Least scenic Amtrak route/section of route?

[railiner]

CZ in the Moffat Tunnel, not too scenic.

Funny you should mention that. Back in the '80's, when the CZ was routed onto its scenic route across Colorado, there was a Rio Grande trainman I think was named 'Billings', who loved to ham it up on the train P.A. and spin tall tales to 'entertain' the passengers. He would tell about the engineer..."Mad Dog (whatever the last name of the current engineer was), accepting a challenge from some lady kayaker to race along the Colorado River. When passing through the Moffat Tunnel, he would tell of thousands of dollars spent by Amtrak commissioning artists to paint murals inside the tunnel walls. He would then go on to say that unfortunately, the lighting was disabled that day, but that you are encouraged to ask your fellow passenger's to 'borrow their flashlight', to see the great work that Amtrak had created for them.

As you might expect, some folks were delighted, and some were annoyed by his spiel. I believe he was later ordered to refrain.

 

[Shawn Ryu]

Every LD route has it's share of Boring/Dull Scenery but if forced to choose would say overall that the Sunset Ltd., all things considered, has to take First Place for the Longest stretches of nothing to see. Most of Illinois, Ohio and Indiana, away from cities, is pretty mundane also, no matter what train you are on! (cornfields fail to excite most people unless they own them! :lol: )

Top two for Best Scenery are the Zephyr and the Starlight with the Adirondack in the Honorable mention category! :wub:

to be fair its also the longest route.

 

[Bierboy]

This is SUCH a subjective topic....what one person finds boring, another finds fascinating.

We've traveled the SWC, EB, CZ and Cardinal. Most would pick the CZ as most scenic. While we enjoyed it, we found the SWC the best because we love the colors of the southwest part of our country.

One persons trash is another's treasure...

 

[zephyr17]

Empire Builder east of Cut Bank, MT on day 2 either direction. Eastern Montana and North Dakota are pretty boring. Mississippi River running on day 1/3 is great, the Cascades and Rockies are great, but the majority of the day in eastern Montana, not so much.

How can you say that, when there's so much to see, all the way to the horizon, in every direction, unhampered by trees, buildings, or any sign of habitation? I'd have to vote the Crescent as most monotonous scenery. It's a graduate-level course in kudzu.

I can say it because I've taken every western LD numerous times, and after maybe the first time, day 2 on the EB wears awfully thin. And, unfortunately, since I live near Seattle, and the Pioneer is dead, that train is the most direct train east, so I take it quite a bit. I am really only comparing it to the western trains, though, and not the "tree tunnel" runs that some eastern trains are (although some eastern trains, the Cardinal and the Lakeshore Limited along the Hudson are as spectacular as anything in the West).

As well as being unhampered by trees, etc, most of day 2 on the EB is also unhampered by mountains, deserts and scenery.

 

[TVRM610]

The Silvers are an easy "win" for me. For anyone who said all you see is trees on the Crescent.. I dare you to ride the Silvers! ha. Now there are some exceptions, there are some nice little towns, some swamps in GA, and south of Orlando you get to see lots of orange groves on the Star at least. But over all.. nothing exciting. The Crescent has SO much going for it compared to the Silvers IMHO.

However.. I think some of this has to do with speed as well. As pretty as the MD parts of the Capitol are, that slow 30 mph running bores me every time. However speeding along cornfields on the City, seems relaxing.

 

[Ozark Southern]

Does anyone know how scenic is the nighttime section of the Texas Eagle, particularly between Poplar Bluff and St Louis? I guess you wouldn't know unless you've drove over there or if you've been on a very late Texas Eagle!

Absolutely gorgeous! I have never been on the TE in that area, but we go canoeing every year down the Current River, which is a few miles west of the TE route. It is some of the most beautiful scenery in all of the United States, and certainly the absolute best the state of Missouri has to offer.

 

[Green Maned Lion]

Unreasonable to ask that question. Because what is unscenic to you might be extremely scenic to another. Many Europeans consider the wide open spaces of the plains to be scenic- open spaces that vast don't exist in Europe, and they find them fascinating. Mountains? Europe has them. But not wide open space.

While a person who likes urban art (read: Graffiti) might find the NEC between NWK and PHL to be scenic. No joke.

 

[gswager]

Being living in land-locked and desert (well kind of) area for a long time, my best views are along the ocean and others with greenery such as trees (not too thick as in the east) and farms.

 

[greatcats]

I for one enjoy awakening on the westbound Southwest Chief early in the morning in western Kansas as the sun starts to illuminate the prairie. Personally, I get a charge out of that, as well as the Nevada desert on the CZ, which others consider boring.

 

[DAWall]

I for one enjoy awakening on the westbound Southwest Chief early in the morning in western Kansas as the sun starts to illuminate the prairie. Personally, I get a charge out of that, as well as the Nevada desert on the CZ, which others consider boring.

My family was on the Southwest Chief a couple of years ago. When we woke up my 8 year old son looks out the window, and ask's "Dad where are we"? I said In western Kansas, maybe east Colorado. He looks back and me, and says. "Looks like we're in the middle of no where to me"! I still chuckle everytime I think about that.

 

[rrdude]

Unreasonable to ask that question. Because what is unscenic to you might be extremely scenic to another. Many Europeans consider the wide open spaces of the plains to be scenic- open spaces that vast don't exist in Europe, and they find them fascinating. Mountains? Europe has them. But not wide open space.

While a person who likes urban art (read: Graffiti) might find the NEC between NWK and PHL to be scenic. No joke.

Once again, the earth may be standing still, as GML and RRDUDE agree.

I thought I'd be bored stiff on riding the EB east of Marias Pass, (because I was bored as a kid years ago) but last fall I found it much more interesting than the mountainous portions, for whatever reason. And I fall into that category that 'likes" the view of northern Indiana's rust bucket urban decay.

Tree tunnels? Eh, I can do without the Kudzu, although I love Kudzu as a cover. I do agree that the small towns on the Silvers/AT are fun to whip through, right down the center of town........

 

[had8ley]

The tunnel on the west side of NYC~ I was in the cab of a Turboliner and saw all the humanity living in cardboard boxes and the squalor that they chose to live in. I headed back to my seat after I had seen about 50 people living a life that many of us will hopefully never experience.

 

[saxman]

I really enjoy the openness of the Great Plains and the deserts of the Southwest and West Texas. What I find boring is flat and too many trees to see anything. So I find The Silvers to be not that great. Also the Crescent south of Birmingham is dull. No one has mentioned the CONO either. The bayous and all the chemical plants near New Orleans are interesting, but after that, there is not much to see on the CONO. So if I had to choose a particular route, I would choose the CONO as the least scenic.

 

[jis]

One of the most unscenic segmentsthat is not inside a tunnel has got be from Fullerton to LAX, except for railfans of course

 

[railiner]

I really enjoy the openness of the Great Plains and the deserts of the Southwest and West Texas. What I find boring is flat and too many trees to see anything. So I find The Silvers to be not that great. Also the Crescent south of Birmingham is dull. No one has mentioned the CONO either. The bayous and all the chemical plants near New Orleans are interesting, but after that, there is not much to see on the CONO. So if I had to choose a particular route, I would choose the CONO as the least scenic.

The crossing of the Ohio at Cairo unfortunately is always in the middle of the night. I do like the approach to Chicago and crossing over on the "Airline".

 

[Rider]

Any view from any train beats any view from a vehicle on any interstate. Scenic is one concept, interesting is another. I rarely find looking out the train window not gratifying in some way. Backyards, clotheslines, junk cars are the real America for better or worse, and are better than the smoothly landscaped hills of the interstate punctuated by McDonald's signs 80 feet tall. If I get tired of looking it is because I am overloaded with so many interesting things that I need to stop looking and process a little bit.

There's a great song by a band called Blue Highway, the song is called "Through The Window of a Train" -

 

[GG-1]

One of the most unscenic segmentsthat is not inside a tunnel has got be from Fullerton to LAX, except for railfans of course

What! you don't like the graphiti. :lol: :help: :help: :lol: :lol: :lol: :lol: :lol: :lol: :lol:

Aloha

 

[A.J.]

While I can usually be found with my nose pressed against the window and a slew of cameras at the ready, the only time this didn't happen was in northeastern Texas, on the Texas Eagle. It's not that there was nothing to look at, and i'm one of those people who enjoys the plains and the deserts, but it was just plain boring. I ended up reading about half of Gone With the Wind that day, which was okay. I was on a train headed west and into the unknown and that was fine by me.

 

[LA Resident]

One of the most unscenic segmentsthat is not inside a tunnel has got be from Fullerton to LAX, except for railfans of course

Nay, nay, not just for railfans. Those curious about urban landscapes and SoCal history can absorb a lot from gazing out both sides of the Surfliner windows along this stretch.

Just a few things of interest, from LAUS south toward Fullerton:

--the concrete channel aka Los Angeles River, the choice of concreting in the 1930s changing water flows and opening up thousands of acres for development (not to mention the opportunities for present-day graffiti artists and movie directors looking for great chase scene locales!)

--the graceful bridges of 3rd, 4th, 5th and 6th streets spanning the tracks and river channel, testament to the emerging auto culture in the 1920s and 30s.

--the curving rail span over the river channel south, which replaced the infamous Newport Curve, site of California's worst rail disaster in 1958 when a Santa Fe Budd Railliner flipped into the channel at high speed and killed 33 passengers.

--Hobart Rail Yard, the huge BNSF freight facility and where the AT&SF station was located for LA before Union Station was completed in 1937.

--Pico Rivera and Santa Fe Springs, where oil wells sprouted in the 1920s and where working derricks are still visible on both sides of the track

--the San Gabriel Mountains to the north, visible on most days with the decline of auto pollution, clearly delineating the shape of LA's urban basin.

--the old Sears warehouse to the north, still marked with a Sears sign, the largest warehouse of its kind at the time west of the Mississippi.

and lots more along the way into Orange County and Fullerton...

Not scenic in the sense of EB, CS, to be sure, but fascinating in its own way. I'm sure every line has an equally interesting story to tell as its backstory...

 

[GlobalistPotato]

Trains and graffiti go together EVERYWHERE. Even in France, there is plenty of graffiti along the rail structures.

Another question about the Texas Eagle...

Does anyone know how scenic the Cleburne-McGregor section of the Texas Eagle is during the Spring and Summer (or whenever it's not dead looking)? I've drove down on SH 6 to a church retreat two different times, but that was in the late fall when everything was starting to look dead.

I dunno, it was still kinda pretty, but I didn't get to see much of the scenery. Perhaps the Texas Eagle gives a better view.

 

[Anderson]

When you factor in timing and duration, I'd put the Capitol Limited near the bottom. Much of the run is at night, so (depending on the season) you only get a few hours of scenery.

I have to disagree firmly here, based on experience (at least, EB). In winter, the segments you run into during breakfast (think 6-8 AM) can be quite magnificent (steep valleys with ice coating the walls all throughout), and I've enjoyed the scenery on the segments in Western MD/WV when the sun's been up for me to see. But I also know that it's not the Rockies by any stretch.

 

[Bob Dylan]

Trains and graffiti go together EVERYWHERE. Even in France, there is plenty of graffiti along the rail structures.

Another question about the Texas Eagle...

Does anyone know how scenic the Cleburne-McGregor section of the Texas Eagle is during the Spring and Summer (or whenever it's not dead looking)? I've drove down on SH 6 to a church retreat two different times, but that was in the late fall when everything was starting to look dead.

I dunno, it was still kinda pretty, but I didn't get to see much of the scenery. Perhaps the Texas Eagle gives a better view.

The scenery between Cleburne and McGregor (closest stop to Crawford where Ex-Prez Bush has his Ranch) is mostly rural of course with Cedar Trees, a few Creeks and when it has Rained alot fairly Green in the Spring and Summer.we currently are in a Severe Drought and need Rain badly!) Lots of retired people have built nice houses on small ranchettes along the tracks and you will see some nice looking cattle, occasional deer etc. The Highlite of this trip is probably the crossing of the brazos River but its nothing to write home about! I ride this train all the time and have to say basically its nothing special unless youve never been out of new york City! :lol:

 

[Ryan]

When you factor in timing and duration, I'd put the Capitol Limited near the bottom. Much of the run is at night, so (depending on the season) you only get a few hours of scenery.

I have to disagree firmly here, based on experience (at least, EB). In winter, the segments you run into during breakfast (think 6-8 AM) can be quite magnificent (steep valleys with ice coating the walls all throughout), and I've enjoyed the scenery on the segments in Western MD/WV when the sun's been up for me to see. But I also know that it's not the Rockies by any stretch.

I think that we're really in agreement - I agree that the scenery that you do get is pretty good, but my primary complaint is the quantity, not the quality of the scenery. Upon further reflection, the Auto Train has the same quantity issue, and additional quality issues - flat land and endless pine trees aren't that exciting, so I'd put that below the Cap.

 

[OlympianHiawatha]

I have always found the "Big Industry" stretch between south Chicago and just past Gary-Hammond to be fascinating as it gives a close up view of the classic factories and mills that made helped build the Chicago region. Back in the late 60s, we made frequent car trips in the big Buick to Elkhart IN from the Northwest Suburbs of Chicago and I always enjoyed seeing all the heavy industry, bridges, trains and everything else I could lay my hands on. More than once, Mom would get a sniff of the mills and turn right to my Dad and bitterly accuse him of "something." :lol:

 

[alang]

The California Zephyr could very well be the most scenic (Rocky Mountains and the Sierra Nevada's) and perhaps the most boring (the Salt Flats and Nevada) but beauty is in the eye of the beholder.