That ‘some’ would have to be a fairly large number of years; noncommercial reciprocity with the United Kingdom was established in the provisions of the 1949 Geneva convention on road traffic…
The one thing to be prepared for is to make sure you have an insurance card that is recognized here. There are some states in the US that require automobile insurance, sometimes with certain provisions, as a condition to driving regardless of license.
Dave Nelson
If you decide on Chicago and Colorado as your primary locations, I would suggest a direct flight to Chicago, then spend about 3-4 days there. Leave Chicago on Amtrak’s California Zephyr. This will leave Chicago in the late afternoon and run overnight to Denver. Stay on the train for a daylight run across the backbone of the Rocky Mountains in daylight. Detrain in Salt Lake City and get a hotel room for the night. Next day, rent a car and spend the next 3-4 days driving to Denver, hitting Colorado locations of your choice on the way. Turn in the rental car in Denver and fly home from there.
Tom
I’d pick October to visit. Amtrak doesn’t work in the summer (tracks all over the USA are torn up with massive delays and subsequent mssed connections) or in the winter (snow, ice, cold, etc). Consequently, coming in the summer or winter will not be anything like you planned it to be.
October also means far fewer tourists and crowds in general and lots more to do in our big cities.
If you spend a day in Denver, I recommend the Denver RTD Littleton-Mineral Station light rail line. It parallels the BNSF/UP triple track Joint Line, and it passes the UP (ex-D&RGW) Burnham Shops. It’s about a half hour trip one way. Also, the Colorado Railroad Museum near Golden should not be missed.
Thanks for all the info, a lot to think about.
One thing that has sprung to mind is Memorial Weekend. Even though May would be perfect for our holiday planning, I’ve heard that this might not be the best weekend of the year to railfan as a lot of railroads have reduced traffic or don’t run at all. Is that right ?
Memorial Day weekend does not much affect the freight carriers and they run about like any other weekend. May affect commuter operators.
Mac McCulloch
Memorial Day is a great day to visit the Illinois Railway Museum in Union IL
Dave Nelson
Ah, you say U.S. Highway 30 west to North Platte, Nebraska …
May I suggest several hours parked in downtown Kearney, Nebraska! There is a public parking lot trackside (free too, at least the last time I was there), and between 100-150 trains a day on Union Pacific’s Central Corridor triple-track main. Coal trains galore. There are overpasses also!
North Platte, Nebraska and Baily Yard is cool too!
Well worth the time at both!
Best time? NOT winter! Summers is fine, but by all means avoid the tornadoes at all cost! I’m not a Nebraskan, so can’t advise you about tornado season, but one will wreck your trip in nothing flat!
Have fun dreaming!
Might add that if you can find out whether a railroad is going to be doing some significant trackwork in a time frame, you might avoid some disappointment. For instance, today is a bad day (as was every day this week) for train watching at Tehachapi loop, as UP is doing some serious track maintenance west of Tehachapi (and for that matter, in Tehachapi as well) which means that all traffic is in hours of darkness. (There is plenty of traffic, too. Interesting that the first several trains through in either direction are hot intermodals. There is enough traffic to keep the night dispatchers on their toes, for sure.)
On the other hand, if you want to watch tie replacement, rail replacement, tamping and such, it’s not a bad show during the day. Lots of UP trucks in town at night and lots of track equipment on the siding to the east of downtown.