Amtrak Diptych
August 31, 2024 7:26 AM Subscribe
Two recent articles about traveling across the US on Amtrak. ① Seeing America by Train: Christine Mi takes Amtrak from Los Angeles to New York (through Chicago) and illustrates the experience. (WaPo gift link, archive). ② 4,000 Miles, 6 Small Towns: A Whistle-Stop Tour of America:
Most people who ride Amtrak’s Empire Builder route between Chicago and Seattle watch the heartland whiz by. (Richard Rubin) hopped off to explore a few remarkable places you might otherwise miss. (NYTimes gift link, archive)
Anywhere outside the Northeast Corridor is a guarantee that you’ll only arrive an hour or two later than scheduled, at best. I’d love to do an overnight train one day, but Amtrak has cut back on the dining/amenities, from what I understand.
posted by dr_dank at 8:00 AM on August 31 [2 favorites]
posted by dr_dank at 8:00 AM on August 31 [2 favorites]
I travel by train all the time, and am planning to do one of these Railpass trips. Another Mefite has recently done one; they asked a question about, IIRC, New Orleans some weeks ago.
I am shockingly patient when it comes to the trains. Recently, I took the train home to MIchigan from Omaha, Nebraska. The trip from Omaha to Chicago is only 8 hours or so, but the train that goes directly from Chicago to my stop in East Lansing once a day was full by the time I booked, so I ended up hanging out in the first class lounge for six or seven hours, having bought a day pass with Amtrak reward points. The first class lounge has free beverages and snacks; a bar where you can buy drinks; clean bathrooms, lots of comfortable seating; and couches upstairs that you can stretch out and sleep on, which is what I did for a few hours. You can also leave your luggage there for free (It's $10 a bag in the station), and you can take a shower, which I didn't do but later wished I had.
The long-way-home train from Chicago gets into Toledo about 3 a.m., and then you have to hang out miserably in the Toledo train station, a place it is only possible to endure, not enjoy. It was in the Toledo train station that I learned I can sleep on my mobility scooter, if I put my purse on the handlebars, wrap my arms around it, and then lay my head down.
Then you catch an Amtrak Connector bus and get home around 10 a.m.
The connector buses have recently started showing up with wheelchair lifts. I haven't used one, because I can climb the steps into the bus and store my scooter underneath, but it's nice to see them.
Things are stressful at home for me at the moment, in a way I can't really do anything to fix at the moment, and one of the ways I'm coping with it is to visit friends a fair bit. I went on three trips this summer. I don't currently have one scheduled, which is too bad—it's good to always know when I can get away for a few days.
When I do my Ten Segments in Thirty Days trip, I hope to be able to upgrade to a room once in awhile. Sometimes there are great prices on roomettes close to the last minute; I paid something like $170 for one on a recent trip. But as much as I love the first article's visits to small towns ( would totally replicate exactly the trip the writer did), I expect that I will try to plan my travel so that now and again I pass through one of the handful of cities with a Metropolitan Lounge that has a shower. A friend told me recently that the New York City one serves actual free food, not just mostly-carb snacks.
The trains I've been on have had pretty much the same kind of cafe menu they've always had, and have also had functioning dining cars offering a pretty good menu, though I only had dining car meals when I had a room that one time, and because of my disability they were brought to me in my room.
I am also looking into special train trips I might like to take. The train through the Canadian rockies is supposed to be a great one.
posted by Well I never at 9:15 AM on August 31 [12 favorites]
I am shockingly patient when it comes to the trains. Recently, I took the train home to MIchigan from Omaha, Nebraska. The trip from Omaha to Chicago is only 8 hours or so, but the train that goes directly from Chicago to my stop in East Lansing once a day was full by the time I booked, so I ended up hanging out in the first class lounge for six or seven hours, having bought a day pass with Amtrak reward points. The first class lounge has free beverages and snacks; a bar where you can buy drinks; clean bathrooms, lots of comfortable seating; and couches upstairs that you can stretch out and sleep on, which is what I did for a few hours. You can also leave your luggage there for free (It's $10 a bag in the station), and you can take a shower, which I didn't do but later wished I had.
The long-way-home train from Chicago gets into Toledo about 3 a.m., and then you have to hang out miserably in the Toledo train station, a place it is only possible to endure, not enjoy. It was in the Toledo train station that I learned I can sleep on my mobility scooter, if I put my purse on the handlebars, wrap my arms around it, and then lay my head down.
Then you catch an Amtrak Connector bus and get home around 10 a.m.
The connector buses have recently started showing up with wheelchair lifts. I haven't used one, because I can climb the steps into the bus and store my scooter underneath, but it's nice to see them.
Things are stressful at home for me at the moment, in a way I can't really do anything to fix at the moment, and one of the ways I'm coping with it is to visit friends a fair bit. I went on three trips this summer. I don't currently have one scheduled, which is too bad—it's good to always know when I can get away for a few days.
When I do my Ten Segments in Thirty Days trip, I hope to be able to upgrade to a room once in awhile. Sometimes there are great prices on roomettes close to the last minute; I paid something like $170 for one on a recent trip. But as much as I love the first article's visits to small towns ( would totally replicate exactly the trip the writer did), I expect that I will try to plan my travel so that now and again I pass through one of the handful of cities with a Metropolitan Lounge that has a shower. A friend told me recently that the New York City one serves actual free food, not just mostly-carb snacks.
The trains I've been on have had pretty much the same kind of cafe menu they've always had, and have also had functioning dining cars offering a pretty good menu, though I only had dining car meals when I had a room that one time, and because of my disability they were brought to me in my room.
I am also looking into special train trips I might like to take. The train through the Canadian rockies is supposed to be a great one.
posted by Well I never at 9:15 AM on August 31 [12 favorites]
Oops; I think I said "the first article" but I read the second article first.
posted by Well I never at 9:15 AM on August 31
posted by Well I never at 9:15 AM on August 31
That first writer took the California Zephyr and the Lakeshore Limited, the two trains I most often travel on. She is absolutely right that the Zephyr is nicer than the Limited, though the scenery through New York State is lovely.
I will say that, even when the conductors announce we have a "full train today, folks, you WILL have someone sitting beside you," I almost always end up with a double seat to myself. Athough I am a fat woman (about 270 pounds) I can sleep pretty well curled up on a double seat, though I definitely feel the stiffness when I've spent long hours on trains and in train stations. Because of my disability, stretching my legs while on the train is not an option. That's the biggest impediment to me in planning the 30-day Amtrak pass trip—having the money to make sure I get to sleep lying down every x days.
posted by Well I never at 9:25 AM on August 31 [2 favorites]
I will say that, even when the conductors announce we have a "full train today, folks, you WILL have someone sitting beside you," I almost always end up with a double seat to myself. Athough I am a fat woman (about 270 pounds) I can sleep pretty well curled up on a double seat, though I definitely feel the stiffness when I've spent long hours on trains and in train stations. Because of my disability, stretching my legs while on the train is not an option. That's the biggest impediment to me in planning the 30-day Amtrak pass trip—having the money to make sure I get to sleep lying down every x days.
posted by Well I never at 9:25 AM on August 31 [2 favorites]
In July my daughter and I did a very similar trip to Christine Mi -- Los Angeles (rather than Emeryville) to Chicago and then Chicago to NYC, also in one of Amtrak's "roomette" 2-person mini-rooms. We spent 3 days in Chicago before moving on, and I highly recommend anyone else do the same. By the time we got to Chicago we'd had just about enough of the train.
I'd redo the LA-Chicago leg any time, but the train from Chicago to NYC wasn't really worth the fare and the time -- the vast majority of the time you're in a part of the country that's (relatively) denser and people have planted vegetation to understandably block the noise but also means you basically hardly have a view.
One thing Christine didn't mention was that it seems Amtrak is the preferred method of travel for Mennonites nationwide. One would be forgiven for thinking if they only traveled Amtrak that easily 20% of the population in the US were conservatively-dressed Mennonites. At every major (and a lot of minor) stops, there were always multiple groups and sometimes very large Mennonite families embarking and disembarking.
posted by tclark at 9:33 AM on August 31 [6 favorites]
I'd redo the LA-Chicago leg any time, but the train from Chicago to NYC wasn't really worth the fare and the time -- the vast majority of the time you're in a part of the country that's (relatively) denser and people have planted vegetation to understandably block the noise but also means you basically hardly have a view.
One thing Christine didn't mention was that it seems Amtrak is the preferred method of travel for Mennonites nationwide. One would be forgiven for thinking if they only traveled Amtrak that easily 20% of the population in the US were conservatively-dressed Mennonites. At every major (and a lot of minor) stops, there were always multiple groups and sometimes very large Mennonite families embarking and disembarking.
posted by tclark at 9:33 AM on August 31 [6 favorites]
Problem is that Amtrak costs as much as airplanes do, gets you there slower, and has only a tiny number of places it serves.
San Antonio to Los Angeles by Amtrak is 29 hours assuming no delays (lol) for a cost of around $150.
San Antonio to Los Angeles by Delta is 3 hours for a cost of around $160.
And the Amtrak site was broken so I couldn't even select return travel options....
Depending on the specific bus involved Grayhound can get you from San Antonio to LA in between 29 and 40 hours for around $90.
I took Amtrak from Albuquerque to Los Angeles a while back, because I lived in Amarillo and Albuquerque was the nearest place I could go to catch a train to LA. So I drove 4 hours on top of everything else. It was a 20 hour slog and of course I couldn't manage to sleep.
I am a huge, massive, enormous, fan of trains.
And I will not take Amtrak if I can possibly avoid it.
If it cost significantly less than air travel you could argue that the discomfort and long travel time was worth it. But since it costs more or less the same as air travel it's just bonkers. And if you want to actually have the slightest chance of sleeping you can get a private room. For "only" $800 on the San Antonio to LA trip.
I love trains. Amtrak is not a good example of how trains can be beneficial to people.
posted by sotonohito at 9:49 AM on August 31 [5 favorites]
San Antonio to Los Angeles by Amtrak is 29 hours assuming no delays (lol) for a cost of around $150.
San Antonio to Los Angeles by Delta is 3 hours for a cost of around $160.
And the Amtrak site was broken so I couldn't even select return travel options....
Depending on the specific bus involved Grayhound can get you from San Antonio to LA in between 29 and 40 hours for around $90.
I took Amtrak from Albuquerque to Los Angeles a while back, because I lived in Amarillo and Albuquerque was the nearest place I could go to catch a train to LA. So I drove 4 hours on top of everything else. It was a 20 hour slog and of course I couldn't manage to sleep.
I am a huge, massive, enormous, fan of trains.
And I will not take Amtrak if I can possibly avoid it.
If it cost significantly less than air travel you could argue that the discomfort and long travel time was worth it. But since it costs more or less the same as air travel it's just bonkers. And if you want to actually have the slightest chance of sleeping you can get a private room. For "only" $800 on the San Antonio to LA trip.
I love trains. Amtrak is not a good example of how trains can be beneficial to people.
posted by sotonohito at 9:49 AM on August 31 [5 favorites]
I really wonder how much of America's rail corridor, if considered on its own, would qualify as a Superfund site.
The railroad ties themselves are heavily treated against rot, and the herbicide spraying to keep the tracks clear of vegetation is absolutely relentless. Add to that the fact that rail is the preferred method for distributing industrial chemicals nationwide, and that the tanker cars leak on a regular basis and are designed to vent when there is any kind of overpressure event due to heating. And on top of that you have major chemical spill incidents like the East Palestine derailment, which has a multitude of smaller cousins that don’t make the news, and all told you have a very potent brew.
The one time I took Amtrak to a neighboring city a couple of hundred miles away, I got quite sick and it took several days to recover.
posted by jamjam at 9:57 AM on August 31 [2 favorites]
The railroad ties themselves are heavily treated against rot, and the herbicide spraying to keep the tracks clear of vegetation is absolutely relentless. Add to that the fact that rail is the preferred method for distributing industrial chemicals nationwide, and that the tanker cars leak on a regular basis and are designed to vent when there is any kind of overpressure event due to heating. And on top of that you have major chemical spill incidents like the East Palestine derailment, which has a multitude of smaller cousins that don’t make the news, and all told you have a very potent brew.
The one time I took Amtrak to a neighboring city a couple of hundred miles away, I got quite sick and it took several days to recover.
posted by jamjam at 9:57 AM on August 31 [2 favorites]
At every major (and a lot of minor) stops, there were always multiple groups and sometimes very large Mennonite families embarking and disembarking.
Every time I travel by train, there are many, many Amish people. On one trip, I counted six different styles of head coverings among the different groups.
posted by Well I never at 10:16 AM on August 31 [1 favorite]
Every time I travel by train, there are many, many Amish people. On one trip, I counted six different styles of head coverings among the different groups.
posted by Well I never at 10:16 AM on August 31 [1 favorite]
Problem is that Amtrak costs as much as airplanes do, gets you there slower, and has only a tiny number of places it serves.
I travel regularly to Lincoln, NE, from Michigan. I leave about 9 a.m. and get to Lincoln a little after midnight, with a layover in Chicago. Whenever I consider saving time, or have more time to spend in Lincoln with my person and look at plane tickets, they're at least $600. The train varies. The least I've ever paid was about $80 bucks each way; the most about $110. I have a lot more time than money, and I enjoy the travel in a way I don't enjoy airplane travel, so it's always an easy choice for me.
It is frustrating that the network of trains connecting small and medium towns no longer exist. I miss the golden days of train travel, which I never experienced, but even in the 30+ years I've been taking the train, stations and routes have been lost.
posted by Well I never at 10:20 AM on August 31 [5 favorites]
I travel regularly to Lincoln, NE, from Michigan. I leave about 9 a.m. and get to Lincoln a little after midnight, with a layover in Chicago. Whenever I consider saving time, or have more time to spend in Lincoln with my person and look at plane tickets, they're at least $600. The train varies. The least I've ever paid was about $80 bucks each way; the most about $110. I have a lot more time than money, and I enjoy the travel in a way I don't enjoy airplane travel, so it's always an easy choice for me.
It is frustrating that the network of trains connecting small and medium towns no longer exist. I miss the golden days of train travel, which I never experienced, but even in the 30+ years I've been taking the train, stations and routes have been lost.
posted by Well I never at 10:20 AM on August 31 [5 favorites]
Enjoyed the Empire Builder article - always nice to see Havre and Cut Bank get some love :-)
posted by davidmsc at 10:26 AM on August 31 [2 favorites]
posted by davidmsc at 10:26 AM on August 31 [2 favorites]
I am a huge, massive, enormous, fan of trains.
And I will not take Amtrak if I can possibly avoid it.
Same here. I just linked to the WaPo article on my blog, reiterating my own experience riding Amtrak to Reno, and how it's "infuriating, sitting motionless for long periods with a view of traffic whizzing by on the adjacent freeway." And don't get me started on all the PA noise, the dueling announcements from the Dining Car and Club Car (once known as the "AmDinette").
And the Amtrak site was broken so I couldn't even select return travel options....
I don't even bother anymore, that site's so user-hostile; I take my questions directly to the ticket counter of the station downtown.
I thought having a President who actually rode Amtrak might result in some improvements. Seen any yet? I don't think we will until more politicians take the train regularly, as they do in Europe and Asia.
posted by Rash at 10:47 AM on August 31 [3 favorites]
And I will not take Amtrak if I can possibly avoid it.
Same here. I just linked to the WaPo article on my blog, reiterating my own experience riding Amtrak to Reno, and how it's "infuriating, sitting motionless for long periods with a view of traffic whizzing by on the adjacent freeway." And don't get me started on all the PA noise, the dueling announcements from the Dining Car and Club Car (once known as the "AmDinette").
And the Amtrak site was broken so I couldn't even select return travel options....
I don't even bother anymore, that site's so user-hostile; I take my questions directly to the ticket counter of the station downtown.
I thought having a President who actually rode Amtrak might result in some improvements. Seen any yet? I don't think we will until more politicians take the train regularly, as they do in Europe and Asia.
posted by Rash at 10:47 AM on August 31 [3 favorites]
For a few years now I've wanted to take Amtrak from Portland to Chicago, spend the night or a day in Chicago, and return west through Denver to the SF bay area and back up to Portland. (Cascades > Empire Builder and California Zephyr > Coast Starlight). I figure it would take roughly 4-6 days but no schedule, no itinerary, nowhere to be "late" to - the whole point of the trip would be to just relax and watch parts of America I've never seen go by. I'd really like to do it with at least one other person, but so far none of my friends has taken me up on the idea. I may end up just doing it by myself one of these days.
posted by Greg_Ace at 11:47 AM on August 31 [5 favorites]
posted by Greg_Ace at 11:47 AM on August 31 [5 favorites]
I love trains...in Europe.
Here in Montana, they're trying to get the old Hiawatha line restarted. You can travel to Seattle they say. Well, at Amtrak's average of 45mph, that's 13 hours from where I am. In France, the TGV does that distance in 3-1/4 hours.
When you double the time for a round trip, it's going to be exhausting and expensive. I don't see the point of adding more long distance routes unless you do it right.
posted by CheeseDigestsAll at 12:56 PM on August 31 [5 favorites]
Here in Montana, they're trying to get the old Hiawatha line restarted. You can travel to Seattle they say. Well, at Amtrak's average of 45mph, that's 13 hours from where I am. In France, the TGV does that distance in 3-1/4 hours.
When you double the time for a round trip, it's going to be exhausting and expensive. I don't see the point of adding more long distance routes unless you do it right.
posted by CheeseDigestsAll at 12:56 PM on August 31 [5 favorites]
Thank you for those two links, ShooBoo. I enjoyed the different styles and accounts, especially of interacting with people.
Amtrak... for several years now I've been trying to take it whenever possible, in order to reduce my professional travels' CO2 footprint. This works well in only one area, riding from Washington, DC to New England and back. I can hit Baltimore, NYC, Philly, etc. The engines are usually electric. Trips are on time.
Otherwise... the problems other folks have mentioned crop up.
Routes: trying to get from DC to Detroit, for example, entailed going up to NYC, then *past* Michigan to Chicago, only to nearly double back and sneak up on the Motor City from the west. Trying to get from DC to Louisville was impossible. And getting to points west of the Mississippi: I can't justify the multiple days each way.
WiFi: train WiFi is hilariously bad, so I turn my phone into a hotspot. At best I have a decent seat with a power outlet and basic internet, so I can get work done. At worse cell coverage is bad or the car is crowded.
Food: not good, for this vegan. Airports are better, sad to say.
Timing: the delays I've grown to expect. A ride will be minutes or hours late for reasons impossible to predict and often difficult to discern. My delays have included climate change superheating tracks and slowing train speed, cops raiding one car, a suicide in front of the train, a tree down on the line, problems with switches and other infrastructure, and, above all, competition with freight traffic.
Once I tried to make a train connection in NYC. The first train ran a few minutes late, and while the conductor assured me I'd be in time, the second train departed. Amtrak staff were remorseless, telling me to come back in 24 hours to try again.
Several times I've flown instead of taking Amtrak, hating to do so, but really having no other choice.
We're thinking about getting an EV or hybrid just to make the short- and medium-range work trips.
posted by doctornemo at 1:07 PM on August 31 [1 favorite]
Amtrak... for several years now I've been trying to take it whenever possible, in order to reduce my professional travels' CO2 footprint. This works well in only one area, riding from Washington, DC to New England and back. I can hit Baltimore, NYC, Philly, etc. The engines are usually electric. Trips are on time.
Otherwise... the problems other folks have mentioned crop up.
Routes: trying to get from DC to Detroit, for example, entailed going up to NYC, then *past* Michigan to Chicago, only to nearly double back and sneak up on the Motor City from the west. Trying to get from DC to Louisville was impossible. And getting to points west of the Mississippi: I can't justify the multiple days each way.
WiFi: train WiFi is hilariously bad, so I turn my phone into a hotspot. At best I have a decent seat with a power outlet and basic internet, so I can get work done. At worse cell coverage is bad or the car is crowded.
Food: not good, for this vegan. Airports are better, sad to say.
Timing: the delays I've grown to expect. A ride will be minutes or hours late for reasons impossible to predict and often difficult to discern. My delays have included climate change superheating tracks and slowing train speed, cops raiding one car, a suicide in front of the train, a tree down on the line, problems with switches and other infrastructure, and, above all, competition with freight traffic.
Once I tried to make a train connection in NYC. The first train ran a few minutes late, and while the conductor assured me I'd be in time, the second train departed. Amtrak staff were remorseless, telling me to come back in 24 hours to try again.
Several times I've flown instead of taking Amtrak, hating to do so, but really having no other choice.
We're thinking about getting an EV or hybrid just to make the short- and medium-range work trips.
posted by doctornemo at 1:07 PM on August 31 [1 favorite]
from Chicago to my stop in East Lansing once a day was full by the time
my father used to call this the Niles Michigan effect of train travel.
posted by clavdivs at 2:20 PM on August 31 [1 favorite]
my father used to call this the Niles Michigan effect of train travel.
posted by clavdivs at 2:20 PM on August 31 [1 favorite]
I'd like to do this sort of thing, but Amtrak having freight trains take precedence over people trains means you end up being late to very, very late.
I used to take the Empire Builder a few times per year to get back and forth between where I grew up in Montana and where I was going to college in Seattle. I loved it. In one direction, you wake up at the edge of (or maybe even slightly inside) Glacier National Park. So beautiful in the winter, especially. It was cheaper than flying, from what I remember, but where I was dropped off in Montana was 80 miles from my parents' house. Delays weren't too bad most of the time, but then every so often it was awful. I once had a 24-hour delay; thankfully I hadn't yet boarded the train and could just drive back home from Shelby and come back the next day.
I love train travel (and have done multiple multi-day train rides in China (both slow and fast trains), Russia, India, and the US), and love the time it takes. I enjoy watching the world go by and getting to know fellow travelers. But if you've got little time to spare, I can see why you'd choose literally any other method of travel over Amtrak.
posted by msbrauer at 3:41 PM on August 31
I used to take the Empire Builder a few times per year to get back and forth between where I grew up in Montana and where I was going to college in Seattle. I loved it. In one direction, you wake up at the edge of (or maybe even slightly inside) Glacier National Park. So beautiful in the winter, especially. It was cheaper than flying, from what I remember, but where I was dropped off in Montana was 80 miles from my parents' house. Delays weren't too bad most of the time, but then every so often it was awful. I once had a 24-hour delay; thankfully I hadn't yet boarded the train and could just drive back home from Shelby and come back the next day.
I love train travel (and have done multiple multi-day train rides in China (both slow and fast trains), Russia, India, and the US), and love the time it takes. I enjoy watching the world go by and getting to know fellow travelers. But if you've got little time to spare, I can see why you'd choose literally any other method of travel over Amtrak.
posted by msbrauer at 3:41 PM on August 31
Problem is that Amtrak costs as much as airplanes do, gets you there slower, and has only a tiny number of places it serves.
The chunk of the midwest that is served by Amtrak is exactly the sort of geography that makes Amtrak an effective transit choice. Everything takes 6 hours by car, or 6 hours by train. The plane takes about an hour ON the plane. But really think about that plane time -- for me, it's an hour to the airport, an hour or so to get through security and wait at the gate, inevitable delays plus the hour flight, and then generally another good chunk of time spent trying to get OUT of my destination airport and to wherever I'm actually going. It gets, for at least twice the price, perilously close to... six hours.
So since all things end up roughly equal, you might as well take the option that costs about a hundred bucks, lets you stretch your legs and pack whatever the fuck you feel like, requires zero full-body security scans or patdowns, and doesn't require bathroom detours.
Yeah the Amtrak has delays but if you've flown lately, you know it's hardly the one. And I've had more than one "five hour" drive take up to 10 hours thanks to shitty weather, traffic, construction, a pair of fuckin telephone poles falling across the entirety of a 6-lane highway, you name it. In conclusion, travel is terrible, we should just stay home, but failing that: take yerself a Midwest Amtrak!
posted by We put our faith in Blast Hardcheese at 4:01 PM on August 31 [4 favorites]
The chunk of the midwest that is served by Amtrak is exactly the sort of geography that makes Amtrak an effective transit choice. Everything takes 6 hours by car, or 6 hours by train. The plane takes about an hour ON the plane. But really think about that plane time -- for me, it's an hour to the airport, an hour or so to get through security and wait at the gate, inevitable delays plus the hour flight, and then generally another good chunk of time spent trying to get OUT of my destination airport and to wherever I'm actually going. It gets, for at least twice the price, perilously close to... six hours.
So since all things end up roughly equal, you might as well take the option that costs about a hundred bucks, lets you stretch your legs and pack whatever the fuck you feel like, requires zero full-body security scans or patdowns, and doesn't require bathroom detours.
Yeah the Amtrak has delays but if you've flown lately, you know it's hardly the one. And I've had more than one "five hour" drive take up to 10 hours thanks to shitty weather, traffic, construction, a pair of fuckin telephone poles falling across the entirety of a 6-lane highway, you name it. In conclusion, travel is terrible, we should just stay home, but failing that: take yerself a Midwest Amtrak!
posted by We put our faith in Blast Hardcheese at 4:01 PM on August 31 [4 favorites]
The Eastern Corridor is special, in that it gets a lot more attention, but, when my mom lived near Philadelphia, I’d go to see her 3-4 times a year — get in the first train Saturday and come back by an early Acela on Monday. Trains were generally on time, and I costed out time and money for train vs flying, and it was pretty much a wash, and the train was a better time. Plus, I’m pretty sure the Philadelphia airport eats souls.
posted by GenjiandProust at 5:00 PM on August 31 [1 favorite]
posted by GenjiandProust at 5:00 PM on August 31 [1 favorite]
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posted by jenfullmoon at 7:33 AM on August 31 [4 favorites]