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Privately-Owned Rail Cars
- reaperducer 4y agoThere is a surprising number of big name entertainers who are afraid of flying, and either have their own rail cars, or rent them. You will occasionally see them parked on the siding by Symphony Park when they're playing Las Vegas.
- sargun 4y agoDoes anyone know if you can rent private cars? How much?
- Tangurena2 4y agoThere are some available for charter: https://www.aaprco.com/travel/cars-for-charter/ https://www.aaprco.com/travel/cars-for-charter/ > Typical pricing for a trip is along the lines of a high-end cruise. On average, the all-inclusive costs typically can run between $2,500 and $7,000 or more per car per day. But remember, a rail car may accommodate 6, 8, 10, 20 people or more. https://www.aaprco.com/travel/where-do-i-start/chartering-a-car-some-things-you-should-know/ https://www.aaprco.com/travel/where-do-i-start/chartering-a-...
- qull 4y agoThis was the percursor to private jets.
- allthecybers 4y agoWe’ve had the tiny houses, shipping container homes, then the van life or schoolie (school bus as a home) trend, al of which were clever interpretations on what a home actually is. I’m sure some enterprising YouTuber/lifestyle blogger could get us started on the private train car home era. I’m here for it.
- TigeriusKirk 4y agoI bet MrBeast could pull off a "I paid a guy $100,000 to spend a month in a private train car" or something.
- denkmoon 4y agoWouldn't even need to pay me to do it. The only thing stopping me is a lack of a private train car and presumably the significant expense of running it :(
- jesuscript 4y agoThere’s gotta be a Groupon for this. So long as anyone doesn’t have a major criminal record, I’m game.
- public_defender 4y agoWhy would a criminal record be relevant at all? Other than prior convictions for train robbery, I guess.
- darig 4y ago
- bergenty 4y agoHow much does a railcar cost?
- grogenaut 4y agoThey have several for sale linked from the article page, for instance a 1989 diner car which I think would have everything you'd need for an office, add a bed, food, bathroom, nice big windows.
- bombcar 4y agoYou also have to upgrade it to current safety standards and get it inspected. Lots of railroad museums will have old private cars, some even road worthy.
- IncRnd 4y agoFrom https://railcardeals.com/ https://railcardeals.com/ How Much Does a New Railcar Cost to Buy? The cost of a train car varies depending on the type of car and its features. For example, a passenger train car may cost more than a freight train car. The cost also depends on the train car’s brand, model, and year. On average, a train car costs between $100,000 and $200,000. How Much Does it Cost to Buy an Old Railroad Car? If you’re interested in purchasing an old rail car, there are a few things you need to know. First, it’s essential to know how much money you’re willing to spend. Rail cars can vary significantly in price, depending on their age, condition, and amenities. For example, an older car might cost less than $5,000, while a newer model with more features could cost upwards of $50,000.
- throwawaaarrgh 4y agookay, I'll bite: who asked for this?!
- dghlsakjg 4y agoPrivate cars have been a thing for a LONG time. This isn’t a new service
- kodt 4y agoExactly, I have on several occasions seen them stationed in Union Station in Chicago for as long as a week.
- whartung 4y agoThese aren't really being used by top hat wearing, cigar smoking moguls. Today they're basically private party trains and rail fan excursions.
- snvzz 4y agoAdd some desks and computers, and you've got a mobile office. Employees can hop in/out on stations to start/end their shifts. /s
- notpushkin 4y agoThis would actually make a cool coworking space. In Moscow, there's a city train line called MCC (Moscow Central Circle) which you can hop on for around $1 and just sit there all day. There are power sockets and Wi-Fi, and on stations there are vending machines with snacks and coffee. It's cozy and helps concentrate on things (for me at least). For the train geeks: the trains used there are a regional version of Siemens Desiro, called Lastochka which is Russian for the bird swallow.
- chiph 4y agoThis is my "if I won the lottery" dream. Which it would have to be, since everything about it isn't cheap. Purchasing a Pullman car then upgrading it to Amtrak standards will cost at least $300k. Any interior upgrades are on top of that (renovating the galley with modern appliances, adding central air since some cars used block ice for cooling). Amtrak requires you add 480v head-end power (but you will likely want a diesel generator too), door control/communication wiring, and to upgrade the braking system. Once you have your car and you have passed your annual inspection, you will need somewhere to park it, which usually means finding a short-line railroad or commercial business with a siding near you, and paying them a fee. Getting the car from there to the nearest Amtrak station will require you to hire a locomotive with crew (some tracks require a second car coupled to the locomotive so crossings & signals work correctly). Amtrak then has a whole schedule of fees they will charge you, from $4.09 per mile, overnight parking, fresh & wastewater servicing, transponder tags, and parking fees. You will want to hire a chef to prepare your meals and perhaps also a steward to serve the meals, make drinks, and take care of the staterooms. I'm not sure if they need to belong to the union since they would be your employees, not the railroads (but probably). For the less than 100 private cars in operation in America, why does Amtrak even offer this service? Like the first class section on an airliner, it's effectively all profit for them since the train was going there anyway and the extra fuel to haul it & supply power is minimal. Personally I wonder why Amtrak doesn't offer a "Presidential" fare, where 6 or so people can book a private car and get truly top tier service. Here's what a restored Pullman car can look like: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WdroQ4JqlYQ https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WdroQ4JqlYQ
- Kon-Peki 4y agoYou seem to know what you’re talking about, so… I’ve heard that occasionally (rarely) they need to put some “public” cars behind the private ones. And if that happens, you are not allowed to prevent the public passengers from walking through your private car to get between the public sections. Is that the case?
- chiph 4y agoYes that's true. They try to put private cars at the front or rear of a train, but sometimes they aren't able to. So you may have the public walking through as you eat dinner. Comes with the territory {shrug}. Train crew (conductors) always have the right to walk through the car. If your train goes into Tampa Florida for example, the train has to reverse out of the station to a wye so it can turn around. If you are the end car, the conductor will be there watching for problems, manning the emergency brake, and communicating with the engineer on their radio. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wye_(rail) https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wye_(rail) The new trainsets that Amtrak just ordered from Siemens Mobility come with cab cars, so the crew can use that to control the train and not be out in the weather (and have full gauges, etc.) The cab cars are part economy seating so if your private car is on that train, you will probably end up sandwiched between the cab car and the rest of the train and have people walking through.
- blueflow 4y agoIn germany, the privatisation and segmentation of the railway company has created many "interface points" where private entities can rent vehicles or use the tracks. This resulted in a vast amount of companies specializing in engine renting or vehicle transport, like Captrain/ITL or MRCE. The diversity in companies results in a big variety of color schemes. Train museums use these possibilities to run extraordinary trains [1]. Rarely you can see them as replacement trains in regular service[2]. [1] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nMZAAdP431o https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nMZAAdP431o [2] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3YqsIzKR3Uc https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3YqsIzKR3Uc
- deleted 4y ago[deleted]
- Doxin 4y agoOver here in the Netherlands you'll sometimes see museum trains used to tow stranded passenger trains.[0] Quite an odd sight! [0] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3ZZIEo0NXQY https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3ZZIEo0NXQY
- t0mas88 4y agoThat's a special one-off kind of thing. But the railway museum runs a historic train hourly from Utrecht Centraal (I think the largest station in the country) to their museum. That's also a strange sight to see passing by at crossings.
- mcv 4y agoI've been to the railway museum a lot (my son is a train nut), and in my experience it's just a regular train, not a historic one.
- Doxin 4y agoWhile it isn't ordinary operating procedure, it's not exactly one-off either. It has happened a couple times already. At least once in combination with a historic diesel train as well.
- drfuchs 4y agoWe rode the New York Central 3, a private car built for a Vanderbilt a century ago, cross country, attached to the rear of the Lake Shore Limited, changing in Chicago to the California Zephyr. A great experience, watching the scenery go by for 4 days, with a 270-degree view from the sitting room in the rear. Basically, there are hobbyists who buy and upgrade these cars, and try to break even on chartering trips on them. They’re clearly never happier than coming along for the journey (you need an official liaison on board anyway to interface with Amtrak staff) and fixing stuff along the way. http://www.nyc-3.com/ http://www.nyc-3.com/
- throwawaysleep 4y agoHow much did that cost?
- drfuchs 4y agoThis particular car sleeps 8, and it cost us less than 4 couples taking a cruise from Fort Lauderdale to Los Angeles via the Panama Canal, and less than booking a private jet that seats 8, but more than first class airfare for 8 cross-country. And it also depends on whether they find someone to book (some subset of) the return trip that will start within a day or two of your arrival; otherwise you have to cover their Amtrak fee for the dead-head return. I’m told there’s a network of enthusiasts who watch for such possibilities. Rather, two networks, who hate each other for no discernible reason. Or that’s how I understood it, as an outsider getting a glimpse of an obscure but intense sub-culture.
- yuppiepuppie 4y agoI’m sorry, but you didn’t answer the question. How much did it cost?
- slyall 4y agoFrom some quick googling: * First Class is around $2500/person = $20,000 for 8. * Private jet across country is around $40-60,000
- gcheong 4y agoI suppose if you can afford this you can afford to travel on Amtrak time.
- GrifMD 4y agoYou should see how impressive some of the luxury trains have gotten. Japan has a couple of them that are particularly luxurious. And while these aren't owned by individuals, they're indicative of what you could own. https://www.luxurytrainclub.com/trains/seven-stars-kyushu/ https://www.luxurytrainclub.com/trains/seven-stars-kyushu/ https://www.jreast.co.jp/shiki-shima/en/ https://www.jreast.co.jp/shiki-shima/en/
- ninjin 4y agoThank you for sharing this. I have many times seen the Shiki-Shima (“Four-season Island”) head north from Tokyo past where I used to live and wondered just what it was that I was observing. Up until now I thought it was a private train and I could have sworn that I spotted a piano in the lounge each time it passed.
- anarchogeek 4y agoMy great grandfather was an executive with some Canadian railroad company and I remember hearing about how my dad would get rides in his grandfather's private car attached to trains going to and from boarding school.
- zachlatta 4y agoSome of you might be interested in The Hacker Zephyr, a cross-country train hackathon with 42 teenagers from across the world. We worked with Amtrak and an amazing team of train enthusiasts to get 3 vintage train cars on The California Zephyr’s route across the US. We started in Vermont and ended in Los Angeles, traveling 3,502 miles over 10 days. Short documentary: https://youtu.be/2BID8_pGuqA https://youtu.be/2BID8_pGuqA Planning documents and finances are open source at https://github.com/hackclub/the-hacker-zephyr https://github.com/hackclub/the-hacker-zephyr
- chiph 4y agoWith Starlinks new in-motion service you could have really great connectivity on those trips.
- Wowfunhappy 4y agoWouldn't normal cell service suffice as well? Unlike in an RV, you'd presumably never be too far from civilization.
- naturalauction 4y agoI haven't taken this route specifically, but a lot of Amtrak routes don't follow roads and don't have great cell service.
- bombcar 4y agoAlmost all long distance Amtrak routes deviate quite far from civilization. Once you’re out of the cities and away from a highway you get cell pockets.
- walrus01 4y agoIf you can afford a private rail car I'm sure you can also afford a peplink router with dual wan interface, and one of the two way going to starlink, the other to a cradlepoint LTE modem and antenna system for T-Mobile or Verizon.
- thruway516 4y agoThe gilded age is back my friends
- ak217 4y agoI once was on an Amtrak train that was delayed by 6 hours because of this crap. It started with a 2 hour delay while they were hooking up someone's private car, and missed its timeslots on the rest of the route, then the crew timed out, and the delays snowballed (and the train had a skeleton crew for the rest of the trip). A few years ago, they banned this practice because of these types of issues. If they're reintroducing it, get ready for more delays and more completely unreliable Amtrak service.
- kccqzy 4y agoI don't think you need to worry. From https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2019-03-25/can-you-buy-your-own-train-here-s-what-it-takes https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2019-03-25/can-you-b... > One year ago, Amtrak issued a policy notice saying it would make drastic cuts in operating charter services run by private owners. “These operations caused significant operational distraction, failed to capture fully allocated profitable margins, and sometimes delayed our paying customers on our scheduled trains,” read the notice from March 2018. “There may be a few narrow exceptions to this policy. ... Otherwise, one-time trips and charters are immediately discontinued.”
- ak217 4y agoYeah, that's the "banned this practice" change that I was talking about. The documents in the link that the post is about are from 2021/2022 though. So they must have un-banned it. The "guidelines" document at https://www.amtrak.com/content/dam/projects/dotcom/english/public/documents/privatecars/Amtrak-Private-Car-Guidelines-062118.pdf https://www.amtrak.com/content/dam/projects/dotcom/english/p... lists 44 Amtrak stations throughout the US where this practice is allowed (and likely to continue to disrupt schedules for regular passengers). It's infuriating actually. There are plenty of historic railroad societies that own track around the US where people can take their railcars to be driven around. Amtrak has a credibility problem because of its reputation for being unreliable, and this affects public perception of passenger rail transit overall and how worthwhile it is to invest in it.
- 4y ago
- esaym 4y agoTo add more info.... Sometime around 2018 or so, I was looking at renting a private car. Prices were all over the place, from $2k (but you had to provide your own chef (or something like that)) to $5k (chef included) for what I'd consider decent accommodations. I was wanting something big enough to fit 5-10 people to have a hackathon. There were several companies that offered this service and all of them were towed behind amtrak. But right in the middle of trying to figure all this out, amtrak announced some "changes" and that drove the cost up a bit and I think several of these companies simply closed shop or greatly reduced their service area so I dropped the idea. Splitting the charges between 5 or 10 people seemed like a fun idea though.
- Animats 4y agoAmtrak wanted to end their private car services[1], but instead, just raised the price. There used to be "Private Varnish" magazine, but it's been discontinued.[2] At one time, it was quite cheap to park a private railroad car at many downtown passenger railroad stations, because they were way underutilized and had much empty track. Not so much any more. [1] https://www.trainsandtravel.com/2018/03/28/edict-amtrak-wont-haul-private-varnish/ https://www.trainsandtravel.com/2018/03/28/edict-amtrak-wont... [2] https://www.aaprco.com/ https://www.aaprco.com/
- ec109685 4y agoWhat did you end up doing when the hackathon on the train didn’t work out?
- AlbertCory 4y ago
- bombcar 4y agoPrivate car is in the “less than million” range, so it’s basically a smallish land yacht.
- AlbertCory 4y agoYeah, but you probably get these enormous bills you weren't expecting, and absolutely nothing you can do about it.
- hn_go_brrrrr 4y agoSounds exactly like a yacht.
- AlbertCory 4y agoLOL. At least there's some market for yachts. More "greater fools" to take it off your hands. A railroad car -- now that has a more limited appeal.
- bookofjoe 4y agoThe super-rich NEVER see a bill: they have people for that
- euroderf 4y agoAmtrak online store: "There's a subordinate for that."
- bpodgursky 4y agoI mean just to devil's advocate this — why is it more ridiculous than a private RV? Feels like something that could have been completely normalized in a different timeline with more common train transit.
- smugma 4y agoConditions for Movement of Privately Owned Railroad Cars on Amtrak: https://www.amtrak.com/content/dam/projects/dotcom/english/public/documents/privatecars/Amtrak-Conditions-for-Movement-of-Private-Railroad-Cars-010121.pdf https://www.amtrak.com/content/dam/projects/dotcom/english/p...
- robswc 4y agoIt would be pretty cool in a "fantasy" way but seems like it would be cool if you could "live" on a train that's always moving (besides at the stops). You would be comfortable in your own train car and wake up in a new place every day... terribly impractical but still seems cool, haha.
- ec109685 4y agoOne step down from Contact.
- Ptchd 4y agoNot very surprising that you can do it, just never thought about it... how much is it?
- bombcar 4y agoAbout $5 a mile + all the expenses of having the car itself.
- Ptchd 4y agoSo, they don't consider weight?
- bombcar 4y agoIt's a passenger car, it weights basically nothing compared to a coal car so they probably just assume "some default" weight.
- Tangurena2 4y agoIf your private car is "that" heavy, and they need to hook up an extra locomotive just for you, then that is going to be a steep fee per mile added.
- bombcar 4y agoThey actually mention it in the PDF under "more locomotives" or something. I think that mainly applies when you add a whole train to the train (you can hire them for multiple private cars)
- joshmn 4y agoSafety manual, in case anyone else is interested: https://www.amtrak.com/content/dam/projects/dotcom/english/public/documents/privatecars/Amtrak-Private-Car-Safety-Manual-050719.pdf https://www.amtrak.com/content/dam/projects/dotcom/english/p...
- chaps 4y agoEffective 3/16/20 move requests will not be accepted via fax. Email your completed form to the Special Moves Team at specialmoves@amtrak.com. aw :(
- rippercushions 4y agoThere are an increasing number of ultra-deluxe trains in Japan that aim to replicate the experience. Seven Stars is the original: https://www.cruisetrain-sevenstars.jp/english/ https://www.cruisetrain-sevenstars.jp/english/ Prices start at $4500 per person twin sharing for 4 nights, so not exactly cheap, but still a few orders of magnitude less than kitting out your own. Plus it's Japan, so you get a modern train, incredible service and everything runs like clockwork, none of those being terms you'd use to describe Amtrak. Fun facts: you're required to wear a tuxedo to dinner, and despite the price tag, the train is enormously popular and they need to use a lottery system to select who gets to ride.
- rcMgD2BwE72F 4y agoSee also https://www.belmond.com/experiences/train https://www.belmond.com/experiences/train
- _3u10 4y agoSounds very archer-esque
- pmarreck 4y agoAnyone play the Assassins' Creed game where your base of operations in the game was a train car that continuously moved around the game world while you were on (or off) it? I thought that was a really neat mechanic
- sofixa 4y agoFor anyone else wondering/interested, apparently it's in Assassin's Creed Syndicate
- jjslocum3 4y agoThis was a common practice in the early 20th century, as many of the wealthiest in the US owned and traveled by private rail car.
- 50208 4y agoCool AF
- yellow_lead 4y agoThis isn't as comfortable as you might think. Most of the passenger rail in the US is old and not very smooth. Riding on Amtrak for long distances is not as nice as say, riding on high-speed rail or a local metro like Chicago. The rail cars frequently sway left and right. I say this as a proponent of trains and high speed rail.
- pseudolus 4y agoThere was a great story a few years ago on Bloomberg that discussed purchasing your own rail car. [0]. https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2019-03-25/can-you-buy-your-own-train-here-s-what-it-takes https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2019-03-25/can-you-b...
- Malic 4y agoJames West would approve.
- motohagiography 4y agoLooking at the charter options, this could be an interesting american cabaret and folk music festival venue concept. Two or three nights via train, accoustic sets by performers, maybe configure couple of performance cars into the train then split performances over different cars at different times, so you can catch them in one of the cars and it spreads the audience over the train. Night stops in places with motels or camping to handle sleeping arrangements. Just found some routes through the rockies, from moab to denver: https://www.rockymountaineer.com/routes_destinations https://www.rockymountaineer.com/routes_destinations , but a southwest one would be amazing. Economics are running a cruise, but over land on a train, with some camping and motel options to scale it. Hmm...
- avidphantasm 4y agoSo they’re saying we could crowd-fund an extremely shitty version of Snowpiercer?
- jneumann004 4y agoA version that would be limited to the continue tap I ites states and amtrak's timetable.
- deleted 4y ago[deleted]
- _chu1 4y agoI wonder if it's possible to live on one of these full-time
- MasterYoda 4y agoDoes someone know if it is possible to own a private train i Europe and travel on the railway systems?