Many people in that strange country between Canada and Mexico like to deride their national rail line, Amtrak. But having crossed four of the six continents on the globe that you can cross by train, Amtrak stands up bloody well. It’s relatively cheap, comfortable and efficient. And probably to best way to see the country. On this crossing it was the California Zephyr from San Francisco to Chicago, and then the Lakeshore Limited on to Boston.
As slow as a Romanian train on a bad day, rolling over wooden sleepers and rocking rails, by canyons and mesas, the ghosts of cannibals and their victims at in the Sierra Nevada, Butch Cassidy territory, Mormons and their harems, masses of divorcees in divorce-friendly Reno and the national cowboy poetry festival in Elko (Nevada) – the California Zephyr took us through some of the most spectacular landscape of the USA. The first and perhaps still most famous of the cross-continental railway lines, completed in 1869, the Zephyr traverses towering ranges, 3000 metre mountain passes, glaciers, wide deserts and lush plains. The Lakeshore Limited is a popular service, skirting the great lakes, through the maples and hippies of up-state New York and then into that other USA, Massachusetts.
A few pictures (click on each to see a larger version):
3 December, 2011 at 1:30 pm
I’ll take it as a complement that my home state (Commonwealth, technically) is “that other USA.” But I have to say that I was not thrilled the one time I took the Lakeshore Limited from Chicago to Boston and ended up half a day late.
3 December, 2011 at 5:34 pm
I do hear a lot about late Amtrak trains, bu the only time that happened for me (and I’ve travelled quite a few long-haul trains there by now) was during the mother of all snow storms just before Thanksgiving in 2004. I cam into Chicago on the Texa Eagle from San Antonio – on time through th storm. But Union Station was in chaos. We left on a local train on time but ended up being three hours late. My friends were waiting for me at 2.00 am and I was almost unable to find their car beneath the snow. The town had no places open at that time for a coffee of anything, so they sat there, periodically turning the engine on for warmth, for three hours in the middle of the night waiting for me. Needless to say, they have never forgotten it and I have never forgotten that Thanksgiving.
4 December, 2011 at 10:23 am
Amtrak is no cheaper than taking a bus or a plane. Among people in America who hop freight trains, Amtrak is called ‘Scamtrak’ — but, of course, that’s because they ride for free.
4 December, 2011 at 6:28 pm
A mobile couch-surfing … But as with ships, you don’t just count the cost of getting from A to B: the real cost includes accommodation and food for 3 nights and 4 days as well as transport. In that case, the train comes out much cheaper than flying and compares well with the bus. And as I get older, a horizontal sleep gets more and more important …
19 January, 2012 at 11:56 am
Hi Roland I have traveled across this amazing land on numerous Amtrak trips, and it is indeed excellent value for money ..It may be a little more than the Greyhound but way better you can sleep and walk about and eat ..I have posted thousands of photos mostly on Flickr of my trips in order to educate people about train travel But people generally cant plan a trip properly and cant see a late train as an adventure Which is a shame ..I think every American should travel on the California Zephyr between Denver and Emeryville during their lifetime If they only do one trip.. But maybe i like the time when the train is not so packed also..
10 April, 2012 at 7:10 am
Rebeca…
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