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You can pay Amtrak to haul your train car around[0], so you’ve just got to figure out a way to get the car from Switzerland to the US, and then you can really g

You can pay Amtrak to haul your train car around[0], so you’ve just got to figure out a way to get the car from Switzerland to the US, and then you can really get around in style. [0]: https://www.amtrak.com/privately-owned-rail-cars https://www.amtrak.com/privately-owned-rail-cars

kortilla 4mo ago
Is there someone that does this frequently with a breakdown in costs and their experience? This sounds lit as a goal for an eccentric millionaire.
- mplanchard 4mo ago
  If I ever get to be a millionaire, it’s certainly on my list!
  - sailfast 4mo ago
    Buy a house first - then make another 20 million, then maybe consider this haha
    - kirubakaran 4mo ago
      "Mark, do you have live quite so relentlessly in the real world?" -- Jeremy, Peep Show
      - sailfast 4mo ago
        It’s a question I ask my therapist all the time :)
- skinfaxi 4mo ago
  There is a fee schedule available: https://www.amtrak.com/content/dam/projects/dotcom/english/public/documents/privatecars/Amtrak-Private-Car-Rate-Addendum-8-100125.pdf https://www.amtrak.com/content/dam/projects/dotcom/english/p...
- fineIllregister 4mo ago
  I don't have personal experience, but I've heard it's not viable. The biggest issue is that Amtrak offers the service on a "best effort" basis, which means that if the train you want to hook up to is running late (which this frequently are due to conflicts with cargo traffic), they won't hook your car up, and you have to wait for the next train, which also might not be able to hook you up.
  - bombcar 4mo ago
    Part of doing this is knowing the rules and the “real rules” - you have the car attached at an end node (Los Angeles or San Diego, say) even if your group gets on in Burbank.
- bluGill 4mo ago
  There are a few clubs that have cars that do this for a club outing. Members pay a small amount of dues, but the largest cost is labor - you are expected to help rebuild their cars. Most of the club money seems to come from renting the cars out. The above is what I gather from reading their websites. However there is no club close enough to me for joining to be reasonable and so I didn't verify the above.
- dabluecaboose 4mo ago
  There are clubs[1][2] of owners, and they'll generally rent them out to people. We looked into doing it for my bachelor party. Unfortunately, the cost is akin to renting a yacht for the same amount of time (On the order of thousands per day, minimum), so we quickly shelved that plan for an AirBnB. [1] https://www.aaprco.com/ https://www.aaprco.com/ [2] https://www.rpca.com/ https://www.rpca.com/
- Caracas288 4mo ago
  Somewhere, the locomotove nomads travel the wastes of North America in their reinforced rail cars. They never speak to one another, but sometimes you can glimpse the deisel smoke of a distant train on the horizon at sunset…
voidUpdate 4mo ago
Make sure you get one that matches American gauge and isn't one of the the meter gauge mountain trains
- bluGill 4mo ago
  gauge is likely easy to change. Not cheap, but Amtrak demands expensive inspections and refurbishment to run, so the cost of changing the gauge is likely fairly small compared to the other costs.
  - elil17 4mo ago
    Off topic, but some trains can even change gauge while in motion: https://www.reddit.com/r/trains/comments/kq6eds/this_is_how_trains_change_gauge_while_moving_1000/ https://www.reddit.com/r/trains/comments/kq6eds/this_is_how_...
    - m4rtink 4mo ago
      This is actually quite a significant technical achievement - for example, a similar project in Japan failed. Japanese Railways wanted to build a train that can run at full speed (~300 km/h) on the standard gauge (1435 mm) regular Shinkansen lines but also use the narrow gauge (1067 mm) existing lines at slower speed. Those older lines would not have to be rebuilt for the Shinkansen standard & there would still be significant time savings: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gauge_Change_Train https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gauge_Change_Train This failed to produce a viable train, resulting in falling back to track rebuilds or using relay trains that connect directly from Shinkansen to the local rail line on the same platform.
      - m463 4mo ago
        They don't seem to say why it didn't work. I wonder if it was not just the change in gauge, but tolerances as well. I got to see "Dr. Yellow" running on the shinkansen line and it checks everything out. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Doctor_Yellow https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Doctor_Yellow I wonder if the slower-speed lines have looser tolerances. Then maybe running the gauge-change train on the slower lines might kill the train's tolerances before it moves back to the super smooth high-speed lines.
doe88 4mo ago
Someone should definitely forward this to Kim Jong Un, maybe they also make a custom armored version.
retired 4mo ago
It’s possible in The Netherlands to charter a private train. I have seen large companies do this for a company retreat. It’s not even that expensive. I remember it being €5000/hour which isn’t a bad way to move 300 employees to the other side of the country.
- crote 4mo ago
  All European railway operators are legally required to offer this, by the way: it's an open market, so (provided there is physical space) they have to allow anyone to run their own train. Normally this means freight trains, but it also means companies like FlixTrain can attempt to compete with the large national train operators - and of course it allows for one-off charters. The only downside is that preference is given to regularly scheduled services, and the remaining space is first-come-first-serve, so on the busier routes there's a decent chance you'll have to take a large detour instead, or sit in a siding waiting for a while.
  - gpvos 4mo ago
    The infrastructure operators have to allow anyone with a train operating license on their tracks, and such license is very nontrivial to acquire. Usually you would hire a train from a train operating company, and those companies are not required to rent out their trains - although several have been set up explicitly with that goal, of course.
    - mrlonglong 4mo ago
      Back in Victorian times very rich people owned their own railway carriage which they would have hauled across country.
      - gpvos 4mo ago
        Basically like it still is in the US.

kortilla 4mo ago

Is there someone that does this frequently with a breakdown in costs and their experience? This sounds lit as a goal for an eccentric millionaire.

mplanchard 4mo ago
If I ever get to be a millionaire, it’s certainly on my list!
- sailfast 4mo ago
  Buy a house first - then make another 20 million, then maybe consider this haha
  - kirubakaran 4mo ago
    "Mark, do you have live quite so relentlessly in the real world?" -- Jeremy, Peep Show
    - sailfast 4mo ago
      It’s a question I ask my therapist all the time :)
skinfaxi 4mo ago
There is a fee schedule available: https://www.amtrak.com/content/dam/projects/dotcom/english/public/documents/privatecars/Amtrak-Private-Car-Rate-Addendum-8-100125.pdf https://www.amtrak.com/content/dam/projects/dotcom/english/p...
fineIllregister 4mo ago
I don't have personal experience, but I've heard it's not viable. The biggest issue is that Amtrak offers the service on a "best effort" basis, which means that if the train you want to hook up to is running late (which this frequently are due to conflicts with cargo traffic), they won't hook your car up, and you have to wait for the next train, which also might not be able to hook you up.
- bombcar 4mo ago
  Part of doing this is knowing the rules and the “real rules” - you have the car attached at an end node (Los Angeles or San Diego, say) even if your group gets on in Burbank.
bluGill 4mo ago
There are a few clubs that have cars that do this for a club outing. Members pay a small amount of dues, but the largest cost is labor - you are expected to help rebuild their cars. Most of the club money seems to come from renting the cars out. The above is what I gather from reading their websites. However there is no club close enough to me for joining to be reasonable and so I didn't verify the above.
dabluecaboose 4mo ago
There are clubs[1][2] of owners, and they'll generally rent them out to people. We looked into doing it for my bachelor party. Unfortunately, the cost is akin to renting a yacht for the same amount of time (On the order of thousands per day, minimum), so we quickly shelved that plan for an AirBnB. [1] https://www.aaprco.com/ https://www.aaprco.com/ [2] https://www.rpca.com/ https://www.rpca.com/
Caracas288 4mo ago
Somewhere, the locomotove nomads travel the wastes of North America in their reinforced rail cars. They never speak to one another, but sometimes you can glimpse the deisel smoke of a distant train on the horizon at sunset…

voidUpdate 4mo ago

Make sure you get one that matches American gauge and isn't one of the the meter gauge mountain trains

bluGill 4mo ago
gauge is likely easy to change. Not cheap, but Amtrak demands expensive inspections and refurbishment to run, so the cost of changing the gauge is likely fairly small compared to the other costs.
- elil17 4mo ago
  Off topic, but some trains can even change gauge while in motion: https://www.reddit.com/r/trains/comments/kq6eds/this_is_how_trains_change_gauge_while_moving_1000/ https://www.reddit.com/r/trains/comments/kq6eds/this_is_how_...
  - m4rtink 4mo ago
    This is actually quite a significant technical achievement - for example, a similar project in Japan failed. Japanese Railways wanted to build a train that can run at full speed (~300 km/h) on the standard gauge (1435 mm) regular Shinkansen lines but also use the narrow gauge (1067 mm) existing lines at slower speed. Those older lines would not have to be rebuilt for the Shinkansen standard & there would still be significant time savings: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gauge_Change_Train https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gauge_Change_Train This failed to produce a viable train, resulting in falling back to track rebuilds or using relay trains that connect directly from Shinkansen to the local rail line on the same platform.
    - m463 4mo ago
      They don't seem to say why it didn't work. I wonder if it was not just the change in gauge, but tolerances as well. I got to see "Dr. Yellow" running on the shinkansen line and it checks everything out. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Doctor_Yellow https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Doctor_Yellow I wonder if the slower-speed lines have looser tolerances. Then maybe running the gauge-change train on the slower lines might kill the train's tolerances before it moves back to the super smooth high-speed lines.

doe88 4mo ago

Someone should definitely forward this to Kim Jong Un, maybe they also make a custom armored version.

retired 4mo ago

It’s possible in The Netherlands to charter a private train. I have seen large companies do this for a company retreat. It’s not even that expensive. I remember it being €5000/hour which isn’t a bad way to move 300 employees to the other side of the country.

crote 4mo ago
All European railway operators are legally required to offer this, by the way: it's an open market, so (provided there is physical space) they have to allow anyone to run their own train. Normally this means freight trains, but it also means companies like FlixTrain can attempt to compete with the large national train operators - and of course it allows for one-off charters. The only downside is that preference is given to regularly scheduled services, and the remaining space is first-come-first-serve, so on the busier routes there's a decent chance you'll have to take a large detour instead, or sit in a siding waiting for a while.
- gpvos 4mo ago
  The infrastructure operators have to allow anyone with a train operating license on their tracks, and such license is very nontrivial to acquire. Usually you would hire a train from a train operating company, and those companies are not required to rent out their trains - although several have been set up explicitly with that goal, of course.
  - mrlonglong 4mo ago
    Back in Victorian times very rich people owned their own railway carriage which they would have hauled across country.
    - gpvos 4mo ago
      Basically like it still is in the US.