by electricron
Arlington wrote: ↑Mon Jul 22, 2019 10:19 am Agreed. Don't start at Chicago. Really, don't start within 3 hours of it*Kankakee, Is is 57 rail miles south of Chicago, adding 57 rail miles south of McComb, MS gets you to Hammond, LA - around 53 rail miles north of New Orleans. At least it could work with time and distance, and additionally with the single host railroad requirement someone else suggested.
New Yorkers drive 4 hours to get to the LOR terminal.
How close to Florida can I get from Fort Wayne Indiana?
*except for CONO Auto Train, which I propose for Kankakee
The problem with the Ft. Wayne to Florida route is the lack of an existing Amtrak train servicing it. Without an specific rail route, it is difficult to state how far a train could go in 850 rail miles. Using highways and assuming a routing toward Orlando, 850 highway miles will get you to Valdosta, GA. Orlando is 1076 highway miles, so 1076 - 850 = 226. So 226 miles north of Orlando on I-75 places you near Valdosta, GA. Remember, that is a highway route, not a railroad route. 226 miles north of Orlando puts you 3 hours or so away. It would be too far north to be an acceptable drive to reach south Florida or the Gold Coast.
A better choice for an originating train for Auto Trains heading west from Chicago would be Galesburg, which could service both the Zephyr and Chief routes. Galesburg is 162 rail miles west of Chicago, 850 miles west of Galesburg would get you to:
Zephyr 26 miles northeast of Denver, CO.
Chief 19 miles southwest of La Junta, CO.
I’m not sure either would make an acceptable Auto Train, but that is where these trains could reach from Galesburg.