Cross Country Ride

Been reading a lot of info online and here especially on different routes and the experiences on them.

I've been thinking for a while to do a cross country trip from NYC to SF/LAX.

I managed to put together a route but have a few questions about it.

NYP-CHI on the Cardinal
- Was originally thinking of doing the whole route in a roomette, but the prices have gone up, so I'm thinking of doing coach from NYP to CHARLOTTESVILLE or HUNTINGTON and then switch to a roomette. Makes the overall price a bit cheaper. I read that it's a fairly common thing to do (switch classes) and that there shouldn't be any issue.
- Unfortunately, also read that the Cardinal doesn't have a full kitchen, so the menu is so-so. This was also one of the reasons which made me lean towards doing a half coach half roomette trip as the food wouldn't be as nice as on the SWC or the Zephyr. For the dining car, can a coach passenger sit around the cafe part for an extended time? Or do they try to shuffle you out as soon as you finish whatever you bought? Since there isn't a lounge car, I was just wondering about how to change up my scenery a bit without having to sit in the same seat for a long time.
- As a general question, any issues w/ leaving luggage unattended ie going to the cafe or something like that?

CHI-DEN
- Going to grab the Zephyr from CHI after the small 4 hour layover. I'm thinking that since I'll be taking a roomette during the overnight portion on the Cardinal, when I arrive I'll be able to use the Metropolitan Lounge and its facilities (mainly the shower). This is allowed, correct?
- Going to be heading to DEN in coach and probably plopping myself down in the lounge car. Is there a better side to sit on for this leg of the journey? Any interesting sights to catch?

DEN-SLC
- After spending 24 in DEN, going to get on and head to SLC. Same as above, since this will be a full daytime journey, I'm thinking I'll mostly be in the lounge car. Which side is best for the views of the mountains and overall landscapes?

SLC-EMY (and onto SF)
- Final leg, same questions as above. I'll probably do a dinner on board on one of these 3 legs, just to get that full experience of an Amtrak long distance journey. Any recommendations?

For a specific question, I looked up the on-time performance for the Cardinal for the past 3 months and it seems like it's fairly consistent in being a bit late (but not too bad), with a few days where it was late by 4+ hours. The layover time between the Cardinal and Zephyr is 4 hours. If a 4+ hour delay happens, my whole trip would be affected down the line since I'm only doing a 24 hour stop in each place. Any idea as to what Amtrak might offer as compensation?

I also thought about maybe doing a different route, like the SWC, to maximize layover time in CHI and hope that the Cardinal doesn't arrive too late. Any thoughts to that approach? Any places to get off and sightsee for a day? Or just stick w/ being on the train for the entire journey?

Any thoughts/experiences/tips would be appreciated!

I wouldn't say that switching from coach to sleeping car accommodations is common. I know that it is done but I don't think it is done often.

I think your coach seat is going to be more comfortable for overnight travel than a seat in the lounge car.

If you miss a guaranteed connection, Amtrak will give you some food money and will put you up in a hotel (or at times a spare sleeper at Chicago Union Station).

Which side of the train to sit on varies with where you are. Leaving Denver I would recommend the right side, but the left side going through Gore Canyon and along the Colorado River, except back to the right side before Glenwood Springs. Also right side going through the Sierras.

If you are going to have one dinner in the dining car I would not wait until the last night of your trip as sometimes selections tend to sell out by that point.

I would not leave valuable items in plain sight around your coach seat or roomette. I usually carry a small backpack with a camera, phone, bottle of water and a book that I sometimes take with me to the café or lounge car.

If you arrive in a sleeper on the Cardinal you should be able to use the Metropolitan Lounge in Chicago.

I would highly recommend a sleep mask and a small pillow.

Hope you have a great trip and will post a report.

There is a shower on board the Cardinal for sleeper passengers. I have never used the showers at the Metropolitan Lounge in Chicago, but I have heard that there may be a wait. I never have to wait to use the shower on the train, but I'm an early riser.

I am guilty of almost taking someone else's suitcase from the luggage rack as I was getting off a train. Be sure to put ID tags or identifying ribbons on every handle, so someone grabbing the piece sees the identification.

Maglev said:

There is a shower on board the Cardinal for sleeper passengers. I have never used the showers at the Metropolitan Lounge in Chicago, but I have heard that there may be a wait. I never have to wait to use the shower on the train, but I'm an early riser.

I am guilty of almost taking someone else's suitcase from the luggage rack as I was getting off a train. Be sure to put ID tags or identifying ribbons on every handle, so someone grabbing the piece sees the identification.

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That is great advice on both points. If you take a shower on the train you won't have to worry about taking one in Chicago although showering on the train is not as easy as at the Chicago lounge. I used the showers at the Metropolitan Lounge several times and they are great. There are two showers for men and I assume the same number for women. I have never had to wait. However most of those times were late afternoon and mid-day only once.

Rasputin said:

I think your coach seat is going to be more comfortable for overnight travel than a seat in the lounge car.

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Oh I didn't mean to sleep there, but just to go there for a change or scenery.

Rasputin said:

Which side of the train to sit on varies with where you are. Leaving Denver I would recommend the right side, but the left side going through Gore Canyon and along the Colorado River, except back to the right side before Glenwood Springs. Also right side going through the Sierras.

Click to expand...

This is very helpful. Will keep this in mind, thanks!

Rasputin said:

If you are going to have one dinner in the dining car I would not wait until the last night of your trip as sometimes selections tend to sell out by that point.

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Hmm. Good point. I might do a dinner on the CHI-DEN leg then.

Rasputin said:

I would not leave valuable items in plain sight around your coach seat or roomette. I usually carry a small backpack with a camera, phone, bottle of water and a book that I sometimes take with me to the café or lounge car.

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This is what I'll have as well plus a small bag for clothes which I'm not too worried about. I have my camera and a few lenses, so I'll definitely grab it when leaving my seat. Is there space or an area for a bag like that if you go to the dining car to have dinner? The photos that i saw don't show a lot of space for valuables like a camera bag.

Rasputin said:

I would highly recommend a sleep mask and a small pillow.

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I'll be bringing the my extra accessories I grabbed from my recent flights. Earplugs, eyemask, etc. And will be bringing a neck pillow for those nights in coach.

Rasputin said:

Hope you have a great trip and will post a report.

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Will do!

Maglev said:

There is a shower on board the Cardinal for sleeper passengers. I have never used the showers at the Metropolitan Lounge in Chicago, but I have heard that there may be a wait. I never have to wait to use the shower on the train, but I'm an early riser.

I am guilty of almost taking someone else's suitcase from the luggage rack as I was getting off a train. Be sure to put ID tags or identifying ribbons on every handle, so someone grabbing the piece sees the identification.

Click to expand...

Rasputin said:

That is great advice on both points. If you take a shower on the train you won't have to worry about taking one in Chicago although showering on the train is not as easy as at the Chicago lounge. I used the showers at the Metropolitan Lounge several times and they are great. There are two showers for men and I assume the same number for women. I have never had to wait. However most of those times were late afternoon and mid-day only once.

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I think I'm not too crazy about the idea tbh. Would rather do it on steady ground that gives a bit more room to move around.

Thanks for the info Rasputin.

You can place a small bag on the floor, between your feet in the dining car.
I find the a/c rather cold in coach, so I recommend a blanket and a warm hat for overnight comfort in coach...

Ed.

Glad to hear that those comments were helpful and that you actually aren't going to try to sleep in the lounge. I should clarify that the "backpack" that I use is one of those string backpacks or bags that they hand out at trade shows - has room for a book, map, newspaper, water bottle, sunglasses, etc. If I am in the lounge and get called to dinner I will often just put it at my feet in the dining car while I eat just as caravanman does.

Looks like I hit a bit of a snag w/ the first leg of the trip.

The booking system shows that there's 1 roomette available but when you get to the end to get a confirmation, it spits out an error saying "084NO THRU SPACE AVAIL".

Tried calling in as well but they have the same issue. I'm guessing that there is a room booked but not for the whole trip. So the system sees it available but rejects it because it's taken up somewhere down the line.

Tried breaking up the trip as well w/ doing it half coach, half roomette at different points (switch at CVS or HUN, or CIN), but that also came back negative.

I'm thinking the best bet is to grab a business seat (I prefer the smaller amount of seating vs a full coach car) and then upgrade to a roomette if there are any last minute cancellations.

Having been an Amtrak rider for 20 years I feel foolish asking this, but this thread piqued my interest.
How does one go about breaking up a trip between coach and sleeper? I can't find an option for doing that on the Amtrak site.

click on the "one way" box and you'll see options for round trip and multi-city. choose the multi city option

Thanks!

Maglev said:

There is a shower on board the Cardinal for sleeper passengers. I have never used the showers at the Metropolitan Lounge in Chicago, but I have heard that there may be a wait. I never have to wait to use the shower on the train, but I'm an early riser.

I am guilty of almost taking someone else's suitcase from the luggage rack as I was getting off a train. Be sure to put ID tags or identifying ribbons on every handle, so someone grabbing the piece sees the identification.

Click to expand...

I used the shower in the Metropolitan Lounge on my last trip. There was no wait at all. I think both showers were actually open (I believe there are two or more anyway). Showers were extremely clean.

Good news! Woke up today and thought I'd do a quick try for the roomette again...and got the ticket confirmed! Looking forward to the ride on the Cardinal. There's no way to tell which way the train car will be facing to determine which side I'll be looking out, until I get on, right?

Now just crossing my fingers that all the connections will work out w/o major delays that could cause me to miss them.

Yay! About 30 years ago I knew the magic hour of the morning that Amtrak cleaned out the cancelled reservations. I'd set an alarm, make the call (that's how you got tickets then) and went back to sleep.

smuncky said:

Been reading a lot of info online and here especially on different routes and the experiences on them.

I've been thinking for a while to do a cross country trip from NYC to SF/LAX.

I managed to put together a route but have a few questions about it.

CHI-DEN
- Going to grab the Zephyr from CHI after the small 4 hour layover. I'm thinking that since I'll be taking a roomette during the overnight portion on the Cardinal, when I arrive I'll be able to use the Metropolitan Lounge and its facilities (mainly the shower). This is allowed, correct?
- Going to be heading to DEN in coach and probably plopping myself down in the lounge car. Is there a better side to sit on for this leg of the journey? Any interesting sights to catch?

DEN-SLC
- After spending 24 in DEN, going to get on and head to SLC. Same as above, since this will be a full daytime journey, I'm thinking I'll mostly be in the lounge car. Which side is best for the views of the mountains and overall landscapes?

Any thoughts/experiences/tips would be appreciated!

Click to expand...

While you are in Denver you may want to try out some parts of our rail transit network (too big to do the whole thing in a civilized day). In addition to what is current, the G-Line commuter rail is set to open on April 26th and a 2½ mile extension of the light rail E/F/R-Lines is due to open on May 19th.

The commuter rail lines radiating from Denver Union Station are sadly the furthest west high-voltage AC passenger services on this continent. For a cursory look at a variety of lines, buy a Regional/Airport Day Pass at Union Station, start wit h the C/E-Lines to I-25 & Broadway Station, transfer to the H-Line to Florida Station, transfer to the R-Line to Peoria Station, transfer to the A-Line to Union Station. If you have time, ride the A-Line out to the airport and back to Union Station. The A-Line is the one that air travel addicts will ask you about. [Many of them are unaware that the big train three tracks over is Amtrak.]