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Old 09-11-2017, 10:00 PM
 
Location: Raleigh, NC
6,646 posts, read 5,537,672 times
Reputation: 5503

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Quote:
Originally Posted by orulz View Post
I am moderately prone to motion sickness when working or reading while in motion. For whatever reason, I get motion sick in cars, buses, and on airplanes when they're not rock-solid at cruising altitude (which you wouldn't be for long, between Raleigh and NYC.) On the other hand, I have never gotten motion sickness on a train.

Now, if you were heading south to Florida from here, you can't beat boarding the Silver Star in Cary. Perfect schedule for an overnight train. However, the tip I always give for riding the train to the northeast, is to board it in Rocky Mount.
Reasons:
1. You do have to drive about 1 hour from here to Rocky Mount, but it's all freeway and traffic is almost never an issue. Plus, it cuts 2 hours off of the train ride, so it's a worthwhile trade, IMO.
2. Ample free parking at the station (And it feels pretty safe - the police station is right next door.)
3. There are 4 trains per day bound for the Northeast Corridor instead of 2 so you have lots of schedule options in both directions and also more alternatives for re-booking in the unlikely event of a cancellation. (Silver Star, Silver Meteor, Palmetto, and Carolinian.)
4. It breaks up the trip so it's a bit less monotonous.
Ahh that makes so much sense - I feel I'd be less frustrated if I did that.
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Old 09-11-2017, 10:13 PM
 
2,584 posts, read 1,856,744 times
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This is a great thread, good info here.

What is the door-to-door time for Raleigh-GCS? Does it continue north from CGS or would you have to change trains for that?
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Old 09-12-2017, 07:27 AM
 
Location: NC
11,188 posts, read 8,225,413 times
Reputation: 12405
Quote:
Originally Posted by orulz View Post
I am moderately prone to motion sickness when working or reading while in motion. For whatever reason, I get motion sick in cars, buses, and on airplanes when they're not rock-solid at cruising altitude (which you wouldn't be for long, between Raleigh and NYC.) On the other hand, I have never gotten motion sickness on a train.

Now, if you were heading south to Florida from here, you can't beat boarding the Silver Star in Cary. Perfect schedule for an overnight train. However, the tip I always give for riding the train to the northeast, is to board it in Rocky Mount.
Reasons:
1. You do have to drive about 1 hour from here to Rocky Mount, but it's all freeway and traffic is almost never an issue. Plus, it cuts 2 hours off of the train ride, so it's a worthwhile trade, IMO.
2. Ample free parking at the station (And it feels pretty safe - the police station is right next door.)
3. There are 4 trains per day bound for the Northeast Corridor instead of 2 so you have lots of schedule options in both directions and also more alternatives for re-booking in the unlikely event of a cancellation. (Silver Star, Silver Meteor, Palmetto, and Carolinian.)
4. It breaks up the trip so it's a bit less monotonous.
^Great post. I always listen when Orulz posts about transportation topics. He/she has always been spot on.

One concern nobody mentioned is possible delays. I've 'heard' that they are fairly common. I've only taken the train to Charlotte a few times, and locally to Durham or Raleigh for fun. Always had a great experience on all of those.

For me, it boils down to price. So far, it's not much cheaper to take the train than to just fly into Newark and then take the train to Penn Station. With two driving adults, driving becomes very attractive, depending on where you'll stay (and what it costs to park a car).
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Old 09-12-2017, 08:30 AM
 
1,509 posts, read 2,416,217 times
Reputation: 1554
Quote:
Originally Posted by orulz View Post
I am moderately prone to motion sickness when working or reading while in motion. For whatever reason, I get motion sick in cars, buses, and on airplanes when they're not rock-solid at cruising altitude (which you wouldn't be for long, between Raleigh and NYC.) On the other hand, I have never gotten motion sickness on a train.

Now, if you were heading south to Florida from here, you can't beat boarding the Silver Star in Cary. Perfect schedule for an overnight train. However, the tip I always give for riding the train to the northeast, is to board it in Rocky Mount.
Reasons:
1. You do have to drive about 1 hour from here to Rocky Mount, but it's all freeway and traffic is almost never an issue. Plus, it cuts 2 hours off of the train ride, so it's a worthwhile trade, IMO.
2. Ample free parking at the station (And it feels pretty safe - the police station is right next door.)
3. There are 4 trains per day bound for the Northeast Corridor instead of 2 so you have lots of schedule options in both directions and also more alternatives for re-booking in the unlikely event of a cancellation. (Silver Star, Silver Meteor, Palmetto, and Carolinian.)
4. It breaks up the trip so it's a bit less monotonous.
Others have said it, but great advice. Additionally, the Silver Meteor still has a dining car so that opens up that possibility as well.

Quote:
Originally Posted by Repatriot View Post
This is a great thread, good info here.

What is the door-to-door time for Raleigh-GCS? Does it continue north from CGS or would you have to change trains for that?
GCS? If you mean Grand Central in NYC, Amtrak doesn't service it. Grand Central is only NYC Subway. Amtrak operates out of Penn Station, which is located in Madison Square Garden's basement. The routes you can access here terminate there. (Silver Star and Silver Meteor operate from Miami to NYC, Carolinian operates from Charlotte to NYC, and Palmetto operates from Savannah to NYC). If you wanted to go further north than NYC you'd have to change trains in either DC or NYC.
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Old 09-12-2017, 08:33 AM
 
Location: Raleigh, NC
19,362 posts, read 27,588,925 times
Reputation: 35957
Quote:
Originally Posted by orulz View Post
I am moderately prone to motion sickness when working or reading while in motion. For whatever reason, I get motion sick in cars, buses, and on airplanes when they're not rock-solid at cruising altitude (which you wouldn't be for long, between Raleigh and NYC.) On the other hand, I have never gotten motion sickness on a train.

Now, if you were heading south to Florida from here, you can't beat boarding the Silver Star in Cary. Perfect schedule for an overnight train. However, the tip I always give for riding the train to the northeast, is to board it in Rocky Mount.
Reasons:
1. You do have to drive about 1 hour from here to Rocky Mount, but it's all freeway and traffic is almost never an issue. Plus, it cuts 2 hours off of the train ride, so it's a worthwhile trade, IMO.
2. Ample free parking at the station (And it feels pretty safe - the police station is right next door.)
3. There are 4 trains per day bound for the Northeast Corridor instead of 2 so you have lots of schedule options in both directions and also more alternatives for re-booking in the unlikely event of a cancellation. (Silver Star, Silver Meteor, Palmetto, and Carolinian.)
4. It breaks up the trip so it's a bit less monotonous.
Good information. Unfortunately, we're going to fly home, hence leaving our car in Rocky Mount isn't going to work.
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Old 09-12-2017, 08:37 AM
 
2,267 posts, read 1,932,052 times
Reputation: 2554
I want to do this....can anyone comment on how their sleeping compartments are? I have 3 kids and think they would really enjoy it.

Also how is the wi-fi on these? Consistent and strong?
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Old 09-12-2017, 08:50 AM
 
Location: Apex, NC
430 posts, read 623,923 times
Reputation: 649
Quote:
Originally Posted by cchampagne232000 View Post
I want to do this....can anyone comment on how their sleeping compartments are? I have 3 kids and think they would really enjoy it.

Also how is the wi-fi on these? Consistent and strong?
Don't know about the east coast but we took a sleeper car from Chicago -> Salt Lake City a few years ago. It was fine for sleeping but we spent 90% of our non-sleeping time in the observation car. In general if you intend to take a sleeping compartment you have to book it well in advance. For our trip we knew the day they were available for the date we were travelling (I think it was 6 months in advance) and I made sure I was waiting to reserve it when it became available at midnight. It may not be as big of a deal for East coast runs though.

As others have said, their wifi is based off cell coverage, so it's OK when you're travelling along interstates but drops off for portions of the trip. You should be aware that not every train offers wifi so check they have it on the train you're taking. Also, as of the last time I used it a couple years ago it was OK for web browsing but you really couldn't stream video with it. Maybe that's improved.
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Old 09-12-2017, 09:41 AM
 
Location: Raleigh, NC
6,646 posts, read 5,537,672 times
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Random question but has anyone ever taken Amtrak cross-country? I've had an idea for a while now to buy a rail pass sometime and do a cross country trip with stops in between.
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Old 09-12-2017, 10:04 AM
 
Location: West Raleigh
1,037 posts, read 1,373,894 times
Reputation: 1243
Quote:
Originally Posted by pierretong1991 View Post
Random question but has anyone ever taken Amtrak cross-country? I've had an idea for a while now to buy a rail pass sometime and do a cross country trip with stops in between.
I know LOTS of people who have done this - friends, colleagues, family, etc. It's a lot of fun but takes a little planning, obviously. But totally do able.
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Old 09-12-2017, 10:06 AM
 
Location: West Raleigh
1,037 posts, read 1,373,894 times
Reputation: 1243
As far as the difference between the Cary and Raleigh stations:

Cary has more parking but if someone is dropping you off it doesn't really matter.
If you board at Cary, you have to go through Raleigh anyway so you're on the train ever-so-slightly longer (maybe 10 min) and have to be ready sooner. Additionally, you may save a dollar or two by boarding at Raleigh because technically it's a "shorter" trip.
However, depending on your departure time, you might not want to deal with whatever traffic might be going on in downtown Raleigh but if you're leaving mid-day or at another non-peak time I don't think it'll matter.
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