# First LD trip



## jdcnosse (Apr 2, 2011)

I must say that the trip was quite entertaining. I have never been on a long distance train before, and so my trip at the beginning of March was the first. My only upsets is that I had to leave at 7:30am from Grand Rapids (since there's only one daily train that leaves GRR for Chicago), but I must say it was not really a big deal. Arrived in Chicago on time, spent some time taking in the sights before going to the departure gate. I did stop at the McDonalds inside the station to get lunch, and I was shocked that it was a good $1.00 more than here in West Michigan, but I didn't complain. I was quite surprised by the line at the departure gate however, and I had gotten there a good hour early.

Boarding the train, I was new to the concept of the "assigned seat" but luckily for me I got an outside seat, and the person next to me was going to Albuquerque, so I didn't have to worry about being woken up in the middle of the night. I spent a good deal of time in the observation/lounge car, before returning to my seat for the night. Luckily my seat partner had set herself up elsewhere for the night, so I got to stretch out over both seats. It wasn't the greatest, but for the price I paid I didn't mind, and just the fact that I went to bed in Kansas and woke up in Colorado was a benefit.

There were a couple legs just before Albuquerque I didn't particularly like (one stretch that was 20 miles but took nearly an hour). We stopped in Albuquerque about 15 minutes early, leaving me plenty of time to run my errands before getting to Flagstaff on time.

The only thing I disliked about the train was that it was very dry (circulated air). The trip back (eastward) seemed less friendly than the trip there (westward), but it could be because we were a good hour behind at some points. Nevertheless we managed to make it to Chicago on time.


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## hello (Apr 2, 2011)

_Thank you for taking the time to share your comments ... I know what you mean about early departures ... in May we'll be arriving/leaving Cleavland between 2/3 AM ... not looking forward to that at all!_


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## Everydaymatters (Apr 5, 2011)

Funny you should mention the dry air. I've never seen it come up before on this forum, but I also have noticed it on some, but not all trains.


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## jdcnosse (Apr 10, 2011)

Yes, it never really occurred to me until the second day of my trip, near the end when I realized my nose was extremely dry...and then it hit me, it's recirculated air, similar to planes...

Of course going through new mexico/arizona didn't help the dryness. lol


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## amamba (Apr 13, 2011)

I found the SWC to be incredibly dry. I woke up with bloody noses both mornings. I do sleep with a humidifier at home, though, so I wasn't sure if it wast just me.


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## Devil's Advocate (Apr 13, 2011)

jdcnosse said:


> Yes, it never really occurred to me until the second day of my trip, near the end when I realized my nose was extremely dry...and then it hit me, it's recirculated air, similar to planes.


From what I understand the act of bringing in _fresh_ low-moisture air at high altitude is what makes the air on-board an aircraft dry. The recirculated air contains far more moisture than the intake air at 30,000 feet. On Amtrak it's mainly the condensation on the cooling coils of the air conditioning system that drys out the air, not unlike in your car or your house. Amtrak's rolling stock is relatively porous compared to pressurized aircraft, but they can still drain a lot of moisture from the indoor air over the course of a long trip.


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## Heather (Apr 27, 2011)

I have a related question I've been searching these posts for an answer to.

Is the air on trains recirculated, or is fresh air brought in? I understand some fresh air comes in naturally through openings between the cars, etc. But what I'm wondering is, is air from outside pulled in through the heating/cooling system?


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## AlanB (Apr 30, 2011)

Fresh air is brought in, I think about 30% (it's a higher number than airlines I know), the rest is recirculated. And of course as you note, outside air leaks in via other sources too.


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## Devil's Advocate (May 2, 2011)

I have no idea how much fresh air is brought in or if it's even measured, but I can assure you that if your train travels by a stinky area you'll be smelling it. I got a wonderful whiff of chemicals at some site outside of Chicago on the Texas Eagle. Looked out the window and saw puddles of what looked like crude oil and some bus that said "EPA" on it. Oh well, we won't have to worry about the EPA anymore after Rick Perry and friends get through with them.


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