New Member from Iowa

[MennoRoger]

Hello! New member here. My wife and I (both "seniors") are planning our first Amtrak trip from Fort Madison Iowa to Albuquerque NM on the Southwest Chief later in the year. I'll have LOTS of questions later. Thanks for those who operate this forum.

 

[pennyk]

Welcome to Amtrak Unlimited.

 

[Trollopian]

Hello! New member here. My wife and I (both "seniors") are planning our first Amtrak trip from Fort Madison Iowa to Albuquerque NM on the Southwest Chief later in the year. I'll have LOTS of questions later. Thanks for those who operate this forum.

Welcome! It looks like Fort Madison, a town of about 10,000 people, has a gem of a train station:

https://www.greatamericanstations.com/stations/fort-madison-ia-fmd/

 

[MennoRoger]

Thanks, Trollopian, for your comment. Yes, the station itself does look quite attractive and we plan to visit it in the next few weeks before we take a trip. However, so far, I have not found ANY public transportation that we can use to get to the station. That is, I have not found any rental car agencies with an office in Fort Madison. There is a bus station, but it's at the other end of town. So one of our first goals is to figure out how to get to the train station. If you have any suggestions about that, I would be glad to know what they are.

 

[Trollopian]

Thanks, Trollopian, for your comment. Yes, the station itself does look quite attractive and we plan to visit it in the next few weeks before we take a trip. However, so far, I have not found ANY public transportation that we can use to get to the station. That is, I have not found any rental car agencies with an office in Fort Madison. There is a bus station, but it's at the other end of town. So one of our first goals is to figure out how to get to the train station. If you have any suggestions about that, I would be glad to know what they are.

No useful suggestions, sorry, because I don't know that area (nor do I know how far you are from Fort Madison!).

But "Uber" and "helpful BIL/neighbor/trusted friend" come to mind. The Southwest Chief's times at Fort Madison are pretty civilized: about 6:05 p.m. westbound and likely to be on time, 10:20 a.m. eastbound and fairly likely to be late but not wee-hours late. And your designated driver can track the train at http://dixielandsoftware.net/Amtrak/status/StatusMaps/. Just an idea.

Parking is supposedly available and free, but (besides possible concern about leaving a vehicle) the station page at https://www.amtrak.com/stations/fmd has this ominous warning: "Be advised that due to the Mississippi River flood warning, access to the Fort Madison station is expected to be impacted. If flooding occurs, the parking lot that leads to the station entrance will be underwater and not accessible." Flooding also affects passenger boarding but presumably the staff know how to direct people.