Where would you go on Amtrak?

[junebug]

I am excited to plan a new Amtrak adventure. Preferably but not necessarily somewhere I have never been in the U.S. I am starting out from Chicago. I have already done the California Zephyr from Chicago to Emeryville, the Southwest Chief from Chicago to the Grand Canyon then to L.A. to the Coast Starlight to San Jose to Seattle and the Empire Builder from Seattle to Chicago.

What would you do? Figure I want to spend a week or ten days, and tops, $700 plus the price of a sleeper car. A rail pass is fine. Driving and flying between stops are fine.

Anything goes. What adventure would you pick?

 

[KmH]

In the fall I'm considering a loop something like Chicago, New Orleans, Washington DC, New York, and back to Chicago.

City of New Orleans, Crescent, Lake Shore Limited or the Cardinal.

I also want to ride the Texas Eagle and Sunset Limited to LA, and return on the Southwest Chief.

 

[Bob Dylan]

In your case I'd say go East by Northeast by Northwest by South by West!

Ride the Cardinal from Chicago to Washington, spend a couple if days in this jewel, then a Regional to New York City, spend a couple of days ( look for deals on rooms), then take the Adirondack to Montreal, spend a couple of days, then take a VIA Corridor train to Ottawa, fantastic in the Summer, then the train to Toronto, ( yous have to pay for the VIA rides as far as the border @ Niagara Falls,)spend a night, take the Maple Leaf or Go Bus to Niagara Falls, spend a night ( on the Canadian side!),

Then down to Buffalo,( the Maple Leaf becomes an Amtrak train @ the Border) get off @ the downtown Exchange Street Station, have lunch and sight see in this beautiful old city ( don't miss City Hall!), then after Dinner take a cab to the Depew Station (there are also City buses)and ride the Lake Shore Limited ( arrives around Midnight) back to Chicago!

 

[Shanghai]

I would suggest the Empire Builder to Seattle, Coast Starlight to Los Angeles & the Texas Eagle (422) to Chicago.

 

[junebug]

In your case I'd say go East by Northeast by Northwest by South by West!

Ride the Cardinal from Chicago to Washington, spend a couple if days in this jewel, then a Regional to New York City, spend a couple of days ( look for deals on rooms), then take the Adirondack to Montreal, spend a couple of days, then take a VIA Corridor train to Ottawa, fantastic in the Summer, then the train to Toronto, ( yous have to pay for the VIA rides as far as the border @ Niagara Falls,)spend a night, take the Maple Leaf or Go Bus to Niagara Falls, spend a night ( on the Canadian side!),

Then down to Buffalo,( the Maple Leaf becomes an Amtrak train @ the Border) get off @ the downtown Exchange Street Station, have lunch and sight see in this beautiful old city ( don't miss City Hall!), then after Dinner take a cab to the Depew Station (there are also City buses)and ride the Lake Shore Limited ( arrives around Midnight) back to Chicago!

This is interesting! I like it. I like visiting friends if I can when I am on train trips. I have a friend in Rochester and one in Virginia Beach. Any ideas for this one? I think either friend might be interested in joining up with me too... I have not been to D.C. since I was a child.

 

[Bob Dylan]

Your friend in Virginia Beach could ride a Regional from Norfolk to WAS( there's early morning bus service that connects with Amtrak in Norfolk on weekdays) or you could do the same in reverse to visit with them in Virginia Beach! ( its been years since I've been in the Tidewater, several of our members are familiar with the rail setup in this area)

As for the friend in Rochester, it's not that far from Buffalo and you could take the Maple Leaf from Niagara Falls ( or even Toronto) to Rochester! I've d0ne layovers in both places, they are interesting cities but IMO Buffalo is more interesting! Your friend could ride the train to NYC and join you on the Canadian journey or even ride the Maple Leaf to Toronto and meet you there!!

Endless possibilities!! Smiles

 

[Seaboard92]

Another circle trip for routes you don't have. Take the Texas Eagle to SAS then take the Sunset Limited to NOL. The Crescent north to NY. Then either the Lake Shore Limited or the Canadian options the other people have suggested

 

[willem]

Until I read Jim Hudson's recommendation, I would have suggested the California Zephyr, San Joaquin, and Texas Eagle, because the Zephyr's scenery has always been wonderful and the the other two legs are apparently new to you. From the San Joaquin, you could detour to Yosemite, Sequoia, or King's Canyon, if national parks appeal to you.

 

[andersone]

here is my 2016 fall trip

Huntington to Chi on the Cardinal (you catch this leg on your return)

Chi to NOLO on the CONO - thinking about doing the Iowa Pacific three days in NOLA

NOLO to Charlottesville - Monticello and civil war sites in a renter for two days

Back on the Cardinal to Huntington (you could take it to Chi instead) - the New River Gorge is the best scenery in the east

what ever you decide, hope you enjoy your track time as much as I do

 

[niemi24s]

Don't have any round trip suggestions for you, but for years I've had a yen to take the Cardinal just to see the scenery between Ashland KY and Charlottesville VA as the train winds its way along side of rivers through the mountains. You can get a feeling for what it's like by following the route on Google Earth. The average train speed over that section is only about 42mph! It's on my bucket list.

Edit: It's often difficult to follow the tracks on Google Earth, so if you get lost here's an excellent website that shows the routes Amtrak follows: http://asm.transitdocs.com/ For the Cardinal, just zoom in on the red line with a 50 or 51 on it. The wiggles in the red line also give a quick sense of how curvy the track really is.

 

[DryCreek]

Another circle trip for routes you don't have. Take the Texas Eagle to SAS then take the Sunset Limited to NOL. The Crescent north to NY. Then either the Lake Shore Limited or the Canadian options the other people have suggested

See, I've looked at doing this, but the connection eastbound on Train 2 from SAS has a stupid long layover. It is long enough for you to be terminally bored sitting in a station overnight, but too short to get any value from running to a hotel. If the schedule works out, you get to SAS at 2155 and get thrown off of the train until you can board the #2 at around 0530 for a 0625 departure. They sure don't make the eastbound connection doable for me. The only option would be to spend a coupe of days in SAS, I guess.

Hey Amtrak! If you're listening, make it so that i can take the train to Nawlins!

 

[neroden]

Chicago-DC, DC-NY, NY-Rochester, Rochester-Chicago.

There's infinite amounts to see in both DC and NY. You can also stop in Philaelphia. Or even Baltimore.

 

[crabby_appleton1950]

Anything goes. What adventure would you pick?

Albuquerque to Portland, ME, (to visit friends) stopping in oHIo to visit family; NYC to see a show, Boston for some old time memories.

 

[TinCan782]

Another circle trip for routes you don't have. Take the Texas Eagle to SAS then take the Sunset Limited to NOL. The Crescent north to NY. Then either the Lake Shore Limited or the Canadian options the other people have suggested

See, I've looked at doing this, but the connection eastbound on Train 2 from SAS has a stupid long layover. It is long enough for you to be terminally bored sitting in a station overnight, but too short to get any value from running to a hotel. If the schedule works out, you get to SAS at 2155 and get thrown off of the train until you can board the #2 at around 0530 for a 0625 departure. They sure don't make the eastbound connection doable for me. The only option would be to spend a coupe of days in SAS, I guess.

Hey Amtrak! If you're listening, make it so that i can take the train to Nawlins!

Take the Sunset Limited #2 all the way through SAS to NOL...you don't have to detrain in SAS that way. The LA to SAS part is the same physical train for both the SL and TE...the two TE cars #422 are on the rear of #2.

 

[DryCreek]

Another circle trip for routes you don't have. Take the Texas Eagle to SAS then take the Sunset Limited to NOL. The Crescent north to NY. Then either the Lake Shore Limited or the Canadian options the other people have suggested

See, I've looked at doing this, but the connection eastbound on Train 2 from SAS has a stupid long layover. It is long enough for you to be terminally bored sitting in a station overnight, but too short to get any value from running to a hotel. If the schedule works out, you get to SAS at 2155 and get thrown off of the train until you can board the #2 at around 0530 for a 0625 departure. They sure don't make the eastbound connection doable for me. The only option would be to spend a coupe of days in SAS, I guess.

Hey Amtrak! If you're listening, make it so that i can take the train to Nawlins!

Take the Sunset Limited #2 all the way through SAS to NOL...you don't have to detrain in SAS that way. The LA to SAS part is the same physical train for both the SL and TE...the two TE cars #422 are on the rear of #2.

Maybe I wasn't clear - I would be boarding the TE North of SAS. There are no coach or sleeper cars that are sectioned off for Train #2 - they only have those knocked off for Westbound SL service only. If they did have one sleeper and one coach set off for making up to Train 2 (eastbound SL), then I would have no problems getting from CBR to NOL. The way it is set up now, you have to get off of the TE and sit in the station for several hours - essentially overnight. On a scale that goes from FUN to UNFUN, guess where the needle would rest while sitting alertly in a hard chair when you could be resting in comfort in your own private roomette - only gently wakened by the soft bumping as your car is added to the consist of Train #2.

Yup, take a look at the route proposed by Seaboard92 - I highlighted it in red (and bold, and larger text) in my reply because I wanted the OP to be aware of the inconvenient connection from TE 21/421 to SL 2 in SAS.

How are potential riders served by the TE route supposed to get to NOL? Is there some way to connect from St. Louis? What if I lived south of there? maybe if they returned the SL to daily service, with a set of TE cars (sleeper & coach) going East one day, and then West the next day that would work out?

 

[TinCan782]

OK...you want to go south on the TE to SAS then east to NOL. I was thinking west from LA...I've done the TE twice from LA to Temple and return and that was my point of reference!

 

[Royal Blue]

In your case I'd say go East by Northeast by Northwest by South by West!

Ride the Cardinal from Chicago to Washington, spend a couple if days in this jewel, then a Regional to New York City, spend a couple of days ( look for deals on rooms), then take the Adirondack to Montreal, spend a couple of days, then take a VIA Corridor train to Ottawa, fantastic in the Summer, then the train to Toronto, ( yous have to pay for the VIA rides as far as the border @ Niagara Falls,)spend a night, take the Maple Leaf or Go Bus to Niagara Falls, spend a night ( on the Canadian side!),

Then down to Buffalo,( the Maple Leaf becomes an Amtrak train @ the Border) get off @ the downtown Exchange Street Station, have lunch and sight see in this beautiful old city ( don't miss City Hall!), then after Dinner take a cab to the Depew Station (there are also City buses)and ride the Lake Shore Limited ( arrives around Midnight) back to Chicago!

I am totally putting this one on the wish list, only starting from DC. Thanks, Jim Hudson!

 

[DryCreek]

OK...you want to go south on the TE to SAS then east to NOL. I was thinking west from LA...I've done the TE twice from LA to Temple and return and that was my point of reference!

Yup.

I can't make it work for me. That's disappointing. Effectively, there is no feasible train route from DFW to HOU any more. That's just....sad.

My grandfather who was an engineer for Rock Island through that route would be puzzled too. He ran out of the section running from Teague to Houston (Tomball) "back in the day"

Wouldn't it be great if they could create a southern hub similar to Chicago? I don't know if NOLA would be the best choice, but Houston or some other point could work (maybe?). In Dallas "The Eagle" could split off the Texas Eagle (DAL-FTW-CBR-MCG, etc. to SAS) and still meet up with the SL. "The Eagle" would then continue on to HOU or NOLA - whichever one becomes the southern hub.

 

[Chey]

Yeah, I have that problem too, I was looking at alternatives on another discussion but I still haven't found a real solution. You can book a trip to Houston from Marshall, you get off at Longview and take the thruway bus - but it doesn't get there in time for the SL.

Adding to my problem, I want to take the Crescent to DC. The SL comes into NOL 9 something at night, the Crescent leaves at 7 AM.

I've decided the only way I'm going to get to take the Crescent is to drive to Slidell, spend the night, find a place to park the car for a week. Coming from West Texas, I haven't figured out if I should drive straight through to Slidell; it was no big deal to do that when I was young but that was a long time ago and there's a reason I would rather take the train than drive places.

 

[Sandy]

These are great, people! Jim, I don't want to make you blush, but you freaking always come up with the best stuff!

 

[Sandy]

These are great, people! Jim, I don't want to make you blush, but you freaking always come up with the best stuff!

 

[junebug]

Oh heck... I forgot to sign in

These are great, people! Jim, I don't want to make you blush, but you freaking always come up with the best stuff!

 

[tricia]

Plenty of good suggestions already. Here's another:

LSL Chicago to Boston.

Downeaster from Boston to Portland, ME.

Night ferry (http://novastarcruises.com/) from Portland to Yarmouth, Nova Scotia.

Spend some time in Nova Scotia, ending up in Halifax.

VIA Rail's Ocean from Halifax to Montreal.

Amtrak's Adirondack from Montreal to Albany, then LSL westbound home--or continue on Adirondack/NEC farther south and take the Cardinal or Capitol Ltd back to Chicago.

Lots to do and see at stops along the way. Hope to do the circle from/to Albany myself one of these days....

 

[pebbleworm]

I'm still planning to take the family from SF to LA, and then on to New Orleans and back again on the Sunset Ltd. Just need to find the time....

 

[junebug]

Plenty of good suggestions already. Here's another:

LSL Chicago to Boston.

Downeaster from Boston to Portland, ME.

Night ferry (http://novastarcruises.com/) from Portland to Yarmouth, Nova Scotia.

Spend some time in Nova Scotia, ending up in Halifax.

VIA Rail's Ocean from Halifax to Montreal.

Amtrak's Adirondack from Montreal to Albany, then LSL westbound home--or continue on Adirondack/NEC farther south and take the Cardinal or Capitol Ltd back to Chicago.

Lots to do and see at stops along the way. Hope to do the circle from/to Albany myself one of these days....

Oh Tricia, that sounds amazing. I have never seen Nova Scotia.