I recently got a new car with a video arcade dash. It’s constantly telling me all kinds of things I’m not interested in. Recently, on my way home, I turned a corner and bumped something on the steering wheel (It’s cluttered with a bunch of buttons and levers.), and it started beeping. I couldn’t figure out what it wanted, so when I got home I sat in the driveway trying to figure out what to do. I finally just turned the engine off.
Too many Millenials designing car dashes and controls - they think everyone wants to play video games.
Lmao why are we talking about cars on a train forum? Nothing in this post is even about the auto train
This is ironic. I suspect you turned on voice command, and the car was prompting you to tell it what to do. But you didn’t say anything (except under your breath), did you? Next time, tell it to shut up, and it probably will…
I hate it when phones and cars are smarter than I am.
I also recall that Amtrak was considering an auto train on the Southwest Chief route, but then nothing happened. After spending time and getting no info on google, it was google that suggested “auto train west”, where a general discussion on auto trains started in 2009 had some second hand info from Amtrak marketing in 2016 on page 3.
The discussion listed several reasons why Amtrak didn’t have more auto trains: 1) Amtrak didn’t have equipment and no money to buy equipment. 2) It would be difficult to get the railroads to agree to a new route. 3) Any new train would have to make money. 4) Only the Northeast to Florida has enough snowbirds to make it viable. 5) Autoracks on the rear of present Amtrak trains can’t exceed 70 mph, thus slowing train speed. 6) Other reasons.
What Amtrak marketing had in mind was attaching autoracks to the Southwest Chief and going from Chicago to Flagstaff Arizona. This would be good for the snowbirds going to Phoenix, for the Grand Canyon, for Vegas, and a good start on California. Apparently only #6, other reasons, were problems with which Amtrak marketing was concerned. The schedule of the Chief was a little late, (presently 8:32 PM), causing the people, after they got their cars, to look for a hotel, a commodity that Flagstaff had few. The return schedule from Flagstaff was also poor, (presently at 4:09 AM). The schedule at Chicago was fine, but a det
And people wonder why I tell them “When I buy cars, I buy Model T’s.”
Figuratively speaking, mind you.
And Thamas, you’re kind of “new to the fold” so let me explain it to you. Threads tend to go in whatever direction the commenters take them. As long as everyone’s having fun, there’s no harm done. Besides, you never know what you’ll learn, do you? I’ve learned plenty, trust me!
All things considered - one long cat conveys the idea.
Nice story but I don’t believe it.
Also, I might add to the list of facts on this thread. CSX was left holding the financial bag with the first Auto-Train bankruptcy even though it demanded payment in advance towards the end…it was still a creditor in the bankruptcy and the CEO of CSX went on record as saying that was it as far as his company was concerned they would have nothing more to do with any more passenger train experiments. So I am sure if you dug you can still find those comments online somewhere. Also sure it played a role in Amtrak decision making.
In regards to extending out West I am by no means a marketing guru but you can see via Auto-Train Corporation plans they thought that 15-17 hours running time was the sweet spot as far as their concept. If you can find a train that gets to Flagstaff in 15-17 hours, I think you would be swamped with regular people that wanted to ride it without the automobile. So I tend to think that whole story was BS.
So I would regulate the Auto-Train Southwest story as either Amtrak shop talk or marketing stupidity if they actually discussed it in detail in the company because they missed one of the basic formula inputs to the Auto-Train concept…relatively short running time spent on the train.
It is true that 15-17 hours is a sweet spot for a stand alone auto train, since you get 7 hours or so to unload and load the automobiles and send the train back in one day. Thus you get efficient use of equipment and only two trainsets are needed for daily operation. However, for a SW Chief auto train which only goes once a week, all you need is the 7 hours or so to unload and reload autoracks at Flagstaff, and catch the next SW Chief going east. It could leave Chicago on Thursday, arrive in Flagstaff on Friday, leave on Saturday and arrive back in Chicago on Sunday. It is not very efficient and the departure time on Saturday is horrible.
This could easily be shop talk, and one day the boss said check out the feasibility or not of an auto train going to Arizona. Here is what Larry Vollten, the operations supervisor for the Auto Train, said to the Chicago Tribune in 2010.
“The fascinating thing about this crowd is that we did a feasibility study in Chicago and it found there is the same clientele in Chicago as there is in the Northeast United States,” Vollten said.
“The folks in Chicago go to Phoenix to winter over. So they were talking about the probability of putting an Auto Train on from Chicago to Phoenix and back, probably linking it up with one of our other western trains that already exist,” Vollten said.
Thats one secret I am not willing to discuss publicly in a public forum. I’ll say this, if you never ask the airline you will never know. Most that fly Southwest and other airlines have a follow the herd mentality and never ask. 
In my view Chicago to Phoenix is a long time to ask a first time train travaler to sit on a train and think it is better than driving. I wasn’t thinking just about equipment utilization but about someone being impatient to get there.
I could see Chicago to Denver working and possibly Chicago to Dallas (dropping intermediate stops would speed both routes up end to end) You could easily do Chicago to Dallas by dropping the 45 min in St. Louis and probably a good part of the schedule padding from the Milk Run Texas Eagle schedule. Have not looked at time Chicago to Denver would consume.
Chicago to Phoenix or even Flagstaff would seem like asking a lot for someone to sit on a train that long.
Maybe do that trip in two legs? Chicago to Denver and then Denver to Phoenix with an intermediate stop in the middle? I don’t know.
Two issues there why it would never happen with Amtrak. #1 Amtrak never had the money. #2 Amtrak is way to risk averse to attempt an experiment like that with Long Distance…it would mean several Amtrak managers sticking their heads out on the line and accepting responsibility if the route failed and you just do not seem to have that culture in Amtrak. Amtrak management only seems to want to take on projects where it is obvious to the brain dead they would make money. Such as the original Auto-Train route, The Denver Ski-Train, hevaily subsidized with state money new corridor routes, etc. Rarely will you see Amtrak put it’s own money on the line and take a risk with a new train entirely or even majo
In the US, the main market for an auto-train is snowbirds, i.e., older, retired people staying at their warmer destination for a month or more in winter, where the distance driving is far (two overnights). CHI-DEN is not that nor is CHI-DAL.
Midwest to Orlando could work only if the track were improved to allow better time.
Actually, Texas usually ranks right behind Arizona for retirees from the Midwest.
Retirees usually look at warm weather, no state income tax, low cost of living, medical facilities (can’t beat Baylor Health), among other things Texas is high on the list for all of the above. I am just 6-8 hour drive away from a Miami Florida Climate of South Texas…here in Dallas.
Dallas right now has more Midwesterners than true Texans. You don’t hear the Texas drawl anymore in Dallas. You can thank large Texas firms that had a large presence in the Midwest like EDS, Kimberly-Clark, for that.
Denver has a high popularity for winter skiing in the Midwest which Amtrak never examined I am sure with the Auto Train potential routes. They seemed to figure out it will support their Ski Train in the Winter though…which they advertise Nationwide for.
Permanently relocated retirees to South TX are not snowbirds. Nor are relocated non-retirees to the Metroplex. Nor are skiers, generally <45. Midwestern retired snowbirds might spend some time in the Rockies, but usually only a few weeks so they either drive or rent. Very different markets. Snowbirds from the Midwest and Toronto still tend to head to the Gulf coast of FL.
Ehhh, better check your stats on that. A lot of them are snowbirds from Canada and the Midwest with a second house, they are NOT permanently located here. In fact, all you really need to do was Google at the houses for rent in the hot Texas Summer, when they are not down here or you could Google Snowbirds.
In regards to Florida, your mistaken there as well. A growing chunk of the Snowbirds are from Canada and increasingly from the United Kingdom / Europe. In Florida itself the NE folks tend to settle on the East Coast where the prices are steep. Midwestern folks tend to settle on the West Coast where the prices are more comparable to the Midwest. I used to spend some time in South Florida. West coast of Florida is attractive to some in European countries as well because the property is relatively cheap for the climate.
Arkansas is also fairly popular for second homes for people that live in Texas as well as the Midwest because again they are cheap homes. Branson is just a subset of a larger area in Arkansas that retiree’s from the North use.
Mistaken? You are saying the same thing I said: “Snowbirds from the Midwest and Toronto still tend to head to the Gulf Coast of FL.” Europeans have been heading to the Gulf Coast (that is the west coast of FL) for more than 30 years, expecially Germans. Former Chancellor Schmidt was a regular visotor to St. Pete’s Beach, for example.
Top 15 Snowbird Cities [7/15 are FL; one in TX]
- Naples, Florida
- Scottsdale, Arizona
- Miami, Florida
- Los Angeles, California
- Boca Raton, Florida
- Beverly Hills, California
- Austin, Texas
- La Quinta, California
The MI plates outnumbered the GA plates on I-285 heading north on the westside this weekend. GA needs that Left Lane camper law!! [8o|]
Just got a new ‘sticker’ for my Maryland tags - actually read some of the verbage they put on these things. One of the paragraphs stated that vehicles MUST have a manufacturers stated top speed at least 5 MPH higher than the roadways it operates on. ie. Vehicles on Maryland Interstates must have a top speed of AT LEAST 75 MPH with the MD limit being 70.
I haven’t had to rent a U-Haul truck in over 30 years (thankfully), at that time they were govenor limited to 55 MPH. Don’t think that would fly in today’s highway world.
I go out west (from Michigan) for a ski week every winter, generally to Colorado. I would love an auto-train CHI-DEN. I hate to rent cars nowdays since they became so expensive, sometimes more than the airline ticket. The problem is that ski weeks usually run Saturday to Saturday, so the route would be a once-a-week round-trip. Also, the local Ski-Train is a weekend thing.