Last week, I got back from my first long distance train trip in about 25 years. I picked up the westbound Capitol Limited in Toledo and then connected with the California Zephyr in Chicago. Overall, it was a thoroughly enjoyable trip, even though it took over 2 1/2 days each way. My non-railroading friends couldn’t understand why I wouldn’t fly and my reply was I would rather spend 2 1/2 days on a train than 5 hours on a plane. I hated flying even before the latest security threats and it can only have gotten worse. I have no fear of flying but I can’t stand being packed into a plane like a sardine. Airlines don’t even try to make you comfortable anymore.
The trip was not without a few negatives. A late departure out of Toledo was no big deal because it just shortened my layover in Chicago. The biggest disappointment was having the train detoured at Denver north to the UP line through Wyoming to Salt Lake City. UP was doing track maintenance in Colorado which was supposed to be completed by the end of July but was continuing through the middle of August. This was the old Amtrak route west and the one I had taken 25 years ago before Amtrak took over the old D&RGW line to Utah. This meant I missed one of the most scenic parts of the trip, both coming and going. In addition, the trip through Nevada was painfully slow. Our conductor told us that due to UP’s neglect of track maintenance over the years, they had over 30 slow order sections of track to negotiate. At times, we were doing little more than walking speed. Our conductor did not hide his contempt for UP which apparently regards Amtrak as nothing more than a nuisance. More reasons to hate the UP!!!
The stretch between Reno and Sacremento through the Sierras was some of the most spectacular I have ever seen. It softened some of the disappointment of missing the Colorado Rockies. Arrival in Emeryville was about 5 hours late due to the frequent slowdowns.
I road coach the whole way and sleeping in the coach seats took so
Last week, I got back from my first long distance train trip in about 25 years. I picked up the westbound Capitol Limited in Toledo and then connected with the California Zephyr in Chicago. Overall, it was a thoroughly enjoyable trip, even though it took over 2 1/2 days each way. My non-railroading friends couldn’t understand why I wouldn’t fly and my reply was I would rather spend 2 1/2 days on a train than 5 hours on a plane. I hated flying even before the latest security threats and it can only have gotten worse. I have no fear of flying but I can’t stand being packed into a plane like a sardine. Airlines don’t even try to make you comfortable anymore.
The trip was not without a few negatives. A late departure out of Toledo was no big deal because it just shortened my layover in Chicago. The biggest disappointment was having the train detoured at Denver north to the UP line through Wyoming to Salt Lake City. UP was doing track maintenance in Colorado which was supposed to be completed by the end of July but was continuing through the middle of August. This was the old Amtrak route west and the one I had taken 25 years ago before Amtrak took over the old D&RGW line to Utah. This meant I missed one of the most scenic parts of the trip, both coming and going. In addition, the trip through Nevada was painfully slow. Our conductor told us that due to UP’s neglect of track maintenance over the years, they had over 30 slow order sections of track to negotiate. At times, we were doing little more than walking speed. Our conductor did not hide his contempt for UP which apparently regards Amtrak as nothing more than a nuisance. More reasons to hate the UP!!!
The stretch between Reno and Sacremento through the Sierras was some of the most spectacular I have ever seen. It softened some of the disappointment of missing the Colorado Rockies. Arrival in Emeryville was about 5 hours late due to the frequent slowdowns.
Last week, I got back from my first long distance train trip in about 25 years. I picked up the westbound Capitol Limited in Toledo and then connected with the California Zephyr in Chicago. Overall, it was a thoroughly enjoyable trip, even though it took over 2 1/2 days each way. My non-railroading friends couldn’t understand why I wouldn’t fly and my reply was I would rather spend 2 1/2 days on a train than 5 hours on a plane. I hated flying even before the latest security threats and it can only have gotten worse. I have no fear of flying but I can’t stand being packed into a plane like a sardine. Airlines don’t even try to make you comfortable anymore.
You and me both. When I was younger, I loved to fly (took first commercial flight on an AA DC-6 in 1955 at age 9). Loved to fly up until about 10 years ago. Can’t stand it anymore. Not sure why, but being crammed into a tiny seat with no legromm certainly doesn’t help.
I don’t feel real bad about it. My younger daughter-in-law’s father is a retired American senior captain. He hates to fly, too, as a passenger. Something about the illusion of control you have when the control yoke’s in your hot little hands.
If a retired pilot hates to fly, I ain’t about to apologize for my feelings about it.
First class cars have shower facilities but you have to make due if you ride coach. The Zephyr has all double decked cars and there are restrooms as well as dressing rooms on the lower level of each. You can do some cleaning up when you change clothes but there are limits. I’m guessing you will be riding the Lake Shore Limited east of Chicago and some of those coaches are single level so I don’t know what the facilities are like on those. If you want to try to shave on a moving train, you are a braver man than I.
Also, I would recommend bringing some of your own food along given that what is sold on board is quite pricey. For example, a can of soda costs $1.75. A packaged cinammon roll that would cost $1.25 at your 7/11 store costs $2.50 on the train. Dinners run between $8 and $20 and I ordered at the low end. Breakfasts and lunches were about half that. I brought along a loaf of bread and enough salami for 3 lunches. I also took along some danish rolls and candy bars for breakfast and snacks. Amtrak allows you to bring your own food except for adult beverages. Of course, Amtrak security is based on the honor system so that is pretty much up to you. Smoking on board is prohibited and I’ve heard they will put a passenger off the train if they are caught (I assume not while the train is moving). Someone was caught on my return trip but it was in first class and I don’t know what they did with him/her. Smokers can detrain at the longer station stops but sometimes those are 5-6 hours apart.
Quick touchstone to use on your fellow airline passengers:
If he opens the Wall Street Journal, he’s a frequent flier.
If he seems a bit apprehensive, he’s a first-time or once-in-a-while flier.
If he’s obviously uncomfortable, he’s an aircraft maintenance technician.
If he’s white-knuckled, and one step short of panic, he’s a pilot.
Now, if somebody would get it through to Amtrak that some people would like to treat a cross-country train trip like a cruise, with cab-view TV, narration, rail-related entertainment (not the hokey “train robbery” crap, please!) and an intelligently-written route itinerary, they might tap an entirely new market. Of course, that would require somebody in a Federal bureaucracy to think outside the box. Rotsa Ruck!!!
Chuck (Who loves to travel by train - when he can see where he’s going)
I’ve never flown, don’t plan to, When I travel I either drive, or take the train, Chuck: Me and a some friends already treat Amtrak like a Cruise, We take the train once a year(Hopefully soon twice a year) To chicago and then get on metra to go to a suburb to railfan.
On our return trip, two volunteers from a Sacremento railroad musuem boarded the train and rode with us to Reno. Along the way, they passed along interesting bits of information, some historical and some current. It was enough to be interesting without being boring. I remember a trip I took on a tourist railroad out of Conway, New Hampshire toward Mt. Washington. It was a five hour round trip and the entire time, the narrator never stopped talking for more than 30 seconds at one time, even though he used up all his good material in the first 15 minutes.
On 8-11-01, yes, one month before, the wife and I left from New Fairfield(home of the water police)CT for Orlando. We spent a night at my in-laws and the next afternoon from Newark. That damned airline was so awful I was getting ready to call some hungry lawyers to sue them. We got to Orlando at 2am. We were supposed to be there at 6pm. Had I driven from CT to Orlando, spent a night in a cheap motel in the Carolinas, and gone on our way from there, we’d have been there by 3pm. Three hours BEFORE the scheduled time and nearly half a day before we did get there. We wouldn’t have spent money on a rental car. We wouldn’t have memorized an entire terminal, from floor tiles to PA speakers in the ceiling. We’d have been able to visit places along the road on the way back. Screw the planes. I’d rather WALK!