Silver Star 91

[J Smith]

I'm on the Silver Star now heading to Florida for some sunshine! I thought the Silver Service had the updated sleeper cars. Mine does not. Also, where's the wifi? Hmph.

 

[AmtrakBlue]

The new sleepers won't be in revenue for a year or so, probably. The 1st batch of new cars are the baggage cars and supposedly they start revenue service tomorrow. One has been reported to be scheduled to be on 98 tomorrow.

And no wifi on the LD trains, yet.

 

[Bus Nut]

I hope you enjoy the trip anyway. It is a shame about wifi because riding through the pine trees on Amtrak is even less exciting than driving it. (Which is only more thrilling by dint of the risk of death every time you weave through the tractor trailer phalanxes. Or dodging cones and state troopers through SC and GA's approximately 1500 separate highway construction zones. "Fines doubled." Yeah, no kidding.)

I finally got to ride Silver service instead of getting crammed into the Greyhound of the skies, and it was sooooo civilized. Sigh.

 

[VentureForth]

Georgia is about done with their 120 mile section of I-95. Three or four lanes the ENTIRE length of the state.

Bottleneck is South Carolina's problem, now.

Also, haven't been too cop heavy lately. Except this morning. There are a couple of well known traps. Waze App is everyone's friend.

 

[xyzzy]

Wifi on the Florida trains is tricky because the trains operate through some desolate territory. The barrier isn't Wifi connectivity within the train but rather connectivity between the train and the Internet. 2G/3G/4G coverage is spotty on the tracks used by Florida trains, and satellite is not the desired solution.

I-95 between Florence and the I-26 interchange in South Carolina is basically untouched from the day it opened. There hasn't been much done to I-95 between the I-26 interchange and the Georgia line, either. For that matter, large sections of I-95 in North Carolina and southern Virginia are still primitive. Don't expect those states to spend a nickel on I-95 improvements unless tolls pay for it.

 

[VentureForth]

Honestly, I relied more on my own 4G LTE coverage than onboard Wifi - ON THE NEC. The service was pretty useless.

 

[Caesar La Rock]

My last trip on 92 to NYC, one of the crew members stated the Meteor and Star were approved for wifi. He doesn't know when they will get work into making it happen though. IDK if this is true or not, but that's all I know.

 

[jis]

I have been systematically doing performance tests comparing public WiFi with what I can get using my LTE. I am yet to find a public WiFi that comes anywhere near what I can get using my LTE subscription.

 

[NE933]

I'll be perceived as strange for saying this, but it's a thing of beauty to see all those long stretches of pine trees, miles of habitat that have been untouched, giving us the oxygen we need to breathe. And there's a sense of nature in those forests: not everything in life is a quick drive thru lunch, wifi, email, etc.

 

[Mystic River Dragon]

I'll be perceived as strange for saying this, but it's a thing of beauty to see all those long stretches of pine trees, miles of habitat that have been untouched, giving us the oxygen we need to breathe. And there's a sense of nature in those forests: not everything in life is a quick drive thru lunch, wifi, email, etc.

I agree with you--I actually love the scenery on the way to Florida on the Silvers--all the different rivers, then the types of trees changing as you go south. I find it very relaxing and peaceful--just what I need on vacation.

 

[xyzzy]

Too bad that CSX and Amtrak quit using the ex-SAL between Savannah and Jacksonville. If you think the ex-ACL route passes through the middle of nowhere, the ex-SAL was even more remote. That's one reason why it was abandoned. Being on the east side of the ex-ACL and therefore closer to the beach, the ex-SAL would have been a nightmare to repair after a major hurricane. Of course, no major hurricane has made landfall on the Georgia beach in more than 100 years. Overdue for the big one? Who can say.

 

[VentureForth]

Overdue for the big one? Who can say.

We ask ourselves that every Fall...