January 2016 Amtrak Trip

Hey guys, I have started the planning phase for my long trip around the country to celebrate graduating college. As I plan it, I'm sure I will come up with plenty of questions for you guys, so instead of creating a new thread for each one, I will just create a new post within this one.

So my first question...

I will be boarding in Jackson, Miss. and that will also be my destination. I want to include both Sunset Limited and the Crescent at some point on this trip, but I have decided that if I do ride Sunset Limited, it will be from LA to New Orleans. Now my choices from here are to board either the CoNo or Crescent. I'm leaning towards the Crescent because that seems to make the most sense, but I am worried about the times of arrival and departure. That's not even 12 hours and I would rather not pay for a hotel stay. Would I be able to stay in the station during that time? Or will they close and kick me out. I do plan on being in sleepers this entire trip, if that changes anything.

Welcome to AU! What a great Graduation Present to yourself before starting "real life"!

New Orleans Union Station ( shared with Greyhound) is open 5:45am-10pm. You are not allowed to stay in the station when it is closed.

Also, the Crescent (#19/#20) does not run through Jackson, the City of New Orleans (#58/#59) does.

Since you want to ride the Sunset Ltd.from LA to NOL, and also ride the Crescent, you will need to spend the night in New Orleans.

Unless you want to hang out in a joint or Harrahs Casino all night, it's worth it to check into a hotel! Plenty of deals available on the various travel sites during weekdays if nothing major is going ob in the Big Easy. ( ie Mardi Gras, Jazz Festival, Food Fair etc)

You'd also need to spend the night in NOL in a hotel when you arrive from LA in the Sunset Ltd. (#2) unless you want to hang out in a joint or Harrahs Casino for 16 hours or so until the CONO #58 leaves for Jackson!

Also look into an Amtrak Rail Pass ( good for 30/45/60 Days) and compare the price and number if trains as opposed to paying the Low Bucket Coach Fare ( plus the Sleeping Car charges) for your trains.

Let us know if you have an idea of what cities, trains etc . and how much time ( and $$$$) you have for the trip, lots of us have done similar trips and lots of good info and ideas! We love to help!

Although this handy website is currently broken... http://biketrain.net/amsnag/amSnag.php ...when it gets fixed you can use it to easily find the dates having the lowest fares for your trip. And if you've not already discovered, fares for sleepers can vary dramatically from day to day - and the variations are largely unpredictable. Much the same thing can be done using the Amtrak website but it takes much longer.

And go to your nearest Amtrak station and get a copy of the Amtrak System Timetable. It's got just about everything you need to know except for the fares.

Thanks guys. I've ridden Amtrak a fair amount of times before. My brother and I did a trip similar two years ago when he graduated high school. We did Jackson-Chicago-Albuquerque (wanted to see the balloon museum. both of us are avid balloonists)-LA-Portland-Chicago-Jackson. Ever since high school, I have been wanting to take my own trip around the country and I finally have the opportunity! I am so excited about finally doing it. Last night, I sat down with a map and time tables and mapped what I think is a good trip. I do know I will more than likely be using a Rail Pass. I have 9 segments planned (!!!), so I am deciding between going with the 8 segment and paying for the last one, or going with the 12 segment and seeing if I can't cram a few more in there. I do have a friend who lives in CT and works at ESPN. He has offered me a place to crash for a few days if I wanted to visit.

As of now, here is the trip I have planned. Jackson-Chicago-Emeryville-Seattle-Chicago-LA-New Orleans-DC-Chicago-Jackson. (Go big or go home). I am aware that I will have to stay overnight in Seattle, Chicago and New Orleans.

If I wanted to continue on the Crescent to New York so I could visit my friend, is it possible to use the USA Rail Pass for a regional? Still trying to find a few more segments to squeeze in if I wanted to use all 12.

The Amsnag website... http://biketrain.net/amsnag/amSnag.php ...seems to have been fixed. Here's an example of its output for the Coast Starlight from Los Angeles to Seattle obtained on 20 June 2015 to show the variations in fares:



Low fares are marked green. There is, however, no reason for me to believe the fares would be the same if that same query was made today, about 10 days later. They might be the same - but I wouldn't bet anything significant on it. And please don't ask me why, f'instance, the additional fee for a bedroom increases by a factor of 2.3 between 09/08/15 and 09/09/15 - it's as if a blind monkey pulls preset fares from a jar.

My motto is: plan as as far ahead as possible; be flexible about the travel dates; book a low fare as early as possible (if it increases you saved some $ and if it decreases call an Amtrak agent and have your reservation modified for the lower fare).

iPat09 said:

As of now, here is the trip I have planned. Jackson-Chicago-Emeryville-Seattle-Chicago-LA-New Orleans-DC-Chicago-Jackson. (Go big or go home). I am aware that I will have to stay overnight in Seattle, Chicago and New Orleans.

Click to expand...

All of that and you'll miss the LA-Emeryville segment of the Coast Starlight, which is not to be missed!
Consider Jackson-Chicago-LA-Seattle-Chicago-Emeryville-LA-New Orleans instead....

neroden said:

iPat09 said:

As of now, here is the trip I have planned. Jackson-Chicago-Emeryville-Seattle-Chicago-LA-New Orleans-DC-Chicago-Jackson. (Go big or go home). I am aware that I will have to stay overnight in Seattle, Chicago and New Orleans.

Click to expand...

All of that and you'll miss the LA-Emeryville segment of the Coast Starlight, which is not to be missed!
Consider Jackson-Chicago-LA-Seattle-Chicago-Emeryville-LA-New Orleans instead....

Click to expand...

I've taken Coast Starlight from LA to Portland before, so I have seen that segment. I already considered what you suggested, but I feel uneasy with the arrival and departure times in LA between the CS and SL. It's only an hour.