EppyGA
Touchdown! Greaser!
I would like to take the train from Toronto to Vancouver. I hear that is a spectacular ride.
first Amtrak ride
- Thread starter olasek
- Start date
olasek
Pattern Altitude
This map shows what a variety of different track gauges exists all over the world:
Get on the train in Kamloops, you can miss everything East of there, it's one big flat wheat field LOL. Kamloops to Vancouver however will take you through the Frazier River Canyon on the CNs tracks. That is definitely a gorgeous ride. Heading N from there though I suggest a boat or seaplane up the inside passage.
- Joined
- Sep 19, 2005
- Messages
- 9,486
- Display Name
Display name:
Pilawt
And miss Banff and the Bow River Valley?! No way; get on westbound in Edmonton and enjoy the Canadian Rockies.
Everskyward
Experimenter
- Joined
- Mar 19, 2005
- Messages
- 33,453
- Display Name
Display name:
Everskyward
I took Amtrak from Denver to San Francisco and back once just for something to try. One way would have been enough. Actually the train doesn't go all the way to San Francisco. You get on a bus in Oakland. One thing I noticed was that trains go through the most desolate neighborhoods of every town, for obvious reasons. No one wants to live near the train tracks.
I took the Capital Corridor Amtrak train from Davis to Oakland every day for about 3 years. Some great memories from those years:
- In the fall, someone would bring aboard a TV and we'd watch Monday Night Football on the way home. Halfway, we'd need to switch from the bay area tv station to the Sacramento station.
- I played bridge with some regulars almost daily. If we were short someone, we'd size up the passengers and talk some poor sucker into learning the game for the day.
- During the summer, the tracks would get so hot that we would have significant speed restrictions.
- When I moved on, there was a party (we always had excuses for parties) and I was presented with a railroad spike.
- Joined
- Sep 19, 2005
- Messages
- 9,486
- Display Name
Display name:
Pilawt
The opening scenes of the movie Pal Joey illustrate the arrival in Oakland and ferry crossing to San Francisco in a simpler time:
alfadog
Final Approach
A couple of years ago, right after New's Years, my then 10-year-old son and I flew from Denver to Midway then by subway to a few blocks from the CHI Amtrak station. Walked across the river (canal?) in bitter cold to board the California Zephyr for San Francisco. We had a cozy little roomette and it was all I could do to pry him out of it for the next 52 hours or so. We loved it and had a blast! All meals included, met some interesting folks, and saw some beautiful country go by. Definitely recommended! And I paid less than $500 or $600 for both of us, including the roomette!!
Last edited:
denverpilot
Tied Down
Heh. "International Settlement".
Next time I go into there I'll be on floats.
Edmonton is another good spot to load, but there are routes through there I'd much rather drive or fly. The passes throught the rockies you can keep. There wasn't one test out of the 6 times I went through there we didn't Find Vertical Split Heads that would run though 4 full rail lengths...lol. Better than Mexico though.
Last edited:
Chip Sylverne
Final Approach
- Joined
- Jun 17, 2006
- Messages
- 6,008
- Display Name
Display name:
Quit with the negative waves, man.
When I was in college I would ride Amtrak between HFD and Gainesville, Florida. Didn't even have to change trains in NYC. Always got a berthette. On one occasion I brought a girlfriend home for the holidays. The rocking and swaying motion of the train overnight was, let's say, magnificent.
I always felt sorry for the passengers who spent the night in those seats.
I always felt sorry for the passengers who spent the night in those seats.
I did Denver-Chicago one year for Airventure. Picked up a car and drove up to Oshkosh. Then continued a few days later into Buffalo, NY to visit the relatives.
Flew home commercial.
I would defintely take the train again, but only with a sleeper compartment. As comfortable as the Zephyr seats are, I really want to sleep better when I'm spending 2 nights on the train.
olasek
Pattern Altitude
This is true probably in large cities, but not smaller ones. For example around the LA trains indeed goes through some areas full of junkyards. However there were many surprises when for example you left all these junkyards behind and all of a sudden you were in the middle of some incredible rare scenery with huge boulders (someone was explaining what it was but I forgot). Also when you cut for example through Santa Barbara - there was nothing "desolate" about the parts of towns you went through. But >95% of the trip is through country side. I see the major drawback of Amtrak in its punctuality (or lack of), a friend was taking a trip and was supposed to preside over a wedding - arrived 8 hours after the wedding
While this is true for the most part in the US, there are a few exceptions (including IIRC Horseshoe Bend Kentucky where the tracks run lengthwise down the middle of Main St. I almost got hit by a truck swinging out to do a hand test.
). In Canada however it's much the opposite. We used to get tied up for the night on back tracks in great parts of town right next to clubs and bars. One night we got tied up at the Seagram's loading dock. We pulled out in the morning loaded with complimentary cases (many multiples!) of booze including stuff you don't see on the shelves.
Last edited:
On the northeeast corridor, Amtrak owns the track. Pretty much anywhere else, they lease trackage rights from the freight railways. Along the BNSF mainline going accross MN/ND they are travelling at 80+mph, but that slot is carefully fit into the freight schedule. If they are a couple of minutes late and fall out of their slot, they have to line up behind the coal trains and get slowed down to the 40mph that they travel at.
wsuffa
Touchdown! Greaser!
That's very much true in parts of the northeast (Philly and Newark, this means you...) that were industrial neighborhoods that have dried up. Not so much for folks not wanting to live near tracks, but more that a big revenue source for trains since the beginning was freight. You'll find much of the industry that made for placement of the early rail lines has dried up and gone elsewhere.
There are some nice neigborhoods along lines like the Philly main line, the rail through Connecticut, and up the Hudson Valley. Newark & parts of Philly along the NEC are a blight. I'd suspect that Detroit is much the same way.
I fully understand that - not had the pleasure to take the train cross-country... yet.
kclimie
Pre-Flight
TSA is working on that. You'll get to do it for the train soon.
And not long after that there will be mandatory check points along the Interstates. I don't envy you for the mess you'll deal with up by the MouseTrap.
wsuffa
Touchdown! Greaser!
denverpilot
Tied Down
I knew the article and others where they've done "tests" and log-jammed mass transit. Shouldn't have done the winkie, really.
Thank God even with the insane money spent on them, they're underfunded to meet that "mandate" they made up to grow their empire.
Threefingeredjack
En-Route
- Joined
- Mar 18, 2012
- Messages
- 3,171
- Location
- Central Oregon/Hawaii
- Display Name
Display name:
Threefingeredjack
Mission creep in DHS is impossible because of the "Do Everything" mandate.