We always travelled by train at the start of vacation when I was a kid. On one trip, we took the B&O from Washington, DC to Chicago where we caught the California Zephyr for the coast. On another trip, it was the Great Northern from Chicago to Seattle. We also went across Canada on the Canadian Pacific. I remember the train trips much better than I remember most of what we did at the destinations!
Newark to Houston and Paris to Yerevan? Are those flights you take regularly? 
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These were taken over from the old railroads who named them - Great Northern, Santa Fe, Pennsylvania, New York Central, etc.
Iām not some sort of dedicated conqueror of the roads; I set the cruise control for the prevailing speed of the other cars and take plenty of pit stops, and average 50 mph when on the road, not counting when I stop for the night or play tourist along the way. I can see the ability to read rather than drive being an enormous advantage, and Iāve nothing against the trip as relaxing excursion. But: driving is something like $200 for the first person (including gas, motel, and meals, though not depreciation or wear-and-tear on the car), and if youāre driving with your partner itās more enjoyable than traveling alone and faster (assuming the drivers trade off), and the second person travels almost for free; a moderate amount of cargo also travels for free. Driving takes the same amount of time as the train (assuming 12 hours of overnight stop) and for half the cost for one person, a quarter for two. Flying one-way is also less than $200 per person if I recall (my last round trip, not purchased long in advance, was under $250), and is a few hours (though without the free cargo of the car trip - though I assume the cargo isnāt free by train).
It sounds like the author and her partner had a great time (poor sleeping accommodations and incessant loudspeakers aside) and I wish them all the best. This could be a great way to see the sights and to get some reading or writing done. But as described itās a crazy way to travel from LA to Seattle unless youāre making the journey itself the goal.
This is the stupid thing about travelling by train vs car - the deal gets worse the more of you there are. Train journeys only make financial sense for lone travellers.
I didnāt start driving until I was in my 20s, used to get the train everywhere when I was a student, but even 15 years ago it was stupidly expensive and incredibly unreliable in the UK, and from what I can tell it has only gotten worse.
I remember getting the train down to Cornwall from Birmingham. Train was an hour late arriving, and only got worse, so by the time we reached Bristol theyād cancelled the later train and renamed our train and turned us into that one. Telling us the train was on time over the tannoy didnāt go over very well. Then on the return journey they moved the departure time up an hour and cancelled all the reserved seats.
It can take 7 hours to ride on AMTRAK from Raleigh to Charlotte NC, a total of 175 miles. As quaint and romantic as that all sounds, we would have thought theyād have improved on station to station times since 1870.
I remember taking the Silver Meteor from NYC to Miami back in the late 50s and early 60s. Kids four and under rode free, so I was instructed to lie about my age. It wasnāt the most scenic trip, though we did get a glimpse of the Washington DC lights. I mainly remember the water fountains with the little conical cups and antimacassars on the seat backs from the first trip. The second trip, a few years later, had a movie and a fashion show. I kid you not. Then, they finished some more of the interstate highway system, so we drove.
One problem is that passenger service never makes money in the long run. This was true for coaches, post chaise, buses, trains, airplanes and probably donkey u-drive. The railroads introduced sleepers in the late 1920s and 1930s because they were losing business to automobiles and intercity buses. Supposedly, the 1890s were the glory days with big spenders and gambling cars. Needless to say, sleeper cars and private rooms soon showed up in all sorts of movies as they provided a great excuse for unlikely people to get together. (See Palm Beach Story for a hilarious take on this.) They were also great for intrigue. (See Night Train to Munich.)
Iām glad to hear that is still possible to get a taste of this kind of train travel. For an amusing snapshot from the 1970s, read Paul Therouxās The Great Railway Bazaar and its sequel.
Narry a mention of the unofficial āStar Lateā nickname of the train though. The trip I took North from Klamath Falls was lovely and only and hour and a half late.
I really enjoyed crossing the Cascades from the high desert to the Willamette Valley on that trip. Saw the sun set when we were going through Tacoma and arrived in Seattle at dusk.
I think $200 is low for 1200 road miles + a hotel.
30mpg gas at $5 is $200. A hotel is what $70? Just to compete with say a train. And you burn 1% of your car which is perhaps another $200.
That all adds up to roughly the rule of thumb which is that for long trips 2 person trips tend to be around the break even for car vs plane or train (plane and train are usually very similar).
One often applicable big advantage to going by car is that you have a car at the other end.
As to timing and experience, well I think it varies person to person and trip to trip a lot. Airplane trips tend to be a good 5-6 hours longer than the flight time because getting to and from and security is a lot heavier than by train. However sometimes the train has the same to-from burdens, depending on the destination. Some people like to drive, others loath it. Sometimes you can sleep on a train or even a plane. Sometimes with young kids its easier to let them run around in an airport than to keep them strapped down in a car for an extra 4+ hours. Itās not something one can make a blanket statement about.
Great post!
The Starlight is wonderful! We have taken it (coach class) a few times between San Francisco and San Luis Obispo.
Points of interest:
Count the number of discarded mattresses around Oakland and then discuss how damned pricey it is to get rid of one properly (dump=weighed trash).
Travelers of all walks of life (grandparents with grandkids, Berkeley professors, Mennonites, train-time party celebrators, folks who like to smoke, Japanese Catholic nuns on vacation).
In coach the awesome safari like club cars.
Outside of SLO there is almost a Disney-like view of the scenery out the windows.
I took this same trip back in 2006 (sans sleeper car). For us, it wasnāt quite the romantic adventure that Nicole described. The thing that they didnāt tell us is that passenger trains now take a back seat to commercial trains. There were quite a few times where we were stuck for what seemed like hours waiting for a commercial train to pass. They get the right of way at intersections now because passenger trains just donāt bring in the money they used to.
Our fellow passengers were mostly nice. But, we also ran into some real rednecks who even completed the experience by getting drunk at 8:30 in the morning. Also, Iām pretty sure that a woman was sneaking into the bathroom to smoke meth (or crack) every hour or so. Meanwhile, her kids were running around like banshees on the train.
The worst part of the trip is that somewhere near Klamath Falls, Oregon the train broke down. They got on the loudspeaker and said: āThe train is broken, everyone off!ā And, they kicked us off for about 3 hours while they had some other group come along and fix it.
There was no WiFi back in 2006 so, thatās one nice improvement. Another bizarre experience on that trip was that the tracks pass right through Vandenberg AFB. You can actually see what appeared to be nuclear missile silos in the ground from the train window.
Seattle was beautiful. So was Mt. Shasta. And the coastal views were incredible. I would imagine that each time you take the train you end up having a different experience.
I took the Starlight from San Jose to Seattle. Somewhere just past Eugene, OR the train was stopped due to strong weather. We were next to a hill that had been clear-cut except for a thin hedge between the tracks and the mountain-side. A strong gust knocked a row of trees into the Parlour car - shattering the windows.
That marked the end of our train ride. Amtrak then bused us via Greyhound to Seattle. All-in-all a fun adventure.
30mpg gas at $5 is $200. A hotel is what $70?
When I last did it two years ago, it was more like 35 mpg and $4 gas - so $135-$140, not $200. And a $50-$60 motel room just off the highway, and some cheap food.
And you burn 1% of your car which is perhaps another $200ā¦
I have no idea if itās 1% of my car or not, but 1% of my car is nothing like $200.
Airplane trips tend to be a good 5-6 hours longer than the flight time because getting to and from and security is a lot heavier than by train.
5-6 hours is a bit much (leaving from a LA regional airport is simpler than from LAX, and the light rail in Seattle is absurdly placed but cheap and fast), but flying remains a lot cheaper and faster. For better or worse.
Iām certainly not saying the car is a panacea, and Iām certainly not saying I see no reason anyone would choose the rails. But itās a slow choice, and it costs a lot more than either the fast choice (flying) or the other obvious slow choice (driving), and driving offers some advantages (cargo capacity, and mobility enroute and at the end) to weigh against the (significant) advantages offered by rail travel.
Thatās kinda the thing ā unfortunately in North America train travel is relegated to the category of āTravel Experiencesā. In this case the experience was excellent and well worth doing. In our defence though, we were running under a few added constraints that brought the train into spitting distance of being practical.
As Nicole says at he beginning of the article ā we wanted to do the trip together. From a time & financial perspective, her packing up on her own and flying up on her own absolutely made the most sense. From a relationship perspective, this was the pits.
Second, Nicole had no car in LA , which meant either I would have to drive down solo from Vancouver then drive back again, or fly down and rent a car in LA and get hit with extraordinary deadhead fees dropping it off in Seattle. I would have loved to do a road-trip up Highway 101, but the cost of gas and wear & tear on the car and the driver (me) made a round-trip impractical, and deadhead fees took renting a car out of the running.
Third, by the time we were actually booking tickets the cost of airfare for two from LAX -> SEA, during the summer, just before a holiday weekend, was not inconsiderable. It was still cheaper than taking the train but it was expensive enough that we kept coming around to the idea of making an adventure out of the trip, and having a story to tell about it afterwards.
So, while having an adventure and enjoying the journey were absolutely the main reasons we chose to go by train, given the constraints we had it wasnāt a completely impractical choice either.
Great post!
Does anyone know if there is full-length cab video of the Coast Starlight journey, you know like those on that old post?
Factual correction : The Coast Starlight is not the last full-service sleeper train in the US. Amtrak operates several long-haul routes with sleeper service.
For example, the Texas Eagle, California Zephyr and Southwest Chief all have the same or similar equipment and service as the Coast Starlight. Amtrak operates two kinds of sleeper service, SuperLiner and ViewLiner. The tradition is alive and well, and extremely popular.
A lot of Amtrak trains have sleepers and dining cars. I distinguished the Coast Starlightās āfull serviceā sleeper from the other Amtrak sleepers because it also has the Parlour Car, the movie theater, etc.
I took this train with my family from LA to Portland and back a couple years ago. We were travelling with a baby and a toddler, so it was nice not having to deal with some of the issues of taking a plane with kids. We mostly had a good experience, and it was scenic and memorable much as described above. There were a few small things that bugged me, though. The wifi didnāt work at all in either direction. Not a huge deal for us, but I know that some people count on having it. They did not end up playing any movies in the theater, despite advertising them. (I think the attendant in the parlor car was too busy to go turn on the DVD player, because it did work when I put some of my own DVDs in later on.) And the crew was surprisingly unprofessional on my trip. Not rude, exactly, but definitely not professional. For example, one of the crew-members was retiring, and after a nice touching goodbye announcement by one crew member over the PA, every single other crew member on the whole damn train grabbed the nearest microphone and added their own goodbye message, which grew increasingly juvenile and obnoxious over a period of several minutes.
On the plus side, we were able to let our energetic kids climb around and play in the private sleeping berth in a way that isnāt possible on a road trip or plane flight. Also, wine!
My wife and I took the Coast Starlight from Portland to San Francisco. The scenery is spectacular.
I take the San Joaquin train between LA and San Francisco all the time. I could drive or fly that route for less money and time but with Amtrak thereās no TSA hassle and I can take my bike, read some books, get some work done and relax.
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I used to live in San Diego, and would take the train rather than drive up for holiday visits with family in L.A. Much easier for me - and they appreciated having a known time of arrival! Picking me up nearby was not as much of an issue as never knowing when or if Iād get there! Since then, my aunt has moved to Sylmar, where no public transportation reaches. So now Iām stuck driving. I miss being able to read.
