Train travel for beginners
 

My senior citizen parents are wanting to travel by train over the Christmas holidays. They will be traveling from NC to Wisconsin so it will be a lengthy trip. They, nor I, have ever done this before. Are there any tips you could offer? They are assuming that they will need a sleeper car. What else? They are really looking to me to guide them through this and I don't know where to begin!!

The trip is pretty much a no brainer. Get on the train sit back and enjoy. The experience will depend a lot on your parents. Lots of intresting people to meet and wile away the hours if they are outgoing enough to chat. Sleeping car yes, pay the extra, sleeping in the seat can be done but not recomended for seniors. If they are readers, card players etc,etc, make sure they have PLEANTY of materail before getting aboard. Pack a cooler, even if it is just drinks. Food in the dinning car is actually pretty good. They should be prepared to be a little stiff after the ride, you can streach by walking the lenght of the train but that only gets you so far. Not much opertunity to get off at the various stops unless they plan on changing trains ahead of time. At a minimum have toothbrush and soap in a carry on. Hope this helps.

I only have 3 Amtrak trips under my belt:

Chicago to Reno (one-way)
Chicago to Buffalo (round trip)
Indianapolis to Kansas City (almost round trip)

I wouldn't want to be on the train more then 12 or so hours at a time. That way I can get off, take a real shower, sleep in a real hotel room and have a nice meal. I broke Chicago to Reno with stops in Denver and Salt Lake City.

I didn't like the sleeper car option. It about tripled the cost of any trip I booked. I tried to split the overnights into a very, very late arrival at a city. A day or two of exploring then a very, very early departure to carry on.

Like moose I thought the dining car was surprisingly decent. However if you don't have a sleeper car, reservations are first come, first serve. They can run out and you'll be stuck "dining" at the snack bar. Microwaved sliders (White Castle hamburgers) anyone?

Hi

In order to take Amtrak from NC to Wisconsin (depending where in NC), your parents will have to (at least) transfer in Washington, DC, from which they will take another train to Chicago. I've actually had pretty good luck with Amtrak even on long-distance trains but it's good to assume that the train will be delayed somewhat arriving in Washington, so they may want to consider overnighting in Washington, or have more than 2 hours layover in the Nation's capital before catching the train to Chicago. Some of these trains get really packed around the national holidays...so they may not be able to reschedule to get on the next train so easily.

I've taken one long-distance sleeper car train ride in the US (two times now round-trip) as an adult:

DC-New Orleans on the Crescent. The food I found to be decent and meeting passengers and service staff in the dining car priceless.

Good books, knitting, crossword puzzles, etc... help pass the time.

Best wishes, DAN

Check the time schedule carefully to see if this is practical.

There are 4 trains that goes from (or pass through) NC to Washington, DC: the Crescent, the Silver Star, the Carolinian and the Palmetto. They take different routes through NC, so it'd depend where your parents live.

The Capitol Limited from DC to Chicago departs at 3:55pm. So, if you want to avoid overnighting in DC, the Carolinian and the Palmetto are out. The Crescent passes through NC in the middle of the night (1:50am for Charlotte, and take the inland route). The Silver Star isn't much better - 5:40am at Raleigh, 7:01am Rocky Mount.

An alternate way to Chicago is on the Cardinal three times a week. This one you can connect in Charlottesville. But that means taking the Crescent in NC, and it also arrives Chicago later.

Another issue is cost. Two people in a roomlette for Charlotte-Washington-Chicago cost around $600; while a bedroom for the whole trip may cost up to $1,000. [Prices for two person, each way.]

Hello princess,

How old are your parents? That might make a difference on how important the sleeping compartment is.

Have had the roomette--it is small, but fun, and has a lower single and pull-down bunk. The sleepers do add a lot to the cost of the trip, even the roomette.

Best way to get specific info is from an AMTRAK agent who I have always found to be polite and to know what they are doing. Call 1-800-872-7245 and have patience thru the antimated part of the message and then opt to speak to an agent. Or if you are in a town that has a manned station, go there and chat with the agent.

As far as the concern about a missed connection-when I asked about this for our trip in May, I was told AMTRAK is responsible for accommodations for the night if needed and for getting one to one's destination.

Talk to an agent and go on AMTRAK web site for answers to lots of your questions.

Yes, AMTRAK will get you to your destination. But if you've booked a bedroom, you may not get a bedroom for the train the next day. Or they may put you on a plane instead.

But if one wants to fly, then they just buy a plane ticket...

They can probably get either a senior citizen discount or a AAA discount.

Thank you so much for all of your responses! This is proving to be a little bit more complicated than I expected! They are travelling from Raleigh, NC. My parents are in their 70's so I don't think a roomette would be an option because I can't see one of them climbing to a top bunk.

The scheduling is going to be tricky for them. This may seem like a no brainer but how do you take care of your luggage? Do you check some of it like you would on a plane or do you take all of it off yourself everytime you transfer trains? This would be an issue for them.

Thanks so much!

Whatever the schedule is, leave plenty of wiggle room, especially between trains. Amtrak is notorious for being hours late on their long haul lines. I took Amtrak from Winter Park to Philadelphia last year and the train was 3 hours late getting into Winter Park and more than 4 hours late arriving in Philadelphia. Because the trains were so late, I didn't get to enjoy the scenery along the way (the main reason I opted to take the train instead of fly). As your parents will be traveling over the holidays, when days are short, they will see even less (although they may see some pretty Christmas light displays along the way).
Unlike the other posters, I thought the food was absolutely terrible, at least the dinner. Breakfast was tolerable, like something you'd get at a bad diner.
The sleeping car was not bad. It was on a par with many of the overnight trains I take here in Europe. The food, however, was much worse than anything I've had on a European train.
Going by train will be more expensive than flying...a deluxe sleeper car for two might not be much cheaper than flying them first class.

Re the luggage, I had to handle it all myself (as expected). I believe assistance (you pay for it) is available at some stops, but not all.

First off, I'd get the sleeper for the portion of the trip that's overnight. Expect them to be on the small side. You'll have to change trains in both D.C. and Chicago, so you can save a few dollars by getting the coach between NC and D.C., and getting the coach from Chicago to Milwaukee.
Some of the other posters here have good ideas regarding bringing things to do, like games, and books.
I'd take the Capitol Ltd between DC and Chicago, it runs every day, with Superliner equipment (double-decker train cars). Some East Coasters find these cars to be a different experience than the single level cars.
Also expect to roll with the punches. West of DC, the track is owned by the private frieght RRs, who all have widely differing attitudes regarding the priority of Amtrak over their rails. Sometimes the reasons that your train is delayed is the fault of the landlord and not Amtrak. For example, Norfolk Southern owns the track from Pittsburgh and Chicago, and can best be described as indifferent to Amtrak's presence on their rails. CSX can be rather hostile to Amtrak, too. In all fairness I should point out that flights are delayed as well, and traffic on the road (been on I 95 recently?) can be a real challenge as well.

In any case, I've made the trip over several of the same routes that you'll be traversing. CSX is usually the worst at dispatching and traffic control, with the roughest track. Good places to learn of trackwork, etc., include trainorders.com, railroad.net, trainweb.com, and the forums at Amtrak Unlimited. The members there can answer questions regarding Amtrak (and the host landlord RRs, about which most of the general public is oblivious) a lot better than I can.

Edit to my previous post: if you want a luxury tran experience, see American Orient Express, or Rail America. Go to amtrak.com , and check and see if both the origin station and the end station handle checked baggage, as many of the stations in the Midwest are unstaffed (no checked baggage).