Hey /trv/, I’m looking to take February off to ride Amtrak around parts of the U.S. I’ll be taking these routes for sure: >Empire Builder>Coast Starlight>California Zephyr. Which others are worth considering?
The Cardinal goes through New River Gorge, but you should closely check the times and I THINK you need to do the eastbound direction to see it in daytime. Maybe just do ONE train and explore by car the rest of the time? Purely trying to help here. I mean, really you should get off in the NRG and hike around and explore but you need a car for that or at least someone to shuttle you around. Why not rent a car you can see so much more.
>>2844482Trains are a unique experience with the added bonus of not having to drive.
>>2844485You gotta suck it up and drive to see the best stuff, amigo.
>>2844463the one between philly and new york is nice. between new york and chicago is also OK
The northern states in February? That's gonna be rough, weather-wise. Short daylight hours means no scenery for most of the ride. If you stop at the stations with train times between 12 PM and 2 PM, you can easily check in/out of a hotel room without waiting more than three hours (the inevitable delays aside). Definitely smuggle your own booze on board and chat up strangers on the train (preferably in the observation car if people are sleeping in coach). Bring potent edibles if you'd rather be alone and make the long night hours disappear. Book your tickets well in advance, they're cheaper that way. And be prepared to be overwhelmed by the vastness of the continent, the beauty and pristineness of the country away from the highways, and utter indifference to the struggles of a traveler without a car. (People in small towns might offer you rides or even hospitality if you look decent, or desperately cold.)
Amtrak trains I've ridden:>Southwest Chief from Kingman, AZ to Chicago>Capitol Limited>Silver Star from Washington, DC to Raleigh, NC>Sunset Limited from San Antonio, TX to Yuma, AZ>California Zephyr from Denver, CO to Emeryville, CA and back>Coast Starlight from Emeryville to Los AngelesI strongly recommend flying into Denver and departing on the California Zephyr westbound from there. In winter with the snow it is particularly beautiful, and the best scenery is all during daylight hours, and the engineer comes on the PA every couple minutes to tell everyone about the country they are passing through.>>2844486Only two ways to see the Colorado River's Gore Canyon: by raft and by train.
>>2844463Amtrak is garbage. I'm guessing you've never visited any other country.
>>2844463Capitol Limited and Silver Star merged last year to become the "Floridian".
>>2844583It's not garbage, you're just the typical American who is perpetually butthurt and discontent for no valid reason. I've experienced multi-hour train delays in Thailand, Poland, Taiwan, Malaysia and yes, America. That's just how train travel is sometimes. Throwing a shitfit over a delay only shows that you are not cut out for the travel life.
>>2844463Be sure to take the amtrack all the way to the palm springs station in california! You won't want to miss that one.
>impossible to to take a cross country Amtrak trip without going through Chicago at least oncefuck that
For Amtrak, you have to be prepared for major delays, or that you might not get to where you are going. Or you might be put on a Greyhound bus. Especially in February. Add for a few days in each connection to your itinerary to account for Amtrak incompetency.
>>2844632it's absurdly expensive for what you get and slow/usually delayedand the service is very infrequent so you can't really get off and then take another train onwards>>2844632right but those are all the third world, so you expect that there
>>2844695>>2844701why would anyone ever subject themselves to this except out of desperation?
>>2844703cuz they are spergs who fear driving and just want to go somewhere that's less regimented and unpleasant than flying
>>2844705>unexpected delays>have to pass through nigger country>sperg compatiblebetter off driving or flying
>>2844463The empire builder is always delayed because it shares a railway with a freight company, they'll always delay the amtrak over cargo. The scenery is probably going to look boring in winter unless you find the beauty in the hi-line.
>>2844713flying is miserable. every second of it is an ordealwhereas amtrak is enjoyable. the trip itself becomes half the fun
>>2844695You can lay over in New Orleans overnight. >>2844702You can often find flights for cheaper. I was looking at $163 for Amtrak from Denver to Raleigh, with or without a 27 hour layover in Chicago. My nonstop flight OTOH was $108.>>2845300Both have their own degree of ordeal. The longest flight is less than half the time of a cross-country train route...but at least on the train you aren't constantly getting bumped and brushed by the person sitting next to you.
>>2844695whats wrong with going through Chicago
>>2845349Coast-to-coast takes about 3 days on Amtrak and sitting in a coach car for that long sounds more unpleasant than squeezing into an economy seat for 4 hours. If you want a private cabin for the same trip you'll spend several times more than airfare.
>>2845558>If you want a private cabin for the same trip you'll spend several times more than airfareNot always, but often.Also amtrak also allows for 2 free checked bags for bedroom/roomette tickets, up to 50lbs each. And you can check 2 more additional bags for $20 each.Also a neat trick i learned when I was still playing cello, if you have an oversized instrument, they normally require buying a full 2nd full fare ticket, but if you have a bedroom/roomette ticket they treat it like normal checked baggage. There are rare occasions where it can be cheaper to take amtrak in a private room if you've got lots of luggage.
>>2845559the bedroom/roomette is like a thousand dollars or more, just admit trains are for richfag autists, especially in the us where trains are seen as a luxury not a necessity
>>2845614>the bedroom/roomette is like a thousand dollars or more,No, it's not lmaoIt depends entirely on the distance, the route, the season, and how far in advanced you're booking tickets.I can get a bedroom down to Miami from Washington DC for less than $600.
>>2845689>>2845614And just for comparison, on the same dates a flight to Miami is $220 + $35 for the first checked bag, and $50 for each additional checked bag, oversized checked bags are $100-150. So if for example you're travelling with a checked bag and a cello.That would be ~$355-405 for that flight. (And I personally wouldn't fly with a cello unless going international). Or I could get a roomette for $600 and everything is checked for free, and I get 3-4 free meals and drinks along the way.Obviously the time saved is USUALLY worth the airfare, but if you enjoy train travel and don't care about the time it takes, it's not as absurdly priced as you're making it out to be. Again, especially if you're bringing along lots of luggage.
>>2845691Some other potential benefits to sleeper train travel (Europe)>being able to wake up in the centre of destination in the morning >kills a night's accommodation costs>restaurant carts are kino>can fuck
>>2845697The US's size and the speed of amtrak makes that less of a thing, but I agree.DC to Miami for example is a 24-28 hour trip assuming no major delays. So it's not like an overnight trip where you can wake up in the morning and be in Miami.DC to Chicago is one of the few routes where it makes sense, board in DC at ~4pm and arrive in chicago at ~8:30-9am. Or the opposite, board in Chicago at ~6pm and arrive in DC around noon-1pm the next day. They also do "traditional dining service" on that route so you have a real dining car with proper seating and a decent menu selection. Dinner comes with a free alcoholic drink (though sometimes, if your car attendant likes you he'll slip you freebies). But generally in the US sleeper trains are used for multi-day trips where flying USUALLY just makes more sense unless you have specific reasons to avoid flying, or just want to enjoy a train trip, or have specific luggage as mentioned above.
>>2844463I wish we had bullet trains...
>>2847745Japan pledged like $5B towards a DC/Baltimore shinkansen, but no one could agree on a right of way or matching funding from the federal budget. Japan wanted to subsidize it as if it WAS successful it could've beem expanded up to NYC/Boston or over to chicago, etc.But in August of 2025 the Federal Railroad Administration determined the project "was no longer feasible"
>>2844695Going through Chicago Union isn’t that bad at all. Worst that happens is you get offered weed, they lurch on white boys who look like they come from no-no weed states
>>2844463Ignore all of these stupid faggots whoever stumbles into this thread PLEASE heed my warningAmtrak is filled to the brim with niggers and if about the same or more than a flight!Swriously i was put next to a nigger who STANK this is real life and 20 hours next to someone who reeks is not ideal to say the least! And no i was not allowed to move seats as "we're booked full"Amtrak simply does not go to many locations on it's map regularly.It takes 20x longer than a flight and NO the views are not worth it ffsI mean really sleeping on a trak was IMPOSSIBLE and i was in the military. The seats were TORTURE my asscheeks were in pain and you can yoss and turn you want nobody is truly asleep i slept maybe 1 hour both ways if that. I couldn't brush my teeth just awefulA 20 hour flight at least gives you a fucking seat you can sleep in and not something agonizingly painful!FUCK amtrak it's outdated we need hyper rails like third world shitholes china fucking has one but we don't.Amtrak doesn't even get priority freight trains do so have fun sitting at a station for 30 fucking minutes wasting time on an already long painful journeyI would pay double for airfaire before i buy amtrak FUCK amtrakIt owes ME money
>>2850435Lol broke boiBedrooms and roomettes are beyond the dining car where normal (coach) passengers aren't allowed. You also get private dining times (or you can have your meal in your room). It's fine if you don't want to take the time for a train trip, but don't act like they're bad when you're just too poor to experience them properly.
>>2845691so as per usual you had to add a ton completely random situational things to justify your choice. Most musicians wouldn't even have this issue as anything that isn't gigantic like a Cello can fit in the crew closet of a plane. Most people don't travel with a checked bag its simply bloat.
Truly my biggest criticism of taking a train is that you don't actually get to see any places or people from those places. You just glide through get out a station and stretch your legs for 10 minutes, what is even the point of travel without talking to the locals. I'm watching a video of the empire builder in winter rn and they are in montana going past some lakes people are ice fishing on. If you had a car you could just stop your car and walk over to those guys have a chat probably even get a free beer and an intro to ice fishing. Inb4 people aren't that friendly and you think i'm a fool. Look i'm 6'4" clear complexation with blue eyes and long blonde hair and maybe i'm a good gauge of body language and who's willing to talk to and meet a stranger but i've never had an issue with people being untoward when approached properly.
>>2847746Japan did not offer to subsidize it. They bank of Japan was just prepared to loan that money very different.
>>2850435One time an entire Amtrak coach car smelled of rotting rat. Thank God it wasn't mine, but imagine paying good money to breathe that horrible stench all across Texas to California. And yes, some negress coughed and sneezed on my back the whole time, made me get sick. Sleeping in a tent that you pack away in a car - or in the car itself - is the only sensible way to explore America. You see so many beautiful sights from the Amtrak out West for sure, but you can't take a good photo through the shitty windows, and besides the view is gone by the time you have your camera ready. Very few train stations have a schedule conducive to a 24 hour layover.>>2850449Not worth it. I can spend a month traveling India for less than the price of a stupid Amtrak roomette on a 36 hour train ride.
>>2853093They were offering to waive all licensing fees for the technology, which essentially WAS a billion+ dollar subsidy. Normally, the licensing fee would've been massive. Then they had $5B in VERY lower interst loans being offered on top of that.The total value of that subsidy would've been at LEAST $1B and likely multiple.
>>2844463That rail map has some frustrating gaps.>no New Orleans to Tampa!>no outer ring around Chicago connecting St Paul, Omaha, Kansas City, St Louis, Cincinatti, Cleveland>no western hub
>>2853114Its just not that relevant cause we all know based on every infrastructure project in the us in the last 20 years that the project even projected at 11 billion total would have been closer to 25 billion by the time everyone between washington and delaware took their cut
>>2844632No, it's garbage. And your destination are car dependent , which defeats a lot of what makes long distance train travel worthwhile in other countries: not having to get a rental car at the end.
Heads up, Emprie builder regularly cancels in February due to it being too cold to run the trains. Running a train at -40 with a strong headwind effectively making it -60-80F on the parts shuts down trains quick.
