I worked with someone that had some Great Aunt or whatever that did this. The lady just didn't like planes, so she would travel like this. Basically, you get all the amenities of an RV, water tank fill up, power hook up, plus you can walk up to the admittedly gross food car. She said it looked like an RV apartment combo, and that the Aunt was old money, so the Mr. Monopoly vibe is accurate.
Plus, you could make it an event or party car. Imagine a traveling bachelorette party with a murder mystery dinner, karaoke, no flying, no driving, and you end up somewhere cool and can nap on the way back.
(100% of the pre-wedding parties I've been to have had karaoke and a murder mystery dinner. Sample set of one.)
Coworker said that time is the luxury item. Unless your car is following exactly a regular Amtrak route, at some point you get decoupled in a yard and passed off to another train, which can take hours. Basically a layover. So it sounds like it can easily become a multi-day thing to get somewhere you can get in like 5 hours by air.
But yeah, if you have the time and inclination, it seems like a pleasant way to go.
in certain they’d tell you where that would happen… if the destination is less important that simply going, you could just go to whatever random city, have a night out, come back
Is it gross to other people? Seems like an ordinary bare bones cafe to me: a few snacks, including some basic hot food, coffee/tea/soft drinks, beer, wine.
I've always found it gross. Fine for wine or coffee, but food...eesh. Soggy sandwiches, microwave hot dogs, and $9 airplane style snack packs with a $0.75 cereal bar or whatever. Had a mediocre but tolerable breakfast once, but it was just eggs and hashbrowns.
I'm gonna take my time and enjoy the ride. If you need me, come meet me on my train. I'm pulling into Kansas City tomorrow. See you there. Meanwhile I'm gonna have a cocktail and play some video games.
Amtrak does have the "auto train" which runs from just outside DC to just outside Orlando. You load your car on the train and ride the train rather than driving that distance. It's apparently really popular with both snowbirds as well as vacationers
There's also rumblings of potentially setting up a new Auto train route from NYC to LA. I have wonder if they'll do the obvious thing of making a stop in Chicago as well given most long distance Amtrak services stop in Chicago
I live a few hours drive from Chicago and have family in LA, I would love the option to take an autotrain to visit family. The ability to bring my car to visit folks in such a car dependant place would make the cost really make a ton of sense, especially if we opted to only drive one direction and take the train the other direction.
We're actually planning on driving out this thanksgiving (partly decided by cost and partly by making an added stop to visit family in Arizona which Amtrak and flying would both make extremely expensive in comparison) it also helps that our car was totaled by hail damage this year so since it now has no resale value despite being fairly new and fairly low mileage, there's just no incentive to avoid putting tons of miles on it anymore. But if we could pay a couple thousand dollars for the experience of riding the rails just one direction, we probably would go that route
This is also how the Channel Tunnel between Folkestone in the UK and Calais in France works, sans any amenities other than a toilet. Drive on, get taken under the strait, and drive off at the other side.
I remember watching a documentary about the chunnel back in the early 00s and the narrators highlighted how it's enabled day-tripping to the other country for some folks, and spoke with a British couple who went to France to do some shopping that day
It's also pretty normal in europe - It's pretty cheap if you compare it to the cost in fuel and wear on the car if you want to make a long distance vacation, and it beats driving long hours of mostly highway during the time where EVERYONE drives into vacation and traffic jams are common.
We used to have that in France but I think they killed the service in the late 90s or early 2000s. It was typically paired with night trains, I thought it was a pretty cool system.
I started a conversation the other day with some friends about if I ever ran for President and needed to travel the country, what impact would there be if I decided to go super old-school and get a Presidential train car.
Side conversation; Airforce 1 is the Airliner the Pres flies on. Marine 1 is the helicoper. What would be the train designation?
So theoretically if we got a new president who was into using trains to get around we could have a high speed uscar1 named Neil Armstrong or Yuri Gagarin? Though I assume astronauts wouldn't be considered explorers and would be reserved for spacecraft the president is on
Correct though it's unlikely any president will travel by train again given the best security is people simply not knowing where you are going or when. Being trapped in one direction is a big no no.
imagine getting to be late for school because your bus got stuck at a Presidential Train Crossing, and being able to see the copters and jets fly over.
Was it McCain who said that he’d campaign in every state but was said to have regretted it because the time to travel to Hawaii, Alaska and a few other states (Idaho etc) were kid of a waste?
Major problem is that Amtrak has the lowest priority on our rail network. Getting to a campaign rail-stop on time would be almost impossible without greasing some palms. So you'd have to hook up with a cargo rail line or something like that.
Edit: Now, if you had "improve rail transportation" as a major platform plank, showing up late would be a feature, not a bug.
Legally, passenger rail gets the highest priority.
However, the punishment for violating this is a fine which hasn't been updated in decades. The rail companies realized a long time ago that it's better to just take the fine instead of actually following the law.
But I've also heard of private groups pooling together to buy an old passenger car and keeping it maintained and up to whatever the current Amtrak requirements are so that they can do this regularly. Alternatively there's several private companies who you can rent and charter a car or several with if you don't want to commit long term to owning a railcar. I've specifically seen this one on private charter before for some model railroad events: https://261.com/cedar-rapids/
Short hop (300 miles, 1 car): Mileage = 300×$4.72 = $1,416, but you’ll pay the $2,296 minimum (plus any parking/switching).
Regional trip (500 miles, 1 car): 500×$4.72 = $2,360 (above the minimum). With one night of standard parking, ~$2,583 before any special switching.
Overnight long-distance (1,000 miles): ~$4,720 for one car. Two cars on the same request price ~$8,340 (first car $4,720 + second car $3,620) before parking/switching.
Even assuming some passenger limit (otherwise you could sell your own tickets and make a tidy profit) for groups large enough to require a charter bus, this sounds like a reasonable alternative. In fact that might be their target market.
You are basically in a moving apartment, with bed, shower, bathroom, fridge, ability to cook...
It's out of my price range, but I certainly could see the appeal.
The car will be way faster and more open ended in terms of where you start and finish, so it's far more practical if you just want to get to where you are going.
well, you'll notice how the private shower provides ample hot water, while ... ... gently massages your buttocks. well, count jerkface, shall we discuss the ...
There were articles about people who make a lifestyle of this. Though the practice is apparently under pressure, as allowing random people to attach private carriages to your trains does complicate operating a railway.
Probably not too impractical owing to the fact that you probably aren't allowed to do jack shit yourself. It's not like you can tow it from the depot to the station with your f150. Much easier than owning a boat :) presumably just as pricey though and with even less utility
I'mma be taking so many trains when Rail Baltica gets built
Wait that sounds a bit wrong
Anyway yeah, for short to medium distances, rail is awesome. I haven't tried super long distance rail yet. I've flown twice in my life and it was nice, but the first time was a short flight (3 hours) and the second time I had someone abuse their platinum status to get me one of dem nice emergency exit seats where there's no limit to your legroom. I imagine if you're going on like a 2 or 3 week vacation, taking a train or several there and back would be super nice, but if you're spending a week on another continent because of time constraints, a plane sounds better.
Once shit gets built though, I can take a local train to Tallinn, then take the new slightly faster train to Poland, then from there to Germany. The most ridiculous thing about this is the fact that this train route is going to be a HUGE thing for car enthusiasts, because the biggest used car market in Europe is Germany, and right now you have to fly to Germany to go buy a car if you can't find what you want closer (also German prices are better). So it's gonna be a great train route for car enthusiasts (among all the other people of course).
Yet slower, and far less convenient than air travel.
you should be aware there is a non-insignificant population that despise air travel. whether it's personal issues (fear, stomach problems etc.,) or they really hate the TSA...
From some searching, they're also available for charter. Still not something for a person of average means to do on their own, but maybe a group of upper-middle class people. Some Amtrak routes go through some incredibly scenic areas. The one that comes to mind in my neck of the woods is the Empire Builder. It would be a luxury experience for sure.
I have another thread in here talking about cost, but just the mileage fees for a trip on a car you own can be a significant percentage of the cost of chartering a plane. If you rent the car it can cost significantly more.
Owning a private rail car is a bit like owning a superyacht; it’s not a particularly fast or practical form of travel but it can be luxurious and fun so people with money do it anyways.
If we have a civil war that destroys the railroads only the worst outcome would avoid massive improvements to rail infrastructure. It's still absolutely crucial to pur indistrial capacity. A fascist victory would have low speed rail redesigned for precision scheduling. A progressive victory would get high speed rail between major population centers, expansion of intraregional rail, and reconstruction of the industrial rail network. Balkanization would wind up with progressive areas considering high speed rail to be vital.
Like if the west coast ditches, we'll probably continue towards the San Diego - Seattle line because when all your major population centers are in a row and reasonably spaced it becomes obvious to do it.
But yeah currently American rail is more functional than the governmental and political landscape.
You pay for someone (another rail company operating at that railyard) to move it for you into storage, where you pay the storage costs. If you need that railcar somewhere else, you pay someone to transport it somewhere else, same as how cargo rail would work.
I think private rail carriages are slightly more expensive and limited use than vans, which is why vanlife has taken off and carriagelife has not
Only the rich could afford this likely, and a huge subset of the rich are people who value their time too much to spend it on transportation they don't have direct control over.
However, I do think there are people out there who'd do this if they found out. Travel YouTubers. The more popular ones have decent income and starting a new niche or getting in on one early can pull a lot of new viewers.
It’s FAR more expensive than vans. For comparison, a fully renovated carriage could cost in the neighborhood of $1M, and Amtrak mileage fees are in the neighborhood of $5/mil. Renting a private car is around $15k per day per car, including mileage fees.
For comparison San Diego to San Francisco is a one day trip by train and about 600 miles. So, you’d be paying in the neighborhood of $2500 for those miles if you own the car, and $15k for charter. You could charter a private turboprop airplane to go that same distance for around $7000. Add in that some private car owners will string multiple cars together, and it can easily exceed the cost of just going by private plane even if you own the cars and charter the plane.
At the end of the day, it’s like having a superyacht—it’s rarely the most affordable or practical route but it is fun and luxurious so rich people do it anyway.
I'm looking at this and it's so sad. Not just that several states lack lines altogether, but... The existing lines lack some obvious interconnections. Where's the OKC to Albuquerque line? Or even El Paso to Albuquerque. Get those two long distinct lines connected! Similarly, a shortcut to Denver from the line that goes through KC and Albuquerque? And I think Jacksonville should get direct lines to Atlanta and New Orleans.
There's so much that could be improved here with just a few tens of thousands of miles. Focus on better interconnections between the already existing routes first because it improves mobility for more people with fewer railroads to build, then build routes to cities currently completely unserviced (actually both should be done at the same time, just a bigger focus on the former early on)
not private automobile, private rail/train Car….
so if you happen to be a millionaire and own your own entire rail car, then you can hook it up to an amtrak
Pretty sure you can do this with freight trains as well, and it should be cheaper. Though there would be no water, and likely no power hookups this way.
This got me wondering. What if you build out a luxury trailer home in a shipping container. Could you just pay to have the thing shipped around while you're living in it? It seems like it's got to be efficient since there's so much infrastructure and logistics for moving containers around.
You're thinking of cargo rail. Amtrak owns the rails and the passenger service. They actually run way more than you probably think as they operate the northeast corridor as well as some of the other more serviced lines like the cascade corridor.
Thank you for asking though. I got a smile out of imagining someone with a bicycle firmly attached to an Amtrak train and stuck sitting on it for 200 miles.
I mean, in my area we do have the ability to put bicycles on trains and buses alike. Though you don't attach them at the back, you just enter the vehicle with your bike.
If it's a foldable, you can always enter for free (so no added fee on top of the fare). For non-foldable bikes the same applies, though if you do that during rush hour you will have to pay a small fee.
Super convenient, really. Way cheaper also than having a car (as in, the vroom vehicle). You bike from home, enter bus/train, maybe switch from bus to train, and then exit and bike the last few kilometres.
Don't need to look long for a parking spot, don't need to pay much in petrol, no need to focus on traffic, can enjoy the view or do work/hobbies/listen to music while travelling, and so on.
Only downside is that here the fares are pretty high, but the Green & Labour Party is proposing to enable unlimited travelling across the entire country for less than €60 per month outside of rush hours.
For comparison, travelling from one end to another of the country right now would cost €30 per trip. A typical 4-day commute of 40 km per trip would cost around €320 per month now (accounting for travelling both ways).
So, the Green & Labour Party's proposal would result in fares becoming more than 80% cheaper(!) for everyone.
Some of the larger cities in the US have light rail. I live near Cincinnati, which had their light rail projects killed in favor of personal vehicles. I believe a proper rail system here would be a huge boon, but it is not well visualized by the half million residents here between three states and 8-9 counties.
Amtrak here is mainly used for service between cities. People generally forget it exists until it is brought up. I only ever hear about people traveling by car or plane.
So, to address my giggles and before I answer your real question, this is what I thought your bike was going to be hitched to. I believe it would have been a terrible ride.
Yeah, I'm catching your message and am sad that I cannot realize it here and now. Our bus system is not robust and complicates anything more than a simple trip along the line.
That's a thing here too. Seattle's light rail even has bike hangers inside the trains. No fee though
How big of a country is it? Amtrak is usually similar price to flying at the cheapest (outside the northeast) with the least convenient schedule ever (the state I grew up in has two stations and never receives or launches a passenger train during the day).
Amtrak in the northeast corridor is about as fine as European rail is from what I hear, except no high speed. I really wish it could expand or get to Japan levels.
I worked with someone that had some Great Aunt or whatever that did this. The lady just didn't like planes, so she would travel like this. Basically, you get all the amenities of an RV, water tank fill up, power hook up, plus you can walk up to the admittedly gross food car. She said it looked like an RV apartment combo, and that the Aunt was old money, so the Mr. Monopoly vibe is accurate.
I'm with Great Aunt whomever. Flying sucks.
Plus, you could make it an event or party car. Imagine a traveling bachelorette party with a murder mystery dinner, karaoke, no flying, no driving, and you end up somewhere cool and can nap on the way back.
(100% of the pre-wedding parties I've been to have had karaoke and a murder mystery dinner. Sample set of one.)
Coworker said that time is the luxury item. Unless your car is following exactly a regular Amtrak route, at some point you get decoupled in a yard and passed off to another train, which can take hours. Basically a layover. So it sounds like it can easily become a multi-day thing to get somewhere you can get in like 5 hours by air.
But yeah, if you have the time and inclination, it seems like a pleasant way to go.
in certain they’d tell you where that would happen… if the destination is less important that simply going, you could just go to whatever random city, have a night out, come back
Is it gross to other people? Seems like an ordinary bare bones cafe to me: a few snacks, including some basic hot food, coffee/tea/soft drinks, beer, wine.
I've always found it gross. Fine for wine or coffee, but food...eesh. Soggy sandwiches, microwave hot dogs, and $9 airplane style snack packs with a $0.75 cereal bar or whatever. Had a mediocre but tolerable breakfast once, but it was just eggs and hashbrowns.
This is so much more baller than a private jet
"I am rich but I don't need to rush around the country to keep being rich"
I'm gonna take my time and enjoy the ride. If you need me, come meet me on my train. I'm pulling into Kansas City tomorrow. See you there. Meanwhile I'm gonna have a cocktail and play some video games.
If I had to choose one, it would be the private rail car for sure.
For like 30 seconds I was thinking 'car' meant automobile and I was picturing like someone's SUV hitched to the back of a train.
I should get some coffee.
Amtrak does have the "auto train" which runs from just outside DC to just outside Orlando. You load your car on the train and ride the train rather than driving that distance. It's apparently really popular with both snowbirds as well as vacationers
Neat!
If anyone else is curious, there's a lengthy blog post with some photos here: https://www.aboomerslifeafter50.com/travel/is-the-amtrak-auto-train-worth-the-ride-heres-my-take-going-to-florida/
And a Wikipedia page: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Auto_Train
There's also rumblings of potentially setting up a new Auto train route from NYC to LA. I have wonder if they'll do the obvious thing of making a stop in Chicago as well given most long distance Amtrak services stop in Chicago
https://www.trains.com/pro/passenger/intercity/private-company-ameristarrail-proposes-cross-country-auto-train-service-with-amtrak/
That would be incredible.
I live a few hours drive from Chicago and have family in LA, I would love the option to take an autotrain to visit family. The ability to bring my car to visit folks in such a car dependant place would make the cost really make a ton of sense, especially if we opted to only drive one direction and take the train the other direction.
We're actually planning on driving out this thanksgiving (partly decided by cost and partly by making an added stop to visit family in Arizona which Amtrak and flying would both make extremely expensive in comparison) it also helps that our car was totaled by hail damage this year so since it now has no resale value despite being fairly new and fairly low mileage, there's just no incentive to avoid putting tons of miles on it anymore. But if we could pay a couple thousand dollars for the experience of riding the rails just one direction, we probably would go that route
At that rate I’ll fly.
This is also how the Channel Tunnel between Folkestone in the UK and Calais in France works, sans any amenities other than a toilet. Drive on, get taken under the strait, and drive off at the other side.
I remember watching a documentary about the chunnel back in the early 00s and the narrators highlighted how it's enabled day-tripping to the other country for some folks, and spoke with a British couple who went to France to do some shopping that day
It's also pretty normal in europe - It's pretty cheap if you compare it to the cost in fuel and wear on the car if you want to make a long distance vacation, and it beats driving long hours of mostly highway during the time where EVERYONE drives into vacation and traffic jams are common.
We used to have that in France but I think they killed the service in the late 90s or early 2000s. It was typically paired with night trains, I thought it was a pretty cool system.
This feels like a holdover from the Teddy Roosevelt/robber baron era!
Buy cheap carriage.
Paint with radiation symbols and rainbow flags.
Write "GAY-diation distribution system" on the side.
Send it on a tour of red states and enjoy the freak-outs.
I would donate to this godundme
Label it as a mobile abortion clinic
Alternative plan: do the same with unattended freight cars for pennies on the dollar.
Top Gear did something similar with cars. It turned out as you would expect. https://inv.nadeko.net/watch?v=pKcJ-0bAHB4
Am I the only person without a personal train car? Am I surrounded by people in top hats and just don't know?
I started a conversation the other day with some friends about if I ever ran for President and needed to travel the country, what impact would there be if I decided to go super old-school and get a Presidential train car.
Side conversation; Airforce 1 is the Airliner the Pres flies on. Marine 1 is the helicoper. What would be the train designation?
Choochoo McTrainFace 1
I read that in Ringo Star's voice.
US-CAR 1 or uscar 1. We've had several before so it's not particularly an abstract.
They're all named after great explorers, Marco Polo, Ferdinand Magellan etc.
So theoretically if we got a new president who was into using trains to get around we could have a high speed uscar1 named Neil Armstrong or Yuri Gagarin? Though I assume astronauts wouldn't be considered explorers and would be reserved for spacecraft the president is on
Correct though it's unlikely any president will travel by train again given the best security is people simply not knowing where you are going or when. Being trapped in one direction is a big no no.
You KNOW that they'd have a fleet of helicopters, AWACS, fighter jets and vehicle escorts just hanging around the side of the running train.
imagine getting to be late for school because your bus got stuck at a Presidential Train Crossing, and being able to see the copters and jets fly over.
Was it McCain who said that he’d campaign in every state but was said to have regretted it because the time to travel to Hawaii, Alaska and a few other states (Idaho etc) were kid of a waste?
It would be a statement, that's for sure.
Major problem is that Amtrak has the lowest priority on our rail network. Getting to a campaign rail-stop on time would be almost impossible without greasing some palms. So you'd have to hook up with a cargo rail line or something like that.
Edit: Now, if you had "improve rail transportation" as a major platform plank, showing up late would be a feature, not a bug.
Legally, passenger rail gets the highest priority.
However, the punishment for violating this is a fine which hasn't been updated in decades. The rail companies realized a long time ago that it's better to just take the fine instead of actually following the law.
Land Sealion.
I mean Trainforce1 is right there, but Landforce1 sounds good too
Locomotive 1
Amtrak 1?
Depends on which branch manages the railcar:
http://www.railgoat.railfan.net/other_cars/1private/us_military/us_military.htm
Spaceforce 1
Awful for security. Your whereabouts would be known at all times, and the USSS can't protect every mile of track.
They stopped wearing the identifying top hats. Anybody might be secretly wealthy now.
Mumford and Sons is currently running a tour by rail using Amtrak's services!
https://railroadrevival.com/
But I've also heard of private groups pooling together to buy an old passenger car and keeping it maintained and up to whatever the current Amtrak requirements are so that they can do this regularly. Alternatively there's several private companies who you can rent and charter a car or several with if you don't want to commit long term to owning a railcar. I've specifically seen this one on private charter before for some model railroad events: https://261.com/cedar-rapids/
But how much is it?
https://www.amtrak.com/content/dam/projects/dotcom/english/public/documents/privatecars/Amtrak-Private-Car-Rate-Addendum-7-111824.pdf
Even assuming some passenger limit (otherwise you could sell your own tickets and make a tidy profit) for groups large enough to require a charter bus, this sounds like a reasonable alternative. In fact that might be their target market.
Good god!
Guess I'll keep flying for the time being.
What advantages does this train have over, say, a motor car -- which I could also afford?
You don't have to drive the train
But what if I want to?
25% discount
You are basically in a moving apartment, with bed, shower, bathroom, fridge, ability to cook...
It's out of my price range, but I certainly could see the appeal.
The car will be way faster and more open ended in terms of where you start and finish, so it's far more practical if you just want to get to where you are going.
well, you'll notice how the private shower provides ample hot water, while ... ... gently massages your buttocks. well, count jerkface, shall we discuss the ...
There were articles about people who make a lifestyle of this. Though the practice is apparently under pressure, as allowing random people to attach private carriages to your trains does complicate operating a railway.
This one of those hobbies that sounds so cool but so impractical to get into. Like it makes getting a boat sound like a cheap and easy hobby.
Probably not too impractical owing to the fact that you probably aren't allowed to do jack shit yourself. It's not like you can tow it from the depot to the station with your f150. Much easier than owning a boat :) presumably just as pricey though and with even less utility
Ok. Mr Burns
How much does a rail car cost, and what is maintenance, inspection, etc like? This is still something of the very wealthy.
Yet slower, and far less convenient than air travel. Sight-seeing aside, I honestly don't know who this is for.
Maybe there's a train-enthusiast club out there that has a small fleet of rail-ready cars?
My guess is that this is a holdover from when rich people did have train cars (and sometimes even full trains!).
I would bet there are still a couple of rich people living out their train fantasies.
Slow, sight seeing and not flying is exactly the point.
I would literally rather eat a bug than fly anywhere, unless i absolutely have to.
Because they love the experience. Trains are really a lot of fun.
I would gladly take the train over flying. You have more leg room, there is a dinning car, and way less security theater to deal with.
I'mma be taking so many trains when Rail Baltica gets built
Wait that sounds a bit wrong
Anyway yeah, for short to medium distances, rail is awesome. I haven't tried super long distance rail yet. I've flown twice in my life and it was nice, but the first time was a short flight (3 hours) and the second time I had someone abuse their platinum status to get me one of dem nice emergency exit seats where there's no limit to your legroom. I imagine if you're going on like a 2 or 3 week vacation, taking a train or several there and back would be super nice, but if you're spending a week on another continent because of time constraints, a plane sounds better.
Once shit gets built though, I can take a local train to Tallinn, then take the new slightly faster train to Poland, then from there to Germany. The most ridiculous thing about this is the fact that this train route is going to be a HUGE thing for car enthusiasts, because the biggest used car market in Europe is Germany, and right now you have to fly to Germany to go buy a car if you can't find what you want closer (also German prices are better). So it's gonna be a great train route for car enthusiasts (among all the other people of course).
can you ship your purchased cars home by rail easily?
No? You drive back the 2000 km obviously. Part of it is the Autobahn!
You can also skip half the distance with a ferry, but it won't be saving much time.
bummer. I'm a sucker for cars on trains :D
Definitely a case of the journey being more important than the destination.
you should be aware there is a non-insignificant population that despise air travel. whether it's personal issues (fear, stomach problems etc.,) or they really hate the TSA...
From some searching, they're also available for charter. Still not something for a person of average means to do on their own, but maybe a group of upper-middle class people. Some Amtrak routes go through some incredibly scenic areas. The one that comes to mind in my neck of the woods is the Empire Builder. It would be a luxury experience for sure.
I have another thread in here talking about cost, but just the mileage fees for a trip on a car you own can be a significant percentage of the cost of chartering a plane. If you rent the car it can cost significantly more.
Owning a private rail car is a bit like owning a superyacht; it’s not a particularly fast or practical form of travel but it can be luxurious and fun so people with money do it anyways.
So is it possible to have a tiny home on rails?!?!?
i hope america, and by extension, amtrak is still around when i retire, because this is cool as hell.
If we have a civil war that destroys the railroads only the worst outcome would avoid massive improvements to rail infrastructure. It's still absolutely crucial to pur indistrial capacity. A fascist victory would have low speed rail redesigned for precision scheduling. A progressive victory would get high speed rail between major population centers, expansion of intraregional rail, and reconstruction of the industrial rail network. Balkanization would wind up with progressive areas considering high speed rail to be vital.
Like if the west coast ditches, we'll probably continue towards the San Diego - Seattle line because when all your major population centers are in a row and reasonably spaced it becomes obvious to do it.
But yeah currently American rail is more functional than the governmental and political landscape.
Who wouldn't want to take a private cartage? Id get one for baboo too.
Yeah iirc thats an old holdover from when that was how rich people got around
Well, shit. Now I want to be rich
Do it!
The thing I haven't read in this thread: how do you get your personal trail car to the station, and how do you move it about on your destination?
It sounds cool but very inflexible.
You pay for someone (another rail company operating at that railyard) to move it for you into storage, where you pay the storage costs. If you need that railcar somewhere else, you pay someone to transport it somewhere else, same as how cargo rail would work.
It feels like the last time this service was used, everyone would have giant top hats, and their own personal railway spur to their houses.
Why isn’t this sometime of trend or hobby?
I think private rail carriages are slightly more expensive and limited use than vans, which is why vanlife has taken off and carriagelife has not
Only the rich could afford this likely, and a huge subset of the rich are people who value their time too much to spend it on transportation they don't have direct control over.
However, I do think there are people out there who'd do this if they found out. Travel YouTubers. The more popular ones have decent income and starting a new niche or getting in on one early can pull a lot of new viewers.
It’s FAR more expensive than vans. For comparison, a fully renovated carriage could cost in the neighborhood of $1M, and Amtrak mileage fees are in the neighborhood of $5/mil. Renting a private car is around $15k per day per car, including mileage fees.
For comparison San Diego to San Francisco is a one day trip by train and about 600 miles. So, you’d be paying in the neighborhood of $2500 for those miles if you own the car, and $15k for charter. You could charter a private turboprop airplane to go that same distance for around $7000. Add in that some private car owners will string multiple cars together, and it can easily exceed the cost of just going by private plane even if you own the cars and charter the plane.
At the end of the day, it’s like having a superyacht—it’s rarely the most affordable or practical route but it is fun and luxurious so rich people do it anyway.
"Hey, jet setters! Today, we're going to be traveling across the United States in our own private railcar... attached to an Amtrak service!"
-Jeb, probably
with hookers and blackjack?
as many as your car can carry.
You can fit so nanny blackjacks in this "slaps side of car*
No joke, at least back in the 80s some wall-streeters did thIs from my home town in Nj to NYC every day. Complete with full bar.
should be called Amtrak Barnacles
Now I just need to know when and where Amtrak still operates. Because it ain't around here.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Amtrak_routes
I'm looking at this and it's so sad. Not just that several states lack lines altogether, but... The existing lines lack some obvious interconnections. Where's the OKC to Albuquerque line? Or even El Paso to Albuquerque. Get those two long distinct lines connected! Similarly, a shortcut to Denver from the line that goes through KC and Albuquerque? And I think Jacksonville should get direct lines to Atlanta and New Orleans.
There's so much that could be improved here with just a few tens of thousands of miles. Focus on better interconnections between the already existing routes first because it improves mobility for more people with fewer railroads to build, then build routes to cities currently completely unserviced (actually both should be done at the same time, just a bigger focus on the former early on)
Yup. I regularly have to travel flagstaff to Denver, and it would take me over two days to make the trip.
This is just Amtrak. There's a lot more rail lines than Amtrak.
Pathetic
I really is. 34,000km vs 200,000km for the EU. An area of comparable size and population. Germany alone has about as much as the US.
Theoretically, you can still do NY to LA?
New York to Louisiana? Sure can! (jk jk)
Private car? Check
Decorative fireplace? Check
Small round wooden table? Check
Top hat? Check
Monocle? Check
If "between specified locations" includes your oil wells and silver mines, enjoy.
not private automobile, private rail/train Car….
so if you happen to be a millionaire and own your own entire rail car, then you can hook it up to an amtrak
Where else am I supposed to perform my ablutions?
Pretty sure you can do this with freight trains as well, and it should be cheaper. Though there would be no water, and likely no power hookups this way.
what if I bring my own reactor?
Seems more affordable than a private jet
Safer and more fun too!
Interesting. Anyone know that the cost is?
The page is here. Under "rate addendum number 7" you can find a pdf with the prices.
I have an idea...
How many pack tops did that sucker cost?
http://www.sterlingrail.com/classifieds/classified.php?id=29453
https://www.railmover.com/
I was just on an amtrak and read about this too. On board, I heard this being a thing too
This got me wondering. What if you build out a luxury trailer home in a shipping container. Could you just pay to have the thing shipped around while you're living in it? It seems like it's got to be efficient since there's so much infrastructure and logistics for moving containers around.
At the rate Amtrak derails or rail bridges go out? I think I’ll just fly Boeing.
How often do you think they derail, or bridges go out?
I think over the last decade, I've heard of one incident.
You're thinking of cargo rail. Amtrak owns the rails and the passenger service. They actually run way more than you probably think as they operate the northeast corridor as well as some of the other more serviced lines like the cascade corridor.
Amtrak doesn't actually own most of the rails, and pays the rail owners like CSX for access to those routes.
And what about bicycles?
I think we shouldn't let cars be attached, but bicycles be able to.
I think you misunderstand, this is not talking about road cars, but railcars, like a train wagon.
Aah, gotcha, that makes more sense. I got confused then, I guess.
Thank you for asking though. I got a smile out of imagining someone with a bicycle firmly attached to an Amtrak train and stuck sitting on it for 200 miles.
I mean, in my area we do have the ability to put bicycles on trains and buses alike. Though you don't attach them at the back, you just enter the vehicle with your bike.
If it's a foldable, you can always enter for free (so no added fee on top of the fare). For non-foldable bikes the same applies, though if you do that during rush hour you will have to pay a small fee.
Super convenient, really. Way cheaper also than having a car (as in, the vroom vehicle). You bike from home, enter bus/train, maybe switch from bus to train, and then exit and bike the last few kilometres.
Don't need to look long for a parking spot, don't need to pay much in petrol, no need to focus on traffic, can enjoy the view or do work/hobbies/listen to music while travelling, and so on.
Only downside is that here the fares are pretty high, but the Green & Labour Party is proposing to enable unlimited travelling across the entire country for less than €60 per month outside of rush hours.
For comparison, travelling from one end to another of the country right now would cost €30 per trip. A typical 4-day commute of 40 km per trip would cost around €320 per month now (accounting for travelling both ways).
So, the Green & Labour Party's proposal would result in fares becoming more than 80% cheaper(!) for everyone.
Some of the larger cities in the US have light rail. I live near Cincinnati, which had their light rail projects killed in favor of personal vehicles. I believe a proper rail system here would be a huge boon, but it is not well visualized by the half million residents here between three states and 8-9 counties.
Amtrak here is mainly used for service between cities. People generally forget it exists until it is brought up. I only ever hear about people traveling by car or plane.
So, to address my giggles and before I answer your real question, this is what I thought your bike was going to be hitched to. I believe it would have been a terrible ride.
The information here may address your questions. As loud as I have been, I am actually terribly unfamiliar with rail travel. https://www.amtrak.com/bring-your-bicycle-onboard
Aah, I was thinking moreso like this vibe
Yeah, I'm catching your message and am sad that I cannot realize it here and now. Our bus system is not robust and complicates anything more than a simple trip along the line.
That's a thing here too. Seattle's light rail even has bike hangers inside the trains. No fee though
How big of a country is it? Amtrak is usually similar price to flying at the cheapest (outside the northeast) with the least convenient schedule ever (the state I grew up in has two stations and never receives or launches a passenger train during the day).
Amtrak in the northeast corridor is about as fine as European rail is from what I hear, except no high speed. I really wish it could expand or get to Japan levels.
Iirc, Amtrak does give the option to take your automobile on the train with you
only if it fits in the luggage rack
If only that were true https://www.amtrak.com/auto-train
“from the Washington, DC area to Florida, just outside of Orlando.”
they have 1 auto train that goes to 2 cities only….
not that useful
So what if I rig my bicycle to be a rail cycle?