TRAINS! do you travel on them?

We travel by train as often as possible...never as much as we would like though.
It is the slow relaxing pace of rail travel that makes it a joy...except maybe when switching trains with minutes to spare and having to run through the LA terminal with backpacks and all.

Can we share train travel experiences?
Amtrak in the US but there are more advanced and better maintained trains in other countries.

We have taken short Little Rock to Chicago trips more frequently but also two 6 week trips to the west coast and back with stops along the way to stay at hostels and with friends.
Santa Cruz has a sweet hostel within a few blocks from the beach...Tucson we stayed at an Airbnb, Seattle, San Fransisco and Monterey in hostels.  Hostels are not just for youngsters, they even have couples rooms we could reserve...all with shared kitchens of some sort available.

We never eat out when traveling, even at the dining car on the train. First thing we did in any town was to find the farmer's market and grocery store and ate really well...local produce in California amazed.

I'll come back with some links later ...just wanted to start this while I was thinking about it.

And meeting people, all nationalities and ages and languages was wonderful, fellow travelers and most everyone we ran into.  I  used to hitchhike a lot and walking is still a favorite mode of travel...we don't fly and buses got too cramped but trains could be the future...lovely pace, we can walk around...seats aren't bad for a nights sleep🙃

https://www.amtrak.com/train-routes

A dream of mine for many years is to take an Amtak somewhere.

The kind of trip where you have a cabin and spend several nights on the train.

too bad I would have to travel a long ways to get there so I guess I can scratch that off my list....

As a kid I went with my Dad on a train to visit the grandparents.

Another train trip was to the Kansas City Zoo with my classmates.

Anne, Amtrak has dropped routes since begun in 1971.
I wish there was better funding for all sorts of public transportation but especially for trains.

https://transitmap.net/project-amtrak-timeline-map/

Amtrak’s the best mode from my parents’ town in Minnesota to Chicago. We use it pretty regularly, particularly if just 1-2 people are traveling. Now that they have two trains a day, it’s even better. 6 hour trip, basically the duration as the drive, but more relaxing.

Of course sometimes we want to bring the dog, or can’t leave town until evening, so then have to drive.

When the kids were little enough, we didn’t need to pay separate fare for them, and it was great to book a “roomette” for privacy and meals included.

The only train I've ever rode was at the zoo. To be fair, it was a real, actual, steam engine, so it was pretty cool. I think it'd be fun though to take a cross country trip by train.

started taking the train last year. I took it to Manitoba to visit my family. VIA rail. They have sales on every once and a while where you can get up to 40% off the ticket fare. I managed to get there and back for 700 dollars(350$ each way) Comes with a bed, shower, 3 meals a day, and all the spare time for whatever meets your fancy. For me its a 3 days trip basically. I loved it. Booked my train trip 8 months in advance. So I thinks its fantastic.

Watching the landscape in the dome car, or really anywhere on the train is good. I also get to meet interesting people traveling on the train. The food was fairly good, diverse. Even had rack of lamb. First time having carrot cake and cream cheese cake in one piece. For me it was a holiday! Talk it up a lot to my friends. I hope it keeps going into the future.

I am going to read https://goodreads.com/book/show/1848.Wild_Swans_Three_Daughters_of_China

on the train.

I haven't taken a train in years. To be fair, I don't do a lot of traveling via any transportation method. Best part, you don't get motion sickness. You are able to move around and stretch. You never feel as tired in my opinion. A 12 hour car drive - super stressful. A 12 hour train ride - not stressful at all. I wish trains were more popular and more routes were available.

If the route from the Twin Cities to Duluth ever gets built, my train use will increase dramatically. When I lived in New Jersey, I took the train into NYC once a year or so. I haven't taken a long train ride since 1985 when I rode from St. Louis to Chicago and then to Harrisburg, PA to attend a summer camp.

I took the train from Portland to Pittsburgh once, very scenic till we got to Denver, then it was all just flat...Also changed train from a "long haul" to a commuter at Chicago which was not as comfortable/fun from there to Pittsburgh.  More like the Greyhound (which I have also done cross country trips on, but hope never to again!).  I rode the Amtrak a few times in my 20s when I was backpacking around the US (20 years ago) and enjoyed it;  I would have ridden it more if I could have afforded it.

Here in Britain I much prefer the train to driving where possible.  There's a station in the next village over to me, a bike or bus ride (or an hour walk) away which travels to two major cities and another large town, trains running once an hour.  When we want to go to either of the cities, we definitely take the train.  I don't have to fight traffic, I don't have to find (and pay for) parking.  The large town is worth visiting too, but cheaper to ride on the bus and the bus station is in the town center, where the train station oddly isn't.  Plus I have a little girl for whom a bus ride is still exciting.  And at heart, I still find them both a bit exciting too :)

I don't travel very much at all now, but as my other half is a train-spotter it's no coincidence that the view from the front door tends to look like this... ;)

I love the rail map! I wonder why all the railways go to Chigaco.....All routes to London here :P


ontheworldmaps

G Freden wrote:Here in Britain I much prefer the train to driving where possible.  

If it is just me then I like the train too. I always feel that the buses could go anywhere, whereas the trains are less likely to go off route and me to miss my stop. I have happy memories of my childhood too, and being met at the station in London by my Grandad en route to a visit there. No use for me for short journeys anymore though, as there are no public railways on Skye. I have taken the sleeper train to visit my family, but unless you get a cabin, they used to make the seated passengers change carriages at about 3 in the morning, which was not the best experience!
These days many of the long distance trains in the UK have wifi and charging plugs so you can plug electronic devices in, and work or play online.

Nancy Reading wrote:I love the rail map! I wonder why all the railways go to Chigaco.....All routes to London here :P

I love hearing everyone's stories!
We are looking at train schedules now to see if we can afford a few days just riding the train somewhere and back for our 50th wedding anniversary in May.  Buying a ticket early keeps the price way down and we get a senior discount also so other than a bag of food we could do it pretty reasonable.  The train is the only time I drink instant coffee.

We took the train when the kids were young as others have mentioned and when they were older, sent each of them separate years on their own to be met by grandma and grandpa at the other end.  I'm pretty sure they were each 12 for their respective trips.
Our oldest got a  train ticket from us for high school graduation...a six week planned by him adventure.

Chicago is the hub but Amtrak provides buses for shortcuts where you don't always have to go to Chicago first.

My only train trip was a short one. It was planned well in advance, so we had plenty of time to get excited over it. I was about 12 years old.

ON A STEAM ENGINE!



It looks like it is still in operation! Take a peak at the options here. Nearly 50 years of inflation makes the ticket price scary.

Travel over trestles, through towering redwood groves and up a winding narrow-gauge grade to the summit of Bear Mountain as conductors narrate the history of Roaring Camp, the railroad and the forest. In the 1880s, narrow-gauge steam locomotives were used to haul giant redwood logs out of the mountains. Roaring Camp’s steam engines date from 1890 and are among the oldest and most authentically preserved narrow-gauge steam engines providing regularly scheduled passenger service in America.

I sort of took one, back in '87, but pregnant, with 24/7 morning sickness & traveling alone from Chicago to NIH, in Bethesda, MD, with a very active toddler, and no budget or sleeping berth, for a medical needs destination... Well. It was a 'trip', alright.

John has always dreamed of a train trip. His dream sounds much better - St Louis to Chicago to Vegas, to Kansas city. I think 6 days, total? If we can figure out livestock care (again), I'd like to go next year. We wanted to go this coming early October, to see the fall colors - then we got a 'save the date' in the mail, for his nephew's wedding, the same week we had set aside. ~le sigh~

Carla Burke wrote:I sort of took one, back in '87, but pregnant, with 24/7 morning sickness & traveling alone from Chicago to NIH, in Bethesda, MD, with a very active toddler, and no budget or sleeping berth, for a medical needs destination... Well. It was a 'trip', alright. ~

Imagine trying to do that in a car...I suppose the advantage would be that the toddler would be strapped down!

Yes... with the caveat that I take coach ( think Greyhound) instead of taking a CrossCountry train.

Northern, tfw (Transport for Wales) and GWR ( Great Western) have fairly recent stock and some are electric! Cross country is slow, noisy and uncomfortable.

I'm very jealous of the Swiss integrated transport and the tourist tax. Pay for your hotel and get a ticket for all local public transport, trains, trams, etc.

I have owned cars, don't currently and don't want to own one in the future. Bikes and local busses ftw!

The UK is kinda hampered in bringing in a truly modern train system. All of our infrastructure is some of the oldest on the planet and other stuff has built up around it.
This makes it much harder to use more efficiently double deck trains because of low bridges and tunnels and means we still don't have anywhere near a full electric system. Which is a bit of shame when we've done quite well as transfering our power generation from fossil to renewable.

Nancy Reading wrote:Imagine trying to do that in a car...I suppose the advantage would be that the toddler would be strapped down!

It was a trip we flew - every six months. But, late in the pregnancy, my ob/gyne didn't want me to fly. I once, about 10 years later drove it, with all 3 of my kids. That was a very fun trip, and I'd have loved to do it that way more.

Here in nsw australia things are going somewhat backwards.
They are replacing the ageing fleet with new trains over the next few years but instead of expanding and reopening up some lines like to mudgee they are only doing a 1 for 1 replacement so it means that nothing will change here.
They are also removing the sleeper car from these new trains so the overnight trip to brisbane and melbourne is a coach seat all the way now.
And again talk of high speed rail which get dragged out every few yrs and put back away as they scream the costs are too high.
We have the chance to go forwards but once you get out of that radius of say 100km they tend to forget about the country folk esp when they spend 65 odd billion on some new metro driverless trains and lines that dont link in with the currant system.

I started traveling by train back when Amtrak's chief of police protected the privacy of passengers. I had some really good trips on Amtrak Cascades. It certainly can be nicer than trying to beat the traffic in and out of Seattle. I also took the Coast Starlight from Berkeley to Vancouver, WA once. It was a long trip to ride coach but it was gorgeous. I would probably ride the train again.

I remember taking the steam engine train from Broadhead, Wisconsin to Milwaukee with my Aunt who was a children’s librarian in Milwaukee schools. Late 1940s, early 50s, I was probably four and five years old. The huge steam engines were frightening. I got to “go to school” with my aunt before we had kindergarten in my small Wisconsin town. Milwaukee also had electric streetcars that we rode to and from school. How exciting. More lately I have taken Amtrak from Libby, Montana to Chicago, usually with a sleeper, and enjoy meeting people from all over. The romance of trains continues. I fear that Amtrak will alter its Empire route to the south of us and leave the small towns that used it for daily transportation along the Highline train less.

A few years ago I took Amtrak from a nearby little town to MT and back again. It would've been a beautiful trip but unfortunately over night in both directions. I'd do it again in a heartbeat.

Odds and ends over the years.  I was a youngster in the early-mid seventies when we took the train from Saskatoon to Winnipeg to visit family...no real memories.

More recently, every time I looked at Via Rail I couldn't bring myself to use it.  I found it was in the same price range as flying and similar time to driving.  And, if you want to go to or from Saskatoon, it's always there around 3:00 a.m. - they've decided nobody should see the prairie landscape.  She Who Must Be Obeyed finished high school in Terrace, BC and went to university in Ottawa.  At least once she went between the two on Via.  For a time that route required a train change in Jasper (which is lovely), but more recently that turned into an overnight so you pretty much had to get a room.  It's a bit of a shame our country is so large without regular service - it's fine if you want the tourism side of things, but if you want to get from A to B, they make it a challenge unless you want it to be just about the journey.

The rest of my experiences have been purely of a tourism nature.  

In 2003, we were in Flint, Michigan for the centennial of Buick celebration.  On that trip we took in Crossroads Village & Huckleberry Railroad - steam powered narrow gauge.

In 2008, we went to the McLaughlin-Buick Club of Canada meet in Oshawa, ON.  This was the celebration of GM of Canada, which was built on the partnership with McLaughlin.  We didn't opt for the tour into Toronto, but supper was at a friend's (BBQ in their back yard) and they are downtown.  We took the GO Train from Oshawa to Toronto.  I think we may have taken the subway to get closer to our friend's.  On the way back, there was space so they let us on the tour bus.  For that trip we had flown to Toronto and rented a car, so we used quite a variety of modes of transportation.

I haven't managed to get there, but Prairie Dog Central Railway runs from NW Winnipeg to Grosse Isle northwest of the city.  Once a year the local car club has an event with them, so there's a bit of a show and shine at both ends and lunch in Grosse Isle.  They have a steam engine, but it needs work, so they've been pulling the historic cars with diesel and are fundraising to get the steam engine back online.

The fun one was last April - Perurail from Ollantaytambo to Aguas Calientes for our time at Machu Picchu.  That was a fun trip along the river.  There are three passenger cars and each car gets to take a turn in the bar car where there is entertainment.  Incredible scenery.  The best photos of the train are on my phone, but here's a few from that trip.

We recently returned from a EURail Pass trip through Spain, France, Switzerland, & Germany.  It was a revelation.

Even though I grew up in England hopping trains, frequently with bike, took an InterRail Pass summer through EU end of high school, crossed Pakistan & China by train, jumped trains both in China & Cuba, + trained in Alaska.  In USA we have most often  taken the train to visit relatives from Newark airport, NJ, to Port Jervis, NY, gateway to upper Delaware river & southern Catskill uplands.  

High speed trains between big cities, slower chugs & getting dropped off between stations in empty quarters/ rewilding regions & switched to bus to get around an accident, the seamless frequent comfortable Swiss Rail network extended by bus to every mountain village.  We even camped one night at the edge of wilderness with electric trains frequently & quietly gliding by within 100' (Rhätische Bahn!).  Had numerous routes, options & flexibility, + internet; covered a lot of ground & saw byways; met various interesting people.  

My only regret was for last minute temporary reasons we couldn't follow through with the integral bikepacking component of that family trip.  

I live in the town of Essex, MT with the only
Amtrak flag stop in the nation. They only stop if a passenger has a ticket on or off. It’s on the Hwy adjacent East & West Glacier National Park with the Izaak Walton Inn now Called Loge (Yes spelled Loge called Lodge). Amtrak is our connection to the rest of the country. Mostly between Seattle, Portland and Chicago. I figure the older I get the more I may use the train. Travel by car is getting harder every year. Flying out of our airport in Kalispell is very expensive and limited. There are plans to extend the train to southern Montana but that take years. Since the track is a main freight line passenger trains get to wait and typically late to their destination. So don’t travel Amtrak If it’s time sensitive. You will be late.

I'm working some rural lands seasonally, but we're still stuck living in big city a few more years.  My decades-long search for our own eco-place on the land/ in an eco-community includes within biking distance of a train station.   We have our bikepacking setups, started exploring the rapidly growing rail-trails movement, & now I'm looking at rail-pedalling pack-frames for intact abandoned lines.  

In New Mexico my longtime base there are only two active stops in view, in my immediate family's southern California none really, in my birth family's southern New York one or two, in my wife's homeland Chile it's complicated & unreliable now due to past major retreat & planned modest revival of single main line capital to middle south, in my grandmother's homeland Spain world-class high-speed network big cities to several intermediate & numerous slow rural routes while most urbanised country in EU & countryside largely abandoned, in my homeland Germany around hometown the greenest city in EU great integration bus-trolley-commuter-distance trains but noticeable & remarkable deterioration in service not to mention high cost of living.  

Probably best to dream of astronomical Switzerland while realising affordable Spain.  Big picture, long term, anything else I can see from my vantage point seems literally out of reach, unworkable, precarious to me.  

I've gone on daytime train trips between Portland and Seattle a few times, its quite pleasant.  I've only done an overnight train trip once, and now that sleeping cars are prohibitively expensive we all had to just sleep in our seats, and it was horendous, noone slept well, I made a promise to myself and my husband, no more overnight train trips for us.

Riona Abhainn wrote:I've gone on daytime train trips between Portland and Seattle a few times, its quite pleasant.  I've only done an overnight train trip once, and now that sleeping cars are prohibitively expensive we all had to just sleep in our seats, and it was horendous, noone slept well, I made a promise to myself and my husband, no more overnight train trips for us.

We bought small self inflating mats for our trips that made all of the difference for sleeping in our seats...and many times there were enough empty seats to spread out over two seats.....the mats could be rolled up squishing the air out to a small lightweight bundle to strap to our packs. I think we got them at Sierra Trading Post?

I do admit to fantasizing about a sleeper car though

I can only speak about Amtrak.  I have slept in my seat and had the sleeper.

There have been conductors that allowed taking more than one seat when there were PLENTY of empty seats, and conductors who did not allow it, and did not explain the logic🤷🏻‍♀️. I never could figure out a pattern for it.

With the sleeper, the compartment has 2 seats that make into “beds”.  Stretching out is wonderful compared to the other option, but it’s narrow.  There are a few other convenience drawbacks but too hard to describe.

Your meals in the dining car are included in the price of the sleeper.  That was a nice surprise for me.  If the train is delayed, they continue to feed regular meals.  (If the food gets short, they close the snackbar.)

The sleeper car price is in addition to the travel and the price depends on how many are available when you make the reservation.  The first booked is far cheaper than the last.

The sleeper is sold as a unit per leg of the journey.  Say a train goes from city A to city B and it’s going to include 2 nights.  It costs the same to have the sleeper car for one or both nights, and the same for one or two occupants.  My theory on this is that they have no way to clean the compartment while en route.  And if one person has reserved the sleeper, they can’t sell the other half.

If the train is completely full, you have to sit in your sleeper, or find a place in a crowded lounge car.

There is also a shower available, but if you look around for it, you can usually use it whether or not you’re in a sleeper.

The sleeper does not include a private toilet.

It’s been about 8 years, but that’s what I remember about sleeping on Amtrak.  I remember one winter trip where it snowed and snowed.  The train was delayed.  The sleeper and meals were a godsend.  

Hi Judith,

When I was in college I did use Amtrack several times to travel from Carbondale to Champaign where my parents would pick me up and take me back towards Bloomington.

I have one, rather bizarre experience on one of those trains traveling back to Carbondale.  It was sometime in my Freshman year, probably just at the end of Thanksgiving Break.  Amtrack had oversold the train, meaning there was no room, not one single seat left.  I ended up sitting in the space between cars where I sat with two girls, one a Freshman and the other a Junior.  We sat on pieces of luggage in that little space and gradually got to know each other.

The Junior was clearly the most experienced of all of us and the other Freshman girl and I were clearly fish out of water.  So the Junior went on to ask us what type of “recreational activities” did we like.  By the way, the activities she meant involved illicit chemicals and I will just leave it at that.  The other Freshman and I just looked at each other, looked back at the Junior and both said “Nothing.”  This was honestly accurate.  That never was and never has been my personal lifestyle.  

The junior then approvingly said “ Great, just stay that way!”  She then went on to describe some of her own experiences—mostly the horrifying kind.  The other freshman and I just looked on stunned into silence as we rode the train gently rocking back and forth with no windows and our only “entertainment” being the colorful stories told to us by this eccentric junior.

Three hours later the train pulled into the Carbondale train station and we all left.  I never knew their names and I never saw them again but it was one of the strangest and definitely most memorable story I have of riding Amtrack.  Looking back it was quite an adventure, it pushed my boundaries further than I was comfortable—and in this case that was a good thing.  Elements of this adventure make their way into my classes.  This was one of those adventures that I could never plan and never repeat—it just happened that way so I let the experience just become a part of me.

Judith, thanks for starting this thread.  It gave me a good walk down memory lane and it really was the kind of experience that I am thankful for, especially in retrospect.

Eric

Eric, I think that's among my favorite things about riding trains...the friendliness!
Have had some similar interesting conversations traveling cross country.
Steve even had someone traveling from Mexico with his family help him practice his Spanish.
And among those favorite things is the opportunity to see that there are good and kind people out there in the world.
I always think traveling by car and staying in motels (necessary as it might be) insulates us from knowing our fellow travelers on this planet.

You might be right about that Judith.  

That ride in particular was so memorable as the three of us were just thrust into this strange position of sitting not IN a car but rather in the little covered space BETWEEN cars and since there were of course no seats, we just made due by sitting on luggage and facing each other.

I have to say that while the other freshman and I were initially very nervous, the junior leapt right in, shattered the ice and began telling us her bizarre, colorful and strangely very entertaining stories.

That is a ride I won’t forget.

Eric

I'm into taking the trains, its one of my main, if not main way of transport especially if theres distance involved.
i just travelled from upstate new york in albany to san fransico by train just before christmas. i did that same long trip the year before as i have been hiding out from winter in nor cal, and splitting my time between cali and upstate new york.

I have a good friend who is super into trains, we travelled around new england a lot we he came to visit me and he was super into stopping at all these old train stations and even train museums.
i must admit - i am not that into that aspect =)
i dont have much romantic or whatevcer we call it about trains or train stations. i suppose i appreciate them from the architectural aspect, theres some cool old timey archictecture in old tran stations, but yeah not really want to go tour all of them. a lot of them are falling apart too, so its just kinda sad, although maybe a nice kind of sad, nostalgia.

they are more practical useful tools, to me,  and i do enjoy the train for being able to walk around and socialize with all sorts of people you wont normally cross paths with.

i love stopping in all the cities and wandering around. actually i wish they would do that more. more breaks, longer breaks. i know it would make long trips longer, but thats already that way. anyone who wants to get there fast takes a plane already! the people on the train are usually ok with it taking a while, so why not have more getting off the train and longer breaks.

this last trip i particularly enjoyed denver, colorado, thats always a big break, i think i wandered around most of the day, some 6-7 hours in colorado. it was pretty cold! but still, what a nice station and town =), and i loved getting off by that point and wandering as i had been on the train for 2 days at that point.

but yeah i have a close friend who is a train buff, he bought a really cheap piece of land in the berkshires, it used to be a train station once upon a time long ago. i camped out there a few times, the trains go by a few times in the middle of the night, so even though its this epic spot of forest and a little creek, its super loud the ten times a day they go by.

but it suits him i suppose, he likes to watch the trains go by and speculate how much and what they are carrying as freight trains are huge and important in new england, as far as getting consumer goods, mail, and some of them carry huge tanks of oil and gas. new englands early growth was entirely dominated by the train system, and its where all the cities popped up. my friend does think about whether he could get it to be a station again, or somewhere nearby, those old defunct new england train stations, functioning again and have stops.

it would mean a huge bonus for a lot of those tiny new england towns, many are really poor counties. not that far from my friends land, and i used to have relatives living in that area, theres a town called chester mass, they have been trying for a long time to get the amtrak that goes through twice a day stop there.

it would revitalize their town a lot. its a neat tiny town already, but the economy there isnt great. well one of the reasons i actually like it, this area can be much much cheaper than most of mass.- but i see the towns arent doing that well, from a strictly financial POV.

maybe in part growing up in massachusetts, which has extensive public transportation everywhere, i kinda take them for granted a bit, or just dont romanticize them. well, they are cool.
i can imagine back in the day, it mustve been even cooler, more room and people could get their own cars if they were wealthy, and hitch them onto trains to get around with their own train camper/ homestead on wheels.

like duke ellington did back in the day -- i've wondered if that could be a thing. i would love to see a musician take up like a train tour...someone whos a big name could make that a thing, with everybody hopping on the train as it goes along a tour or something. for a true sustainable transportation to and from their concerts.

and i miss that aspect of mass. i wish everywhere is like that, the west coast is the worst for public transport and it was a big culture shock when i first moved here some decades ago.
you can take a train all around mass, and in the cities a lot of people skip cars entirely, because they are hard to park and the roads are kinda messed up, what with these narrow old roads and so many one ways and weird old infrastructure.
hardly no one has a car in boston, everyone just uses the subway, or a commuter train/ bus hybrid. and then theres lots of park and rides for free parking your car, if you have one. its more of an optional thing in mass than most everywhere else in the country. i myself didnt learn to drive until i was 26 or so, when i first moved to washington state, when i started living in the woods and there was no public transport.
except in the western parts of mass, and further north and east in new england, the public transportation options are less and less, even the small towns dont operate public transport and theres no uber or taxis even.

but amtrak has become not as much fun as it was even back in my early days. like you used to be able to smoke and party and hang out getting drunk in the social spaces on the car, in the lounges and such. i know these are not most peoples priorities, but i dont see why amtrak shut down that vibe, at least for those that want that, one party car =) like it used to be when i was young.

a couple of times i would take the train down to new orleans for mardi gras, that trains social party spaces were like a continuation of the carnival aspect of mardi gras, back in those days.
they can separate out the cars too, so whoever wants that can go there, play some poker or get sloshed, and anyone who doesnt want that can just avoid that car or whatever.
amtrak has...changed a lot...but i think they might get more takers if they bring back the fun and loosen up a bit.

now its all buttoned up and theyre much more stiff.

actually this is a big item on my wish list for looking for land. i have been looking for a long time, settled on a for now deal at my place in new york, extremely rural, no public transport...but still looking.

for the place i want to really settle in, proximity to amtrak is one of my main priorities. and / or a functional public transport system of some kind, buses and trains. its hard to find, but being within a short distance to amtrak/ or a bus that goes to amtrak is one of the things that i think is a major bonus for where ever i want to move in the northeast.

i dont do a lot of short distance travel at all, when i travel its almost always far distance- to me having a train station fairly near by is like i can get anywhere from that i want to go, as long as the first step to getting to the station is easy. to me california to new york is "walking distance" sort of - if theres a train station close enough. or even new york to mass, or just about anywhere. having a train station nearby, walking distance (or rather scooter distance now that ive been using a scooter for transport) to a train station, to me - is walking distance to the rest of the country =).

in that i have considered some towns like - whitehall new york, somewhere around the vermonter stops, and recently been looking into glens falls, and what looks like a cool train station in fort edward, that doubles as a bike shop and has two major amtrak train lines through it.
it also connects to the major bike trail that runs through the entirety of upstate new york, which its an interesting nexus for non car travellers and people who are really into bikes and trains.

people can take the amtrak there and then rent a bike to go on the huge statewide bike trail. tour it all without a car. its quite a gorgeous trail going through that part of the country, a lot of is not even on the road, it goes off into the woods along the major rivers, running parallel to the road but much safer.

actually thats worth looking up a link, maybe more states and stations or even amtrak will consider these ideas -- https://www.evergreenbicycleworks.com/
the empire state trails -- https://empiretrail.ny.gov/

as it does seem through some co indinating efforts of bike enthusiasts, they have created a little income and tourists through creating the empire state bike trail that goes through some beautiful countryside,  connecting that to several rail stops - although fort edward is the only one i know of that has put the bike shop right in the old train station...and can allow people to do long distance tourist travel without cars at all.

Leila, my father's friend did that.  He loves trains and he bought a train car and fixed it up with sleeping quarters and tables and chairs and couches for him and his daughters to go on trips, its spendy of course to do something like that, and you have to pay to be allowed to hitch up to a train, but he has had fun with it.

Riona Abhainn wrote:Leila, my father's friend did that.  He loves trains and he bought a train car and fixed it up with sleeping quarters and tables and chairs and couches for him and his daughters to go on trips, its spendy of course to do something like that, and you have to pay to be allowed to hitch up to a train, but he has had fun with it.

yes, my friend had done that, long ago, he bought a caboose in particular. but he had a hard time getting it hitched up. its not easy to move if you dont own a railroad...

the neighbor too, to his place...in the berkshires - which used to be a station. theres no station there anymore, its long gone, but you can see where theres a flat spot thats all cleared and open, the rest is forested and rocky but theres one open sunny spot that used to be where the station was. actually kinda neat because its the largest thyme lawn i've ever seen and some old apple trees and the native new england grape, all in this sunny space.
but the neighbor has a parked train car - hes never met the neighbor just seen his train car.
because it used to be a station theres an extra track -  that can be switch onto a second track. the neighbor has made a little room in there. actually it looks like it hasnt been used much recently,  its still pretty cool, but looks like its not been used.
and my friend found out he's probably very old, neither my friend nor the neighbor spend very much time there, except for camping out. so he hasnt met the guy.
but yeah my friend has ideas maybe he can buy it from him or something, just roll it over a bit. or that the railroad people might let him also get a car. because he mustve been able to get a special permission, the tracks and a bit away from the tracks is owned by the railroad.

Here in the Netherlands it's possible to see all of the country in one day by train! So it isn't comparable with traveling by train in a large country like the USA (even one state can be larger than the whole of this country).

I never did driving lessons and had two reasons: I like riding a bicycle and if I need to go a longer distance there's the train (and the bus). I was even able to have a holiday in France by train! If you're used to it it is a relaxing way of travel.
Probably if you're used to driving your car, the train can be frightening (anyway it was to a friend who never traveled by train, but now had to ...).

Advantage of the train: you can read, knit, talk (if you have fellow travelers who want to talk too), whatever you like to do. You don't need to pay attention to 'the road'. I like to watch out of the window to see the landscape pass by.
Here it's cheaper to travel by train than by car if you are only one person. If you are with two there's no difference, and if you are with more together the car is cheaper. But of course this differs in different countries.

Disadvantages: you are never alone in the train. It can even be so crowded there's no place to sit.
And you have to plan in advantage to be at the train station at the right time. If you take the bus to go to the train station that can be a challenge (and involve some running). My choice of a place to live was always a town with a train station at 'bicycling distance' (or even walking distance) from my home.

Now I read some other comments here I have to say: I don't have any experience in train travel overnight. Even going to France (Normandy) was possible within one day.

I do have some experience taking my bicycle with me on the train. One can think that's easy in the bicycle-country that is the Netherlands ... but no, it is not! In all of the train there's only one entrance for bicycles (sometimes two, if it's a very long train). When the train enters the station you'll watch out to see that entrance (with the bicycle symbol on it) and then run in that direction with your bicycle (you are not allowed to ride it). In some types of train there's only room for two bicycles. So I don't reccomand to try this during summer holiday season.

Inge Leonora-den Ouden wrote:Now I read some other comments here I have to say: I don't have any experience in train travel overnight. Even going to France (Normandy) was possible within one day.

I do have some experience taking my bicycle with me on the train. One can think that's easy in the bicycle-country that is the Netherlands ... but no, it is not! In all of the train there's only one entrance for bicycles (sometimes two, if it's a very long train). When the train enters the station you'll watch out to see that entrance (with the bicycle symbol on it) and then run in that direction with your bicycle (you are not allowed to ride it). In some types of train there's only room for two bicycles. So I don't reccomand to try this during summer holiday season.

this is true in the united states, too. they should make it easy, they do not.
different trains have different systems too, so you need to figure it out before hand what your train is like.
local buses are easy, theres a bike rack to put it in front of the bus on the outside. the commuter trains in massachusetts are also easy, in california too, but not amtrak.

my scooter is bicycle like, and its a fold down, the handle bars will fold down, but its still big for a scooter. some scooters are so light and tiny you can take as baggage, quick and easy like all should be, just fold them up and carry it on, keep it with you.

but if you want to take a full size bike or a bigger scooter like mine, sometimes they make you box them up, like its even easy to find a big long box to put your bike in. they also charge you some money to add on baggage of your bike...so thats annoying and not very cool. and if someone doesnt know this before hand and shows up...they will either not be able to get it on, or at the least, have to pay to have it stowed as baggage.
also who wants to leave their bike?  like it doesnt seem like the thing to separate from your bike, i guess you'd have to use a lock and lock it to itself or something