13 ms·

Aboard Amtrak

275 points by akg_67 12y ago

djloche 12y ago
As someone that did San Diego to San Francisco to Salt Lake to Chicago to New York City to Rochester to Washington DC and back again by train: it was a crazy, interesting, fun, and tiring experience well worth it. If you ever have the opportunity, take the train on a cross country trip. If you don't upgrade to a sleeper car, make sure to stop every second day if your trip is longer than 5 days. You will want to shower, sleep, and enjoy some quiet before getting back on the train. This article definitely captures the feeling.
moron4hire 12y ago
I really liked this article. I enjoyed the writing style and the subject is one that interests me a lot, as I've also managed to have a lot of fun traveling-and-working by Amtrak. But I guess I'm going to violate the entire moral of the story with the rest of my post. Because I kind of stopped and had to ask myself what the author was thinking with this line: >> I didn't know how to reconcile his witless alcoholism with his tremendous sacrifice. You must not know many soldiers. Or just people in general. I know there are a lot of different people out there and a lot of different experiences, so I really don't need anyone replying with "my buddy did it for such-and-such and has never touched a drop of alcohol in his life". Not interested. But judging from literally every ex-soldier I've met, "witless alcoholism" is what defines and unifies military service. To some extent, that even includes my own parents, who I suspect didn't drink very much when I was a kid specifically because of their experiences in the military. And really, in a lot of respects that's just being young, sowing wild oats and whatnot. What is the difference between kids in the military and kids in college (and do not forget for a second that soldiering is mostly done by adults-in-name-only)? I suspect not much, other than a generally higher degree of physical fitness in the military. Also judging from these ex-soldiers, joining the military is as much about "serving one's country" and "making a sacrifice" as going to college is about "learning", i.e. that's not really actually why most people do it and it only happens out of circumstance. I can't tell if any of the soldiers I've met had given any serious thought to the concept of injury or death before they volunteered. Because really, how much serious thought on such concepts is an 18-year-old even capable of? As a society, we literally force some of the most life-changing decisions on the people who are almost universally unprepared to evaluate their full set of options correctly. Most people seem to do it (both college and the military) because they're expected to, because they aren't aware of other options, and/or because they think it will be a good time. Or, at least in peacetime, I'd say that was the case. Today, I don't know. Being 18 year olds, it's probably the same motivations. But we've been in active shooty-stabby-bomby action for thirteen years straight (I also really don't need any pedantic replies about official declarations of war). Living in DC, it's kind of hard to not notice the 11th of September pass by, thus my wife and I tend to avoid being in town on that day. And it's kind of hard to remember what day it is just about anywhere else. It's been a long time. Vietnam was slightly longer and I doubt anyone thinks we'll be done soon. Is this what Pearl Harbor felt like in 1953? Hell, we'd already been into and out of Korea by that time. My point here is, if you're in the military now, you're volunteering for war. If you're an injured soldier, I'm sorry you got hurt. You didn't deserve it, because nobody deserves war and mayhem. But you volunteered for it. We need to stop saying "support the troops". We need to start saying "prevent kids from joining unjust war".
- CalRobert 12y ago
  "As a society, we literally force some of the most life-changing decisions on the people who are almost universally unprepared to evaluate their full set of options correctly." Well said, but maybe part of the solution here is to stop treating teenagers the same way we treat infants and acknowledge they have an active and capable mind which we too often fail to encourage.
- carlob 12y ago
  > My point here is, if you're in the military now, you're volunteering for war. If you're an injured soldier, I'm sorry you got hurt. You didn't deserve it, because nobody deserves war and mayhem. But you volunteered for it. We need to stop saying "support the troops". We need to start saying "prevent kids from joining unjust war". A thousand times yes! About a year ago I was flying in the US for a conference and I noticed a soldier in uniform getting bumped to business class. Apparently this is standard AA policy. This led me to ask some questions about the military to some coworkers which turned into some sort of a fight. My position is exactly the same as yours: American society forces its most vulnerable to join unjust wars and then rather than provide them with welfare, social and medical services relies on this kind of obscene corporate brandwashing and cheap respect and support from the public. I refuse to support the troops, we have to stop kids from being duped into joining the military altogether. But apparently this is a rather unpopular position, especially with those who have family members in the military.
  - deleted 12y ago
    [deleted]
  - saraid216 12y ago
    > But apparently this is a rather unpopular position, especially with those who have family members in the military. See: Sunk Cost Fallacy. People who have emotional investments in the military are unlikely to roll that back just on your say-so.
- AaronIG 12y ago
  > My point here is, if you're in the military now, you're volunteering for war. If you're an injured soldier, I'm sorry you got hurt. You didn't deserve it, because nobody deserves war and mayhem. But you volunteered for it. We need to stop saying "support the troops". We need to start saying "prevent kids from joining unjust war". I'm currently serving, and I agree. It gets tiring having complete strangers walk up to me, while I'm in uniform, and saying things like "thank you, for all that you do.", as if I should bask in the glory of their appreciation. Perhaps they really are thankful, but the whole encounter is always awkward. At first I wasn't sure how to respond, but I've settled on saying "you're welcome", even though it sounds arrogant to me. Then you have individuals and corporations who profit on this whole notion that we should donate to "support the troops" at every opportunity we get. Many of us don't deserve support. Some of us may make sacrifices at times, but that doesn't mean we deserve everyone's affection or undue favoritism. We have the same issues as any one else. I'd much rather people pressure their congressmen and women to provide the benefits our service members were guaranteed. For those that feel compelled to give, I'd urge them to do so locally by contacting their local VFW post. Now, I don't want to seem ungrateful. There have been instances where I felt I experienced actual appreciation. Once I was out enjoying sushi with some family and friends and a stranger paid the bill. They left without us ever having known who they were. I'm grateful for what they did.
theklub 12y ago
Was this a product of Amtrak hiring writers? http://www.theguardian.com/books/booksblog/2014/feb/27/amtrak-writer-residencies-us-trains http://www.theguardian.com/books/booksblog/2014/feb/27/amtra...
- iancarroll 12y ago
  > and the 45 day Amtrak pass was cheaper than rent. I'd assume not.
  - T-hawk 12y ago
    It's competitive. The price is $879, for those who missed it deep in the article. There are many places where 45 days worth of rent at that price will get you worse environs than a train.
jzwinck 12y ago
Amazing writing, I couldn't put it down. Don't miss the Amtrak Tips page linked at the bottom. For anyone fascinated by rail travel, I can recommend the train from Bulawayo to Victoria Falls (Zimbabwe). It's definitely like he writes, hard mode, but it's only for one day or night, and when I was there first class tickets cost $7 US. Also worthwhile: South Korea (trains galore, hard mode only due to the writing system). Sri Lanka's Hill Country (the train goes about 10 kph and you will wish it would slow down--the views!). Oslo-Stockholm (easy but expensive mode). And finally, http://www.seat61.com http://www.seat61.com - OK, it's got ads now, just ignore them, this is a gem of Web 1.0.
- lmm 12y ago
  If you're thinking of a European trip, do it right now - Deutsche Bahn are withdrawing many of the sleeper trains in December as they're unprofitable. I went London-Tokyo by train and ferry. Chinese sleepers were probably the best - both luxurious and cheap, particularly in the northwest there is gorgeous desert and canyons out the window. But the train from Moscow to Uzbekistan was fascinating in its own way, red leather and steaming samovars, fresh-caught fish being sold on the platforms of these rural stations alongside enormous kebabs of mysterious meat. Carriage attendants knocking the snow off the steps with pokers at every stop. Looking out the window and seeing a solitary line of telegraph poles across the empty snowfield, the only human thing as far as the eye could see. A bunch of men lining up on one side of the corridor as we passed the steaming silos and metal towers at Baikonur, hoping to see a launch.
  - redler 12y ago
    That's a lovely paragraph, evocative and well written.
  - gsnedders 12y ago
    > If you're thinking of a European trip, do it right now - Deutsche Bahn are withdrawing many of the sleeper trains in December as they're unprofitable. The same is true across Europe — HSR has helped kill sleepers in recent years.
- 12y ago
buro9 12y ago
Great writing, could almost be there on the train living it. One day, if I find the motivation, I'll write up the experience of sleeping rough in the UK and hitching from town to town. 2 winters spent outside, 30 months in total. A country is full of so many people, such incredible diversity, and yet some patterns as well... groups always seem to form of similar types. It's deeply fascinating stuff just to meet so many people and just talk.
- NickPollard 12y ago
  I would love to read that, you should definitely do it. Where in the UK did you travel?
  - buro9 12y ago
    Everywhere except Hull and Liverpool. Hundreds of towns and cities, I stayed one night, and then moved on. I found it safer to travel in the days than to wander the streets. At nights I'd sleep in fields (outside small towns) or in building sites (site offices have a heater and kettle and were usually unlocked - perfect for winter). During the deep of winter I did the most travelling... I'd try and hitch for most of the day as it would mean somewhere warm for those hours. Scotland to London and back was a regular whenever it snowed. For money I did odd-jobs along the way, but mostly I would go to student unions (always potential to work for bands playing live - sell their merchandise when they were coming off-stage) and just meet people, have a drink, and that would lead to a sofa to crash on, a shower and cheese on toast in the morning. It's a very long story, mostly blurred together with some parts more memorable than the others (the extreme lows and highs - hearing gun shots in Manchester, being mugged in Birmingham, falling in love in Glasgow, shivering through the first nights of snow, etc). One also acquires an incredible awareness for a town, I could be dropped anywhere and know which way the town centre was (look for the lay of the land, the river and the basin), where the rail station was, where the bus stations are, the key routes in and out, and where McDonald's was likely to be (the only place to get a hot meal at 6am-7am). That is a wonderful skill which has proved useful almost everywhere around (the world except the USA - you guys just drop your cities anywhere, and damn the land).
ANTSANTS 12y ago
"I’ve met so many, anarchists to Pentecostalists, Ivy League and Cherokee. I’ve found our diversity shocking. My fellow Americans can be incomprehensible. They say the indefensible. Do the indefensible. I think of that veteran, his struggle from party weekly to wounded gravely. And yet, he explicitly said he’d do it all again, the substance abuse, all the solo travel, the putting himself over a bomb for flag and country. I think that’s crazy. But I’m not him. I ain’t ever taken one step in his moccasins. We are a nation predicated on individual liberty and also a people wholly interconnected and interdependent. It’s crazy chaotic contradictory and increasingly I’ve found it beautiful. Gallery requires javascript."
- ANTSANTS 12y ago
  In case anyone was wondering, that wasn't intended as a snide remark about Javascript. The way the "Gallery requires javascript" message appeared in the middle of the text like it was part of the essay just touched my funny bone in the right way.
sauere 12y ago
Time for more some more railroad porn in this thread https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xGES75OYIl0 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xGES75OYIl0
linker3000 12y ago
NY to Atlanta on a visit from the UK - about 1995: * Train hits a tree on the line and grinds to a halt near Philadelphia. After about 30 minutes, the conductor announces that they have tried plugging some of the holes in an air tank (brakes, presumably) with wood, but it hasn't worked (!!!) so we'll have to wait for the following train and change on to it - we have broken down on a section of double track so the next train pulls alongside. * Made it to Washington on a really packed train. We are due to have the dining car hitched up to us here, but it has an electrical fault so nope - no cooked food for the journey! Delays while faulty car unhitched. * Drunk woman staggers through train shouting 'Goddamn it, has anyone got a Budweiser and a Cigarette!' * (Still in Washington) Drunk woman and a man she met are hauled off the train by police for getting a bit too..er..'romantic' in a corridor! * Outskirts of Atlanta - running slow for some reason - we hit a man walking to work down the track. Train stops and we can see police, fire and ambulance out the window. Man is hauled off to hospital by police and paramedics with nothing more than badly cut arm. Conductor announces that the man didn't hear us coming and has apologized for the delay he has caused. * Made it to Atlanta station - receive phone call from the people picking us up...they have never used the train and don't know where the station is. We give directions.
- rayiner 12y ago
  > Made it to Atlanta station - receive phone call from the people picking us up...they have never used the train and don't know where the station is. We give directions. I lived in Atlanta for 7 years and didn't even know it had a train station.
  - rogov 12y ago
    I took my dad on a trip from Atlanta to Charlotte to see a college football bowl game. The train ride wasn't bad, but it definitely required a lot of flexibility to get to and from the stations in both cities. Taxis in the middle of the night in Charlotte, buses and walking in Atlanta. Neither city is really designed for rail to be integrated into their regional transport system, but I think both are trying to change that.
  - milesskorpen 12y ago
kendallpark 12y ago
Amtrak is great when you aren't on a schedule. I love the railroad travel experience. Waiting patiently for that high speed rail between St. Louis and Chicago... I will admit, I did check the prices for a 45-day pass after reading this. Sometimes I wish I could go effectively homeless and work on personal programming projects for months at a time.
- TwiztidK 12y ago
  I feel the same way. Unfortunately, my employer wouldn't take kindly to me taking a multi-month vacation. Maybe someday...
  - kendallpark 12y ago
    It's the thing I miss most about school: long breaks. Even though I was working most summers, it was ten weeks to recharge, not worry about homework, studying, school drama... I was always very refreshed and eager to start school by the time September rolled around. I feel like my regular work would benefit if I could take a multi-month unpaid vacation.
- timdiggerm 12y ago
  I assume this would be exclusively for people going to Chicago and returning home, as there's little reason to travel in the other direction.
  - dionidium 12y ago
    I realize it's fashionable to dump on the rust belt, but, at risk of sounding defensive, there are 2.8 million people and a whole bunch of big companies [0] in the St. Louis metro area. There's basically no way to construct a narrative that supports your claim that there's little reason to travel there. [0] http://www.gislounge.com/fortune-1000-companies-by-state/#missouri http://www.gislounge.com/fortune-1000-companies-by-state/#mi...
- Scuds 12y ago
  > Amtrak is great when you aren't on a schedule. Not on a schedule - or - for shorter trips the overhead of flying is just too much. Airports are far away from a city center, and there's always lines for security. I rode Amtrak Cascades[1] from Seattle to Portland a few weeks back and the train station is only a few blocks from the city center. Leg room resembles first class on a plane, and being able to walk around and sit in an observation/dining car is better than anything. Four hours, $50. I'd have spent more on gas just by itself if I drove. [1] - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Amtrak_Cascades http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Amtrak_Cascades > Sometimes I wish I could go effectively homeless and work on personal programming projects for months at a time. or remote on full salary :D
smackfu 12y ago
It's $879 for 18 trips within 45 days. So that's going to lot of sleeping on trains.
- saraid216 12y ago
  It is worth noting that 18 trips != 18 segments. If your trip is from Seattle to LA to Dallas, that's actually 2 segments for 1 trip.
  - smackfu 12y ago
    Interesting, is that because it's two named routes ?
    - saraid216 12y ago
      There's a FAQ somewhere on the site explaining how segments are determined. I found it yesterday, but I can't find it again.
chiph 12y ago
> Two zero axles zero faults, said the computer. There are infrared sensors along the tracks that look for overheated wheel bearings. They're called hot box detectors. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Defect_detector http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Defect_detector These allowed the railroads to eliminate cabooses and their crews.
- kalleboo 12y ago
  That's interesting, why would you put it along the track and not on the train itself? In the 60's it made sense but today wouldn't it be cheap to put digital temperature sensors on the trains like cars have?
  - chiph 12y ago
    Probably cost. There are millions of rail cars, both here and in Canada (not sure if the railroads run trains in Mexico) that would need to be taken out of service and fitted with them. Plus, easier to test to see if the detectors are working - just run a work train past them with a resistance heater hanging off it to simulate a hot bearing. And -- the sensors would have to communicate with the crew if there's an alarm, and they could be a half mile away (long trains are long) inside a tunnel. There aren't any data connections between cars (and wouldn't be reliable if there were), so the on-car detector would have to have a powerful radio. Added cost & complexity.
- gsnedders 12y ago
  Are journal bearings still common on American rolling stock?
  - Gracana 12y ago
    Probably not, but modern bearings can still fail, and the result would be just as catastrophic.
jostmey 12y ago
I used to ride Amtrak from Chicago to KC. But because the track deteriorated so badly they starting putting the passengers on buses. What was the point of buying a train ticket?
deleted 12y ago
[deleted]
- peterwwillis 12y ago
  Sometimes it's free, sometimes you pay, sometimes it works, sometimes it doesn't. Same for phone.
peterwwillis 12y ago
On a recent 'Guide to living in DC', an editorial noted how awkward it is to go to a beer garden. If you go to meet one other person, you can either try to sit right next to each other, or across from each other. Across is ideal, but then "you have to share elbow space with a stranger." The dining and lounge cars in a train are about the only place left for city-slickers in American society where it's not a social faux pas to intentionally interact with a stranger. On elevators, in subways, on buses, even at many bars, you're supposed to mind your own business. But on the train, you have nowhere to go and nothing to do. Faced with the barren reality of the situation, people seem to finally lower their guard and just be humans, and do what humans are naturally apt to do: share an experience. It's so tragically sad that we've bred ourselves to have to be forced like cattle into a metal box hurtling across the countryside just to engage in scenarios and people foreign to us.
reustle 12y ago
If you're interested in getting a taste of Amtrak while coding, I've been working with Amtrak on a hackathon from NYC to SF. Join us! http://Amhacks.com http://Amhacks.com
- asciimo 12y ago
  Awesome idea. But it looks like the hackathon in behind schedule. When do you think it'll leave the station?
  - reustle 12y ago
    Right now we're shooting for spring / summer. It is turning out to be a really great event, we're all excited! I will be posting updates about it too if you're curious: http://twitter.com/reustle http://twitter.com/reustle
- untog 12y ago
  That sounds amazing. Any idea how much it would cost to attend, though?
  - reustle 12y ago
    Still working on sponsorships and schedules, but I should have a better idea in a few weeks. Likely under $400.
    - potatolicious 12y ago
      This sounds really cool, and I live at one of the endpoints so all the better. Any thoughts on the basic logistics of it - sleeper cars, showers, food, preventing people from stinking up the whole joint, etc?
      - reustle 12y ago
        All of the above, and more.
snake_plissken 12y ago
Train travel is by far the most pleasurable way to travel, in every aspect. The scenery is (usually) amazing and you meet SO many different types of people. I don't know what it is about trains that attract anarchists. I took a 2 week train trip around China a couple years back, long haul jawns, each leg ranging from 20-27 hours. We'd stop in a city for 1-2 nights and then keep moving on. It was amazing and one of the best things I have ever done in my life. And I met like 5 anarchists. I love and hate Amtrak. It's great when it's working. I wish it was a little more affordable and that there were communal sleeping cars, so that the long haul routes would become more popular. On a side note, sometimes I wonder if U.S. culture is compatible with an efficient and graceful long haul train system. This is from the top comment, "Drunk woman staggers through train shouting 'Goddamn it, has anyone got a Budweiser and a Cigarette!'" I don't know if, in general, we U.S. Americans are respectful enough to make train travel work.
- smeyer 12y ago
  I think the challenges to American train travel are less cultural and more geographic. Train systems seem to work in small countries with dense populations, and in fact we see in the northeast that trains are effective and widely used. I live in Boston, and people use the subway in the city, commuter rail near the city, and Amtrak to get to places like New York. But flying just seems so much more practical around most parts of the US.
  - gsnedders 12y ago
    China's hardly small, but is pretty dense in the east. Trans-continental travel is nowadays without question the purview of air travel (though I was surprised when I looked up the classes of air travel across the US — a flight from the EU to the north east of the US gets you so much more than a trans-continental flight, despite the lengths of the flights being near identical!). That said, a quite look at a population map it look like a fairly comprehensive network as far west as Chicago should be viable, extending down to Virginia on the coast. Otherwise, Houston–Austin–San Antonio seems doable (possibly with a spur off that from Austin to Dallas and Fort Worth), as well as most of California (and probably Phoenix from there). That said, don't take this as carte blanche support for any proposals for HSR in those areas — I know at least the Californian proposal is pretty ridiculous. There are other challenges, but ones that likely aren't insurmountable. Most notably, you almost certainly want for many travellers the destination to be the central business district, but in many cities this makes it hard to have large car rental places — necessary given most of these cities don't have good, comprehensive transport networks.
kibwen 12y ago
I want to love Amtrak. Trains are such a fabulous way to travel. But I've just gotta vent at how embarrassing and seemingly inept the train system is in my country. This very morning I went to pick up a friend who was riding Chicago to Pittsburgh. The train was due to arrive at 5:00 AM, giving me plenty of time to get her home and get myself to work by 8:00. But knowing how these things tend to unfold, I was savvy: I told my boss that I might not be in until 9:30 or so, giving myself enough headroom to breathe even if the train was an unthinkable three hours late. I was naive. The train was five hours late. Meanwhile, I have friends who work for companies who write the software that control train scheduling throughout the country. After what they've seen, they refuse to ride on trains, and from the stories they've told I don't blame them. It's easy to attempt to excuse this state of affairs. Our rail infrastructure is some of the oldest in the world. The country is huge and sparsely populated. The system was designed for hauling freight, not passengers. But none of that keeps me from reading pieces like the recent HN article on Japan's bullet train (http://www.theguardian.com/cities/2014/sep/30/-sp-shinkansen-bullet-train-tokyo-rail-japan-50-years http://www.theguardian.com/cities/2014/sep/30/-sp-shinkansen...) and longing for something so punctual and efficient.
- deleted 12y ago
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- orborde 12y ago
  > Meanwhile, I have friends who work for companies who write the software that control train scheduling throughout the country. After what they've seen, they refuse to ride on trains, and from the stories they've told I don't blame them. Can you tell us more about this?
  - kibwen 12y ago
    The stories are mostly the mundane sort of terrible, rather than of the outlandish and entertaining variety. You know, impossibly buggy software plagued by decades of half-rewrites and no documentation or tests, the sort of stuff that's typical for most big companies except that this particular big company is responsible for shepherding untold quantities of earth-scorching chemicals via an infrastructure so archaic that they often have no idea where the trains actually are unless the conductors call in personally and read out the signs of the towns they're passing through. Hair-raising close calls. Problems that we have the technology to affordably solve, but are merely too apathetic to. I'm enough of a non-expert that if I attempted to relay anything more specific then I'm afraid that I'd just be talking out of my ass. I should note that my friends do not work for Amtrak specifically, or even necessarily have anything to do with Amtrak. However, I can tell you that there are definitely major companies involved, if you're looking for a particularly Fight-Clubby response.
WD-42 12y ago
Awesome writing. Reminded me of Kerouac, with some good historical tidbits and photography dispersed throughout. Its a shame and predictable that the top rated comments basically say "Amtrak sux" obviously the commentators failed to actually read the piece.
tedks 12y ago
What a beautiful article. What a shame so many people here didn't read it. If you're in this thread to bicker about train regulations and government spending, stop wasting your time and read the story that was shared with you. It's beautiful.
wehadfun 12y ago
Took a train from Dallas to Detroit and back. Rode the sleeper there and coach back. 1. The sleeper train is in the front and almost under neath the whistle. The whistle blew all night made sleeping hard. 2.With The sleeper the food is free. The food looks O.K. but taste terrible. 3. No beautiful scenery from on the trip.
VLM 12y ago
The cars going west from Chicago are different model (double decker) from train cars going east. The cars going west have dramatically superior facilities. Going east you have like a picnic table and a snack bar, but going west you have a bar and 360 observation windows in the rec car and card tables and a greasy spoon in the lower level. Something to do with tunnel heights.
- DanBC 12y ago
  Once all the nice trains going west have gone west, how do they get back?
  - VLM 12y ago
    LOL from Chicago. Or more accurately I'm told "mostly west of the mississippi" routes have the nice double decker cars and "mostly east of the mississippi" routes have the dumpy single height worn out cars. I also heard they're starting to use new cars out east that are nice but I've never seen one outside fawning journalist articles (they may be nice, they may not, but coverage is overwhelmingly positive). Maybe next time I take an overnight to NYC I'll get to try a new model train car.
virmundi 12y ago
I really wanted to like Amtrak. I live in Palatka, FL. I've thought about getting a job in Jacksonville. That's an hour commute both ways by my car. There is an Amtrak station just a few blocks from me. I thought, "Hey, I could commute into work while working." Unfortunately, it's a nonstarter. They cost $20 bucks to go one way. They have limited times that make no sense from a job perspective unless I worked second shift. And Jacksonville doesn't have DC/NYC style local light rail. Finally, the times the same. So if I were to go that way, I'm driving.
brightsize 12y ago
I've taken Amtrak cross-country several times now, each trip combining the Lake Shore Limited and Empire builder. The trains have been on time and service had been fantastic (note: I was riding 1st class with a private cabin, which is quite expensive). I just now priced out a Washington state=>Springfield, MA trip, 2700-odd miles, and the coach price is $223. 1/3 the cost of a flight. For that money I can travel without standing in queues, without anyone grabbing my crotch, and with time and space to work and code. It's a pretty compelling proposition.
- Bzzzzt 12y ago
  It is great riding it cross-country, I just finished up my second trip from Los Angeles to New York City in August (Southwest Chief + Lake Shore Limited). I enjoy being able to finish books and get some coding work in, and the amazing views like riding through the midwest at night and having a far off lightning storm in the background. All the people I've met on the trains are really nice, and interesting. When I tell my friends here that it is actually quite a nice trip they think it is ridiculous to take a train for 72 hours, but it really isn't about the destination for me -- just the trip. I also prefer it to airplane travel.

275 points by akg_67 12y ago

As someone that did San Diego to San Francisco to Salt Lake to Chicago to New York City to Rochester to Washington DC and back again by train: it was a crazy, interesting, fun, and tiring experience well worth it. If you ever have the opportunity, take the train on a cross country trip. If you don't upgrade to a sleeper car, make sure to stop every second day if your trip is longer than 5 days. You will want to shower, sleep, and enjoy some quiet before getting back on the train. This article definitely captures the feeling.

moron4hire 12y ago

I really liked this article. I enjoyed the writing style and the subject is one that interests me a lot, as I've also managed to have a lot of fun traveling-and-working by Amtrak. But I guess I'm going to violate the entire moral of the story with the rest of my post. Because I kind of stopped and had to ask myself what the author was thinking with this line: >> I didn't know how to reconcile his witless alcoholism with his tremendous sacrifice. You must not know many soldiers. Or just people in general. I know there are a lot of different people out there and a lot of different experiences, so I really don't need anyone replying with "my buddy did it for such-and-such and has never touched a drop of alcohol in his life". Not interested. But judging from literally every ex-soldier I've met, "witless alcoholism" is what defines and unifies military service. To some extent, that even includes my own parents, who I suspect didn't drink very much when I was a kid specifically because of their experiences in the military. And really, in a lot of respects that's just being young, sowing wild oats and whatnot. What is the difference between kids in the military and kids in college (and do not forget for a second that soldiering is mostly done by adults-in-name-only)? I suspect not much, other than a generally higher degree of physical fitness in the military. Also judging from these ex-soldiers, joining the military is as much about "serving one's country" and "making a sacrifice" as going to college is about "learning", i.e. that's not really actually why most people do it and it only happens out of circumstance. I can't tell if any of the soldiers I've met had given any serious thought to the concept of injury or death before they volunteered. Because really, how much serious thought on such concepts is an 18-year-old even capable of? As a society, we literally force some of the most life-changing decisions on the people who are almost universally unprepared to evaluate their full set of options correctly. Most people seem to do it (both college and the military) because they're expected to, because they aren't aware of other options, and/or because they think it will be a good time. Or, at least in peacetime, I'd say that was the case. Today, I don't know. Being 18 year olds, it's probably the same motivations. But we've been in active shooty-stabby-bomby action for thirteen years straight (I also really don't need any pedantic replies about official declarations of war). Living in DC, it's kind of hard to not notice the 11th of September pass by, thus my wife and I tend to avoid being in town on that day. And it's kind of hard to remember what day it is just about anywhere else. It's been a long time. Vietnam was slightly longer and I doubt anyone thinks we'll be done soon. Is this what Pearl Harbor felt like in 1953? Hell, we'd already been into and out of Korea by that time. My point here is, if you're in the military now, you're volunteering for war. If you're an injured soldier, I'm sorry you got hurt. You didn't deserve it, because nobody deserves war and mayhem. But you volunteered for it. We need to stop saying "support the troops". We need to start saying "prevent kids from joining unjust war".

CalRobert 12y ago
"As a society, we literally force some of the most life-changing decisions on the people who are almost universally unprepared to evaluate their full set of options correctly." Well said, but maybe part of the solution here is to stop treating teenagers the same way we treat infants and acknowledge they have an active and capable mind which we too often fail to encourage.
carlob 12y ago
> My point here is, if you're in the military now, you're volunteering for war. If you're an injured soldier, I'm sorry you got hurt. You didn't deserve it, because nobody deserves war and mayhem. But you volunteered for it. We need to stop saying "support the troops". We need to start saying "prevent kids from joining unjust war". A thousand times yes! About a year ago I was flying in the US for a conference and I noticed a soldier in uniform getting bumped to business class. Apparently this is standard AA policy. This led me to ask some questions about the military to some coworkers which turned into some sort of a fight. My position is exactly the same as yours: American society forces its most vulnerable to join unjust wars and then rather than provide them with welfare, social and medical services relies on this kind of obscene corporate brandwashing and cheap respect and support from the public. I refuse to support the troops, we have to stop kids from being duped into joining the military altogether. But apparently this is a rather unpopular position, especially with those who have family members in the military.
- deleted 12y ago
  [deleted]
- saraid216 12y ago
  > But apparently this is a rather unpopular position, especially with those who have family members in the military. See: Sunk Cost Fallacy. People who have emotional investments in the military are unlikely to roll that back just on your say-so.
AaronIG 12y ago
> My point here is, if you're in the military now, you're volunteering for war. If you're an injured soldier, I'm sorry you got hurt. You didn't deserve it, because nobody deserves war and mayhem. But you volunteered for it. We need to stop saying "support the troops". We need to start saying "prevent kids from joining unjust war". I'm currently serving, and I agree. It gets tiring having complete strangers walk up to me, while I'm in uniform, and saying things like "thank you, for all that you do.", as if I should bask in the glory of their appreciation. Perhaps they really are thankful, but the whole encounter is always awkward. At first I wasn't sure how to respond, but I've settled on saying "you're welcome", even though it sounds arrogant to me. Then you have individuals and corporations who profit on this whole notion that we should donate to "support the troops" at every opportunity we get. Many of us don't deserve support. Some of us may make sacrifices at times, but that doesn't mean we deserve everyone's affection or undue favoritism. We have the same issues as any one else. I'd much rather people pressure their congressmen and women to provide the benefits our service members were guaranteed. For those that feel compelled to give, I'd urge them to do so locally by contacting their local VFW post. Now, I don't want to seem ungrateful. There have been instances where I felt I experienced actual appreciation. Once I was out enjoying sushi with some family and friends and a stranger paid the bill. They left without us ever having known who they were. I'm grateful for what they did.

theklub 12y ago

Was this a product of Amtrak hiring writers? http://www.theguardian.com/books/booksblog/2014/feb/27/amtrak-writer-residencies-us-trains http://www.theguardian.com/books/booksblog/2014/feb/27/amtra...

iancarroll 12y ago
> and the 45 day Amtrak pass was cheaper than rent. I'd assume not.
- T-hawk 12y ago
  It's competitive. The price is $879, for those who missed it deep in the article. There are many places where 45 days worth of rent at that price will get you worse environs than a train.

jzwinck 12y ago

Amazing writing, I couldn't put it down. Don't miss the Amtrak Tips page linked at the bottom. For anyone fascinated by rail travel, I can recommend the train from Bulawayo to Victoria Falls (Zimbabwe). It's definitely like he writes, hard mode, but it's only for one day or night, and when I was there first class tickets cost $7 US. Also worthwhile: South Korea (trains galore, hard mode only due to the writing system). Sri Lanka's Hill Country (the train goes about 10 kph and you will wish it would slow down--the views!). Oslo-Stockholm (easy but expensive mode). And finally, http://www.seat61.com http://www.seat61.com - OK, it's got ads now, just ignore them, this is a gem of Web 1.0.

lmm 12y ago
If you're thinking of a European trip, do it right now - Deutsche Bahn are withdrawing many of the sleeper trains in December as they're unprofitable. I went London-Tokyo by train and ferry. Chinese sleepers were probably the best - both luxurious and cheap, particularly in the northwest there is gorgeous desert and canyons out the window. But the train from Moscow to Uzbekistan was fascinating in its own way, red leather and steaming samovars, fresh-caught fish being sold on the platforms of these rural stations alongside enormous kebabs of mysterious meat. Carriage attendants knocking the snow off the steps with pokers at every stop. Looking out the window and seeing a solitary line of telegraph poles across the empty snowfield, the only human thing as far as the eye could see. A bunch of men lining up on one side of the corridor as we passed the steaming silos and metal towers at Baikonur, hoping to see a launch.
- redler 12y ago
  That's a lovely paragraph, evocative and well written.
- gsnedders 12y ago
  > If you're thinking of a European trip, do it right now - Deutsche Bahn are withdrawing many of the sleeper trains in December as they're unprofitable. The same is true across Europe — HSR has helped kill sleepers in recent years.
12y ago

buro9 12y ago

Great writing, could almost be there on the train living it. One day, if I find the motivation, I'll write up the experience of sleeping rough in the UK and hitching from town to town. 2 winters spent outside, 30 months in total. A country is full of so many people, such incredible diversity, and yet some patterns as well... groups always seem to form of similar types. It's deeply fascinating stuff just to meet so many people and just talk.

NickPollard 12y ago
I would love to read that, you should definitely do it. Where in the UK did you travel?
- buro9 12y ago
  Everywhere except Hull and Liverpool. Hundreds of towns and cities, I stayed one night, and then moved on. I found it safer to travel in the days than to wander the streets. At nights I'd sleep in fields (outside small towns) or in building sites (site offices have a heater and kettle and were usually unlocked - perfect for winter). During the deep of winter I did the most travelling... I'd try and hitch for most of the day as it would mean somewhere warm for those hours. Scotland to London and back was a regular whenever it snowed. For money I did odd-jobs along the way, but mostly I would go to student unions (always potential to work for bands playing live - sell their merchandise when they were coming off-stage) and just meet people, have a drink, and that would lead to a sofa to crash on, a shower and cheese on toast in the morning. It's a very long story, mostly blurred together with some parts more memorable than the others (the extreme lows and highs - hearing gun shots in Manchester, being mugged in Birmingham, falling in love in Glasgow, shivering through the first nights of snow, etc). One also acquires an incredible awareness for a town, I could be dropped anywhere and know which way the town centre was (look for the lay of the land, the river and the basin), where the rail station was, where the bus stations are, the key routes in and out, and where McDonald's was likely to be (the only place to get a hot meal at 6am-7am). That is a wonderful skill which has proved useful almost everywhere around (the world except the USA - you guys just drop your cities anywhere, and damn the land).

ANTSANTS 12y ago

"I’ve met so many, anarchists to Pentecostalists, Ivy League and Cherokee. I’ve found our diversity shocking. My fellow Americans can be incomprehensible. They say the indefensible. Do the indefensible. I think of that veteran, his struggle from party weekly to wounded gravely. And yet, he explicitly said he’d do it all again, the substance abuse, all the solo travel, the putting himself over a bomb for flag and country. I think that’s crazy. But I’m not him. I ain’t ever taken one step in his moccasins. We are a nation predicated on individual liberty and also a people wholly interconnected and interdependent. It’s crazy chaotic contradictory and increasingly I’ve found it beautiful. Gallery requires javascript."

ANTSANTS 12y ago
In case anyone was wondering, that wasn't intended as a snide remark about Javascript. The way the "Gallery requires javascript" message appeared in the middle of the text like it was part of the essay just touched my funny bone in the right way.

sauere 12y ago

Time for more some more railroad porn in this thread https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xGES75OYIl0 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xGES75OYIl0

linker3000 12y ago

NY to Atlanta on a visit from the UK - about 1995: * Train hits a tree on the line and grinds to a halt near Philadelphia. After about 30 minutes, the conductor announces that they have tried plugging some of the holes in an air tank (brakes, presumably) with wood, but it hasn't worked (!!!) so we'll have to wait for the following train and change on to it - we have broken down on a section of double track so the next train pulls alongside. * Made it to Washington on a really packed train. We are due to have the dining car hitched up to us here, but it has an electrical fault so nope - no cooked food for the journey! Delays while faulty car unhitched. * Drunk woman staggers through train shouting 'Goddamn it, has anyone got a Budweiser and a Cigarette!' * (Still in Washington) Drunk woman and a man she met are hauled off the train by police for getting a bit too..er..'romantic' in a corridor! * Outskirts of Atlanta - running slow for some reason - we hit a man walking to work down the track. Train stops and we can see police, fire and ambulance out the window. Man is hauled off to hospital by police and paramedics with nothing more than badly cut arm. Conductor announces that the man didn't hear us coming and has apologized for the delay he has caused. * Made it to Atlanta station - receive phone call from the people picking us up...they have never used the train and don't know where the station is. We give directions.

rayiner 12y ago
> Made it to Atlanta station - receive phone call from the people picking us up...they have never used the train and don't know where the station is. We give directions. I lived in Atlanta for 7 years and didn't even know it had a train station.
- rogov 12y ago
  I took my dad on a trip from Atlanta to Charlotte to see a college football bowl game. The train ride wasn't bad, but it definitely required a lot of flexibility to get to and from the stations in both cities. Taxis in the middle of the night in Charlotte, buses and walking in Atlanta. Neither city is really designed for rail to be integrated into their regional transport system, but I think both are trying to change that.
- milesskorpen 12y ago

kendallpark 12y ago

Amtrak is great when you aren't on a schedule. I love the railroad travel experience. Waiting patiently for that high speed rail between St. Louis and Chicago... I will admit, I did check the prices for a 45-day pass after reading this. Sometimes I wish I could go effectively homeless and work on personal programming projects for months at a time.

TwiztidK 12y ago
I feel the same way. Unfortunately, my employer wouldn't take kindly to me taking a multi-month vacation. Maybe someday...
- kendallpark 12y ago
  It's the thing I miss most about school: long breaks. Even though I was working most summers, it was ten weeks to recharge, not worry about homework, studying, school drama... I was always very refreshed and eager to start school by the time September rolled around. I feel like my regular work would benefit if I could take a multi-month unpaid vacation.
timdiggerm 12y ago
I assume this would be exclusively for people going to Chicago and returning home, as there's little reason to travel in the other direction.
- dionidium 12y ago
  I realize it's fashionable to dump on the rust belt, but, at risk of sounding defensive, there are 2.8 million people and a whole bunch of big companies [0] in the St. Louis metro area. There's basically no way to construct a narrative that supports your claim that there's little reason to travel there. [0] http://www.gislounge.com/fortune-1000-companies-by-state/#missouri http://www.gislounge.com/fortune-1000-companies-by-state/#mi...
Scuds 12y ago
> Amtrak is great when you aren't on a schedule. Not on a schedule - or - for shorter trips the overhead of flying is just too much. Airports are far away from a city center, and there's always lines for security. I rode Amtrak Cascades[1] from Seattle to Portland a few weeks back and the train station is only a few blocks from the city center. Leg room resembles first class on a plane, and being able to walk around and sit in an observation/dining car is better than anything. Four hours, $50. I'd have spent more on gas just by itself if I drove. [1] - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Amtrak_Cascades http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Amtrak_Cascades > Sometimes I wish I could go effectively homeless and work on personal programming projects for months at a time. or remote on full salary :D

smackfu 12y ago

It's $879 for 18 trips within 45 days. So that's going to lot of sleeping on trains.

saraid216 12y ago
It is worth noting that 18 trips != 18 segments. If your trip is from Seattle to LA to Dallas, that's actually 2 segments for 1 trip.
- smackfu 12y ago
  Interesting, is that because it's two named routes ?
  - saraid216 12y ago
    There's a FAQ somewhere on the site explaining how segments are determined. I found it yesterday, but I can't find it again.

chiph 12y ago

> Two zero axles zero faults, said the computer. There are infrared sensors along the tracks that look for overheated wheel bearings. They're called hot box detectors. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Defect_detector http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Defect_detector These allowed the railroads to eliminate cabooses and their crews.

kalleboo 12y ago
That's interesting, why would you put it along the track and not on the train itself? In the 60's it made sense but today wouldn't it be cheap to put digital temperature sensors on the trains like cars have?
- chiph 12y ago
  Probably cost. There are millions of rail cars, both here and in Canada (not sure if the railroads run trains in Mexico) that would need to be taken out of service and fitted with them. Plus, easier to test to see if the detectors are working - just run a work train past them with a resistance heater hanging off it to simulate a hot bearing. And -- the sensors would have to communicate with the crew if there's an alarm, and they could be a half mile away (long trains are long) inside a tunnel. There aren't any data connections between cars (and wouldn't be reliable if there were), so the on-car detector would have to have a powerful radio. Added cost & complexity.
gsnedders 12y ago
Are journal bearings still common on American rolling stock?
- Gracana 12y ago
  Probably not, but modern bearings can still fail, and the result would be just as catastrophic.

jostmey 12y ago

I used to ride Amtrak from Chicago to KC. But because the track deteriorated so badly they starting putting the passengers on buses. What was the point of buying a train ticket?

deleted 12y ago

[deleted]

peterwwillis 12y ago
Sometimes it's free, sometimes you pay, sometimes it works, sometimes it doesn't. Same for phone.

peterwwillis 12y ago

On a recent 'Guide to living in DC', an editorial noted how awkward it is to go to a beer garden. If you go to meet one other person, you can either try to sit right next to each other, or across from each other. Across is ideal, but then "you have to share elbow space with a stranger." The dining and lounge cars in a train are about the only place left for city-slickers in American society where it's not a social faux pas to intentionally interact with a stranger. On elevators, in subways, on buses, even at many bars, you're supposed to mind your own business. But on the train, you have nowhere to go and nothing to do. Faced with the barren reality of the situation, people seem to finally lower their guard and just be humans, and do what humans are naturally apt to do: share an experience. It's so tragically sad that we've bred ourselves to have to be forced like cattle into a metal box hurtling across the countryside just to engage in scenarios and people foreign to us.

reustle 12y ago

If you're interested in getting a taste of Amtrak while coding, I've been working with Amtrak on a hackathon from NYC to SF. Join us! http://Amhacks.com http://Amhacks.com

asciimo 12y ago
Awesome idea. But it looks like the hackathon in behind schedule. When do you think it'll leave the station?
- reustle 12y ago
  Right now we're shooting for spring / summer. It is turning out to be a really great event, we're all excited! I will be posting updates about it too if you're curious: http://twitter.com/reustle http://twitter.com/reustle
untog 12y ago
That sounds amazing. Any idea how much it would cost to attend, though?
- reustle 12y ago
  Still working on sponsorships and schedules, but I should have a better idea in a few weeks. Likely under $400.
  - potatolicious 12y ago
    This sounds really cool, and I live at one of the endpoints so all the better. Any thoughts on the basic logistics of it - sleeper cars, showers, food, preventing people from stinking up the whole joint, etc?
    - reustle 12y ago
      All of the above, and more.

snake_plissken 12y ago

Train travel is by far the most pleasurable way to travel, in every aspect. The scenery is (usually) amazing and you meet SO many different types of people. I don't know what it is about trains that attract anarchists. I took a 2 week train trip around China a couple years back, long haul jawns, each leg ranging from 20-27 hours. We'd stop in a city for 1-2 nights and then keep moving on. It was amazing and one of the best things I have ever done in my life. And I met like 5 anarchists. I love and hate Amtrak. It's great when it's working. I wish it was a little more affordable and that there were communal sleeping cars, so that the long haul routes would become more popular. On a side note, sometimes I wonder if U.S. culture is compatible with an efficient and graceful long haul train system. This is from the top comment, "Drunk woman staggers through train shouting 'Goddamn it, has anyone got a Budweiser and a Cigarette!'" I don't know if, in general, we U.S. Americans are respectful enough to make train travel work.

smeyer 12y ago
I think the challenges to American train travel are less cultural and more geographic. Train systems seem to work in small countries with dense populations, and in fact we see in the northeast that trains are effective and widely used. I live in Boston, and people use the subway in the city, commuter rail near the city, and Amtrak to get to places like New York. But flying just seems so much more practical around most parts of the US.
- gsnedders 12y ago
  China's hardly small, but is pretty dense in the east. Trans-continental travel is nowadays without question the purview of air travel (though I was surprised when I looked up the classes of air travel across the US — a flight from the EU to the north east of the US gets you so much more than a trans-continental flight, despite the lengths of the flights being near identical!). That said, a quite look at a population map it look like a fairly comprehensive network as far west as Chicago should be viable, extending down to Virginia on the coast. Otherwise, Houston–Austin–San Antonio seems doable (possibly with a spur off that from Austin to Dallas and Fort Worth), as well as most of California (and probably Phoenix from there). That said, don't take this as carte blanche support for any proposals for HSR in those areas — I know at least the Californian proposal is pretty ridiculous. There are other challenges, but ones that likely aren't insurmountable. Most notably, you almost certainly want for many travellers the destination to be the central business district, but in many cities this makes it hard to have large car rental places — necessary given most of these cities don't have good, comprehensive transport networks.

kibwen 12y ago

I want to love Amtrak. Trains are such a fabulous way to travel. But I've just gotta vent at how embarrassing and seemingly inept the train system is in my country. This very morning I went to pick up a friend who was riding Chicago to Pittsburgh. The train was due to arrive at 5:00 AM, giving me plenty of time to get her home and get myself to work by 8:00. But knowing how these things tend to unfold, I was savvy: I told my boss that I might not be in until 9:30 or so, giving myself enough headroom to breathe even if the train was an unthinkable three hours late. I was naive. The train was five hours late. Meanwhile, I have friends who work for companies who write the software that control train scheduling throughout the country. After what they've seen, they refuse to ride on trains, and from the stories they've told I don't blame them. It's easy to attempt to excuse this state of affairs. Our rail infrastructure is some of the oldest in the world. The country is huge and sparsely populated. The system was designed for hauling freight, not passengers. But none of that keeps me from reading pieces like the recent HN article on Japan's bullet train (http://www.theguardian.com/cities/2014/sep/30/-sp-shinkansen-bullet-train-tokyo-rail-japan-50-years http://www.theguardian.com/cities/2014/sep/30/-sp-shinkansen...) and longing for something so punctual and efficient.

deleted 12y ago
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orborde 12y ago
> Meanwhile, I have friends who work for companies who write the software that control train scheduling throughout the country. After what they've seen, they refuse to ride on trains, and from the stories they've told I don't blame them. Can you tell us more about this?
- kibwen 12y ago
  The stories are mostly the mundane sort of terrible, rather than of the outlandish and entertaining variety. You know, impossibly buggy software plagued by decades of half-rewrites and no documentation or tests, the sort of stuff that's typical for most big companies except that this particular big company is responsible for shepherding untold quantities of earth-scorching chemicals via an infrastructure so archaic that they often have no idea where the trains actually are unless the conductors call in personally and read out the signs of the towns they're passing through. Hair-raising close calls. Problems that we have the technology to affordably solve, but are merely too apathetic to. I'm enough of a non-expert that if I attempted to relay anything more specific then I'm afraid that I'd just be talking out of my ass. I should note that my friends do not work for Amtrak specifically, or even necessarily have anything to do with Amtrak. However, I can tell you that there are definitely major companies involved, if you're looking for a particularly Fight-Clubby response.

WD-42 12y ago

Awesome writing. Reminded me of Kerouac, with some good historical tidbits and photography dispersed throughout. Its a shame and predictable that the top rated comments basically say "Amtrak sux" obviously the commentators failed to actually read the piece.

tedks 12y ago

What a beautiful article. What a shame so many people here didn't read it. If you're in this thread to bicker about train regulations and government spending, stop wasting your time and read the story that was shared with you. It's beautiful.

wehadfun 12y ago

Took a train from Dallas to Detroit and back. Rode the sleeper there and coach back. 1. The sleeper train is in the front and almost under neath the whistle. The whistle blew all night made sleeping hard. 2.With The sleeper the food is free. The food looks O.K. but taste terrible. 3. No beautiful scenery from on the trip.

VLM 12y ago

The cars going west from Chicago are different model (double decker) from train cars going east. The cars going west have dramatically superior facilities. Going east you have like a picnic table and a snack bar, but going west you have a bar and 360 observation windows in the rec car and card tables and a greasy spoon in the lower level. Something to do with tunnel heights.

DanBC 12y ago
Once all the nice trains going west have gone west, how do they get back?
- VLM 12y ago
  LOL from Chicago. Or more accurately I'm told "mostly west of the mississippi" routes have the nice double decker cars and "mostly east of the mississippi" routes have the dumpy single height worn out cars. I also heard they're starting to use new cars out east that are nice but I've never seen one outside fawning journalist articles (they may be nice, they may not, but coverage is overwhelmingly positive). Maybe next time I take an overnight to NYC I'll get to try a new model train car.

virmundi 12y ago

I really wanted to like Amtrak. I live in Palatka, FL. I've thought about getting a job in Jacksonville. That's an hour commute both ways by my car. There is an Amtrak station just a few blocks from me. I thought, "Hey, I could commute into work while working." Unfortunately, it's a nonstarter. They cost $20 bucks to go one way. They have limited times that make no sense from a job perspective unless I worked second shift. And Jacksonville doesn't have DC/NYC style local light rail. Finally, the times the same. So if I were to go that way, I'm driving.

brightsize 12y ago

I've taken Amtrak cross-country several times now, each trip combining the Lake Shore Limited and Empire builder. The trains have been on time and service had been fantastic (note: I was riding 1st class with a private cabin, which is quite expensive). I just now priced out a Washington state=>Springfield, MA trip, 2700-odd miles, and the coach price is $223. 1/3 the cost of a flight. For that money I can travel without standing in queues, without anyone grabbing my crotch, and with time and space to work and code. It's a pretty compelling proposition.

Bzzzzt 12y ago
It is great riding it cross-country, I just finished up my second trip from Los Angeles to New York City in August (Southwest Chief + Lake Shore Limited). I enjoy being able to finish books and get some coding work in, and the amazing views like riding through the midwest at night and having a far off lightning storm in the background. All the people I've met on the trains are really nice, and interesting. When I tell my friends here that it is actually quite a nice trip they think it is ridiculous to take a train for 72 hours, but it really isn't about the destination for me -- just the trip. I also prefer it to airplane travel.