Has anypne out there completely traversedall the present Amtrak routes? In a few years I hope to complete this task. This year in May I will be travelling from Toronto directly to Portland, Me, and returning via Boston- New your on the Acela then back to Toronto…
In August the trip will be Harrisburg-Washington, Cardinal to Chicago, New Orleans- San Antonio & then work my way up to Chicago & back to Harrisburg.
The only routes still to be covered in the next years will be: New Haven-St.Albans Detroit-Pontiac, Battle Creek-Port Huron, Chicago-Milwaulkee, Galesburg-Quincy, Williamsburg-Virginia Beach, Selma-Greensboro, Sacramento-Bakersfield.
My Ontario licence plate reads “AMTRAK 1”
Last year on the Zephyr I met a father and son who were trying to complete the same task and were slightly behing me on route miles.
I have a somewhat different situation; there are a few Amtrak routes that I have not covered on Amtrak trains, but rode over before Amtrak came into existence–and I have ridden several Amtrak routes that no longer exist.
The routes that I have never covered at all are: Downeaster and Galesburg to Quincy.
I have ridden the SCL from Miami to Jacksonville, covering Fort Lauderdale to Jacksonville; Santa Fé from Kansas City to Fort Worth, covering Oklahoma City to Fort Worth; N&W Cincinnati to Norfolk, covering Petersburg to Norfolk; C&O Newport News to Charlottesville, covering Newport News to Richmond; GTW Chicago to Detroit, covering Pontiac to Detroit; ACL Tampa to Jacksonville covering Tampa to Auburndale; SAL Tampa to St. Petersburg; the Montrealer from Montréal to Wilmington (but not through Palmer), covering St. Albans to Springfield; St. Louis to Kansas City on the MP; Atlanta to Washington, with a detour going via Greensboro and Raleigh thence over the SAL to Richmond, covering Greensboro to Cary.
There are a few routes that Amtrak operated for a time, but no longer uses, such as Minneapolis-Duluth, that I did not have an opportunity to ride.
Seven years ago, my wife and I added the line down to Bakersfield. Before we went there, we commented to a lady we met on another train that we were
I haven’t ridden all the Amtrak routes but I have wondered if I might hold the record for continuous Amtrak travel.
In 1985 after years of President Reagan proposing NO funding for Amtrak, my logic was that if I ride most of the long distance trains again, they wouldn’t disappear, but with my luck if I didn’t, they’d come off and I would not have another chance to do so.
It was June of 1985. I boarded the Empire Builder in my home town of Cut Bank, Montana, and rode to Seattle; then the Coast Starlight to Sacramento; then the California Zephyr to Chicago; then the City of New Orleans to New Orleans; then the Sunset Limited to Los Angeles; then a San Diegan to San Diego and back to Los Angeles; then the Southwest Limited(Chief) to Chicago; then the Lake Shore Limited to Boston; then the Night Owl to Baltimore; then the Cardinal to Dyer, Indiana where some friends picked me up and dropped me off that night at Hammond/Whiting to board the Broadway Limited to New York; then the Silver Meteor to Tampa; the Silver Star to Washington, DC, then the Capitol Limited to Chicago, and by that time I was out of vacation (16 consecutive nights – I always had a sleeper, 15,729 miles), so I flew back to Montana.
Mark, so far as I know, you hold the record for consecutive nights on Amtrak trains. E.M. Frimbo (Rogers E.M. Whitaker) may have had had more, but I doubt it. I thought my spending seven nights in a row on Amtrak trains (plus one night on a Greyhound bus) was a record, but you have far exceeded my record.
If you can find a copy of All Aboard with E.M. Frimbo with Tony Hiss, I believe you will enjoy it. It details many travels of Mr. Whitaker.
I have heard that there may have been Amtrak onboard service personnel who have worked trip after trip without a break over a period of about a month, never seeing their home, but can’t verify that. It would have been during a period when there was a personnel shortage. In any case, they would have repeated several routes several times, and would not have taken so many different trains to so many different places. So you’re probably the champ.
IThere are a few routes I have traversed also before AMTRAK Vancouver-Seattle Toronto-Buffalo Richmond-Williamsburg These are also on my list. My wife and I were booked on the Empire Builder Chicago-Seattle return & were going on an Alaskan cruise. Reservations suggested I take the Pioneer Seattle-Denver on our return as it was going to be cancelled. We took it & the Pioneer was cancelled a few weeks later. I missed the Sunset Ltd from New Orleans east.
I book all my trips eleven months ahead and quite a reduction in pricing. Half price most of the time. One of the perks I find on the trips are the people I meet, railroaders, railfans, photographers, etc.
Sorry to see all the perks being taken away, Wine, wine goblets, shaving or cosmetic cases, coin purses, etc.
I worked for CP Rail in the telecommn’s dept. And we had a pass . Been on the Canadian five times. Montreal-Vancouver. Have never travelled on the VIA to the west coast… Twice as expensive over AMTRAK. VIA trakes the northern route bypassing the Lake Superior shore and goes thru the forests of Northern Ontario. CP had a far more scenic route from Calgary to the coast . VIA now takes the less spectacular route over the Rockies and traverses them mostly during the night. The good thing about VIA are the stainless steel heavy cars and food is supposed to be a lot better than AMTRAK.
Morseman, the food on the Canadian was far superior to that on any Amtrak train I have ridden, when my wife and I rode from Vancouver to Toronto in 1997 and in 2009 (stopped over in Jasper on the second trip), and from Toronto to Vancouver in 2003 and in 2007 (stopped over in Jasper on the first trip). There was a different menu each day, so the traveler had a much wider choice than Amtrak offers. Of course, as you say, it costs much more to travel on this train than it does to travel on Amtrak. Even on the VIA I service, the meals served in what was first class and is now business class were better than those served on Amtrak–though I have had no experience with first class service on Acela.
I cannot speak so well of the meal service on The Ocean, but we did not go hungry (Montréal to Halifax and back, and Montréal to Moncton and back).
I almost prefer an Amtrak bedroom to Renaissance rooms that are available on The Ocean (and it is not just for the shower). On our last trip, we had the drawing room from Vancouver to Jasper and from Jasper to Toronto (r both reserved seven months in advance), and we had a drawing room from Montréal to Moncton.
Of the 8 routes listed above, we’ve only done the first one. However, of the long distance routes, there are only two that we still need to do, the Chicago - Los Angeles and the Chicago-New Orleans. We have taken the Via across Canada twice, Toronto-Vancouver and Prince Rupert to Montreal and then out to Halifax, from Sea to shining Sea! The Ontario Northland used to travel from Toronto to Moosonee, but has recently cut back its service from North Bay to Moosonee. I have a wonderful excuse to take the train. My doctor, due to a medical reason, has advised me not to fly.
There is no better way to see a country than to go my train. Driving is great when the train doesn’t go there, but otherwise train travel is relaxing.
I was on # 59 City of New Orleans last year. Train backed out of Chicago & I was at the end of the car.& it was quite a sight with all the swiches lit up. A woman next to my got some great photos, but sorry to say my camera was left in my room.
One of these days I’d love to take the Rocky Mountaineer Vamcouver to Calgary with overnite stop in Kamloops I believe. You see the Complete Rockies in the day light. Quite expensive so. may be in a few years will be on it. Canadian Pacific gave up this route to CN along with all their other routes. With the success that the Mountaineer has, CP tried to get back into psgr service on this route on their own tracks, The Canadian government denied them this right as it would infringe on the profits the Mountaineer was making.
A great train ride used to be the CP from Montreal to Halifax. It wen tthru Megantic (now Lac Megantic)&nb