I have used Amtrak a number of times, in the 80's and 90's. I always really liked it, and enjoyed the sleeper cars. Once on-board with a passenger-ticket you could usually up-grade to a sleeper car for $20.
Since coming back stateside that last time, I have looked at Amtrek a number of times, and I have really been surprized at how much the prices have gone up.
From here New London Connecticut, we used to be able to ride into New York for around $30. Now it is $200.
I was trying to help our eldest son go attend a 'Live out loud' conference in Michigan, but again the prices were crazy. He ended up driving out there on his bike, and he spent less than a tenth of what the ticket would have cost.
Wow, Galen, it must be a supply & demand thing or something. Cleveland to D.C. is a lot farther than NY to Connecticut, and before my upgrade to sleeper, it was $84 round trip (after my AAA discount of $15).
I'd heard about that cheap upgrade once you get on the train. I paid more, on a special promotion they were doing. The sleeper cars were full going to D.C., but coming back, I think only three compartments were filled in my car. Sometime I'll try the on-the-train upgrade, maybe.
Vickles, they have big family compartments. One that I looked at had a bathroom, even. Nice thing about sleeper cars is there's a shower...handy for those 3-day trips! If you could upgrade for cheap, it might be worth it!
Hope you have fun. I really enjoyed traveling with my son by train when he was little. I could walk him around and take him for snacks and there was plenty of room for him to sleep and color and play. The good old days. I miss my little towhead! Now he's a big handsome man, but we sure had fun when he was a little guy.
I've ridden a couple of times when I lived in the NE... it's a great option when you have lots of time... I just checked on Houston to Atlanta... it was going to take over 8 hours to get to New Orleans, stay overnight, then a bunch more to Atlanta...
but I have always been fascinated by them, I want to do the Canadian Rockies by train and then cruise the inside passage...
for work... I always wanted to be a caboose driver...
Everytime I go there I get mad as hell that don't have ANYTHING close to the train system there.
180 miles an hour in quiet comfort. A cute little Japanese girl comes through the car every few minutes with a cart full of snacks and drinks. Big, comfortable seats and great lighting to read by as well as great views out the windows.
There are no intersections of surface streets with the rails. They go over or under the roadbed. So there's no delays, accidents, or missed signals to worry about. There's a track for each direction the train goes so there's no way of trains colliding either (at least head-on). I've been told that the rail system in Japan has never had a fatality accident in it's history!
Currently they're testing a train that travels at 530 K./hr.! This is a working, full-size model, not just a drawing-board pipe-dream.
Why can't WE do that?
Yeah, I know. They have the density of population that makes the numbers work, yada, yada. So we make do with 19th century technology, while Japan has a 21st century train in operation. Something ain't right about that...
Anyway, I'll be on that train again next week. I'll let you know how it is...
Geo ----- relax bro!!!!! Trains are for transportation, and maybe in Japan they need to get somewhere faster, but here???? It is a nostalgic means of transportation. To quote from "Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance" -- it was said "we chose our route in hopes of making "good time -- with the emphasis on good" (my paraphrase :D--> )
Rode the trains a time or two myself. It was the relaxed atmosphere that endeared them to me. Not only did you get to where you were going, but you saw the countryside as well.
There is TRUELY something to be said for "seeing the country", as well as getting to the final destination. :)-->
Linda -- last summer, we had a train pull into town that had all private cars. Each car was owned by a family, person, whatever, and they attached their own RR car to the locomotive, in order to go where they wanted to. The local newspaper showed the insides of some of these "refurbished" cars, and they looked nicer than most homes!
Perhaps (if it is within your budget) you could look into the possibility of buying a RR car, and then check into hooking it up with a locomotive heading the same direction you want to go.
There are RR car owner's groups out there that would be more than willing to help you travel by rail, and in your own car to boot.
My kids are teens now so you know how bored teens can get. I can let them run little during the trip, which will be nice.
I would love to get a sleeper. I thought the price ran into the hundreds to get one?
I stayed in a sleeper on a trip when the kids were little. We had trouble with one of the workers on amtrak and so amtrak let us stay in a sleeper because I was really upset by the situation. It was very peaceful and very nice being able to lay down and actually sleep.
Having a shower would be heavenly. I hate traveling and not being able to shower for three days....eeeeewwwwwww And then having to see my parents for the first time in ten years. It would be nice to see them without looking so rough around the edges if you know what I mean. lol
That's just it though, it's BECOME a nostalgic relic. It shouldn't have.
In Japan 20 million people in the greater Tokyo area alone get to work on time, and in a timely manner, on the train. Meanwhile, in the States, there are several times that number of people stuck in traffic on freeways that become parking lots for several hours everyday. Wasting their lives away, creeping home at 5 miles an hour.
I know that traffic isn't nearly the concern in Duluth that it is elsewhere, but believe me, it's a major deal in any large, metropolitan area.
Currently in the Seattle area, our esteemed leaders have constructed an absurd concoction of heavy-rail and light rail trains that go nowhere anyone wants to go, located in places that noone lives and they can't for the life of them figure out why nobody's using them.
The current fiasco, the "Seattle Sounder", has a ridership of about 150 roundtrip passengers/day.
The taxpayers in the Puget Sound area are subsidizing this dinosaur to the tune of $131.00
per rider per day! And that's just the operating budget. That doesn't even address the BILLIONS spent on the construction.
For decades we did nothing about mass-transit. In fact, with the help of General Motors et al, we actively avoided it. Now the consequences of all those years of inaction and no planning or vision are coming home to roost. And instead of biting the bullet and building a system that would actually do something, we're still trying to find a painless way out of the mess by building second-rate systems in areas, that maybe easy to build on, but are totally unsuitable locations for travel (i.e. places nobody goes to).
So when I travel to Japan and see how efficient
and pleasant it is to use a rail system that was planned-out and implemented for over a century, yeah, it makes me a little envious.
Personally I've had breakfast in Kobe, attended a late-morning meeting in Tokyo, went sight-seeing, had dinner in Kyoto and still slept in my same bed in Kobe that night. A roundtrip of over 800 miles. And it was EASY. And comfortable. And I was never more than a twenty-minute WALK to a train station. A car really is not a neccessity. Maybe take a cab ocaissionally. Travel by rail just works, at least there...
Geo that new train sounds like a wonderful idea, imagine flying across the country at 350 mph (my math is a bit rusty...).
In California there was a rail line serving the San Jose to SF commute as well as feeder buses run by various countys. Gawd knows just how bad traffic would be there if this wasn't in place (I remember when most of the east bay was mud flats...).
Europe has a similar system in place but are using more modern means of achieving the same goals (smart arse french...).
Anyways yes I've traveled the rails before and absolutely loved it, there is nothign like setting back in your semiprivate room and watching the Irish countryside pass you by or settling down in the diner while passing antelope somewhere out west...
because I've been spoiled by the great rail system in Europe. When you are there its defintiely the way to get around. US Domestic train travel can be iffy but I can stil enjoy it.
Vick, they're in the hundreds when you book 'em in advance, but I was told (and Galen confirmed it) by an Amtrak worker that when you get on (with your regular coach ticket), just ask if they have any open sleepers and how much extra it would be. I think they'd rather get something for them than get nothing if they're empty.
The shower's no luxury spa, but at least it's a shower. I wasn't on the train long enough to hassle with showering while lurching from side to side, but I bet I would on a 3-day trip. It sure would beat trying to wash up in one of those little sinks in one of those tiny bathrooms!
We want a full report on your train adventure after you get back, vickles! (living vicariously)
Geo: I'd agree with you if I were substituting train transportation for flying because I had to be somewhere in a hurry. But for me, the journey's as much fun as the destination. I don't think I'd get much out of the scenery at 150 mph or whatever it was!
Actually, the little economy sleeper compartments remind me of those hotel-like places--are they in Japan or China?--that travelers rent just to sleep in...they look like berths on an old-time train.
Galen: I'm glad the prices went down!
diazbro: I've never been on a European train, but I feel the same way about trains today compared with 35 years ago. It's not as pleasant, but I still like it.
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Galen
I have used Amtrak a number of times, in the 80's and 90's. I always really liked it, and enjoyed the sleeper cars. Once on-board with a passenger-ticket you could usually up-grade to a sleeper car for $20.
Since coming back stateside that last time, I have looked at Amtrek a number of times, and I have really been surprized at how much the prices have gone up.
From here New London Connecticut, we used to be able to ride into New York for around $30. Now it is $200.
I was trying to help our eldest son go attend a 'Live out loud' conference in Michigan, but again the prices were crazy. He ended up driving out there on his bike, and he spent less than a tenth of what the ticket would have cost.
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vickles
Amtrak is fun, especially when you have kids. Its a lot easier than traveling by car.
My family and I are traveling to seattle, amtrak roundtrip. Really looking forward to relaxing on this trip.
Although the prices have gone up you still can't beat the price compared to flying.
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Linda Z
Wow, Galen, it must be a supply & demand thing or something. Cleveland to D.C. is a lot farther than NY to Connecticut, and before my upgrade to sleeper, it was $84 round trip (after my AAA discount of $15).
I'd heard about that cheap upgrade once you get on the train. I paid more, on a special promotion they were doing. The sleeper cars were full going to D.C., but coming back, I think only three compartments were filled in my car. Sometime I'll try the on-the-train upgrade, maybe.
Vickles, they have big family compartments. One that I looked at had a bathroom, even. Nice thing about sleeper cars is there's a shower...handy for those 3-day trips! If you could upgrade for cheap, it might be worth it!
Hope you have fun. I really enjoyed traveling with my son by train when he was little. I could walk him around and take him for snacks and there was plenty of room for him to sleep and color and play. The good old days. I miss my little towhead! Now he's a big handsome man, but we sure had fun when he was a little guy.
Let us know how your trip was, Vickles!
Linda
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Tom Strange
I've ridden a couple of times when I lived in the NE... it's a great option when you have lots of time... I just checked on Houston to Atlanta... it was going to take over 8 hours to get to New Orleans, stay overnight, then a bunch more to Atlanta...
but I have always been fascinated by them, I want to do the Canadian Rockies by train and then cruise the inside passage...
for work... I always wanted to be a caboose driver...
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George Aar
We ain't got nuthin' when compared to Japan.
Everytime I go there I get mad as hell that don't have ANYTHING close to the train system there.
180 miles an hour in quiet comfort. A cute little Japanese girl comes through the car every few minutes with a cart full of snacks and drinks. Big, comfortable seats and great lighting to read by as well as great views out the windows.
There are no intersections of surface streets with the rails. They go over or under the roadbed. So there's no delays, accidents, or missed signals to worry about. There's a track for each direction the train goes so there's no way of trains colliding either (at least head-on). I've been told that the rail system in Japan has never had a fatality accident in it's history!
Currently they're testing a train that travels at 530 K./hr.! This is a working, full-size model, not just a drawing-board pipe-dream.
Why can't WE do that?
Yeah, I know. They have the density of population that makes the numbers work, yada, yada. So we make do with 19th century technology, while Japan has a 21st century train in operation. Something ain't right about that...
Anyway, I'll be on that train again next week. I'll let you know how it is...
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dmiller
Geo ----- relax bro!!!!!
Trains are for transportation, and maybe in Japan they need to get somewhere faster, but here???? It is a nostalgic means of transportation. To quote from "Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance" -- it was said "we chose our route in hopes of making "good time -- with the emphasis on good" (my paraphrase 
:D--> )
Rode the trains a time or two myself. It was the relaxed atmosphere that endeared them to me. Not only did you get to where you were going, but you saw the countryside as well.
There is TRUELY something to be said for "seeing the country", as well as getting to the final destination.
:)-->
Linda -- last summer, we had a train pull into town that had all private cars. Each car was owned by a family, person, whatever, and they attached their own RR car to the locomotive, in order to go where they wanted to. The local newspaper showed the insides of some of these "refurbished" cars, and they looked nicer than most homes!
Perhaps (if it is within your budget) you could look into the possibility of buying a RR car, and then check into hooking it up with a locomotive heading the same direction you want to go.
There are RR car owner's groups out there that would be more than willing to help you travel by rail, and in your own car to boot.
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vickles
My kids are teens now so you know how bored teens can get. I can let them run little during the trip, which will be nice.
I would love to get a sleeper. I thought the price ran into the hundreds to get one?
I stayed in a sleeper on a trip when the kids were little. We had trouble with one of the workers on amtrak and so amtrak let us stay in a sleeper because I was really upset by the situation. It was very peaceful and very nice being able to lay down and actually sleep.
Having a shower would be heavenly. I hate traveling and not being able to shower for three days....eeeeewwwwwww And then having to see my parents for the first time in ten years. It would be nice to see them without looking so rough around the edges if you know what I mean. lol
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George Aar
Dave,
That's just it though, it's BECOME a nostalgic relic. It shouldn't have.
In Japan 20 million people in the greater Tokyo area alone get to work on time, and in a timely manner, on the train. Meanwhile, in the States, there are several times that number of people stuck in traffic on freeways that become parking lots for several hours everyday. Wasting their lives away, creeping home at 5 miles an hour.
I know that traffic isn't nearly the concern in Duluth that it is elsewhere, but believe me, it's a major deal in any large, metropolitan area.
Currently in the Seattle area, our esteemed leaders have constructed an absurd concoction of heavy-rail and light rail trains that go nowhere anyone wants to go, located in places that noone lives and they can't for the life of them figure out why nobody's using them.
The current fiasco, the "Seattle Sounder", has a ridership of about 150 roundtrip passengers/day.
The taxpayers in the Puget Sound area are subsidizing this dinosaur to the tune of $131.00
per rider per day! And that's just the operating budget. That doesn't even address the BILLIONS spent on the construction.
For decades we did nothing about mass-transit. In fact, with the help of General Motors et al, we actively avoided it. Now the consequences of all those years of inaction and no planning or vision are coming home to roost. And instead of biting the bullet and building a system that would actually do something, we're still trying to find a painless way out of the mess by building second-rate systems in areas, that maybe easy to build on, but are totally unsuitable locations for travel (i.e. places nobody goes to).
So when I travel to Japan and see how efficient
and pleasant it is to use a rail system that was planned-out and implemented for over a century, yeah, it makes me a little envious.
Personally I've had breakfast in Kobe, attended a late-morning meeting in Tokyo, went sight-seeing, had dinner in Kyoto and still slept in my same bed in Kobe that night. A roundtrip of over 800 miles. And it was EASY. And comfortable. And I was never more than a twenty-minute WALK to a train station. A car really is not a neccessity. Maybe take a cab ocaissionally. Travel by rail just works, at least there...
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herbiejuan
Geo that new train sounds like a wonderful idea, imagine flying across the country at 350 mph (my math is a bit rusty...).
In California there was a rail line serving the San Jose to SF commute as well as feeder buses run by various countys. Gawd knows just how bad traffic would be there if this wasn't in place (I remember when most of the east bay was mud flats...).
Europe has a similar system in place but are using more modern means of achieving the same goals (smart arse french...).
Anyways yes I've traveled the rails before and absolutely loved it, there is nothign like setting back in your semiprivate room and watching the Irish countryside pass you by or settling down in the diner while passing antelope somewhere out west...
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Tom Strange
Geo... aren't those trains in Japan (at least some of them) levitating? hovering over the rails and being propelled on a magnetic field?
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George Aar
Mr. Strange,
Nope, just plain old rails. They're electric though. And the ties are all concrete. They build stuff to last in Nihon (Japan).
The "Shinkansen" (the bullet trains) are very streamlined. The newest one they're currently testing looks kinda like the batmobile.
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diazbro
I'm a big fan of train travel but mostly
because I've been spoiled by the great rail system in Europe. When you are there its defintiely the way to get around. US Domestic train travel can be iffy but I can stil enjoy it.
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Galen
I just checked again, and I must say that the prices are currently down fairly reasonable again.
For me to go into New York it jsut quoted me $47 each way, for the 2 hour trip. Not bad.
I also looked at a trip down to Maryland (Bonnie goes go there 2 or 3 times a year to visit her sister), it quoted me $77 each way. Again not bad.
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Linda Z
Vick, they're in the hundreds when you book 'em in advance, but I was told (and Galen confirmed it) by an Amtrak worker that when you get on (with your regular coach ticket), just ask if they have any open sleepers and how much extra it would be. I think they'd rather get something for them than get nothing if they're empty.
The shower's no luxury spa, but at least it's a shower. I wasn't on the train long enough to hassle with showering while lurching from side to side, but I bet I would on a 3-day trip. It sure would beat trying to wash up in one of those little sinks in one of those tiny bathrooms!
We want a full report on your train adventure after you get back, vickles! (living vicariously)
Linda
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Linda Z
Geo: I'd agree with you if I were substituting train transportation for flying because I had to be somewhere in a hurry. But for me, the journey's as much fun as the destination. I don't think I'd get much out of the scenery at 150 mph or whatever it was!
Actually, the little economy sleeper compartments remind me of those hotel-like places--are they in Japan or China?--that travelers rent just to sleep in...they look like berths on an old-time train.
Galen: I'm glad the prices went down!
diazbro: I've never been on a European train, but I feel the same way about trains today compared with 35 years ago. It's not as pleasant, but I still like it.
Linda
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