connection puzzle

[Steve Manfred]

Hi all.

I'm taking a trip in a few weeks on the Southwest Chief. To do so, I will have to drive a long distance to the Fort Madison depot and get on there, because the only long distance train that passes near where I live, the Empire Builder, doesn't connect to the SC in Chicago, at least not without a 23-hour layover.

I have looked into other ways to join the SC without having to drive myself that long distance (6 hour drive), and try as I might, I can't find one. So, I thought I'd throw this problem to the forum.... if you were me, living near the Minneapolis/St. Paul area, and you wanted to take the Southwest Chief to L.A., how would you get onto it? (and taking the EB to Chicago and waiting a day isn't an option... any wait longer than, say, 8 hours would not be good)

 

[Kramerica]

I'm taking a trip in a few weeks on the Southwest Chief. To do so, I will have to drive a long distance to the Fort Madison depot and get on there, because the only long distance train that passes near where I live, the Empire Builder, doesn't connect to the SC in Chicago, at least not without a 23-hour layover.
I have looked into other ways to join the SC without having to drive myself that long distance (6 hour drive), and try as I might, I can't find one. So, I thought I'd throw this problem to the forum.... if you were me, living near the Minneapolis/St. Paul area, and you wanted to take the Southwest Chief to L.A., how would you get onto it? (and taking the EB to Chicago and waiting a day isn't an option... any wait longer than, say, 8 hours would not be good)

You could drive to Milwaukee and take the Hiawatha to Chicago and then connect to the SC. That's only a 4.5 hour drive, although you might as well drive to Chicago at that point. But the parking at Milwaukee Airport might be a bit cheaper. (It may be free, I'm not sure.)

 

[Steve Manfred]

I'm looking for a way to do it without having to drive much myself or close enough someone else can drop me off somewhere. I don't expect I'll find one, but I just wondered if anyone here has any neat ideas I haven't come up with.

 

[Trogdor]

Well, if you don't mind buses, Megabus has an overnight bus from Minneapolis to Chicago. Leaves at 10:30 pm, gets to Chicago at 6:30 am. There's also a 7:15 am bus that operates via Milwaukee, but the connection would be too close for me to want to take a gamble on.

Unfortunately, the Empire Builder's lack of connectivity with other western trains (especially given a lack of a good north-south connection west of Chicago) does limit the number of possibilities on Amtrak.

How nice a St. Paul to St. Louis train would be (assuming there is suitable trackage between those cities, I'm not familiar with those details).

 

[PRR 60]

If the idea of getting into an airplane does not give you angina, then Airtran has a 7am non-stop flight from MSP to Midway that gets into Chicago 8:34am. That gives plenty of cushion time in case the flight is late. The one-way advance purchase cost is $55. You can transfer from MDW to Union Station by the CTA Orange line.

 

[Steve Manfred]

I looked at Megabus, but overnighting on their bus and then waiting around for 8 hours appeals less than driving the next day does. (The return trip looks like an even worse connection.)

PRR 60, I should've said this must be a ground connection. I don't fly. If I did, I wouldn't be taking 2 days to get to L.A. on the SC. Thanks anyway.

 

[Rafi]

I looked at Megabus, but overnighting on their bus and then waiting around for 8 hours appeals less than driving the next day does. (The return trip looks like an even worse connection.)
PRR 60, I should've said this must be a ground connection. I don't fly. If I did, I wouldn't be taking 2 days to get to L.A. on the SC. Thanks anyway.

Steve,

I've been assuming that you're looking for an alternative to what I'm about to propose, but just to make sure, have you ruled out taking the Empire Builder to Portland, OR and then transferring to the Coast Starlight to LAX? This of course means you can leave from Minneapolis/St. Paul and have a pretty convenient layover in Portland prior to boarding the Starlight. Timing-wise, you'd leave in the late evening on Day 1, arrive in Portland the morning of Day 3, and arrive in the evening of Day 4, making it a 3 night, 3 day trip. If you were to do the overnight bus to Chicago just to catch the Chief, you're talking about a trip that's only a few hours shorter and requires an uncomfortable bus ride and long layover in CHI.

Rafi

 

[Steve Manfred]

Hi Rafi.

I don't want to stretch the transit to three days, both for time and money reasons. It seems ridiculous to me to do a cross-continental dogleg to Portland. And using the Empire Builder on the return journey would require an 8-hour bus leg anyway.

Thanks anyway.

 

[Rafi]

Hi Rafi.I don't want to stretch the transit to three days, both for time and money reasons. It seems ridiculous to me to do a cross-continental dogleg to Portland. And using the Empire Builder on the return journey would require an 8-hour bus leg anyway.

Thanks anyway.

That's what I figured, but I just wanted to make sure the PDX option was mentioned. Sounds to me like you're looking at either driving to CHI or Milwaukee the morning of the trip. Frankly, I'd go for the latter to avoid parking in CHI.

-Rafi

 

[MrFSS]

All this points to the solution needed, more than one train a day between major cities in parts of the country away from the NEC.

Even in 1965, considering only one of several railroads with service between MSP and CHI, this one had a number of trains each way everyday.

Is there the passenger need today for at least two trains a day between these two cities?

 

[gswager]

Instead of getting stuck at CHI, how about staying in hostel? We stayed there last October and it is very clean and cheap! It's Hi-Hostel. It's right in downtown, but you'll need city bus and some few blocks of walking.

 

[Steve Manfred]

All this points to the solution needed, more than one train a day between major cities in parts of the country away from the NEC.
Even in 1965, considering only one of several railroads with service between MSP and CHI, this one had a number of trains each way everyday.

Is there the passenger need today for at least two trains a day between these two cities?

There already is, as if you look at the Empire Builder, you'll see they run two trains. It's just they run both of them at the same time! If they ran 12 hours apart from each other, I wouldn't have a problem.

So far I haven't seen anything better than driving 6 hours to Fort Madison and parking there on the day the train leaves. Thanks everyone for trying though, and if anyone still does have a better idea, please post it.

 

[MrFSS]

So far I haven't seen anything better than driving 6 hours to Fort Madison and parking there on the day the train leaves. Thanks everyone for trying though, and if anyone still does have a better idea, please post it.

Would going to Galesburg help any? It looks to be a little closer than MSP. And, they have free parking at the station. I have heard others say they felt safe in leaving their car there for 7-10 days.

 

[the_traveler]

All this points to the solution needed, more than one train a day between major cities in parts of the country away from the NEC.
Even in 1965, considering only one of several railroads with service between MSP and CHI, this one had a number of trains each way everyday.

Is there the passenger need today for at least two trains a day between these two cities?

There already is, as if you look at the Empire Builder, you'll see they run two trains. It's just they run both of them at the same time! If they ran 12 hours apart from each other, I wouldn't have a problem.

During part of the year, don't they run 3 trains (7/27/807 :lol: ) between CHI and MSP? Too bad all 3 are connected!

 

[Steve Manfred]

So far I haven't seen anything better than driving 6 hours to Fort Madison and parking there on the day the train leaves. Thanks everyone for trying though, and if anyone still does have a better idea, please post it.

Would going to Galesburg help any? It looks to be a little closer than MSP. And, they have free parking at the station. I have heard others say they felt safe in leaving their car there for 7-10 days.

Galesburg's slightly further away from me, and the parking situation in Fort Madison is the same as it is in Galesburg, so I'll stick to Ft. Mad. (I've looked at that one before too. )

 

[daveyb99]

How about driving to Madison, WI

Bus MAD - CHI departs Madison 1000, then connect in CHI for the entire SWC trip

Whichever you choose, pick the station closest to CHI and enjoy more AMTRAK

 

[Steve Manfred]

How about driving to Madison, WI
Bus MAD - CHI departs Madison 1000, then connect in CHI for the entire SWC trip

Whichever you choose, pick the station closest to CHI and enjoy more AMTRAK

I'm considering this as a back-up plan in case there's snow on the route to Fort Madison that isn't as far east as Madison, but not as my main plan since Madison's a pretty long drive too and this wouldn't solve my goal of not driving a long distance first.

 

[MrFSS]

Steve - your dilemma almost falls into the category of You Can't Get There From Here!

 

[rtabern]

The parking in Milwaukee is MUCH cheaper than Chicago.

$5/day at either the airport train station lot (MKA) or $5/day at the lot across from the Amtrak station in downtown Milwaukee (MKE).

I would sorta suggest the MSP-PDX-LAX option myself, but you said that doesn't work for you. I am doing that in early March to visit a friend in Santa Monica, CA --- but then again --- I have 8 days off and got a free roomette for all 3 nights courtesy AGR... so I don't mind the extra day.

Good luck to you.

 

[Steve Manfred]

I would sorta suggest the MSP-PDX-LAX option myself, but you said that doesn't work for you.

Especially now that the tracks have been mudslided away on the Coast Starlight.

I am doing that in early March to visit a friend in Santa Monica, CA --- but then again --- I have 8 days off and got a free roomette for all 3 nights courtesy AGR... so I don't mind the extra day.Good luck to you.

Hopefully they'll have fixed the tracks by then. Good luck to you too.