Amtrak

[bkraft]

The wife and I are planning a trip to Salt Lake next spring. Wanting to use alternative transportation, just for the heck of it. Have any of you used Amtrak and if so how was your experiences?

[BUGEYE]

took a long ride in 1960.  the daytime portion of a train trip is something to remember.
great food and the rocking motion will make you sleep like a baby.

[gypsyman]

bkraft, took Amtrak for our honeymoon in '96. Very nice. Our trip started our here in Toledo, picked up a sleeper car in Chicago, went to LA.Up to Seatle to relative's, and back the northern route a few weeks later. Food was good, and the porters very nice.(they get a tip, I did it at the end of every trip) If I ever get the time, I'ld love to do it again. gypsyman

[magooch]

My wife and I used to take the Coast Starlight to California every winter for our winter vacation.  We haven't done that for quite awhile, but she has ridden Amtrak's version of the bullet train to Seattle a few times.
 
First, the price was quite reasonable, especially if you are able to use one of their "rail sale" rates and you go coach.  The sleeper cars are kind of pricey and I don't think they are worth it.  AmTrak has some deals where you get to travel all over the place for 15, 30, or 45 days for a set price.  And they have senior discounts.
 
When you go by train, don't expect to be on any tight schedule.  Amtrak trains often have to play second fiddle to freight trains, because Amtrak doesn't own the tracks.  Sometimes the trains will stop at certain towns long enough that you can get off and walk around.  Don't wander off too far, because when they say, all  aboard, they ain't messing around.  Once the train starts moving, you're out of luck; they won't stop to let you on.
 
Depending on what part of the country you are traveling in, you might encounter some situations where the other travelers are--well, sort of different.  You might think you are in another country--like somewhere in Africa, or India, or just plain freak city.
 
Overall, I think traveling by train has to be looked at as an adventure--not just a mode of travel.  If you are planning to rent a car along the way, it often pays to check the prices in towns that are near to where you are going.  We found the rental rates for cars to be a lot less in smaller towns than in big cities.

[Conan The Librarian]

I guess it depends on what you want out of the trip. If you've always wanted to travel by rail, I think you should do it. On the other hand, you get a lot more value for your money by flying. Following is one of our typical experiences. We found that it's better to pay incrementally more to add a second air destination that augments our travel. We've done it for most of our family vacations and I find it to a great way to get the most out of a vacation.

About 7 or 8  years ago I made reservations to travel to Glacier National Park via Amtrak. I thought it would be a cool experience, especially since the kids were about 8 and 10 years old. The week we were to travel, Amtrak was in a financial crisis and may have closed for a while, so I rejected that risk and canceled our reservations.

I then called a travel agent and asked how we could do it by air. She said we could fly into Kalispell but there would be a layover in Seattle. I asked if we could have a two day layover in Seattle because I thought it would be cool to add that to the trip. I had to pay extra for that, but we did spend two days in Seattle before going on to Montana. It turned out to be a great trip. For not much more than the price of the purely Montana trip, we got to see Seattle's China town, aquarium, the Sound, pacific rain forest, tidepools, the Olympic peninsula, Seattle's ferrys, etc. It really added a dimension to the trip. I think it added about $500 to a two week trip for four people, which isn't bad at all considering what we got.

I'm glad we changed our plans because we got a lot more from the trip than we otherwise would have.

At the time, train schedules were highly variable with potentially long waits in lots of places. The costs were higher than air travel (and I believe it's still true today.) By all accounts, the system is pretty rundown today, and you should discard any romantic notions of train travel that you might have.

If I were going on your trip, and I don't know where you live, what I would consider doing is:
1) Fly to Las Vegas and enjoy the sights. It's not all gambling. It's an amazing sight. Just going to Caesars Palace and walking around is an amazing experience.
2) Arrange to rent a car in Vegas and then return it in Salt Lake. This is do-able, but is tricky with online reservation systems so you need to do it over the phone. Travel agents are good for this kind of thing, even if you have to pay a $50 service charge for making all the arrangements.
3) Drive from Vegas to Hoover Dam south, to see that great sight, but stop and wade in the lake by the Marina first and enjoy the cool clear water at the beach there.
4) Drive north to the NORTH NORTH NORTH rim of the grand canyon. This is much nicer than the south rim, and it's on the way to Utah. You'll drive over scenic high desert and through the beautiful Kaibab forest.
5) Drive on to Salt Lake
6) Fly home from Salt Lake.

Spring (i.e., before mid-May when it gets hot) will be a great time to do this.

[Sourdough]

I have a close friend that at one time was morbidly obese.  She lived in Del Rio Texas.  She could not fly, too big.  She was being transfered to North Carolina.  She decided she wanted to take a trip and see friends in Michigan, on the way.  She could not drive long enough to make the trip to North Carolina anyway.  She took AMTRAK and loved it.  Took a little more time than she was expecting, but she loved the leasurely travel.  She kept wanting me to try traveling on AMTRAK. 

Last year I decided to I would look into going AMTRAK from Dallas to Nashville, then to Tampa.  No not good.  I would have had to go from Nashville to Michigan, then New York, then down to Tampa.  That was the only route from Nashville, and it would have taken an entire week, on that loop as scheduled.

Have taken AMTRAK between Orlando and Ft Lauderdale on a reguler basis during the winter.  Schedules are so sporatic, trains five to eight hours late, or trains cancelled, due to track unaviliability, that I just got tired of it.  The last time I rode that train we sat on a siding for seven hours, waiting for fraight trains to go by.  I bought a motorcycle so I can go when I please, without any delays.   Looking at buying a car while I am down there this year.

[bkraft]

Thanks guys keep em coming!