Doing a "loop" this summer maybe...

[RCrierie]

OK; first some background on how I know Amtrak and why I have an irrational love for F40PHs, AEM-7s and Phase III:

I was born deaf quite possibly due to my mother coming down with the flu when she was carrying me.

When I was old enough, I became one of the first children in the US to receive a cochlear implant at that age. Since the Cochlear Implant was so new at the time; there were only a few hospitals in the country who could handle the required calibrations and checkups.

So that meant that about twice or more a year when I was younger, me and my mother would go to the New Carrollton station and board an Amtrak train bound for Penn Station NY early in the morning; arrive around noon; go to the hospital in NYC that supported Cochlear Implants for the checkups and calibration, and then return home on a evening train bound southbound.

So I got to know the toasters and Amfleets very well.

It's been about maybe 15-17 years since I last rode on Amtrak, and I'm investigating taking the Capital Limited/Empire Builder out from Union Station DC maybe this summer; with the possibility of completing a "grand loop" by taking the Coast Starlight down to LA, then the California Zephyr out to Chicago, and then the Cardinal home.

I've read through some of the threads in the FAQs/First Time Rider forum; namely the Things to take with you and Best Kept Secrets ones.

So I know now to remove the toilet paper from it's holder when taking a shower on a Superliner, lest it become a soggy mess. I also know that you should try to bring long sleeved pants or shirts, even if you are taking a summer trip through the southwest; because sometimes the A/C can be stuck to "siberia" on certain train cars.

But what's struck me during my reading is that there is no real way to secure your goods on a long distance train other than checking them into the baggage hold, as even the bookable rooms only lock from the inside -- meaning someone could sneak into your room while you are out of it and nick something.

I've thought about it a little and come up with this plan for coach travel:

1.) Large Checked Luggage full of multiple clothing changes for a long distance "loop" if you are doing that. Nothing important at all other than clothes is in it.

2.) Carry on Luggage full of 2-3 changes of clothing and under the clothing, my laptop. It's not a totally top of the line laptop -- more like $600ish value; so if it's lost, I won't cry myself to sleep. It is also full size -- with a DVD drive, so it's not easily nickable like an iPad or nettop.

3.) Carry on Camera Bag that I carry with myself as I go up and down the train containing my DSLR, flash shoe, lenses, and Kindle so I have my camera at the ready in case I suddenly see something awesome that requires a photo. It also keeps these relatively small and high value items near me at all times.

Looking through the threads, I noticed that someone mentioned making an inventory of all your money's serial numbers -- that is a very good idea; and I will inventory the serials of all my equipment before I board the train -- I have some experience with this, as if you want to research at the National Archives II near where I live, you have to read out your serials to a guard to prove you own that laptop when you leave the building.

But even with this; would Travel Insurance be a good idea? If someone ended up nicking my camera bag while I slept at my couch seat, I'd lose about $1,200+ easily.

Yes, I have noticed that theft on Amtrak is actually pretty low since only a very few people can gain access to a train throughout the trip; and Amtrak's pricing presents a barrier to the desperately poor. But it never hurts to be prepared!

 

[the_traveler]

Welcome to AU and back to riding Amtrak!

As you yourself said, the possibility of theft is relatively low - especially in sleeping cars. The only passengers allowed in the sleepers are other sleeping car passengers! And they have the same "locking" issues as you!

Besides, even if someone were to take something, where would they go if the next stop is 2 hours away?

Only forward or back - not many people get off a train going 79 MPH!

What you may want to do is bring 2 bags - 1 for clean clothes and 1 for dirty clothes. At your layover points (and I do hope you stop somewhere along the way), you can do laundry at the hotel or a nearby laundromat. Another option is to pack 2 suitcases, and check 1 to the midway point, and then claim that one and check the other filled with dirty laundry back home! (Example: You travel NYP-CHI-SEA-LAX-CHI-NYP. You plan an overnight in LAX [*see below]. Check one bag from NYP-LAX, claim that bag, and check the dirty clothes back LAX-NYP!)

* You mentioned taking the Coast Starlight to LA and then the California Zephyr back to Chicago. You are aware that the CZ departs from Emeryville, not LA! Thus you must either overnight in LA and then get to Sacramento the next day to take the CZ, or overnight in LA and take either the Southwest Chief or Texas Eagle the next day!

Finally, if you are not yet a member of Amtrak Guest Rewards (AGR), I highly recommend you join prior to your trip! I will be glad to refer you to AGR. Just send me a PM (Private Message) with your email address.

 

[RCrierie]

Question: Why does it cost so much for just a roomette?

They're not actually *that* big (saw them at the National Train Day at Union Station DC a few days ago); yet they cost between $324 and $674 on the Empire Builder (depending on the time of year and closeness of booking). By contrast, I could book five days straight or eleven days straight at a Microtel motel near me for that kind of money.

I know that the sleeper services are a big revenue maker for Amtrak -- on the Empire Builder about 17% of passengers travel in sleepers, but generate 42% of the trains' ticket revenue -- but the prices are so steep that it seems you have to be independently wealthy for sleeper service; which is a kind of paradox; if Amtrak had more sleeper service, even with decreased prices; they'd make more money.

 

[George B]

Question: Why does it cost so much for just a roomette?

They're not actually *that* big (saw them at the National Train Day at Union Station DC a few days ago); yet they cost between $324 and $674 on the Empire Builder (depending on the time of year and closeness of booking). By contrast, I could book five days straight or eleven days straight at a Microtel motel near me for that kind of money.

I know that the sleeper services are a big revenue maker for Amtrak -- on the Empire Builder about 17% of passengers travel in sleepers, but generate 42% of the trains' ticket revenue -- but the prices are so steep that it seems you have to be independently wealthy for sleeper service; which is a kind of paradox; if Amtrak had more sleeper service, even with decreased prices; they'd make more money.

Check out the sleeper prices on the California Zephyr and note how many times the train sells out. Amtrak has no motivation to reduce fares at all on the Zephyr or the Builder because they are so popular. But, there are good deals to be found on both of those trains if you check daily and book in advance...and I mean six months in advance.

 

[zephyr17]

Question: Why does it cost so much for just a roomette?

They're not actually *that* big (saw them at the National Train Day at Union Station DC a few days ago); yet they cost between $324 and $674 on the Empire Builder (depending on the time of year and closeness of booking). By contrast, I could book five days straight or eleven days straight at a Microtel motel near me for that kind of money.

I know that the sleeper services are a big revenue maker for Amtrak -- on the Empire Builder about 17% of passengers travel in sleepers, but generate 42% of the trains' ticket revenue -- but the prices are so steep that it seems you have to be independently wealthy for sleeper service; which is a kind of paradox; if Amtrak had more sleeper service, even with decreased prices; they'd make more money.

Short answer: Supply and demand. The supply is limited.

Amtrak is severely equipment constrained and pretty much runs the wheels off of everything they have. Since sleepers run at or near capacity much of the time, especially in peak season, lowering prices would simply lower revenue, since they have little or no more inventory to sell.

If they can sell it at $375, why should they sell it for any less? We all are pulling for Amtrak to succeed (well, most of us), so in theory, that increased revenue should be good news to us.

Amtrak isn't going to get a large influx of sleeping capacity any time time soon. In fact, the fairly aggressive fleet plan recently released does not really provide for an increase in capacity, but simply looks to replace existing capacity with newer equipment over the next few decades, as the equipment ages. Recall that the Superliner I fleet is now 10 YEARS OLDER than the original CZ order was when the CZ was discontinued (Superliner I 1981-2011, CZ 1949-1970), And the operating RRs considered that equipment to be approaching the end of their service life, planned to be 25 years. Just maintaining capacity is going to be a challenge, especially given that Amtrak's only source of capital funding is our friends in that monkey cage in DC known as Congress.

If there was a realistic way to increase sleeper capacity through equipment purchase, I'd be all for it, and yield management would pretty much dictate it to fill the new capacity. But if wishes were horses...

 

[Ryan]

It's been about maybe 15-17 years since I last rode on Amtrak, and I'm investigating taking the Capital Limited/Empire Builder out from Union Station DC maybe this summer; with the possibility of completing a "grand loop" by taking the Coast Starlight down to LA, then the California Zephyr out to Chicago, and then the Cardinal home.

I did nearly this exact trip from Washington for my honeymoon a year ago and would HIGHLY recommend it to anyone. The only difference is that we took the Cardinal on the outbound leg and the Capitol Limited on the return trip. Also, as the Traveler noted, the Southwest Chief runs from LA to Chicago, not the CZ.

Our luggage strategy was exactly as you described. We were off the train for a few days near Portland, and transferring from the CS to the SWC in LA requires an overnight, so the trip broke down into 3 smaller parts:

1. WAS to PDX (we made our way to Seattle while sightseeing so we could run the entire length of the CS)

2. SEA to LAX

3. LAX to WAS

In our big "clothes bag" that we checked, we took a trash bag to house the dirty clothes - it started out empty with all of the clothes just loose in the suitcase and ended up full with all of the clothes in the trash bag inside the suitcase.

We then had one smaller bag with enough clothes for that leg of the journey on the train with us.

Then, each of us carried a backpack with our laptops, DSLR, scanner, GPS, etc...

If you want a preview of the scenery that you can expect, the pictures from my trip can be found here:

http://www.flickr.com/photos/rstavely/collections/72157624084919073/

 

[AmtrakBlue]

As to cost, remember that meals are included.

 

[the_traveler]

True, you can stay at some hotels for many nights for what the sleepers cost. But how many hotels do you know of that provide 3 meals a day and also allow you to go to sleep in (say) Rochester, NY and wake up in (say) Elkhart, IN?

(None I can think of - unless there is a VERY big earthquake!

In most hotels you wake up in the same place you went to sleep.)

 

[Shanghai]

Enjoyed your photos, Ryan. Thanks.

 

[Ryan]

Thank you!

I put together a nice photobook of the really good ones for Amy for an anniversary present that she loved.

 

[RCrierie]

True, you can stay at some hotels for many nights for what the sleepers cost. But how many hotels do you know of that provide 3 meals a day

I knew I was forgetting something!

Are the meals given in the Dining Car Guide for EB included? E.g. if I am taking a roomette; and I ask the Dining Car staff for a Butcher's Cut Choice Steak during that night's serving, does it get covered by my room fee?

If so, that totally changes the dynamics of a room during the lower fare off peak hours -- a $324 Roomette on EB is actually only about $180 bucks upgrade cost if two people are traveling; since the cost of the good food ($70~ per person) would be included in that price; and you would be buying that food anyway -- who wants to spend two days eating nothing but cheez puffs?

EDIT: And don't sleeper passengers get first come, first served for the dining car? Which would be important if you really wanted that steak...

 

[Tumbleweed]

Yup, the steak is included.....your choice of anything on the menu, except liquor...

Yup, sleeper passengers are first up for dinner reservations.....

 

[the_traveler]

You are not limited to "a certain menu or certain choices" for your meals. You can order any item on the menu!

For breakfast, you can have any entree - plus a side of meat (bacon or sausage) if you want. For lunch, you can chose any item - plus desert. For dinner, you can chose any item - plus desert. The only thing not included is alcoholic beverages. Of course, drinks like coffee, tea, milk and soda are included.

Tip as if you were paying for the meal.