Longest Amtrak System Straightaways

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Seaboard92 said:
The longest straight stretch in the world is in Australia and it is 297 miles long. I would hate to run that.
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That is the Nullarbor Plains stretch on the route of the Indian Pacific between Sydney and Perth. You can easily run that and actually not feel too bad about it since you'd be doing it in the lap of luxury on the Indian Pacific, after you have parted with a couple of grand.
 
Rover said:
As a side note, what is the longest distance between two Amtrak stops, now and historically??
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If only stations the train stops at are counted, it would definitely be the Auto Train. If intermediate non-stop stations are counted, the longest I can think of is Houston to San Antonio, although there may be a longer segment that I can't remember.
 
brianpmcdonnell17 said:
Rover said:
As a side note, what is the longest distance between two Amtrak stops, now and historically??
Click to expand...
If only stations the train stops at are counted, it would definitely be the Auto Train. If intermediate non-stop stations are counted, the longest I can think of is Houston to San Antonio, although there may be a longer segment that I can't remember.
Click to expand...
I just looked at the schedules, and the San Antonio to Houston section is 210 miles, the 3rd longest segment without a stop (not including the Auto Train). 2nd is Alpine to El Paso at 219 miles, also on the Sunset Limited in Texas. 1st is Elko, NV to Salt Lake City on the CZ.
 
brianpmcdonnell17 said:
brianpmcdonnell17 said:
Rover said:
As a side note, what is the longest distance between two Amtrak stops, now and historically??
Click to expand...
If only stations the train stops at are counted, it would definitely be the Auto Train. If intermediate non-stop stations are counted, the longest I can think of is Houston to San Antonio, although there may be a longer segment that I can't remember.
Click to expand...
I just looked at the schedules, and the San Antonio to Houston section is 210 miles, the 3rd longest segment without a stop (not including the Auto Train). 2nd is Alpine to El Paso at 219 miles, also on the Sunset Limited in Texas. 1st is Elko, NV to Salt Lake City on the CZ.
Click to expand...
Thank God the CZ does that during the dark hours, that's the stretch I'm planning to sleep on going to and from CA next month.
 
I know that the stretch between NFK and PTB is fairly straight, but aren't there some slight curves along that segment? Or is it exactly straight?

I just rode that route on the 84 and 125 Northeast Regionals two months ago but I can't remember.
 
Determining where a curve actually begins can be tricky and that stretch in VA is a good example. If a straightedge is used on the FRA map, the upper end of the straight stretch appears to end about 3600 feet NW of the Wagner Rd. overpass. But a close look on Google Earth with a straightedge reveals a very slight curve beginning about 320 feet NW of that overpass. That difference equates to about 0.6 miles.

There is also the apparent Southward sag on Google Earth of any lengthy route with an East-West component when it's compared to the Rule tool's Line (when its end points are placed at the ends of the straight stretch). For this route, there appears to be a sag or bowing of the tracks to the SW of about 25 yards from the center of that Rule tool Line. But that sag or bowing is only an apparent one and is due to the geometry of the cartographic projection used to display the satellite imagery. It's the age-old problem of trying to display something that's actually spherical (Earth) on something that's flat (map or monitor screen). And the longer the E-W component the greater the apparent sag. A look at the Western portion of the border between the USA and Canada shows it best with an apparent bowing/sagging to the South of about 60 miles from the Google Earth Rule tool Line..
 
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I'd say the straight stretch ends right at Wagner Rd, as that's where it enters a rail yard and the three tracks that go under the overpass fan out into about a dozen tracks. The actual curve then begins right at the end of the yard, just before entering the wye and passing under I-95.
 
Your eyesight is no doubt better than mine, but I don't think the start of the yard has any bearing on the matter. I say that because the initial turnout leading to the yard is about 320 yards SE of the Wagner Rd. overpass. Anyway, this Google Earth screenshot shows how I came up with the notion the curve started about 320 feet NW of the overpass - where the pin is:

Wagner Rd..jpg

But based on what little I know about railroad curve transitions, it's virtually impossible to tell where the transition (or easement) to the fixed radius curve actually begins:

Euler Spiral.jpg

But this slight S-Curve (which offsets the two mainlines about 40 feet to the NE) is also an actual curve, so that's where this straight stretch ends - the way I see it. Granted, it's not much of curve (only a bit over 4° of heading change), but it is indeed an actual (because it can be perceived and measured) curve, however slight it may be.
 
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brianpmcdonnell17 said:
brianpmcdonnell17 said:
Rover said:
As a side note, what is the longest distance between two Amtrak stops, now and historically??
Click to expand...
If only stations the train stops at are counted, it would definitely be the Auto Train. If intermediate non-stop stations are counted, the longest I can think of is Houston to San Antonio, although there may be a longer segment that I can't remember.
Click to expand...
I just looked at the schedules, and the San Antonio to Houston section is 210 miles, the 3rd longest segment without a stop (not including the Auto Train). 2nd is Alpine to El Paso at 219 miles, also on the Sunset Limited in Texas. 1st is Elko, NV to Salt Lake City on the CZ.
Click to expand...
Thanks, that Nevada run was on the top of my list as possible longest by miles (263), and the scheduled travel time about 4 1/2 hours. I hadn't even though about the Sunset Limited segments...
 
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In the "not Amtrak" category, I'll point to the early 20th century Santa Fe "DeLuxe"...it ran once a week, nonstop, (as far as passenger traffic), between Chicago and Los Angeles...it only made service, engine and crew change stops.

It only carried sixty sleeper passenger's, and carried a very hefty $25. extra fare in addition to first class rail and accommodation charges.
 
It's not presently doing it, but the limited stop Acela's would definitely be a contender for longest distance between stops. I think they may have made PHL, but I can't remember for sure.
 

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