AGR E-mail

[RailFanLNK]

Did a few select members get this e-mail today or did all of us? Also, I will be in CHI in a couple of weeks and would like to do a quick trip of some sort to get the 3rd, 4th trip etc. What is a very cheap and inexpensive and quick trip from CHI to get some points? I will have my girlfriends 17 year old daughter with me so I think I will have to squeze a trip or two in the morning while she is sleeping in. I will only be 9 blocks from CUS, but I know she's not going to want to go riding in CHI. Any ideas? Thanks!

Al

 

[WhoozOn1st]

I learned of the promo in my AGR monthly statement, which arrived today. Natch I signed up, and it comes at a pretty good time as I'm looking at some necessary (as opposed to pure fun) traveling soon.

Al, I looked at Lincoln Service, CHI-JOL. 301 departs CHI 7 a.m., arrives JOL 7:57 a.m. Train 300 departs JOL 8:59 a.m., arrives CHI 10 a.m. Five bucks out, 11 back, for a total of $16. Daily trains. If you wanna hang 'til 11:14 at Joliet, it's ten bucks roundtrip.

There's also the Carl Sandburg (daily), 381, departing CHI 7:35 a.m., arriving PLO (as in Plano, IL, not Gaza) 8:33, then the Illinois Zephyr departing PLO 9:20 a.m. and arriving CHI 10:35. That's $19; 8 out, 11 back.

The Hiawathas might have some options that work for you, at 17 bucks to/from GLN. Break out your System Timetable!

 

[diesteldorf]

Hey Al,

The Hiawatha offers the advantage of having fixed pricing with no high/low buckets and the most opportunities for a quick ride. I personally like to go from Chicago to Glenview and grab a meal or drink at "Grandpa's." It's a tavern/sit down restaurant. It's easy to do a round-trip for around $15.

http://www.grandpasplace.com/

The most shameless thing I did when I just wanted to see if it would work was to leave Chicago at 8:25 AM and arrive in Glenview at 8:47. Then, I caugt the inbound train from Glenview at 9:01 AM and was back in Chicago by 9:30 AM.

The other advantage the Hiawathas have is that they keep really good time. If you really want a cheap run, ride from Chicago to Summit, IL for around $2 each way. The negatives being that there is nothing in Summit to do and sometimes the Lincoln service can run very late. I once caught the train from Chicago to Summit at around 7:00 PM and found out that the incoming train was running 3 hours late....

Since I had to catch the Amtrak bus to Rockford, IL at around 10:15, I sucked it up and had a nice chat with a very grateful cabbie.

I also enjoy riding out to Dwight and and eating at either the Route 66 Family Restaurant or The Old Country Mansion

http://www.thecountrymansion.com/