Down the tubes .......again......sigh.....

[BCL]

I tend to spell out city names rather than the acronyms because it is easier for ME. I don't have to look them up that way. . Those who don't like station codes should be thankful this isn't an airline forum. It's one thing to know SPK is the station code for Spokane, for instance; but how in the world unless you live there or fly in and out of Spokane International Airport would you know its code is GEG???? Fortunately Amtrak's codes are so much easier to decipher.

MCO

SMF

OGG

EWR

I've actually traveled via a couple of them.

I know two of those.

I've been through SMF (Sacramento) and OGG (Kahului, Maui). I looked it up, and Newark gets EWR because the US Navy reserves the codes starting with N, although some older airports got those before that.

Amtrak doesn't really duplicate any of these except for EWR.

I still don't quite understand SMF though.

 

[KauaiJohn]

Maui airport is named for its founder who's name was Hogg. They decided that "OGG" worked better than "HOG".

 

[KauaiJohn]

I typed "named" oh well!

 

[jis]

SMF comes from Sacramento Metropolitan Field, which apparently was the original name of the airport before it became Sacramento International.

 

[AmtrakBlue]

I typed "named" oh well!

You can edit you post, you know.

 

[AmtrakBlue]

SMF comes from Sacramento Metropolitan Field, which apparently was the original name of the airport before it became Sacramento International.

I was guessing it was Sacramento Municipal Field. I was close.

Our little airport here, which can handle a SST but is currently w/o a commercial airline, is ILG. (Wilmington, DE)

 

[KauaiJohn]

I never knew that. Thank you

 

[BCL]

SMF comes from Sacramento Metropolitan Field, which apparently was the original name of the airport before it became Sacramento International.

I was guessing it was Sacramento Municipal Field. I was close.

Our little airport here, which can handle a SST but is currently w/o a commercial airline, is ILG. (Wilmington, DE)

I thought it had something to do with Mather Field.

That doesn't take much. Most SSTs are small. Now can it handle a fully loaded 747 when it's raining?

 

[JayPea]

And Spokane's airport code is GEG because the former name of the airport was Geiger Field.

 

[zephyr17]

MCO for Orlando comes from McCoy Field, an Air Force base which was converted into Orlando International. ORD for O'Hare was Orchard Field. I think GEG for Spokane comes from Geiger Field.

Now if everyone will stop using LAX for LA Union Station. LAX is an airport code that actually came to be the generally used name for LA International Airport itself. There are only a few other airports that generally go by their codes, SFO sort of does as does JFK. Can't think of any others off the top of my head.

Just because Amtrak happens to use LAX as the station code for baggage routing and ticketing doesn't mean that anyone calls Union Station that, because no one does, except on this site. Posters on Trainorders.com, for example, know better. Go to LA and ask a cabby to take you to LAX and I guarantee you that you will not end up at that pretty building on North Alameda.

Nobody calls the San Francisco (bus) station SFO or Penn Station JFK, so why call LA Union Station LAX? If you don't want to spell it out, why not use the almost universal shorthand for Los Angeles generally, LA? We'll probably know what mean, probably a lot more intuitively than GBB (or OGG).

By the logic for MCO, ORD and GEG, LA International's code should have been something like MIN or MNE anyway, since it started life as Mines Field.

 

[jis]

SMF comes from Sacramento Metropolitan Field, which apparently was the original name of the airport before it became Sacramento International.

I was guessing it was Sacramento Municipal Field. I was close.
Our little airport here, which can handle a SST but is currently w/o a commercial airline, is ILG. (Wilmington, DE)

I thought it had something to do with Mather Field

Mather Field is a different airport located on part of what used to be the SAC Mather AFB. Its code is MHR. Incidentally close to it is the Northern California TRACON Center.
BTW, very few people call MCO by that name locally. It is more commonly referred to as OIA.

 

[BCL]

SMF comes from Sacramento Metropolitan Field, which apparently was the original name of the airport before it became Sacramento International.

I was guessing it was Sacramento Municipal Field. I was close.
Our little airport here, which can handle a SST but is currently w/o a commercial airline, is ILG. (Wilmington, DE)

I thought it had something to do with Mather Field

Mather Field is a different airport located on part of what used to be the SAC Mather AFB. Its code is MHR. Incidentally close to it is the Northern California TRACON Center.
BTW, very few people call MCO by that name locally. It is more commonly referred to as OIA.

I've heard it from people visiting Walt Disney World.

Then again, Denver International seems to be informally known as DIA even though the airport code is DEN.

 

[jis]

Yes the new Denver airport has colloquially always been DIA. The old one however was seldom referred to that way as I seem to recall. I used to visit Denver often back then then and we always seemed to call it Stapleton.

 

[TiBike]

Burbank/Bob Hope airport and Burbank Amtrak are both BUR. Which seems right to me -- they're both in the same place.

 

[BCL]

Burbank/Bob Hope airport and Burbank Amtrak are both BUR. Which seems right to me -- they're both in the same place.

Kind of a rare thing though. I've heard of quite a few "airport" stations serving Amtrak. Most are well off the airport property like OAC (Oakland Coliseum/Airport) or EWR (Newark Airport). I guess Milwaukee has a station on the periphery of the airport property.

 

[tp49]

I've been through SMF (Sacramento) and OGG (Kahului, Maui). I looked it up, and Newark gets EWR because the US Navy reserves the codes starting with N, although some older airports got those before that.

Amtrak doesn't really duplicate any of these except for EWR.

I still don't quite understand SMF though.

SAC is Sacramento Executive Airport in the south part of town along Freeport Blvd.

 

[Tennessee Traveler]

And what was this topic originally about???

 

[CCC1007]

Southwest chief running very late

 

[greatcats]

OP here. Yes, this did stray far off topic. Back to the Southwest Chief, until not too long ago a pretty reliable train. Having cancelled our Flagstaff-LAX segment the other day and flew that leg, which was fine, we also experienced excellent service on United LAX to Kona. This missive is composed from the mountainside on the porch of our B&B a few thousand feet above the Pacific. The plan is to return in a few weeks to San Francisco and take Amtrak San Francisco ( bus ) - to Oakland, then to Santa Barbara, then to LAX and back to Flagsfaff in coach. HOpefully P42s will not conk out in the middle of nowhere! ( By the way, while our flights were really very good, and the flight attendants truly excellent to Kona, getting through security at Los Angeles Airport was definitely not a pleasure and the United Lounge is dueto be replaced, an overtaxed facility. )

 

[Ryan]

Now if everyone will stop using LAX for LA Union Station. LAX is an airport code that actually came to be the generally used name for LA International Airport itself. There are only a few other airports that generally go by their codes, SFO sort of does as does JFK. Can't think of any others off the top of my head.

Just because Amtrak happens to use LAX as the station code for baggage routing and ticketing doesn't mean that anyone calls Union Station that, because no one does, except on this site. Posters on Trainorders.com, for example, know better. Go to LA and ask a cabby to take you to LAX and I guarantee you that you will not end up at that pretty building on North Alameda.

Nobody calls the San Francisco (bus) station SFO or Penn Station JFK, so why call LA Union Station LAX? If you don't want to spell it out, why not use the almost universal shorthand for Los Angeles generally, LA? We'll probably know what mean, probably a lot more intuitively than GBB (or OGG).

Your attention is directed to the earlier posts noting that this is an *Amtrak* forum and that common sense and logic dictate that if I'm talking about taking the train from GBB-LAX-PDX that I'm probably talking about LAX (the train station) and PDX (the train station) and not LAX (the airport) and PDX (the airport with the carpet).

If that's too hard for people to puzzle out, then they're probably not literate enough to be able to read the post anyways.

 

[SarahZ]

The cab analogy doesn't work. I don't tell cabs to go to ORD or CHI. I say "O'Hare" or "Union Station".

We use the station codes on AU because this is a travel forum. A cab is not a travel forum.

 

[jis]

Burbank/Bob Hope airport and Burbank Amtrak are both BUR. Which seems right to me -- they're both in the same place.

Kind of a rare thing though. I've heard of quite a few "airport" stations serving Amtrak. Most are well off the airport property like OAC (Oakland Coliseum/Airport) or EWR (Newark Airport). I guess Milwaukee has a station on the periphery of the airport property.

Actually the Airport Property line was modified at Newark to ensure that the AirTrain line and station is entirely on airport property so that money from the airport passenger tax could be used to build it. So the AirTrain part of the EWR Rail station is on airport property and the entire EWR Rail station is owned and managed by the Port Authority of NY and NJ. The ushers there are all PA employees or contractors.

Oddly enough, even the JFK AirTrain extension to Jamaica station is built entirely on JFK Airport property, whcih was extended along the median of Van Wyck Express way and includes the location of the Jamaica AirTrain station, again for the same reason, to be able to build and run the system using airport passenger tax.

 

[willem]

If that's too hard for people to puzzle out, then they're probably not literate enough to be able to read the post anyways.

There are two ways to misunderstand. There can be confusion, because the meaning is not clear. There can be no confusion, because the meaning is clear but wrong. Not knowing what GBB means is the first type and believing that LAX means an airport on this board is the second type.

Disseminating information is not the same as sharing it. Adopting a policy that a person who has not learned the jargon is not worthy of receiving information is a choice that I would be disappointed to see.

 

[BCL]

If that's too hard for people to puzzle out, then they're probably not literate enough to be able to read the post anyways.

There are two ways to misunderstand. There can be confusion, because the meaning is not clear. There can be no confusion, because the meaning is clear but wrong. Not knowing what GBB means is the first type and believing that LAX means an airport on this board is the second type.

Disseminating information is not the same as sharing it. Adopting a policy that a person who has not learned the jargon is not worthy of receiving information is a choice that I would be disappointed to see.

Everyone is new at one point. Some people learn what the jargon is, while others give up. However, I don't think most people want to be talked down to or have others act like they can't figure things out. A lot of times when acronyms come up and someone asks what they mean, the answers tend to be simple and polite. I don't see what the problem is. Once someone picks up just a few pointers, it gets much easier to figure out how to decipher the content.

 

[zephyr17]

How does one get from LAX to LAX?