Entertainment on the train

[sporter323]

What is a scanner? GPS...like a Garmin? Newbie here!

 

[denmarks]

It is a radio that allows you to listen to conversations of train staff and automated equipment along the route.

 

[sporter323]

It is a radio that allows you to listen to conversations of train staff and automated equipment along the route.

Where does a person purchase such a device? Is it called just a scanner?

 

[WaterLevel]

A comprehensive introduction to scanning radios for railroad listening: Scanning the Railroads By Richard Carlson | Scanner Master
Amazon has a good selection of radios.

You'll hear quite a bit of jargon, abbreviations, and specialized that RR crews and dispatchers use. It may help to listen to them prior to your trip.

 

[EPKiernan]

I just got back from taking the CZ from CHI to EMY and found my tablet to be very handy. I didn't have to lug too much around and it can be tucked away so you don't have to take it to the bathroom or cafe if you don't want. I had one season of a show on Netflix and didn't even get through that. I picked up a book in CHI since I left the one I intended to read at home. Not too many bookstores left, so I'm glad I found one downtown.

 

[denmarks]

Where does a person purchase such a device? Is it called just a scanner?

Go to Amazon and search for "radio scanner". Make sure it covers the needed frequencies. I am sure you will find other postings here with that info. You can also search for "amtrak scanner frequencies" in a search engine.

 

[frequentflyer]

Bose QC35II Headphones, a good soundtrack on the Iphone, a window, and a smile on your face. You will wonder how the time flew by so fast.

This applies to plodding along on a LD train through people's backyards to flying on Acela @ 130 mph.

 

[PaTrainFan]

Well, I politely beg to differ. I have been on long distance trains that had movies in the observation car and they were extremely loud, and mostly geared towards kids. Made it almost impossible to have a conversation with anyone. And as for TV's in every room like cruise ships, why would you want to spend big bucks to do what you can do at home for free?

Yes, it is next to impossible to appeal to the wide variety of tastes in term of entertainment and today's world, the trend is for a wider swath of indiviuduals to provide their own distractions, whether it be through downloaded movies or whatever.

 

[Eric in East County]

A GPS device picks up signals from satellites and shows your current position. We use a Garmin Nuvi 2797 GPS device made for use in an auto. It has as a large, easy-to-read screen and, with a power adapter, can be plugged into an AC outlet. Our GPS device allows us to determine our train’s speed, location, and direction of travel. It also displays the names of the towns we’re passing through and even the names of the streets and highways running close to the tracks our trains are on.

 

[87YJ]

Use a 8" tablet that has GPS. Run google maps. Can stick it near the window with double sticky.

 

[Dakota 400]

It would be nice if there was a movie every night in the dining car for sleeper passengers. Even better would be TVs in every room like cruise ships. It could show progress along with shows and movies.

Respectfully, I disagree. What you are suggesting is something that can be done at home or when flying. Having such "entertainment" options available for me would do nothing in making my Amtrak journey "special" since I don't get to travel by train very often.

The best entertainment on Amtrak is watching the scenery flash by and people watching on the train as well as when the train stops at a station with people on the platform.

 

[zephyr17]

It would be nice if there was a movie every night in the dining car for sleeper passengers. Even better would be TVs in every room like cruise ships. It could show progress along with shows and movies.

I hated the movies in the Sightseer Lounges when they had them. The sound blared through the whole car.

I am glad they are gone.

And the little screens they initially had in the Viewliners they had movies on were a maintenance disaster and also got stolen. They were gone within a few years.

One difference between in flight entertainment and showing movies on Amtrak is everyone has their own headphones and now mostly their own seatback screens. Heck a lot of airlines such as Alaska are opting out of seatback screens and instead offering streaming to your own device.

Most everyone has some kind of device that can play movies now, a tablet, a laptop, a phone if you can put up with a small screen. They don't need to provide a screen.

If you want a movie download it.

 

[Rasputin]

The Pacific Parlour car had a theatre downstairs for showing movies. I went down to look at it once but never watched a movie there. It might have been alright after dark but I wasn't about to sacrifice the scenery on that run for a movie. At least in that car the showing of the movie downstairs did not interfere with passengers enjoying the lounge upstairs.

For other entertainment, I remember that VIA Rail used to have a crew member supervise a bingo game in the dining car after hours. I think this was on the Ocean years ago. I won a VIA bottle opener.

 

[20th Century Rider]

Maybe am I dull one, but I never get bored looking out of the window of changing landscapes, small towns, big cities, golden fields, rushing mountain streams, and grabbing ever so brief brief glimpses of people going about their lives, anticipating the next vista around the upcoming bend. This is why I ride trains.

Ever since the very first trip aboard a train... it was the New York Central between Schenectady and Albany as a field trip for second graders... I've been gazing out those windows and loving every moment of it!

 

[PaTrainFan]

Even when I fly, which isn't often, I insist on a widnow seat so that if the skies cooperate I can watch the vast expanse of the ever-changing topography of the Earth below.

 

[zephyr17]

Even when I fly, which isn't often, I insist on a widnow seat so that if the skies cooperate I can watch the vast expanse of the ever-changing topography of the Earth below.

I used to prefer windows but flying also made me unaccountably jittery (I have no fear of flying). Then I discovered I am very slightly claustrophobic and being stuck with my seatmates on one side and an inward curving wall on the other triggered it, causing low level anxiety and nervousness. Ever since then I have chosen aisle seats and no longer have those jitters.

I did like looking out the window, though, and used to enjoy trying to figure out where we were by comparing road patterns to my memories of maps.

 

[crescent-zephyr]

Even when I fly, which isn't often, I insist on a widnow seat so that if the skies cooperate I can watch the vast expanse of the ever-changing topography of the Earth below.

Agreed! The scenery on flights can be just as good as Amtrak.

 

[Cal]

Even when I fly, which isn't often, I insist on a widnow seat so that if the skies cooperate I can watch the vast expanse of the ever-changing topography of the Earth below.

Me too. As an avgeek, seeing the wing and engine(s) is a huge bonus too.

 

[Willbridge]

Me too. As an avgeek, seeing the wing and engine(s) is a huge bonus too.

Of course you might see something like this approaching O'Hare...



We were slowing down and losing altitude for our approach. Attendants already seated. When the engines revved up and the flaps changed position I grabbed my camera.

 

[Cal]

Of course you might see something like this approaching O'Hare...

View attachment 24496

We were slowing down and losing altitude for our approach. Attendants already seated. When the engines revved up and the flaps changed position I grabbed my camera.

Wow! And of course you can participate in a parallel landing at SFO (although just this morning I saw a video of a triple parallel landing at O'hare)

 

[BCL]

Respectfully, I disagree. What you are suggesting is something that can be done at home or when flying. Having such "entertainment" options available for me would do nothing in making my Amtrak journey "special" since I don't get to travel by train very often.

The best entertainment on Amtrak is watching the scenery flash by and people watching on the train as well as when the train stops at a station with people on the platform.

While I enjoy looking out the window for short periods of time, eventually I would like to do something that I can do at home. I found myself staring at the twilight scenery going through Oregon on the CS and after a while watching a movie on my iPad was more interesting.

 

[LauraPX]

>>Probably been asked before but besides looking out of the window, what other ways do you entertain yourselves on an Amtrak train, whether coach or sleeper? Watch movies on a laptop? Etc.<<

Audio books are the way to go. That way you can read and enjoy the scenery at the same time. Regular or ebooks are fine after dark, but even after dark if you are in a sleeper you can see out fairly well if there's some moonlight, so often I stay with the audio book even at night. I choose books set in the area the train is traveling though, or the destination, which adds to the interest of the trip. Personally I never watch movies on the train, even at night. For some reason I don't find getting interrupted while reading aggravating, but I don't care for interruptions when I'm watching a movie. You can't anticipate when the scanner will go off, when the attendant will stop by, when the conductor will make a P.A. announcement, etc. Anyway, I can watch movies at home.

Of course part of the fun of train travel is socializing in the diner or lounge car with people I would not not otherwise have met.

On a related topic, one of my pet peeves is people who go to the lounge car to read or watch a movie. You can do either at your seat or in your room -- why take up a spot in the lounge car if you're neither sightseeing nor socializing? If there are plenty of empty seats it doesn't matter, but so often I have seen this in crowded lounge cars. There's no rule against it, but it really isn't courteous to the other passengers. (Grumble, grumble, grumble...)

 

[crescent-zephyr]

On a related topic, one of my pet peeves is people who go to the lounge car to read or watch a movie. You can do either at your seat or in your room -- why take up a spot in the lounge car if you're neither sightseeing nor socializing?

I know! Look at the nerve of these passengers - sorry I can’t resist! Haha.

 

[PaTrainFan]

On a related topic, one of my pet peeves is people who go to the lounge car to read or watch a movie. You can do either at your seat or in your room -- why take up a spot in the lounge car if you're neither sightseeing nor socializing? If there are plenty of empty seats it doesn't matter, but so often I have seen this in crowded lounge cars. There's no rule against it, but it really isn't courteous to the other passengers. (Grumble, grumble, grumble...)

This issue has been discussed ad nauseum, but totally agree. Even when I go to the lounge I intentionally limit my time there so as to allow others to enjoy the opportunity.

 

[MerchantSeaman]

I tend to the situational awareness side of entertainment, sound counter intuitive. This summer on the Coast Starlight going south I was aware before the passengers an a lot of the crew that continuing south was not an option. And a first for me sleeping the night with the train sitting on a siding this was due to my trusty scanner. Also using full screen GPS data gives me a look over the horizon of event's. Like how the trains pass threw cities and comparing were routing follows roads and bridges. A shout out to Amtrack the delay added two days to enjoy Portland and Seattle and the Hotel stay turned out to be a positive travel adventure. After All...the Journey is the Travel Experience
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