A look at Amtrak's Auto Train

Used it for about 8 yrs, shure beats driving, but prices have gone up, and perks have gone away, no more second helping on wine, ect.  Also prices change at the end of April, so this does not help us snowbirds who do not like to leave early

How are the cars loaded onto the train.  Are people allowed to drive their own cars on or do Amtrak employees?

Phoebe Snow Route posted:

How are the cars loaded onto the train.  Are people allowed to drive their own cars on or do Amtrak employees?

Never ridden it but in Sanford I've watched Amtrak employees drive the cars onto the train.  

Bill

They have a contractor who handles the car loading. Just an observation from having done the round trip annually for a few years, the crew in Lorton is definitely more considerate  with the cars than the crew in Sanford.

Always make sure you do a 360 walk around when you pick up the car. You can only claim damage while your car is still at the station. Notice it later, you're SOL. 

Phoebe Snow Route posted:

How are the cars loaded onto the train.  Are people allowed to drive their own cars on or do Amtrak employees?

Amtrak employees load the cars. When my car came off the train, there was a bit of damage. They parked my car too close to the end of the rail car. I think the loading ramp is set vertical for the trip. The ramp or something cut through my bumper like someone had taken a saw to it. Everyone was gone and I'm wondering "where is my car". They saw the damage and set my car aside. Amtrak covered the repairs 100% with a new bumper, not a big deal.

Judging by the amount of motor homes heading north on routes 75 or 95 , on April 1st . I'd say your heading the wrong way. Nobody left in Florida to see!!!!

I assembled a sort-of model of the AT and ran it on my test track after years of collecting the autroracks and a shorter hunt for Superliners and motive power,

I call it a "sort of" model since it has only nine Superliners and 12 auto carriers. I actually have 15, but the last three are in Phase III stripes and I'd prefer having them repainted into something resembling the current scheme (i.e. hoping to find a custom painter)

---PCJ

Bob,

Thank you for the photos of the Auto Train.  I remember seeing it at Lorton when I worked in Virginia.  I left there in 1993, so it has been there a while

PCJ,

I watched you videos of your Auto Train.  Very nice train and videos.  Well done.

I grew up in North Florida, pretty far from Sanford. I wish I'd had an excuse to ride the thing, considering the number of times I wound up in the DC area.

As a kid, I recall seeing it in the pre-Amtrak days. I clearly recall seeing a steam loco tender in the consist, which I recognized even then. I now know that those were steam boilers, modified from the tenders I recognized them as. I don't think any have survived to this day, though. You can check that roster here.

Bandob, Thanks for the interesting photo-documentary. Some quick research tells me that this is one of Amtrak's most financially successful trains. Perhaps someday there will be another auto-train route across another part of the country.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Auto_Train

During fiscal year 2011, the Auto Train carried over 250,000 passengers, a 6.4% increase over FY2010. The train had a total revenue of US$68,618,768 in FY2011, an increase of 12.5% over FY2010. The Auto Train had the highest revenue of any long-distance train in the Amtrak system.

thanks  I took it 3 summers back ,loved it but I would pay the extra for valet loading,,and unloading,,,it was 50 bucks each way,,,but cuts the wait time down drastically .food was great also,good service all round,would love to do it again

If they could figure out a way to get it to Northern New Jersey, they'd double their business!

Jon

Our neighbors just took the Auto-Train and then drove to the western panhandle for a wedding.  My wife & I took the Crescent to Atlanta instead and then rental car to meet them.  All of us enjoyed our respective train trip it seems, and much more so than the other folks who flew down. 

Amtrak calls it the longest passenger train in the world.  But in reality, is it the longest MIXED train in th world?

Dominic Mazoch posted:

Amtrak calls it the longest passenger train in the world.  But in reality, is it the longest MIXED train in th world?

They call it a passenger train because they aren't allowed to do "mixed" trains as the freight railroads whine to their congress people about stealing traffic from them.

Ace posted:

Bandob, Thanks for the interesting photo-documentary. Some quick research tells me that this is one of Amtrak's most financially successful trains. Perhaps someday there will be another auto-train route across another part of the country.

I thought that train lost something like $20K on every run?

Whenever I see the subject of the Auto-Train, I think about what a great deal it would be if Amtrak could run an Auto-Train from Houston to Austin to Dallas/Ft. Worth to Denver. Considering how many people from Texas vacation and ski in Colorado, a train like this would be packed year-round. People would load up their SUVs, have an overnight trip to Denver, unload their SUVs and head for the mountains.

This would mimic the route of the old Burlington Texas Zephyr (Denver-Dallas Ft. Worth) and Sam Houston Zephyr (Dallas Ft. Worth-Houston). Unfortunately, these tracks are heavily used by freights, and scheduling passenger trains would be difficult, to say the least.

breezinup posted:

Whenever I see the subject of the Auto-Train, I think about what a great deal it would be if Amtrak could run an Auto-Train from Houston to Austin to Dallas/Ft. Worth to Denver. Considering how many people from Texas vacation and ski in Colorado, a train like this would be packed year-round. People would load up their SUVs, have an overnight trip to Denver, unload their SUVs and head for the mountains.

This would mimic the route of the old Burlington Texas Zephyr (Denver-Dallas Ft. Worth) and Sam Houston Zephyr (Dallas Ft. Worth-Houston). Unfortunately, these tracks are heavily used by freights, and scheduling passenger trains would be difficult, to say the least. Too bad, because this would be an ideal use for an Auto-Train. 

breezinup posted:

Whenever I see the subject of the Auto-Train, I think about what a great deal it would be if Amtrak could run an Auto-Train from Houston to Austin to Dallas/Ft. Worth to Denver. Considering how many people from Texas vacation and ski in Colorado, a train like this would be packed year-round. People would load up their SUVs, have an overnight trip to Denver, unload their SUVs and head for the mountains.

Really?  Texans go to Colorado for vacation?  As an east coast transplant, the cold weather and snow can stay in Colorado, thank you very much.  I seem to remember a midwest Auto route that existed for a while, but was eventually cancelled.  I don't remember if it was due to lack of patronage or profitability.

My sister and B-in-Law are FL residents.  They 'summer' in Maine for a brief spell.  They gave the AT two shots.  Never again.  And they paid for sleeper accommodations, too.  They detest the drive on I-95, but now considering the expense for the AT, they simply drive shorter legs, take more breaks, etc..

On my last visit with my sister & her hubby we talked again about the AT....and that it would have even greater appeal were it to have a terminus farther north....northern NJ, e.g..  However, the current AT basically is a two-train operation....one set heading north while the other set heads south.  If you tried to stretch that route farther, you'd need MULTIPLE trains, since the trip and turn-around could not possibly be done in one 24-hour stretch.....especially with the usual delays that STILL exist.   Couple that with the already busy-and-then-some D.C.-to-NYC/Boston corridor, and I'd say it'd be worse than a nightmare in scheduling.  Accidents, equipment malfunctions, construction zones, weather delays, etc., etc.,.......it's not a pretty picture in my mind.

Conceptually for this country and its expanse between seasonally lucrative sites, it makes sense superficially.  From a business perspective, though, I doubt that prospective ledger sheets would be very encouraging to investors.   Remember, even the current AT doesn't own the track and all of its concomitant expenses.  It may have some scheduling priorities, but since it shares someone else's track with someone else's trains, those priorities can be meaningless if there's a 'snafu' among the other traffic.  And that, BTW, is what happened on my sister's last ride....resulting in some expensive trickle-down defaults on other portions of their northern post-AT trip. 

Ah, well, the dreams and debates will continue, I'm sure.

KD

If you are on schedule of interconnections do not take Amtrak unless they are ALL Amtrak.  You may be on the bus for some of those interconnections but...  Amtrak finally sued the railroads and got a decent, but not great, ruling and compensation.  Nowadays once something bad happens the freight railroads have a strike against them regardless so how late you are become rather meaningless.

Got home yesterday on the Coast Starlate.  And it has that euphemistic name for a reason.  Got to San Jose 3.5 hours late.  Was only 3 hours late in Oakland but now that it was late the priority shifted to everything that was on time.  I have never gotten to my destination less that 2 hours late.  I do not expect it too, I sat back and enjoy the journey.  The folks who were trying to make the last train from Los Angeles to San Diego at 10PM were another thing. 

One of those latenesses last August was an Amtrak problem due to a stuck brake on a P42 slowing to a meet with its southbound counterpart and didn't make it off the main before they had to stop.  Most of the other delays on the Starlate were also due to stuck brakes on freight trains and that is what happened in the Cascade mountains Wednesday night by a freight that didn't make far enough into the siding for us to clear (going upgrade, we were going downgrade).   The uh huh part is I have never been on any Amtrak train that has been affected by stuck brakes anywhere else in the country.  

A TX-CO AT would run on both the BNSF, then BNSF-UP "Joint Line" coal corridors.  Is that really a good route?

ecd15 posted:

breezinup posted:

Whenever I see the subject of the Auto-Train, I think about what a great deal it would be if Amtrak could run an Auto-Train from Houston to Austin to Dallas/Ft. Worth to Denver. Considering how many people from Texas vacation and ski in Colorado, a train like this would be packed year-round. People would load up their SUVs, have an overnight trip to Denver, unload their SUVs and head for the mountains.

Really?  Texans go to Colorado for vacation?  As an east coast transplant, the cold weather and snow can stay in Colorado, thank you very much.  I seem to remember a midwest Auto route that existed for a while, but was eventually cancelled.  I don't remember if it was due to lack of patronage or profitability.

Oh yeah!  There is nothing more fun for New Mexico and Colorado resident skiers than to watch beginning skiers from Texas.  Texans seem to believe they can learn anything without any assistance and the consequences are VERY entertaining.

ecd15 posted:

breezinup posted:

Whenever I see the subject of the Auto-Train, I think about what a great deal it would be if Amtrak could run an Auto-Train from Houston to Austin to Dallas/Ft. Worth to Denver. Considering how many people from Texas vacation and ski in Colorado, a train like this would be packed year-round. People would load up their SUVs, have an overnight trip to Denver, unload their SUVs and head for the mountains.

Really?  Texans go to Colorado for vacation? 

You are kidding, right? Colorado is maybe the most popular vacation spot for Texans. Back in the 70s, Texas had a proposal to establish a Texas State Park in Colorado. Needless to say, that hit a brick wall. There is substantial Texas money invested in Colorado ski areas - Vail was pretty much established by Texans. Colorado is very popular as a destination year-round. There are large ski conventions in major Texas cities during the fall, ski outfitter businesses are well established (at least here in DFW), and there is huge traffic to ski areas from Texas. Certain airlines even have special flights added to their schedules from certain Texas cities to Colorado in the winter to accommodate skiers. Lots of people go up other times of the year for everything from river rafting to golf (in cool air) to fishing to hunting to hiking to jeeping on mountain trail roads.

Of course, Colorado folks have their Texas jokes . For example, years ago when I lived in Denver (before moving to Dallas) there was a joke about how do you get from Colorado to Texas? The answer is that you go east until you smell it, and then you go south until you step in it.

Thanks for the photos.

We have taken the AT many times and would take it again, always in a sleeper. Some good travel times 14 hrs .. some not so good 24 hrs. Once they get behind they have to pull over to keep the other traffic on time. Had to stop in the middle of nowhere for a new crew because they went past their allowable run time .I would prefer somewhere in NJ too, Maybe wrong but I was under the impression there were logistical issues with the car carriers and some tunnels.

Last time we took it they were building the new station in Sanford, Lorton was just finished.

I like the idea of Valet loading...One trip we were the 2nd to last car off the still beats drive...Pedro says signs can get old quickly!

Wow, I cannot believe the lack of positive comments on a site devoted to train enthusiasts! I really enjoyed both of my trips even though my car was damaged on one. Air travel is just as bad, if not worse. Except for the cost, I would take the train every time.

Oman posted:

Wow, I cannot believe the lack of positive comments on a site devoted to train enthusiasts! I really enjoyed both of my trips even though my car was damaged on one. Air travel is just as bad, if not worse. Except for the cost, I would take the train every time.

They are simply being factual.

I am hoping to take the bike or the convertible down on the AT some day.  I love riding/driving but this would make the best of both worlds.

With that said, my Amtrak experiences have been interesting.  And often the delays (even with the extremely padded schedule) is due to the freight carriers lack of interest in Amtrak service.

I always thought passenger service would have been better if the few long distance trains were a mandated public service by the freight carriers and that we subsidized them to run the passenger trains.  They would then have at least somewhat vested interest in keeping the trains on time and moving.

Unlike the last time I was on Amtrak and we sat at a stop signal for 20 minutes waiting for a trash train.

Oman posted:

Wow, I cannot believe the lack of positive comments on a site devoted to train enthusiasts!

What thread are you reading then? I've seen plenty of positive comments here.

I'm never ridden the AT, but my wife (who is no big fan of trains) and I with some friends did a very long trip on Amtrak this past September. We travelled all the way from Penn Station in NYC to Seattle via the NE corridor, then Capitol Limited, then Empire Builder, then Cascades to the station 10 miles from our place. Other than the last leg on the Cascades (weekday commuters who wouldn't shut up), we enjoyed it very much.

We took it down to FLA from VA last January and loved it so much I did a little video, great family time together!

https://youtu.be/sNugFbkgK-0

Here's a second video, pre-boarding....

Glad to hear that you enjoyed the trip!

I have always wanted to take the auto-train but have a hard time justifiying the cost to do so.  

Next month we are flying from Washington Dulles to Jacksonville for $145 roundtrip each.  Three airline tickets and the price of a rental car comes out to less than coach seating and the car transportation fee. 

Unfortunately, I find this true of almost anywhere I look into travelling on Amtrak. 

On occassion when we travel into NYC, however, we love to take the train.

Jim

Rule292 posted:

Oman posted:

Wow, I cannot believe the lack of positive comments on a site devoted to train enthusiasts! I really enjoyed both of my trips even though my car was damaged on one. Air travel is just as bad, if not worse. Except for the cost, I would take the train every time.

They are simply being factual.

I am hoping to take the bike or the convertible down on the AT some day.  I love riding/driving but this would make the best of both worlds.

With that said, my Amtrak experiences have been interesting.  And often the delays (even with the extremely padded schedule) is due to the freight carriers lack of interest in Amtrak service.

I always thought passenger service would have been better if the few long distance trains were a mandated public service by the freight carriers and that we subsidized them to run the passenger trains.  They would then have at least somewhat vested interest in keeping the trains on time and moving.

Unlike the last time I was on Amtrak and we sat at a stop signal for 20 minutes waiting for a trash train.

Actually, that was one proposal to keep passenger trains running, instead of what became Amtrak in the late 1960's, very early 19070's.

This is a interesting post. 

My now Wife and I took a trip to the south of France on SNCF Motorail back in 2000 with my DeLorean.

One difference was that they did not have a dining car. A packed dinner could be ordered or you could bring your own.

I ordered a hamper from Harrods so we drove into central London and picked that up on the way. I saw to many Bond films and TV shows like the Persuaders and Return of the Saint as a kid  .

I had wanted to take the Hovercraft (Diamonds are forever)  from Dover to Calais but when we booked our trip we were informed that they were being withdrawn from service 3 months before. So we took the Channel Tunnel to Calais then went to the Motorail station. Car was loaded and then we waited around at the station till the train was ready. Overnight took us to  Avigion where the train split. One section goes to Nice and the other heads towards Spain. 

We got off at Avigion where the car was off loaded while we had breakfast. And we then drove the rest of the way to Monaco. 

It was a fantastic trip. I'll have to dig out some pictures.

Nick

jd-train posted:

Glad to hear that you enjoyed the trip!

I have always wanted to take the auto-train but have a hard time justifiying the cost to do so.  

Next month we are flying from Washington Dulles to Jacksonville for $145 roundtrip each.  Three airline tickets and the price of a rental car comes out to less than coach seating and the car transportation fee. 

Unfortunately, I find this true of almost anywhere I look into travelling on Amtrak. 

On occassion when we travel into NYC, however, we love to take the train.

Jim

My little one has severe food allergies, so no flights for her (peanuts).   Plus it was "part of the vacation" really, we'll do it again next year if we can, maybe we'll go both ways this time as the drive home was long (after five days of "Disney Fatigue").

That's got to be tough not having the option to fly when travelling.

My wife has back problems, and has a hard time sitting in a car for an extended period of time, and that is why we usually fly when we visit my parents in Florida.  If we drive, it is usually a two day drive for us.  Perhaps a future trip for us might involve taking the auto train one way, and driving back with a couple day stopover in Myrtle Beach.    I hadn't really considered this before!

At one time, Amtrak charged extra for SUV's because of the height.  It looks like they no longer do so.

Jim

Here is Amtrak's reported "On Time Performance" for the Auto Train. Unfortunately they don't state the degree of being late.

https://www.amtrak.com/auto-tr...erticalRouteOverview

"the train went through a town where there was road on either side and houses no more than 50 feet from the mainline. Can't believe people still live in those houses"

That at would be Ashland VA, just north of Richmond. A great rail fan spot & I would love to own one of those homes!

Whenever I here the AT, I always think of Bill Murray doing his "Nick The Lounge Singer" skit from Saturday Night Live. He called himself Nick Rails on this one. Fun stuff to watch on DVDs.