I'm taking AMTRAK for the first time and you know what that means!

[cboy4]

[trof]

1. No smoking too, ever.

:-(

[taterguy]

4. Can't you still smoke on the platforms?

Last time I used Amtrak you could take smoke-breaks for stops that lasted longer than 10 minutes.

[XemaSab]

2. It means you'd better have a 6 hour buffer

if you want to be where you're heading on time. x(

[cboy4]

3. I'm taking the Capitol Corridor from Sacramento to Oakland.

Maybe it'll be quicker if I walk.

But I don't wanna lose out on the chance of landing in the Hudson.

[XemaSab]

5. More like landing in the Yolo Bypass

:scared:

[cboy4]

7. I know, but it's pretty much bone dry because of the drought!

Sure doesn't look like this currently!

[CreekDog]

19. it's a nice ride actually

the ride along the bay through the Carquinez Strait is pretty. :hi:

[cboy4]

20. Sweeet!

:hi:

[CreekDog]

22. but madinmaryland is going to join you for the ride

to talk about the Cowboys and Barry Bonds. :P :rofl:

[cboy4]

23. I think the constitution says something about cruel and

unusual punishment. :cry:

Hopefully the windows are able to be opened so I can high dive into a meadow along the way.

[Jamastiene]

6. I heard they are killer on the knees too.

My mother said they made every bone in her body that had been broken before hurt all over again.

I hate trains with an unbridled passion.

I don't like them at all. I don't like seeing them, hearing them, being forced to hear about them in the next town over because they were a big railroad town and they never STFU about trains over there, and I don't like the idea of anyone I like riding in them. Please be safe. :hug:

[taterguy]

8. More leg room than driving or flying

So my big-ass knees like trains quite a bit when it's reasonable economically and schedule-wise to travel that way.

[Jamastiene]

10. She said it was the vibrations that hurt her bones.

:shrug:

The town next door to us was a big railroad town on the Eastern Seaboard and trains are a big thing around here. I've always had this unrivaled fear and loathing of them. And I don't trust them. There was also a rash of teen suicides by train in this county in the late 90s that horrified me. Let me depressed. I'll probably always hate trains. :shrug:

[no name no slogan]

11. Trains kick ass

Especially if you spring for a private compartment. Privacy, a chance to stretch out and take a nap, and maybe even have a snog if you're with somebody special.

If time was no object, I'd take a train over air travel any day. It's much more civilized and human.

[cboy4]

14. Ughh. I certainly don't want to touch anything that's been involved

in snogging.

Do they hose down the train after each journey?

[pokerfan]

18. Sleepers are the best!

But they're expensive. Shared one with a g/f on a ski trip to Whitefish once. It's the only way to travel.

[RebelOne]

47. Definitely the way to go.

I took Amtrak from Miami to Philadelphia. I had a sleeper and it was so comfortable. For what it cost me, I could have taken a plane, but I wanted to ride the train because I hadn't been on one since I was 10 years old.

[Jamastiene]

29. I love the wild blue yonder.

:)

[no name no slogan]

31. These days, it's more like flying in a cattle car with wings

To each her/his own :D

[Jamastiene]

33. Yup.

:D

[Lost in CT]

DUPE

[Lost in CT]

49. The handicapped bathroom is a better snogging location.

A hell of a lot more room. nt

[SCantiGOP]

59. best train ride ever

about 10 years ago, for $100 each, me and four guys traveling on business took the train from Toronto to Montreal in first class. Plenty of room, great view, wonderful food and wine, and most of the trip was along Lake Ontario and the St Lawrence Seaway. Great trip.

[cboy4]

12. All I know is I won't be giving my interview to Katie Couric.

HA

To be honest...I'll take the short train ride over the Greyhound bus any day!11!

No offense to people who ride Greyhound, but if the people who hang around the bus station are any indication! :scared:

[Lost in CT]

50. Did you just refer to bus riders as vermin????? nt

[Maru Kitteh]

42. Wow Jama. That''s a whole lot of not much liking for trains. LOL

I've never thought about them much because they've been ubiquitous in all of my personal landscapes from the place of my birth to El Paso, to North Carolina (Willow Spring) right on back to my birthplace again (Nebraska).

In Nebraska, we worry about these: I showed you these once before. If you remember, PM me :-)

[AlCzervik]

9. Have fun and bring a book.

:hi:

[cboy4]

34. Since I'm an Amtrak virgin, I'll prolly be doing a lot of looking

out the window(s) -- not that the scenery will be much different than the thousand times I've paralleled the tracks on I-80.

HA

So....I think I'll just come equipped with my iPod and just kick back. :bounce:

[Midlodemocrat]

13. Well, unfortunately, Joe Biden won't be on the train.

Sorry, Cboy. :hug:

[cboy4]

16. Yea, if it's good enough for Joe.....I'm sure I'll be treated just

as well. :rofl:

[Initech]

15. I ride the Pacific Surfliner all the time from LA to San Diego to Santa Barbara.

It's pretty sweet. No traffic to fight and I can drink a 24 of Arrogant Bastard while I'm enjoying the ride.

[Ptah]

17. I like Amtrak. That's how I got to Hanford to meet some wonderful DUers

A short train video:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tV-vEcNngQQ



Enjoy your trip.

:thumbsup:

[madinmaryland]

21. What the hell is wrong with Amtrak? Maybe if our government actually

funded it, the service would be first class. Hopefully Obama's new priorities will provide support to our rail system.

I'm sure you are happy to hop into your SUV and chug down I-5.

It's the only way to travel here between DC and Boston.

[LeftyMom]

24. What SUV?

And since when did I-5 connect Sacramento and Oakland?

Christ, could the mods please put the two of you on forced ignore so nobody has to read any more of this crap?

[madinmaryland]

26. Well, what is wrong with Amtrak?

I have found it an enjoyable way to travel. That's all I was asking.

Sheesh.

[RetroLounge]

25. Not called for.

Really.

Keep it in the sports forum please.

RL

[madinmaryland]

27. Better rail service is not called for??

:wtf:

Sorry, but this is something that I believe needs to be fixed.

[RetroLounge]

46. Then I misunderstood.

Yes, it needs fixing, and soon...

RL

[cboy4]

30. I-5? I had no idea one could take a north-south freeway

in a east-west direction between Sacramento and the Bay Area!

[madinmaryland]

32. Dude! What's wrong with trains? It can't be an overnight trip.

Just curious.

[LeftyMom]

35. That's the problem.

It takes an hour in a car. Much longer by train, even when they aren't delayed by passing freight.

I don't know if this is true everywhere, but in NorCal Amtrak shares lines with Union Pacific, and the freight trains have priority, so it's not uncommon to have to sit and wait for 20 minutes or more while a freight train passes.

[cboy4]

36. Ughhh....don't tell me that!11!

:cry:

[madinmaryland]

38. You don't have a laptop? I don't know why anyone would want to drive

on the highways, when you have the luxury of taking the train.

If you have a wireless card, you could still check into DU while on the train :idea: and make sure you are responding to everyone who has replied to you. No worries about asshole drivers in cars, trucks, and buses. It's one of the safest modes of transportation, and it helps save the environment. Do your part, cboy!!

[LeftyMom]

41. Because it takes twice as long. And people have things to do.

Oh, scratch that. It NORMALLY takes twice as long, but right now they're doing upgrades on the line between Sacramento and Fairfield. http://www.capitolcorridor.org/ Which means cboy4 would get there faster by walking.

[madinmaryland]

44. I'm surprised, because it is not that way here in the northeast and midatlantic.

I could go from baltimore to bridgeport, ct in 4.5 hours by train, and it was at least six hours by car. I drove that route more than a few times and hated it every friggin time!

When I worked in NYC, the ONLY way to get into the city was by train. Only repubs and morans drove into the city on a daily basis.

[LeftyMom]

45. The scheduled time from Sacramento to Oakland is just under two hours by train.

And that particular route is notorious for long delays. Even without the current track construction issue- apparently they're shifting some routes off of the train and onto buses to allow for repairs.

Absent unusual traffic it's an hour by car.

[Lost in CT]

51. Your assuming it shows up on time to begin with. nt

[madinmaryland]

43. post removal

[mwooldri]

37. Yep some N-S Interstates do go east-west.

I-85 between Durham and Greensboro being a perfect point.

But then most of it is attached to I-40 which is east-west. So you have I-40E/I-85N and I-40W/I-85S. And then in places you have crazy roads where you have a US highway going NORTH and a US Highway going South on the same stretch of road.

Bloody road signs.

[madinmaryland]

40. I-95 goes east-west through Connecticut.

Funny, but I-84 parallels it 30 miles to the north!

[barb162]

28. I hope your trip turns out very enjoyable.

I've never been on Amtrak. I bet it's better than taking a bus by a lot.

[Name removed]

39. Deleted message

Message removed by moderator. Click here to review the message board rules.

[madinmaryland]

48. Dude, Good luck on your trip. Just a couple of things to keep in mind,

You are saving energy and the environment, and you are riding by far the safest mode of transportation around.

:thumbsup:

[lost-in-nj]

52. I took myt first Amtrack ride

from Virginia to Florida an overnighter....

get to FL the next day and find out we hit someone

suicide by train :scared:

the ride back was uneventful
had a sleeper
food was decent

and I WILL do it again with an S/O because I like the
train motion and would like to try it out

:evilgrin:

now to find an S/O

:rofl:


lost

[dembotoz]

53. enjoy the trip

cheaper than flying
generally

and you can walk around in the train.
not much like a car.

if you have the time?
why not

[ScreamingMeemie]

54. Always remember how much I loved you...

:cry:

[cboy4]

57. ....

:rofl:

[madinmaryland]

60. I thought you were going to be on a train today??

[cboy4]

61. I'm leaving this afternoon. I'm not traveling across Europe.

It's a one hour trip down I-80.

[madinmaryland]

65. Sorry. I forgot the sun is just getting warm out there!

[Bake]

55. Ridin' on the City of New Orleans

Dealin' card games with the old men in the club car
Penny a point, ain't no one keepin' score
Pass the paper bag that holds the bottle
Feel the wheels rumble 'neath the floor

And the sons of Pullman porters and the sons of engineers
Ride their fathers' magic carpets made of steel
Mothers with their babes asleep, rockin' to the easy beat
And the rhythm of the rails is all they feel.


-- Steve Goodman

Bake

[DS1]

56. It means your family is very poor, Kyle!

[KamaAina]

58. Steroids in the cafe car?

:P

[cboy4]

62. Not that I knowingly know of

:P

[KamaAina]

63. So I guess that means you're in the clear

or is that on the clear? :P

[cboy4]

64. Ah clever!

Except I have no idea what you're talking about. :hide:

[cboy4]

66. Currently on the train typing from my iPhone. LOL

Boy do I have a lot of good stories!!