Amtrak is pretty awesome.

[Tank]

Only trains I’ve ever been on was a bullet from Frankfurt to Paris 20 years ago and the skunk train in fort bragg that was more slow tour of the red woods.

I had a business trip this week to San Diego and decided to take the wife and kids so they could lounge at the pool and hit sea world. We decided to take the train. Driving from Ventura county can be done in under 4 hours door to door if there’s zero traffic but let’s face it, that’s a crap shoot. 5 hours door to door for the train.

I booked “business class”. My expectations weren’t super high , figured it’d be like a bus for the most part maybe airplane. Wow, was I wrong. Not that it’s super fancy or anything but the seats on the coast-liner are comfy, we sat facing each other in recliner on the way down and with a table between us in the way back. Free snacks, drinks, etc. little cafe plenty of clean and roomy! Restrooms. And the ride is smooth! Little adventure while checking out the sites. Played some cards had some lunch. Chilled. Time flew by. I’d absolutely take a train again. I only wish the airlines were run like the trains. Get up, walk around, roomy, comfy, and service is still relevant.

All in all. Great experience.

 

[Flying_Lavey]

I took the train to and from Paso to Burbank a couple times when the wife went down earlier or came back later. It was cool but took FOREVER!!! It wasn't the surfliner so it stopped at EVERY station. I think the 3 hour drive was about 6 by train. It was nice and comfortable and for 1 person was affordable. But it was pretty painfully slow. I took my oldest with me one time and she STILL talks about it. She had a blast!

 

[RodnJen]

It can take some time with all the stops, but it beats driving in many cases. We are going to take it to San Diego and Santa Barbara during the next few months. I believe Santa Barbara offers discounts on lodging with proof of Amtrak.

 

[QC22]

Try a long distance trip some time. I've done Chicago to LA on the Southwest Chief when I was a kid and the wife and I did Denver to Oakland on the California Zephyr about three years ago. Both times in sleeper cars. Great experience. The Denver train goes right by Winter Park and down the Colorado to Grand Junction and then over to Salt Lake to Reno and then up and over the Sierra. Pretty amazing ride, and the food is decent.

 

[Water Romper]

Every year we rode the Coast Starlight (Amtrak) from Anaheim to Solano Beach and then take the double decker bus to Del Mar Race Track (when the meet was there) bet all day and then take the same back. Totally cool especially when the train would follow the coast. Great way to travel.

 

[Tank]

Try a long distance trip some time. I've done Chicago to LA on the Southwest Chief when I was a kid and the wife and I did Denver to Oakland on the California Zephyr about three years ago. Both times in sleeper cars. Great experience. The Denver train goes right by Winter Park and down the Colorado to Grand Junction and then over to Salt Lake to Reno and then up and over the Sierra. Pretty amazing ride, and the food is decent.

Doing this is on the bucket list for sure. It’s be cool to take the train out to New York and the. Fly back.

 

[termiteguy]

We take the Amtrak often for day drinking trips to San Diego
We live 5 minutes from the Irvine station uber to and from. It make it alot of fun

 

[Tank]

We take the Amtrak often for day drinking trips to San Diego
We live 5 minutes from the Irvine station uber to and from. It make it alot of fun

With Uber so accessible I think the train is way more viable. Cruise up and down coast drink on train on way, jump off and stay at a hotel at some city, do dinner and come back next day. Good little date night action.

 

[termiteguy]

We did that last year before covid hit gas lamp area it was a great time

 

[HALLETT BOY]

I’ve taken the Surfliner many times to San Diego from LA . Grab an Uber and hit up a couple of breweries. The USS Midway is a great attraction, and so is the San Diego Maritime museum . Definitely go Business class . Taking the train is great , but the people who work on the train are hit or miss , the state and Caltrans runs the Surfliner , enough said …

 

[Ace in the Hole]

I've done the surf liner a few times from LA to SD...would do it again. Rode several Amtrak trains to the suburbs of Chicago..its not a bad way to do regional trips when you don't need a car at the destination.

 

[dspracing]

A buddy and I took the surf liner from OC to SD on a Friday afternoon so we could make the mistake of buying a sailboat sight unseen and attempt to sail it back to LA. I’ll never forget flying by that bumper to bumper traffic on the 5 while sipping an arrogant bastard.

 

[spectra3279]

Only trains I’ve ever been on was a bullet from Frankfurt to Paris 20 years ago and the skunk train in fort bragg that was more slow tour of the red woods.

I had a business trip this week to San Diego and decided to take the wife and kids so they could lounge at the pool and hit sea world. We decided to take the train. Driving from Ventura county can be done in under 4 hours door to door if there’s zero traffic but let’s face it, that’s a crap shoot. 5 hours door to door for the train.

I booked “business class”. My expectations weren’t super high , figured it’d be like a bus for the most part maybe airplane. Wow, was I wrong. Not that it’s super fancy or anything but the seats on the coast-liner are comfy, we sat facing each other in recliner on the way down and with a table between us in the way back. Free snacks, drinks, etc. little cafe plenty of clean and roomy! Restrooms. And the ride is smooth! Little adventure while checking out the sites. Played some cards had some lunch. Chilled. Time flew by. I’d absolutely take a train again. I only wish the airlines were run like the trains. Get up, walk around, roomy, comfy, and service is still relevant.

All in all. Great experience.

View attachment 1028720 View attachment 1028721 View attachment 1028722

To bad it can't pay for itself and needs massive government handouts to function

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[02HoWaRd26]

I hate Amtrak they cost me a lot of time. Lol.

 

[Tank]

To bad it can't pay for itself and needs massive government handouts to function

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Yeah. There’s that.

 

[Wayn-o]

I take the surfliner from Irvine to LA Union station often. Super simple - no traffic. Afternoon, they pass out the small wine bottles with the cool snack box.
We do the Del Mar fair or the horses from San Juan Capistrano - good times.

 

[TimeBandit]

Yeah. There’s that.

Amtrack's cost to the state is pennies compared to the train to nowhere.

Oh yeah, the ballot people voted on said it was a "jobs creation bill" lol

 

[QC22]

Doing this is on the bucket list for sure. It’s be cool to take the train out to New York and the. Fly back.

We both traveled for work at the time, so we met from connections in Denver, and then took the train. Flew back to SoCal from Oakland. We're gonna do some more for sure. My Mom lives in Chicago, so we'll do a one way fly, one way train, within the next few years.

 

[QC22]

I hate Amtrak they cost me a lot of time. Lol.

BTW, the long distance trains have a pretty poor time record. The tracks are all owned by the freight train companies, and Amtrak runs when they say they can. No priority. Spent some of our trip just sitting in place...

 

[500bbc]

To bad it can't pay for itself and needs massive government handouts to function

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Bingo!

 

[Tank]

Regardless of tax payer subsidizing Amtrak their service, comfort, relaxed atmosphere, etc BLOWS the airlines away. You can bring food and drinks aboard, or buy their stuff which was pretty well stocked. Walk around freely. The bathrooms were big and a few of them had seating areas on the bathroom. Like you could change clothes or whatnot. And the seats and train in general were clean and nice and well maintained. Yeah, ca bails them out all the time but the train is keeping cars off the road which lessons traffic which causes less wear and tear on the roadways and less congestion and of course lowers green house emissions or whatever the ca nature nazis cry about all the time. So it’s a win in the end all the way around.

Not like the tickets are cheap however. Think round trip in biz class was $120 each. Something like that.

 

[napanutt]

Wife and I took Amtrak from Martinez CA to some where near San Clemente quite a while ago.
Trip down was fairly uneventful.
Trip home another story.
Basically every stop was late so it compounded fast. Then 10 miles from our station train hit and killed a pedestrian. Cost us over an hour. Finally rolled into our stop around midnight.
I’d probably ride the train again as long as there is no time frame.

 

[Tank]

Amtrack's cost to the state is pennies compared to the train to nowhere.

Oh yeah, the ballot people voted on said it was a "jobs creation bill" lol

The train to Vegas is a Fuckin ca politician scam. EVERYONE but the blind liberal idiots know that.

However if it was actually budgeted properly and done correctly and came to fruition I think it’s be cool. Just like if they ever did passenger service to havasu I’d take that too. Fuck driving. Sit back and drink cocktails and sleep and chill on the way. I’m in.

 

[Tank]

Wife and I took Amtrak from Martinez CA to some where near San Clemente quite a while ago.
Trip down was fairly uneventful.
Trip home another story.
Basically every stop was late so it compounded fast. Then 10 miles from our station train hit and killed a pedestrian. Cost us over an hour. Finally rolled into our stop around midnight.
I’d probably ride the train again as long as there is no time frame.

Train down was dead on balls on time. Train back was 20 minutes early.

The other two times my wife went down to San Diego for work years ago there was issues and delays. Train was rear ended by another train killing a passenger that fell and the other tile there was a mechanical problem.

This trip? 5 stars.

 

[CJ_Donahue]

We take the Amtrak often for day drinking trips to San Diego
We live 5 minutes from the Irvine station uber to and from. It make it alot of fun

How close is the San Diego station to downtown/gas lamp district?

 

[Tank]

Speaking of homeless, holy fuckin shit hole Batman! Anyone live in LA on here? What a shame!

Obviously train runs along freeways and under overpasses. Things are nice and clean coming down from Ventura, Simi, even the valley but south of Burbank things started to go south literally and figuratively. Trash and vagrant camps and graffiti etc etc. deeper into LA we got the worse it got. Sad. Once we got out of LA onto Orange County, night and day difference! Clean, barely any graffiti didn’t see any vagrants. And I have to say, I was expecting to get back into vagrant, graffiti trash land as we came into San Diego because units such a big city but to my surprise, never saw any of that. There was a few vagrant motor homes near and around mission bay and I spied a few vagrants here and there. But the parts of San Diego I saw (from Mission bay to the area where they’re building the new college stadium) was very clean, very well laid out, super nice. I can see why people like San Diego. This was only the second time I’ve ever been there.

 

[bowtiejunkie]

great experience!

When grandpa used to travel from Oceanside back to his home town in Nebraska, he would always take the train. On his last trip in 1987, for his 50th high school reunion, he had a heart attack having breakfast a stones throw away from the train depot in McCook, Nebraska. He didn’t make his train home (passed away). He loved trains, so fitting place!!

Trains have always fascinated me. I’d really like to take one of the long haul routes and get a big sleeper room. The Chicago to Seattle (or is it Portland?) looks very scenic.

it’s too bad Amtrak doesn’t own more of its track. If it was more reliable time-wise, I think more people would ride the rails.

 

[78Southwind]

You should try a trip from Fullerton to Needles on the Friday of a three day weekend. My Chick calls it the "Crazy Train" make sure to bring the Weed, a Jug and at least one or two Parolees so you fit in... Any other time it's a great trip.

 

[gqchris]

How close is the San Diego station to downtown/gas lamp district?

Ends in downtown, Santa Fe Station! Pretty cool actually, used to take it often when partying with friends in Baja. Jump on Trolley to border.

 

[mjc]

I took the computer train to union Station and Amtrak to San Jose. It was a nice trip not fast but didn't care.. then flew home. I would like to head east from LA to maybe all the way to DC, just because.

 

[lantz]

It can take some time with all the stops, but it beats driving in many cases. We are going to take it to San Diego and Santa Barbara during the next few months. I believe Santa Barbara offers discounts on lodging with proof of Amtrak.

My daughter is at UCSB, and I've done this a couple of times as has she coming home to visit since she has no car. I love it! Beats the drive and you arrive rested. Since students get free bus rides during the academic year, I spent quite a bit of time on the bus in Santa Barbara too, and it's not bad, and it was easy and cheap. I think Business class was worth the extra cost, and the business sections were essentially empty, even prior to covid.

 

[ATKpilot]

If you are into trains the California Railroad Museum in old town Sacramento is a must see. This place is incredible and I cannot recommend it high enough. We took my son the first time when he was 7 and he still remembers it . We rode the train from the bay to Sac and it drops you off right by the museum. We are hitting the Polar Express gig this year before Christmas https://www.californiarailroad.museum/

 

[DC-88]

We took it about 20 years ago from San Luis Obispo to Oregon for my cousin's wedding mid winter. I remember waking up in the morning going through the forest in the snow to killer views. On the way home my brother, wife and I were partying in the bar car with a good group of people. All of a sudden this random chick just goes full ace deuce bi-polar on the bartender and slapped him for no reason. She was restrained , and soon after we made a quick stop at Klamath Falls where they kicked her ass onto the pitch black freezing ass cold platform . Then the bar car opened back up and the party resumed lol.

 

[riverroyal]

For a year I rode from surf beach in Lompoc to Oceanside on fridays. 6 hours, left at noon. Worked, had beers, talked to strangers. $36 bucks to not sit in traffic.
really enjoyed it

 

[Roosky01]

I took the Empire Builder from WI to Seattle for a long weekend with the wife 20 years ago. It was a great experience on the way out, but wish I had plane tickets rather than train tickets for the return trip though. We had a cabin it it was pretty cool and was utilized as a breeding pen and sleeping quarters the entire trip...

Also, there was an awesome group of dudes from Milwaukee headed to Whitefish to ski that had the bar car car cleaned out in a jiffy . I helped them carry a shitload from the liquor store in Minot back to the train...good times.

 

[530RL]

Every form of transit is highly subsidized by taxpayers from roads to trains to subways to airports to ports.

The question remains which can be most efficient if implemented efficiently.

In highly populated corridors Amtrak is awesome. I’ve taken it between DC and Boston hundreds of times when planes were grounded and out of capacity for landing and takeoff slots and roads were packed or closed due to weather and/or the volume of traffic.

Tank makes a great point. In certain areas Amtrak and/or other forms of mass transit work and are more efficient with tax dollars than some others especially when relieving highly congested areas. Not everywhere but certainly in high population corridors.

Take a trip to other countries and experience their mass transit options that supplement other highly subsidized roads and air travel.

Probably something to consider as a more efficient use of tax dollars given there is a limit on how many other options exist in dense population corridors, overcrowded runways and gridlocked freeways.

 

[Kachina26]

Only trains I’ve ever been on was a bullet from Frankfurt to Paris 20 years ago and the skunk train in fort bragg that was more slow tour of the red woods.

I had a business trip this week to San Diego and decided to take the wife and kids so they could lounge at the pool and hit sea world. We decided to take the train. Driving from Ventura county can be done in under 4 hours door to door if there’s zero traffic but let’s face it, that’s a crap shoot. 5 hours door to door for the train.

I booked “business class”. My expectations weren’t super high , figured it’d be like a bus for the most part maybe airplane. Wow, was I wrong. Not that it’s super fancy or anything but the seats on the coast-liner are comfy, we sat facing each other in recliner on the way down and with a table between us in the way back. Free snacks, drinks, etc. little cafe plenty of clean and roomy! Restrooms. And the ride is smooth! Little adventure while checking out the sites. Played some cards had some lunch. Chilled. Time flew by. I’d absolutely take a train again. I only wish the airlines were run like the trains. Get up, walk around, roomy, comfy, and service is still relevant.

All in all. Great experience.

View attachment 1028720 View attachment 1028721 View attachment 1028722

It's all fun and games until I gotta fuck you for some POS stack train that's short on time or someone hit a trespasser. I'd ride for the novelty of it, but if you have to be somewhere at a specific time, well, I'd take my chances on the freeway.

 

[rrrr]

To bad it can't pay for itself and needs massive government handouts to function

Sent from my SM-G973U using Tapatalk

Biden's 5 trillion dollar free money for all includes $80 billion for Amtrak. Amtrak's CEO says the improvements on the system will add between 100,000 and 200,000 passengers annually.

That sounds like extreme bullshit to me. One proposed new route will be between Fort Worth and OKC. How many people are going to take that trip daily? Five? Ten?

 

[02HoWaRd26]

BTW, the long distance trains have a pretty poor time record. The tracks are all owned by the freight train companies, and Amtrak runs when they say they can. No priority. Spent some of our trip just sitting in place...

Ok lol. 18 years now of Freight, Amtrak has the upmost priority with exception a few UPS trains. But i haven’t a clue what I’m talking about....... #4 boned me for 42 minutes tonight.

 

[termiteguy]

How close is the San Diego station to downtown/gas lamp district?

10 minute uber ride

 

[Nordie]

It's pretty surprising that Amtrak no longer comes to Vegas, I believe the closest stop to Vegas is Kingman.

I do know a little bit about the high speed deal that's Vegas to Victorville, personally I don't think it's a bad idea, I think it's more important to get through the Cajon Pass to cut down on traffic. Just think about how much less traffic you Cali folk would have to deal with coming home from the river and fighting the Vegas traffic.

The past 2 holiday weekends there was over 20 mile backups at Primm. Meaning leaving the strip to stateline was over 2 1/2 hours. They're saying Vegas to Victorville would be something like 45 minutes.

 

[Singleton]

Only way to travel between those cities.
I have a customer in Ventura and last time I drove home from Ventura to Carlsbad, it took 6 hours. Never again

 

[QC22]

Ok lol. 18 years now of Freight, Amtrak has the upmost priority with exception a few UPS trains. But i haven’t a clue what I’m talking about....... #4 boned me for 42 minutes tonight.

Not sure anymore where I heard that, but I thought it was Amtrak. Maybe certain tracks? This was Denver to LA route, but the way I was told that it was nationwide. You'd certainly know more than me. UPS owns trains? Also new to me.

 

[DrunkenSailor]

We do Amtrak to San Diego all the time from Irvine or Anaheim. We've also done San Clemente for zoomars with the kids. It's a great time. Padres day game, afternoon track action at del mar is the double play.

Train works great for that trip.

My sister in law was living in San Fran. I suggested the train. Took 12 hours with a built in hour of sitting waiting for who knows what. I can drive it in half the time. Longer trips don't make much sense

 

[Tank]

It's all fun and games until I gotta fuck you for some POS stack train that's short on time or someone hit a trespasser. I'd ride for the novelty of it, but if you have to be somewhere at a specific time, well, I'd take my chances on the freeway.

Yep, you're right fucked if train hits a ped or a car. minimum 2 hour delay.

 

[02HoWaRd26]

Not sure anymore where I heard that, but I thought it was Amtrak. Maybe certain tracks? This was Denver to LA route, but the way I was told that it was nationwide. You'd certainly know more than me. UPS owns trains? Also new to me.

No however at BNSF, all packages have priority, but UPS is the highest priority on our Freight trains.
Amtrak cry’s when they get one bad signal so I’m sure that is where you heard it. Sometimes there are dol crews or other extenuating circumstances that will cause delays for Amtrak however they only really compete with UPS for priority and even so typically they go around the hot trains as well they are 20mph faster as well more horsepower per ton.

 

[QC22]

Makes sense ^^^^

 

[Kachina26]

It's pretty surprising that Amtrak no longer comes to Vegas, I believe the closest stop to Vegas is Kingman.

I do know a little bit about the high speed deal that's Vegas to Victorville, personally I don't think it's a bad idea, I think it's more important to get through the Cajon Pass to cut down on traffic. Just think about how much less traffic you Cali folk would have to deal with coming home from the river and fighting the Vegas traffic.

The past 2 holiday weekends there was over 20 mile backups at Primm. Meaning leaving the strip to stateline was over 2 1/2 hours. They're saying Vegas to Victorville would be something like 45 minutes.

Barstow is the closest, that's the same one that services Kingman. There was a special that would turn in Barstow and head to Vegas, but that got cut off in 2007 or so.

Not sure anymore where I heard that, but I thought it was Amtrak. Maybe certain tracks? This was Denver to LA route, but the way I was told that it was nationwide. You'd certainly know more than me. UPS owns trains? Also new to me.

On the east coast, Amtrak has their own system. The rest of the country (for the most part) it rides on freight tracks. There's a pile of money that's given to the host RR to run the train. If the Amtrak is late, a chunk comes out of the pile. On the short runs from say Fullerton to LA, it's about a grand. On the longer runs, LA to Kingman it's 60 grand. So the incentive to run the Amtrak is pretty high. That said, if operating conditions are such that we need to prioritize freight, then Amtrak takes a back seat, but not without consequences. If Amtrak is delayed often enough, the Fed could step in. Like I said, I'd take one with the family as a novelty or even on a business trip like Singleton said. But if timelines were tight, I'd consider another way.

Side note, some RRs don't care at all about Amtrak, but I won't mention the UPRR by name.

 

[stingray11]

I would never step foot on an Amtrak train they crash on the East Coast all the time.

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[Rogers Hopeful]

I would never step foot on an Amtrak train they crash on the East Coast all the time.

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Hard for any train to crash now with PTC. It has been online for a couple years now nation wide.