Amtrak Floridian - Miami to Chicago on Amtrak's Newest Train! - Apparently a Trip Report

[@JasonD1977]

Miles, it was very nice to meet you at dinner. I am so happy I got to meet you and your friends - Jason

[@ncliffordjr]

I hope your trip to Disney World was a success!

[@MilesinTransit]

It was so nice to meet you, Jason! Thanks for the kind words and for hyping the channel up to the waitress 😂 I hope your trip went well!

[@KehHs-l8b]

My turn to buy dinner. See u in boston

[@gbrading]

"OK YOU FOAMERS, HOW'S BREAKFAST?" was a moment :D

[@paulhealy2557]

Who was that guy ?

[@hiEste]

@@paulhealy2557unc

[@DanTheCaptain]

An old timer called you out as formers and now they have to live with it for the rest of their lives lol

[@2EXTREME2008]

Whats a "foamer"?

[@altpersonas]

@@2EXTREME2008 People who work in the rail industry call people who are fans of trains "foamers" because they act like they're foaming at the mouth whenever they see a rare/cool train

[@bobsykes]

The enthusiasm of the staff at the departure station wins the prize here. No kidding, 10 out of 10 for sure!

[@na-rj2ww]

Gramps had them dead to rights with that “okay formers how’s breakfeast”

[@AverytheCubanAmerican]

"Really? Why? BUFFS" realest Amtrak conductor. Gotta love when stations have model layouts....the working layout in the waiting room of Hoboken Terminal is my favorite! This Simply Railway crossover is up there with the RMTransit one and Great Race to Rockaway Beach with Alex Davis and Well There's Your Problem. And great Switch setup...Mario Party, UNO, Monopoly, and Among Us are the four horsemen of destroying friendships. The real question is, did Jeremy beat Volo or Sinnoh Champion Cynthia while on a train? "Where there's no alligators or panthers" ah yes, Florida world issues. Alligators are found elsewhere in the southeastern US (there's also an alligator species in China) but the Florida panther is a cougar subspecies endemic to Florida! It is the only confirmed cougar population in the eastern US! They hunt things like armadillos, white-tailed deer, nutrias (basically the South American version of a beaver that was introduced to North America), storks, and small alligators. In terms of Florida ecosystems, there's tropical hardwood hammocks (covers South FL and the Keys), Florida mangroves (the very southern coast of the Everglades and Florida Keys), Florida upland hardwood forest, sandhills, flatwood, bottomland forest, Florida scrub (like Ocala National Forest), and the South Florida rocklands (pine rocklands are a critically imperiled system in South FL, Bahamas, Turks and Caicos, and Cuba; in FL, it exists on the Miami Rock Ridge primarily). What you were looking out the window at 7:43 is Florida scrub. The Florida scrub is home to many endemic species, like the Florida scrub jay, Florida sand skinks (which look like snakes and have very small legs because they live underground in the sand), Florida sand cockroach, Florida worm lizard (like the sand skink, it looks more like a snake or worm than a lizard), and Florida scrub millipedes. South FL is unique in that it's at the southern end of the temperate North American Floristic Region and at the northern end of the tropical Caribbean Floristic Region, and this allows for the mixture of vegetation from two distinct areas at the extremes of their ranges Plant City is known as the winter strawberry capital of the world, and hosts the annual Florida Strawberry Festival. Named not for its plant nurseries, but after railroad developer Henry B. Plant of the Plant System. Kissimmee can be traced back to the language of the Jororo people and means “long water.” Palatka comes from the Timucuan word Pilotakata, which means "crossing over" or "cow's crossing". The original spelling was "PAlatka" in the city's charter in 1853, but the US Post Office officially changed it to "Palatka" in 1875. Ybor City in Tampa looks that way because it was designed to be a walkable company town for Cuban cigar makers moving from Key West in the 1880s, it has the TECO streetcar, and fun fact, its Parque José Martí was given to Cuba in 1956, with soil from Cuba's provinces. So you can visit a part of Cuba without a passport! Italians also moved in, which is why Tampa-style Cuban sandwiches have salami. The Ybor City Museum is on the site of the first US bakery to make Cuban bread, La Joven Francesca. Now La Segunda Bakery in Ybor City is the largest producer of Cuban bread in the world. Bialy is a Yiddish word taken from Białystok, the biggest city in northeastern Poland. In turn, the city owes its name to the Polish Biała rzeka (that means “white river”) after the river flowing through it. Stok meant stream, although nowadays "stok" is translated as "slope". The bialy was brought to the US by Polish Jewish immigrants in the late 1800s, just like bagels. Apex, NC's motto is "The Peak of Good Living". In 1869, the Chatham Railroad, connecting Chatham County with Raleigh, was completed. At the highest point of the line, which railroad workers dubbed the "apex of the grade", existed a pond. Trains leaving out of Chatham would stop at the pond to replenish their water. So when a community grew there, they called it Apex! Money magazine ranked it the best place to live in the US in 2015, interestingly enough. That was Quantico at 25:21. It is surrounded by one of the largest Marine Corps bases, Marine Corps Base Quantico. The base is the site of the HMX-1 presidential helicopter squadron, the FBI Academy, the FBI Laboratory, the Marine Corps Combat Development Command, the Officer Candidates School, The Basic School, the Drug Enforcement Administration training academy, the Naval Criminal Investigative Service, the Army Criminal Investigation Division, and the Air Force Office of Special Investigations headquarters. Quantico has no highways passing through it, you need to pass through the base to get to it by car, there's an Amtrak and VRE station in the town, and you need DBIDS credentials to enter the base. So because of all that, Quantico town just doesn't grow, because it can't! It stays a small walkable place. Quantico was first settled in 1654, but its railway station opened in 1872, and when that happened, the Quantico Company built a tourist and fishing town along the line. But this success was short-lived as when WWI came around, the government needed land to train Marines, and Quantico was deemed appropriate, with the government leasing 5,300 acres before purchasing the land from the struggling Quantico Company. 582 lived in the town in 2023.

[@TheEphemeris]

"Okay you foamers, hows breakfast?" had me so happy

[@SupremeLeaderKimJong-un]

"KRINGLE KRONGLE" - Miles 2024. Running to get Raising Cane's was a big brain move. After West Palm Beach, you were passing by Lake Okeechobee! It is the eighth-largest natural freshwater lake among the states, and the second-largest natural freshwater lake contained entirely within the contiguous 48 states, after Lake Michigan. Okeechobee covers 730 square miles (1,900 sq km) and is exceptionally shallow for a lake of its size, with an average depth of only 9 feet (2.7 meters). The earliest recorded people to have lived around the lake were the Calusa. They called the lake Mayaimi, meaning "big water". Yes, this is where the name Miami came from. The name Okeechobee comes from the Hitchiti words oki (water) and chubi (big). Its Okeechobee Waterway goes from Fort Myers to Stuart and was built/finished in 1937 to provide a water route across Florida, allowing boats to pass east-west across the state rather than traveling the long route around the southern end of the state. It incorporated the construction of channels, gates, and nearly 140 miles of levees to protect areas surrounding Lake Okeechobee from overflow. In Herbert Hoover's honor, people called the dike around the lake, "Herbert Hoover Dike". In 2023, Florida Fish and Wildlife do a statewide alligator census, and the lake had 9,308 counted alligators with an estimated population of about 30,000. The Battle of Lake Okeechobee was fought on the northern shore of the lake in 1837 during the Seminole Wars, one of the wars' major battles. Fought between 1,000 US Army troops of the 1st, 4th, and 6th Infantry Regiments and 132 Missouri Volunteers under the command of Colonel Zachary Taylor, and about 400 Seminole warriors. This battle was a Seminole victory, 26 people from the Army were killed (including Lieutenant Colonel Alexander R. Thompson and Major General Richard Gentry of the Missouri militia), and 112 soldiers wounded, and it led Zachary Taylor to retreat to Tampa. Yeah, even though it's named after the old Chicago-Miami Floridian route, it of course doesn't follow that same route. This is of course temporary for the issues you mentioned and not the final product for a Chicago-Miami route, since their goal is a route stopping at Indianapolis, Louisville, Nashville, Chattanooga, Atlanta, Jacksonville, and Orlando (no Tampa). Other historic Chicago-Miami routes included the City of Miami (Illinois Central), the South Wind (the Pennsy, the Louisville and Nashville Railroad, the Atlantic Coast Line Railroad/later Seaboard Coast Line, and the FEC), and the Dixie Flagler (FEC), with the latter stopping in Atlanta and Chattanooga unlike the other two, though the South Wind stopped in Indianapolis and Lafayette. The old Amtrak Floridian between 1971 and 1979 stopped at places like Valdosta, Georgia, Lafayette, Indiana, Birmingham, Nashville, and Louisville. However, it was fraught with problems. It had to contend with deteriorating Penn Central (PC)/ex-New York Central (NYC) track in Illinois, Indiana and Kentucky, which resulted in occasional use of MoPac (former Chicago & Eastern Illinois) and L&N (former Chicago, Indianapolis & Louisville: Monon) routes north of Louisville. It was also briefly combined with the Auto-Train's former Kentucky route (yes, the Auto-Train once had a second route to Louisville), but the Louisville Auto Train route didn't last long because of severe delays on the Floridian, thus when Auto-Train ended in 1981 and Amtrak revived it in 1983, it only took over the Virginia route. Amtrak stopped serving Louisville Union Station in 1976, instead using Auto-Train Corp's stop near the airport. In 1979, the Carter admin required all Amtrak routes to meet a minimum cost/farebox ratio or face discontinuance. Unfortunately, the aforementioned track issues and delays resulted in a steep decline in ridership for the Floridian, which is why it ended that year.

[@randomtransitadventures]

@@SupremeLeaderKimJong-un forgot about sunrail

[@hariranormal5584]

Always nice to see Kim Jong Un with the information about Western transit! You learn a lot sir! Respect

[@gravelydon7072]

Lake O is the biggest lake in the US in any one State of the 48 contiguous ones. Lake Michigan is a shared lake. Also the AT went broke because of the track South of Louisville causing damage to equipment and autos in the car carriers. Southern location of the AT terminal for that route was where the current Poinciana Sunrail station is.

[@girl_with_armor]

14:11 i love that miles prefaces everything by asking the audiance if there are any experts in that specific field >^

[@andyjay729]

It'd be nice if Amtrak could resurrect the original Floridian which ran directly from Chicago to Miami via Nashville and Montgomery, AL.

[@phronsiekeys]

An impressive summary. Made me really want to eat in the dining car again! Been a long time. I've never done more than one night in coach, you and Jeremy are made of sterner stuff than I!

[@markberg6197]

Always a good day when a longer than 30 minutes miles in transit video is posted

[@overly7997]

one of my favorite trip reports, i love seeing all 4 of you hanging around for a long distance train. imagine you guys going international for a 50k sub special

[@MilesT1997]

So THAT'S why I saw Jeremy taking videos at the Washington & Wabash stop on my commute home last night! Kicking myself for not saying hello

[@fridi105]

Over the summer I went to visit a friend who recently moved to Roanoke Virginia and decided instead of flying from LaGuardia such a short distance to take the train that now runs all the way from New York last stop Roanoke. Obviously it was a longish ride but removed so much of the aggravation that comes with flying.

[@Taitset]

*Biome foamer response* It's a bit hard to tell because of the motion blur, but I don't think those are mangroves. Mangroves are pretty short little guys that live on the edge of salt water, usually in the tidal zone - their roots stick up in the air above the water line to act as little snorkels.

[@theminipetabyte4610]

Now this is the ultimate transit KZbinr crossover. Criss crossing hemispheres with Taitset and Miles in Transit!

[@MilesinTransit]

Thanks Taitset!!

[@railfanhunterjacob6353]

@@MilesinTransit I hope they make the Floridian as a permanent long distance service train from Chicago to Florida But what I am hoping for is that the return of the Silver Star will have a connection with the Floridian in the future and once the Silver Star returns to Miami, the Floridian on the other hand should go to Tampa along with the Sunset Limited from Los Angeles to Tampa, the Silver Palm from Boston to Miami as part of the extended Silver Service If the Capital Limited returns to service from Chicago to Washington D.C. in which will make connections with the Floridian and the Silver Star in the future The Floridian might have to take the route to Youngstown, Akron, Fostoria and Nappanee. Which is the former Three Rivers route and Amtrak's Blue Water, Lake Shore Limited and Pere Marquette should return to Hammond-Whiting in Indiana before heading to Chicago

[@TheRonkonkomaRailfan]

If we keep the Floridian even after the Silver Star and Capitol Limited return, it better be rerouted via Indianapolis, Indy needs more service than just 6 Cardinals a week.

[@railfanhunterjacob6353]

@TheRonkonkomaRailfan Good point

[@travelingwithrick]

Nice shout out to Distant Signal's channel. Top expert on all things railroad. Especially freight trains. Plant City is the Strawberry capital of the U.S. Fun video as always.

[@JimbobsTransportVideos]

10:22 glad to see you shouting out smaller creators! Some real ethical KZbin content right here

[@ck4426]

The ripeness, the foamers, the closing theme and the post credit just do it for me. 😊

[@nmonster]

Thanks for showing South Bend! I hope you're right that this train sticks around.

[@ryan225360]

Holy cow, I can’t believe how quickly you got this out

[@chrismontalban5538]

So glad that Amtrak now allows ALL passengers to visit the dining car!!!

[@cauthoncrazy]

I got so pumped when I saw thar.

[@GreenBlueWalkthrough]

And they were very nice when they had to close it for a very small part of the trip.

[@sswan9689]

Be careful going into the dining car if you are a coach rider. I rode this train a couple days ago and yes, you can get into the dining car, BUT the flat rate is $20!! Who wants to pay $20 for some oatmeal & toast, smh. The bedrooms & roommette get their meals included.

[@jrails46]

Great video Miles! I took this train round trip from Chicago to Orlando over New Years and it was great! I met a lot of nice people and the food in the diner was phenomenal! What did you think of the jointed rail section between Hamlet, NC and Camden, SC? 38+ hours in coach was a challenge but having ibuprofen and a pillow was a plus. I enjoyed watching your video report of this trip and taking it myself was everything I had expected, thankyou!

[@MilesinTransit]

I can't remember if I took much notice of it...nothing beats the Buckingham Branch for horrible rails on Amtrak!

[@jrails46]

Yes, it was a rough ride, sounded nice tho.

[@Digital_Piss]

I took an Amtrak from Austin to Montreal, it was pretty much the same set up in regards to cars and lack of micromanagement and a lot of stops. I loved it I can't wait for an opportunity to take another trip

[@flyoma]

I have to smile at that very very Amtrak ribbon cutting and launch. Having been to many such airline inaugurals, and having ridden Amtrak so much, I found it just about right.

[@misteryA555]

Jeremy has such a cute smile, it's infectious. Also, I think there was a train somewhere in this video

[@AquieoAndreBR]

As someone who has a channel dedicated to the Nintendo Switch I support playing your Nintendo Switch on Amtrak!

[@comradecoleslaw4491]

I’m taking this same journey later this year! I’m so glad you already had a video on it!!!

[@MilesinTransit]

Have a great trip!

[@orion938]

First Floridian video I've watched -- glad it was this one! Also, thanks for the OKE shoutout (my Florida station!)

[@awesomeman116a]

Omg I just saw Simply Railway’s version of the route Time to watch your video now! :D

[@davidsaunders6700]

Thanks, Miles. Very well done. I have homes near both Miami and Chicago, so I really appreciated the recommendation about the direction to take (southbound) for best views. Will be doing this route in 2025 sometime after doing the California Zephyr in January. Again, thanks.

[@MilesinTransit]

Ooh, very exciting! Have a great trip!!

[@votenanocratic]

Oh dang. I recognized the 300A station design as the same as the old Minneapolis Midway station, making it #2/2 built. No longer in use after Amtrak moved to Union Depot in St. Paul.

[@MilesinTransit]

Yup, Miami is the only one still in use!

[@stevefest]

Yes! Interior looks almost exactly the same as the old Mpls/St. Paul station, which is still there, boarded up (maps.app.goo.gl/SLRdonrVX1sAq3Ag9)

[@wflinner]

The cafe car really is the observation car of east coast long distance! Took a trip from Cary to Miami and back with some friends one summer, spent a good few hours in there and even watched a man get kicked off in Kissimmee for trying to fight the cafe attendant!

[@stephenkeever6029]

This trip report had it all! But most importantly, you got it out in record time with a surprisingly minimal amount of blurry video!

[@rdbarne]

i rode the Siver Star from NYC to Tampa back in 1996 and I remember by the time we left Washington DC that bathroom was horrible. The smell I'll never forget. Me and my family still talk about it LMAOOOOOO

[@budw.8362]

Wow! Impressive! Brand Spanking New! Thanks. Just pressed play but had to pause it for insta props!

[@robaltus6292]

Longtime Tampa resident and when I saw the video description I said to myself "I hope Miles included some footage of Tampa". I got way more than I was expecting! Enjoyed the plaudits for Ybor City. Especially loved Jeremy's reaction at seeing the roosters! They're locally famous-their ancestors were brought here by the Cubans who originally settled Ybor.

[@RealCrimsonPeach_TSFTWDTFTL]

That was a great video! I got excited when I saw you appear in Simply Railway's video on this train, and I'm glad your video is out now, too! I definitely hope to take the Floridian one day, but I live near New York, so unless I can afford to book a full trip on the Lake Shore Limited or the Silver Meteor, I'd probably have to either book a flight to Chicago or Miami or book an Amtrak train down to Washington to access it.

[@dontbesquare]

Great coverage. I appreciate this. As someone who travels in the midwest region a lot this inspires me to travel more, Thank you for what you do.

[@MilesinTransit]

Thank you so much for watching!

[@andydavidson6673]

As an Apex resident and Amtrak enthusiast, this is basically my Super Bowl.

[@MilesinTransit]

APEX!!!

[@hollywood1340]

I gave a poor bid and ended up one way in a roomette on the Empire Builder. Upper level and bathrooms were also upstairs. You gotta pay for it!

[@MariRoman-c6f]

Miles! It was great meeting you and the crew on board! Thank you for teaching me so much about trains! -Mari

[@MilesinTransit]

Mari! It was a blast to hang out, thanks for keeping us company!!

[@heathbobbihess8952]

We love Jeremy

[@girl_with_armor]

we do :')

[@michaelimbesi2314]

Can confirm

[@Syncronym]

Rode this (in coach) for about 28 hours to visit family over the holidays, it was honestly a very pleasant experience. Despite being completely sold out, it wasn’t delayed either way. I am kind of hoping demand has them reconsider this being temporary, it was really nice not to have any transfer to worry about (from PGH to ORL).

[@BenTheDuck]

“It’s out of focus” “half your videos are anyways” there was either laughter, disappointment or silence from that moment

[@MilesinTransit]

Laughter!

[@Buc_Stops_Here]

I appreciate this but really, it is not a new train but a new route. At least he explains this at the start of the video. Nice job overall.

[@michaelbruchas6663]

You guys! Great work. I could not do 46 hours in Coach. Amen on the bathrooms after 46 hours. Rode a Carolinian from DC to Charlotte often in 2003. We had a full car of French tourists and their families - headed to some corporate event in Charlotte. Think they expected bathroom cleaning like on French trains. Nope. Between a lot of wet diapers on babies and kids messing up the bathrooms were rank. Then the car was RANK. Wished that I could have bumped up Business class but it was full…. You guys needed a roomette.

[@MilesinTransit]

Thanks so much for the donation! Those bathrooms always get disgusting by the end...

[@railfanhunterjacob6353]

@@MilesinTransit As a North Carolina resident and railfan, I would like to see a connection with the Floridian and the Silver Star in the future and that way, service between Raleigh and Columbia will get 4 Amtrak trains daily. One for the Floridian during the mid afternoon and the early evening hours and one for the Silver Star in the early morning and late evening hours

[@CableFlame]

34:36 Funny you should mention the one seat ride from Richmond to Pittsburgh. I live in Newport News and my best friend is currently moving to Pittsburgh. The whole reason I was excited about this new line (other than “yay new train line!”) was explicitly because of the Staples Mill - Pittsburgh run that didn’t require a transfer. (Yes I could take the train from NN to Staples Mill but I’d rather just get dropped off. Accessibility reasons.) Thank you for covering this! :)

[@MilesinTransit]

Whoa, that's fantastic! You directly benefit!

[@GerenM63]

I’ll definitely need to watch this. A few years ago, we did DC to West Glacier National Park in coach, and with the exception of not having access to a shower (and about five minutes of one drunk guy) we had a great time.

[@StateRailfan2008]

Great video miles 😊 glad you got this video out it was a great one the Floridian great route not very direct from Chicago to Florida

[@mylesspear]

Geesh! From inaugural run to trip report, that was quick!

[@KibblesnBitts]

I see Miles & Jeremy on my algorithm, I drop whatever I'm doing and immediately watch Miles & Jeremy

[@joethepagan3297]

Be happy they did not have to change the locomotives in Washington DC. Back in April a friend was taking the train from Miami to NYC. He had to wait 5 hours because the first locomotive could not supply electricity to the rest of the train.

[@traintrak]

Okay, this is officially my favorite Apparently a Trip Report.😎

[@MilesinTransit]

Thank you!

[@anitabennett8909]

Mine too!!!

[@rico4.700]

"ok u foamers hows breakfeast?" LEGEND

[@makenna9602]

I’m in Cary! So fun to see you guys ride by

[@TheGlenRockianRailfan]

Great job with the video! It was nice to meet you and Jeremy briefly at the beginning and ends of the trip (at least as far as DC for me anyways)

[@MilesinTransit]

Great to see you too! Thank you so much again for the kind words on the Union Station platform.

[@travgames0113]

20:45 That made me laugh so hard. Me and my best friend Poor Bid on the NE Regional from NYC to Boston so we took photos out the back window. A conductor called us foamers too.😂

[@JohnLumagui]

Good to see Jeremy & Sunny with you. With 3 S-tier Foamers, we got a really comprehensive overview!

[@ww32]

This needs to stay, When the Star comes back, this needs to stay. And you were right at the beginning there need to be more trains every day.

[@commercialcritic4676]

This shit is crazy. Keep it up!!!

[@MilesinTransit]

Thanks so much!!

[@johnbarnett7092]

Stopped at Camden, SC station yesterday. The new Platform and parking area is turning out very nice. At the station if you walk a short distance to the main highway and turn right, you are about a half mile from motels and food. Other Amtrak stations are getting upgraded also

[@RD743033]

Thanks so much! I’m excited that I’ll be taking this train from DC to Orlando with my family in March. It’ll actually be a 3 line itinerary: Keystone Service -> Northeast Regional -> Floridian.

[@MilesinTransit]

Have a great trip!

[@cesarnyc]

Miles, thanks for the great video. I also did the Floridian round trip (MIA-CHI-MIA) on coach a couple of weeks ago and totally agree that the Amtrak crew did a great job with both trains very crowded. ILike you said, it was fun! Really hope they keep this route even after the work on the tunnel to NYP station.

[@MilesinTransit]

ROUND TRIP IN COACH! That is damn impressive!

[@BIoknight000]

It's crazy to see you come to my station because I literally work there! I'm an LSA for Amtrak here in Miami. Didn't get to work your train, but I'm glad you enjoyed it!

[@MilesinTransit]

Aw, that's awesome!! We loved the crew in Miami!

[@WillyGoat54]

The "death factory" you recorded at 33:16 is actually the BP oil refinery in Whiting. Considering they were responsible for Deepwater Horizon, your description is very correct.

[@nathanjiang100]

fun fact, Tampa sees almost as high ridership as Orlando does despite having half the number of trains so it's very much worth the deviation. I do the Silver Star (or Silver Meteor/thruway bus) between NJ and Tampa pretty regularly and it always amazed me how they have like one and a half cars reserved strictly for intra-Florida passengers (it's almost like they should run more trains) with a huge turnover in Tampa. they also always line up intra-Florida first because there's so many of them and then board everywhere else after. The Meteor was already scheduled to be 2 hours faster southbound and now it's like 5 hours faster because a 90 min layover is required in DC for Amtrak to guarantee a connection to/from the Floridian (I think they should just allow people to board the first available train out of DC for the corridor to accommodate all the people, including myself, who lost the one-seat ride that the Silver Star used to offer but that's too good to be true). it's funny that you guys think that the track was rough on night 1, the Silver Star trackage for me has been some of the best night's I've had in an Amfleet-- much better than the Meteor because the top speed on the S line is 60 mph for most parts rather than 79 mph on the A line. Also interesting though expected that night 2 was rougher. I rode that route obviously when it was still superliners which definitely made the experience better than any Amfleet night I've had. If you want the best scenery take the Floridian heading eastbound so you hit the Youghiogheny & Potomac River highlights in daylight. The Floridian overall seems like a net negative in my eyes. The one plus I see is like a one-seat one-night ride from Chicago to places like Richmond and Raleigh or Florida to Pittsburgh but other than that as a coach passenger you lose Superliners on the Cap section, the on-time performance is bound to be worse, and Tampa loses a one-seat ride to the NEC, and New York actually seems to be the most popular destination outside of Florida from my own experience on the Star. It seems to me like a lazy attempt to cobble together two trains for the obvious operational reasons. They added even more time in the schedules thanks to new refueling patterns in Savannah and Pittsburgh on top of the hour and a half already built into the Cap/Floridian schedule and two hours in the former Star schedule. The crews still use the old symbols over CSX territory P030/P091 and P092/P029 (though they use 41 and 40 on NS from Pittsburgh to Chicago) and they still keep the same crew patterns, necessitating a ticket rescan in DC and even switching out all the attendants. And like the Amfleets in their current state are clearly not meant for two-night trips as evident by the lack of bathrooms, which was already a big problem on the Star, noisy ventilation, and slightly but noticeably less comfortable seats. Props if anyone read my yapping in its entirety, it probably took you longer than a trip on the Floridian.

[@MilesinTransit]

Good points, very well said! And Tampa is actually the single BUSIEST station in Florida so it's definitely worth the deviation!

[@judyschultheis]

Great video, Miles! Thanks for getting it out so quickly.

[@MilesinTransit]

Thank you!

[@Freeridin07]

Amtrak always holds a unique and chill way to travel. Hope it doesn't die. Really wanna try out an onboard room. Sounds like a must. Long distance overnights in coach is rough

[@justjibsy]

I didn't even finish reading the thumbnail before I clicked play.

[@PiplupJames]

27:24 I came for the GAMBIT!!! I was working at the building near the tracks so i couldn’t meet yall but yep I was the one who put standby on the boards 🐧

[@MilesinTransit]

Thank you so much! Such a lifesaver move!!

[@PiplupJames]

@ love to help y’all out🐧🚂

[@johnlinn]

Your Mom is hilarious. I've never been but now I want to go.😂

[@bnywtrains9482]

It’s such a long route that Transitdocs won’t load the whole thing…

[@MilesinTransit]

Amtrak set a maximum of 42 stops, but this train has 46!

[@cardiffchris]

This is just the train I need to get from North Central Michigan to Tampa

[@daniellewis1789]

How about Southern Michigan to North Carolina?

[@sammy7068]

wow hope they keep the train love it ty for sharing your journey with us

[@JaxBpo8ld]

Great video! I love the Floridian I will definitely take a ride on it someday! Or maybe in the summer or so.

[@adambeeable]

I've been binge watching your videos over the last several days and noticed that I got a shout out in this one at 7:07. That was me asking for Delray. Thanks Miles. 😄

[@MilesinTransit]

Ahh, sorry I couldn't remember it was you! Glad we could address your concerns from last time though!

[@adambeeable]

@@MilesinTransit It's fine. I appreciate you pointing it out, though you were right that it was nothing special LOL.

[@TechNerdNolan]

Love these types of videos!

[@ShaneEngelman]

Dang, being there for the first day of a new train line sounds awesome

[@MattTathamis]

“You are looking at the men you shot” Can’t unhear it.

[@garvancorr5999]

Foamer meter is off the charts here

[@jxh02]

1:22 Oh! I thought that looked eerily familiar. Minneapolis/St.Paul Midway is my local. I have to say, I don't miss it now that SPUD is back.

[@surf6009]

Thanks for the video. It was interesting to watch some of the Thomas movie. I couldn't make it through the whole movie.

[@joebehrdenver]

Martinsville WV has MARC service into DC -it's basically a bedroom town now.

[@justintheaggressivepedestrian]

2:09 glad to see the return of my file photo!

[@MilesinTransit]

It had been awhile!!

[@tyrese3745]

The Floridian is back after 45 years (albeit combining both the temporary discontinued Capitol Limited and the Silver Star routes, not the 1971-79 Mid-south route through Indiana, Kentucky and Tennessee to reach Georgia and Florida).

[@kenmmcnatt]

If I knew you were on that first Floridian I would have waived hello as you went through Martinsburg! (Also, yes, Cane's Texas Toast always hits the spot!)

[@DuluthTW]

I think in the future when I'm too lazy to add a comment, I'll just add a smiley face - as in Smiles for Miles. It looked like a good experience overall. Thanks for sharing! 🙂

[@92xsaabaru-]

More support for a Viewliner 3 order with observation lounge cars!

[@monkeybusinessasusuall5467]

Same

[@monkeybusinessasusuall5467]

Hear me out: viewliner coach. There’s no point but it would look super friggin cool

[@92xsaabaru-]

@monkeybusinessasusuall5467 I'm fully on board with that. Bigger windows than Amfllet would be a huge upgrade. It would also be nice to have single level long distance trains with uniform train sets for once in Amtrak's life.

[@Aqwerty314]

Happy birthday Karen!

[@_mynewcareer]

Love your guys enthusiasm

[@trainluvr]

Axtul transut enthuzeeasts

[@michaelbruchas6663]

Thanks!

[@JoeyLovesTrains]

31:55 oh man, when I was on the Lake Shore Limited back in 2019 diner was only open to Sleeper passengers, not even business class could eat there.

[@xBris]

20:43 legend 😂

[@b.griffin317]

In NYC the ripeness meter is called a pissometer and all 472 subway stations have a rating.

[@29downtheline]

Love the dedication for riding the first train all the way! Also, nice EPTA shout out. I haven’t ridden it before, but I did see it when I boarded at Martinsburg once. Definitely a pretty obscure transit agency. Martinsburg also has a beautiful train station (and is the most-used in WV), so it’s too bad y’all went through it in the dark!

[@nicholasthompson7690]

Nice! Hope it went well. I heard about the Floridian on WBBM radio in Chicago a few weeks ago,.

[@boweandrew3]

These videos are amazing and always a great introduction

[@MilesinTransit]

Thank you!

[@dragon32210]

I always have a Bath and Body Works room spray handy for the toilets

[@stormythelowcountrykitty7147]

Another Miles Video! Great day.

[@arimermelstein9167]

Auto train is on my bucket list so this gives me an idea of what I may expect.