What do do, where to go?????
 

Sorry for being so vague - it is the Aussie in me.

I will be in London during October 2004. Will have the opportunity to pop across to the US at little cost during this time. Only stipulation is that I need to be on a certain flight at a certain time out of NYC for London on Monday 18OCT.

These flights from London to the US and return do not require me to fly into any particular airport. So I was thinking of taking the opportunity of flying into somewhere else and updating my Amtrak experiences.

Any thoughts?

Chicago springs to mind, as does Miami (but since the flights would be on BA, then MIA suffers an immediate minus point).

Looking at sampling the full Amtrak experience, here, does anyone have any thoughts as to which train services in the Eastern part of the US - whether it be MIA-NYC, CHI-NYC or whatever - would be the go?

Only restriction is that BA needs to fly into (or close to) the originating point.

Cheers,

Dave

I don't have much Amtrak experience but enjoyed a beautiful trip up the California coast last spring. However, that's not helpful for your request.

If you don't get much response here, there are some very active Amtrak websites that I used for planning. I'm not home right now but think one was trainweb.com. You might do a google or teoma search to find them.

Unfortunately, its the western Amtrak routes (CHI to the west coast) that generally feature the best scenery and whatnot.

Here in the east, the typical train journey takes you past scenic industrial plants and warehouses. A few exceptions exist--for instance, the Lake Shore Limited from CHI to NYP is quite scenic in places, particularly as it travels along the Hudson river. The Three Rivers (nee The Broadway Limited--also CHI-NYP) features a trip through horseshoe curve in Pennsylvania, which is relatively famous, at least among railroading types.

Also, the train equipment used in the east is different from west coast service--the west coast gets the two-level superliners, while the east coast, due to clearance limitations, is restricted to single level equipment (except the Capitol Limited, CHI-WAS). The sleepers in the east are the new Viewliners, which are allegedly very nice (I haven't had a chance to get on one yet), although from my own experiences, I find the service on the west coast runs to be just slightly above what you'll find in the east coast.

The Capitol Limited or Cardinal feature pretty good scenery, from what I've heard. I have not had the pleasure of taking either of these trains yet, but they were the first to spring to mind. Both operate Chicago to Washington, D.C. The Capitol Limited runs daily, while the Cardinal only operates three days a week.

The Crescent from New Orleans to New York is another good train. I have ridden this one and the service is excellent. Time keeping is generally very good on this route, courtesy Norfolk Southern's excellent handling of Amtrak. Of course, you don't have to ride the whole way. You could fly into Atlanta and ride north to New York - but the train leaves Atlanta at 8pm, so scenery won't appear until early morning around Charlottesville, VA.

I find the scenery in Florida interesting. Quite a mix of flat lands, then orange groves, then housing then back to wilderness. Three trains a day run from Miami to New York. I would recommend either the Silver Meteor or Silver Star. The Palmetto doesn't have sleepers and takes a bit longer due to significant backtracking to and from Tampa. The track from Lakeland north to Jacksonville is pretty rough. But then, the Star operates over some rough track from Columbia, SC to Raleigh, NC. Interestingly, both tracks are owned by CSX Transportation who tends to mis-handle Amtrak quite frequently with regards to time keeping and delays.

Let me know if you have any other questions. I'll be happy to help get your trip planned!

For CHI-WAS: The Cardinal does have good scenery - especially in the fall of the year - but because it is currently operating with single level equipment, I would only recommend it if you have a sleeper (and the Viewliners are very nice). For coach travel, the bi-level Superliners on the Capitol Ltd. can't be beat. For this route, the views east of Pittsburgh, while not as stunning as anything in the west, are nice. I've had a couple of snow-covered winter trips that come to mind.


[This message has been edited by Mr. July (edited Dec 08, 2003).]

All my experience is Northeast corridor (nothing special) and the Coast Starlight, but I can recommend:

http://www.railforum.com/
http://forums.amtraktrains.com/

Thanks for the info - will take it on board when I eventually book in a month's or so time.

Dave

Updating? What are your Amtrak experiences so far? Reckon I wouldn't want to recommend stuff you've already done.

Still, taking a shot in the dark, if you must stay back east, I'd recommend two trains for sure:

The Adirondack

The Cardinal

Fall colors will be out in the eastern US in October. Great time to be riding these trains. If they keep the windows clean!

While I'd take the Cardinal between Washington DC/New York and Chicago, on the way back I'd use The Lake Shore Limited. If you do go up to Montreal, you might check and see about getting on one of Via Rail's trains out to the Maritime provinces. Nova Scotia in particular is beautiful in the fall. Actually, I wrote a trip report on riding ViaRail's train "The Ocean" which you can find here if you're interested.

Now, if you're able to fly BA out to the west - say into Denver, then I'd have plenty more suggestions for you.

Good luck.

[This message has been edited by Seat 2A (edited Dec 19, 2003).]