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Family vcation time is approaching in couple weeks. A car trip is planned this year for a change but that allows me to finally ride the final 2 segments of the Amtrak system I've never been on: Quincy to Galesburg and Detroit to Pontiac. This is possible with the kind assistance of an understanding wife who will mee tus on the other end. Also will make a quick RT STL-KCY so my son can close that gap and he will add a ride from Grand Rapids to Chicago to Niles while we drive. New commuter train mileage will include Nashville's Music City Star and the South Shore Line into CHI. We also will close the missing gaps in Ontario. Much regular sightseeing for everyone's benefit also.
sojourner Member # 3134
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Have a wonderful trip. You've certainly been on an amazing number of routes already!
What is the Shore Shore Line in CHI. Did you mean South Shore Line? Where does it go? I think I have heard there are some nicely restored older stations on the South Shore Line--am I remembering right?
RRRICH Member # 1418
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Does the South Shore Line still operate between Chicago and South Bend?
notelvis Member # 3071
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Sounds great..... I envy you the STL-KCY segment.
The last time I rode the Missouri trains I departed from the doublewide in St. Louis and arrived at the trackside cinderblock box in Kansas City.
I have an itch to go back and see the improved Amtrak facilities in both cities!
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Yes, the South Shore still ambles on. (I've edited my typo). It's always intrigued me but is hard to do except with a layover somewhere. An overnight in South Bend will permit the single day RT. In Canada we also will ride the VIA RDC from White River to Sudbury (our last missing piece of VIA Rail's system), the Algoma Central, and Ontario Northland from end to end.
sojourner Member # 3134
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Silver Star that is SO COOL. I want to take all those trains too, esp the Canadian. .
Does anyone know anything about restored stations worth seeing on the South Shore line? I think I may have heard Beverley was one worth seeing???
SilverStar092 Member # 2652
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There have been trips that hd bumps in the road but years later I'm glad I endeavored to cover as many routes as possible. The Heartland Flyer trip, for one, almost didn't happen as our southbound Texas Eagle was hit by an auto at Longview a few years ago which made us quite late. Amtrak took a dozen passengers off at Dallas and rushed us by taxi van to Ft. Worth to make the Flyer. We made the Empire Builder Portland section by 4 minutes off a late northbound Coast Starlight a few years ago. Those are just two of the close calls I encountered over the years.
rresor Member # 128
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I've had ONR and Algoma Central on my radar for several years now -- hoping to cover ONR out of Toronto to Moosonee, take the midnight bus to Hearst, thence ACR south to Sault Ste. Marie and fly home. Maybe this year...or maybe not.
Suggestion on Pontiac -- ride on through Detroit and out east to Jackson or Kalamazoo. There's a nice restaurant in the K'zoo station that has a wonderful Sunday brunch. Pontiac is a dump, and the "new" Amtrak/bus station is boarded up. Amtrak operates out of a double-wide.
Quincy is an interesting trip, although I understand the train now originates in Quincy and not in West Quincy, IA as it used to (I caught it from there).
rresor Member # 128
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The South Shore and I have a long and interesting history. I went to college at the U of Chicago 1971 -- 75, and the Shore's orange cars stopped right at 59th Street. In the late spring/early summer, we would take the train to the Indiana Dunes.
The old cars were still in service, and so were the "little Joes" (three of them) and the "700s" the Shore got from NYC in the 1950s. Quite a show.
But by the 1980s freight was dieselized and new cars had arrived, with the same body shell as the single-level cars for MARC in MD. Something was lost...but it's still "the last interurban" and I highly recommend making the effort to go all the way to South Bend. It's quite rural east of Michigan City and gives a real "interurban" feel to the line.
When I first rode to South Bend in 1971, they had just cut service back to Bendix Drive, and we walked the track (still in place) to downtown, where the South Shore emblem still hung on the terminal building and the yard, although being removed, was still partially in place.
train lady Member # 3920
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my husband a I drove up to "soo" a few years ago. We stayed on the Canadian side. then took the Algoma. It was fabulous. We bought a box lunch which they make, ate at a picnic table over the break and had time to explore the surrounding territory. In Sudbury be sure to see the museum and if the tour into the nickel mine is still going don't miss it. They closed the gold mine tour and I don't know if it was reopened
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