what is the furthest coach/train journey you have been on?

[jimmymc]

MA to Atlanta and back. It was miserable. Train travel in the US is awful compared to Europe.


I did a summer abroad in Metz. Longest trip from there was to Rome.

GT Lorraine?

Some friends did 24 hours overnight to Rome. When I went, I flew from Paris to Naples and worked my way north on trains, with the longest being from Milan to Metz.

 

[bcla]

If they just had that train that was in Trading Places still operating, I would be tempted to use it often. Looked like a fun trip!

That was a set and the rooms weren't anything like the real trains. However, the route is Amtrak's Northeast Corridor and it's still operating. They have bedrooms, but different groups wouldn't be sharing the same rooms. And coach seating is just one large car interior.

Amtrak has upgraded the Amfleet I single level cars (which are seen in the exterior train scenes) with newer materials.

https://history.amtrak.com/archives/refreshed-amfleet-i-coach-class-interior-2017

 

[Neapolitan Ice Cream]

From Southampton to Nottingham via Derby on a train, one crossover. I'm guessing 300 miles?

 

[Neapolitan Ice Cream]

That was a set and the rooms weren't anything like the real trains. However, the route is Amtrak's Northeast Corridor and it's still operating. They have bedrooms, but different groups wouldn't be sharing the same rooms. And coach seating is just one large car interior.

Amtrak has upgraded the Amfleet I single level cars (which are seen in the exterior train scenes) with newer materials.

https://history.amtrak.com/archives/refreshed-amfleet-i-coach-class-interior-2017

Very swish!

These are our long distance trains, pressurised to minimise buffeting and equipped with a cute little shop serving food, drinks, magazines, electronics etc. Meals are often served too at your seat.

 

[Lord Manhammer]

Very swish!

These are our long distance trains, pressurised to minimise buffeting and equipped with a cute little shop serving food, drinks, magazines, electronics etc. Meals are often served too at your seat.

View attachment 803907

Italy's internal rail system is so nice. We loved our jaunts between Florence and Rome.

 

[bcla]

Very swish!

These are our long distance trains, pressurised to minimise buffeting and equipped with a cute little shop serving food, drinks, magazines, electronics etc. Meals are often served too at your seat.

View attachment 803907

I've taken a variety of Amtrak and Amtrak California trains. Some of the trains are really old and aren't in the greatest of condition. But the one most common outside of eastern United States is the Superliner bilevel. Most of the seating is on the upper level. The lower level is mostly for accessible seating and areas for wheelchairs/scooters. Long distance (and some regional) trains have baggage cars.

This is the observation car for trains with Superliner equipment, which some call the Sightseer Lounge. It's available to any passenger - in coach, business, or a bedroom. The cafe is usually downstairs.

Depending on the state of the equipment, some cafes are dreary, but others can be more interesting. Alcohol is served though. Technically, personal alcohol can't be consumed on Amtrak, but I've heard some conductors say that they don't really care as long as passengers otherwise behave. The rules say that personal alcohol can only be consumed inside a bedroom. However, anyone purchasing alcohol on board can take it to the observation car or to their seat or bedroom.

Most have dining cars. I haven't been in one in years. The last time was maybe 2015. Anyone in a bedroom has meals included, and currently only bedroom passengers can access them. Before, any passenger could get a seat (dinner would require a reservation where bedroom passengers had first selections) and often they would deliberately seat bedroom passengers with coach passengers at the same table to mix things up. It was nearly impossible to have a table to yourself. Once I was seated and it was four solo passengers at the same table.

But as far as consuming personal alcohol goes, there are some trains where that's allowed. We have a train system locally called Caltrain, which is primarily used as commuter rail, but otherwise operates every day (with reduced schedules on weekends). They allow any alcohol, and I've seen people drinking beer, wine, or even liquor. I boarded with my child and a Corona in a stroller's cupholder and was told "You're good" meaning I hasn't broken any rule. I've talked to conductors telling stories of college students slamming down liquor shots and some feeling ill afterwards. They don't allow alcohol systemwide on specified event days (MLB baseball or NHL hockey) past a certain time (I think 9 PM) since they've had problems.

 

[wabbott]

I posted upthread about our Amsterdam to London Eurostar trip, which was in 2022. This past summer (2023), we did several legs of train travel around Europe, and found it to be very convenient and comfortable. I cannot imagine European travel any other way.

We went from Basel, Switzerland to Grindelwald with one change. From there, we traveled to Zermatt, which involved 2 changes.

From Zermatt, we took the Glacier Express to St. Moritiz. It was about 8 hours with no changes. You can have lunch aboard.

From St. Moritz, we took the Bernina Express to Tirano, Italy and then via train and bus to Varenna, Italy (Lake Como). Three changes, IIRC. The Bernina is much shorter than the Glacier, but much more scenic, in our opinion.

From Lake Como, we went to Venice, Italy, There was one change in Milan. We took a side trip from there to Cortina and back via bus. There is no rail station there.

We used Eurail Pass, which has several options for whatever length of time you might be traveling. There was a bit of a learning curve using the pass, but once we figured it out, we did fine. The key is you have to have a phone connection for the app to work, either wifi or a mobile network.

We had to hustle our own luggage, but that worked ok, as we planned carefully what we only HAD to have. Each of us had backpacks, also.

All this took place over about a 2 1/2 weeks, and it was truly a bucket-list trip. Just about every day, I scroll through my phone and look at my pics of the Matterhorn, the Eiger, or the Dolomites.

Compared to air travel, European rail is a magic carpet.

 

[Gary M]

In May of 1960 my high school senior class trip was by rail from Richmond, Indiana, to Washington DC then to NYC and back to Richmond.

 

[Moliphino]

GT Lorraine?

Some friends did 24 hours overnight to Rome. When I went, I flew from Paris to Naples and worked my way north on trains, with the longest being from Milan to Metz.

Yup! Best summer of my life.

 

[jimmymc]

Yup! Best summer of my life.

Nice! I did spring, amazing program.

 

[RUDisney]

From Moscow to Bryansk in Russia... about 7 hours one way. We traveled that route 4X round trip.

When my DH saw the train, he said, "I thought we'd be on an Amtrak type train. This is from Hogan's Heroes.

He wasn't wrong.

 

[wabbott]

I know this is a bit off subject from what the thread was started for, but I did a search and couldn't find much about The Orient Express.

Have any of the railfans here ridden it and if so, is it worth the high price?

 

[Lord Manhammer]

Have any of the railfans here ridden it and if so, is it worth the high price?

Of course its worth the high price, Albert Finney is on board.

 

[RUDisney]

I know this is a bit off subject from what the thread was started for, but I did a search and couldn't find much about The Orient Express.

Have any of the railfans here ridden it and if so, is it worth the high price?

Kara and Nate on YouTube took that train. You can search for that vlog to see for yourself.

 

[newski_mom]

We flew to Denver and took the Amtrak Zephyr to Emeryville in coach. We then took the bus to San Francisco and flew home from there a couple days later. We did it Labor Day weekend in 2022. Oddly enough it was DH who really wanted to do it, but I think I'm the only one who would willingly do it again! I really enjoyed it even though we only had coach seats.

 

[barb969]

NYC to Schenectady, NY
what was remarkable was I was 4 traveling alone. i was going to spend a couple of weeks with my aunt. My mother wanted me to spend some time out of the city. This was in 1948. Things have changed.

 

[goofyernmost]

In one trip... Venice to Rome!