43 Hours on the Amtrak Southwest Chief • Hacker News Board

Re: 43 Hours on the Amtrak Southwest Chief

#61

Post by munificent » Sat, Feb 04, 2023, 1:11 AM UTC

RandallBrown wrote: post #37

munificent wrote: post #35

This past summer, I took the Coast Starlight from Seattle to Monterey with my wife and kids. I loved it. It's hard to convey how different it is from flying. Whenever I fly somewhere, especially these days when flying is such a miserable cramped experience, I always feel like my vacation starts after I endure the entire airport + plane experience. The whole travel part is in the same "chore" bucket as packing, findin…

I planned a trip from Seattle to New Mexico on Amtrak and it was pretty cool... until they canceled the leg of the trip from LA to New Mexico and I had to take a Greyhound for like 19 hours. I was only in business class but that got me access to the dining car. Since I was alone they sat me with different people for each meal and the food was actually really good! Of the 5 or 6 times I've taken Amtrak only once has t…

I was worried about delays and canceled legs too but we got lucky on our trip and everything was exactly on time.

Re: 43 Hours on the Amtrak Southwest Chief

#62

Post by arcticbull » Sat, Feb 04, 2023, 1:11 AM UTC

funkaster wrote: post #58

I did the SF - Truckee train with my son during the summer. We got a roomette type of accommodation. The food was OK, the trip overall was pretty nice. But for the price, I'm not sure I would do it again. The train was "not clean" (there was a dirty used towel inside the bathroom), the room had some crumbles and overall it was not dirty, but it was clearly not properly cleaned. At least not to the level that I would'…

Regular seat on the route is like $50 and you can hang out in the dining and observation cars. I took it to Reno and then took a shuttle to south lake. Was nice!

Re: 43 Hours on the Amtrak Southwest Chief

#63

Post by jrochkind1 » Sat, Feb 04, 2023, 1:12 AM UTC

tuke wrote: post #57

The post suggests that "freight trains have priority." By law, passenger travel is expected to have "precedence." Read: https://www.amtrak.com/content/dam/projects/dotcom/english/p...

Interesting! Your link suggests that legally passenger trains are supposed to have priority, but that in practice freight trains are given priority.

I didn't know this, and it makes me even madder! But as far as an explanation for why Amtrak trains are so often delayed (which is how it appeared in OP?), it appears to be correct that it's because freight trains are given priority. It's just that... they're not supposed to be, right?

At least according to Amtrak? I wonder if anyone has a third-party analysis of what's going on? I'm surprised I've never heard this before, thank you for bringing it up.

> The leading cause of delay to Amtrak passengers is “freight train interference”...

> ...Myth: “Amtrak already has the highest priority of all trains on freight rail lines.”

> Truth: Freight trains represent the largest cause of delay to passengers.

Re: 43 Hours on the Amtrak Southwest Chief

#64

Post by annoyingnoob » Sat, Feb 04, 2023, 1:16 AM UTC

I highly recommend the Coast Starlight from Santa Barbara to San Luis Obispo (or the other way around). The train goes through Vandenberg AFB and a lot of private property, where you cannot otherwise generally go. Just beautiful.

Re: 43 Hours on the Amtrak Southwest Chief

#65

Post by Mountain_Skies » Sat, Feb 04, 2023, 1:18 AM UTC

aidenn0 wrote: post #56

AlbertCory wrote: post #24

My obligatory reminder of what we lost when Stevie went to the great club car in the sky, where he's playin' cards with the old men, ain't nobody keeping score. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e4ztWNJYFrU The greatest train song of all time. Arlo Guthrie talking about how Steve came to him with that song: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yZx7xCK6yfo . (at 2:09)

I've only heard the Arlo Guthrie version; thanks for sharing!

Though not as good as the other two, the David Hasselhoff cover is much better than I expected.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Aj3hyNspyDM

Re: 43 Hours on the Amtrak Southwest Chief

#66

Post by bruceb » Sat, Feb 04, 2023, 1:20 AM UTC

CalRobert wrote: post #10

hristov wrote: post #5

So, to summarize: 1. No beautiful woman in an adjoining cabin. 2. No high stakes poker games. 3. Not a single murder to solve. 4. No apparent spies. And given the menu had only three wine selections it would be very difficult to ferret out any spies using ones high class upbringing. So for all we know the train could be lousy with spies. 5. Nobody gets tossed off the train. 6. No fight on top of the train cars while…

As discussed at https://www.theonion.com/murder-mystery-on-train-not-so-fun-...

Ha, the pic they have ruins it. So obviously BART, not even close to Amtrak style train, bugged me so much I emailed The Onion a funny complaint.

Re: 43 Hours on the Amtrak Southwest Chief

#67

Post by jrmg » Sat, Feb 04, 2023, 1:23 AM UTC

If, as so many are here, you’re in the Bay Area, the Coast Starlight from San Jose is a great way to travel down to LA or up to Portland or Seattle. It’ll take a while - but the trip, and the scenery, are part of the point.

Re: 43 Hours on the Amtrak Southwest Chief

#68

Post by adgjlsfhk1 » Sat, Feb 04, 2023, 1:24 AM UTC

jrochkind1 wrote: post #63

tuke wrote: post #57

The post suggests that "freight trains have priority." By law, passenger travel is expected to have "precedence." Read: https://www.amtrak.com/content/dam/projects/dotcom/english/p...

Interesting! Your link suggests that legally passenger trains are supposed to have priority, but that in practice freight trains are given priority. I didn't know this, and it makes me even madder! But as far as an explanation for why Amtrak trains are so often delayed (which is how it appeared in OP?), it appears to be correct that it's because freight trains are given priority. It's just that... they're not suppose…

The TLDR is that most of the US is single tracked and the freight trains are bigger than the passenger train has to wait even if it has priority because the freight train is too big to wait.

Re: 43 Hours on the Amtrak Southwest Chief

#69

Post by azefiel » Sat, Feb 04, 2023, 1:25 AM UTC

tuke wrote: post #57

The post suggests that "freight trains have priority." By law, passenger travel is expected to have "precedence." Read: https://www.amtrak.com/content/dam/projects/dotcom/english/p...

While technically true, that law is never enforced, so in practice OP's statement is sadly correct. Wendover Productions made a great video [0] explaining this situation.

[0]: https://youtu.be/qQTjLWIHN74?t=07m40s

Re: 43 Hours on the Amtrak Southwest Chief

#70

Post by phillipcarter » Sat, Feb 04, 2023, 1:26 AM UTC

jrmg wrote: post #67

If, as so many are here, you’re in the Bay Area, the Coast Starlight from San Jose is a great way to travel down to LA or up to Portland or Seattle. It’ll take a while - but the trip, and the scenery, are part of the point.

As a caveat: try not to do it around the holidays, though. Very busy and very little scenery in the PNW due to shortened days.

...and also sometimes you'll get a passenger who talks about chemtrails, a concessions stand worker who's Officially Had Enough Bullshit, a locomotive that stops working, and someone dying of a heart attack in the middle of nowhere. But I'd like to think that these are more exceptional circumstances.