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  • Other then the Northeast corridor where can I take a day trip on Amtrak?

  • General discussion of passenger rail systems not otherwise covered in the specific forums in this category, including high speed rail.
General discussion of passenger rail systems not otherwise covered in the specific forums in this category, including high speed rail.

Moderators: mtuandrew, gprimr1

 #1610934  by Ken W2KB
 
sextant wrote: Fri Nov 25, 2022 1:47 pm Having Buffalo as a home base what regions have trains that I could take in the morning and return the same day?
Very limited. See these 2 timetables: https://www.railpassengers.org/site/ass ... ervice.pdf and https://www.railpassengers.org/site/ass ... 031620.pdf
 #1610943  by Arborwayfan
 
Sextant, are you looking for trains from Buffalo, or regions in the country where day-trips are possible?
Champaign-Chicago-Champaign (or points south of Champaign) is possible, and when the Saluki is running (not sure if it's back) Chicago-Champaign Chicago is also possible.
 #1611002  by andrewjw
 
Hi sextant,
I don't want to step on the moderators toes, but I just want to give you some friendly advice.
Other people on this forum do not work for you. We are here because we enjoy it too. If people have seen this thread and not posted to it, then probably the above does not encourage them to do so. If they have not seen this thread, then posting more in it probably does not help. Overall, I think your contributions to this forum (and others on this website) might be improved if you spent more time considering why your posts might be of general interest to the forum readership, instead of thinking about whether they interest yourself.
Just trying to offer something constructive here :)
best
 #1611008  by electricron
 
Your answer relies upon where Amtrak provides multiple train services each day. That limits your choices to Seattle=Portland, Santa Barbara-Los Angeles-San Diego, San Jose-Sacramento, Sacramento-Bakersfield, Chicago-Detroit, Chicago-St. Louis, Chicago-Galesburg, Chicago-Champaign, Chicago-Milwaukee. Otherwise there are trains extending off the Northeast Corridor like New York City-Harrisburg, New York City to Richmond, etc.
 #1611047  by RandallW
 
sextant wrote: Sun Nov 27, 2022 2:28 pm I would like to add the Carolinian —/Dod Raleigh-Durham to High Point and Charlotte and back in the same day… Bacicaly a Commuter Train that takes cash fares and walk on..except the Station in Charlotte is not Downtown and has yet to have a direct connection to the light rail
It's 3.5 hours scheduled between Raleigh and Charlotte, and these services have working cafes and checked baggage service (temporarily suspended on the Carolinian). That's not "basically a commuter train".
 #1611739  by wigwagfan
 
sextant wrote: Fri Nov 25, 2022 1:47 pm Having Buffalo as a home base what regions have trains that I could take in the morning and return the same day?
I used to do Portland-Seattle all the time. I've done Portland-Whitefish in a very long day (i.e. leave Friday night arrive Saturday morning, leave Saturday night arrive Sunday morning). Portland-Eugene-Portland is doable.

Technically Portland/Seattle to Spokane and return is doable, if you don't mind leaving at 4:00 PM, arriving at midnight in downtown Spokane (highly recommend a bulletproof vest), leaving about 1:30 AM and returning to your home around 10:00 AM or so. But I think that's stretching the definition of a "day trip".
 #1611809  by Literalman
 
It's hard to plan day trips without seeing a timetable for a route. Are current Amtrak timetables available anywhere?

Back in August I had to plan a board meeting in Virginia. Most of us would be traveling by rail. I had to consider several locations and look at arrival and departure times to find a place and time that would accommodate everybody. I spent about an hour on it because I could not find a timetable showing the Virginia services. I had to search for Norfolk-Ashland, Norfolk-Richmond, Norfolk-Fredericksburg, and Norfolk-Alexandria separately and do the same for the other city pairs. It would have taken 10 minutes to plan if I'd been able to see a timetable. The Amtrak website had a link to printed timetables but it didn't actually have any. I pointed this out to Amtrak and was told that Amtrak is not offering timetables, not even as pdfs. Now I can't find the link or any timetables.

The Amtrak website seems designed for people who know where they want to go and when. If you want to plan a day trip (on the Piedmonts, for example), how could you find out when all the trains run?
 #1612795  by ExCon90
 
Speaking of the Bay Area, a day trip I always enjoyed was SF to Sacramento. BART to Oakland Coliseum for the morning turn of an early train from Sacramento (very few people get on there, so sit where you like and get the street running through Oakland (as well as the waterside scenery from Richmond to Martinez), lunch on the deck of the Delta King at a table facing north with a view of Amtrak and UP crossing the I Street bridge, ride some light rail, and get a train back which makes Richmond before sunset. Bail at Richmond for BART or take the bus from Emeryville. On one occasion I watched the Overland Route brought to a standstill while the I Street bridge was raised to let a tour boat pass.
 #1612821  by lpetrich
 
As I said, it was over a day for me, because I lived in Livermore, and it was a couple hours by bus and BART to the Amtrak Capitol line. So I went to a hotel near that line to spend the night. Returning was much less of a problem, however, since BART and the Dublin-Pleasanton-Livermore local bus line both run late at night.