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Privately-Owned Rail Cars

amtrak.com

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Re: Privately-Owned Rail Cars

#61

Earlier quoted context omitted.

There’s inherent safety built into this dream. Van life in the woods sounds dangerous. Your train is traveling at a certain speed at all times on a route that’s operated by professionals. You are also not utterly alone and there is a company that can provide some customer support. You’ll never have to make a stop at a shady motel or gas station. Van life is a first class ticket to becoming a tidbit in serial killers…

I live the RV life. Before this I camped in a rooftop tent mounted to my truck. The woods are among the least dangerous places you can go. But also, shocking as this is, you can take your truck or van to dense urban areas if you desire. There is little need for "customer support" when you are driving your own vehicle. Occasionally you get repair problems but mechanics are readily available in even small towns. Van li…

Ever use that roof top tent in urban areas? How hard is that?

Where I live you can park on the street for 48 hours. I suspect, however, that you can’t sleep there. You would get a knock at the very least. So, I’ve considered an incognito van that looks like a work truck. But, I wonder if you could just pop up a roof tent and sleep wherever.

I’m mostly talking about city center here. As an example, I’d love to do this in neighborhoods in CA (where locals are already street parking).

Re: Privately-Owned Rail Cars

#62

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Why would a criminal record be relevant at all? Other than prior convictions for train robbery, I guess.

I, for one, would rather not be murdered on the Orient Express.

Seeing as they apparently made up fake terrain and mountains around Vinkovci in the movie I probably be worried about fake weather killing me.

Re: Privately-Owned Rail Cars

#63
post #35

Earlier quoted context omitted.

You seem to know what you’re talking about, so… I’ve heard that occasionally (rarely) they need to put some “public” cars behind the private ones. And if that happens, you are not allowed to prevent the public passengers from walking through your private car to get between the public sections. Is that the case?

Yes that's true. They try to put private cars at the front or rear of a train, but sometimes they aren't able to. So you may have the public walking through as you eat dinner. Comes with the territory {shrug}. Train crew (conductors) always have the right to walk through the car. If your train goes into Tampa Florida for example, the train has to reverse out of the station to a wye so it can turn around. If you are t…

Are these new trains different from the Siemens locomotives that Amtrak have been using in the Midwest for the last ~10 years? I don’t recall ever seeing anything on the back of those trains.

Re: Privately-Owned Rail Cars

#64
post #48

Some of you might be interested in The Hacker Zephyr, a cross-country train hackathon with 42 teenagers from across the world. We worked with Amtrak and an amazing team of train enthusiasts to get 3 vintage train cars on The California Zephyr’s route across the US. We started in Vermont and ended in Los Angeles, traveling 3,502 miles over 10 days. Short documentary: https://youtu.be/2BID8_pGuqA Planning documents and…

With Starlinks new in-motion service you could have really great connectivity on those trips.

Wouldn't normal cell service suffice as well? Unlike in an RV, you'd presumably never be too far from civilization.

Re: Privately-Owned Rail Cars

#66
It would be pretty cool in a "fantasy" way but seems like it would be cool if you could "live" on a train that's always moving (besides at the stops).

You would be comfortable in your own train car and wake up in a new place every day... terribly impractical but still seems cool, haha.

Re: Privately-Owned Rail Cars

#67
post #48

Earlier quoted context omitted.

With Starlinks new in-motion service you could have really great connectivity on those trips.

Wouldn't normal cell service suffice as well? Unlike in an RV, you'd presumably never be too far from civilization.

I haven't taken this route specifically, but a lot of Amtrak routes don't follow roads and don't have great cell service.

Re: Privately-Owned Rail Cars

#69

There is a surprising number of big name entertainers who are afraid of flying, and either have their own rail cars, or rent them. You will occasionally see them parked on the siding by Symphony Park when they're playing Las Vegas.

That's pretty cool. Any names we might know?

Re: Privately-Owned Rail Cars

#70

Some of you might be interested in The Hacker Zephyr, a cross-country train hackathon with 42 teenagers from across the world. We worked with Amtrak and an amazing team of train enthusiasts to get 3 vintage train cars on The California Zephyr’s route across the US. We started in Vermont and ended in Los Angeles, traveling 3,502 miles over 10 days. Short documentary: https://youtu.be/2BID8_pGuqA Planning documents and…

You always have a sense of a ton of money sloshing around in these sorts of things; in college we used to get symphony orchestras to fly our group out to collaborate on performances. But, it's a different matter to see it enumerated. For anyone not wanting to read through, I found ~$160,000 in private train car payments, and somewhere around $40,000 in fees and tickets to Amtrak.

That’s $5k per kid or $500/day per kid. Not bad at all considering.
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