Anyone here use Amtrak in the last year or so?...

[gulfportdawg]

Momma wants to ride the Amtrak to Portland, Or. 

[Shootist Comitatus]

Momma wants to ride the Amtrak to Portland, Or. 

[McDonoughDawg]

No way you could talk me into that..buy some comfort class seats on Delta…flew to Seattle recently, great flight and service..

[dncdawg]

That's like a 4 day ride. I'd be sick of it after about a day and a half.

[Shootist Comitatus]

Momma wants to ride the Amtrak to Portland, Or. 

I married into a railroad family and have had 'ride free' passage to this day. In 1975 or so, my then galfriend and I rode from Waycross to DC. Great trip, great food, great service, and the rhythm of the rails worked its magic.

Wife never forgot it and says it is one of her fondest, most Technicolor memories.

Me too.

But alas, times have changed and eroded the charm.

[dncdawg]

I recently rode a train from London to Edinburgh. It was 4 hours and amazing, but mostly because I'd never been there. It only made a couple of stops. 20 years ago, I took a train from somewhere in Italy to Paris. it wasn't as amazing. Overnight, and a ton of stops. Most of the trains out of Atlanta are late departure overnights. I've looked at short trips on Amtrak, but found it just as expensive as flying and getting there in a couple of hours. Unless you are going up to the Northeast or down towards New Orleans, the trips on Amtrak out of Atlanta are long as hell because you have to go way out of your way to get to where you want to go. If you want to go from Atlanta to Savannah or Miami, you have to go up to DC first.

[JC-DAWG83]

My closest experience to using Amtrak was about 30 years ago. I wanted to take a train to OKC to help a friend move back to Greenville, SC. I figured I could take the train and then ride back with him in the rental truck, taking turns driving.

Amtrak was a complete joke. First, it was comparable in price to flying. Second, Amtrak did not go anywhere in the state of Oklahoma (it might go to OKC now), the closest I could get was Dallas. The trip was going to take almost three days to get from Atlanta to Dallas. I would have to go from Atlanta to New Orleans to San Antonio to Dallas.

I didn't go and I would not recommend using Amtrak.