
There is no reason to cross the U.S. by train, but I did it anyway - gk1
https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2019/03/20/magazine/train-across-america-amtrak.html
======
kyleblarson
My (now) wife and I took the Empire Builder from Seattle to Chicago about 10
years ago. We purchased a private cabin. We were 8 hours late leaving Seattle
and couldn't get into our cabin until we got to Spokane because of some sort
of merge of trains coming from Portland and Seattle. Got to Spokane, got our
cabin, another 6 hour delay. By the time we reached the upper Midwest, they
were rationing food, literally cutting every meal (that we had already paid
for) in half. We eventually arrived in Chicago about 22 hours late.

The train was disgustingly dirty and the employees were surly and unhelpful.

Having taken dozens of train trips in Japan since 2001 I was incredibly
excited for the American train experience. It was shit and I will never take
an Amtrak again.

~~~
Zimahl
For those that don't know, the Empire Builder from Seattle stops in Spokane to
hook up with a train that is coming from Portland. The combined train then
goes all the way to Chicago. If either are delayed it can result in waiting
for the other and long delays are apparently the norm and not the exception.

My wife and her grandfather took the train from Portland to Minnesota in the
fall of last year. There were a number of issues with the service on the train
that make it bad enough, but the speed of the train is a major problem of why
these trains are somewhat worthless for travel. Freight trains get priority on
the rail lines so many times the train was stopped for possibly hours waiting
for freight trains to pass.

On my wife's trip the refrigeration went out at some point so cold food was no
longer available, nor was food that required refrigeration before it was
cooked. Fortunately they disembarked soon after that happened. The rest of the
train was still a day or so from Chicago and those passengers were stuck with
god knows what to eat.

~~~
stcredzero
_> > We were 8 hours late leaving Seattle and couldn't get into our cabin
until we got to Spokane because of some sort of merge of trains coming from
Portland and Seattle. Got to Spokane, got our cabin, another 6 hour delay. By
the time we reached the upper Midwest, they were rationing food, literally
cutting every meal (that we had already paid for) in half. We eventually
arrived in Chicago about 22 hours late._

 _> > The train was disgustingly dirty and the employees were surly and
unhelpful._

 _> On my wife's trip the refrigeration went out at some point so cold food
was no longer available, nor was food that required refrigeration before it
was cooked. Fortunately they disembarked soon after that happened. The rest of
the train was still a day or so from Chicago and those passengers were stuck
with god knows what to eat._

Stuff like this makes it feel like the USA is falling apart from being a 1st
world nation, crumbling in bits and pieces into a 3rd world one.

~~~
PhantomGremlin
_Stuff like this makes it feel like the USA is falling apart from being a 1st
world nation, crumbling in bits and pieces into a 3rd world one._

That's exactly the wrong take-away!

Amtrak is totally irrelevant for trans-continental travel. There is a "daily"
departure from Seattle to Chicago. I.e. one train per day. Probably a few
hundred passengers on a good day.

I just did a quick check and there are 7 non-stop flights tomorrow from
Seattle to Chicago. Average air travel time is about 4 hours. Cheapest fare
for tomorrow is $262.

So this train exists for a few tourists and for a few people who can't or
don't want to fly. Everyone else takes a non-stop plane and gets there in
hours not in days.

It's an indication of the USA's wealth and bounty that we are willing to waste
billions of dollars a year on useless vanity projects like this. Long distance
Amtrak runs at a loss, the US congress provides $1.3 billion a year to make up
the difference. In addition there is a $650 million subsidy for passenger
trains between Washington DC and Boston. That's arguably something useful,
since the route is heavily traveled.
[https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/2018/03/21/amtrak-
gets-n...](https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/2018/03/21/amtrak-gets-
nearly-2-billion-federal-spending/447301002/)

~~~
stcredzero
_It 's an indication of the USA's wealth and bounty that we are willing to
waste billions of dollars a year on useless vanity projects like this._

It's kind of a "nature preserve" of socialism in the US.

------
CWuestefeld
My wife and I did this several years back, New York to Chicago to San
Francisco, and it really was a wonderful experience.

But get a sleeper compartment, don't sit with the cattle. It's worth it,
really.

And that's even though we spent little time in our compartment almost the
whole trip we were up in the observation car watching the American landscape
roll by.

One highlight of the trip was when storms over Helper, UT, washed out some of
the ballast from the tracks. We had to wait three hours for someone from the
railroad to come inspect to see if it was safe to pass. While waiting, there
was a guy with a guitar in the observation car, and we had a nice sing-along.

It's just a great way to see samples of everything America has to offer.

~~~
chrisseaton
> While waiting, there was a guy with a guitar in the observation car, and we
> had a nice sing-along.

That bit sounds like hell to me but I'm glad you had fun! In the UK we have
special carriages where you're not allowed to make a noise so you can avoid
that kind of thing.

~~~
cubano
Even if the guy was really good?

I personally think a well-executed acoustic guitar singalong can add a lot of
real joy to any group experience.

I've played in rock bands since I was 15 (I'm north of 50 now), and I've been
on stage in front of a thousand people and I've played to killer mosh pits and
all that, but my best memories of all those years were the after-parties where
it was just me and my bassist with acoustics and a room full of drunk people
singing along to the Eagles or Sublime or maybe even Weezer...

Now, it helps to have a professional level acoustic guitar and, of course, a
professional lead singer to hide everyone's mistakes, but it can be a magical,
cathartic experience when the room all sings at the top of their lungs...

Great memories.

~~~
72deluxe
I think Brits find public singing embarrassing, and even more so if the person
doing it is right next to you, and a complete stranger. It gets worse if it
involves a guitar.

Of course, this changes if alcohol is involved.

I get the feeling that showcasing some skill in a public fashion is loved in
the USA, not so much in the UK. We typically want to sit and not disturb
others, and find any other kind of disturbance awkward; we try to sit quietly
and pretend it isn't even happening, eg. not even looking at the person making
the disturbance. eg. some people arguing at the back of the bus probably won't
make people at the front of the bus turn around or tell them to shut up.

~~~
munk-a
In the US observing someone showcasing a skill in public is usually not
enjoyable but there is less of an emphasis on decorum and politeness and more
of that good ol'libretarian individualism so going out into public and
demonstrating how heart stoppingly amazing you are is a pretty common
occurrence.

I think this is a bit different than busking which tends to be relegated to
locations where people aren't required to hang around for long periods of time
(like outside a metro station where someone enjoying your music can stay and
chill for a while or just continue into the relative quiet of the station
platform.

------
jackschultz
Last year my sister had a week off and took the Empire Builder across the
country out west. Lots of talk about how the sleeper car is worth it and I
remembered she didn't, so I asked her her take and this is the response:

"I traveled alone on the Empire Builder from Milwaukee to Portland, Oregon
(two nights/almost 48 hours) in June 2018. I wanted to get a sleeper car but
waited too long to book so my only option was a regular seat. I knew I’d be
unhappy if I went straight through two nights with no bed and no shower, so I
made a stop in Whitefish, Montana for 24 hours. In the end it couldn’t have
worked out better. I loved Whitefish and was happy to spend some time
exploring the beautiful scenery I’d seen whizzing by. The sights around
Glacier National Park were literally breathtaking.

As far as the train itself, I spent most of time in the observation car, and
as a solo traveler I was happy to find everyone was very friendly. I’m only
5’2” and luckily didn’t have a seatmate so I could pretty much lay all the way
down at night. A lot of people brought pillows and blankets, but I was ok
without. Ear plugs and an eye mask were the key to getting any sleep. There
were delays here and there which didn’t bother me because I had a very loose
schedule anyway.

I don’t have enough good things to say about my trip! I’m looking for an
excuse to take another long-haul train."

People have their own stories, so hopefully this gives another perspective.

~~~
bdamm
This is like my own experience. I've done Vancouver->Seattle->Oakland, which
is beautiful. Train friends were all fun and some memorable. Also
Oakland->Chicago, with my wife and 4-yr old son in a family sleeper. We had a
great time. The California, Utah and Colorado segments were stunningly
beautiful. And we all enjoyed the shower when we checked in to our hotel in
Chicago, which was basically a block or two from the train station.
Outstanding.

Its not an airliner, or a bus, or a car, and that's a good thing.

------
gk1
For anyone interested in more train-travel stories I've written (partially)
about my trip across Russia, starting with:

[https://www.gregkogan.com/journal/russia-trans-siberian-
rail...](https://www.gregkogan.com/journal/russia-trans-siberian-railway-st-
petersburg/)

Still have half the trip left to write about, which I'll do bit by bit.

~~~
yakshaving_jgt
I _love_ stories like this, and I'm eager to embark on my own trip on the
railroad.

Thank you for writing it.

~~~
gk1
Thanks for saying that. That encourages me to keep writing.

------
afarrell
Note that the author took a sleeper car. In terms of price, this is a bit of a
luxury.

As someone who has taken the Lateshore Limited service all the way from
Chicago to Boston in just a regular seat, I would strongly advise you _NOT_ to
do that. It is just miserable.

~~~
nickjj
Yeah that's a big difference. The regular seats are a much different story.

I've never done it but I read about how it's basically 3 days of sitting
shoulder to shoulder with someone and there's no showers. Can't imagine what
that would be like in a car filled with 50+ people.

I did take the Amtrak from CT To Boston once and it wasn't too bad, but that
was a few hour trip. Much different than a few days.

~~~
volkl48
My understanding is that most people are not actually traveling coast to
coast, but on shorter segments of the overall route. I don't think you're
likely to be next to the someone for 3 days.

~~~
afarrell
Yea the Lakeshore Limited Albany->Boston is fine.

------
nerdbaggy
There are many great reasons to take a train across the U.S.

When I was on sabbatical I took life at a slower pace. And riding the train
was just an amazing beautiful slow experience. Sometimes we just go through
life to fast, and a nice slow train does the body well

~~~
chillydawg
We should all remember that souls only travel at the speed of a camel, too.

~~~
lucozade
I'm guessing you've never been on a galloping camel.

This is not a comforting observation...

------
Townley
Years ago, I took an Amtrak NY > Chicago > Seattle > SF > LA > Texas > New
Orleans, stopping in each for a few days. I brought programming textbooks and
some novels, and just read/thought all day long. At night I'd either eat in
the dining car (expensive) or from a supply I'd picked up in the previous
city. I'd get a sleeper car when it was cheap (eg Chicago > Seattle) and sleep
in my seat during more expensive legs of the trip.

You meet people from every part of US culture (North Dakota oil field workers,
Portland hippies, LA actors...) all unified by not being in a rush and a
dislike of flying. On trips outside the NE corridor, the train attaches an
observation car which becomes an incredible place to talk the night away with
fellow passengers.

You have to be flexible, in sound physical shape, and have a month and $2k to
part with (or you can just take on a few Wordpress theme contracts and call it
even) but it's a truly wonderful experience for a certain person at a certain
stage in their life.

------
c0nsumer
I once took the train from the Detroit area (BMM -- Birmingham) to San
Francisco, roughly... 9.5 years ago. I went alone, had a sleeper cabin to
myself, and loved it. I really want to do it again, this time maybe stopping
off places on the way. What I particularly enjoyed was the route west seemed
timed to pass through the Rockies and Sierra Nevada during daylight.
Basically, I went to sleep around Omaha, woke in Colorado. Sleep near Salt
Lake City, woke in Reno. Then departed in the Oakland area the next afternoon,
took BART to Caltrain and on to my friend's place in Palo Alto. Made for a
really nifty trip.

They aren't organized (I just dumped them), and Gallery2 is showing its age,
but if you'd like to see a bunch of photos from on-board the train, here you
go:
[https://nuxx.net/gallery/v/travel/sf_via_amtrak_nov_2009/all...](https://nuxx.net/gallery/v/travel/sf_via_amtrak_nov_2009/alltemp/)

~~~
JSeymourATL
Upvote for photos, nice share!

------
thebaer
I'm about to take the train from Florida to Oregon and I can't wait. I ride
Amtrak up and down the east coast all the time, and will take it over flying
any day.

Yes, the trains are often late. Yes, it's slower than flying and maybe even
driving. But it's a _journey_. You can show up 15 minutes before the train
leaves and still make it on board. You can bring snacks and some beer, meet
people you never would've talked to otherwise, see parts of the country you'd
never see otherwise.

You get to travel for the sake of traveling -- a rare pleasure indeed.

------
codingdave
I take the train cross-country whenever I can. I enjoy it. I enjoy the people,
I enjoy the views. All the positive aspects mentioned in the article are 100%
true.

But I can't help but feel that this author wants to dislike trains. He wants
everyone to understand how awful and slow it is. And they went into this story
with a chip on their shoulder, and were disappointed to find that the trip had
value.

But the trains aren't just about cross-country travel. They travel through
small towns where people rely on them for trips to larger cities. If you live
in Mount Pleasant, IA, you can take the train into Chicago just as fast, and
far easier, than driving. Want to go from Salt Lake to Denver in a blizzard?
Trains will take twice as long as driving but you can sit there and safely
watch snow-capped peaks go by instead of worrying about driving your car off
the edge of a mountainside. Pick any 2-6 hours train trip on the map, and
those are the majority of passengers on Amtrak. And I have frequently run into
retired people heading to Iowa to pick up RVs, because Winnebago contracts
delivery of RVs out, and it is a nice part-time job to get a one-way train
ticket, then drive a RV to someone's home and get paid for it all.

In short, the purposes serve by Amtrak have as much variety as reasons people
get in their cars. It is a valuable service to those who need it, even if
authors for the NY times aren't the 'target audience'.

~~~
freeone3000
This story was written with a much more positive tone than I believe the facts
warranted. Such sleeping and toilet arrangements are closer to prison
arrangements than anything a reasonable person would expect, and the delays
were lesser than what I've experienced.

I thought I was the type of person who would ride a train. I wanted to get
from Denton, Texas to Temple, Texas. This was simple. The booking website is
_exactly_ as bad as mentioned. I finally got one that promised me a four hour
trip with a short bus ride on each end. Alright, cool, that's fine. So I
schedule to arrive about thirty minutes prior, except the train is delayed two
hours. That's half the ride again, on a delay! This causes me to miss my
connection, and the next train wasn't scheduled until tomorrow. I cannot
imagine anyone trying to use Amtrak for actual travel, when reliability and
timeliness matters.

------
moosey
I've used a number of carbon output calculators, and one of my major carbon
outputs are two flights from the Inland Northwest to the Northeast part of the
country each year (work related). It seems that in the case of my travel, my
lowest carbon option (according to at least one calculator I've used) is
actually an economy ticket on an aircraft. It also clarified that for shorter
trips, the greyhound bus is without equal.

I haven't been able to discover if this is something that is specific to the
United States, or how that calculation is made. However, I am of the opinion
that there is always a good reason to ride trains, particularly in the US:
increased demand for train travel.

Other than those two flights, I have abandoned all long distance travel for
the rest of my life, or until largely carbon neutral and safe travel exists. I
believe that such technologies will be produced in the medium term.

~~~
pacifist
The problem with airplanes is that the carbon is released in exactly the wrong
place[0] so your intuitions are correct. We are stuck between a rock and a
hard place as far as air travel is concerned: don't fly and we lose a major
component of global dimming[1], fly and and it puts CO2 in the upper
atmosphere speeding us toward global warming on an apocalyptic scale. If you
can read a graph you know we are in big trouble.

[0] - [https://globalwarmingisreal.com/2013/03/20/earthtalk-
airplan...](https://globalwarmingisreal.com/2013/03/20/earthtalk-airplane-
emissions-and-climate-change/) [1] -
[https://www.researchgate.net/publication/11218772_Climatolog...](https://www.researchgate.net/publication/11218772_Climatology_Contrails_reduce_daily_temperature_range)

------
jointpdf
I've taken Amtrak cross-country (CA <\--> Chicago via California Zephyr / SW
Chief) about a dozen times in my life. If you're not in a hurry to get from A
to B, there's no better way to travel IMO. Sure, the trains are outdated and a
bit stanky, but it's just a perfect cross-section of American life (both
people and landscapes).

It's a perfect place to zen out and burrow into a book / creative project for
a few days. Plus, you can just show up right before the train arrives and
you're on your way (perfect for people who run on wizard time, like me).

You definitely have to prepare a bit if you want to get a decent night of
sleep in coach, though. Here's a short survival kit: -Tylenol PM / Benadryl
(or your preferred sleep aid of choice) -Warm clothes / travel blanket (it can
get _cold_ ) -Pillow/neck pillow/some way to keep your head immobilized
-Earplugs + noise cancelling headphones -Eyemask -Patience/equanimity

~~~
dfgert
I agree. Train were so much more fun as I can recall from my childhood
memories. Now I rarely see someone traveling via train, and those who do are
trying to save some money(train fares are cheaper in other countries).

I guess time that's available to people has shortened so much that they can't
afford to engage in fun once in a while. Even the damn vacation feels so
hectic and stressful. I guess that's because most people's idea of vacation is
going to new country/city that they have never visited(totally unfamiliar with
things there) and try to cover all of it in 1-2 weeks(all they get in a year).

------
2sk21
I have traveled New York to Seattle by Amtrak in 2016 and it was one of the
greatest experiences of my life. Sleeper class is not cheap in peak season,
but its well worth the cost at least once.

------
giarc
New Canadian citizens get a Cultural Access Pass which enables them to a 50%
discount on Canadian train travel with VIARail (among a ton of other perks).

[https://media.viarail.ca/en/press-
releases/2015/10-july-2015...](https://media.viarail.ca/en/press-
releases/2015/10-july-2015-via-rail-renews-cultural-access-pass-progra)

~~~
ihaveajob
This is awesome. Talk about being immigrant friendly.

------
ilovecaching
If Amtrak would add reliable paid WiFi and upgrade their cars, train would be
exceedingly worth it.

The next step would be to repair the tracks, which are shared by freight and
passenger, which makes the ride worse.

~~~
scarface74
Adding WiFi wouldn’t help. It would probably be a cellular based WiFi service
massively shared and no better coverage than you would get with your own data
plan.

~~~
lukeschlather
They have WiFi on some trains, and that's exactly what it is.

------
ams6110
Took Amtrak from Chicago to Las Vegas once. Worst travel experience of my
life. Hit a car, had a breakdown in the mountains, and they lost my checked
luggage. Over 24 hours late. Never again.

If you are ever tempted, just fly. It's cheaper, much faster, and you can
spend the time and money you saved on something interesting.

~~~
degenerate
This is what I heard from every single person who took a train long distance
somewhere (>300mi)... some said it was an "experience" but they would never do
it again, and flying is just as cheap, faster, better, less hassle.

------
csomar
I tried the Amtrack against advice not to. I went from DC to NYC and then to
Boston. The train was not luxurious but it was "fine". I took the cheapest
option (which was not cheap given the train was slow and the distance is
short). [I'm comparing prices to EU].

\- The seats were large and comfortable enough. But I'm a small sized person.

\- The trains were on time.

\- The stations were not renovated or nice but functional. Boston station was
good enough. NYC, a bit confusing.

\- There was food on board. It was okay for 3-4 hours ride.

\- Wifi didn't work. Data will disconnect near big buildings or under tunnels.

\- It's not clear which station we are in. Maybe they could have a digital
screen that shows some info?

~~~
ghaff
The Northeast Corridor Amtrak route is fine. The Acela trains are nicer and a
bit faster but IMO not so much so that I typically will pay out of my own
pocket at 2x the price. (The pricing is really for business travelers for
which they only really need to be competitive with air.)

I much prefer those routes to flying. But Penn Station in NYC really is a
disaster. (It's a long and sad story dating back to the Penn Central
bankruptcy.) Although things are slowly being fixed up as part of a massive
building project.

------
binarysolo
I did a search on the thread and didn't see it, so here's a shoutout to the
USA Rail Pass (15/30/45 days of travel on Amtrak; while not unlimited, it
functionally is in practice): [https://www.amtrak.com/take-the-trains-across-
america-with-u...](https://www.amtrak.com/take-the-trains-across-america-with-
usa-rail-pass)

I spent 45 days traveling the US about a decade ago, during a transitionary
period from work to grad school. Visited a bunch of friends in different
states and really had a great time.

The clientelle for multiday Amtrak trips falls closer with travel backpackers
and RVers - people who really care about the journey over the destination
(since air is far superior to get you from A->B fast and reliably). Lots of
interesting folks who also are doing this for whatever-their-own-reasons.

Not-sure-if-obsolete tip: I snagged my rail pass from a retiree on Craigslist
for half price. Turns out Amtrak employees get friends-and-family rail passes
as perks and a few of them end up on the resale market.

------
kingaillas
I had a very good experience taking the train from the Orlando, FL area to the
Washington, DC area when I moved many years ago. That is Amtrak's auto line,
so I also moved my car that way. As I recall, it was about $200 for my ticket
and $200 for my car. I could have gotten a bit less buying earlier than I did.
My other option was to drive myself, but that would have taken longer and been
more expensive considering gas and lodging.

The trip was about ~16 hours total, including some time arriving early enough
to line up to load my car, and time waiting for car unload.

Each carriage had an upper and lower half, and the lower half was further
divided into restrooms and sleeper bunks on one half, and general seating on
the other half. I just got a regular general seating ticket, which was fine
because my trip was only one overnight - seats were spacious, reclined fairly
far, had electric plugs and so on, and had a key advantage: the lower general
seating compartment was a dead end. Only people sitting there had reason to
come in, so it was quiet.

The upper half of each carriage linked to the other carriages, and was how
everyone moved back and forth and got to the dining carriage. There was
another carriage (top half) set aside as an entertainment space, with TVs and
tables, reading area, decks of cards, bar, etc. People sitting in the top area
had the less pleasant situation of sitting along the path everyone had to use
to move around the train.

I thought the food was just fine. Yeah it isn't fine cuisine but it was tasty
and included in the ticket.

Anyway, I'd like to try a longer train ride sometime, I know some folks who
really enjoyed a Trans-Canada train vacation that included one or two
overnights off the train. It sounds kinda fun, I'd spend my time reading,
bring along some compact boardgames and a portable console to play.

------
MarcScott
I did SF to NY back in my 20s after working at summer camp. Not in one go, but
over about four weeks with stops in Last Vegas, San Diego, New Orleans and
Miami.

It was a great experience and I met some great people. Never had a sleeper,
and that just made it easier to mingle with my fellow travellers.

I remember playing hours of chess with some old dude in the smoking carriage,
and the shitty cans of margaritas at happy hour served from the train bar.

Unlike jumping on the plane, the train journeys were an integral part of the
travelling experience, rather than just a method of getting from one city to
another.

------
mkj
And then there's the less-luxury option. [https://moxie.org/stories/klamath-
falls/](https://moxie.org/stories/klamath-falls/)

------
daveslash
There's a photo of a guy burning brush in his backyard and the caption says _"
Somewhere in Illinois. One of Amtrak’s main selling points is the chance to
spy on the nation’s hidden places, the backyards whose possible existence had
never occurred to you."_ It's interesting for me to look at that photo and
think _" I too have peered into that guy's yard. I don't recall specifically,
but I took that train and if I happened to be on the same side... then
presumably..."_

------
arethuza
When my father was in the RAF in WW2 he crossed the US by train from Florida
to Hollywood - his reason simply seemed to be because he could.

Edit: Note that he did this during some leave time he had accumulated.

------
robmiller
Well, this is timely. I'm hopping on Amtrak tomorrow for a 30 hour trip with
three young kids.

------
gumby
It really is fun when the journey is the whole point. Last year I took the
train from Adelaide to Melbourne, a trip I took frequently as a kid before the
plane became primary. Back then it was exciting but there was not much to do:
whole family in a sleeper cabin; a stop at the border to change crews, and
that's it.

Now it's a twice-weekly tourist service. I was sad at the thought that train
service had fallen so low, but discovered instead that I really enjoyed the
change of landscape as we traveled and spent most of the 11 hours looking
through the window. I was sorry to see all the now-closed country stations we
went through (including my own: I had to drive into Adelaide to get the train
and then 45 minutes later pass through my starting point) as the trains really
did knit the little towns together in ways cars have not.

I also spent a lot of my childhood traveling on (steam!) trains in India,
probably because of cost.

I think that's why a friend and I took the trans Siberia express in the 1980s
when we were in our 20s. It was super fun but the opposite of what I wrote
above: USSR was so _huge_ that the view outside the window was largely
monotonous, but the action _on_ the train was fun (everyone was super
friendly).

------
caprese
> TELL YOUR FELLOW AMERICANS that you plan to cross the United States by
> train, and their reactions will range from amusement at your spellbinding
> eccentricity to naked horror

Its not just that its the train use, its the fact that you want to cross
America at all! The perception is that it is a large foreign land full of lots
of things that can go wrong solely due to incongruent laws.

(Mid 1800s) Cross a border and be sold into slavery by bounty hunters? Check

(Fiction, but is it?) Transportation breaks down and you are surrounded by
mutated hillbillies in the desert? Check

(2010s+) Highway robbery of all the money on you by some random municipality's
police themselves under protection of the state? Check

(2010s+) Get thrown into an old people's home under a guardianship racket that
the doctor's and the court system are all invested in? Check

Be kidnapped and sold into illegal sex slavery?

Be kidnapped and sold into legal sex slavery in the desert without adequate
means of getting help?

But yeah none of that is likely to happen and these are irrational fears, but
you can ALSO just fly over all of that noise.

------
mrtnmcc
This article is noticably more creative in its writing than the average
nytimes article. Maybe a long train ride does a writer good (and anyone else
who needs to think outside the box).

~~~
alchemism
Amtrak has for a few years offered an annual Writers Residency Program. There
may be some truth to your quip.

[https://www.arts.gov/audio/writing-rails-amtrak-residency-
wr...](https://www.arts.gov/audio/writing-rails-amtrak-residency-writers)

------
loosetypes
It's super cool that Amtrak does a residency for writers[0].

Now if only open-source writers could fall under that umbrella!

[0] [https://www.arts.gov/audio/writing-rails-amtrak-residency-
wr...](https://www.arts.gov/audio/writing-rails-amtrak-residency-writers)

------
yitchelle
Coincidentally, I was watching Brave Dave doing freight hopping all over North
America. For the brave at heart and with tons of energy, this looks a bit more
exciting, and much cheaper.

[https://www.freighthopping.com/](https://www.freighthopping.com/)

~~~
carapace
And illegal, and dangerous.

Train hopping is for those who need it. Give it respect and don't treat it
like a sport or touristy thing.

Story time... More than a score of years ago I was a young man traveling south
from Seattle with a group of other kids. And old hand (I'll call him Jim) took
us under his wing and showed us a bit of the ropes, how to ride the rails. The
train folks are pretty old school. Level-headed, and not unkind.

At one point we stopped on a siding. Before long an older man in overalls and
a cap came down, walking the line. He could have walked out of a 100-year old
photo. We kids were spooked and hid in the back of the car, but Jim just sat
calmly in the open cargo door, in plain sight, and waited for the train man to
reach us. When he saw us he was very calm and quiet, he greeted Jim and they
had a very mellow and civil little conversation. Before he left to check the
rest of the train, he picked up a rusted old loose train spike from the ground
and showed us how to use it to spike open the cargo door so it wouldn't be
able to slide shut and trap us or injure us.

At a yard near Tacoma we tried to jump on a slow-moving train and the bulls
stopped us. They were pretty kind considering, and they said that if we had
been boarding a stopped train they wouldn't have bothered us, but a few weeks
earlier a guy had tried to hop a moving train and tripped and fell and lost
both of his legs, and that's why they stopped us that night, they said. Jim
had a warrant out for some BS so they took him in. The next morning we tried
to go see him but none of us knew his last name so the (very friendly and
sympathetic) officer at the station's front desk couldn't tell us anything
about him. We had to leave and I never saw him again. (Way before cell phones
were common. Feels like 1800's now.)

I remember getting rained on while riding on some tanker cars. They have these
niches in the bulkheads at each end that are just large enough for one or two
people to curl up in. We took turns in there with the rest of us huddled
around to try to block the rain. It might sound crazy but it was a lot of fun.

But I can't recommend it as an adventure. Visit the Grand Canyon, or volunteer
in a remote place, or something if you want adventure. Train hopping is for
those who need it. The old school respect and kindness that passed between the
train folks and a group a homeless kids trying to travel hundreds of miles
with no money was one of those secular sacred things that deserves respect.
Trains are awesome.

~~~
elsurudo
I have nothing to add, except to say thanks for writing that – I really
enjoyed reading it. A bit of whimsy in the preceding paragraphs.

------
8bitsrule
Always a bit amusing when people who ride trains then complain about the time.
_What a wonderful thing_ to set the world aside and just relax.

I've enjoyed several 3-day trips (no sleeper) from the midwest to the west
coast a great deal. Apart from the scenery, there's the honesty and
storytelling ability of the landscape. Travelling through towns and seeing
what the townsfolk seldom see. The weather sweeping across vast plains and
mountain forests.

If you know some of the history of areas you're moving through (which is _very
easy_ to do these days), no audiobooks or iPods needed. Fellow passengers may
have remarkable stories to tell - even with no words spoken. Oh, and that 'no
smoking inside' thing? Don't take that _too_ seriously, keep an eye open.

------
tialaramex
Scheduled aviation means altitude which means pressure change which fucks with
my ears. So, I'm useless for a day or two either side.

Unless traveling across an ocean there will be a way to get there without a
plane that only takes the 2-3 data I'd be out of action anyway.

One of the very few down sides of this era is that the fast passenger liner
isn't a thing any more. Titanic sank trying to get to New York quickly. I can
get a passenger ticket to New York today, from Southampton where I live, but
now it's a leisure market, they don't schedule them for rapid travel just as a
cruise, so it's not practical to go back and forth that way.

------
osdiab
I took a long-haul, slow train in China from Shanghai to Guilin (18 hours or
so) and that was a great experience - watching the Chinese landscape go by,
really cheap to get a sleeper car with my friends, and no delays.

The high speed rail is good too if you want to be quick, both in China and
Japan (though Japan is much more expensive); I took the Chinese ones
frequently but longest haul I did was Shenzhen to Shanghai (8 hours or so) and
that was both smooth, nice views and comfortable.

------
geggam
I did Seattle to Chicago. Drank quite a few pina colada from a can while
sitting in the observation car.

Some of the most beautiful scenery you will ever see, assuming you aren't in a
hurry

------
gwbas1c
I really enjoyed driving across the country three times. Anyone do both, and
can compare?

~~~
rubidium
By sleeper car, train is luxurious and much more relaxed. By vehicle you can
sleep each night in a hotel and take a shower each day. Both have + and -'s.
But my ranking would be Sleeper Car train > Driving > non-sleeper car train.

Trains can be much more social.

~~~
seanmcdirmid
You can get lower with a greyhound bus. Sure they stop at every prison along
the way, but the views are actually quite nice. The social is also there, but
can be a bit scary depending on your appetite for adventure.

~~~
frosted-flakes
Does Greyhound still operate services across the US? I know in Canada they've
shuttered most of their operations except for the more heavily used eastern-
central routes in Ontario and Quebec because everything else is not
profitable.

~~~
seanmcdirmid
Greyhound still has all of its cross country routes. Like I said, many people
depend on them, especially prisons, but they are also cheap and service many
many places that trains and planes don’t go near.

------
wave100
I took the Amtrak from Albany to Boston regularly for a while. Once, we had a
hazmat train in front of us come uncoupled, and were sitting on the track for
three hours. Another time, we were delayed because the tracks right past
Albany were somehow on fire. I was an hour late to the station one time, and
still had to wait two hours once I arrived because the train was somehow later
than I was.

Amtrak. Not even once.

------
apple4ever
Back in 2011 I took a trip from Philly to Tampa (to watch spring training).

Me and my buddy split the sleeper car cost (~$750 each). That also included
three meals since it was a 24 hour trip. And at that time the food was good.

It was really fun actually. Yes, it was long, but we enjoyed the trip. Seeing
the east coast up and down was neat. Talking with random people who are there.

I'd definitely do it again, but only for special trips.

------
brailsafe
Canadian here to offer an anecdote. I spent about 80 days road tripping and
living out of the car with my gf between julyish to Nov in the US, coming from
Vancouver. My car died near Fresno and I had about 2 days to figure out what
to do with almost all of my posessions and find a way home. After considering
our options we decided to take the train from Fresno to Vancouver with some
heavy and annoying baggage, and then I'd later Train from Vancouver to
Winnipeg for christmas.

Context out of the way, AmTrack was great and mostly on time with some killer
scenery and no WiFi in economy. We really enjoyed the 30 hours or so plus the
2 hour bus ride. The train from Van to Winnipe was also fantastic in Economy,
albeit a little uncomfortable and much more dated than the trains in Cali. It
was just me solo, so I made some friends and got some work done, if I was
single I'd maybe find a closer friend. Killer scenery. Highly recommended but
it will cost you to be comfortable or pretentious.

------
0898
Caity Weaver used to write for Gawker. I've always loved her work – I think
she's one of the best writers of our generation.

------
devy
To top it off, one should try Trans Siberian Railway, the longest railway in
the world.[1][2] There are 3 routes:

\- Moscow to Vladivostok

\- Moscow to Beijing

\- Moscow to Ulaanbaatar

I haven't been myself, but it's one of those things one should try once before
they die. And there are even movies set in Transsib. [3][4]

[1] [https://wikitravel.org/en/Trans-
Siberian_Railway](https://wikitravel.org/en/Trans-Siberian_Railway)

[2] [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Trans-
Siberian_Railway](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Trans-Siberian_Railway)

[3]
[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Transsiberian_(film)](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Transsiberian_\(film\))

[4]
[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Horror_Express](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Horror_Express)

------
baybal2
American trains are so sloooooow. I routinely take long range bullet trains in
China, and am greatly grateful for the generosity of Chinese taxpayers making
it real =D

Shanghai - Beijing sleeper trains are great value, and during 8 hour
Guangzhou/Shenzhen - Shanghai day trips, you can work comfortably.

------
standardUser
I remember when a friend and I were planning a trip from SF to Chicago and
looked in to taking a train. Turns out, the train takes longer than driving
and costs more the flying. Which really made me wonder... who is taking these
trains?

------
dustindiamond
So, how feasible is this as a remote worker?

What I am really asking is, how reliable is wifi/internet and is it available
through the entire journey?

I would not mind a workcation this way, but probably could not afford a
satphone’s data plan.

~~~
jointpdf
There is no WiFi on Amtrak trains--you'd have to tether to your phone. And for
most Amtrak routes, you'd be going through some significant service deadzones
(depending on the route, you could be in the middle of a mountain wilderness).

 _But_ I can't think of a better workcation spot if you can be offline
periodically. For me, the train is simultaneously relaxing and stimulating, a
perfect place to zone in on work while still embarking on an adventure.

Edit: Apparently there is WiFi on some Amtrak trains, but I wouldn't count on
it.

------
tc7
Lovely writing!

In May, myself, my wife, our two kids (8, 6), are amtraking from Chicago to
San Francisco in a family sleeper. I'm excited. We've enjoyed our (much
shorter) amtrak trips from Ashland, VA to DC.

------
stuart78
This article's title strikes me as condescending and annoying. There are
'reasons' to travel by train for a lot of people. My cousin has a deep fear of
flying and hasn't done so in several decades. So he travels by train. As this
writer learns, it can also be an enjoyable way to see the country.

That said, I did once survive a 24 hour delay on Amtrak between Chicago and
Oakland. It was the middle of winter and track was splitting, so the train
would move a few miles and then wait a few hours for the crew to replace the
broken rail.

------
darrenf
In the last 6 years I've twice done circuits of Europe by train - sleepers
(mostly) in 2013 when we hit 28 countries in 18 days, and an anniversary
reprise of sorts last summer which took in a mere 16 countries in 10 days. As
much as I love to fly (and I do), long distance rail travel for no particular
reason is wonderful. I hope one day to hit up a long Amtrak route or two in
the US, maybe the Ghan in Australia, and others.

------
conorh
I’ve done Amtrak with my young kids twice, Tampa to DC overnight, in a sleeper
cabin as described in the article. They love it, we love it. Hanging out,
watching the scenery go by, exploring the train, meeeting other passengers,
reading, playing on devices, playing games (the kids love making little forts
in the upstairs bunk). It is a wonderful way to travel. We do the train one
way and then fly back to save time.

------
jecxjo
I've done so much air travel for work and would love to catch a train on the
way back. But the fact that it costs such a ridiculous amount just doesn't
work. The price really need to compete against driving your own vehicle. If
you plan it right air travel can be very cheap, just wish I could afford
taking a slow train on a Friday to be home in time for work Monday and cost me
$100 or less

------
f5thesystem
Headline like this won't get me to read the article. There's plenty of reason
to cross the country by train. You could be afraid of planes. You could just
really like trains. You could like to see the country from the ground. Maybe
it's a romantic experience or journey. Who knows, but there are certainly
really good reasons travel across the country the way you want to.

------
lifeisstillgood
I'm planning to take my family on an RV across the US (The Lincoln Highway in
other words) partly cos it's always been a dream of mine, and partly to get
the kids introduced to real travelling rather than holidays.

I had never considered it by train - seems harder to just stop off and meet
people, something I consider the point of travelling (yes landscapes are
lovely but I am a Homo Sapiens Bigot)

~~~
chrisseaton
> I had never considered it by train - seems harder to just stop off and meet
> people

Could you take the train, but instead of a non-stop journey just jump off when
you pass through an interesting town, and then resume your journey the next
day?

~~~
lifeisstillgood
It seems to lack the flexibility I was hoping for - lunch in this town, dinner
in that. plus i suspect it entails excitingly expensive tickets and fun
timetable management :-)

~~~
chrisseaton
Ah I'm used to roughly hourly trains - I guess some of them in the USA only
pass through once a week even.

------
forstdcli
This post will get downvoted so much but as a female who grew up on welfare,
the first one in my family to graduate from high school, with a degree in
electrical engineering and now self taught crappy but getting better software
engineer, I literally want to cry knowing this antagonistic response os still
the default of the heartbeat in tech.

If anyone eants real stories about what its like for a female in hardcore tech
not a priveleged woman in pro women tech events all the time (and honestly,
traumatised to go in fear of the dillemma of how do I encourage women while
simultaneously warning them of what an emotioal nightmare it is wading through
biases much like the ones that exist in this conversation but not as a one off
hn comment threads but interwoven in the fabric of your everyday interactions
with coworkers, tech scene friends and original first impression to college
peers) while not diacouraging them that hey deapitw the building, the perao al
dignity you'll gain from prpving yourself if your willing to put in the effort
and quite honestly lets be real, the security that financially you'll never
hage to depend on a man, that the day he hits you you can take you and your
children and leave his sorry ass behind and never have to worry about money or
atleast meeting the basic needs of your family, is nkt the high money whire
rich men on wallstreet feel bjt its a high you should feel everyday when you
wake up in the morning when you ask yourself what is the minimum level of
bullshit your willing to put up with and what is not, is forever worth it.

------
cooperadymas
The most difficult part about rail travel seems to be booking it. I've looked
multiple times at using Amtrak for both travel and for rail tourism, and I've
never been able to fully understand what to book and how to book it. Maybe I'm
being dense about it but it always feels unnecessarily complicated and
confusing.

~~~
delecti
Maybe I'm not understanding what you're not understanding. Just put in your
origin and destination cities and book a ticket. It's only slightly different
from air travel in that there are fewer hubs and routes. Open up the map [1],
pick two cities along the red lines.

[1] [https://www.amtrak.com/routes.html](https://www.amtrak.com/routes.html)

------
jxsonl
I did it with a 15-day railpass as a graduation trip with 4 friends. Wouldnt
say that it was the best experience with very tight budget as broke college
students but a very special experience for sure.

Especially when passing through Washington state national park. At that moment
all of us agreed that the trip was worth it.

------
darksaints
> Amtrak food is on a par with the fourth-best airplane meal you could ever
> imagine.

Well that's charitable...

~~~
AllegedAlec
> Amtrak food is on a par with the fourth-best airplane meal you could ever
> imagine.

What does this even mean? Do you only get a minor case of food poisoning if
you eat it?

~~~
kortilla
Food poisoning for airline meals is quite rare. They go to great lengths to
ensure that it’s the least offensive to the widest range of stomachs (at the
expense of flavor and variety). The last thing an airline wants is 400 people
fighting over 12 bathrooms 8 hours into a 15 hour flight from LAX to SYD.

------
paulcarroty
If someone want to do it virtually - highly recommend
[https://www.imdb.com/title/tt5378198/](https://www.imdb.com/title/tt5378198/)
, a lot of good nature views and historical facts.

------
redsavagefiero
Public ground/rail transport in the US is not for the faint hearted. Spoken as
a travel veteran in three decades of cross country trips via Greyhound and
Amtrak.

TIPS: * Don't cross Texas in a Greyhound. * Don't go to New Orleans Amtrak
coach from DC. _

~~~
lagadu
Can you share the why of those two tips? I'm not from the US so I have no
experience with those but it sounds like you have some interesting stories
about it :)

~~~
redsavagefiero
Texas is a long, uncomfortable haul in general. The year I did this crossing
was 1994. Witnessed racism, religion gone wrong and malicious violence in more
than one local personality jumping on for a town to town hop.

New Orleans coach was 2004. The rowdiness, smells and movement in the train
gave me the only migraine I've ever had. I could barely give directions to the
cab driver for my hotel and slept 16 hours.

------
ggggtez
>Amtrak clings to the hope that someday people will view its service not as
something that sucks and that they hate, but as something that is actually
nice and that they don’t hate.

This is the money quote, I think.

------
peterwwillis
It's literally cheaper and faster in many cases to fly into one city, take a
beautiful stretch of scenic railway, and then fly back home from another city.
Frontier Airlines is good for this.

------
herodotus
There is no appetite for high-speed rail service in the US or Canada. Mainly
because of distances. But the Fuxing Hao CR400AF/BF can reach speeds of 249
mph. Now at an average of, lets say, 180mph, it would take about 15 hours to
travel from Vancouver to Toronto. (Yes, rough calculation, but just to get the
idea.) So I could leave work early, say at 3pm, leave the stations at 4pm,
enjoy the view as the rockies whip by, go to bed, wake up and have breakfast
on the train, and be ready to have my meeting with the Toronto VCs at 8:30 in
the morning. Use electric power instead of diesel, and this would be my
preferred way for this route.

Of course, the cost to build this might drain the treasury for the foreseeable
future...

------
paulie_a
While I am still going to do the empire builder. The theme I generally hear
is: "despite it being more expensive, takes longer, it is an amazing trip that
I would never take again"

------
thecrumb
How's the wifi? I've been considering doing this one day. I can work from
anywhere - so if I had a good wifi signal for a bit everyday I could easily
sit on a train and code.

------
m3nu
I went from San Fran to Chicago by train as a backpacker 13 years ago. Was a
nice experience. Also got my first Macbook just before the trip and had some
time to play with it. :-)

------
mizchief2
I don't understand the obsession with laying high-speed rail all across the US
when we have perfectly good airplanes and a massive network of airports.

------
pacifist
I've taken the train across the country several times. I don't hate to
fly(it's getting pretty bad actually) but I love to take the train. I never
get a sleeper and I recently discovered a way to make the journey way more
comfortable: not one but two buckwheat hull pillows. I use them to sleep so I
usually bring one but for some reason I decided to take two and ended up with
one for my head and one under my butt. I suspect that they make the seats
extra uncomfortable in an effort to sell sleepers. Anyway this arrangement
solves the problem for me.

------
g3rd
My husband and I are taking the train from Washington, DC to Glacier National
Park in September. Super excited! Get to cross it off of the bucket list.

------
Kiro
This article shows how culturally different Sweden and U.S. are. In Sweden it
has become taboo to use the plane for any travel destination where you can go
by train, to the level where we see the complete opposite headlines here
("There is no reason to fly when you can take the train"). You need to have a
very good reason to fly at all or the pitchforks will get you.

I've personally completely stopped flying.

~~~
ghaff
Many people are fine with taking the train in the US when it's remotely
competitive in terms of time and price. However, in practice, that mostly
means a subset of the Northeast Corridor (the whole thing is about an 8-hour
trip vs. a short flight) or a handful of various city pairs that are only a
few hundred miles apart. But it's simply not practical for me to take the
train from Boston to Chicago, much less San Francisco. People can get out
pitchforks if they like but I'm essentially always going to fly.

~~~
isostatic
Quite. Makes sense to do train from NY-Boston or NY-Washington. Maybe
Washington-Boston, but 5 hours is probably about the limit.

I suspect few people in Sweden would recommend traveling Stockholm to Madrid
by train

~~~
ghaff
Boston to Washington is something over 7 hours. I've done it but it really
doesn't make sense most of the time--especially given that Reagan airport is
on the metro which neutralizes one of the advantages that taking the train has
in a place like Manhattan.

It's really the two segments you mention that get a lot of the traffic. You
see this when you pull into NYP from Boston and the train pretty much empties
out.

------
mooreds
This was awesome and the trip is on my bucket list.

However, I really enjoyed the tongue in cheek humor.

------
dk1138
The writer for this story is exceptional. This is non-fiction commentary at
its best.

------
ctingom
Doesn't the government run Amtrak?

~~~
WorldMaker
Sort of, but not really. The US Government is king of weird semi-privatized
public partnerships that are the worst of both worlds. Amtrak is very similar
to the current iteration of the USPS, in that Amtrak is run as its own "for
profit" somewhat publicly traded company, yet has to answer to the US Congress
as its largest shareholder.

------
vorotato
There's also no reason not to ;).

------
anth_anm
I took the train for the first time a few months back. Was a couple hundred
miles (less even).

I really like it for about the first 3/4.

Then we took forever to get the last little bit done. I looked into it and
apparently out west Amtrak has an atrocious record for on time service.

It's a shame because it's a great way to travel if you can take the time. It's
comfortable, I had power and wifi. The food isn't great but oh well. I'd
rather take the train than my car, driving is dreary. I'd rather take it than
the bus, which is just god awful.

I really wish we would put in the time to make our trains better. Passenger
tracks and high speed trains would be awesome. Instead we waste time and
effort on Elon's tunnels.

------
anjc
Unreadable and bizarre article. Congrats to the author on rubbing shoulders
with the hoi polloi and getting a...train.

