My Holiday Rail Journey

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MontanaJim

Service Attendant
Joined
Nov 14, 2011
Messages
225
Ok, ive made my bookings for my christmas holiday vacation. I will travel from my home in Washington DC on December 14th to Chicago on the Capital Limited, change trains, then take the southwest Chief to Los Angeles, Change to the Starlight and travel to Seattle. From there Ill take a bus to my mothers home in Montana. This half of my trip will conclude on December 20th.

After two weeks at home with my mom, Ill start out in Whitefish on January 5th and take the Empire Builder to Portland, connecting to the southbound Starlight to Sacramento. At Sacramento, Ill change to the California Zephyr to Chicago. In Chicago, Ill change to the Capitol Limited, travelling to Pittsburgh where I will switch to the Pennslvanian so that I can see Amish Country and the famous horseshoe curve. Ill board a regional in Philly to finish my journey back in DC on the 10th.

Now is this a trip or what? Am I nuts? And it will all be done in Coach ( im a low budget traveller). Im excited. After all these trains though, I think I wont want to board another one for another year. (Actually I would probably be willing to do it again with a weeks rest if I could).

Im lucky i havent used any vacation days all year and my boss is letting me take this much time off.

What do you guys think of my plans?
 
OBS Chief

Group: Members

Posts: 341

Member No.: 476

Joined: 19-March 05

Uh You might want to spend a night in Chicago before going on 30. 6 relaibility has essentally been sad anywhere from 2-7 Hours late. Most days they don't hold 30. Well then again 6 has been ontime Twice this month.

thanks for the info Amtrak fan. Im going to cross my fingers and hope for a connection. If i dont make it, its Amtrak's responsibility to put me up or get me on another train.
 
Since you're riding all those miles in coach...

Get some of those waterless bath cloths so you can freshen up in the restrooms. Or figure on a spongebath or two. You're going to be pretty funky otherwise by the time you hit Mom's.

#6's WB arrival times seem very hit-or-miss; I'd say the odds are even concerning your connection to #30 at CHI. As you pointed out, since Amtrak ticketed your connection, either you'll get it, or they'll do something for you -- we hope.

With any bit of good fortune, you'll be an hour or so late into Pittsburgh. As sad as it is to say, being OT into the 'Burgh with #30 is a drag if you're connecting to #42. At that time, about all you can do is hang out with the terminal crew (they are very nice, in my experiences), and watch whatever trains pass through. You'll enjoy the change in scenery across Pennsylvania by taking the Pennsylvanian. NS has not been doing all that bad a job in timekeeping with it lately. I plan on taking my kids for a ride on it in December.
 
Gee, and here I was getting all excited about taking the Cardinal from Indy to Chicago, then catching the Texas Eagle to Fort Worth! Quite a trip you have planned, although I would have booked at least two segments in a sleeper (although the price shoots up that way).

Happy traveling!
 
thanks for the info guys. Ill try to take as much of a bath as I can in the coach restrooms. Too bad Amtrak doesnt have a public shower, even if they charged 20 bucks for each use they could make money. id pay for it once in a while.

i thought about taking the zephyr westbound but my connection in LA between the westbound chief and northbound starlight works out better. Some of the rockies west of denver might be in the dark, but at least ill get to see the lights of denver, which i have heard are quite a sight to be seen at night from 10,000 ft!
 
From someone that has over 40,000 miles in the last 3 years you could do, in my opinion much better. I have traveled the routes that you are taking (more than once). A much better trip, in my opinion, would be as follows:

From DC to Chicago as you have it.

The Zephyr to Emeryville (You will have time to get the bus across the bridge to Fishermans Wharf for dinner and get back, without rushing, to catch the Starlight). The scenery is also much better on the Zephyr.

The Starlight to Seattle.

For the return I would reccomend as follows:

Back to Seattle however you choose.

To Vancover, BC however you choose.

From Vancover to Toronto on the Canadian (You will be sorry if you miss this opportunity).

The Maple Leaf to New York.

However you choose back to DC.

I would negotiate for a sleeper when I could. Either way you are going to need it.

RBK
 
MontanaJim, since you're riding coach, you don't have to worry about missing connections and loosing oversold sleeping car space. If you miss a connection, you'll find that Amtrak will do everything in their power to get you to your missed train by bus or overnighting you and wait until the next day's train. Just remember if you ever travel by sleeping car, you want to mitigate every possible missed connection because you aren't guaranteed that you'll get a sleeping car room on the next train, especially during the busy holiday travel period. It may be more expensive to spend the night in CHI instead of counting on your guarented connection, but if you miss your train, you're going to be in coach until you catch up to your reserved internary during the holiday travel period. Have a great trip!!! :rolleyes:
 
Thanks for the info guys. RKA, i think your itinerary is great and i plan to do something like that next christmas. I thought about taking the canadian this year, but decided that with Amtrak's woes that I would do exclusively Amtrak this year and do the via next year. If i do the via, i would buy a north american rail pass to do it. Either way, your plans would cost me about 200.00 extra. Id also like to see southern california on this trip.

I have done two across america trips on amtrak before, but its been over 10 years since Ive done it. Ive never been on the zephyr. And no matter whether i go east or west on the zephyr, i will have to see some things in the dark, especially if the train is late.
 
If you are determend to ride the Chief may I suggest carring along a lap-top with a GPS. It will show you where you are, what your elevation is above sea level and what speed the train is traveling. You may find the Chief screaming across the desert at well over 100 MPH instead the usual 79. Good Luck.

RBK
 
one drawback that i find with the canadian is much of the rockies is traveled in darkness. I think VIA could reschedule the train so more scenery can be seen in daylight. Amtrak does a pretty good job of this.
 
You may find the Chief screaming across the desert at well over 100 MPH instead the usual 79. Good Luck.
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Where does this odd number for speed, 79 MPH come from? Why not 80, or 75?

Seems a strange speed limit to impose. I know some speeds are based on track conditions, etc, but 79???

Thanks!!
 
MrFSS said:
You may find the Chief screaming across the desert at well over 100 MPH instead the usual 79. Good Luck.
Click to expand...
Where does this odd number for speed, 79 MPH come from? Why not 80, or 75?

Seems a strange speed limit to impose. I know some speeds are based on track conditions, etc, but 79???

Thanks!!
Click to expand...
Well 79 is not technically the speed limit in the normal sense that one thinks of speed limits. The way it works is this, in order to go 80 MPH or higher, you must have Positive Train Control (PTC). PTC means that if the engineer blows the signal, that computers on the train will stop the train. The dispatcher always knows precisely where the train is at all times within a few feet, signals and speeds are based upon track conditions and the proximity of other trains ahead.

If the engineer goes to fast for any reason, the computer will warn him and failing to correct things, the computer will again take action. Esentially, both the train and the track communicate with a sophisticated computer at the dispatcher's office. Yes Amtrak's engines are already capable of many of these things, but the tracks that most trains run on are not capable of these things.

But returning to your question, 79 is the top speed, only because the law says that you must have PTC in order to go 80 MPH.
 
But returning to your question, 79 is the top speed, only because the law says that you must have PTC in order to go 80 MPH.
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Thanks, Alan - I learn something new about Amtrak everyday, here on this great Forum!!
 
My total railfare is $402.00 ( i got the student discount).

I think its a pretty good deal. Ive done cross country trips before, its just been 10 years and ive never done the zephyr, pennsylvanian, or lake shore limited.

i thought about doing the canadian, but decided with amtrak's current situation id do just amtrak on this trip. also, i noted that via is charging 372.00 (in us dollars) for coach one way vancouver-toronto for when i want to travel. Thats an outrageous price for someone like me who is a budget traveler. Im lucky i can afford the amtrak trip im doing. (id never be able to do it in sleeper. So for about the same price for a one way on the canadian, i can travel for a combined 10 days on amtrak.
 

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