Cross Country By Train?

[Chatteress]

Originally Posted by raubre

I had replied to an earlier thread asking this, but it may have got lost in th shuffle.

Has anyone ever travelled from coast to coast (in the US) by train? I was wondering how long it took. I'm in Pittsburgh and would love to go to Portland, OR.

Unless you were doing a multi-city journey, flying would be your cheapest and most efficient means of getting from Pittsburgh to Portland. Although you may travel through some nice scenery, you would likely tire from being on a train for the duration of the trek from Penn to Ore.

[Alaskan Mutt]

I did Chicago to Portland to Sacramento to Reno. I had a roomette all the way to Sacramento. It took right at 4 days including time spent changing trains at Portland and Sacramento. Sure, it would have been cheaper and much faster to fly, but I made the train ride as part of my vacation and not just a means to get from point a to point b. If your travel dates are flexable, play around with Amtrak's website. The train fares stay consistant. However, the prices of the rooms can vary a lot. I saved over $500 on my roomettes simply by departing Chicago one day later than originally planned.

[slowlane3]

Originally Posted by raubre

My thoughts are there too. I thinnk I may start with smaller train rides first (Pittsburgh to DC or something like that.)

On that route, you get great scenery (seeing rafters on the Yough River, etc). but it's unbelievably SLOW thru the Alleghenies. I can't understand why the railroads still today use the same winding twisting route that existed in the 1800s, instead of finding a straighter route - like building tracks parallel to the PA Turnpike or something.

[nightbird47]

Originally Posted by Nexis4Jersey

You actually don't sit , your allowed to get up and move. Some trains have skyviews and doubledeckers....its not anywhere close to planes.

I spend most of my time out of my seat in the observation car. Lots of people who are in friendly mode and enjoy conversations. Scenery (even in West Texas), and you can plug in your laptop and watch a movie. I would love a trip from coast to coast on the train, but I'd do stopovers. I DO if I can take that route want to get off in Rattan NM and spend the day. The train chugs up the hill with beautiful scenery all the way to the top and stops there. You can arrainge your trip with multiple stops when you buy your ticket.

I would advise anyone going to go to CA to get off in Palm Springs and avoide the LA corridor. The train stops for ALL the multitude of freight trains and you get a nice view of the rotting underbelly of Los Angeles along the way. Not to mention that while Union Station is beautiful, it is NOT in a good part of town. I had to go to the bus station and was advised to take a cab the three blocks for safey sake.