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George K

George K

Conductor
Joined
Sep 7, 2014
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1,192
Location
The Chicago Burbs
As some of you might remember, I had a great time with Daughter #4 last month on a 10 day trip from Chicago, to Portland, to San Francisco and home. We rode three great trains, and we're both itching to do it again.

Upon my return, the management my wife became curious, and we're looking to taking a trip to New Orleans next spring, and D4 is looking for a trip to Washington DC next fall.

But, my wife made an interesting comment this afternoon (while we were talking about New Orleans): "You know, George, I'd be happy just to ride the train and watch the country go by."

With her orthopedic issues (don't ask!), we wouldn't consider a roomette (which was fine for me and D4), so a bedroom is in order. Plenty of space to stretch out, relax and watch things.

We live in the Chicago area, and I'm accumulating AGR points like crazy (already have enough for a bedroom round trip to NOL), and by next fall, will have enough for a trip to DC.

I live about a block away from a MetraRail station that takes me to Union Station in Chicago (a 22 minute ride).

So, here's the question: If you were just "going for a ride" - where would you go?
 
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I would like to get a rail pass and go all over the country... one of these days I hope to do so!
 
maybe a loop completely around the country, Boston to Seattle to Los Angeles to Miami (have to bus connect NOLA to Miami) and then back to NYC/Boston (well I live near NYC)
 
oohh both those comments are me, sorry for "Guest" ID

does anyone ever ride Amtrak so extensively, as in Europe with Eurail passes? or is it usually more point to point?

I have taken the Empire Builder round trip between Chicago and Glacier National Park, and I've also ridden the Crescent between NOLA and Philly

ofc many Amtrak rides in the northeast since that is where I live

would like to do more
 
If we were to the Rail Pass route, we'd have to upgrade to sleeping arrangements.

Is that doable?

I'm not sure (yet) that she'd be up for an "around the country" tour. So, perhaps something more limited. I'm thinking to Pittsburgh and back. Something scenic (which CONO probably isn't).
 
I remember a foreign visitor living in my house who traveled around the country on an unlimited rail pass. She was sent to this country for technical training but wasn't required to use her one year of training classes every week. Once she just up and left for 3+ weeks taking Amtrak around the country. I thought it was unlimited, although it might have been segment based.
 
George K said:
But, my wife made an interesting comment this afternoon (while we were talking about New Orleans): "You know, George, I'd be happy just to ride the train and watch the country go by."
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I find that a very relaxing thing to do, myself.

With her orthopedic issues (don't ask!), we wouldn't consider a roomette (which was fine for me an D4), so a bedroom is in order. Plenty of space to stretch out, relax and watch things.
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I have some serious orthopedic issues myself, so I sympathize. And my fiancee has rheumatoid arthritis, which is worse., which is one reason I prefer the train! But I only have trouble with *walking*, not with climbing -- climbing to the upper bunk is fine for me. Also, I'm small (5'5", 120 lbs), and my fiancee is even shorter (5'2"). We've both been quite comfortable in a roomette; we even have room to stretch -- but I understand that *larger* people may find it too cramped.

I live about a block away from a MetraRail station that takes me to Union Station in Chicago (a 22 minute ride).

So, here's the question: If you were just "going for a ride" - where would you go?
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Well, that does depend on where I'm starting from. A lot. You are specifically starting from Chicago, however.
- Short trip: Galesburg or Quincy. Specifically because the trains on that corridor tend to run on time, unlike the trains heading out of Chicago in other directions. On a short trip, this matters. (And the trip to Milwaukee, which also runs on time, is a bit too much like a commuter run.)

- Longer trip: New Orleans. Out and back, straightforward. But you're already doing that!....

- Long circle trip: Any of the Transcons to the west coast, Coast Starlight, any of the Transcons back to Chicago. You have four Transcon options, and however you mix and match them it's a fine trip. Trying to do a similar trip heading east, you can (CHI-NOL-WAS-CHI, for instance), but you have much less daylight scenery, and the connections are more annoying.
 
Nathanael, thanks for your insights. The question for my bride isn't so much the sleeping, but the sitting. She needs to move around, and that's why the bedroom is an obvious (good) choice for us. For me and my daughter on our transcontinental trip (CHI-PDX-EMY-CHI) the roomette was fine. However, the management wife would need some room to lie down during the day - hence the bedroom.

Yeah, Milwaukee is a commute - I drive up there on Saturday night's for a concert!

I like the short trip idea, however. Galesburg or the like might give her an idea of what to expect - and we could probably do coach for that. But, we're probably going to do the NOL thing first.

So, if we do a longer trip, I might consider eastward.

Just for the fun of it... ;)
 
I would recommend taking the Zephra to San Francisco, stay overnight in Berkley, have a Great dinner at the Berkley Pier, Great Food, you can see everything from this Resturant, Golden Gate Bridge, Alcatraz and the bay! Next day take the Coast Starlight to LA, stay there a few days, then take the Southwest Chief back to Chicago! Awesome Trip.

My wife and I stayed at a neat home in Berkley for $57, the lady picked us up at the Amtrak Station, took us to the pier in the evening and the next morning took us back to the Amtrak station to catch our next train, can't beat that!
 
George, I have heard one can rent a bedroom or roomette by the night when riding on a rail pass.... maybe someone knows for sure

the 8-segment rail passes start at under $500 so they may be a great deal for any multi-segment trip

there are also 12 and 18 segment rail passes.... can you tell I am thinking about them right now, heh heh
 
Going "for a ride" in December, thankfully the day is getting even closer. It's been too long since I took a long distance train trip. Recent rides over the last eight years or so are limited to the northeast. Now I go on a ride: upstate NY, to Los Angeles, to San Francisco, to Chicago and back to NY. I did a circular trip about fifteen years ago involving the Crescent, Texas Eagle (to LA), Coast Starlight and Empire Builder.

I would love to take a bunch of short one day trips from place to place, but that has to be on hold until I retire. Which won't be for a long time. :)
 
Ringfinder said:
I would recommend taking the Zephra to San Francisco, stay overnight in Berkley, have a Great dinner at the Berkley Pier, Great Food, you can see everything from this Resturant, Golden Gate Bridge, Alcatraz and the bay! Next day take the Coast Starlight to LA, stay there a few days, then take the Southwest Chief back to Chicago! Awesome Trip.

My wife and I stayed at a neat home in Berkley for $57, the lady picked us up at the Amtrak Station, took us to the pier in the evening and the next morning took us back to the Amtrak station to catch our next train, can't beat that!
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Having grown up in the area and also having graduated from a major university in the city, I'd just point out that it's spelled Berkeley with two Es. I'm not normally spelling cop, but this city is near and dear to my heart.
Also, there's no restaurant on the pier per se although there are three at the Berkeley Marina. There's a teppanyaki place called Hana Japan near the pier. There are two restaurants over the water on pilings off to the side of the pier - Skates on the Bay and H's Lordships. They're kind of pricey, and at night you're not going to see more than a reflection off the glass unless you're right next to the window. Berkeley has some highly influential restaurants like Chez Panisse and some excellent bargain bites like The Cheeseboard Pizza. There are so many good places to eat in Berkeley like Rivoli, Gather, or Gregoire. Those restaurants on the waterfront are OK, but they're also kind of touristy, with prices to match. There's also Oakland, if you can get past the reputation.

My big recommendation is the Sierra Nevada Torpedo Room. The Sierra Nevada Brewing Company set up a tasting room just a few hundred feet from the Berkeley Amtrak station. They only sell tastings in sets of four 4 oz servings. They also have rare bottles, six packs, singles, and cans. Yes, great beer can come in cans. They also fill their own growlers, but won't accept any but their own. Also, Takara Sake has their factory and tour/tasting room in the neighborhood, although I've never visited it.

Also, did you mean the Zephyr? It stops in Emeryville and not San Francisco unless you connect on the bus.
 
BCL said:
They also fill their own growlers, but won't accept any but their own.
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Totally off-topic, but its interesting that you state this. Since I work in Chico on the engine that is first-in and directly protects the Sierra Nevada Brewery, I am also a regular customer when off-duty. They fill any clean, serviceable and sealable growler at the brewery itself... Which, interestingly enough, is California State Law:

To quote the first lines AB 647:

The Alcoholic Beverage Control Act allows a beer manufacturer (holder of an ABC type 01 or type 23

license) to fill for sale any sealable container as long as specific guidelines are met. (NOTE: there is no

mention of “growler” in the ABC Act. Growlers fall under the same category and regulations as any

sealable container such as bottles or kegs). Like any container, growlers must have affixed a label that

has been approved by the ABC and which meet the following requirements:

-The information on the container must be submitted to and approved by the California

Department of ABC. See details on label approval below.

-The container must be sealable (to distinguish it from a glass of beer or other open container).

Screw top, cork, flip top, etc.

-Any and all information pertaining to another beer manufacturer other than the licensee

filling/selling the container must be obscured. All text and logos from a previous brewery must

be obscured.

-As a refillable container, California Redemption Value (CRV) is not required on growlers.

They slap a label over any markings from another brewery and give you service with a smile. If the Torpedo Room is refusing to fill a growler that is anything but a SNB container, the person behind the bar should be educated and complaints through the proper chain of command should be made.

Just my $0.02! Now back to your regularly scheduled train talk! ^_^

.
 
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.

My fiancee also needs to move regularly (that's why she can't fly). She actually found that the roomette was spacious enough to do her leg exercises -- but as I say she's only 5'2" and I'm tiny. This probably wouldn't be true for someone big. Or she went to the lounge, or the dining car.

I certainly don't mean to discourage you from getting the bedroom; I've just never been able to justify it myself, when I could get generally two trips in roomettes instead. Actually, if your wife is only *rail-curious*, I'd definitely get the bedroom for the first overnight trip -- she can take a peek in a roomette and then she'll know whether she'd be comfortable with it for later trips.
 
Blackwolf said:
BCL said:
They also fill their own growlers, but won't accept any but their own.
Click to expand...
Totally off-topic, but its interesting that you state this. Since I work in Chico on the engine that is first-in and directly protects the Sierra Nevada Brewery, I am also a regular customer when off-duty. They fill any clean, serviceable and sealable growler at the brewery itself... Which, interestingly enough, is California State Law:

To quote the first lines AB 647:

The Alcoholic Beverage Control Act allows a beer manufacturer (holder of an ABC type 01 or type 23

license) to fill for sale any sealable container as long as specific guidelines are met. (NOTE: there is no

mention of “growler” in the ABC Act. Growlers fall under the same category and regulations as any

sealable container such as bottles or kegs). Like any container, growlers must have affixed a label that

has been approved by the ABC and which meet the following requirements:

-The information on the container must be submitted to and approved by the California

Department of ABC. See details on label approval below.

-The container must be sealable (to distinguish it from a glass of beer or other open container).

Screw top, cork, flip top, etc.

-Any and all information pertaining to another beer manufacturer other than the licensee

filling/selling the container must be obscured. All text and logos from a previous brewery must

be obscured.

-As a refillable container, California Redemption Value (CRV) is not required on growlers.

They slap a label over any markings from another brewery and give you service with a smile. If the Torpedo Room is refusing to fill a growler that is anything but a SNB container, the person behind the bar should be educated and complaints through the proper chain of command should be made.

Just my $0.02! Now back to your regularly scheduled train talk! ^_^

.
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My understanding is that they could if they wanted to, but they choose to only fill Sierra Nevada growlers at the Torpedo Room. Nowhere does the bill (now law) you cite say they're required to fill another manufacturer's container. It's just that if it's a growler of another brewer, the other stuff has to be covered up, obliterated, etc.

http://www.leginfo.ca.gov/cgi-bin/displaycode?section=bpc&group=25001-26000&file=25200-25206

Here's their FAQ:

http://www.sierranevada.com/faq/torpedo%20room

Can I fill my growler from another brewery?

While we’re allowed to fill growlers that originated at other breweries, we’ve chosen to fill only Sierra Nevada vessels. Beyond being legally required to affix labels to others’ growlers to “rebrand” them as our own, we really just think our growler designs are pretty cool. We hope you’ll snatch one up.
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I don't know what they have in Chico, but at the Torpedo Room they've got this fancy automated thing that inserts a needle into the growler after a glass door is closed and supposedly injects a cap of CO2 at the top to maintain the carbonation.

IMG_0407.JPG


Here's some video of one of these machines filling:

 
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And another article on the topic.

http://www.sfgate.com/wine/brew/article/California-eases-up-on-buying-beer-to-go-4888968.php

Again, it doesn't sound as if they have to, but it allows breweries to offer that option. Additionally, the Torpedo Room has some sort of exemption (a "duplicate license" that piggybacks off the Chico brewery) that allows them to fill growlers even though there's no beer brewed on the premises. There are several breweries in Berkeley like Pyramid and Trumer Pils, although I'm not sure if they fill growlers. There are also some brewpubs, but they're not that great. An old boss told me of his old business venture where he was a partner in a Berkeley brewpub that wanted to do things the "right way", while his competitors were more cost-competetive by just buying syrup as a shortcut on labor.
 
neroden said:
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.

My fiancee also needs to move regularly (that's why she can't fly). She actually found that the roomette was spacious enough to do her leg exercises -- but as I say she's only 5'2" and I'm tiny. This probably wouldn't be true for someone big. Or she went to the lounge, or the dining car.

I certainly don't mean to discourage you from getting the bedroom; I've just never been able to justify it myself, when I could get generally two trips in roomettes instead. Actually, if your wife is only *rail-curious*, I'd definitely get the bedroom for the first overnight trip -- she can take a peek in a roomette and then she'll know whether she'd be comfortable with it for later trips.
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If you're coming from Western NY, or Ohio, or something to that effect; stay overnight in Albany. Far more reasonable hotel-wise. You can then take Empire Service trains 230, 232, or 234 (during the week), or on a weekend, 250 or 252 to NYC. They will all have you in NYC with time to spare for the southbound Crescent's 2:15 departure.
 
BCL said:
Having grown up in the area and also having graduated from a major university in the city, I'd just point out that it's spelled Berkeley with two Es. I'm not normally spelling cop, but this city is near and dear to my heart.
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Hmm, I counted three Es. :p

But, thanks for the tips, everyone. I was afraid of the trip to NYC because of the need for an overnight. I like the Albany idea. That's pretty country up there, iirc (last there in 1974!).

We'll see how the bedroom to NOL goes next spring and then plan some trips for the fun of it.
 
SkiHappy said:
oohh both those comments are me, sorry for "Guest" ID

does anyone ever ride Amtrak so extensively, as in Europe with Eurail passes? or is it usually more point to point?

I have taken the Empire Builder round trip between Chicago and Glacier National Park, and I've also ridden the Crescent between NOLA and Philly

ofc many Amtrak rides in the northeast since that is where I live

would like to do more
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I have frequently met people on trains who said they were on some very long round trip. Many said that it wasn't their first such round trip. So yes, people do do it.
 
George K said:
BCL said:
Having grown up in the area and also having graduated from a major university in the city, I'd just point out that it's spelled Berkeley with two Es. I'm not normally spelling cop, but this city is near and dear to my heart.
Click to expand...
Hmm, I counted three Es. :p
Click to expand...
Yeah. Brain cramp. But at least I spelled it correctly. ;)
 
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We did a 15 day rail pass - 8 segments in 8 days.... Bus to SLO, Pacific Surfliner to LA, LA to NO, NO to Philly, Philly to Boson on the Acela (separately paid segment), Boston to Chicago, Chicago to LA via SW Chief and Coast Starlight home. I was kind of hoping to do the Cardinal but it didn't fit in with our plans and my husband LOVED the Acela....

My other dream is fly to DC, DC to Philly, Philly to Montreal, Montreal to Toronto, Toronto to Seattle, Seattle to home... but you could take the Zephyr to Chicago.

Your imagination is your limit.

I mocked out the trip on paper using the complete route guide....then I called Amtrak and asked if it was doable... then I had to beg and plead... and then I had to cost it out and then I had to use Excel to figure out what exactly 6 months was from our end date and then I booked with the agent.

Just a couple of ideas for you. Enjoy where ever you go...
 
This December I am flying from Newark to San Francisco and returning via the California Zephyr and the Cardinal. When I planned the trip and told my friends what I was doing they all looked at me like I was crazy but riding the train is a great way to relax and meet people.
 
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