# Coast to coast by train ?



## Reno (Oct 9, 2012)

Has anybody here done it ? Next May is my 50th birthday and I'm thinking of treating myself to a holiday. I always wanted to do a coast to coast US trip, but I don't drive, so have been looking into trains. There is the California Zephyr which goes from Chicago to Emeryville near San Francisco, so I could do much of the journey in one 52 hour trip.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/California_Zephyr

There is some amazing scenery along the way and they have an observation car with ceiling windows. I read some reports that trains often get badly delayed or break down. I love trains, but would the novelty of being stuck on one wear off after a day ? Found this travel blog, which makes it sound fun:

http://www.jennandromy.com/2011_05_01_archive.html

Unlike them I'd probably splash out on a 'roomette' the lowest cost sleeper option. I could do a stop over mid-route. Is weird-ass mormon Salt Lake City worth a day ? Is there anything worth seeing in Denver ? I only know that Dynasty was set there.


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## davesgcr (Oct 9, 2012)

Did it a long time ago mid 1980's but the trains haven't changed .

Overnight NYC to Chicago in a "roomette" having had a very sociable evening in the club car. Changed at Chicago and had a seat overnight to Denver. Again - very sociable. Loads of room and slept pretty OK. Broke the journey at Denver and had a short stay.

Best bit really - daytime Denver to Salt Lake City , seat overnight to San Francisco (Oakland) - outstanding run across the gorges , the desert and the Sierras.

Points.


Very sociable at all levels - all ages and backgrounds. UK is seen (or was) as an interest
Food was decent enough - good all American breakfast and the "signature Amtrak steak" 
Club car open virtually 24/7 !
Amazing scenery - apart from the first couple of hundred miles out of Chicago.


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## davesgcr (Oct 9, 2012)

We were delayed 2 hours NYC to Albany as the train hit 2 joggers running down the track (shame) - but the connection was made at Chicago with no effort.

The staff were superb and friendly - I regard it as one of the best (solo) trips of my life/Just do it -(watch Ludovic Kennedy's "Great Railway Journeys of the World"  which is on Youtube - it made my decision to do it all those years ago)

Nothing beats "coast to coast" by train - the American success of the 19thC , which can still be done. Apparently Washington to Chicago - then the Zephyr is a good run which I fancy doing.


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## Reno (Oct 9, 2012)

Thanks, sounds fantastic. I will check out the documentary.

Delays are part and parcel of US trains. My main worry is that I read a few reports about cancelled trains and then I'm screwed. It means that then I would have to get an expensive flight at short notice to the other end of the country and the main purpose of what is an expensive holiday would be lost.


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## petee (Oct 10, 2012)

Reno said:


> Is weird-ass mormon Salt Lake City worth a day ?


well, i'd do it. it's weird-ass, so that's a plus, and the setting (in the valley surrounded by mtns) and that ecological art thing (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Spiral_Jetty) also look promising.



Reno said:


> Is there anything worth seeing in Denver ?


no. i've been, and found it a bore, except for the mint, which gives tours (http://www.usmint.gov/mint_tours/?action=startreservation).


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## editor (Oct 10, 2012)

*makes note of this thread for future reference


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## pogofish (Oct 10, 2012)

There are a a couple of other US long distance train threads in here that are also worth reading and I must say I'm seriously tempted by doing something like this if I'm delayed any longer for my foot surgery.  I can't walk any distance just now and I like the idea of a trip like this much better than being sat on my arse on an all-inclusive somewhere,

The other plus point is that I have now saved-up enough to treat myself to a very nice cabin if I want to as I've not had a holiday for over two years because of this bloody foot!


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## gaijingirl (Oct 10, 2012)

I would absolutely love love love to do this.  We have talked for years about a coast to coast USA trip... car? camper? train?  Left to my own devices it would be train but with 2 kids I don't know.... maybe one for when the kids are older.


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## davesgcr (Oct 11, 2012)

I suppose the delays are more of an issue if you were picking up at some intermediate spot in the boondocks - but not a problem say in Denver, where there re options.The timetables have some padding in them , so lost time can be made up. Once on the train , lateness just means another beer or whatever.

A friend did the overnight NYC - Florida train , which was very sociable indeed.


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## Firky (Oct 11, 2012)

I'd love to do it by train and car.


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## cesare (Oct 11, 2012)

My parents did the Amtrak train trip from SF to New Orleans a few years ago, sounds amazing.


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## scifisam (Oct 11, 2012)

I have a half plan to do this too, though I want to go on the midnight limited across georgia and alabama all the way to la, then get the san francisco to new york train that includes the rockies (with a train in between, of course). It's.so much cheaper than the plane and you'd see loads of the country.



gaijingirl said:


> I would absolutely love love love to do this.  We have talked for years about a coast to coast USA trip... car? camper? train?  Left to my own devices it would be train but with 2 kids I don't know.... maybe one for when the kids are older.



Kids' tickets are really cheap on us trains though, and they can walk around and stuff rather than just watching dvds in the back of a car.


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## gaijingirl (Oct 13, 2012)

scifisam said:


> Kids' tickets are really cheap on us trains though, and they can walk around and stuff rather than just watching dvds in the back of a car.


 
yes - that's a good point... I think when they're a bit older it could be fun.


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## boing! (Oct 13, 2012)

I'm doing this next summer - getting the Lake Shore Limited from New York to Chicago, couple of days in Chicago then California Zephyr to San Francisco. It's our honeymoon so we're poshing it in roomette/ bedroom. Very excited!


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## trabuquera (Oct 14, 2012)

No experience of your proposed route but I amtrak'd from NY to Tampa once, more than a decade ago, and it was fab - so much more interesting and comfy than I ever expected. Massive massive seats and just gazing out of the windows is fascinating ... somehow the way the lines are laid out means you see many more sides of America than you ever would just by car, and are saved all the navigating ... Everything from millionaires' villas to proper urban decay just rolls by, it's an extraordinary history lesson. DO IT!

(the distances are massive, though, and I suspect some of the midwest is flat and uninteresting for hours on end. but at least on a train you can read when the prairie palls...)


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## marty21 (Oct 14, 2012)

In 1987 I got the train from Chicago to New Orleans, then across to El Paso - we then got a bus down to Mexico city - it was wonderful on the train - sitting in the Observation carriage


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## belboid (Oct 14, 2012)

A couple of mates have jus got back from a month in the US, and both said the Zephyr trip was the lighlight of the whole time. They did it all in one go, dozing overnight in perfectly comfortable seats. Sounded pretty fucking fantastic. The only way not to be screwed over by lateness is to give yourself plenty of time at any stop tho, so you may well not be able to make as many as you'd really want to.


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## petee (Oct 15, 2012)

trabuquera said:


> somehow the way the lines are laid out means you see many more sides of America than you ever would just by car


quite true, you'll go through out-of-the-way places that sometimes have no other, or difficult, forms of access.
not a destination in itself, unless you're a civil war nut, but this e.g. is visible only from amtrak: http://www.roadsideamerica.com/tip/3837
so lots of things like that


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## fractionMan (Oct 17, 2012)

The nearest train station to mobile (where I'm off to) is 100 miles.

Bah.


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## davesgcr (Oct 17, 2012)

The whole AMTRAK network was "made" in 1971 by a cynical government that thought it would have dissapeared by 1980 , it's survival through political fiddling and cynical cutbacks / lack of investment is amazing. It is a sparse "national" coverage , but still there and much appreciated.

My first ever trip was NYC - Washington in 1984 , my most recent was 2008 - exactly the same rolling stock with no change or refurbishment. Still a national treasure to me , at least.


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## scifisam (Oct 18, 2012)

davesgcr said:


> The whole AMTRAK network was "made" in 1971 by a cynical government that thought it would have dissapeared by 1980 , it's survival through political fiddling and cynical cutbacks / lack of investment is amazing. It is a sparse "national" coverage , but still there and much appreciated.
> 
> My first ever trip was NYC - Washington in 1984 , my most recent was 2008 - exactly the same rolling stock with no change or refurbishment. Still a national treasure to me , at least.


 
I did that same trip last year and, if the train was forty years old, it's doing incredibly well. WiFi and all. And really cheap and quick.


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## porno thieving gypsy (Oct 20, 2012)

very tempted to do this too now... just watched the youtube video and it looks amazing


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## Hollis (Oct 20, 2012)

Reno said:


> Is weird-ass mormon Salt Lake City worth a day ? Is there anything worth seeing in Denver ? I only know that Dynasty was set there.


 
Definetly.. stayed there afew days in,err, 1990. Its weird enough to be interesting..dunno about Denver


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## FridgeMagnet (Oct 20, 2012)

scifisam said:


> I did that same trip last year and, if the train was forty years old, it's doing incredibly well. WiFi and all. And really cheap and quick.


The East Coast Amtrak is pretty well maintained IME, as it does actually get used a lot - at least it was a few years ago. I used to take it up and down between Philly and Baltimore, and occasionally to NYC or DC, and it gets a lot of business use, particularly on a Friday afternoon where everyone is hanging around the bar. You can work while on it much more effectively than in a car.

Coast-to-coast, though, I never did. I did stay in a hotel in Arizona (La Posada, in Winslow) which had a back bar that looked out onto an east-west train line, which sounds awful but was actually fantastic. It was 100m or so from the actual line, with a nice wide veranda and garden, and there weren't many trains, so when one did go by it was an event, and everyone could look up from their cocktails and drunkenly lament the passing of the age of steam pioneers.


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## twistedAM (Oct 21, 2012)

Farthest I ever did was Omaha to Seattle. It was long. Loads of sex going on in the bathrooms at night.


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## Reno (Oct 21, 2012)




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## petee (Oct 22, 2012)

FridgeMagnet said:


> The East Coast Amtrak is pretty well maintained IME, as it does actually get used a lot - at least it was a few years ago.


 
it gets used a ton, is the only profitable part of amtrak, i've heard many times, which the rightwingers like to use to argue that it should be hived off and the rest defunded. (NOTE: get the quiet car, the one behind the first class car.) years ago the airlines instituted their "Shuttle" services, NY - BOS, at loss-leader prices ($19 one way iirc) to pull people away from the train, and it didn't work. (NOTE 2: the Acela NY - DC is very fast but isn't so much faster than the usual express to be worth the money. but the seats are wonderful. plans to build a dedicated track for even faster service from BOS to DC are prohibitively expensive and will never happen.)


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## bi0boy (Oct 22, 2012)

I did Boston to NY and found it rather slow, certainly slower than intercity trains in the UK.


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## Reno (Oct 22, 2012)

bi0boy said:


> I did Boston to NY and found it rather slow, certainly slower than intercity trains in the UK.


 
I used live and work in California, commuting every day from San Francisco to Palo Alto in Silicon Valley. The trip took over an hour, yet the distance covered was one any European train would have managed in half that time.


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## Hollis (Oct 28, 2012)

Err, is the general idea you do the 52 hours in one go, or take say a week or two over the route.


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## Lazy Llama (Oct 28, 2012)

We did the Zephyr from SF to Chicago in one go in 2006. We had a roomette - 2-berth cabin with very comfortable seats which convert to beds at night. 

Amazing scenery outside the window, from desert to snowy mountains. We got off the train for a few mins at a couple of stops including Grand Rapids. 

The attendant who looked after us was really friendly. Meals were in the dining car and we shared a table with the same people for each meal. Opportunity to meet all sorts of people. 

We were 7 hours (I think) late into Chicago but we didn't have any connections to make so it wasn't a problem. 

Thoroughly enjoyed the trip and it was much nicer than flying.


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## Reno (Oct 28, 2012)

Hollis said:


> Err, is the general idea you do the 52 hours in one go, or take say a week or two over the route.


 
I'll either do it in one take or in two, stopping over in Salt Lake City. I like long train journeys.


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## davesgcr (Oct 29, 2012)

Do it in stages - I did NYC - Chicago overnight (easy) - Chicago - Denver in one go overnight (with a seat not a berth) - then Denver - SF with a seat overnight , but had a stretch of legs for 2 hours in Salt Lake City while the train was cleaned , checked and fuelled. Easy.


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## Reno (Oct 29, 2012)

davesgcr said:


> Do it in stages - I did NYC - Chicago overnight (easy) - Chicago - Denver in one go overnight (with a seat not a berth) - then Denver - SF with a seat overnight , but had a stretch of legs for 2 hours in Salt Lake City while the train was cleaned , checked and fuelled. Easy.


 
That's no different from what I said I will probably do. I'd just rather stop over in Salt Lake City than in Denver. I'm planning on getting a sleeper.


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## The39thStep (Oct 29, 2012)

Reno said:


> That's no different from what I said I will probably do. I'd just rather stop over in Salt Lake City than in Denver. I'm planning on getting a sleeper.


 
Tell us the cost /how long each part of the journey takes etc when you do.


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## Reno (Oct 29, 2012)

The39thStep said:


> Tell us the cost /how long each part of the journey takes etc when you do.


 
It's all here:

http://www.seat61.com/UnitedStates.htm#Crossing the USA by train



At the moment my trip isn't certain yet. I'm freelance and it entirely depends on how much work I'll get between now and then and whether I can afford it.


BTW, looks like my NYC Halloween trip just went down the drain. That was supposed to be my big holiday this year.   Thanks Sandy !


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## The39thStep (Oct 29, 2012)

Reno said:


> It's all here:
> 
> http://www.seat61.com/UnitedStates.htm#Crossing the USA by train
> 
> ...


cheers Reno. Something to think about.


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## Limejuice (Oct 30, 2012)

Reno said:


> It's all here:
> 
> http://www.seat61.com/UnitedStates.htm#Crossing the USA by train


 
That's a tip-top website.

Thanks.


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## petee (Oct 30, 2012)

Limejuice said:


> That's a tip-top website.


yes, very thorough!


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