Amtrak Fall Foliage trips out of Philly

[Ocala Mike]

Plenty of time for some enterprising ticket holder to make up some souvenir "bibs" or "drool cups" for sale at enough of a profit to pay for the trip.

 

[The Davy Crockett]

Plenty of time for some enterprising ticket holder to make up some souvenir "bibs" or "drool cups" for sale at enough of a profit to pay for the trip.

Or Chicken McNuggets!

 

[Acela150]

Plenty of time for some enterprising ticket holder to make up some souvenir "bibs" or "drool cups" for sale at enough of a profit to pay for the trip.

Or Chicken McNuggets!

I almost just died of laughter.. Only TDC could do that.

 

[The Davy Crockett]

Plenty of time for some enterprising ticket holder to make up some souvenir "bibs" or "drool cups" for sale at enough of a profit to pay for the trip.

Or Chicken McNuggets!

I almost just died of laughter.. Only TDC could do that.

Now stop that Steve! You are only going to encourage me. :help:

 

[pennyk]

I am not part of the NY contingent, but I will offer my 2 cents. My train is scheduled to arrive in PHL at 5:35pm on Friday. I will be going to WAS on Saturday evening, although I do not have the reservations yet. I am thinking about taking 159 which leaves PHL at 6:33pm.

I get into PHL at 5:30pm on Friday. I guess I will get something out of PHL around 6:30pm on Saturday too then, but headed the other way. A short 55min run to Metropark for me.

I just got an email from Amtrak. It appears that 92 will be having a schedule change for about a month (likely due to track work) and instead of arriving in PHL at 5:35pm, I will be arriving around 11:30am. What is really odd is that, for about a month, 92 and 98 are scheduled to leave ORL within a minute of each other. I think that will be very confusing for staff and passengers.

I did make a reservation to leave PHL on 159 at 6:33pm

I just got another email from Amtrak regarding another schedule change. Now 92 is leaving ORL about 50 minutes before 98, at 12:45pm (which makes much better sense than a minute before). Now I am due in PHL at 11:00am.

 

[Philly_guy]

I hope I'm not repeating something already mentioned but for all those who missed the Amtrak ride, there is another great fall ride in the Philly area.

http://www.readingnorthern.com/files/Flyer---Autumn-Leaf-Excursions---October-2013.pdf

 

[Shanghai]

My wife and our dog (Archie) and I took the Lehigh Gorge Scenic Railroad trip three weeks ago.

It was a delightful trip with nice people and beautiful scenery. We booked in the First Class

car, which was very nice. We had a diesel engine. We were served a snack and drink in the

First Class car. I would recommend the railway highly.

 

[Ryan]

That sounds pretty nice - we always go whitewater rafting on the Lehigh every summer and put in at Jim Thorpe. Every year I see the LVSR and say to myself "Self, you should bring the family up here and take a train ride someday". Sadly, I haven't done it yet.

 

[JoeRids]

My wife and I are booked on this trip October 20. We called way ahead and booked a pullman room, which is in a 1927 Pullman
"Lehigh Gorge". I think it is going to be a compartment, as they used to call it. At $125 for both of us in the room, I think this is a great deal. Unfortunately, I was told these rooms sell out way in advance, so call ASAP, if they aren't already sold out. The steam engine trips are more expensive.

 

[FreeskierInVT]

For those of us who weren't able to get tickets on the 11/2 train, voice your input to Amtrak. If they hear from enough people that want to take this already sold out train, then maybe they'll add a few more coaches or have a trip go out on Sunday 11/3.

I sent a tweet to Amtrak last night and got this response:

Amtrak ‏@Amtrak5h
@freeskierinvt Thank you for your interest, we will pass the suggestion along Please check back from time to time for cancellations.


View conversation

 

[Acela150]

RBMN runs some very nice excursions.

 

[Guest]

http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/amtrak-guest-rewards/1496681-autumn-express-train-2.html

 

[afigg]

http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/amtrak-guest-rewards/1496681-autumn-express-train-2.html

Would get more people to notice if some info from the link were posted. And it is one that wil be of interest as a second Autumn Express train will be added on Sunday, November 3. Tickets to go on sale at Wednesday, 9/18, at 10 AM ET.

 

[Agent]

Here's the official Amtrak link for the second excursion.

 

[mignyc]

HOOOOOROAAAAAYYYY!

 

[SubwayNut]

Just noticed in the terms and conditions:

• Special excursion trains are eligible to earn Amtrak Guest Rewards points, but not available for redemption travel.

Good to know, assume those would be 178 TQPs also for those trying to make S and S+.

 

[mignyc]

I wonder what the chances are that it'll sell out before I can snag tickets tomorrow.

 

[AmtrakBlue]

Hmm? Wonder if amtrak.com will go down tomorrow morning from user overload. h34r:

 

[railiner]

Amazing!

Amtrak actually listens to its supporter's.

If this is another instantaneous sellout, Amtrak will have to seriously take a hard look for other similar opportunities. Perhaps run this on two weekends next year, but hopefully, something different also for variety for repeat riders.....

This response gives real meaning to the phrase: "Due to Popular Demand......"

 

[afigg]

Amazing!

Amtrak actually listens to its supporter's.

If this is another instantaneous sellout, Amtrak will have to seriously take a hard look for other similar opportunities. Perhaps run this on two weekends next year, but hopefully, something different also for variety for repeat riders.....

This response gives real meaning to the phrase: "Due to Popular Demand......"

Amtrak has to be careful not to dilute the market by running too many excursions or too often resulting in half full trains or less than break even trips. They have micromanagers in Congress who could insert a sentence in an appropriations bill blocking Amtrak from running any excursions unless the train is guaranteed to make a profit.
The excursions will have a bump effect in ridership and revenue in trips on the NEC and Keystone trains to and from PHL. I would think Amtrak would measure that by looking at trips to and from PHL by the Autumn Express passengers. Most of those people would otherwise have not traveled to PHL for that day, so the revenue from the additional trips can be attributed to running the Autumn Express as a side note.

 

[mignyc]

I'm wondering if phone or computer will be faster to order tomorrow.

 

[fairviewroad]

I don't think anyone here has to worry about not being able to buy a ticket tomorrow. People on AU knew about the first trip

for a couple of weeks before word started spreading more broadly. I think the same thing will be true with this one, too.

(And good point about the extra revenue generated by folks using Amtrak to position themselves in PHL. Some will be

local folks who won't need to use Amtrak to get to PHL, but you have to think this will mean several dozen extra Amtrak

trips on the NEC/Keystone route)

 

[jis]

I am providing my two albeit pretty short trips on the NEC, though at the usual exorbitant price for MET to PHL

 

[pennyk]

I am providing my two albeit pretty short trips on the NEC, though at the usual exorbitant price for MET to PHL

I am providing sleeper trips on the Silver Star and Silver Meteor (at a reasonable bucket).

 

[FreeskierInVT]

Assuming I can grab a ticket tomorrow, ill be contributing two trips on the LIRR and two Northeast Corridor trips to/from New York. $167 in Amtrak travel and $26 to the LIRR