Flyer and Crescent.

I no longer fly unless I am going to the Caribbean or Europe, of course. Amtrak service is cost-effective and works for me for travel in the US. The AGR concept has been quite helpful, generous and easy to use.

Thank you again, for this interesting thread topic!
 
About six years back my boyfriend of 25+ years and I were calling it quits and it was amicable so I decided to drive from California to Louisiana with him when he made his move. I didn't give much thought to how I'd return home and when the time came I had him drop me off at the New Orleans train station instead of the airport. I seem to remember that I bought my ticket online before I got to the station. Being by myself in that roomette for a couple of days was just what I needed. My first trip was something because it was one day after Mardi Gras and the sleeper car was full of Amtrak call center employees returning home from vacationing together and they had a good time!

Now I really don't want to fly anywhere because it just isn't fun so I take the train. At the very least I might fly out if I have to but then I'll take the train home.
 
Two of my uncles worked for AT&SF one a freight engineer, the other a mechanic, and a cousin drove a switch engine at the roundhouse in Gainesville, Texas. There was then (and is now) absolutely no reason to be in Gainesville, Texas, so as kids we jumped freights going both north and south. We would usually go south to Ft. Worth, visit downtown and hitch-hike back, or we would go north to the first slow down in Ardmore, Oklahoma, visit the Knox Hotel, and catch a freight back. Once, going north, the freight did not slow down in Ardmore and the first place we could get off was in Hutchison, Kansas. That made for an interesting trip home...4 teenage boys trying to hitch-hike south.

Back in the 1980s my then wife and I wanted to go to San Antonio from Dallas. For whatever reason, the timing was not good to fly and rent a car, so we decided to give the train a try. We got to DAL Union Station, and the Eagle arrived, we were sent to the last coach on the train by an attendant. We got on and looked around, walking from one end of the car to the other and there were no pair of seats together to be found, so we got off the train and asked the attendant what to do......to which he replied in a matter of fact tone..."You bought two seats, not two seats together". While he was correct, it was kinda rudely said, so I told him to just get her bag out of the baggage car and we would drive to Love Field and fly later that night. No biggie. And we walked toward the baggage car, only to be stopped by the conductor who asked where we were going. I relayed the situation to him, and he remarked "That guy is an a***hole" and told us to get into the next to the last coach car....which was completely empty! Of course the car about halfway filled on the rest of the trip, beginning with about 12 more at FTW....

We chose to eat in the diner, which back then had tablecloths and china, had a hamburger steak smothered in mushroom gravy that was scrumptious, and I was hooked.

The current g/f had never rode a train, so to indoctrinate her, we took the HF from FTW to OKC for a weekend visit. She liked it, so next ride was a bit longer (to SAS) and she LOVED that one, so our vacay last year was the CS from LAX to PDX then the EB on to MSP. She is now hooked, too, but I fear the cut backs in amenities will give her pause on our next excursion....... :unsure:
 
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I took the Weary Erie because I was eleven years old and spending several weeks with my grandparents near Binghamton, NY, on their farm. My grandfather just put me on the train at Salamanca with ten dollars in ones (a fortune at the time) to get home to Chicago. I had no say in the matter. I am not certain but think that in 1951 the Erie was still using steam locomotives for its milk trains. I seem to remember coal smoke and cinders and grit in my teeth. It was not romantic at all.

I might be wrong about the railroad, come to think of it. It might have been the Lackawanna. I'm not certain the Erie stopped at Salamanca. But if so, that train was NOT the Phoebe Snow.
 
After Googling the matter, I've decided it was the Erie after all. The DL&W route maps do not show the Lackawanna as going to Salamanca. But I was only eleven. What did I know? It would be four more years before I knew everything.
 
Having grown up northwest of Chicago in Arlington Heights I was hooked on trains from the get-go with the constant passing of the yellow and green C&NW Bi Level Commuter trains supplemented with a good mix of freights. Add in an airliner passing over the house every 60 seconds and my interest in transportation was strong.

I never got to ride a long distance train pre-Amtrak but in the early 70s managed to talk Mom into bringing us back from STL on one of the new Rohr Turbo Trains :) I was all of 13 or so and excited as a younglin' could be. We boarded at the old STL Union Station and even before we left, every chair was packed and folks were standing in the aisle. We had 2 backward facing seats and Mom bitched and moaned all the way back. On the other hand I was in paradise and then some, especially after enjoying a Nuclear Hamburger from the early disco era Cafe.

The next Summer I went to visit my sister in Oklahoma and Mom booked me on the Lone Star. I still remember the fare of $42 OW and seat 41 in car 1514! Of course this train still carried the Texas Chief consist, now in Amtrak livery and hauled by a pair of SDP-40Fs. Dad took me to Chicago Union Station and saw me off, my grips stashed in the lower level of the Hi-Level Coach and my pocket billowing with money for Dinner and Breakfast in the Diner (single level) and treats from the Lounge (also single level). It did not take me long to explore the Sleepers and discover the round tail observation car where the Conductor hid out; he was more than happy to let me stay as no other pax seemed interested in wandering that far back. The Norman stop at 0900 next morning came far too fast!

It is a fever and it burns stronger than ever even though the vintage Heritage equipment is long gone and funding cuts tear away at Amtrak.
 
Kids are pretty impressionable. So, like many, an annual trip to grandmother's from age 1 to 17 left its mark. What could be better to a boy than two days in a Pullman on the B&O and L&N with friendly porters and 'fancy' meals in the diner. After a few weeks nonstop play at our grandparents we could look forward to the return journey. And then, there were those distinctive Lionel boxes under the Christmas tree waiting to be opened.
 
. And then, there were those distinctive Lionel boxes under the Christmas tree waiting to be opened.
In my case it was Athearn boxes and since Dad was really hooked on the model layout, he was usually the one who said "Come on John, let's go to Hobby Lobby-we need a couple more cars for the Amtrak trains and that new Santa Fe Steam Engine Tyco just came out with!"
 
From the 60's through mid 70's the family would take the train from RVR to Princeton, IL to see my grandparents so trains always had fond memories for me. My dad would take me and my two brothers to get some hot Krispe Kreme doughnuts and we'd sit by the RF&P tracks and watch trains for an hour or so. Then there was a hiatus of 10 years with no trains as I went off to college, chased women, caught one and started working.

What got me back to trains was the apartment i lived in after getting married. It was near the RVR station. I was at the Ukrops next to RVR getting some milk and saw the Silver Star at the station so I stopped in a walked the platform. Then I'd go every so often to watch trains and one night I said dang it I want to be on the train not beside it. So over the last 30 years I've managed to squeeze in a LD trip every few years, typically an RVR-CHI long weekend turn on the CL, LSL, Cardinal and the Broadway when it was running.

I dearly miss the domes on the CL.
 
First long distance train travel was down to Orlando Fl, from Meriden CT.

Travel by coach, the old ones with men room on one end of the train, and the women room on the other.

The overhead wire got pull down on the NEC, 18 hours late.

The train got split in Jacksville FL, got to watch it leave with out me!! Pull aboard by a crew member on the fly.

First Superliners Sleeper was the Auto Train. Back when it was half superliner sleeper cars and coach cars were still single level.

First Viewliner was the Lake Shore Limited, had to switch in Albany from the Boston section to the New York section to ride the brand new car. Had a traveling mechanic working out the bugs before full production. Still have trouble believing that I went out of my way for the Viewliner and never travel in older type of sleeper in US.

Travel a lot in Europe by train, but that how you do it there. Miss my Brussels to Frankfort train once, had to wait a hour for the next one.
 
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chakk, what was the reason for taking the very first LD rail journey?
Visit my grandparents and many aunts, uncles, and cousins in northern Michican, via B&O's Columbian and C&NW's Peninsula 400.
 
In no particular order.

1. When I am traveling I want to chill, I don't care much about time. I am a business executive and run 40 meetings a month, I enjoy the break from the rigid schedule.

2. I try to minimize any interaction with the TSA.

3. There is nothing better than surfing the web, enjoying the countryside with an ice cold brew..

4. Family time, it's a time that I have my kids captive from outside distractions and it's relatively safe. We used to travel by car but the whack jobs seem to find refuge at poplar refueling-service stops.
 
The main factor behind my using train travel exclusively for all of my travel needs is the treatment by the TSA "Blueshirts" of innocent travelers at the airports. Take off your belt, put all metal in that bin, go through the metal detector, take off your shoes, put your laptop in a filthy bin where there were 10,000 pairs of dirty shoes that day, go through the X-ray scanner, and take orders like a prisoner of war.

While I see the sheep passively submitting to this type of dehumanizing treatment (as they did in 1939 Germany); I refuse to disregard my dignity, my constitutional rights and be lowered to the level of an animal just to fly.Then once you board you are locked into a crowded unhealthy tight plane with poor air quality, a seat just the right size for a little person and just hope that the guy next to you believes in bathing and using underarm deodorant.

On a train you travel as ladies and gentlemen not like animals. In the bedroom accommodation that we normally book, there is privacy, comfort, room to stretch out as scenic (and sometimes historic America) passes by your window. Although the dining car budgets have been cut the food is still acceptable and good. We dined on it for three days straight this year and it always agreed with us .Travelers seem to justify the police state tactics at the airports of some kind of bizarre safety measure but in the words of one of our founding fathers,

"those that give up essential liberty for a small bit of security, deserve neither"

Benjamin Franklin
 
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I'm right there with dlagrua.

We had taken Amtrak from Chicago to Little Rock when I was...10 or 11, and it was alright. Didn't blow me away, didn't disappoint either.

Once the unconscionable and unjustifiable Reign of Molestation was instituted at airports in 2010, however, I knew that was it for me and air travel. I tried taking the CL and Pennsy to Philadelphia back in 2012 and was immediately hooked! Even sleeping in superliner coach seats (why do Amfleet day-route seats recline deeper than Superliner seats on overnight routes?) couldn't dampen the joy that was traveling with no security checks whatsoever.

Last August I booked a roomette on the Cap to DC and then BC on the Northeast Regional up to Providence for a convention and, once again, it was fantastic. Metro/ClubAcela lounges, priority boarding, all the perks of first-class travel and again, no TSA smurf-clerks anywhere to be found. Took the Acela back down to DC and that was awesome. Those 150MPH segments were indescribable - I've never felt that kind of speed before. You get it for maybe a few seconds when a plane is on the runway but as soon as you're off the ground and perspective shifts, you lose it. Being at ground level with New England whipping by at breakneck speed could only be made better if I had some fresh coffee and a Belgian waffle to go with it. Oh, wait, that's right - I did.

And this is from someone who has family working for Southwest Airlines. I could fly free anywhere in the continental US and yet I'd vastly prefer to drop $1000+ on rail fare to avoid TSA. That's still my prime motivator for taking Amtrak, but damn if the fringe benefits aren't amazing.
 
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