Most scenic Amtrak routes

[AmtrakCrescent20]

I listed as choices the routes most likely to be picked-if you say other, please explain.

 

[yarrow]

with seattle, puget sound, portland, the columbia gorge, the cascades, the rockies, the northern plains, the mississippi and chicago the eb wins for bogth scenery and history, i believe.

 

[Rafi]

I listed as choices the routes most likely to be picked-if you say other, please explain.

I vote for the Cardinal, if nothing else, than to make sure it doesn't go forgotten as having the best scenery east of the Mississippi, IMHO.

-Rafi

 

[saxman]

For scenery alone, the CZ. Plains, two famous moutain passes, desert. The Zephyr has the most scenery along its route. I still like the EB just because its the EB.

 

[gswager]

I've been on three routes so far, and I prefer CZ because of mountain scenery, esp. with Sierra Nevadas. CS came second because of ocean view.

 

[PRR 60]

And for the same reason as Rafi, I vote for the NEC Coast Line east of New Haven. This stretch is a stunningly beautiful route along classic New England shoreline.

 

[frj1983]

Despite it's timing problems lately,

I find I must vote for the Coast Starlight:

-the portion along the Pacific Ocean takes your breath away, and the trip through the cascades on up to Portland and then Seattle is marvelous.

 

[jphjaxfl]

Having traveled just about every major rail line in the US some of which no longer have passanger service or have even been totally abandoned for any rail service, I would have to say that the CZ would be #1, however, the CZ when it operated over the former Western Pacific through the Feather River Canyon would win over the current former SP through the Donner Pass.

 

[Rex]

For scenery, I'm going to throw in the Adirondack from NYP to Montreal. Between NTP and ALB, you follow the Hudson. Sit on the left side for the best biews. Once you get to ALB, switch sides to the right if you can. North of Schenectady, you switch to the CP. It gets a little boring, but only until you get north of Glens Falls. From there to Rouses Point, you have very nice views of Lake Champlain.

The scenery almost makes up for the hours of waiting at Cantic, Quebec for customs and the 1.5 hours travel time (which is a total joke by the way, avg speed 25-30mph- thanks CN!!) to Montreal.

On another note, Amtrak considered for a while re-routing the Adirondack north of Rouses Point. Instead of switching to CN, it would stay on CP and shave 45 minutes off the time between the border and Montreal. BUT, that line goes into the Windsor CP Rail Station, not Montreal's Central Station (where VIA train come in). Amtrak thought this would hurt connections to/from VIA, and also Canada's customs guys wanted Amtrak to build them a dedicated shelter on the CP line (like they have on the CN line in Cantic.) The idea was scrapped.

Too bad. That last part of the trip to MTR is the most painful.

 

[haolerider]

For scenery, I'm going to throw in the Adirondack from NYP to Montreal. Between NTP and ALB, you follow the Hudson. Sit on the left side for the best biews. Once you get to ALB, switch sides to the right if you can. North of Schenectady, you switch to the CP. It gets a little boring, but only until you get north of Glens Falls. From there to Rouses Point, you have very nice views of Lake Champlain.
The scenery almost makes up for the hours of waiting at Cantic, Quebec for customs and the 1.5 hours travel time (which is a total joke by the way, avg speed 25-30mph- thanks CN!!) to Montreal.

On another note, Amtrak considered for a while re-routing the Adirondack north of Rouses Point. Instead of switching to CN, it would stay on CP and shave 45 minutes off the time between the border and Montreal. BUT, that line goes into the Windsor CP Rail Station, not Montreal's Central Station (where VIA train come in). Amtrak thought this would hurt connections to/from VIA, and also Canada's customs guys wanted Amtrak to build them a dedicated shelter on the CP line (like they have on the CN line in Cantic.) The idea was scrapped.

Too bad. That last part of the trip to MTR is the most painful.

The Adirondack was voted as one of the Top Ten Scenic Rail Trips in the World several years ago. Not the most up to date equipment, but a beautiful and scenic route.

 

[AlanB]

For scenery, I'm going to throw in the Adirondack from NYP to Montreal. Between NTP and ALB, you follow the Hudson. Sit on the left side for the best biews. Once you get to ALB, switch sides to the right if you can. North of Schenectady, you switch to the CP. It gets a little boring, but only until you get north of Glens Falls. From there to Rouses Point, you have very nice views of Lake Champlain.

The scenery almost makes up for the hours of waiting at Cantic, Quebec for customs and the 1.5 hours travel time (which is a total joke by the way, avg speed 25-30mph- thanks CN!!) to Montreal.

On another note, Amtrak considered for a while re-routing the Adirondack north of Rouses Point. Instead of switching to CN, it would stay on CP and shave 45 minutes off the time between the border and Montreal. BUT, that line goes into the Windsor CP Rail Station, not Montreal's Central Station (where VIA train come in). Amtrak thought this would hurt connections to/from VIA, and also Canada's customs guys wanted Amtrak to build them a dedicated shelter on the CP line (like they have on the CN line in Cantic.) The idea was scrapped.

Too bad. That last part of the trip to MTR is the most painful.

The Adirondack was voted as one of the Top Ten Scenic Rail Trips in the World several years ago. Not the most up to date equipment, but a beautiful and scenic route.

Yeah, it is a shame that there isn't enough Amfleet II's for this route. I'd also love to see them put one of the nice Club-Dinette cars on this train for the nice BC seats.

 

[battalion51]

My vote would go to the Vermonter. There's nothing like the Green Mountains.

 

[the_traveler]

For scenery, I'm going to throw in the Adirondack from NYP to Montreal. Between NTP and ALB, you follow the Hudson. Sit on the left side for the best biews. Once you get to ALB, switch sides to the right if you can. North of Schenectady, you switch to the CP. It gets a little boring, but only until you get north of Glens Falls. From there to Rouses Point, you have very nice views of Lake Champlain.
The scenery almost makes up for the hours of waiting at Cantic, Quebec for customs and the 1.5 hours travel time (which is a total joke by the way, avg speed 25-30mph- thanks CN!!) to Montreal.

On another note, Amtrak considered for a while re-routing the Adirondack north of Rouses Point. Instead of switching to CN, it would stay on CP and shave 45 minutes off the time between the border and Montreal. BUT, that line goes into the Windsor CP Rail Station, not Montreal's Central Station (where VIA train come in). Amtrak thought this would hurt connections to/from VIA, and also Canada's customs guys wanted Amtrak to build them a dedicated shelter on the CP line (like they have on the CN line in Cantic.) The idea was scrapped.

Too bad. That last part of the trip to MTR is the most painful.

Actually it is from north of Whitehall that it goes along Lake Champlain.

For many years after it began on Amtrak, the Adirondack did in fact operate to/from Windsor station! Then it moved to Central station.

 

[GG-1]

Aloha

Can I vote for All of them, this country is so beautiful, (not knocking any other country) that Rail Travel lets us see it. Maybe it hits me more since any trip for me starts out with 4+ hours viewing clouds or water, before I can get on a train.

 

[autotrainlover]

i picked other because i've only ridden amtrak train ever and that was the auto train

 

[GregL]

I agree with GG-1, there is so many scenic routes, it is really hard to pick. Anything is better than the view of the top of the clouds from 30,000 feet, IMO.

GregL

 

[WICT106]

I picked "other," because you did not allow us to select "All of the Above," and you did not have a selection of picking the Capitol Ltd.