My First Overnight Long-Distance Amtrak Trip

[@glowingfish]

About the procedure for boarding---it is actually different on each long distance train, as well as the strictness with which they enforce it. Sometimes, especially if there is a lot of people getting on at once, they just ask where you are going, assign you a seat, and don't scan until you are sitting down.

[@trainsdestinations3960]

Amtrak puts in so much padding into their long distance schedules.

[@AverytheCubanAmerican]

"The Krusty Krab pizza is the pizza for you and me" I can't believe SpongeBob and Squidward turned into humans and named themselves Stormy and Ben. You know the Krusty Krab has the ultimate pizza when it's known both on land and in the deep blue sea! 😂I guess you can say when you reached Waterloo, IN...you finally faced your Waterloo! It's a shame you didn't save Olaf from that Pittsburgh window, I'm sure he would've appreciated a warm hug! Elkhart's station building was built in 1900 by the Lake Shore and Michigan Southern Railway! Toledo's Martin Luther King Jr. Plaza/Central Union Terminal was built in 1950 but was renovated in 1996 and in 2016 when Greyhound arrived at the station. Sandusky is derived from a Wyandot word meaning "cold water". Alliance was formed in 1850 by the merger of the settlements of Williamsport, Freedom, and Liberty with a fourth settlement, Mount Union, being added to the city in 1888. Thus, the name "Alliance" was chosen because of the alliance of these small settlements into a bigger one!

[@awesomeman116a]

5:07 OMG CITIES SKYLINESSSS YAYYYY

[@hawkeyetherailfan]

I took the Southwest Chief from San Bernardino to Chicago, it wasn't that awkward sitting next to a stranger for two nights. Only downside of that trip was when the conductor yelled at me for having the audacity to want to sit next to a window.

[@user-di2on5gl2d]

Why would the conductor yell at you if you had reservation? I would report him.

[@hawkeyetherailfan]

@@user-di2on5gl2d I had a reservation to be on the train but not for a specific seat, by the time I got on all the window seats in my coach were taken, and I didn't want to be rude to my seatmate by sticking my arm and camera over him to take pictures of every little thing I found interesting. After we left Albuquerque just about more than half the people in my car got off and no one got on so it was now empty, since I knew the next station wasn't for a while I thought it would be okay to take the seat opposite mine until then. The conductor came through and asked for my ticket and when I pointed to it and my actual seat across from my temporary seat he said to stay in the seat I was assigned. When I tried to explain the above he raised his voice and said if I wanted to sit next to a window I should go to the lounge car, which was a fine suggestion and what I did first. However everyone else on board had the same idea, as there were no seats available when I went and after the next few times I tried I got tired of walking the train waiting for a lounge seat to open. I don't fault the guy for enforcing the rules and it didn't have an impact on my opinion on Amtrak and future travel plans with them, but it was a sour note to an otherwise fine trip.

[@hawkeyetherailfan]

@@user-di2on5gl2d I had a reservation to be on the train, but not for a specific seat. By the time I got on board all the window seats were taken, and I didn't want to be rude to my seatmate by sticking my arm and camera over him to take pictures of every little thing I found interesting. After we left Albuquerque just about more than half of the people in my car got off and no one got on, so every seat on the other side was empty. Since I knew it would be a while before the next station I thought it would be alright to sit in the seat opposite mine until then. When the conductor came through he asked for my ticket and I pointed to it and my actual seat, he said to stay in the seat that I was assigned to. When I tried explain the above he raised his voice and said if I wanted a window seat I should go to the lounge. Which was a fine idea, and what I did first. However everyone else on board had the same idea, and there were no open seats the first time I tried, or the second time, or the third. After that I got tired of walking the train waiting for a seat to open. I don't fault the guy for enforcing the rules, even if in this case they didn't make the most sense, it was just a sour note to an otherwise fine trip.

[@tarasaurus98]

One day I'll get to travel east on Amtrak. I've come so close several times and always had to cancel.

[@memoriesbywayne]

This brings back many good memories of my childhood train trips to Charlottesville as a kid. :-) Haven't done a long distance Amtrak in so long!

[@nathanjiang100]

this was my first overnight Amtrak trip too, just in the other direction. if I were you guys I definitely would have slept as much as possible, the conductors usually go around waking everyone up 15 mins before your stop. probably my worst night on Amtrak was NY-Cleveland on the Lake Shore Limited, that 4am arrival was rough and people were getting on and off all night so I slept maybe an hour on the train. the Night Owl from DC to Boston comes close though, but only because they deliberately wake everyone up in the middle of the night to rescan all tickets and the train uses regional Amfleet I coaches (it is a Northeast Regional after all) instead of the Amfleet II. the seats are the exact same as Horizon cars for those in the Midwest. but other than that I usually get at least 7-8 hours of sleep and in practice the announcements only start until like 9am instead of the 7am that they say.

[@landon176]

Yeah, I was on that exact same train number and exact same train line except I went on the whole journey

[@sroevukasroevuka]

Took scamtrak to ny with my wife we celebrated new years in nyc. We had a bedroom. Long trip but we enjoyed it.

[@VaudeVilleClown]

I've definitely gotten lost in all those diagonal cross streets. Finally had to ask someone how to get to the Greyhound station (as its the obvious landmark near Amtrak.)

[@VaudeVilleClown]

Man, same old station at South Bend that's never been upgraded. Not even as good as an Amshak. I often enjoy the uniqueness of announcents by staff on long distance routes.

[@VaudeVilleClown]

Crossing Sandusky Bay in daylight, if the train is late, is neat and pretty.

[@MassbyTrain]

Ben got in the bus foamers way

[@VaudeVilleClown]

Sometimes it's hard to sleep on overnight trains in coach, anyway. I think I've, mostly, been up much of the night on that same trip. Plus, you get to see the cool old art deco station in Toledo, and imagine what riding trains was like in the golden era of passenger rail, if you're up at lile 230 in the morning.

[@johnchambers8528]

The Toledo station is relatively nice inside. I have ridden west bound to Detroit and you have to transfer to the Amtrak connecting bus there. They have some nice posters about the history of the station. It is also nice that it now also serves Greyhound so you can make easier connections to other nearby cities and makes the station a true union station again.

[@Nvideofilmsproductions]

Stormy how was rhe long distance Amtrak

[@brunhildevalkyrie]

5:09 is that Kara city?

[@appalachianenthusiast9499]

I hate it when the CWTA runs a weekend schedule!

[@eprohoda]

Stormy, how’s everything going?, unreal traveling~ goodbye,

[@itsbenchase]

your one hint for the rest of this series is that i ended up calling this Worcester but bigger

[@trainsdestinations3960]

RIP Capital Limited

[@alteredstate42]

One day I'll get to travel long distance on Amtrak.Where I go? No one knows...

[@VaudeVilleClown]

Shhhhhh....it's quiet hours!!!!! :-p

[@a81517]

Amtrak should just give up on schedules "it'll get there when it gets there"

[@randomtransitadventures]

woah P42

[@craigsmith9636]

Pittsburgher here with family in Chicago, so I’ve taken that trip multiple times. Did you get a chance to ride our light rail system while you were in town?

[@karatransitfur]

Keep an eye out for the other videos! 😉

[@LifeOnCoach]

😂✌🏾

[@rust_belt_city_enjoyer]

Hi Ben

[@itsbenchase]

oh hi rice

[@truthteller8459]

Pittsburg? PITTSBURG?? You two have my VERY sincere sympathy for going there.

[@ClassyWhale]

pittsburgH

[@sqoomsh]

You have my very sincere sympathy for not including an H at the end of Pittsburgh.