'Acing' particular named routes

Good morning everyone!

I've noticed that more than a few members have, as their signature or part of it, the list of Amtrak routes they've ridden, and many further somehow indicate which they've 'aced' (ridden the whole length of).

Rather pathetically, compared to the giants here, I've done:

• The whole of the SWC, Acela, and Downeaster;
  
• The 'whole' of the LSL (but only the BOS section);
  
• NEC, BWI<->WIL (covering the commuter 'gap');
  
• Wolverine, CHI<->NLS;
  
• PS, GTA<->SAN (living in SoCal, I really have no excuse for not having covered SLO<->GTA, but that will be rectified soon, see below);
  
• SJ, BFD<->RIC (OKJ 'branch');
  
• CC, SAC<->RIC and OAC<->SJC;
  
• CS, OKJ<->LAX.
  

So so far, I think I can, with a straight face, say that I've only aced the SWC, Acela, and Downeaster.

I'm putting finishing touches on a near-future trip in which I will do:

• PS, GDL-SLO
  
• CS, SLO-SJC
  
• (overnight near SJC)
  
• CC, SJC-OKJ
  
• (two nights in SF)
  
• CC, OKJ-MTZ, MTZ-DAV, DAV-SAC
  
• SJ, SAC-BFD
  
• SJBus, BFD-GDL
  

I will therefore have aced the PS and CC, and the 'SAC branch' of the SJ.

I will, however, still have not done the last 13 miles 'OKJ branch' of the SJ, south of RIC.

But the CC and SJ coincide between OKJ and MTZ.

So my question is: would I be an honest person if I considered myself having aced the SJs, even though 13 miles of it would actually be on the CC?

(N.B. I suppose I answer my own question, by not thinking that I've aced the PS, even though I've been on the coincidental CS between SLO and GTA.)

Thoughts?

P.S. Good to be back.

P.P.S. You can't put apostrophes in poll answers?! Ugh!

Interesting question.

I would say "it depends" - I consider the Cardinal "aced" even though I boarded it in WAS, since I've been up and down the corridor so many times. On the other hand, I wouldn't say that I've aced the Palmetto simply because I've taken the Silver Meteor from over the same route that the Palmetto takes (excluding the WAS-NYP section explained above).

Personally I think its fine I think the goal is the track covered, not when and how.

As a slight spin on this, what about commuter rail miles? For example I took the EB from SEA and with one stop-over I went to GLN. The next day I took Metra from that same station to Union station.

Does it matter that the last 18 miles was not on Amtrak?

Personally I don't think so because I rode 100% of the ROUTE of the EB. But I would bet some on this forum say you need to ride it in both directions non-stop

chuljin said:

would I be an honest person

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chuljin = honest?

chuljin said:

P.P.S. You can't put apostrophes in poll answers?! Ugh!

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I had no problems doing that, and have in fact added them in the last question. Not sure why you were having a problem.

Personally I think it's totally up to the individual how they want to count routes and miles traveled and no one else's business. But then I have funny ideas about people telling me what I should and shouldn't do and how I should think.

Frankly, I don't discriminate by route name. I count the right of way itself. If I did it by train, I'd also say that in order to "ace" the Zephyr, well, then you'd need to also cover detour routes that crop up, like the Feather River Canyon, Wyoming, and CHI-OMA via UP. Rather than drive myself batty with that, I just keep an Amtrak map that I trace with Sharpie to show what I've ridden and what I haven't ridden. My biggest regret: not riding the Sunset east of NOL when I had the chance, and not riding the Kentucky Cardinal.

Rafi

Rafi said:

My biggest regret: not riding the Sunset east of NOL when I had the chance

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I did!

AlanB said:

chuljin said:

P.P.S. You can't put apostrophes in poll answers?! Ugh!

Click to expand...

I had no problems doing that, and have in fact added them in the last question. Not sure why you were having a problem.

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Perhaps my bad browser (IE8) has trouble with the AJAX that IP.Board uses.

When I previewed the post, if the last answer was

No, and in fact it doesn't count if you don't do the whole route in a single continuous trip!

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it would truncate it after the first apostrophe thus:

No, and in fact it doesn

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Thank you for fixing it for me, though!

I'm thinking, that for my purposes, "acing" would involve going from terminus to terminus at least once - without concern for detours and the like. Using that criteria, I've "aced" the Lake Shore Limited (both Boston and New York), Capitol Limited, Cardinal, Montrealer, Silver Star and Auto Train.

Rafi said:

Frankly, I don't discriminate by route name. I count the right of way itself. If I did it by train, I'd also say that in order to "ace" the Zephyr, well, then you'd need to also cover detour routes that crop up, like the Feather River Canyon, Wyoming, and CHI-OMA via UP. Rather than drive myself batty with that, I just keep an Amtrak map that I trace with Sharpie to show what I've ridden and what I haven't ridden. My biggest regret: not riding the Sunset east of NOL when I had the chance, and not riding the Kentucky Cardinal.

Rafi

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I have a map like Rafi's, but digital using layers to get the best of both worlds. I took the Amtrak national map into Photoshop and added a transparent layer for each route I've ridden any portion of. I use an 11-point brush, yellow, 45% opacity to trace on each train's layer the parts of that train's route I've ridden. Basically, it looks like I've traced on the map with a yellow highlighter marker.

This way, I can both see the the national map at a glance -- what track has been ridden, what hasn't -- and isolate any individual route to see whether I've "aced" it or not.

Thus, the Crescent I've aced: its layer is highlighted from NYP-NOL. But the Cardinal, I've aced to a slightly looser standard: its layer is highlighted from PHL-CHI. Still, when the only bit that hasn't been ridden on a route is a part of the NEC, I'm willing to let that slide and say I've aced it.

I'm not sure what to think about "co-existing" routes... for instance, I'll have ridden the entire Capitol Corridor after the next few days, without ever riding a Capitol Corridor train. That doesn't seem right. And I'll take the Coast Starlight from LAX to PDX in a few days, and I've ridden the Cascades PDX to SEA, but I don't feel comfortable saying I've "aced" the Coast Starlight. I think the NEC is a unique circumstance, and the only place I'll let things slide in this regard.

And I can use the highlighter to draw the detours I've taken (EB over the CB&Q from MSP to Aurora; CZ over the UP from OMA to CHI). I consider that I've aced the CZ for having ridden the full EMY-CHI ordinarily scheduled route, and that the Iowa detour is an added bonus. But as Rafi says, really, it's more about the track and territory than the routes. That's why I like my layered map that lets me see both. I've also drawn in discontinued routes which predate the Amtrak system map I'm using (Three Rivers).

(Also, if you're curious about miles traveled, both UP and BNSF have mileage calculators on their websites for freight shippers. I used these to determine that the CZ's UP detour was 489 miles OMA-CHI instead of Amtrak's usual 500, and the EB's BNSF detour was 429 miles MSP-CHI instead of Amtrak's usual 417, for instance.)

I think you have to ride the train you are claiming aced for the majority of the mileage. Has every ex Chicago Empire Builder rider aced the Hiawatha?

My definition would be more of a mix of options. I'd have to ride that particular named route, but considering how I tend to ride (random segments of route when I get a chance), if I have to take 10 different trips to cover all the standard mileage, then so be it. But routes like the EB? I'd still have to ride both sections to count it as aced.

I considered coincidental Amtrak routes. For example I only rode the Cardinal when it was Superliner and had to take a NEC train to New York.

If I were rerouted or bustituted, I'd expect to come back and cover the actual trackage.

Originally, I did not consider commuter rail. However, I discovered one eight block section of Stockton, CA, where I only covered on a commuter route that happens to be called "ACE." I never rode through on a Sacramento-bound San Joaquin. I only rode through from Bakersfield on an Oakland bound train, which takes a left turn just eight blocks short of the ACE station. On a second trip I took ACE to Stockton then Amtrak from Stockton-ACE to Sacramento. So thanks to ACE I can be called the 'cheap' ACE of the entire Amtrak system.

Heres an interesting question. I did Portland to Chicago Empire Builder trip. Did I ace this route considering that I never did trip from or to Seattle?

Shawn Ryu said:

Heres an interesting question. I did Portland to Chicago Empire Builder trip. Did I ace this route considering that I never did trip from or to Seattle?

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Well, one way to say it is that you've aced 27/28, but not 7/8. Or you could say you've aced the EB(Portland), and once you ride SPK-SEA you can say you've aced the EB.

Is that fair enough on my signature below?