Opinions Needed on LD Trip

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Which LD Trip is your choice?

  • Total voters
    56
Acela150

Acela150

Super Buff
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Jan 11, 2008
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Hi All,

I'm hoping to take my Mom on a LD trip from the West Coast back to Philly. Hopefully in May before full summer vacations begins.

My Mom who is 62 has never taken a trip like this. So I don't want to do anything insane. It would be one way. Eastbound. The only trips on Amtrak my Mom has taken is to DC, NYC, and BOS. So she is used to the High Speeds of the NEC.

I will use the Cardinal or LSL eastbound to give her the experience of the Superliners and Viewliners.

I am going to put a poll up for votes.

TIA!
Steve
 
I voted for the CZ and Cardinal. That will offer the best scenery, the most time on the train, and hot meals the whole way. The CZ undoubtedly has the best scenery in the Amtrak system, and the Card has got to be the most scenic route east of Chicago. I've personally found that the LSL's route can be kind of bleak and the crew are often pretty rude and often unprofessional.

So yeah, #6 to #50 is my vote.
 
caravanman said:
Are we voting for the current services, or the new ones for 2019 with the bus bridges?

Ed.
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I don't know of any specific bus bridge plans on the CZ or Cardinal yet, though both have non-PTC segments.
If the Cardinal gets a bus bridge or is cancelled, then the LSL would of course be considered. The CZ might get a Wyoming reroute instead of the other options. I've heard that going through Wyoming is quite nice too, though Colorado is undoubtedly more spectacular.
 
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Thanks Steve for making me feel old - I am older than your mother. In fact, my little sister is older than you mother.

The CZ is my favorite. The Cardinal has great scenery, but can be pricey. I may be in the minority, but I prefer the food on the Lakeshore Limited and Capitol Limited over the Cardinal. However, I voted for CZ, Cardinal due to scenery. CZ, LSL would be my second choice.
 
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caravanman said:
Are we voting for the current services, or the new ones for 2019 with the bus bridges?

Ed.
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Ed, I'm planning this assuming that the cop out of "PTC" doesn't happen.

the_traveler said:
If you build a day buffer in CHI, I would vote 6 to 50!
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I'm planning on 2 days in Chi-town Dave.

pennyk said:
Thanks Steve for making me feel old - I am older than your mother. In fact, my little sister is older than you mother.

The CZ is my favorite. The Cardinal has great scenery, but can be pricey. I may be in there minority, but I prefer the food on the Lakeshore Limited and Capitol Limited over the Cardinal. However, I voted for CZ, Cardinal due to scenery. CZ, LSL would be my second choice.
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Don't worry Penny. Your secret is safe with me!
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Well so far it looks like all the voters are leaning towards the Cardinal. If you can get a good fare (the Cardinal's pricing buckets are identical to that of the LSL), it does seem like the consensus is that the Card is the way to go...
 
The CZ is always our favorite train but have a preference for the Lake Shore. Never had a bad crew in the diner or in the sleeper. Like the scenery in upstate NY along the old canal, the numerous cities and towns along its route, and the Hudson River Valley. You do have the consideration of what the meal selection will now be.

The Cardinal has nice scenery in West Virginia but in May the leaves are back on the trees and your visuals of the river and scenery are many times blocked by shrubs and trees. You also need to plan to take 50 during the three days each week it operates. The best time, in my opinion, to take 50 is late fall, winter or early spring.
 
I'm going to be a bit contrarian and say the Empire Builder and the Lake Shore Limited. My reasoning:

  • The Empire Builder has, in my opinion, better/less expensive origination points. Portland has some inexpensive hotels close to the light rail, and exploring the city is quite enjoyable. If you're okay with international travel, I highly recommend starting in Vancouver. The US dollar is still pretty strong against the Canadian dollar, so Canadian prices seem to come out to be a bit less after the conversion rate. Vancouver is also an enjoyable city to explore, between the suspension bridges, Stanley Park, the Seabus, and a number of other attractions. Finally, the morning Cascades has a simple, same-day connection to the Empire Builder out of Seattle, and the scenery is lovely on the Cascades as well. I've only passed through Seattle, but I've heard good things about it too. San Francisco is enjoyable, but super expensive to stay in (or requiring super long commutes to get anywhere.)
  • The Empire Builder has more consistently nice and varied scenery than the California Zephyr. The Zephyr does have the Colorado Rockies and the Sierra Nevadas in California, but the Nevada desert on the evening of the first day gets monotonous quickly for me, and after Denver there's not much scenery to look forward to (the Mississippi River crossing is nice, but otherwise it's farmland as far as the eye can see.) The Empire Builder doesn't have anything as stunning as the Colorado Rockies, but the Columbia River Valley (on the Portland leg) is beautiful on day 1, and I'd imagine going through the Seattle leg is similar. The morning of day 2 has Glacier National Park, which is stunning in its own right, and eastern Montana's Big Sky Country has an appeal of its own in mid-afternoon of day 2. The selling point for me is day 3, though: instead of having day 3 as mainly farmland with a couple of scenic highlights, much of the morning of day 3 (assuming the train is on time) is spent in the Mississippi River valley. There's also a bit of a change of scenery in the early afternoon around Wisconsin Dells, which has the Wisconsin River along with some of the trappings of a tourist town. It's kinda fun to see from a train window.
  • The Lake Shore Limited and the Cardinal both have their highlights, but the flexibility of the Lake Shore Limited wins out for me. It has a 9:30 PM departure, which allows the maximum amount of time in Chicago and has most of the Indiana/Ohio fields overnight, instead of having the first few hours on the train be in daylight rolling through fields. While the Cardinal probably has better objective scenery through the New River Gorge, for me it's more interesting to follow upstate New York, see the Erie Canal and many of the industrial towns, and then race down the Hudson into NYP. It feels like you're seeing a different side of America than what at least I normally see on a daily basis, and following the Erie Canal feels to me like following a part of transportation history. The one huge benefit of the Cardinal is that it (should) go direct to Philly, so no transfer in NYP is required. That said, when my dad and I took the train to BWI, we took the Lake Shore to the Northeast Regional and the couple hours of layover in NYC allowed us to step out, experience NYC for just a little bit, see Times Square, get a slice of pizza, and then hop back on for a quick ride down the NEC. That may be more enjoyable/unique for someone from Minnesota than from Philly, though.
That said, I think you've got some good choices, and I don't think there's a "wrong" decision to make.
 
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I seem to be the lone vote so far for the SWC to the Cardinal, so I'll give my reasoning:

The SWC seems to be on the shakiest ground of the three western trains you mention, so it might make sense to ride it now, just in case.

Your mother will hopefully have a chance to ride the other two at another time--she is still young! (at least to those of us her age or older!
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)

As for the eastern train, definitely the Cardinal--meals and company in the dining car, instead of a picnic in a box thrown at you. Beautiful scenery (so much beauty in the early morning coming east). And, best of all, you can just come home to Philly without having to go through NYC and the change of trains there.
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pennyk said:
Thanks Steve for making me feel old - I am older than your mother. In fact, my little sister is older than you mother.

The CZ is my favorite. The Cardinal has great scenery, but can be pricey. I may be in there minority, but I prefer the food on the Lakeshore Limited and Capitol Limited over the Cardinal. However, I voted for CZ, Cardinal due to scenery. CZ, LSL would be my second choice.
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So, you prefer the boxed meals on the LSL and CL over the regular menu on the Cardinal?
 
Ronbo said:
pennyk said:
Thanks Steve for making me feel old - I am older than your mother. In fact, my little sister is older than you mother.

The CZ is my favorite. The Cardinal has great scenery, but can be pricey. I may be in the minority, but I prefer the food on the Lakeshore Limited and Capitol Limited over the Cardinal. However, I voted for CZ, Cardinal due to scenery. CZ, LSL would be my second choice.
Click to expand...
So, you prefer the boxed meals on the LSL and CL over the regular menu on the Cardinal?
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Yes. Like I said, I may be in the minority.
 
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Mystic River Dragon said:
I seem to be the lone vote so far for the SWC to the Cardinal, so I'll give my reasoning:

The SWC seems to be on the shakiest ground of the three western trains you mention, so it might make sense to ride it now, just in case.

Your mother will hopefully have a chance to ride the other two at another time--she is still young! (at least to those of us her age or older!
default_smile.png
)

As for the eastern train, definitely the Cardinal--meals and company in the dining car, instead of a picnic in a box thrown at you. Beautiful scenery (so much beauty in the early morning coming east). And, best of all, you can just come home to Philly without having to go through NYC and the change of trains there.
default_smile.png
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You bring up a good point. In my view, the Chief is in a lot of ways the worst of those three routes, but I highly doubt this will be Steve's last cross country train trip, and it's quite likely the SWC doesn't make it until his next one.
 
jis said:
I actually don't particularly mind the boxed meals, though it is always nice to have meals served more elaborately. The quality and freshness of the boxed meals I have found to be generally superior so far.
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Did you (or I guess anyone else) happen to see how the Vegan Wrap looked? I haven't been able to find any reviews or even pictures.
 
CZ to card was my dream trip and I did it just a few years ago, while I could still buy it for three-zone points on AGR1. I did it in winter, so the leaves were off the trees, and I agree with the comment about the views being better during winter (or early spring). I was glued to the window as soon as it was light out! What a wonderful trip.

EB to LSL is my "regular" route from home to family, and I like it just fine. I've also done the SWC both directions -- but for scenery, the CZ to Card was best-ever. Beware, there is a short section on the Cardinal (at least an hour) where the train rockets along jointed track, and I was quite uncomfortable being jolted around till that was over.
 

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