Which route(s) do you travel the most?

[Philly Amtrak Fan]

Living in Nashville my favorite train trip is a Southwest or American flight away. My favorite Amtrak train I ride two or three times a year is the full trip Chicago to Emeryville on the California Zephyr. Love the trip between Denver and Grand Junction the most but the Sierras Reno to Colfax is just a spectacular. Will be riding the CZ both directions in December just so I can ride in Car 532 and 632 while the sleepers are still on the rear end of the train.

Don't they have Thruway Buses that serve Nashville?

 

[Aegis]

Fresno on the San Joaquin to MTZ or SAC, CS to ALY do it twice a year.

 

[gwschenk]

By far the Surfliner from Santa Ana to LA. Many trips from LA to Kansas City on the Southwest Limited and Southwest Chief. Also the Kansas City/St.Louis Mules and Ann Rutledge a few times.

 

[neroden]

LSL, by far. Multiple times per year from Syracuse to Chicago.

 

[Eric in East County]

For our trips back to Ohio we use the following combination of trains:

- the Pacific Surfliner between San Diego and Los Angeles

- the Southwest Chief between LA and Chicago

-the Capitol Limited between Chicago and Toledo

Our trip to Ohio later this month will be the eighth time we’ve traveled there using these trains. They are the ones we ride on most often.

Eric & Pat

 

[Phil S]

I'm counting r/t as 2 times. Live near Albany (the Left Coast one) so CS is likely at top of list (15 times?), NEC (maybe 15?). then EB (PDX branch maybe 8 times, SEA branch 2), then Card ( 10?), CZ (6?), Palmetto (6), SWC (2), SL (3), then several 1 time (Carolinian, LSL, CL, Sea/Van, Wolverine. Also several discontinued trains.)

- Phil

 

[Yumacool]

I live in Southwest Arizona and board the Sunset Limited in Yuma when it passes through in the middle of the night headed for Los Angeles. After a wait of a couple hours, my wife and I board the Coast Starlight to visit members of the family in Northern California and Oregon. We've been doing this several times annually for over 20 years. The reverse trip also arrives in Yuma in the middle of the night.

One of the odd things is that, although the Texas Eagle and Sunset are the same train, tickets cost two separate amounts. The Texas Eagle is always higher than the Sunset. Go figure.

 

[jphjaxfl]

I have been traveling on Amtrak since A-day in 1971. For the first few months, I was in the Louisville, so the South Wind was my train. From 1972-1975, I was stationed in Grand Forks, ND so I made over 50 trips on the Empire Builders plus many other trains. Then, I was in Minneapolis from 1976-1996 so made many additional trips on the Empire Builder as well as the North Coast Hiawatha and the North Star. From 1996 to 2003, I was in Atlanta, so the Crescent was used frequently as well as other trains. From 2003 to 2015, I was in Jacksonville, Florida so I was using the Silver trains as well as the Palmetto and the Sunset Limited when they were still running. Since 2016, I am retired and living in Hot Springs, Ar so I have been traveling on the Texas Eagle from Arkadelphia west to Texas and east to St. Louis and Chicago.

 

[chakk]

Have made dozens of trips on the CZ between EMY and GSC in both directions.

Sent from my iPhone using Amtrak Forum

 

[Acela150]

And we know what Acela150's answer for LD would be if it still existed...

We do? :blink: hboy:

 

[Amtrak George]

Living in Nashville my favorite train trip is a Southwest or American flight away. My favorite Amtrak train I ride two or three times a year is the full trip Chicago to Emeryville on the California Zephyr. Love the trip between Denver and Grand Junction the most but the Sierras Reno to Colfax is just a spectacular. Will be riding the CZ both directions in December just so I can ride in Car 532 and 632 while the sleepers are still on the rear end of the train.

Don't they have Thruway Buses that serve Nashville?

They do, but my impression is they are not 'dedicated' Thruway buses, but rather regular Greyhound runs that have through ticketing with Amtrak. If I am right, I would prefer to fly to my train versus a long Greyhound ride (and I speak from experience).

 

[Seaboard92]

For me it has to be the Silver Star. If my rough calculations in my head are correct it should have four more one way segments then the next train. Followed by the Silver Meteor (generally I ride the Meteor north only, and the star south)

Then the palmetto has at least six one way segments.

The North Carolina services (both) have four segments each.

Next up should be the Cascades with three segments.

Then the Capitol Limited and Crescent each have two segments.

And my favorite train I've only ridden once and that's the networks odd ball the Cardinal.

 

[Philly Amtrak Fan]

Living in Nashville my favorite train trip is a Southwest or American flight away. My favorite Amtrak train I ride two or three times a year is the full trip Chicago to Emeryville on the California Zephyr. Love the trip between Denver and Grand Junction the most but the Sierras Reno to Colfax is just a spectacular. Will be riding the CZ both directions in December just so I can ride in Car 532 and 632 while the sleepers are still on the rear end of the train.

Don't they have Thruway Buses that serve Nashville?

They do, but my impression is they are not 'dedicated' Thruway buses, but rather regular Greyhound runs that have through ticketing with Amtrak. If I am right, I would prefer to fly to my train versus a long Greyhound ride (and I speak from experience).

It's also a matter of timing.

8255: to CHI: 3:00AM-2:00PM (11 hours on a bus and a really early wake up call!)

8251: to IND: 2:20PM-9:10PM ET

8317: to IND: 7:00PM-2:00AM ET

8850: from CHI: 9:45am-8:45pm

8850: (same bus): from IND: 3:20pm-8:45pm

8250: from CHI: 3:25pm-2:00am

8250 (same bus): from IND: 8:50pm-2:00am

8856: from CHI: 11:05pm-10:45am

8856 (same bus): from IND: 4:25am-10:45am

So to get to the west coast/Texas, your best bet would be to take 8251 to IND, stay overnight there, and take HS/Cardinal (depending on day) to CHI. You could take 8255 to CHI and leave same day for the CONO or a night Hiawatha. Maybe you could make the SWC (3pm departure). Ideally there would be a train that would leave Nashville 10-11pm at night and arrive CHI early in the morning and you'd leave for the SWC/CZ the next day. The 8856 is a little late to wait for coming back from California (but I'm sure at times the SWC/CZ has arrived in CHI that late before). Ideally there would be a 7:05pm bus out of Union Station for Nashville. Then again, all of the buses shown serve Louisville and if it served Nashville conveniently it serves Louisville during the graveyard shift (of course 8255 does serve Nashville in the graveyard shift). Of course, Greyhound sets the bus schedules, not Amtrak.

As for going from Nashville east, 8251 does time fairly well with the eastbound 50 and avoids too bad hours. Unfortunately after getting back from 51 (5:15am, you're stuck at IND until 3:20pm. There, you probably hope it's delayed for a long time. If you're not afraid of flying, flying is the better option than a bus (then again if you're not afraid of flying why take a train cross country in the first place?)

8850: from CHI: 9:45am-8:45pm

 

[Skyline]

Maple Leaf, Cascades, Coast Starlight, California Zephyr, Cap Limited. The obvious gap in this circuit is The Canadian, but the OP specified Amtrak trains.

 

[WICT106]

For me, the routes are Thruway bus between Madison, WI, and Chicago, then the Capitol Ltd. between Chicago & DC, then the Silver Meteor between DC and Florida.

 

[Woodcut60]

So far, the Pacific Surfliner and the Lake Shore Limited. Both are nice rides.