Amtrak trip VERY poor experience
#41
Posted 13 April 2004 - 09:14 PM
#42
Posted 13 April 2004 - 10:53 PM
Kevin Korell
OTOL Board Leader
Lakewood, NJ
#43
Posted 13 April 2004 - 10:56 PM
#44
Posted 14 April 2004 - 07:03 AM
Hey Frank!Ps. Although I moan about this trip every chance I get, I also take the trip every chance I get. I'm heading back out next weekend for yet another EB r/t adventure. Gotta' love it. And I do.
Enjoy your trip on the Empire Builder!
I am not nearly as prolific a train rider as most of the regulars here, but of the handful of Amtrak long distance trains I have ridden, the EB is my clear favorite (ridden once in 1998). I even enjoyed the ride across North Dakota and Montana, a distinctly minority viewpoint. After all, how many chances do you have to stand on the train platform in Stanley, North Dakota?
The route is probably the most remote of all Amtrak trains with, for the most part, no parallel interstate for miles: just old US 2 and a series of small farm and ranch towns. It is pure, unadulterated upper Midwest. Get copies of the Delorme topographic map atlases for North Dakota and Montana and you can follow the tracks, curve for curve and siding for siding, and know the name of every town, road, creek, lake, etc. The atlases even show abandoned branch lines and you can look for and see the remnants of the old trackbeds as you ride by. Suddenly, that seeming sameness of the landscape comes alive with interest.
And tell your wife not to worry about those sea legs. Unlike motion sickness, sea legs will only make you slightly wobbly, not sick. It is the sure sign that you’ve taken a nice long ride somewhere, and that is a good thing. Back when my kids were kids, they thought it was “cool”! “Hey Dad, the floor just moved again!” Kids can find amusement in virtually anything.
One last tip: Do not get off in Margaritaville looking for you lost shaker of salt!
Bill
#45
Posted 15 April 2004 - 09:58 AM
#46
Posted 15 April 2004 - 11:30 AM
Those aren't commuter cars on Metrolink, they are light rail cars.It was not the type of commuter car that I am familiar with such as on the St. Louis Metrolink.
Please feel free to post your questions on our forums. I am sure that somebody will either have an answer for you, or point you in the right direction. Our forums are segregated pretty well by mode and by type of train (intercity, rail transit, commuter rail, international, modeling, history, etc.), so please post your questions in the appropriate location so that somebody of expertise will find it quickly and respond.I have a few questions about train travel that I cannot find answers to and wondered if there is someplace that I can post these.
Kevin Korell
OTOL Board Leader
Lakewood, NJ
#47
Posted 15 April 2004 - 05:09 PM
Besides posted your questions in a Forum here, if you haven't seen our Amtrak Travel Tips you may wish to peruse them.I have a few questions about train travel that I cannot find answers to and wondered if there is someplace that I can post these.
Visit our On Track On Line web site
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