Riding on Amtrack

[Bro. Noble]

We are considering going to Milwaukee by Amtrack.  This would mean going through Chicago.  Does anyone have experience with Amtrack?  Would it be hard getting through Chicago?  Is this a desirable way to travel?

[Tom]

I want to travel by train too.   It seems like fun.   We were taken on a train trip when small children and I barely remember running through the car and drinking water out of the glass-bottle cooler at the end of the car.  We ate lunch in the diner too.  Seems like it was a mite expensive but I don't remember much about it. 
Steam was the propellant then. :D 

The only time I hear anything of Amtrack, it's when there is a derailment, headon, bridge collapse or threat of going out of business.     Lots of folks use it to go south.  I see passenger cars and Auto trains  regularly.  It doesn't seem to me to be as bad as the media lets on.

About going through Chicago.  I can't imagine any travel devices going through Chicago without a problem. :D :D   Man!  That's a big place.    My only experience was in 1966 and I had no problem on the train that me to the loop.  Glad I didn't have to swap cars or trains.  I was out of my element, big time. :D :D

Good luck on your train trip.   ;D

[Ed_K]

 We've been talking of going down to St Augustine Fl. on the amtrack. It's got to be more fun than flying  :D.

[Fla._Deadheader]

  It's spensive.  : :

[Don_Papenburg]

And it will be anywhere from five minutes to five hours late :-[

[Corley5]

Had me wondering for a second how you were gonna ride a tamarack ???  Must be a little dyslexic ;) ;D  I have always wanted to take a trip by train ;D ;D

[trim4u2nv]

I went that way from chicago to milwaukee in about 90 minutes years ago.  Amtrak is expensive compared to flying.  You can send your personal stuff via UPS or USPS ahead to your destination, rather than carrying lots of luggage and worrying about theft.   Just don't flash any money near the homeless beggars or allow them to handle your luggage.  A folding luggage cart is just the ticket.  Just carry some travelers checks and a credit card and enjoy the scenery.

[DanG]

If I get a vote, I vote, "GO FOR IT!!"  It's cheaper than flying, if you count the entertainment.  Ya get ta ride through folks's back yard, and barnyards, and the back streets of little towns.  Ya see all sorts of stuff you would never see any other way.  Ya get ta meet folks, too.  It ain't like one of them aereioplanes where yer strapped down to a chair and skeered ta move, let alone git up and visit. 

As for going through Chicago, that is the least of your worries.  Those folks live and die by their train system, and their station is a model of efficiency.  Just keep your eyes open and follow the signs.  Ask questions if you have to.  Remember, they don't want you there any more than you want to be there.  They'll help you get outta town! ;D :D :D

[dail_h]

   Rode from Wilson NC to Washington DC several years ago,loved it. 'Bout ready for another train ride.

[pigman]

Had a friend  take the train out to Colorado two summers ago. He didn't like it much. He said it traveled so slow that he got off and walked five miles ahead , watched a movie and still had to wait for the train to get there. .
DanG,s  right  about seeing things in small towns. He said they went through one small town and and about a hundred boys had their backsides aimed at the train.  Found out later it was  a once a year tradition and he happened to be there on the wrong day. :(  He may have been exaggerating about the speed of the train, but his wife confirmed the rest of the story.

[wesdor]

We go to Washington (state) and have taken the train three times in recent years.  Your trip to Milwaukee won't be nearly as long.  We have only taken the train when it is cheaper than flying.  Last trip we paid $125 round trip - Chicago to Wenatchee.  That trip is 2 nights in a chair and I didn't appreciate it very much.  However, I like the slower pace and watching the changing scenery is enjoyable.  Some friends paid the $$$$ for a sleeper and said it was really great - but for us that would have been about $1100 per person (OUCH).  When we got on the train in  Chicago, my 18 year old daughter looked at me and said, "dad, this is less than $1.50 per hour - you can do this."  She was right, although I was mighty happy to get off in Wenatchee at 5:00 a.m.

To me, the biggest choice would be scheduling.  I know that the train to Seattle (Empire Builder) goes through Milwaukee.  If you are going on that one, it leaves about 2:10 each day.  Not sure when you will have to catch the train through your area.  I like to fly, but also feel that we need to find a way to support train travel in our country.  My 2 cents says to look at the train carefully and hopefully decide to have fun going that way.

[musher]

Does anyone have experience with Amtrack?  Would it be hard getting through Chicago?  Is this a desirable way to travel?

We took Amtrak from St Paul to DC back in February.  As long as your not in a hurry (although our trans were on time), and like the journey as much as getting there, you should be OK.  You get to see a lot that you miss by flying (and even some stuff worth missing!).

I'm guessing you'll ride coach, which is usually quite roomy.  We rode in the sleeper.  We have four kids, the youngest of which are are 4 and 5, and I didn't want to deal with an all-night trip in coach with them!

The Chicago station is fine, from my experience.  Just know where you're going, and pay attention to the instructions and announcemnts.

But remember, the employees are all quasi-government employees, so set your expectations accordingly.  Oh, and they like tips.  Tip your car attendant and any food-service folk, and they'll treat you well.

[CHARLIE]

Noble, I used to be a Freight Conductor for Florida East Coast Railway back in the '60s and I love trains.  I think it would be a good experience for you.  It's not much different than taking a bus except you don't have to smell the diesel fuel.  A couple years ago, I took the train from Winona, Minnesota to Chicago and all went well.

The problem with Amtrac is that they have cut their stations so much that it's difficult to get from one place to the other.  For instance, I could not leave out of Rochester, Minnesota which was, at the time, the closest large city.  I had to find someone to drive me to Winona which was an hour away.

About 25 years ago...or more....Donna and I wanted to take the train from St. Paul down to Atlanta.  We changed our plans and flew when we found it would take us 5 days to get to Atlanta.  The reason was because they no longer had any direct routes anywhere.  We would have had to travel to Philadelphia, then across to Washington DC and down to Atlanta.  I didn't have enough vacation to get there and back.

Our railway system (both freight and passenger but mainly passenger) in the U.S. is deplorable when compared to Europe's.

[Tobacco Plug]

Go to www.amtrak.com and click on hot deals.  Once there, click on weekly specials.  If you can get your travel time to coincide with the sales, you can save big $$$. 8)

[Fraxinus]

The wife and I have been to Florida a few times on the train.  (She won't fly :()  Everything everybody has said is true.  It's expensive.  It's fun.  It's slow.  It's tedious.
What the heck, go do it.
Can't tell you about Chicago but if it's anything like New York's Penn Station, it will be a chaotic mess.

[Bro. Noble]

Thanks folks,

I got lost on Amtrack's website so probably don't belong in Chicago.  :D :D :D    Wife read your replies and said it would probably be better to drive.  We can fly from St. Louis on free tickets,  but she doesn't want to : 

[CHARLIE]

Ya know, Noble, if you plan it right you and your wife can hop Freight Trains from Missouri to Milwaukee, Wisconsin and it won't cost you a dime.   :D

[Bibbyman]

Years ago, Mary and I took the Amtrak from Jefferson City, MO. to New Orleans.   It was just passenger car travel from J.C. to Central, IL where we hooked in the Illinois Central – City of New Orleans.  We got a sleeper car from there to New Orleans.  It was great! 

We J.C. left about 5:00pm and arrived in New Orleans about noon the next day – right down town.  Reverse trip we left early in the afternoon and arrived back in J.C. early in the morning.

As far as cost,  when you considered the package – bed and food (even a couple of small bottles of wine), it was very cost effective.   

I took the Amtrack another time from J.C. to K.C.  The depot in K.C. was only a short walk across a plaza to the hotel I was attending a convention in.  The room was part of the Amtrack package and cost only $55/night.  The special convention room rate was almost a $100 and the regular price was something like $150 or more.  And that something like 15 years ago.

The big problem is finding connections to where you want to go.  Most have to go through Chicago.  Like if we wanted to go to L.A. we'd have to go to St. Louis first, then Chicago or to Dallas. 

[Kirk_Allen]

My wife took the amtrack from Chicago to LA!  If I recall it was a 24 hour trip.  She enjoyed it but I dont think she is going to stand in line to do it again.  ;D

Only one train ride I care to go on and that is the Alaska rail system.  To this day, you can get off the train WHERE EVER you tell them. 

We use to load up our ATV's on the flatbed car and get off south of Paxson, AK. Spent several days riding and sightseaing and got loaded up when the train was on a return trip several days later!

[Jeff]

My dream trip (outside of N.Z.) sould be a vacation traveling the National parks aboard the American Orient express.

http://www.americanorientexpress.info/great_northwest_rockies.html

[Weekend_Sawyer]

There is a train ride I want to take. Starts in Fairbanks Alaska, goes through Denali State park and winds up in Anchorage. Bet that's a real nice ride.

I had the best prime rib of my life just north of Fairbanks at a place called The Turtle Club.

[beenthere]

W_S
Took that train ride from Denalai to Fairbanks a few years ago this month, and the heat was in the 90's and the trains dome cars didn't have good AC, as well as it wasn't apparently working up to par. I rode most of the way standing between the cars and watching the brush go by - miles and miles and miles of brush. But I did like the experience. When in Fairbanks I was getting ready to take a picture of the big sign in front of the FredMeyer store as it flipped up to 98° F.  The boat trip up the river at Fairbanks was a great trip too.
I came real close to taking a job in Fairbanks, AK the fall of '79.  A great job for me, (would have been flying in bush planes nearly every day all over Alaska), but I didn't think my family needed that experience when they were in High School. So I turned it down.  :  No regrets. 

[SwampDonkey]

They've taken our passenger trains from my area, back in the late 80's. I road in one a couple times and liked it, although the route we took was mainly forest growth and not near the settlement untill ya come out into Moncton. I can remember lots of bogs and trees. My mother was on a train later on and they ran over a moose that wouldn't get off the tracks.  ka-thump etc .. : One day they're gonna wish they had the trains back here, count on it. It's very popular in europe to ride trains.

[Fla._Deadheader]

He said they went through one small town and and about a hundred boys had their backsides aimed at the train.   Found out later it was  a once a year tradition and he happened to be there on the wrong day.   He may have been exaggerating about the speed of the train, but his wife confirmed the rest of the story.

  Yep, just watched the "moonin" on da TV.  8) 8) :D :D :D