Living in Chicago area and going to school at SIU Carbondale, I got to use Amtrak. Way, way, better than the 6 hour cramped boring drive by car. I believe my ticket was $20 one way. Dropped me off in downtown Carbondale and I could walk to the dorms from there. Miss that adventure.
I'm about to retire and this tool is going to be super helpful. I had an amazing birthday trip one year we flew to Seattle and then took the Amtrak to LA. I have been patiently awaiting my next train trip. This tool will help with the planning. Thank you
Omg this map explains it so well. It looks like to get to San Diego from New York, it would be 3 trains. I think. I'm going to check this out more. You guys make train travel look so easy. Thank You so much
We used your help along with Amtrak to go from PA to two national parks out west. Zion and our ultimate destination the GRAND CANYON,! Wonderful 11 days.
Thank you for your videos! I just got back from doing a weeklong vacation on the California Zephyr, Empire builder, and the Coast Starlight. Your videos were very helpful!
Thank you so much for doing this. My sister and I were planning a trip last April to Seattle and San Francisco (out of Chicago) and was disappointed that we had to cancel. Now we're looking for another trip, about the same time but going south, and these maps help so much in planning where we want to stop. (We changed destinations because of temperature differences and we didn't want to pack for 2-3 different climates!) Thanks again, this is so helpful!
We're leaving on our first long train trip today and I just wanted to thank you for all the videos and tips over the last year -ish. I've learned so much from you and feel quite prepared for this trip. :)
I am in the early stages of planning my Rail Pass trip. It does seem that the best deal is to get on a train at a major hub and stay on it the whole way,....however,....as a ''newbie'' it may be a bit too bold to do that multiple times..Most likely I will use my home base (Washington Dc) for a couple of ''practice' Northeast runs,.....and save my remaining segments for 1 longgggg!! scenic trip.
Thanks! I know I found this on your site earlier but could not find it again! Now I will go and look. Your channel and website are the BEST tools ever for planning my trip! I am trying to figure out what train goes from St. Louis to Chicago. Also, people should know that the Seattle terminal is in a very dangerous part of town; so much so that I am planning on riding on through to Everett and get off there instead.
I took a screen grab of this map and printed it out to keep somewhere near the top of the pile of papers on my desk. Great visualization. Thanks. Robert in NYC.
taking a trip from dallas to providence on the 23rd. 3 trains texas eagle, capitol limited and the acela. never travelled by train before and your videos have been very helpful in what to expect. im not a great traveler do to some spinal injuries and hoping this is more pleasant for me. thank you and safe travels
Thank You for helping to understand the maze of trying to plan a trip via Amtrak. I am planning a trip to no specific location, just to decompress and regenerate myself. Again thanks a I will viewing more of your helpful tips.
I would like to thank you very much for all your fine instructional videos. I have not yet visited your web site as I still have a few more of your videos to watch. I am really a newbie to AMTRAK and have yet to take an AMTRAK train. I have very limited experience traveling by rail. Light commuter rail and subway rail are not the same as long distance travel, much less cross county train trips. With your help I am planning to hop on the California Zepher. :-) thank you.
This is SUPER helpful!!! Ive been trying to figure how to book a train trip from my florida city to virginia and the search rests on amtraks booking site are never available. I wish booking amtrak tickets were just as easy as booking plane tickets (my assumption was it would include comnecting train stations/ train routes)-but that doesn't seem possible
Thanks! I usually take the train from Meriden to milford, new york,and jersey. The transfer in new Haven is annoying but manageable. (Amtrak to metro north back to amtrak)
I am alas too used to GB rail travel and changing at Crewe, or crossing London from Paddington to King's Cross. And maybe having a 10 minute (sometimes a lot more, even an hour), or sometimes VERY quick (run down the stairs, through the tunnel, back up the stairs, board at the first door) connection. I did have once have a very quick connection like that at Norwich (getting back to Cambridge).
Just found this, awesome!! I live in Vancouver Canada and want to do a train trip across the US but Amtrak's website is not very helpful (its very like the VIA Rail sit up here... actually, its better😮) this is gonna change everything. Thanks 🎉🎉🎉❤
We just search an app like orbitz to see if anything is close. Sometimes they are and sometimes they are not. We've ended up taking an uber to the rental car place quite a few times. Since they are not airport locations, they often close at 5pm, so watch out for that.
This was so informative and helpful in explaining how to choose and coordinate! Especially "how to get to Florida?" as I'm in SE Michigan and am sad there's not a route that follows I-75 down. 😀 Very helpful. Have you guys considered doing trips in Canada, say from Chicago or Detroit to Toronto, Niagara, or Montreal? I went from Windsor to Montreal on ViaRail to board a cruise ship, then Boston back to Detroit to get home. Kind of a "Great Akes Tour" tour so to speak. Some videos on using Amtrak & ViaRail together in this part of the country - especially during leaf-peeping time! - might be something. Love your channel, keep ridin' the rails!
Here the biggest Amtrak city hubs are New York City, Chicago, Washington DC, Philadelphia and Los Angeles. Most Amtrak routes operate in New York City and Chicago.
From this map it seems that train travel is more reliable in the Northeast, Chicago, the west coast and maybe even Florida based on the coverage and options.
This map is fabulous! My husband and I are doing the MOTHERLOAD of train travel at the end of this year! We are taking Downeaster to Lakeshore LTD to Empire Builder to Coast Starlight to Sunset LTD to Crescent to Acela to Downeaster.....all starting and ending in Brunswick, ME. THE BIG LOOP. 191 hours (before delays), 8433 miles, 38 states. RU-vid video series to follow. You on any trains at the end of Dec?
@@fraslavko1 I think it would take 4 trains at the least since I would say the Northwest is Seattle so from there take the Coast Starlight to LA, from there take the Sunset Limited to New Orleans, from there take the Crescent to New York, and then take the Silver Star or Silver Meteour to Florida which is the South east.
Not Impossible you will need to take 3 trains the most conveinet. First train is I forgot which one who need will be the Silver Star or Silver Meteor to New York. Then you can take the LakeShore Limited or the Cardinal into Chicago, from there you take the Empire Builder all the way to Chicago. That is the quickest way, although the first 2 trains will not have an observation car if I remember correctly and flexible dinning on those train if in sleepers and last train will have an observation car only to Spokane and traditional dinning you will have all the way to Seattle on that train. If you want to take a longer trip and that way you can have more of the observation car will be 2 options, 1rst option get to New York and than take the Crescent from New York to New Orleans, then you can take the Sunset Limited to LA and then take the Coast Starlight all the way to Seattle, or if you want to take the very best train get to Chicago and then take the Zephry to Emeryville and then take the Coast Starlight to Seattle. Depending on the connections you might need to spend a night at a hotel/motel, or friends house.
Very informative video as always! I do have one question....I recently went on the Amtrak website for the first time in quite a while, and I can't find where to download the timetables for the various routes in pdf format.. Do they no longer offer that on the website? I don't remember seeing it on your website either, but in both cases, I might have missed it. Thanks for another great video!
The Cardinal from Chicago to New York is by far the most scenic train in the east. It runs through the New River Gorge National Park through West Virginia. I’d recommend taking the train in October when the leaves have turned bright orange, yellow and red, it’s truly stunning.
Thanks for great video. We planning to take Amtrak from Portland to San Franciso, stay couple of days, then continue the trian from San franciso to Los Angles. How to check prices for a bedroom price?
which big train do you think have the most comfortable trains, seats roomettes? I plan to do a trip from Chicago to the West Coast either LA or Seattle. Is Empire Builder more comfortable or California Zepher...and is it easier to get tickets during the week or on weekend travel...thanks for the amazing videos and information.
Zephry is a train tthat only goes to Emeryville not LA so from there you will need to take 1 additioanl train which is the Coast Starlight from Emeryville to LA. If you have lots of time off and many they are all about the same comfortable I bed do the Zephry and the Coast Starlight Those are the 2 best or 1 and 3 best depending where you put the Coast Starlight. Or if you want to travel the more norther route who can take the Empire Builder to Portland or Seattle but them remmeber if you take the Seattle portion the Seattle station does not have a metropolitan lounge and when train splits in Spokane your train will not have an observation car but will have traditional dinning, on the other head if you take the Portland portion you will have flexible dinning past Spokane, but you will have the observation car and there is a metropolitan lounge in Portland. /f you just 1 train from Chicago to LA you can take the Southwest Chief or Texas Eagle although Texas Eagle will have flexible dinning and no observation car from Chicago to San Antonio, then you should have an observation car (unless problems with it) and traditional dinning all the way to LA.
Hurricane Katrina damaged the tracks east of New Orleans and it has sadly never been restored. I believe the tracks would need to be upgraded for passenger trains and the freight railroad that owns the tracks doesn’t really want Amtrak there. I live in San Antonio and would love to take the train all the way to Orlando for my Disney trips but now I would have to take three different trains to get there. now that I’m retired, I may try and do that.
Hey, have you noticed a glitch in Amtrak’s mobile app- I travel from Michigan to San Diego sometimes. Try to find book it on the app and it will only offer you the zephyr?! Not the SWC. My guess is that the problem is- it offers you the next available connection but not the shortest trip. And only one option. But is this a problem for other connections? Like your map!
I live near Davis, CA so will be leaving from there to San Francisco then to LA. I want to go to Ft. Belvoir, VA so I guess that's the CA Zephyr to Chicago then to NY then to DC, then smaller trains to Woodbridge, VA. Does that make sense?
I want to take a trip to Nashville from Richmond, VA and I know there isn’t a station there but I heard something called a thruway bus does anybody know more info about that. And I can’t deal with another greyhound trip so this is my only option
I'm waiting for the next rail pass sale and then I want to travel as much as I can with it. I'm in Baltimore/Washington DC area. What would you recommend?
