Most miles in 1 state

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KmH

KmH

Engineer
Joined
Dec 6, 2014
Messages
2,055
Location
Is this heaven? No. It's Iowa.
Looks like the Texas Eagle in Texas, 3 days a week, at 1139 miles/29 hrs 45 minutes - if the TE doesn't lose any significant time in Texas.

From almost 3 miles from the El Paso station and the NM/TX border to the Texarkana station and the TX/ AR border.

In California we can ride from San Diego to the CA/OR border, some 983 miles - #2 longest?
 
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KmH said:
Looks like the Texas Eagle in Texas, 3 days a week, at 1139 miles/29 hrs 45 minutes - if the TE doesn't lose any significant time in Texas.

From almost 3 miles from the El Paso station and the AZ/TX border to the Texarkana station and the TX/ AR border.

In California we can ride from San Diego to the CA/OR border, some 983 miles - #2 longest?
Click to expand...
NM/TX
 
KmH said:
Looks like the Texas Eagle in Texas, 3 days a week, at 1139 miles/29 hrs 45 minutes - if the TE doesn't lose any significant time in Texas.

From almost 3 miles from the El Paso station and the AZ/TX border to the Texarkana station and the TX/ AR border.

In California we can ride from San Diego to the CA/OR border, some 983 miles - #2 longest?
Click to expand...
Yes, you can do it by riding the #763 then #14, or #11 then #796. It is 1000 miles from San Diego to Klamath Falls via Los Angeles. Since Klamath Falls is about 20 miles north of the OR-CA border, it is roughly 980 miles from San Diego to the border with Oregon.

Montana may well be the third, at about 675 to 700 miles, from the border with Idaho, to the border with North Dakota.

I also must add that when the Sunset Limited ran through Downtown Phoenix and went all the way to Miami, the Sunset Limited ran in Florida for at about 825 to 835 miles, from the Alabama-Florida border to Miami.
 
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FrensicPic said:
KmH said:
Looks like the Texas Eagle in Texas, 3 days a week, at 1139 miles/29 hrs 45 minutes - if the TE doesn't lose any significant time in Texas.

From almost 3 miles from the El Paso station and the AZ/TX border to the Texarkana station and the TX/ AR border.

In California we can ride from San Diego to the CA/OR border, some 983 miles - #2 longest?
Click to expand...
NM/TX
Click to expand...
Doh!
 
OK, so what are the fewest Amtrak miles in a given state (among those that have Amtrak service)?

I'm guessing Delaware might top the list. New Hampshire has two short segments on opposite sides of the state, but I'm guessing that added together they would exceed Delaware's segment.

But individually, either of the NH segments might compete for shortest Amtrak segment in a single state, as would the NEC's brief section in New York state. I'm only counting cases where the route passes through the state and does not originate there. (Otherwise, I assume every route that starts at NYP and heads south/west would be the winner.)
 
fairviewroad said:
OK, so what are the fewest Amtrak miles in a given state (among those that have Amtrak service)?

I'm guessing Delaware might top the list. New Hampshire has two short segments on opposite sides of the state, but I'm guessing that added together they would exceed Delaware's segment.

But individually, either of the NH segments might compete for shortest Amtrak segment in a single state, as would the NEC's brief section in New York state. I'm only counting cases where the route passes through the state and does not originate there. (Otherwise, I assume every route that starts at NYP and heads south/west would be the winner.)
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The shortest segment within a state would be the middle of the CL segments in Maryland. It is literally a tunnel with bridges crossing the border on either end, in total less than a mile long. After that, the shortest I can think of would be-the other two MD CL segments, the two NH segments, DE, NEC in NY. Other examples include the SWC in IA, NEC in PA, NEC in NJ, NEC in RI, LSL in PA, CL in WV, PM/W/BW in IN, Vr in MA, Ca in KY, Ca in OH, CONO in KY, EB in ID.
 
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brianpmcdonnell17 said:
fairviewroad said:
But individually, either of the NH segments might compete for shortest Amtrak segment in a single state, as would the NEC's brief section in New York state.
Click to expand...
The shortest segment within a state would be the middle of the CL segments in Maryland. It is literally a tunnel with bridges crossing the border on either end, in total less than a mile long.
Click to expand...
:huh: :huh:
For the NEC, yes that portion of NYS. But how about the trains in NYS going to ALB and NFL (Empire Service), to Canada (ML & Adirondack), to RUT (EA) or to CHI & BOS (LSL & LSL from ALB east)?

For the CL, if it's only a tunnel a mile long, how do you account for the stop in Rockville, MARYLAND well past the tunnel?
 
the_traveler said:
brianpmcdonnell17 said:
fairviewroad said:
But individually, either of the NH segments might compete for shortest Amtrak segment in a single state, as would the NEC's brief section in New York state.
Click to expand...
The shortest segment within a state would be the middle of the CL segments in Maryland. It is literally a tunnel with bridges crossing the border on either end, in total less than a mile long.
Click to expand...
:huh: :huh:
For the NEC, yes that portion of NYS. But how about the trains in NYS going to ALB and NFL (Empire Service), to Canada (ML & Adirondack), to RUT (EA) or to CHI & BOS (LSL & LSL from ALB east)?

For the CL, if it's only a tunnel a mile long, how do you account for the stop in Rockville, MARYLAND well past the tunnel?
Click to expand...
The location I am speaking of is west of Martinsburg. The train then crosses back into WV before crossing back into MD for the 3rd and final time.
 
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As for the shortest distance traveled in a State, the Downeaster (technically a State Train)cuts through New Hampshire for 17 miles on the way from Mass to Maine.

Not sure if this is less than the zig-zag the Cap does thru various States aprroaching/leaving DC????
 
brianpmcdonnell17 said:
fairviewroad said:
OK, so what are the fewest Amtrak miles in a given state (among those that have Amtrak service)?

I'm guessing Delaware might top the list. New Hampshire has two short segments on opposite sides of the state, but I'm guessing that added together they would exceed Delaware's segment.

But individually, either of the NH segments might compete for shortest Amtrak segment in a single state, as would the NEC's brief section in New York state. I'm only counting cases where the route passes through the state and does not originate there. (Otherwise, I assume every route that starts at NYP and heads south/west would be the winner.)
Click to expand...
The shortest segment within a state would be the middle of the CL segments in Maryland. It is literally a tunnel with bridges crossing the border on either end, in total less than a mile long. After that, the shortest I can think of would be-the other two MD CL segments, the two NH segments, DE, NEC in NY. Other examples include the SWC in IA, NEC in PA, NEC in NJ, NEC in RI, LSL in PA, CL in WV, PM/W/BW in IN, Vr in MA, Ca in KY, Ca in OH, CONO in KY, EB in ID.
Click to expand...
The EB segment in Oregon is very short.....about 10 miles. And the EB in Idaho is about 100 miles, give or take a mile or two.
 
Bob Dylan said:
As for the shortest distance traveled in a State, the Downeaster (technically a State Train)cuts through New Hampshire for 17 miles on the way from Mass to Maine.

What about the Vermonter in Bellows Falls

Not sure if this is less than the zig-zag the Cap does thru various States aprroaching/leaving DC????
Click to expand...
 
Bob Dylan said:
As for the shortest distance traveled in a State, the Downeaster (technically a State Train)cuts through New Hampshire for 17 miles on the way from Mass to Maine.

Not sure if this is less than the zig-zag the Cap does thru various States aprroaching/leaving DC????
Click to expand...
Wait, that's 17 miles between Dover, NH and Exeter, NH. There's another 16 miles between Exeter and Plaistow, at the Mass line) and another 4 miles between Dover and the Maine border. That makes 37 miles total in NH.

The NEC is about 25 miles in Delaware between the PA line and the Maryland Line.
 
Thanks for the update on the Downeaster and NH.

Looks like Jeff wins the thread with the Portland Section of the Builder, as he says it's only 10 miles as the Trains run from Vancouver,WA across the bridge to Portland,OR.
 
Bob Dylan said:
Thanks for the update on the Downeaster and NH.

Looks like Jeff wins the thread with the Portland Section of the Builder, as he says it's only 10 miles as the Trains run from Vancouver,WA across the bridge to Portland,OR.
Click to expand...
As the one who posed the question about the shortest section within a state, I feel compelled to point out that I qualified the question by saying I was only counting cases "where the route passes through the state and does not originate there."

Otherwise, you could say that any of the umpteen trains that start at NYP and head down the corridor towards DC would easily beat the Portland section of the Builder. It surely can't be that far from NYP until you are in New Jersey.
 
Valid point fairviewroad but the Portland Section #27 ( of course #28 starts in Portland)of the Empire Builder originates in Chicago and splits off in Spokane, so it only travels 10 miles from the Vancouver,WA to Portland.

I defer to the New York/New Jersey members as to how far it is from NYP to the Jersey Line.
 
the_traveler said:
But you can ride the TE from Texarkana to beyond El Paso on 421/422.
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It's about 3 miles past/before the ELP station to the NM border and the same for both the SL and the TE since the SL gets mated/split to/from the TE in SAS to do the SAS - LAX leg.

The SWC only rails some 19.8 miles in Iowa to get to Missouri. Of course the CZ goes all the way across Iowa.
 
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Philly Amtrak Fan said:
KmH said:
In California we can ride from San Diego to the CA/OR border, some 983 miles - #2 longest?
Click to expand...
Shouldn't count if it's not a single train. But I would think LAX to the CA/OR border is pretty long too.
Click to expand...
852 miles from Los Angeles to the CA/OR border (20 miles shorter than Los Angeles to Klamath Falls which is just on the other side of the border, which is 872 miles)
 
MARC Rider said:
Bob Dylan said:
As for the shortest distance traveled in a State, the Downeaster (technically a State Train)cuts through New Hampshire for 17 miles on the way from Mass to Maine.

Not sure if this is less than the zig-zag the Cap does thru various States aprroaching/leaving DC????
Click to expand...
Wait, that's 17 miles between Dover, NH and Exeter, NH. There's another 16 miles between Exeter and Plaistow, at the Mass line) and another 4 miles between Dover and the Maine border. That makes 37 miles total in NH.
Click to expand...
Using the FRA map... http://fragis.fra.dot.gov/GISFRASafety/ ...I get 34.9 miles in New Hampshire and the Path tool of Google Earth shows it to be 34.8 miles - say 35 miles.

While not related directly to this thread, the SWC timetable shows it's 67 miles between Needles CA and Kingman AZ, but the FRA map says 62 miles and it's 61 miles by Google Earth. The 8% difference seems quite large and based on previous experience with timetable distances, I suspect the error is in the timetable. FWIW, the length difference between the divergent double tracks West of Kingman in only about 0.22 miles
 
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Back in the days when the Baltimore and Ohio ran the CL, Maryland's liquor laws did not allow the train's lounge car attendants to sell liquor by the drink. The attendant would come around to patrons while in WV to remind them place their orders for refills so he could levally serve them before rentering MD
 
Since "back in the day" was mentioned...
All the UPRR mainline trains across Nebraska, between Omaha and Chyenne, dipped in and out of Colorado at Julesburg for a short distance (not sure of exact mileage)...
 
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Looks like about 8.8 milepost miles here (or 8.87 using a rule on the enlarged image)....

Julesburg Dip.jpg

...and measures 8.86 miles using the Path Tool of Google Earth:

Julesburg Dip Google Earth.jpg

FWIW, those measurements are within 0.11% of each other. But then the question is - how close are the milepost dots on the FRA (top) map to reality?
 
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