Round Trip Same Day

[TrainLoverJoy]

Has anyone who loves train travel ever taken a long distance train, turned around and taken it back the same day? I just came back from EB trip last week, and I miss it already! Noticed roomettes are only $229 next week. People would think I was nuts if I did it, but I can dream......

I just noticed there are a few roomettes later at $229 on the EB using the Portland option! That's what I would really love to do.......see the Gorge from the Washington side (even tho just visited Seattle and Portland last week!) Would love to do it as I said before......turn around and come back to Chicago the same day we arrive. I haven't mentioned it to my husband yet, he loves train rides, but not quite as much as I do!

I have reservations last of April to L.A. on the Chief, drive the coast and return to Chicago on the Zephyr......but I don't think I can wait that long!!

 

[AmtrakBlue]

I've been thinking of doing an overnight same day turn around to expiernce sleeping in coach.

I would like to travel more by train but can't afford sleepers.

Can't justify spending the money right now but hope to do something within the next year.

 

[xyzzy]

Sure. The biggest risk is that your outbound train runs late and you miss the turnaround. If there is only one Amtrak train a day in each direction on the route you choose, keep this in mind -- especially if the turnaround point is an hour or two from the previous stop.

 

[AlanB]

Just this past Jan I did a trip from NY down to Winter Park, spent half day in WPK, and turned around and came back.

Years ago I did a couple of trips where I went out on one train to Chicago and came right back on a different train that serves NY/DC.

 

[TrainLoverJoy]

Sure. The biggest risk is that your outbound train runs late and you miss the turnaround. If there is only one Amtrak train a day in each direction on the route you choose, keep this in mind -- especially if the turnaround point is an hour or two from the previous stop.

With the EB there's a 6 hour turn-around.....would be pretty safe length of time in Seattle.

 

[caravanman]

Hi,

If you enjoy the journey as much as the destination, then why not go for it? I have looked at the EB from Chicago as a possibility for a trip like that, I factor in the saving on an overnight hotel room too, to make it seem more rational!

One trip I was considering a year or two back was a winter train ride from Winnipeg up to Churchill in Canada, arriving one morning and returning that evening. Thought I could huddle in a pub to keep warm for most of the day. Last time I checked, the via rail schedules had changed, so passengers have to spend at least one overnight in Churchill. Guess it is worth a night or two there with a chance to see the "Northern Lights"!

Happy Travels!

Ed

 

[Steve4031]

I've done it too on many occasions.

 

[xyzzy]

With the EB there's a 6 hour turn-around.....would be pretty safe length of time in Seattle.

Doing this once on the Floridian, I had a 90-minute turnaround at Decatur, Ala. The outbound train departed on time but lost 2 hours behind a disabled freight short of Decatur. I befriended the L&N conductor, and he radioed the Floridian in the other direction (which had already departed Decatur) to make an impromptu stop. Off one train and onto the other in the middle of nowhere! I can't imagine that happening today.

 

[MiRider]

In April I took a trip on the CZ from Chicago to Denver and back.

There's over 8 hours between trains so I felt safe doing it.

Checked my bag at the station, no charge but I gave her a $5 tip.

Grabbed a cab outside the station and went downtown.

Spent the day walking all over and went to the State Capital.

Then I took the free 16th St. Mall Shuttle from one end to the other and back.

I also had a great lunch and a beer sampler at the Rock Bottom Brewery - the interior is gorgeous.

When it was time to go, I grabbed an express bus at the Market Street Bus Station (Market & 16th) that dropped me off in front of the temp Amtrak Station - the ride was less than 10 minutes.

The one thing that I found weird was that the driver told me to pay when I got OFF of the bus, must be an express bus thing.

Also, the express buses only run on weekdays but there are other buses that will get/take you there.

 

[ehbowen]

With the EB there's a 6 hour turn-around.....would be pretty safe length of time in Seattle.

Doing this once on the Floridian, I had a 90-minute turnaround at Decatur, Ala. The outbound train departed on time but lost 2 hours behind a disabled freight short of Decatur. I befriended the L&N conductor, and he radioed the Floridian in the other direction (which had already departed Decatur) to make an impromptu stop. Off one train and onto the other in the middle of nowhere! I can't imagine that happening today.

From the "Do as I say, not as I do" department: In July 2010 I took my nephews on a weekend jaunt from Houston to Alpine, Texas and the Big Bend country. In the morning we had breakfast in the diner as we were passing through Del Rio (the Sunset was running right on time), and a pleasant gentleman joined the three of us at the breakfast table. He asked where we were going, and we told him we were headed to Alpine. "I'm going to Alpine too," he announced, "for one minute." He explained that he had been looking into taking a trip from Lake Charles, and he saw that at that time the Sunset Limited had a scheduled westbound arrival in Alpine at 1:24 p.m., and a scheduled eastbound departure one minute later at 1:25. Key word: scheduled. "The web site wouldn't let me book a round trip ticket for some reason," he continued, "so I had to buy two separate one-way tickets."

At about this point in the conversation my jaw was in my lap. "I'm kind of wondering whether I'm cutting things too close, though...do you think that maybe I should get off in Sanderson?" he asked. I recovered enough to tell him that not only should he get off in Sanderson, but that he needed to make a beeline for the conductor and Confess All, since (as we all know) Sanderson was (and is) a flag stop and the eastbound train Would Not Stop unless they knew in advance that a passenger was waiting, and the conductor was the only person aboard who could coordinate that at this late date. (Whew. Is that a run-on, or what?)

Shortly after breakfast we heard an announcement from the conductor that the train was going to stop in Sanderson to let one passenger off, then continue. We did arrive in the vicinity of Alpine on-time; however the eastbound train was early and had already occupied the station track so we had to hold at the nearest siding until they passed us and cleared. Our breakfast companion would have been Stuck Like Chuck until Monday!

 

[JayPea]

I've done this on three separate occasions:

Spokane to Seattle and back

Spokane to Portland and back

Spokane to East Glacier Park and back

All three were on the EB of course. On the first occasion, I met some friends for lunch at Ivar's, then wandered around the waterfront until it was time to return home. On the seond, I met another friend, and we went to Multnomah Falls for a picnic lunch. We went sightseeing at a few of the other waterfalls along Old Highway 30 before she took me back to Portland's Union Station. And on the third, my uncle, who was visiting from Illinois, and I went to East Glacier, rented a car, and had time to drive over Going - to -the - Sun Road before returning the rental and going back to Spokane. These days, with the unreliability of the EB's schedule, I wouldn't chance doing any of the three trips again the same day. :unsure:

 

[me_little_me]

Has anyone who loves train travel ever taken a long distance train, turned around and taken it back the same day? I just came back from EB trip last week, and I miss it already! Noticed roomettes are only $229 next week. People would think I was nuts if I did it, but I can dream......

Took the Cardinal between Hinton, WV and White Sulpher Springs (2 stops) and returned that day just so we could do it and have lunch at the famous Greenbrier Resort. We could have easily driven it in half the time but we had fun. When we told others a t the Hinton & WSS stops what we were doing, they thought it was a neat idea.

 

[EMDF9A]

We Seattlw based T&R folks do it all the time. Out on #11 to Portland in the AM, 2 hours on the ground there & back to Seattle on #14. Its a great trip.

 

[RRrich]

I took the train STL - DEN (1 agr xone/roomette) then coach DEN - GRA. I chose to get off at Grandel because I was able to walk around town, have lunch and then cavtch the eastbound Zephyr and return to STL. A wonderful scenic trip for minimal $ and points :

 

[Ispolkom]

Next month I'm going St. Paul-Portland-Sacramento-Denver, then Denver-Sacramento-Portland-Minot to celebrate Thanksgiving with Mom. I don't understand why she thinks I'm crazy. I do actually have two nights scheduled in Denver, in case of any missed connections, so it's not as crazy as the Alpine turn ehbowen described.

 

[pennyk]

I have done it twice on the Silver Meteor from Orlando. Once to WAS for the Jon Stewart rally and last May on NTD to PHL. I hope to do the same thing for 2013 NTD, either in PHL or WAS.

The northbound Meteor arrives in the morning and southbound departs in the evening. The timing worked out great.

 

[Ocala Mike]

As long as "two-a-day" service remains in Florida, it is quite easy to make same day intra-state round-trips on the Silver Service trains, and I have done so in the past. Deland-Tampa and return for National Train Day, and Palatka-Winter Haven and Kissimmee and return on other occasions.

 

[NE933]

My goodness, so i'm not alone. I've never done a long distance "train ride"; a train ride being defined as a rail trip for no other reason than taking a train someplace then returning the same day.

In the eighties and nineties i did RTs from NY to DC, Albany, Philly, Trenton, and New Haven. In early 80's i practically lived on PATH rains between World Trade Center and Newark, which at one point has a long uninterupted stretch through Jersey City, Kearny, and Harrison. Lots of rail yards, power lines, fuel tanks, garbage fills turning into hills and nature trails, and industrial towns' factories. There are some swamps coming off the Hackensack and Paassaic rivers. And last but not least: Amtrak!! It was this era of my life that i honed in my serous trainluv, not to mention my hours and hours and more hours of observatons left me with a novice expertise that i sharpened later through recognizing patterns, reading many rail magazines and books, conversations with men and women who noticed i was a regular visitor with no other purpose than enjoying trains. When the ex-Hoboken festivals were still on every Fall, i'd buy dozens of timetables, brochures, and employee publications and rabidly EAT the stuff inside. I went after this paper stuff like a doctor reading the cure for cancer. During my vacations to Florida i struck up talks with crew and expert railfans riding as passengers and would learn about operating practices and quirks on that territory, what Amtrak had in mind down the road, and much more.

Today i still do Trenton and Philly, or for the 150mph high, Boston. In 2007 i went to Quantico just to video shoot Auto Train.

 

[Swadian Hardcore]

Hmm, I thinm this would be a huge waste of money. After all, if you go there, you might as well see it and stay a night.

 

[Acela150]

Hmm, I thinm this would be a huge waste of money. After all, if you go there, you might as well see it and stay a night.

Depends on what you go there for. It could be a brief business trip.

 

[Exiled in Express]

I have done 22 hours in Fargo on several occasions visiting friends.

 

[Guest]

Yes, in May of this year. I did WAS to CHI, took the Cardinal there and Capital Limited back.

 

[TrainLoverJoy]

Hmm, I thinm this would be a huge waste of money. After all, if you go there, you might as well see it and stay a night.

I've taken the EB to Seattle twice in the last 5 months, so I've seen all the sights. If I did it again, it would be just for the "train ride."

 

[AKA]

Have done TOL-LAX. LAX -TOL. { Capitol Lt. South West Chief to LAX. Texas Eagle, Capitol LT back to TOL.] Same day.

TOL- RNO same day R/T

TOL SEA same day R/T

TOL WAS same day R/T

TOL CHI same day many times

 

[MiRider]

Dang.... I wasn't paying attention - my post above wasn't pertinent.

I don't have any one day round trips I can take from my home station other than to Chicago or some of the cities in Michigan and back, no LD trips at all.

But I have no problem taking a LD coach overnight from CHI and spending the day somewhere and taking a LD coach back.

I'm always on the hunt for more trips like that.