Amtrak Excursion Ideas for 2014: Add your ideas!

Riders on the 2013 excursions from Philadelphia have been asked to take a survey. It's not available to those who did not take the excursion, but as acelafan suggested, here is the question from the survey about where you would like to see future excursions.

Since this excursion covered parts of multiple states (I think, I wasn't on them), why limit it to only 1 state? :huh:

It may sound like I'm being partial to my home state, but I'm not. There is a rail line from Providence, RI to Worcester, MA which is very scenic (I have ridden it). From MA, you could combine parts of NH, VT, and either CT or NY - all in 1 day.

the_traveler said:

Since this excursion covered parts of multiple states (I think, I wasn't on them), why limit it to only 1 state? :huh:

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The poll allows you to select multiple states.

the_traveler said:

Since this excursion covered parts of multiple states (I think, I wasn't on them), why limit it to only 1 state? :huh:

It may sound like I'm being partial to my home state, but I'm not. There is a rail line from Providence, RI to Worcester, MA which is very scenic (I have ridden it). From MA, you could combine parts of NH, VT, and either CT or NY - all in 1 day.

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I think they may be thinking the starting point/end point. Like this past weekend's was PHL.

Wash DC would be a very short ride if it just included Wash DC.

Daytime trip from newton Kansas to Amarillo Texas.

My other vote is for Maryland.

Leave WAS on the route of the Cap. Get to Point of Rocks and hang a right on the Old Main. Through Frederick, over to Baltimore, then south on CSX/Camden Line back to WAS. Not as much rare mileage, but I really want to ride across the Old Main Line, so someone needs to set that up.

Grand Rapids to Traverse City would be great in the fall. They could have local wine for the adults, sparkling wine from St. Julian's for the kids, and the boxes could have dried cherries from TC and Mackinac Island fudge.

It would be a three-hour trip, probably longer at "tourist" speed, so they could leave GR in the morning, stop in TC for dinner, and then head back to GR.

Northern DELMARVA Pennisula to the southern end, then across the Chesapeake Bay on the Railroad Barge, connecting to Greater Hampton Roads and points south / west.

While we're dreaming...

NYC to Old Forge/Thendara, NY and back. (Yes, you can currently do this with a change of train, I know; I suspect a direct train would attract a different crowd.)

Chicago to the Illinois Railway Museum in the morning, back in the evening.

Given that this trip was made possible by a good working relationship with NS, however, perhaps we should look specifically into routes over NS.

And I'm not seeing many short routes with potential under NS control outside the Philadelphia area. The "Port Road Branch" was kind of obvious. The Low-Grade Cutoff from Trenton to Downingtown is also near Philadelphia and NS-controlled, but not generally considered so scenic! There's the route through Lebanon and Reading... there's the route further up the Susquehenna past Harrisburg... or maybe one of the lines down the Delmarva Peninsula? Or something in North Carolina, perhaps? But I think most of the potential lines in NC are too low-speed at the moment.

Thanks for posting this survey....while I did participate in the excursion rider's survey, I welcome every opportunity to show support for more of these trips in the future.

I voted for all of the choices. Run a train over some rare mileage with sufficient advance notice, and I am there...

I suggested a train out of Albany to Binghamton and Scranton. Perhaps with some time to see Steamtown's attractions, as a bonus.

And it would be great if they offered some premium car(s).

How much extra would you be willing to pay, for a reserved seat in the Great Dome?

Since the official survey indicated Virginia at the top of the list, I suspect that may be the most likely planned next trip. A train from WAS or RVR over some freight only routes into the Shenandoah Valley with the fall colors would be spectacular.

SANSR said:

Northern DELMARVA Pennisula to the southern end, then across the Chesapeake Bay on the Railroad Barge, connecting to Greater Hampton Roads and points south / west.

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Delmarva is something I've wondered about for a long, long time. I know the track isn't in great condition, but even a rail-bus combo up the Eastern Shore (bus NFK-Cape Charles and rail the rest of the way) could actually be faster from Hampton Roads to Wilmington and points north than the current routing (via RVR-WAS-BAL) because of the amount of time spent going west to come back east. It's hard to offset cutting something like 100 miles off of your trip with faster running times (WIL-Cape Charles was about 192 miles back in 1943; WIL-RVR is 218, and then you've got to add the 70-ish miles to NPN or the 100-ish miles to NFK).

For the math, averaging 50 MPH along that run and then adding an hour for the bus (Google Maps offers about 42 minutes, but I'm going to pad a bit for transfer+traffic) gets you 4.84 hours (i.e. 4:50). At the moment, NFK-WIL is 6:56. Even assuming you'd lose 20 minutes at PHL for an engine swap (though using a dual-mode would probably be a better option in this case), finding a way to make up 1:45 in track improvements on that run feels like a fool's errand. Even the most idealistic "realistic" plans I've seen for the longer term, from VHSR, put NFK-WAS at about 3:05. With two hours more to WIL from there, that's /still/ slower...and that's with years of sustained investment.

Railiner: One possibility would be a "with the flow" loop from Richmond to the western part of the state and back.

I'd actually like to see some excursion attempts made in the South. It's not as scenic as some of the places "up north", but given the tourist market...heck, I think there would be a market for a "railfan run" down the FEC JAX-MIA once or twice.

One other excursion that I have done in the past and would ,ove to see happen again (slightly different perhaps from the exact route of the past one) is one focused on Hudson Valley.

Start from Penn Station and go up the Empire Corridor to Albany the back up on Post Road to the Boston Line to go forward to Selkirk and then down the CSX River Line to Newark Penn. Alternatively you could change ends and engine at Hudson Yard and get back into NY Penn.

It could be called the Norman Rockwell Express. The views from it around this time of year would be absolutely breathtaking. Given the direction of the Sun it is important to go up the est shore in the morning and down the west shore in the afternoon.

[Ed: corrected Port to Post as in Road]

jis said:

One other excursion that I have done in the past and would ,ove to see happen again (slightly different perhaps from the exact route of the past one) is one focused on Hudson Valley.

Start from Penn Station and go up the Empire Corridor to Albany the back up on Port Road to the Boston Line to go forward to Selkirk and then down the CSX River Line to Newark Penn. Alternatively you could change ends and engine at Hudson Yard and get back into NY Penn.

It could be called the Norman Rockwell Express. The views from it around this time of year would be absolutely breathtaking. Given the direction of the Sun it is important to go up the est shore in the morning and down the west shore in the afternoon.

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You've got Port Road on the mind from Saturday. The connector to the Boston Line at Albany is the Post Road.

PRR 60 said:

jis said:

One other excursion that I have done in the past and would ,ove to see happen again (slightly different perhaps from the exact route of the past one) is one focused on Hudson Valley.

Start from Penn Station and go up the Empire Corridor to Albany the back up on Port Road to the Boston Line to go forward to Selkirk and then down the CSX River Line to Newark Penn. Alternatively you could change ends and engine at Hudson Yard and get back into NY Penn.

It could be called the Norman Rockwell Express. The views from it around this time of year would be absolutely breathtaking. Given the direction of the Sun it is important to go up the est shore in the morning and down the west shore in the afternoon.

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You've got Port Road on the mind from Saturday. The connector to the Boston Line at Albany is the Post Road.

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Ah of course, thanks. Correcting in the post above.

In terms of a Hudson River Loop, are the P32AC-DMs certified to run through the North River Tunnels (from Jersey into Penn Station) is the third rail there still intact?

Ever notice a P32ACDM stationed at Penn Station? It is there to rescue trains from the North River and East River tunnels when catenary power fails. So yes they can run to the end of the tunnels. But they cannot be used for regular service since transition from third rail to diesel is not possible at the end of the tunnel. Not enough third rail beyond the tunnel.

Ummmm New Orleans to Jacksonville ? h34r:

I somehow doubt that Amtrak will do multi-day excursions at least for now. So it would probably be more productive to suggest single day round trip (i.e. destination and origin the same place or in the same vicinity) trips.

One rather nice "loop" trip for an excursion would have to include the Feather River Canyon, including transit over the Keddie Wye. Would be quite the adventure to begin at Sacramento, travel up to through the Feather River Canyon, turn north at the Keddie Wye, run the east side of the Sierra's on BN's mainline to Klammath Falls, then turn south there and follow the UP mainline back to Sacramento on the routing trains 11 and 14 use.

But it would be a tall request. I'm not entirely sure that long of a trip could be accommodated in one 12 hour window.

Sacramento to Reno and return would be very nice if it went one way via Donner Pass, and returned via the Feather River Canyon....don't know what condition the Reno to Reno Jct. 33 mile connection is in....

I would think that an Excursion on the RiverRunner Route from STL-KCY-STL would be a Success! (Of course there are Daily Runs of the River Runners but a "Special" like the One that Ran out of PHL would Attract Lot of Folks if Run on the Weekend in the Fall!

Jim, why not AUS - TAY - AUS? Or have you already suggested it?

AmtrakBlue said:

Jim, why not AUS - TAY - AUS? Or have you already suggested it?

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The Taylor Police would noit want the AU Gang hanging around Town after they Ate the Delcious Bar-B-Q! :lol: Also, the McNeil Gravel Pit, Round Rock, Hutto and Taylor itself Arent' Exactly the Colorado River Route on the Zephyr or the New River Gorge on the Card when it comes to Scenery!

In all Honesty, the Best Scenery in Texas is the Piney Woods in East Texas and the Eagle Route doesnt go through the Best Part of that! (But the Texas State Railroad Steam Train between Palestine and Rusk Does! :wub: )

FWIW the #22/#422 Eagle Detour through East Texas via Palestine Started Again Today and Runs until the 18th, then the Last 2 Scheduled Days are Nov. 21 and 22!!!

I think ANY future excursion, to be considered by ATK would have to be:

LESS than 8 hours

NEAR a relatively populated area

TRAVERSE both ATK, and SOME "rare mileage"

Non-ATK miles would have to over highly-maintained track

END-POINT to END-POINT

Have EXCESS of locos & Amcans available

Travel over at least a partially SCENIC route. (Preferably, not accessable via automobile)

I believe that last year, there was a special run that ran through the Hoosic Tunnel in Northwestern MA. Our new Greenfield Transportation is supposed to get Amtrak service this coming summer, and there's talk of east west service to Boston eventually. That would be great.