posted
Over the years a number of Amtrak routes have been eliminated at one time or another. I'm curious if anyone else has a particular (Amtrak era only for now) train you would have liked to have ridden but found it eliminated by the time you 'got around to it'.
I have three actually - I'm sorry that I never had a chance to ride the LA-Salt Lake City 'Desert Wind', the Chicago-Dubuque 'Black Hawk' or the erstwhile 'Mountaineer' on the portion of it's route from Ashland, KY to Norfolk, VA.
-------------------- David Pressley
Advocating for passenger trains since 1973!
Climbing toward 5,000 posts like the Southwest Chief ascending Raton Pass. Cautiously, not nearly as fast as in the old days, and hoping to avoid premature reroutes. Posts: 4203 | From: Western North Carolina | Registered: Feb 2004
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This topic made me think of the lost Amtrak trains I rode before I was a hardcore railfan. Our honeymoon ('77) included a sleeper we picked up in Warrensburg, MO that was hitched to the westbound SWC in KC. That must have been the National Limited?
Prior to that was a trip on the North Coast Hiawatha to bike through Yellowstone. Later was the Desert Wind LA-SLC to connect from one driveaway car to another. All just to get from point A to point B, not for the train ride.
The ones that got away? Tops is the Pioneer. Though not Amtrak but within the Amtrak era, the Rio Grand Zephyr.
The biggest one to get away for me precedes Amtrak, -the Olympian Hiawatha. Last of the transcontinental routes to be built, the rails were like a new path through unspoiled wilderness. Eventually it was shortened to go west only to Aberdeen, SD. The Milwaukee Road had such dedicated fans that the last train to Aberdeen was supposed to be a major railfan party.
Posts: 1572 | From: St. Paul, MN | Registered: Dec 2002
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I was planning a trip from Lake City, FL to NOL on the Sunset before Katrina hit. That trip has been "on hold" for a long time, thanks to Amtrak's inability or unwillingness to resume service, NOL-FL.
-------------------- Ocala Mike Posts: 1530 | From: Ocala, FL | Registered: Dec 2006
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I agree with all the above, especially the comments of TwinStarRocket regarding the North Coast Hiawatha and the Pioneer. It would sure be nice to have Amtrak reinstate both routes.
I have a question with regard to the Pioneer. Just how close did it get to Yellowstone? Was it Pocatello, ID? Did they have bus connections over to the park?
Also, if I remember correctly, I sort of thought that the Pioneer timetable had the train arrive at Idaho destinations quite late...such as between midnight and 6am. Is this so, and did it ever have a different timetable so that it arrived at more convenient hours?
Richard
Posts: 1909 | From: Santa Rosa | Registered: Jan 2004
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During the entire life of Amtrak's Pioneer it was always a nocturnal caller in Idaho. Boise had it best at about 7am westbound and 10 something pm eastbound. I don't recall any bus connection to Yellowstone but I could be mistaken.
I am glad that I was able to ride the Pioneer once....in June 1989 if I recall. The Superliner decor was still avacado, orange, and brown and not in too bad of shape in those days!
Mike, I saw something within the past day or two (maybe the NARP news hotline yesterday) where Amtrak's new president recently testified on Capitol Hill. Congresswoman Brown (D-FL) pressed him on the future of the Sunset Route across the Florida panhandle and the answer was kind of vague.....to the effect of looking to partner with local governments to develop 'corridors' east of New Orleans and that they were also looking to 'modify' that route west of New Orleans.
It sounds, in my opinion, like Amtrak has no desire in resuming the Sunset in it's past form and that the only chance of anything east of New Orleans is going to depend on the Gulf States to help pay for it.
-------------------- David Pressley
Advocating for passenger trains since 1973!
Climbing toward 5,000 posts like the Southwest Chief ascending Raton Pass. Cautiously, not nearly as fast as in the old days, and hoping to avoid premature reroutes. Posts: 4203 | From: Western North Carolina | Registered: Feb 2004
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Dec 1961, it seemed that my then future employer had a delay to #20, The Arrow, that I was riding Marion IA to Chicago to connect with NKP #8, The New Yorker' to Hoboken leaving LaSalle St 1110A. Arrival of #20 at CUS, scheduled 850A was 1055A. I got to the head of the taxicab line (pleading not pushing) "step on it...keep the change" up the stairs to platform level and as I ran with two bags down the platform, they were highballing.
There went my only chance to ride behind Alco PA's and so did my center-car forward riding Bedroom. There folks, is the "one that got away'
Posts: 9976 | From: Clarendon Hills, IL USA (BNSF Chicago Sub MP 18.71) | Registered: Apr 2002
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I wish I would have ridden the Pioneer before it disappeared. I remember seeing pictures of the dining car which was also the lounge. I think it had a wild-west theme to it, with red/white checkerboard tablecoths and pictures up on the wall.
Posts: 2355 | From: Pleasanton, CA | Registered: Apr 2007
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The one I wish I had ridden was The Pioneer. By 1997 I had taken all the LD routes and I was looking to add the Pioneer sometime in 98...alas,it never happened.
I m glad I got to ride the Sunset toand from Florida. At this point, it seems unlikely there will be any service East of New Orleans. I did have reservations on #1 from JAX to LAX in late August of 2005. The beginning of my trip was the day before Katrina, and I missed the last truly trans-continental run by one day.
Posts: 176 | From: Bloomsburg Pa | Registered: Jul 2000
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Thanks to all of you who mentuoned the Pioneer. We took it to Seattle in 1991 where we rented a car and drove around Alberta,BC including Vancouver Is, and the Olympic peninsula before coming back to Seattle and taking the EB to Chicago. I got out my photo album of that trip which is also where I keep all the notes. "The Pioneer was a very comfortable train. Our attendent was Harry. At stations he would shout out"all aboard" like the old porters did. After Portland I went over and sat in the empty room across the hall to see the scenery and was joined by Harry, the conductor and the Chef. They spent the rest of the time regaling me with stories about their experiences on other trips. Just before Seattle Harry came by our room and gave us 4 carafes of wine that were left over from the welcome baskets and also a big handful of the Amtrak chocolates .The Columbia river gorge was really breath taking. I got some good pictures thanks to the dining room steward. He suggested I sit at one of the tables there to take pictures because it would be easier than in the club lounge.He pointed out the water falls as we went along. I won the trivia quiz and got a white Amtrak blanket as a prize." So thanks people for nudging me into remembering such a great trip. I note the trip from DC and return with standard bedrooms was $1174.
Posts: 1577 | From: virginia | Registered: Jun 2005
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One that I did get was the old 'Floridian' from Chicago as far as Jacksonville, FL.
It wasn't until the short-lived 'Kentucky Cardinal' that I was able to board a sleeping car room at Louisville Union Station in about 2001 though. This was an important personal accomplishment because as a child in the late 1960's a favorite aunt, knowing that I was crazy about trains, had taken me down to Louisville Union Station to watch the arrival and departure of L&N's 'Pan American'. From that moment onward I wanted to begin a rail adventure from Louisville Union Station.....it took me nearly 35 years and a full decade after my aunt's passing to do so.....but I did.
-------------------- David Pressley
Advocating for passenger trains since 1973!
Climbing toward 5,000 posts like the Southwest Chief ascending Raton Pass. Cautiously, not nearly as fast as in the old days, and hoping to avoid premature reroutes. Posts: 4203 | From: Western North Carolina | Registered: Feb 2004
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