Train from Memphis to New Orleans
 

Thinking about taking the train from Memphis to New Orleans. Means we can return the car when we arrive at Memphis and only need to rent another one at the end of our New Orleans trip. Any comments on the train journey? Thanks

Major mistake most likely, IMOP

Why?

Well for one thing the train (only one per day) leaves at 6:50 am. Is getting up at 5 am part of your vacation plans?

Also don't have inf on the on time record - you may want to check what time it usually arrives.

How are you getting to Memphis? How long are you there?
The City of New Orleans leaves Memphis early in the morning for NOL.
You would want to return the rental car the afternoon before and spend the night perhaps at the Peabody. If the train is late, you can have breakfast at the Arcade restaurant (Elvis hangout) which is across Main St. from the train station..
Make sure that there is nothing along the river that you want to see between Memphis and New Orleans.
The northbound CONO leaves MEM after 10PM and gets into Chicago about 8AM.
I'm planning on my next Amtrak trip in March. I was planning on riding the CONO but changed my mind. I'm getting off in Galesburg IL and renting a car there for a week. At some point during the week I'll be driving through Memphis but I'm returning the car to Galesburg and taking the California Zephyr and the Coast Starlight to get back home.

We are in the process of planning our trip but we are flying into Atlanta. Staying there for couple of nights, hiring a car and probably going to Chattanooga, Nashville, Memphis, New Orleans and along into Florida as we fly back from there. The reason for asking about the train was we could return the car in Memphis and re-rent leaving New Orleans as we won't use a car while we are there and will save on car parking charges. If we were driving we would probably leave Memphis and have one overnight on the way to NO. Just wondered if we would miss a lot by going on train and no I don't mind getting up really early for one day. It also saves hubby driving the whole time.

" If we were driving we would probably leave Memphis and have one overnight on the way to NO"

Memphis to NOLA is 5 hours. Why would you have an overnight?

You could take the train from Atlanta to NOLA.

Hi Amarone,

I've never been on that route, but on the Amtrak website (which I've found to be brutally honest), the on-time record for the City of New Orleans train (on-time is defined as within 30 minutes of the expected arrival time) is 71%. One thing you can do is click "STATUS" in the upper-left corner of the Amtrak home page, which will tell you when your train is expected to arrive in Memphis when you get up in the morning.

I say, if you want to do the Memphis-NO train, go for it! However, I love trains and have taken many throughout the US and Canada, so am biased. In my experience, the worst Amtrak has been was 4 1/2 hours late on the San Francisco-Chicago route and even though I tend to expect lateness, surprisingly often things are on-time or within an hour of on-time. I am aware of some horror stories though (8 hours late in one case). Chances are I would suspect everything will go smoothly, but given the long distances involved on the Chicago-New Orleans route, it's good to have a contingency plan in mind in case the train is late. I think you'll probably be fine since you have an overnight in New Orleans built into your schedule, so if the train is, say, 3 hours late, this would not affect your plans.

Source:
http://www.amtrak.com/city-of-new-or...lRouteOverview

Wishing you a great trip whatever you decide! Daniel

"so if the train is, say, 3 hours late, this would not affect your plans."

If the train is 3 hours late and it's a 9 hour ride (8 hours, 42 minutes), that's 12 hours waiting on and riding on a train.

If they got on the road with their car at 6:50 am, they'd be in NOLA before noon.
If they get on the train, they'll be in NOLA around 3:30pm.
If the train is 3 hours late, they'll be at the station at 6:30 in the morning and get to NOLA around 6:30pm.

I don't see spending 8 hours and 42 minutes on a train.
If they don't want to pay for parking in NOLA, they could turn in their car in NOLA and rent another. But it should be an in-town rental counter because the taxi fare will be about $45. Train travel in the US is very different from Europe.

Thanks Daniel will bear that in mind and thanks for the link. We did a train journey in Peru from Cusco to Lake Titticacca and loved it. We plan to have 3 nights in New Orleans.

Starrs we would want to avoid the interstate so thought the other road may be longer as we would want to stop at some sights and perhaps stay somewhere to see more of the area on the way down to New Orleans.

If you were willing to skip Chattanooga and Nashville you could take the 19 Crescent from Atlanta to New Orleans. The train (if on time) leaves Atlanta about 8:30AM Eastern time. I arrives about 7:30PM Central time (12 hours).
You could rent in New Orleans and drive to Memphis and then go by way of Nashville and Chattanooga on the way to Orlando to turn in the car. The straight through driving time between New Orleans and Memphis is only 5 hours but there are many things to see in between.

"Starrs we would want to avoid the interstate so thought the other road may be longer as we would want to stop at some sights and perhaps stay somewhere to see more of the area on the way down to New Orleans"

??? I'm not following at all.

The route from Memphis to NOLA that you're thinking about taking a 9 hour train ride vs a 5 hour drive?

Are you aware of the Natchez Trace Parkway?
http://www.nps.gov/natr/planyourvisit/directions.htm

"you could take the 19 Crescent from Atlanta to New Orleans"

tomfuller, that's what I suggested above.

If the goal is to take a train and not have a car in NOLA, that is the only thing that makes sense. Then they do their original plan but in reverse...from NOLA through Atlanta to Orlando.

"we would want to avoid the interstate"
If that's your goal, we can suggest routes that avoid the interstate in Georgia and take you to fabulous things to see along the way. The Martha Berry highway on the west for one example, and 441/ 1 on the east.

Starrs-- Last week, a road accident from Houston to New Orleans caused me to arrive 2-1/2 hours later than expected into New Orleans, so driving is not immune to such delays either. This vacation I took 3 long-distance Amtrak trains; two arrived EARLY, one was fifty minutes late. It's been 9 years since I took a long-distance Amtrak train that was 3+ hours late and I've taken many.

I certainly can think of many reasons to drive the distance: it's faster, one can make one's own schedule, one can stop at an interesting intermediate spot of one's choosing, etc... However, Amarone is considering the train, stated she doesn't mind getting up early one day and has stated that they enjoyed train travel in the past. Despite negatives, there are pluses to that mode of transport: no one's driving so both parties can look out the window & relax, both parties can enjoy the scenery or read a book, they can chat with people in the dining car... they could even get a private sleeper, which would allow them to take a nap or a shower as they travel.

It really depends what their goals and priorities are. If getting to New Orleans as quickly as possible on their schedule with the freedom to stop at an intermediate locale of their choosing is the goal, I agree that driving is by far the best choice. However, if the train schedule seems ok to them and they think a train might be fun to not have the stress of driving and they're curious to experience Amtrak, then I certainly don't want to discourage them from doing that as it's an experience I have very much enjoyed.

Oh dear don't want to be causing any arguments!!! Yes we did look at doing the itinerary in reverse which may still be the case as we would be arriving in New Orleans midweek between the two Jazz Fest weekends if we do Atlanta, Nashville, Memphis and NO - although don't know if this would make any difference. The main reason for looking at the train was to avoid car rental costs and car parking costs but it is not imperative. Yes we could leave out Chattanooga and Nashville. We could do these on another trip. As much as we like to see as much as we can we realise sometimes you have to make two trips and can't see it all first time round.

"...so driving is not immune to such delays either."

No. That's true. But the chances of repeated delays of that magnitude on the same route on a repeated basis is unlikely.
According to your information, repeated delays on AMTRAK is likely.

Even without a delay, the Memphis-NOLA route is 5 hours directly by car and almost 9 hours directly on a train.

I would agree with you re the potential benefits of the train option IF 1) the view was interesting to look at and 2) the drive/train time was comparable. But almost 2x the time on a route that is uninteresting? I don't see the benefit. It makes a lot more sense on an Atlanta/NOLA route IMO.

It seems like the major factors are 1)avoiding interstates and 2) getting rid of a car before NOLA. Both of those could be met without a train ride from Memphis to NOLA. "I agree that driving is by far the best choice". Good. :-)
I'm not being anti-train. I just don't think that segment makes a lot of sense.

Oh, amarone! We aren't arguing - at least I'm not. Just trying to sort out your objectives.

You can easily see the cities you want to see. We can help you avoid interstates and see interesting things along the way. If you want time on a train - just for the experience - and are willing for it to take twice as long, go for it. But train travel in the US is not the same as Europe and that Memphis-NOLA segment seems weird to me. If it works for you, go for it. Daniel and tomfuller are excellent train resources. I'd rather drive, but that's a personal preference. You can always turn in your rental car in NOLA and then rent a new one for the rest of the trip - if parking costs is your main concern.

What time of year is your trip? Have you read or watched the movie "To Kill a Mockingbird"?

Thanks all. Will say no more on the subject!! Will let you know what we decide. Yes we could return the car at NO and rent again. Didn't think about that one stars.

We do need all the feedback we can get from these forums and yes haven't travelled on US trains long distance before. Sometimes that is part of the "travel journey" to experience new things. I am the type of person who will research every single point and narrow it down bit by bit. Is long and drawn out but can count on one hand the bad trips we have had, so works in the long run. Will be back probably on some other aspect though so be prepared!!

Happy planning!

Just wanted to share a couple of more ideas between Memphis and NOLA that will keep you off the interstate (if that is your goal) -

Take secondary roads to Tupelo - birthplace of Elvis
especially if you've just visited Graceland in Memphis
http://www.elvispresleybirthplace.com/

Head over to Kosciusko - a small town where Oprah was born -
Get on the Natchez Trace there
http://www.nps.gov/natr/planyourvisi...08_236_web.pdf

Take the drive down toward Natchez, just enjoying the drive or stopping along the way if something interests you.
Drive through Jackson (maybe eat lunch there) and on more of the drive -
http://www.nps.gov/natr/planyourvisi..._1_113_web.pdf

You can head to NOLA then. If you REALLY want a detour, continue on to Avery Island -
http://www.tabasco.com/avery-island/

Going on to Avery Island is probably too long of a drive for one day so maybe spend the night in Natchez, stop at Avery Island and then one of the plantations before continuing on to New Orleans -
http://www.lauraplantation.com/
http://www.oakalleyplantation.com/

If you want to save money on the rental car, turn it in and rent another one a few days later when you leave NOLA.

Amarone-- There certainly is no arguing in the acrimonious sense of the word as far as I'm concerned, just civilized debate and offering up of different points of view. :) Do give us a trip report, whatever you decide to do, to let us know how the trip went!

I agree. :-)

Thanks guys. Will do. Was really said tongue in cheek! Do like the odd debate or two.

Starrs thanks for those links. Will defo have a look at these.

What I meant is this. Other parts of the world offer Train Service on time and people actually use it. In the US Long Distance Train and Long Distance Bus service is horrible and I would guess a very small percentage of people actually travel that way here. Most of them are filled with less than desirable people. All of this is of course my opinion. There are a few train lines that don't fall into that.
Personally, I can only imagine what kind of folks are on the train from Memphis to NO.

I can nearly guarantee that this will not be the train trip you are thinking it will be. And that is probably very understated.

Having been on many long-distance Amtrak trains throughout the US, I can say that generally the trains have a cross-section of American international travelers, ages, different societal classes including upper, middle and working class, sometimes it's people who don't fly for a variety of reasons, but not always. These trains are NOT filled (as far as I could tell) with less than desirable people; it's even odd to imagine them filled with, say, bank robbers, gang members and money launderers. In my experience, the crowd is not much different than on, say, airplanes, with the only exception being that they like trains and have for whatever reason a bit more time to take things a bit more slowly.

Let's see who I sat with in the dining car on my round trip long-distance trains from NYC-New Orleans-NYC: a retired doctor, a lawyer with the Louisiana state government and her psychologist husband, a Canadian mining executive & his wife, a real estate agent, an Austrian post-doc who wanted to see America and was returning to NYC from McAllen TX, some retired Alabaman lady friends who'd just done a cruise up the Mississippi from New Orleans to Vicksburg and back who were going to Tuscaloosa, an Alabaman football player returning to his chemist job in Birmingham, a twenty-something bureaucrat who worked with refugees in DC returning from seeing his family in Baton Rouge (those are the ones I remember). While I've never taken the Chicago-New Orleans train, I'm sure the crowd is pretty comparable.

Take the trip in reverse as tomfuller suggests. I used to ride the Crescent Limited from NJ to SC. Daniel Williams just took it. The ATL-NO portion is daylight. It isn't the Canadian Rockies, but it won't look like home!

Drive through the Delta to Memphis. It is not beautiful, except in an eerie way, but it is culturally, artistically, and geographically unique.

The interstate from NO to Memphis is deadly boring. The Natchez Trace is worse. Nothing to see for a couple of hundred miles but a corridor of trees. I lived in Jackson, MS for five years and Oxford for another two and drove both the interstate and the Trace often, the latter when I was working on my doctoral dissertation at Vanderbilt.

When we lived in Jackson we, of course, drove to NO. When we lived in Oxford, we drove ~ an hour to Memphis and flew.

"Take the trip in reverse"
Totally agree.
But doing that puts them in NOLA sooner than they want to be.

"The interstate from NO to Memphis is deadly boring. The Natchez Trace is worse"
But it appears the reason for taking the train is to avoid the interstate from NO to Memphis.
Since they are considering 9 hours on the train vs 5 hours of straight interstate travel, stopping along the trace would be the same amount of time spent and perhaps more interesting - and less expensive.

What looks obvious at first glance becomes more complicated when amarone shares more.

In terms of driving vs. train, you may find that two one-way car rentals is actually more expensive than keeping the car and parking it for three days in NO.

And there are things you'd miss if you didn't drive. You might enjoy a stop in either Tupelo or Vicksburg (I can personally recommend the latter as a very interesting Civil War site if that interests you). But it's not that exciting a drive for me. Do it for the stops, not the scenery.

Thanks all. We did think about doing the journey in reverse as we were trying to avoid being in NO at either of the two Jazz Fest weekends. We have no bookings as yet so could do. It just means if we did Atlanta - NO - Memphis, Nashville and Chattanooga which is what we had planned we then have to get back to Orlando to fly home and wondered what route we would take as we would then miss the panhandle and all the nice places which have been recommended along that route. Planning still in progress it seems.

Just thinking aloud here...

If the problem is you want a delay in getting to NOLA, you could take the train to Montgomery, get off, rent a car and head to the panhandle coast. Then you could return it to Montgomery and catch the train on to NOLA. I have no idea what they would cost.

If you drove it, you could do the same. Atlanta to Montgomery to coast to NOLA, drop the car off and then rent one after NOLA.

Hi Amarone,
Ha ha, another little addition here!
We are travelling in to Atlanta fron the UK mid March. We're going to hire a car and drop off in Fort Myers but the $300 one way drop off charge put paid to that!
So the 10 days are going to be...Atlanta to Chattanooga by (Lol) Megabus! 1 night.

On to Nashville by Megabus 3 nights.

Then on to Memphis by Greyhound. 3 nights.

Amtrak train to New Orleans, want to see out of the window as we go! (Starrs.....not all of us want to drive for all of our vacation!) 3 nights.

The Megabus to Tallahasse, pick up a hire car and drive on down to Fort Myers Beach!
Just booking all the hotels this week. Some better than others, depending where they are. Let's face it, it will be a different adventure whatever way we do it!

Enjoy you're trip Amarone!

MegaBus (and Greyhound) are the best alternatives to driving for cities not served by Amtrak. I've ridden many buses and the one drawback I see is that there is only one toilet/restroom on a bus. All of the Amtrak coach cars have at least 5 toilets. There are usually 2 "dressing rooms" where you can change clothes.
Amtrak trains also have a snack bar and a dining car where you can sit at a table to eat.

Hi honeymayspirit!

I hope you enjoy your trip. It sounds like you have your routings planned and are happy with them.

I do not have safety concerns about Amtrak, but do have safety concerns about Megabus. You may enjoy your trip using Greyhound and Megabus, but it's not for me. I know if I were doing this routing with four people, a car would meet my needs better. We each travel with different needs, expectations and budgets.

Happy travels!

http://www.bizjournals.com/atlanta/m...-the-road.html

Amarone,

I'm just curious. This isn't your first US trip is it? If not, how did you get around before?

Only 2 of us Starrs!

Oh, that was a nice bit of reading Starrs! Thanks for that! Will say my prayers then!

I just made this trip in November. I was with five other women. We went down for a business seminar. We had fun going down there. We brought food, drinks (of all kinds), and talked and laughed all the way from Memphis to NOLA. I enjoyed the scenery. It is flat land, but there is something beautiful in looking out over open fields. It's not the way to go if you are in a hurry, but it's a great way to enjoy yourself and not worry about driving. I may have enjoyed driving back in a car, just to get home quicker.

honeymayspirit - your trip sounds like ours albeit we will be driving most of the route and are spending some time along the panhandle before we get to somewhere on the west or east florida coast for our last few nights. That was the reason for asking about the train to give hubby a rest from driving. We haven't as yet looked at the car hire costs but when we have been to US before we sometimes have hired and returned to different places. Just have to include in the budget!!

spirobulldog - yes we have been to US many times both east and west coast and Canada and have always hired a car and driven. We have never done bus or train journeys. While doing my research I had noticed the train and wondered about the possibilities for something different.

Not a way I would ever travel here, but it's just a One Way deal. So heck- Go For It- if it something you want to experience.

I've changed my original opinion. If hubby wants a day off from driving, take the train. It may save some rental car costs, but the break for hubby and a new adventure may be the best option.

Although if you drive, I think you should stop in Tupelo. ;)