Railroad Forums 

  • There and back on Amtrak #65 and #66

  • Discussion related to Amtrak also known as the National Railroad Passenger Corp.
Discussion related to Amtrak also known as the National Railroad Passenger Corp.

Moderators: GirlOnTheTrain, mtuandrew, Tadman

 #1514990  by JimBoylan
 
Separate tickets to and from New York were often cheaper than through tickets via Hell Gate bridge. The cheapest round trip between New England and points South of New York was the 17 day fare. But, from New York to New Haven RR stations, a 2 or 4 day Round trip was often available at only 25 cents more than the full 1 way fare. Penn Central quickly cancelled that one.
Tickets between PRR points and the South through Washington, D.C. were often more expensive than separate local tickets in and out of that point. I remember a footnote in a PRR "Through Trains to the South" timetable that such local tickets were not good for passage in through cars. Such cars might have a better chance of having reclining seats, air conditioning, etc. But, this doesn't seem to be the case with Amtrak today.
 #1515147  by Tadman
 
danib62 wrote: Wed Jul 24, 2019 9:01 am

They manage to change crews at NHV without rescanning tickets so it's not every crew change.
This. I've been through 20+ crew changes in the last 90 days and never been asked for a ticket. This is another example of inconsistent customer service and managers that don't ride the trains, otherwise this would not happen.
 #1515301  by daybeers
 
The ticket rescanning in NYP is a very well-known practice among NEC riders. I've known it for as long as I can remember taking trains on the NEC, which, admittedly, isn't long, but still.

I don't really understand it either; the only reason I can think of is someone sneaking on from the secret entrance in NYP and scooting into someone's seat check. If the conductors only took away the ones for the people disembarking, then this wouldn't be an issue, however, so I'm really not sure!
 #1516679  by SouthernRailway
 
I've booked a business class ticket on train 150, the 3:10am Washington-NYC train. I figured I'd be literally paying over $500 for a hotel room and would get only a few hours of sleep, so I might as well spend a few hours on the train in the middle of the night and I'll be just as well-rested, but $500 richer.

How awful is this train ride going to be?
 #1516793  by bratkinson
 
SouthernRailway wrote: Sun Aug 11, 2019 6:22 pm I've booked a business class ticket on train 150, the 3:10am Washington-NYC train. I figured I'd be literally paying over $500 for a hotel room and would get only a few hours of sleep, so I might as well spend a few hours on the train in the middle of the night and I'll be just as well-rested, but $500 richer.

How awful is this train ride going to be?
Just yesterday, I was 'pricing out' a trip on the Cardinal sometime before 9/30 in either direction (WAS-CHI or CHI-WAS). Either way, as I've been 'sleepless' because of the crew on #66 too many times, I looked at hotel prices in the WAS and BWI area for the dates involved. For me, either the hotel has to be within a block of Metro or a hotel shuttle van, like I did from BWI several months ago. During the summer, rates are comparatively cheap. After September 1, give or take, it's $150ish for a flea bag and $300ish for a name brand hotel.

So, I considered other trains from WAS to get me eventually to Springfield. Basically, I had to decide do I really want to spend 3-8 hours in the worlds most uncomfortable chairs waiting for an wee-hours of the AM train after the Metropolitan Lounge closes at 9PM or so.

Given the choices of $300ish for a night in a hotel in the WAS area either before boarding or after arrival, Train #66 (which as been as much as 3 hrs late arriving at WAS when I was waiting to board 3-4 years ago), or 3-8 hours of back pain and sleeplessness, I decided against making the trip. If I was 20-30 years younger, I'd probably opt to sit it out in the waiting area. But at 71, a night in a hotel is essentially my only option.