Tauntony

Hi
My wife and I are travelling across America using an Amtrak 30 day rail pass.
We have pretty much got the first leg of the journey sorted taking in Seattle, San Fran, LA, Vegas and arriving in Chicago on 18th April 2008.This leaves us another 3 weeks before our flight back to England from New York.
Can any of you kind folk out there help with an itinary around Amtrak’s route in NE USA?
We would obviously like to spend some time in Chicago (2or3 days?) and (maybe a week?) in New York. That leaves about 10 days to take in some though not all of :

Detroit
Cleveland
Buffalo
Niagara Falls
Toronto
Albany
Boston
Philadelphia
Baltimore
Washington DC

Any suggestions would be much appreciated

dwooddon

I can't help much with the NE segments however, you do realize I hope that the train does not pass through or near Las Vegas. AMTRAK has service to Las Vegas from either Los Angeles or Salt Lake City but it is by bus.

Tauntony

Thanks dwooddon
did realise that and hope to book flights in and out of Vegas

rkkwan

AMTRAK has "Thruway Bus Service" to Las Vegas, connecting to the California Zephyr and Southwest Chief trains. Not sure if your railpass covers those or not.

From Chicago, you can ride the Capital Limited to Washington, DC, perhaps stopping at Pittsburgh too. Then work yourself up the NE Corridor from DC through Philly to NYC to Boston. But this will bypass Buffalo/Niagara Falls.

Alternatively, ride the Lake Shore Limited to Buffafo to visit Niagara Falls. Then continue to Boston. From Boston, work your way down through NYC, Philly to DC. Return to NYC for your flight back.

Tauntony

Thanks for that rkkwan.

I really dont want to go all this way and miss Niagra Falls so I think i will check out your second option.
I will let you know what i find.

mclaurie

Boston, Phil., NYC, Washington, DC are all easily connected by Amtrak. The best views of Niagara Falls are from the Canadian side BUT evidently the border crossing b/w US/Canada is not very easy by train.
http://fodors.com/forums/threadselec...1&tid=35020793

I would consider flying between Chicago and Buffalo from which you can get a tour to do Niagara Falls, stay overnight and then continue your train trip from Buffalo.

nytraveler

The northeast corridor (that is from Boston down through DC) has generally good service. Frequent trains and rarely more than a few minutes late. But - be aware that on Friday afternoon/evenings and Sunday evenings (esp around a holiday_ trains can be mobbed - as in standing room only - since a lot of college kids use them getting to/fro home and school, as well as young single visiting friends in other cities.

You should also realize that in most of the country the tracks are owned by the freight companies and so freight trains take priority over Amtrak - often causing trains to be late, sometimes by many hours. So - don't plan on catching connecting trains.

From Chicago I would fly to DC and head north - keeping in the warmer weather and having a better chance of seeing some flowers and greenery. (In NYC trees don;t leaf until end of April or early May.) If you really want to see Niagara Falls leave it until the end of the trip and just fly in for a day or two from Boston. That area gets lake effect weather and can be cold very late in the year and usually major activities don;t open until late April (you can check the Maid of the Mist web site for info).