I could use some help planning a trip out west

Hello everyone, I could use some help/ suggestions for planning a trip out west on the California Zephyr(CZ). I live near pittsburgh, so I will be taking the capital limited from pittsburgh to chicago. Then I plan to take the CZ from Chicago to Emeryville.

In your opinion, should I return to chicago on the CZ, or should I take the Coast starlight south to Los Angeles, and return to chicago on the southwest chief?

I'm not traveling for a purpose, simply traveling becuase I enjoy trains and seeing new scenery. As a side note, I will buy a roomette on the CZ going west, and also the CZ/ southwest chief going back east.

Thank you!

If I were traveling for the pleasure of traveling, I'd want to make a loop. Are you aware of the online tool that helps you search for cheaper fares?

I was actually not aware of that, I was only doing my searching through amtrak.com.

I would take a wide loop. CZ to EMY, EMY to LAX on the Coast Starlight, LAX to CHI on the Texas Eagle/Sunset limited.

I have done that in the reverse and found it to be a great trip with a lot of on-train time.

Sounds like a good trip to me! The Zephyr is amazing any direction and I would prefer doing two different routes if it was me

You didn't say if you planned to spend any time in the Bay Area or LA, ie Layovers that require a Hotel, but since you indicate your purpose is sightseeing and to ride trains,I recommend that you take the Zephyr Westbound CHI-EMY since this gives you the most assured Daylight in the Rockies and Sierras, spend a Night in Sacramento at the Vagabond Inn (reasonable) (across the Street from the Amtrak Station and next to the Great California Rail Museum),

Then catch the Coast Starlight the next morning to LAX,(great scenery till Santa Barbara) spend a night at the Metro Plaza Hotel close to Union Station, (reasonable) eat at Philippe,get a day pass on the LA Subway to sightsee and then catch the Chief for Chicago at 615pm at Union Station.

You could also return to CHI from LAX on the three times a week Sunset Ltd/Texas Eagle #422 at 10pm which gives you more train time and often is cheaper than the Chief which is a very popular train!

Use amsnag.com (developed by AU Member Paul M.) to check out fares for 30 days at a time up to 11 months in advance. If you're flexible in your dates it can save you hundreds of dollars!

Thanks for the great advice bob, that was just what I was looking for! I would like to do a little sightseeing on my trip, I defiently want to see the golden gate Bridge (the idividual pieces of the bridge were built near where I live). And when I'm in LA, I would like to take some time and be able to swim in the Pacific ocean. But I think an overnight stay in Emeryville and LA is probably a good idea

So you're going to want to use www.biketrain.net to search for the best fares. Be aware that the price of bedrooms/roomettes is the upgrade price from coach. If you do the USA Rail Pass, the price on biketrain is the additional you will pay for a roomette. (For example, if coach is $50, and a roomette is $100, you will pay $150 for a roomette... if you get a USA Rail Pass, just add the $100 to the cost of the Rail Pass)

I would highly recommend taking either the Southwest Chief or the Empire Builder back to CHI if you take the CZ to EMY. The route is beautiful in both directions and you see different parts of the country at different times of day, but I think the novelty of building new track miles and crossing off new routes is much better than taking the same train twice.

Also, consider taking the Cap Limited to CHI, CZ to Sacramento, Coast Starlight from SAC to LAX, Sunset Ltd. to New Orleans... then a big decision, either the Crescent to WAS and then back to Pittsburg, or the City of New Orleans to CHI and back to Pitts. on the Cap Ltd.

I know thats an ambitious trip, but if you are going solely to ride a train and see the country, that's a lot of time on a lot of different tracks.

Bob Dylan said:

Use amsnag.com (developed by AU Member Paul M.) to check out fares for 30 days at a time up to 11 months in advance. If you're flexible in your dates it can save you hundreds of dollars!

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I used Amsnag retrospectively to reprice our recent trip, HBG-WAS and back. Provided we had infinite flexibility (which we didn't) it potentially could have saved us ~$570.

I like Albo 5000 idea about going to NOL and then on to WAS. But you are leaving out a great city to visit, Seattle. Therefore you must consider the Empire.

Damn, wish I were you with all these decisions. Start booking and have a great trip.

If you go on the CS to LA and connect to the SWC, you will need to stay overnight in LA as there is no same-day connection. If you connect to the SL or TE, there is. (But those operate only 3 days a week.)

You can get a same-day connection in LA from the SWC to the CS. Plus you're guaranteed the best scenery of the Southern California coast in daylight! (Southbound it may be dark.)

Honestly, I would love to see sun down over the Pacific Ocean from the coast starlight. So I'm going to have to do some homework on the coast starlight schedule vs sum down times

Since you're traveling for pleasure and scenery, the loop trip is best. Be sure to stay over in San Francisco area and Los Angeles. They're both great places to visit and constant travel on a train can get old real quick, so stopovers will add pleasure to the trip.

I noticed that the rates listed for "coach" on amsnag are the same as the saver rates on amtrak.com. is it possible to buy the "saver" ticket, then add the roomette charge to the saver?

s10mk said:

I noticed that the rates listed for "coach" on amsnag are the same as the saver rates on amtrak.com. is it possible to buy the "saver" ticket, then add the roomette charge to the saver?

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When you book a room(ette), you get the lowest rail fare regardless what coach is selling for. Not sure if the saver fare is lower than the normal lowest fare.

AmtrakBlue said:

Not sure if the saver fare is lower than the normal lowest fare.

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If made available, the Saver Fare (circled on the chart below) is always 80% of the Low Bucket fare. Saver Fares are not normally offered within 14 days of the travel date But when getting any type of sleeper, the Low Bucket fare (the fare directly above the Saver Fare) is always charged - even if it's not available on that day. This shows the bucket (price) structure for all the long distance routes except the Palmetto:



However I have not had a chance to see if there are any rate changes for this fiscal quarter, so it might be a little out of date Updated fare chart added. The few rate changes were practically insignificant.

What is a bucket? And a low bucket?

Bucket is just a fancy term for price. Lotsa gobbledegook to get used to on this forum. But, oddly enough, low bucket is not the lowest price - Saver is. Nifty, huh?

I would recommend doing the Grand Circle, going out on the CZ and returning on the Susnset Limited, Crescent, and Capitol Limited. It will really give you an idea of what America truly is. In particular, you would also have experienced the entire route of the Capitol Limited, which has some great scenery between Washington and Pittsburgh.

I've ridden the CZ several times now because it's the closest to my home.

This last time (October) I stayed the night in Sacramento, but I got a room further into town that was less than 1/2 what the Vagabond across from the station cost.

I rode the local bus (#34) from near the station (H & 8th) to near motel (F and 16th) I stayed in, and back to catch the CZ home - the Econo Lodge, 711 16th St, Sacramento, CA 95814.

In May I'm riding some different trains and making a loop.

I'm riding the Southwest Chief from Galesburg, IL to LA.

From LA I'm riding the 3 days a week Sunset Limited/Texas Eagle.

In San Antonio those 2 trains get split and I'll continue on the Texas limited to Chicago.

In Chicago I'm riding the Illinois Zephyr back to Galesburg.

Slight correction KmH: It's the Texas Eagle #422 from LAX-CHI.

And Ive stayed at the Vagabond in SAC several times for less than $75 a night so you must have gotten a heck of a deal on your motel.

Also the breakfasts at the Vagabond Cafe are reasonable and good, and the Cafe next door (Perks?) is a Denny's Class joint. There is also a Starbucks close to the Amtrak Station for those that like that sort of place and of course the California Rail Museum and Old Sacramento are right next to the Station and The Vagabond.

I'll bet that if a hotel advertises a free airport shuttle, they'd probably also pickup at the local Amtrak station if you call them.

Thanks again bob, I'm definitely going to stop and see the California state railroad museum, along with old sacremento. I had no idea that museum even existed.

s10mk said:

Thanks again bob, I'm definitely going to stop and see the California state railroad museum, along with old sacremento. I had no idea that museum even existed.

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When I was in Sacramento for the morning, we met a friend in Old Sac, was supposed to just be a short breakfast, but it turned into one of the most memorable "bonus" days of the trip (we spent about 3 hours there). Old Sac is really beautiful and even if you don't make it into the actual museum, the small rail yard has some awesome loco's to admire. Glad to hear you are trying to make this part of your trip.