Once or twice a year. I generally bring my Dash 8 manual to help the crew fix computer errors on their power…lol…
LC
How about NEVER!
Ok, how about it?
LC
I have a rode in twice and that was in 99 best trip ever well it was my first from Minot North Dakota to Minneapolis/Stpaul both trains 2 hours late but late means more time watching BNSF and CP hit each others diamond it was the best time of my life and i might be doing it again on the Empire Builder and Hiawatha this year or next
Several times a year on the Pacific Surfliner - from Glendale, LA or Fullerton. I routinely travel to the WashDC area on business, so I also get a couple times a year in the east…once/twice a year on the NEC (Acela or Metroliner), other regionals (BWI-Newport News) and other short turnarounds on the LD trains (Capitol Ltd Martinsville-DC and return; Cardinal Manassas-Charlottesville; Crescent/Cardinal Culpeper-DC). Rode a short strectch of the Sunset in Ariz-NM about 10 years ago; returned by Greyhound (at least the I-10 follows the Sunset route)
Actually this is an NJ Transit route only; Amtrak pulled out some years back. I rode this last summer…a good fast run but it looks like virtually all freight traffic is gone from this route.
Rode the Texas Eagle Chicago - San Antonio last summer; will be riding the Southwest Chief Chicago - LA later this month.
I know it is NJ Transit, yes amtrak pulled about 7 years ago. From Latrobe to Phl is on Amtrak.
1 to 3 times a year.
I’ve been on Amtrak too many times most of my trips were on the NEC so I know that route very well. I only live 15mins away from the NEC I’m on it 24/7 riding SEPTA to downtown Philly and back to uptown. I try to get on Amtrak as many times as possible but, if I don’t have the money oviously I can’t get on it, then I’ll have to settle for riding SEPTA’s reagional rail or NJT. I don’t do much railfaning on the NEC because I see it all the time I like to go to different places like NS’ mainline in West Conshohocken or Willow Grove. Unfortunitly, there is more passanger action here in Philly than freight.
I ride a few times a year to various places usually out of philadelphia.
Sadly, I’m probably one of the few Amtrak employees that utalizes Amtrak to the fullest. I’ve sent my children to Kansas on the train quite often and when I lived in Alexandria, Virginia, I used the train alot to see my children in Newport News, Virginia or my mom in Brooklyn, New York. I rode the train so much a few years ago, that one of my foreman referred to me as ‘the sophisticated hobo’. Just my bad luck, he spread it around to all the train personnel in DC whenever he saw me talking to one of them while I was on the job. So, in answer to your question, I would have to say 100+ times a year(that’s not an exaggeration)!
GLENN
A R E A L RAILROADER!!!
I’ve rode it exactly once in my life.
Why?
When I go far, I need my car.
Sadly I am sitting at 0, but have every intention of riding one of these days. I was going to try to go from Denver to NYC last spring, but the timing just didn’t work out. Really I just need to get on the CZ and head west, I think that would probably be one of the most scenic routes in the country and I really have no excuse not to. Now, if Amtrak would run a route from Boulder to Denver to Colorado Springs I would probably ride it all the time!
Aaargh! Going to be traveling to DC/Va in April, and would do a Capitol or Cardinal/Capitol round from Chicago if I could depend on its getting there on time. Love the idea of dining in Indiana and waking up near destination.
If the train would just be reliable, comfortable, and reasonable in schedule. Doesn’t have to be superfast.
That’s the whole thing in a nutshell. “Clean, on-time, courteous service.”
Mitch
When I was in college, I took Amtrak back and forth from home a couple of times a month for a couple of years.
Then, when I started at Conrail in 1978, I had an Amtrak pass that was actually worth something. I could ride for half price, including sleepers. Every trip I took for business or pleasure where Amtrak made any sense at all, I took the train. Including NEC trips, that made a dozen or so trips a year.
Later, Amtrak trips were primarily confined to business, but even then, I still managed about a dozen or so a year.
Now, I’m in Atlanta and Amtrak is almost useless to me. It’s far too expensive to put the family in a sleeper for our annual trips to Phila and we haven’t had occasion to visit New Orleans yet. So, in 6 years, I’ve taken one Amtrak trip.
Now, if they ever put on a day trip from Atlanta to the northeast, I’ll be there. It would also be useful to have a day trip to Orlando, as well.
For my money, Oakland to Denver is the most beautiful route on North America, the Canadian gets all the press, but the Sierra and Rockies are far more beautiful!
Brad
It has been several years since I rode, Wilmington, DE-NYP-Wilmington.
Metroliner service which was on time and enjoyable but where I now live requires me to drive at least an hour and a half to any boarding point and then getting on a train literally in the middle of the night. Then I have to leave the car in a parking location which would be termed charitably, marginal.
Would like to travel by train but if I’m going to drive hours to get on a train which will likely be late, I just drive all the way.
When I was stationed in South Carolina in 2000, I would sometimes take the “Silver” service up to Philadelphia. The trains were often late and the crews were a mix of nice to really rude. I saw a crew member kick awake a drunk but sleeping passenger. He had the ideal to lie down under the seats. The trains usually ran from 1 to 3 hours late.