How many of you have taken a long trip on the train? Just got back, WOW!

I've done some overnight trips up and down the east coast, but nothing that long. 

I go at least once a year, Toledo,Chicago,Seattle,Vancouver,Toronto,Montreal,Schenectady,Toledo.

Eddie you should do VIA Rail at least once.

 

Clem 

 

 

Eddie, my first long train trip...has so far been my last. That was a trip in 1962 from Detroit to St. Louis on the Wabash "Cannonball". Then from St. Louis on the Texas "Eagle" right on down to San Antonio...about 1400 miles. We all ate like kings in the diner and had private sleeper compartments on the train ride down...but what a rude awakening the following morning when we arrived for our first day of basic training...

Rather than drive down to L.A. from S.F., why not take Amtrak's Coast Starlight? Then your whole trip would be on Amtrak's long distance trains. From the upper level cars, the view of the coast and beaches are beautiful, especially through Santa Barbara. By the way, that will be a lot of railroad miles.

How recent, and just the Cumbres and Toltec last September, which may not count?

Long trips on today's railroads have all been overseas.

Ed.  Myself and Linda took the Lake shore limited to Chicago about 2 years ago when Mike graduated boot camp. Lots of train things to see along the way.   Just make sure your back in time for York!   

I've ridden all the western Amtrak routes out of Chicago, and just last summer rode the Lake Shore Limited from Chicago to Syracuse and return. All great trips, but the scenery on the western trips is more interesting, in my opinion.

I had to ride in a coach overnight on the eastbound part of the Lake Shore trip, and I have to say that paying for first class (sleeping compartment and meals included) is WELL worth the extra cost, especially since you will be on the road for many days.

You will have a great time, enjoy!

Eddie......it sounds like a blast!

 

Peter

It's not as long and great a trip as yours, but in August we will be doing a baseball safari to see the Pirates, Nationals, and Orioles in the same weekend.  They all happen to be playing at home on the same weekend.  

 

We will all fly to Pittsburgh and then take the Chicago to DC train (which goes through Pittsburgh) down to DC on Saturday morning, and then either MARC or Amtrak from DC to Baltimore on Sunday morning, and then Amtrak after the last game from Baltimore to NYC (my friends) and finally to Providence, RI (me).

 

I'm particularly looking forward to the Pittsburgh to DC leg because it's NOT in the Northeast Corridor. I travel from Providence to NYC and Philly/DC all the time, so seeing a new route will be part of the treat.

 

Steven J. Serenska

 

Sounds like quite a trip. Enjoy.

Amtrak overnight???   Avoid coach at all costs !   Sleeper is the way to do it.  Otherwise, you'll need a gas mask, blindfold, and ear plugs !

We need to go to Washington DC from NC in a couple months but honestly we are scared right now due to all of the train derailments lately.May end up driving it instead.

I second that.  The Coast Starlight was the best train on our 2010 tour that was similar to yours, and it offers a closeup look at how the Pacific beaches differ from the Atlantic.

"We need to go to Washington DC from NC in a couple months but honestly we are scared right now due to all of the train derailments lately.May end up driving it instead."

 

That made me curious about the safety of I-95, a road I hate to drive. I did a Google search, and from 2004-2008 I-95 in NC and VA had .78 fatalities/mile.

 

Not as bad as MD, which was .97 fatalities/mile, nor Florida, 1.73 fatalities/mile.

 

 

Next month my wife an I will take Amtrak from Williams, AZ to the TCA convention in New York: Southwest Chief to Chicago, Capitol Limited to DC and NE Corridor to NYC.  Then NJ Transit down to New Brunswick.  Sleeper all the way using our Amtrak Master Card travel points.  This is the only way to travel!

A while back I returned from Chicago by the CAPITOL and PENNSYLVANIAN.  I had a sleeper on the CAPITOL leg and I was hoping we would be a little bit late so I could get some extra winks.  No such luck.  We were right on time (around 5 AM) at Pittsburgh.

Went from Albany to NYC and then to Pittsburgh.   Would like to go on a long trip

Really?  You should be worried about the idiots that are on the road texting, yacking on their cell, etc.  That is what will kill or hurt you.  Most accidents happen within a few miles of your home.

 

The chances of you being involved in an automobile accident and being hurt or killed are MUCH, MUCH, MUCH, MUCH higher than being in a train derailment and being injured or killed.  If you have the optioin, take the train.  It is by far safer. 

Eddie, love the first class rooms with your own bathroom including shower. You will have fun. Where you staying in SF? Don

In SF we are staying at the Holiday Inn at Fishermans Wharf

 

 As for as driving from SF to LA, are the sites better driving or taking the starlight (daylight)??????????

 

 Also in LA we are seeing the Dodgers-Giants Fathers day June 21th. We are sitting right along the side of the Dodgers dugout.

Eddie, driving from SF to LA you could go down HWY 1 which is a very scenic drive. I live along the coast area about halfway in between were you'll be driving through. If you drive through you could visit my extremely small layout. 

Roman, Thankyou for that offer, but we are on a very tight schedule.

 

The starlight leaves Emeryville to early in the morning, & to get to it you have a 40 min bus ride, and it doesn't get to LA till 9pm. I think we will stick to driving rt 1 down the coast. I think that it will be more interesting.

Your location in SF is a good one Eddie. Three blocks from the cable car turn around and an easy walk to Fisherman's wharf. Have dinner or lunch at Sabella's. You'll love it. Don

Rode "The Canadian" from Toronto to Vancouver last summer.  First class all the way!  Have yet to ride on Amtrak.

 

 

Kent in SD

Eddie - there are basically three driving routes between SF and LA.  The fastest is down the central valley on I-5 - google maps sez its 390 miles downtown to downtown and 6 hours, which is about right if traffic out of SF and into LA is light (a rare event).  Other wise add another hour at least.  This is by far the least scenic and large sections of I-5 are two-lane (each direction) and at times wall-to-wall trucks (though not as bad as I-70 almost anywhere east of St. Louis).  You also have to go pedal-to-the-metal just to keep up.

 

The second option is down US-101 - which takes you through Santa Barbara and then down the coast to LA (past the unfortunate oil spill in the current headlines).  Way more scenic than I-5 - slightly longer is distance - 450 miles and probably 8 hours on a good day.

 

The third option is CA-1 - which can be done in a variety of ways - part way on 101 or the entire trip via 1.  If the latter, its slightly longer - still 470 miles but at least 9 to 10 hours - 99% of it is is single lane in each direction and between Monterey and San Luis Obispo, its slow going - lots of curves, etc.  But it is, of course, absolutely gorgeous if there is no fog (with the fog, its still beautiful - just not jaw-droppingly stunning).  But its a real long drive - to be fair to you and the scenery, you should take two days to do it.

 

And then there's Amtrak.  My recollection is that its pretty close to dead-on 11 hours from Emeryville to LA.  A lot of the route between SF and San Luis parallels US-101 - though there are parts of that trip along the SF Bay shore that are quite pretty and not accessible by road.  South of San Luis, the rails are mainly along the coast - through Vandenberg AF Base and then eventually to Santa Barbara.  That part of the trip is basically inaccessible by road - and its stunning in clear weather.  From Santa Barbara into LA, you are mostly right next to US-101 (on the coast side) - and that part of the CA coast is again quite beautiful (messed up for a stretch by the d*** oil spill) - especially at the time of day the train goes through there - late afternoon sun.

 

One obvious advantage of the train is you aren't battling the traffic - its a bit longer overall, but if the weather is good - and the folks in the dining car are 'on' - its well worth the time.

Rich, Thanks for your help. I guess it is a catch 22 situation. This is what we are going to do, 101 out of SF to 156 to rte 1 near Monterey. from there we are going to follow rte 1 to San Luis Obispo, & get back on 101 to LA. How's that sound?

I rode from Austin to Dallas on the Texas Eagle a couple of months ago. The train crew did a good job, but the normal route was blocked by a derailment and we had to take a different route to get to Dallas. The train was over 5 hours late. I'm a bit philosophical about that trip; it allowed me to ride over what is normally freight-only ex-Katy trackage.

 

On the other hand, I took the California Zephyr from Glenwood Springs, Colorado to Denver on May 14th. It was a beautiful ride and the train arrived in Denver on schedule.

Done the Amtrak, Mount Pleasant Iowa to Emeryville CA, twice. Done the Rocky Mountaineer once. Will be doing deluxe VIA Vancouver to Toronto this summer.

by long do you mean distance or time?  my guess would be that the US has the slowest passenger trains in the world.  take out the NE corridor and i would even put money on it.

 

occasionally i will take the San Diego to Del Mar train to watch the horse races only to relax and give me time to read the Racing Digest, but it's sad to see cars on I-5 outpacing the train.

 

cheers...gary

In my opinion, I sure hope we keep it that way too. The tax burden for "high speed rail travel" would be too much for the working class to bear in this country.

 

Eddie, depending on your schedule you could take HWY 1 all the way down from SF to San Luis, although it is more time consuming. Hwy 156 to Monterey then to San Luis will give you a good part of the scenic coast and then hopping on the 101 would be good. Depending on the time day day you hit the 101 it should take about 3.5 to 4 hours to the general LA area depending on traffic and potty stops.

 

If you hit anywhere near rush hour you'll hit traffic in Santa Barbara and then slow down again as you get in to the San Fernando Valley.

 

Sounds like a great trip. Whenever I get the chance to go back to York I want to take Amtrak from there back home.

Eddie, enjoy your heavily taxpayer subsidized trip--it's one of the rare occasions when taxpayers like many of us on the forum get to recover benefits from the taxes we've paid.

Were going to stop at Clint Eastwood's restaurant for lunch in Carmel. We will hit a lot of traffic as we get closer to LA, because we are doing this on Friday. Also, we have added Alcatraz to our stay in SF.

Eddie, check out the night tour of Alcatraz. Much better and very interesting. Don

I have done Sacramento to Reno on Amtrak,6 hours.Seville to Madrid 2 1/2 hours,Madrid to Barcelona,Vienna to Florence on the night train through the Alps,Florence to Paris on the night train,Paris to Munich on the night train,Prague to Dresden,Florence to Rome and many short runs in Europe.We will be there again this year riding trains for our long trips.

Mikey

Does being stuck on a train going up the northeast corridor that is running several hours late count?

My wife and I just returned from a trip on Amtrak. We went from San Diego to Buffalo and return. It was a kick but my old body wasn't made for a roomette. Next time we will get a bed room.

Except for fan trips and Euro Rail for business, not since riding Southern's Piedmont Limited bi-monthly on Sunday overnight from Greensboro to NYC's Penn Station in the early 1960s. Stayed at the Statler Hilton[former Pennsylvania Hotel]Returned on Friday overnight via the Peach Queen. At the time, great way to travel compared to Eastern's Electras to La Gaurdia plus taxis and hotel hassle.

I try to work in a trip on the VIA Canadian from Toronto-Vancouver at least once per year. Great food and lots to see from the dome car.

 

Less expensive in the winter, with lots to see when the trees loose their leaves.

 

The Dining Car has great food, and the trip is in refurbished original 1950's Budd cars. Historic, comfortable, great service and friendly passengers.