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This 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

by chiph 4y ago

This 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 ago
You 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 ago
  Yes 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.
  - worthless-trash 4y ago
    It made my day that this still happens, and that it exists.. so very cool.
    - iancmceachern 4y ago
      Yeah, and it makes me happy this commenter knows so much about it all
  - Kon-Peki 4y ago
    Are these new trains different from the Siemens locomotives that Amtrak have been using in the Midwest for the last ~10 years? I don’t recall ever seeing anything on the back of those trains.
    - HankB99 4y ago
      I wonder if it's like the double-decker passenger cars used for Metra in Chicago. These trains never change direction (like Amtrak) but just run forward (IIRC) into the city and reverse back out to the suburbs. The car on the end has a small cab where the engineer sits and controls the train when it is running reversed. From the outside the difference between that and a passenger car is pretty subtle.
nordsieck 4y ago
> This is my "if I won the lottery" dream. Could you explain a bit more about why you would want this? This seems strictly inferior to buying a box truck and converting it for "van life".
- vore 4y ago
  I feel like there's a very different aesthetic between living in a van and using a private train car.
- cma 4y ago
  You're a lot safer walking around a moving train car than a moving box van, even if you have hired a driver.
- jesuscript 4y ago
  There’s inherent safety built into this dream. Van life in the woods sounds dangerous. Your train is traveling at a certain speed at all times on a route that’s operated by professionals. You are also not utterly alone and there is a company that can provide some customer support. You’ll never have to make a stop at a shady motel or gas station. Van life is a first class ticket to becoming a tidbit in serial killers life story.
  - chrisco255 4y ago
    I live the RV life. Before this I camped in a rooftop tent mounted to my truck. The woods are among the least dangerous places you can go. But also, shocking as this is, you can take your truck or van to dense urban areas if you desire. There is little need for "customer support" when you are driving your own vehicle. Occasionally you get repair problems but mechanics are readily available in even small towns. Van life is not that dramatic.
    - codazoda 4y ago
      Ever use that roof top tent in urban areas? How hard is that? Where I live you can park on the street for 48 hours. I suspect, however, that you can’t sleep there. You would get a knock at the very least. So, I’ve considered an incognito van that looks like a work truck. But, I wonder if you could just pop up a roof tent and sleep wherever. I’m mostly talking about city center here. As an example, I’d love to do this in neighborhoods in CA (where locals are already street parking).
gwbas1c 4y ago
How does this compare to traveling in a chauffeured and staffed RV? (The kind of thing that rock stars or movie stars might do.)
- chiph 4y ago
  You have more room, mostly. A Prevost bus conversion is 45 feet long while a railcar is 80-ish feet long (less a few feet for the vestibule and/or rear platform). The rail car is wider, except when you park your bus and put the slide-outs out. Of course, travel options are significantly broader with an RV since paved roads go everywhere. However you can't take an RV into some cities in the northeast - I know that Washington DC and Baltimore have banned them from their streets. Whereas Amtrak takes you right into the city center.
cebert 4y ago
I have a similar, but more attainable train goal of riding the Amtrak Empire Builder route from Chicago to Spokane. The route looks beautiful and has a few nice stops along the way.
- kylehotchkiss 4y ago
  Do it before they shut down the long hauls! I can’t see it being feasible for Amtrak to keep running those for decades to come.
  - runarberg 4y ago
    I don’t see them shutting down all the long haul routes in the next decade or two. They would have to keep servicing the segments with shorter routes, which probably means they’d have to invest in some infrastructure, and I don’t see them getting the funding for that anytime soon. And even if that happens, they would probably save a couple of long haul routes for historic or cultural reasons. And given how popular the Empire Builder is, and how sparsely populated areas it goes through—meaning it is harder to justify the infrastructure that enables shorter routes—the Empire Builder will probably be the last long haul route to go. I think the Empire Builder will still be there in 2040, even if it will only be a weekly run, mostly for tourists.
- kortilla 4y ago
  If you want a shorter version that cuts out all of the flatlands, fly to Great Falls, rent a car and drop it/board at East Glacier and then ride it to Spokane.
- mplanchard 4y ago
  Rode this going the other way (Portland to Chicago) this summer! It’s a gorgeous ride, at least until eastern Montana, which is a whole heck of a lot of nothing for a very long time. Totally worth it for going through the Columbia River Gorge and passing through Glacier National park, though!
- CompleteWalker 4y ago
  Pay attention to the timing of your ride! I rode this trip once and didn't get to the Rockies until it was too dark to see much of anything out the windows.
Cupertino95014 4y ago
Thinking entrepreneurially here: Why not lease a car for a month, or a year? All those inspection, maintenance, parking, and labor costs are rolled into your fee, except the railroad can handle them much better than you can. If it's "your" car, only people you approve of can sit in it. It's a rolling party!
- runarberg 4y ago
  I’ve had similar thoughts, not as a entrepreneur, but as a way to squander the lottery money on one epic party, that starts in Seattle and ends 32 hours later in LA.
  - club_tropical 4y ago
    Hope you can make this happen.
  - kotaKat 4y ago
    I've considered chartering a transit bus from my local transit authority for a birthday party before just to tool around town in for a few hours. They only want ~$600 CAD for 3 hours ($200/hr after), and you get to choose what type of bus from their fleet you want -- a 40 foot, a 60' artic, or a double decker (with routing approval). Not a bad way to do a bar crawl or otherwise.
    - Cupertino95014 4y ago
      This is actually a great idea. No need for anyone to be the designated driver, and you can go to places not within walking distance. A really enterprising transit agency (an oxymoron there) would create The Party Bus and promote the hell out of it. Rip out all the seats and put in couches. Special lighting. Use your imagination.
      - dzhiurgis 4y ago
        What? Party buses are all over the place.
walrus01 4y ago
On the scale of people who own their private G650 jet or 250 foot yacht with 10+ full time crew it's probably quite affordable.
jandrese 4y ago
Would it be possible to instead buy an Amtrak car and then just do the interior upgrades? Seems like it would save a lot of work on upgrades. I have to assume that Amtrak eventually retires the cars at some point. Or heck, if you're rich just buy an unfinished car from whatever company makes Amtrak cars and then finish it yourself.
- rchowe 4y ago
  Many of the private railcars in existence today are ex-Amtrak, because when Amtrak was formed on May 1, 1971, they assumed most of the passenger rolling stock of the railroads that discharged passenger service. Supposedly the biggest cost associated with refurbishing a car is passing the Amtrak inspection of the bogies, axles, and wheels -- I believe they have to be completely replaced at 40 years of age. When a railroad retires a car, this equipment may be close to end-of-life. Many freight railroads still have "office-car specials" -- passenger equipment for the executives to use. Those would probably be the easiest to get up to Amtrak specs. Trivia: Amtrak will only run trains with private railcars at a maximum speed of 110 mph. On the Northeast Corridor, private railcars are only allowed to be added to the overnight Northeast Regional train which normally travels at 125 mph -- but there's enough padding in the schedule that they can slow it down to 110 without affecting the timetable.
pmarreck 4y ago
1) buy and renovate a car 2) Establish a veeeery special AirBNB 3) Profit!
sbierwagen 4y ago
Unless you used the car routinely, a hackier solution would be just to buy out a block of rooms in the sleeper car. Amtrak.com suggests rooms from Seattle to LA are ~$700 each. https://www.craigmashburn.com/amtrakcardiagrams.html https://www.craigmashburn.com/amtrakcardiagrams.html says a Superliner sleeper car has 20 rooms. So you could rent out an entire car for about $14,000. Complementary meals included!
- hn_user2 4y ago
  Or just rent a Pullman car. I have not actually reserved one, but I always find myself searching around for charter companies when I see these types of articles. These guys claim $2500 a day for a charter. Not sure if it is legit or if there are other fees. (I assume you then also pay all the Amtrak fees). But I do have this on my back burner to try sometime. Since they offer some 4 bedroom coaches. Would be fun to get a group together to split the cost. https://www.pullmans.com https://www.pullmans.com
  - spc476 4y ago
    I got to ride a private car for a few hours [1] thanks to a friend who rented one for a family vacation/birthday gift. The car went from Jacksonville, FL (where the private car resides), to Miami, then to Chicago via Washington, D.C. (or New York, I don't recall) then back to Jacksonville, FL. Even though he got a good price (he knows the owner), and he never mentioned the price, it wouldn't surprise me if the week vacation cost over the price of a new car (the price did cover the two "employees" that came with the car, a chef and a porter). [1] http://boston.conman.org/2015/08/05.4 http://boston.conman.org/2015/08/05.4
  - jbeales 4y ago
    The American Association of Private Railcar Owners has a page on their website listing cars available for charter: https://www.aaprco.com/travel/cars-for-charter/ https://www.aaprco.com/travel/cars-for-charter/
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h0l0cube 4y ago
> Getting the car from there to the nearest Amtrak station will require you to hire a locomotive with crew I know long haul battery-electric trains don't make sense [0], but if it's a short distance, would it be feasible to have inbuilt battery + engine just to get the car to the Amtrak and maybe as backup power? > (some tracks require a second car coupled to the locomotive so crossings & signals work correctly) Obviously it wouldn't obviate this technicality. [0] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=V0qcxyyllQ4 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=V0qcxyyllQ4
- ehnto 4y ago
  I have to imagine it's a similar scenario to pilots taking over your vessel in certain ports and passages. The job of the pilot (or the Amtrak hired crew) is that they are aligned with the port's goals and understand their scheduling and rules. I can't imagine they would want a private car moving of it's own accord operated by the owner, so you might still have to hire the Amtrak crew, and they might not be willing to operate your personal car since crew have to be trained on the locomotives. I am speculating though, I have no idea.
  - twobitshifter 4y ago
    Correct, to drive the train you’d need to have an engineer qualified on the railroad.
  - h0l0cube 4y ago
    Good points. I guess it makes even more sense when considering that the crew also needs to transport themselves to the car from the station
saiya-jin 4y ago
A good friend of one of my ex was from india and their family had whole private train, I guess to compensate for bad roads back then. I guess its easier there with enough cash and connections. Great career, but he was/is quite out of touch with reality of how most people live their lives not only due to this.
- Symbiote 4y ago
  In Britain it's straightforward to charter a private train from anywhere to anywhere else. It's most commonly done by football supporter clubs, so if Liverpool FC are playing at Wembley 500 supporters can travel direct from a station in Liverpool to Wembley Stadium Station in London. Large business also do this for company events etc. https://www.trainchartering.com/press/news_wembley.html https://www.trainchartering.com/press/news_wembley.html is one company.
aoetalks 4y ago
>For the less than 100 private cars in operation in America, why does Amtrak even offer this service? What are you trying to ask? Don’t you answer this question, below? >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. Or are you saying, there’s only 100 private cars, why not allow a Presidential fare from a fleet Amtrak cars? My answer would be “ Like the first class section on an airliner, it's effectively all profit for them” this isn’t actually true. First class sections on planes were until recently mostly filled with frequent fliers that got free upgrades [1]. Those first class seats eat up a lot of space that could be directed to revenue-generating economy seats. So I would imagine one reason Amtrak doesn’t offer a Presidential fare is because Amtrak would need to retrofit some cars to have that experience, and manage demand of those cars. The penalties of empty cars is less than that of an plane, but still. [1] https://www.cnbc.com/amp/2017/11/03/why-its-getting-harder-to-fly-in-first-class.html https://www.cnbc.com/amp/2017/11/03/why-its-getting-harder-t...
- notpushkin 4y ago
  I think it was a rhetorical question of sorts.
- iwillbenice 4y ago
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CoastalCoder 4y ago
Thanks for the really interesting writeup! > 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. Could a 3rd-party company offer this? I.e., they own and operate the Presidential-like cars, and are a contractual middle-man between Amtrak and the riders?
- TecoAndJix 4y ago
  Not the same, but I'm up the road from the Strasburg Railroad and they have some fancy cars you can dine in. I would love something like that from Lancaster to Philly or Philly to NYC https://www.strasburgrailroad.com/ https://www.strasburgrailroad.com/ Fun local news fact: someone left their excavator on the tracks and one of the locomotives crashed into it Wednesday ! https://www.wgal.com/article/train-crash-at-strasburg-railroad-lancaster-county/41849687 https://www.wgal.com/article/train-crash-at-strasburg-railro...
- mrapathy2 4y ago
  There's a company that operates a route between Chicago and New Orleans with a restored Pullman, attached behind a standard Amtrak car. See: https://www.nytimes.com/2014/05/18/travel/all-aboard-for-a-trip-to-the-past.html https://www.nytimes.com/2014/05/18/travel/all-aboard-for-a-t... https://railsnw.com/tours/Pullman/Rail-only-information3.htm https://railsnw.com/tours/Pullman/Rail-only-information3.htm The economics of it are likely difficult, but there's at least precedent.
  - CoastalCoder 4y ago
    They should call it the Precendtial!
- david422 4y ago
  Maybe like a timeshare. You can have this car reserved for November .
don_albrecht 4y ago
I never wanted one to go anywhere, I've always wanted one for a tiny house / social space on my property. They always struck me as a perfect option for a unique cabin. I know there are old rail car hotels, but I've never seen one that epitomizes the pullman luxury.
- TrevorJ 4y ago
  A couple generations ago it was not uncommon for people in rural areas to buy old boxcars from the railroad for this purpose. My grandfather did it.
  - mauvehaus 4y ago
    Prior art: The Boxcar Children. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Boxcar_Children https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Boxcar_Children Not to be confused with the yet to be written The Bockscar Children, which would be a bleaker series altogether. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bockscar https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bockscar
- UIUC_06 4y ago
  https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Victoria_Station_(restaurant) https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Victoria_Station_(restaurant)
mschuster91 4y ago
> 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. > For the less than 100 private cars in operation in America, why does Amtrak even offer this service? Probably same situation as in Europe, they're legally mandated to give access to people and companies to their service under FRAND conditions. If you're interested, the fee tables are for nets and stations [0][1]. [0] https://www.deutschebahn.com/de/geschaefte/infrastruktur/bahnhof/stationsnutzung/preisliste-6880232 https://www.deutschebahn.com/de/geschaefte/infrastruktur/bah... [1] https://fahrweg.dbnetze.com/fahrweg-de/kunden/leistungen/trassen/uebersich_tps/tps_2023-7607322?contentId=1392244 https://fahrweg.dbnetze.com/fahrweg-de/kunden/leistungen/tra...
amelius 4y ago
Does Amtrak require that other people can pass through your car?
- euroderf 4y ago
  see comments elsewhere
TimMeade 4y ago
Thanks for the video. I always wondered about Duke. That put a great 'face' to the name.
Waterluvian 4y ago
My billionaire dream is to make a 2/1 scale model railway. These little ride-on hobby railways are very cool. But I want everything twice as big as the real thing. Impractical, but conceptually hilarious IMO.
- euroderf 4y ago
  If you can design an appropriate 12V DC power system you're halfway there.
- shepherdjerred 4y ago
  Oh this would be hilarious. Let's get a kickstarter going
e40 4y ago
I didn't know that was my "if I won the lottery" dream, until I read this comment. Seems so cool.
cultofmetatron 4y ago
> Personally I wonder why Amtrak doesn't offer a "Presidential" fare they should call it "railforce one"
- chiph 4y ago
  Cool that you made that connection - the Ferdinand Magellan is an armored rail car that was used by various presidents since FDR, and is on display at a museum near Miami. It's name when the president was on board was "U.S. Car No.1" The famous "Dewey defeats Truman" newspaper photo was taken on it's platform. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=C2NNujJKJL4 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=C2NNujJKJL4
chiph 4y ago
Too late to add this to my original post, but a video popped up where an AAPRCO member and car owner allowed a Youtuber to travel on his private car while it and several other cars were being positioned from Chicago to West Virginia for a charter trip. Includes the stunning Cedar Rapids observation car. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YSkysFOkupI https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YSkysFOkupI

by chiph 4y ago

Kon-Peki 4y ago

You 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 ago
Yes 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.
- worthless-trash 4y ago
  It made my day that this still happens, and that it exists.. so very cool.
  - iancmceachern 4y ago
    Yeah, and it makes me happy this commenter knows so much about it all
- Kon-Peki 4y ago
  Are these new trains different from the Siemens locomotives that Amtrak have been using in the Midwest for the last ~10 years? I don’t recall ever seeing anything on the back of those trains.
  - HankB99 4y ago
    I wonder if it's like the double-decker passenger cars used for Metra in Chicago. These trains never change direction (like Amtrak) but just run forward (IIRC) into the city and reverse back out to the suburbs. The car on the end has a small cab where the engineer sits and controls the train when it is running reversed. From the outside the difference between that and a passenger car is pretty subtle.

nordsieck 4y ago

> This is my "if I won the lottery" dream. Could you explain a bit more about why you would want this? This seems strictly inferior to buying a box truck and converting it for "van life".

vore 4y ago
I feel like there's a very different aesthetic between living in a van and using a private train car.
cma 4y ago
You're a lot safer walking around a moving train car than a moving box van, even if you have hired a driver.
jesuscript 4y ago
There’s inherent safety built into this dream. Van life in the woods sounds dangerous. Your train is traveling at a certain speed at all times on a route that’s operated by professionals. You are also not utterly alone and there is a company that can provide some customer support. You’ll never have to make a stop at a shady motel or gas station. Van life is a first class ticket to becoming a tidbit in serial killers life story.
- chrisco255 4y ago
  I live the RV life. Before this I camped in a rooftop tent mounted to my truck. The woods are among the least dangerous places you can go. But also, shocking as this is, you can take your truck or van to dense urban areas if you desire. There is little need for "customer support" when you are driving your own vehicle. Occasionally you get repair problems but mechanics are readily available in even small towns. Van life is not that dramatic.
  - codazoda 4y ago
    Ever use that roof top tent in urban areas? How hard is that? Where I live you can park on the street for 48 hours. I suspect, however, that you can’t sleep there. You would get a knock at the very least. So, I’ve considered an incognito van that looks like a work truck. But, I wonder if you could just pop up a roof tent and sleep wherever. I’m mostly talking about city center here. As an example, I’d love to do this in neighborhoods in CA (where locals are already street parking).

gwbas1c 4y ago

How does this compare to traveling in a chauffeured and staffed RV? (The kind of thing that rock stars or movie stars might do.)

chiph 4y ago
You have more room, mostly. A Prevost bus conversion is 45 feet long while a railcar is 80-ish feet long (less a few feet for the vestibule and/or rear platform). The rail car is wider, except when you park your bus and put the slide-outs out. Of course, travel options are significantly broader with an RV since paved roads go everywhere. However you can't take an RV into some cities in the northeast - I know that Washington DC and Baltimore have banned them from their streets. Whereas Amtrak takes you right into the city center.

cebert 4y ago

I have a similar, but more attainable train goal of riding the Amtrak Empire Builder route from Chicago to Spokane. The route looks beautiful and has a few nice stops along the way.

kylehotchkiss 4y ago
Do it before they shut down the long hauls! I can’t see it being feasible for Amtrak to keep running those for decades to come.
- runarberg 4y ago
  I don’t see them shutting down all the long haul routes in the next decade or two. They would have to keep servicing the segments with shorter routes, which probably means they’d have to invest in some infrastructure, and I don’t see them getting the funding for that anytime soon. And even if that happens, they would probably save a couple of long haul routes for historic or cultural reasons. And given how popular the Empire Builder is, and how sparsely populated areas it goes through—meaning it is harder to justify the infrastructure that enables shorter routes—the Empire Builder will probably be the last long haul route to go. I think the Empire Builder will still be there in 2040, even if it will only be a weekly run, mostly for tourists.
kortilla 4y ago
If you want a shorter version that cuts out all of the flatlands, fly to Great Falls, rent a car and drop it/board at East Glacier and then ride it to Spokane.
mplanchard 4y ago
Rode this going the other way (Portland to Chicago) this summer! It’s a gorgeous ride, at least until eastern Montana, which is a whole heck of a lot of nothing for a very long time. Totally worth it for going through the Columbia River Gorge and passing through Glacier National park, though!
CompleteWalker 4y ago
Pay attention to the timing of your ride! I rode this trip once and didn't get to the Rockies until it was too dark to see much of anything out the windows.

Cupertino95014 4y ago

Thinking entrepreneurially here: Why not lease a car for a month, or a year? All those inspection, maintenance, parking, and labor costs are rolled into your fee, except the railroad can handle them much better than you can. If it's "your" car, only people you approve of can sit in it. It's a rolling party!

runarberg 4y ago
I’ve had similar thoughts, not as a entrepreneur, but as a way to squander the lottery money on one epic party, that starts in Seattle and ends 32 hours later in LA.
- club_tropical 4y ago
  Hope you can make this happen.
- kotaKat 4y ago
  I've considered chartering a transit bus from my local transit authority for a birthday party before just to tool around town in for a few hours. They only want ~$600 CAD for 3 hours ($200/hr after), and you get to choose what type of bus from their fleet you want -- a 40 foot, a 60' artic, or a double decker (with routing approval). Not a bad way to do a bar crawl or otherwise.
  - Cupertino95014 4y ago
    This is actually a great idea. No need for anyone to be the designated driver, and you can go to places not within walking distance. A really enterprising transit agency (an oxymoron there) would create The Party Bus and promote the hell out of it. Rip out all the seats and put in couches. Special lighting. Use your imagination.
    - dzhiurgis 4y ago
      What? Party buses are all over the place.

walrus01 4y ago

On the scale of people who own their private G650 jet or 250 foot yacht with 10+ full time crew it's probably quite affordable.

jandrese 4y ago

Would it be possible to instead buy an Amtrak car and then just do the interior upgrades? Seems like it would save a lot of work on upgrades. I have to assume that Amtrak eventually retires the cars at some point. Or heck, if you're rich just buy an unfinished car from whatever company makes Amtrak cars and then finish it yourself.

rchowe 4y ago
Many of the private railcars in existence today are ex-Amtrak, because when Amtrak was formed on May 1, 1971, they assumed most of the passenger rolling stock of the railroads that discharged passenger service. Supposedly the biggest cost associated with refurbishing a car is passing the Amtrak inspection of the bogies, axles, and wheels -- I believe they have to be completely replaced at 40 years of age. When a railroad retires a car, this equipment may be close to end-of-life. Many freight railroads still have "office-car specials" -- passenger equipment for the executives to use. Those would probably be the easiest to get up to Amtrak specs. Trivia: Amtrak will only run trains with private railcars at a maximum speed of 110 mph. On the Northeast Corridor, private railcars are only allowed to be added to the overnight Northeast Regional train which normally travels at 125 mph -- but there's enough padding in the schedule that they can slow it down to 110 without affecting the timetable.

pmarreck 4y ago

1) buy and renovate a car 2) Establish a veeeery special AirBNB 3) Profit!

sbierwagen 4y ago

Unless you used the car routinely, a hackier solution would be just to buy out a block of rooms in the sleeper car. Amtrak.com suggests rooms from Seattle to LA are ~$700 each. https://www.craigmashburn.com/amtrakcardiagrams.html https://www.craigmashburn.com/amtrakcardiagrams.html says a Superliner sleeper car has 20 rooms. So you could rent out an entire car for about $14,000. Complementary meals included!

hn_user2 4y ago
Or just rent a Pullman car. I have not actually reserved one, but I always find myself searching around for charter companies when I see these types of articles. These guys claim $2500 a day for a charter. Not sure if it is legit or if there are other fees. (I assume you then also pay all the Amtrak fees). But I do have this on my back burner to try sometime. Since they offer some 4 bedroom coaches. Would be fun to get a group together to split the cost. https://www.pullmans.com https://www.pullmans.com
- spc476 4y ago
  I got to ride a private car for a few hours [1] thanks to a friend who rented one for a family vacation/birthday gift. The car went from Jacksonville, FL (where the private car resides), to Miami, then to Chicago via Washington, D.C. (or New York, I don't recall) then back to Jacksonville, FL. Even though he got a good price (he knows the owner), and he never mentioned the price, it wouldn't surprise me if the week vacation cost over the price of a new car (the price did cover the two "employees" that came with the car, a chef and a porter). [1] http://boston.conman.org/2015/08/05.4 http://boston.conman.org/2015/08/05.4
- jbeales 4y ago
  The American Association of Private Railcar Owners has a page on their website listing cars available for charter: https://www.aaprco.com/travel/cars-for-charter/ https://www.aaprco.com/travel/cars-for-charter/

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h0l0cube 4y ago

> Getting the car from there to the nearest Amtrak station will require you to hire a locomotive with crew I know long haul battery-electric trains don't make sense [0], but if it's a short distance, would it be feasible to have inbuilt battery + engine just to get the car to the Amtrak and maybe as backup power? > (some tracks require a second car coupled to the locomotive so crossings & signals work correctly) Obviously it wouldn't obviate this technicality. [0] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=V0qcxyyllQ4 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=V0qcxyyllQ4

ehnto 4y ago
I have to imagine it's a similar scenario to pilots taking over your vessel in certain ports and passages. The job of the pilot (or the Amtrak hired crew) is that they are aligned with the port's goals and understand their scheduling and rules. I can't imagine they would want a private car moving of it's own accord operated by the owner, so you might still have to hire the Amtrak crew, and they might not be willing to operate your personal car since crew have to be trained on the locomotives. I am speculating though, I have no idea.
- twobitshifter 4y ago
  Correct, to drive the train you’d need to have an engineer qualified on the railroad.
- h0l0cube 4y ago
  Good points. I guess it makes even more sense when considering that the crew also needs to transport themselves to the car from the station

saiya-jin 4y ago

A good friend of one of my ex was from india and their family had whole private train, I guess to compensate for bad roads back then. I guess its easier there with enough cash and connections. Great career, but he was/is quite out of touch with reality of how most people live their lives not only due to this.

Symbiote 4y ago
In Britain it's straightforward to charter a private train from anywhere to anywhere else. It's most commonly done by football supporter clubs, so if Liverpool FC are playing at Wembley 500 supporters can travel direct from a station in Liverpool to Wembley Stadium Station in London. Large business also do this for company events etc. https://www.trainchartering.com/press/news_wembley.html https://www.trainchartering.com/press/news_wembley.html is one company.

aoetalks 4y ago

>For the less than 100 private cars in operation in America, why does Amtrak even offer this service? What are you trying to ask? Don’t you answer this question, below? >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. Or are you saying, there’s only 100 private cars, why not allow a Presidential fare from a fleet Amtrak cars? My answer would be “ Like the first class section on an airliner, it's effectively all profit for them” this isn’t actually true. First class sections on planes were until recently mostly filled with frequent fliers that got free upgrades [1]. Those first class seats eat up a lot of space that could be directed to revenue-generating economy seats. So I would imagine one reason Amtrak doesn’t offer a Presidential fare is because Amtrak would need to retrofit some cars to have that experience, and manage demand of those cars. The penalties of empty cars is less than that of an plane, but still. [1] https://www.cnbc.com/amp/2017/11/03/why-its-getting-harder-to-fly-in-first-class.html https://www.cnbc.com/amp/2017/11/03/why-its-getting-harder-t...

notpushkin 4y ago
I think it was a rhetorical question of sorts.
iwillbenice 4y ago

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CoastalCoder 4y ago

Thanks for the really interesting writeup! > 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. Could a 3rd-party company offer this? I.e., they own and operate the Presidential-like cars, and are a contractual middle-man between Amtrak and the riders?

TecoAndJix 4y ago
Not the same, but I'm up the road from the Strasburg Railroad and they have some fancy cars you can dine in. I would love something like that from Lancaster to Philly or Philly to NYC https://www.strasburgrailroad.com/ https://www.strasburgrailroad.com/ Fun local news fact: someone left their excavator on the tracks and one of the locomotives crashed into it Wednesday ! https://www.wgal.com/article/train-crash-at-strasburg-railroad-lancaster-county/41849687 https://www.wgal.com/article/train-crash-at-strasburg-railro...
mrapathy2 4y ago
There's a company that operates a route between Chicago and New Orleans with a restored Pullman, attached behind a standard Amtrak car. See: https://www.nytimes.com/2014/05/18/travel/all-aboard-for-a-trip-to-the-past.html https://www.nytimes.com/2014/05/18/travel/all-aboard-for-a-t... https://railsnw.com/tours/Pullman/Rail-only-information3.htm https://railsnw.com/tours/Pullman/Rail-only-information3.htm The economics of it are likely difficult, but there's at least precedent.
- CoastalCoder 4y ago
  They should call it the Precendtial!
david422 4y ago
Maybe like a timeshare. You can have this car reserved for November .

don_albrecht 4y ago

I never wanted one to go anywhere, I've always wanted one for a tiny house / social space on my property. They always struck me as a perfect option for a unique cabin. I know there are old rail car hotels, but I've never seen one that epitomizes the pullman luxury.

TrevorJ 4y ago
A couple generations ago it was not uncommon for people in rural areas to buy old boxcars from the railroad for this purpose. My grandfather did it.
- mauvehaus 4y ago
  Prior art: The Boxcar Children. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Boxcar_Children https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Boxcar_Children Not to be confused with the yet to be written The Bockscar Children, which would be a bleaker series altogether. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bockscar https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bockscar
UIUC_06 4y ago
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Victoria_Station_(restaurant) https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Victoria_Station_(restaurant)

mschuster91 4y ago

> 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. > For the less than 100 private cars in operation in America, why does Amtrak even offer this service? Probably same situation as in Europe, they're legally mandated to give access to people and companies to their service under FRAND conditions. If you're interested, the fee tables are for nets and stations [0][1]. [0] https://www.deutschebahn.com/de/geschaefte/infrastruktur/bahnhof/stationsnutzung/preisliste-6880232 https://www.deutschebahn.com/de/geschaefte/infrastruktur/bah... [1] https://fahrweg.dbnetze.com/fahrweg-de/kunden/leistungen/trassen/uebersich_tps/tps_2023-7607322?contentId=1392244 https://fahrweg.dbnetze.com/fahrweg-de/kunden/leistungen/tra...

amelius 4y ago

Does Amtrak require that other people can pass through your car?

euroderf 4y ago
see comments elsewhere

TimMeade 4y ago

Thanks for the video. I always wondered about Duke. That put a great 'face' to the name.

Waterluvian 4y ago

My billionaire dream is to make a 2/1 scale model railway. These little ride-on hobby railways are very cool. But I want everything twice as big as the real thing. Impractical, but conceptually hilarious IMO.

euroderf 4y ago
If you can design an appropriate 12V DC power system you're halfway there.
shepherdjerred 4y ago
Oh this would be hilarious. Let's get a kickstarter going

e40 4y ago

I didn't know that was my "if I won the lottery" dream, until I read this comment. Seems so cool.

cultofmetatron 4y ago

> Personally I wonder why Amtrak doesn't offer a "Presidential" fare they should call it "railforce one"

chiph 4y ago
Cool that you made that connection - the Ferdinand Magellan is an armored rail car that was used by various presidents since FDR, and is on display at a museum near Miami. It's name when the president was on board was "U.S. Car No.1" The famous "Dewey defeats Truman" newspaper photo was taken on it's platform. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=C2NNujJKJL4 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=C2NNujJKJL4

chiph 4y ago

Too late to add this to my original post, but a video popped up where an AAPRCO member and car owner allowed a Youtuber to travel on his private car while it and several other cars were being positioned from Chicago to West Virginia for a charter trip. Includes the stunning Cedar Rapids observation car. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YSkysFOkupI https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YSkysFOkupI