It wouldn’t take much to put our long-distance rail routes out of business- just a sincere national commitment to high-speed rail. Build HSR from Vancouver to Eugene, and from SF to LA, and that long stretch from Oregon to SF starts to look like a lot of trouble for the return we’re getting. If you can, ride some long-distance routes now, before you wake up some morning and read about their last day.
Many tips could be shared about traveling on these routes, but I’ll confine myself to two- first, take some oatmeal-raisin cookies with you, and second, well before the bar closes, buy a half-dozen of the little bottles of booze.
And, well, one more- if you can, travel with a full moon. It will almost double your viewing pleasure.
Can’t take vacation time but want an adventure? Try the Empire Builder trip to Glacier National Park. My wife and I hopped on the Empire Builder on a Friday afternoon, and rode east on a sleeper car. We woke up early, had breakfast on the train, and hopped off the train at East Glacier. We rented a car (though there are good shuttle services), and spent the day hiking in the park. That evening we hopped on a west-bound train and were home Sunday morning.
Getting a bed is pricey, but you’re getting two nights stay, meals, and transportation all in one price. If you want to go cheap then get just a regular seat – although it looked comparable to sleeping on an airplane (though with more legroom).
I always traveled by sleeper, back when I had more money relative to prices (as you note, not more expensive than a downtown hotel). However, I did notice the train crews make a real effort to make it possible to sleep in coach, such as turning down the lights, and not making an overhead announcement of when the bar closes.
Hence, item #2.
Tried to get my mother to do that Glacier Park trip, but couldn’t. Sigh…….
From the mid-1960s until the mid-1990s I traveled across the US and Canada and up and down the Pacific Coast once or twice a year, in coach as a college or grad student, and after the mid-1970s in the sleepers – the best way to travel ever invented. Catowner is right – those overnighter trains could disappear in almost an instant; the equipment is aging and if the Rove/Norquist cabal succeed in ousting our President, you can bet that Amtrak as we know it wont be long for this world. While you ahve the chance, save up, even if for only one night, and get a room. Best of all, though also only a shadow of its former self in many ways, is “The Canadian” ‘twixt Vancouver and Toronto – a glorious excursion, nonetheless. Get on a train!
I’m considering riding down to California for Thanksgiving. I’ll probably fly for the time savings, but riding is tempting at half the price…
Probably too late to get a seat on the Starlight for Thanksgiving – for holidays one really must reserve 3-6 months in advance, as there IS only one train per day…
They had room, at least for a single seat. But it doesn’t look likely I’ll take it.
You wrote: “Build HSR from Vancouver to Eugene, and from SF to LA, and that long stretch from Oregon to SF starts to look like a lot of trouble for the return we’re getting.”
I disagree entirely. I used to live in Northern California near the Oregon border. If you wanted to fly anywhere, you had to drive to San Francisco or Portland (7 or 8 hours either way, with a stop for lunch) for reasonably priced tickets. Flying from Redding or Medford costs at least $400 and often more, and that drive is also very expensive if you factor in depreciation, repairs, insurance, and lost time.
With HSR in Sacramento and Eugene, you could catch an improved standard-speed train in Medford (perhaps averaging 60 mph, if some basic track maintenance was done, or even better if the route was electrified) and then get on the HSR system to get to Seattle in 5 hours or LA in 7 hours; twice as fast as driving, and not much slower than flying if you include the time wasted in airports and transferring in SF or Portland.
This could compete very well with driving or flying for trips along the west coast, for people who live in So Oregon or far northern California, especially if the cost of driving keeps rising.
Representatives in Congress are very much alive to the problem of small communities that are served only by the Amtrak long-distance runs. This is probably the main reason these runs exist at all.
The problem lies in the implementation. The trains run on leased freight rails. Building a parallel passenger line is hard and gets harder when you go over mountains. If you did build it, how many people would be using it? These are all questions that separate our hopes and dreams from what actually happens.
Flying and driving will eventually become too expensive, which will load the freight rails with too much traffic for them to share their lines, and then we’ll need to build new passenger lines- if it’s not too late.