Serious Amtrak Withdrawls

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NativeSon5859

Conductor
Joined
Aug 6, 2003
Messages
1,057
Location
NOLA
Well hello again everyone. I hope everyone's doing well. It has been too long.

After a taking an Amtrak hiatus of four months (a near record for me), I decided to buy a ticket for a my birthday next month. They have an amazing $36.60 one way price from NOL to CHI. That is just too good to pass up. I'm leaving NOL on 8/22, getting to CHI on the 23rd, then flying back home that night on American Airlines (a Boeing 777,always a good aircraft) as I have to work the next day.

This is nothing like my cross country adventure last year on the Zephyr, but it's all I had time for. Things have been crazy at work. I've been really neglecting Amtrak as of late. I'm trying to turn that around again. :)

So as usual, you can expect a trip report, and hopefully some pictures.

And if anyone knows how 58 has been running lately, I'd sure like to know. I'm assuming it's good as usual, but you never know.

Thanks again and happy railroading to all!
 
Good to hear from you again, seems like it's been ages. Have a good trip. I would definitely love to get on a 777 sometime, those are great planes. But JetBlue's Airbuses are really nice too, that extra inch in seat width vs. Boeing makes a huge difference.
 
If anyone has good knowledge of the Chicago area, I need some advice.

I was thinking of taking a Hiawatha roundtrip to MKE and back when I get to Chicago; however, the return train gets back to CHI for 2:32pm, something like that. My flight leaves O'Hare at 6:00pm. Would that give me enough time to get down there so that i'm not rushing?

I took the subway from O'Hare about five years ago and I seem to think it was an hour ride to downtown, but i'm not sure of that. I see that the Blue Line stop is just a couple of blocks away from CHI, so that may help me out.

Thanks!
 
I would allow at least 1 hour to reach O'Hare on the blue line. The line is a 2 - 1/2 block walk from Union Station. When you detrain, walk forward into the terminal and turn right. Follow that passageway until you walk by the METRA ticket windows. Just past the ticket area, turn right through the sliding glass doors into what was the terminal's main waiting area. It's actually the nicest part of the train station, IMHO.

Walk through that area, while angling left. On the left wall is an exit that leads to the right again. Follow that hall to the end and the exit to the street. Turn left and walk to the subway entrance under the freeway.

My concern would be the departure time you have. I wouldn't be surprised if the security lines are rather long at that hour, but I guess you'd be ok if you're on time returning from MKE.
 
I would think a 2:30 arrival at Union Station would give you more than enough time for a 6:00 flight. Barring, of course, some unforeseen event.

I'd offer to meet you at MKE for lunch, but I won't know what my work schedule will be that week (starting a new internship on the 22nd, and I don't know my hours yet). Besides, if your City was more than an hour late, you wouldn't be able to make the Hiawatha trip anyway.
 
Thanks for the advice guys.

I may just end up taking a METRA train to Aurora. It would get me back to CHI for 1:30. That extra hour may come in handy.
 
I did a trip out to Aurora on METRA last year, it was nothing to write home about, then again niether was the trip to MKE. :lol: It's probably cheaper to go to Aurora however, and too much time is better than not enough time.
 
NativeSon5859 said:
then flying back home that night on American Airlines (a Boeing 777,always a good aircraft) as I have to work the next day.
Click to expand...
Ah, you must be taking AA's flight 67 ORD to DFW, then to MSY. I took this flight a few times during my internship with AA. Have fun on the CoNO
 
Hi Bill, thanks, it's nice to be back.

So how's old 19/20 been doing as of late? Driving downtown last night I passed up NOL at 7:35 and I saw the Crescent in the station...pretty close to on time, always a good thing to see.
 

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