Attire on the train?

Shop deals on ebay
Advertise with us
shop deals on amazon
Amtrak Unlimited Discussion Forum

Help Support Amtrak Unlimited Discussion Forum:

This site may earn a commission from merchant affiliate links, including eBay, Amazon, and others.
M

McLeansvilleAppFan

OBS Chief
AU Supporting Member
Joined
Jul 29, 2019
Messages
606
Location
Greensboro, NC
How many of you dress up for a vacation train ride. Riding 2 hours to visit family on the Piedmont and its a shirt and jeans for me.

For some reason since my Crescent rides usually mean "vacation" (family lives on the Piedmont and Carolinian routes.) and that seems more special. I like dressing up a bit more. Maybe an oxford with khaki pants. I might even go for a tie, which I do not wear that often as a high school teacher but I do sometimes. I dress up for train hosting as required.

Wife and I are leaving soon on a week vacation (very long for us) with 5 segments and all are in sleepers. Does being in private rooms or even business class make you want to be a bit more formal? It does me. I am thinking of going with slacks, oxford shirt and a tie on this trip. At least the segments were I board in the day. Boarding at 1:30 AM or midnight on the Cardinal and I might be in sweatpants and something easy to deal with for bed.
 
I usually go jeans or possibly decent shorts and a golf shirt when in "public" areas. In my room, a comfortable T shirt is good enough for me. How times have changed. Remember the railroads' promotional films in the 50s and 60s in which every man was wearing coat and tie? I certainly don't care to do that anymore, but the opposite extreme is not appealing to me either.
 
I live in Florida and wear shorts year round even on the train (unless it is below 55 degrees outside). I dress for comfort always.

I have been in the dining car and watched "dressed up" passengers drinking red wine or eating mashed potatoes and gravy get the food and/or drink all over them when the train hit a rough spot. Wearing dark colors helps when there are unexpected spills.
 
Good for you for dressing up a bit. I don’t think you can overdress (well, maybe a tux) but pj’s or tank tops shows little self respect for yourself or others.

But, I think you might be more comfortable with skipping the tie. I’m usually in polo’s in the summer and long sleeve with sweater in the winter. Always long pants which I find more comfortable on a train.

But, times change and you won’t see many under 40 wearing anything but shorts and a tee shirt.
 
The trend is past the point of flight/cruise casual well OK add rail to that ! Should past muster as long as one is not offensive - - - Body odor - revealing or radical labeled clothing issues

Women have always stretched the clothing wardrobe/envelope
Call it fashionable
With men it is the same ole same ole stuffed shirt and tie ! ECK !

Still yet the ole "NO SHIRT NO SHOES "NO" TRAVEL prevails

Don't let those pinkies (toes) feets get into a comprimising position between transoms of the cars - boarding ramps platforms !
 
I wear button-up shirts on my trips and my best jeans/least worn shorts depending on the climate of my destination. I would entertain the idea of bringing a blazer, dress shirt and tie with slacks - but I most often don't because I don't like extra luggage for clothing at my destination (I always utilize public transit at endpoints of the train).

But I definately am keen on the concept.
 
Palmland said:
Good for you for dressing up a bit. I don’t think you can overdress (well, maybe a tux) but pj’s or tank tops shows little self respect for yourself or others.

But, I think you might be more comfortable with skipping the tie. I’m usually in polo’s in the summer and long sleeve with sweater in the winter. Always long pants which I find more comfortable on a train.

But, times change and you won’t see many under 40 wearing anything but shorts and a tee shirt.
Click to expand...
I am firmly GenX. there is one station. agent at Greensboro that always wears an oxford tie and vest and the other men are in a polo. the polo is nice enough but the vest and tie is a nice look.
 
Last edited:
In my Eurailpass backpacking days ages, and ages and ages ago I remember being laughed at by kids in Italy when I wore shorts. I used to wear shorts all the time, but my legs are nothing anyone wants to look at so it’s long pants for me in public. To be honest, there are not many men’s legs I’d want to look at either so I wish kids would start laughing again.
 
what should one wear on the train?

Why a training suit, of course!

And on your feet, what else but trainers?

America is getting into training/More and more every day
America is getting into training/Training the Amtrak way!

Seriously, when I ride, I'm usually "business casual, i.e, chinos and a button up shirt (and sweater or fleece if it's chilly enough.)

Sometimes it's a pair of nylon hiking pants and a polo shirt. On my feet are low-cut trail shoes or closed-toe sandals.
 
For me it kind of depends on the weather expected.

The photo on the left shows my favorite jacket for traveling. It got me into an unexpected tense discussion in a Deutsche Bahn 1st Class compartment when the only other passenger recognized the cloth as coming from a factory in the part of Poland that used to be part of Germany. All I knew was that it came from J.C. Penney, and it resisted wrinkles.

In 2002 Lufthansa upgraded me to Business Class (Frankfurt > Chicago) because I was the only economy passenger wearing a tie. Nevertheless, I rarely wear a tie these retired days.
 
Willbridge said:
only other passenger recognized the cloth as coming from a factory in the part of Poland that used to be part of Germany. All I knew was that it came from J.C. Penney, and it resisted wrinkles.
Click to expand...
There is a sitcom episode there.

I teach high school physics and chemistry. I wear a tie so little as they get in my way during labs that wearing one at other times doesn't bother me at this point in my life. I likely am not wearing a tie on this trip but I might. It has been interesting to hear the other thoughts.
 
Here's my traveling attire in 1971. My German "uncle" is dressed for working on the farm. I was aware that the folks in their small town were all aware that I was from the big city, so I tried to dress the part. (Before I even met my German relatives for the first time, I was "interviewed" by the guys sitting around the stammtisch.)

As my sister, who served in the Army CID said, "the good guys wore London Fog."
RR003k at Remels.jpg
The raincoat served as a blanket for sleeping in coaches, buses, or European 1st or 2nd Class compartments.
 
Last edited:
The hubby & I went casual for our roundtrip on the Lincoln Service/Missouri River Runner last fall: Jogging pants + short-sleeve shirts for him, jogging pants + T-shirts for me. (Also a sweater for him and hoodie for me, because it can get a little chilly at night in the Midwest in October.) And sneakers for both of us, for comfort. We have to dress up for work at the law firm, so on the train we want to relax and be comfortable.
 
Last edited:
WWW said:
Don't let those pinkies (toes) feets get into a comprimising position between transoms of the cars - boarding ramps platforms !
Click to expand...
Indeed. You're required to wear shoes because toes can get caught. I once wore my usual water shoes (soft rubber sole, soft cloth upper completely covering the foot) into the dining room at breakfast time and was very rudely and gruffly yelled at by an attendant. (I think he was tired and needed to throw his weight around it something.) After I pointed out that they were shoes, just colorful, he let us sit down. But actually, upon further reflection, I felt he had a point, just very poorly delivered. Had he taken a moment to explain how my toes could still have gotten crushed between two cars, I would have thanked him and done what I've done since then: wear actual walking shoes when walking through the train.
 
Metra Electric Rider said:
You doxxed yourself Jis!
Click to expand...
That article has been posted all over the place including here before. I have never found it necessary to hide my identity, since I already have a huge internet footprint due to my professional work in the Open Standards world (ISO, IEEE, DMTF, Object Management Group, Open Group etc. plus a few Patents). Just google my name and you will see what I mean. There are two people with my name you will find. One is me in Computer Science and Railroads, and the other is a guy from California and Canada, much younger than me and into Biology. Anyhow, if you make significant contributions it is hard to remain anonymous. Today, if you are flying in any Boeing or Airbus plane you are using one of the standards that I was an Editor of in my mid-career, decades back.

Incidentally "jis" as my handle dates back to 1979, when we got the first Unix System machine up and running in the then new Comp Sci Department at Stony Brook University. :D My email address then was sbcs!jis, which of course the youngsters today rightly would not even recognize as a legitimate email address anymore.

And I was wearing the same attire then on trains as I am doing now :D
 
We tend to wear jeans when traveling in coach. Although we don’t feel it is necessary to dress formally for dinner, we do feel that, when eating dinner in the dining car, we should be attired in something a little more appropriate than jeans. For this reason, we prefer that our meals be served to us in our bedroom where we can disregard sartorial niceties.
 
Eric in East County said:
Down here We tend to wear jeans when traveling in coach. Although we don’t feel it is necessary to dress formally for dinner, we do feel that, when eating dinner in the dining car, we should be attired in something a little more appropriate than jeans. For this reason, we prefer that our meals be served to us in our bedroom where we can disregard sartorial niceties.
Click to expand...
Down here in Texas, Famous Country Star George Strait made the "Cowboy Tuxedo" Famous!

That's a Blazer over a Western Shirt and Wrangler Jeans with your Boots!

I prefer Levi 501s myself, which is what I usually wear when traveling on Amtrak.
 
Bob Dylan said:
Down here in Texas, Famous Country Star George Strait made the "Cowboy Tuxedo" Famous!

That's a Blazer over a Western Shirt and Wrangler Jeans with your Boots!

I prefer Levi 501s myself, which is what I usually wear when traveling on Amtrak.
Click to expand...
Although we’re not from Texas, we do live in a small Mountain/Western community in East San Diego County. (At one time, we even owned horses and did a lot of trail riding in nearby Cuyamaca Rancho State Park.) On occasion, I’ve worn a “Cowboy Tuxedo” to social events and would feel entirely comfortable wearing it to dinner in the dining car.
 

Latest posts

Back
Top