I worked with someone that had some Great Aunt or whatever that did this. The lady just didn’t like planes, so she would travel like this. Basically, you get all the amenities of an RV, water tank fill up, power hook up, plus you can walk up to the admittedly gross food car. She said it looked like an RV apartment combo, and that the Aunt was old money, so the Mr. Monopoly vibe is accurate.
I’m with Great Aunt whomever. Flying sucks.
Plus, you could make it an event or party car. Imagine a traveling bachelorette party with a murder mystery dinner, karaoke, no flying, no driving, and you end up somewhere cool and can nap on the way back.
(100% of the pre-wedding parties I’ve been to have had karaoke and a murder mystery dinner. Sample set of one.)
Coworker said that time is the luxury item. Unless your car is following exactly a regular Amtrak route, at some point you get decoupled in a yard and passed off to another train, which can take hours. Basically a layover. So it sounds like it can easily become a multi-day thing to get somewhere you can get in like 5 hours by air.
But yeah, if you have the time and inclination, it seems like a pleasant way to go.
This is so much more baller than a private jet
“I am rich but I don’t need to rush around the country to keep being rich”
I’m gonna take my time and enjoy the ride. If you need me, come meet me on my train. I’m pulling into Kansas City tomorrow. See you there. Meanwhile I’m gonna have a cocktail and play some video games.
If I had to choose one, it would be the private rail car for sure.
For like 30 seconds I was thinking ‘car’ meant automobile and I was picturing like someone’s SUV hitched to the back of a train.
I should get some coffee.
Amtrak does have the “auto train” which runs from just outside DC to just outside Orlando. You load your car on the train and ride the train rather than driving that distance. It’s apparently really popular with both snowbirds as well as vacationers
Neat!
If anyone else is curious, there’s a lengthy blog post with some photos here: https://www.aboomerslifeafter50.com/travel/is-the-amtrak-auto-train-worth-the-ride-heres-my-take-going-to-florida/
Two adult rail fares $286 + one roomette for two $565 + automobile $269 = Grand total $1120
And a Wikipedia page: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Auto_Train
There’s also rumblings of potentially setting up a new Auto train route from NYC to LA. I have wonder if they’ll do the obvious thing of making a stop in Chicago as well given most long distance Amtrak services stop in Chicago
That would be incredible.
I live a few hours drive from Chicago and have family in LA, I would love the option to take an autotrain to visit family. The ability to bring my car to visit folks in such a car dependant place would make the cost really make a ton of sense, especially if we opted to only drive one direction and take the train the other direction.
We’re actually planning on driving out this thanksgiving (partly decided by cost and partly by making an added stop to visit family in Arizona which Amtrak and flying would both make extremely expensive in comparison) it also helps that our car was totaled by hail damage this year so since it now has no resale value despite being fairly new and fairly low mileage, there’s just no incentive to avoid putting tons of miles on it anymore. But if we could pay a couple thousand dollars for the experience of riding the rails just one direction, we probably would go that route
This is also how the Channel Tunnel between Folkestone in the UK and Calais in France works, sans any amenities other than a toilet. Drive on, get taken under the strait, and drive off at the other side.
I remember watching a documentary about the chunnel back in the early 00s and the narrators highlighted how it’s enabled day-tripping to the other country for some folks, and spoke with a British couple who went to France to do some shopping that day
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This feels like a holdover from the Teddy Roosevelt/robber baron era!
Am I the only person without a personal train car? Am I surrounded by people in top hats and just don’t know?
I started a conversation the other day with some friends about if I ever ran for President and needed to travel the country, what impact would there be if I decided to go super old-school and get a Presidential train car.
Side conversation; Airforce 1 is the Airliner the Pres flies on. Marine 1 is the helicoper. What would be the train designation?
Choochoo McTrainFace 1
US-CAR 1 or uscar 1. We’ve had several before so it’s not particularly an abstract.
They’re all named after great explorers, Marco Polo, Ferdinand Magellan etc.
So theoretically if we got a new president who was into using trains to get around we could have a high speed uscar1 named Neil Armstrong or Yuri Gagarin? Though I assume astronauts wouldn’t be considered explorers and would be reserved for spacecraft the president is on
Correct though it’s unlikely any president will travel by train again given the best security is people simply not knowing where you are going or when. Being trapped in one direction is a big no no.
You KNOW that they’d have a fleet of helicopters, AWACS, fighter jets and vehicle escorts just hanging around the side of the running train.
imagine getting to be late for school because your bus got stuck at a Presidential Train Crossing, and being able to see the copters and jets fly over.
It would be a statement, that’s for sure.
Major problem is that Amtrak has the lowest priority on our rail network. Getting to a campaign rail-stop on time would be almost impossible without greasing some palms. So you’d have to hook up with a cargo rail line or something like that.
Land Sealion.
I mean Trainforce1 is right there, but Landforce1 sounds good too
Locomotive 1
Awful for security. Your whereabouts would be known at all times, and the USSS can’t protect every mile of track.
Amtrak 1?
Depends on which branch manages the railcar:
http://www.railgoat.railfan.net/other_cars/1private/us_military/us_military.htm
Spaceforce 1
They stopped wearing the identifying top hats. Anybody might be secretly wealthy now.
Mumford and Sons is currently running a tour by rail using Amtrak’s services!
But I’ve also heard of private groups pooling together to buy an old passenger car and keeping it maintained and up to whatever the current Amtrak requirements are so that they can do this regularly. Alternatively there’s several private companies who you can rent and charter a car or several with if you don’t want to commit long term to owning a railcar. I’ve specifically seen this one on private charter before for some model railroad events: https://261.com/cedar-rapids/
But how much is it?
- Short hop (300 miles, 1 car): Mileage = 300×$4.72 = $1,416, but you’ll pay the $2,296 minimum (plus any parking/switching).
- Regional trip (500 miles, 1 car): 500×$4.72 = $2,360 (above the minimum). With one night of standard parking, ~$2,583 before any special switching.
- Overnight long-distance (1,000 miles): ~$4,720 for one car. Two cars on the same request price ~$8,340 (first car $4,720 + second car $3,620) before parking/switching.
Even assuming some passenger limit (otherwise you could sell your own tickets and make a tidy profit) for groups large enough to require a charter bus, this sounds like a reasonable alternative. In fact that might be their target market.
What advantages does this train have over, say, a motor car – which I could also afford?
You don’t have to drive the train
But what if I want to?
25% discount
You are basically in a moving apartment, with bed, shower, bathroom, fridge, ability to cook…
It’s out of my price range, but I certainly could see the appeal.
The car will be way faster and more open ended in terms of where you start and finish, so it’s far more practical if you just want to get to where you are going.
well, you’ll notice how the private shower provides ample hot water, while … … gently massages your buttocks. well, count jerkface, shall we discuss the …
There were articles about people who make a lifestyle of this. Though the practice is apparently under pressure, as allowing random people to attach private carriages to your trains does complicate operating a railway.
This one of those hobbies that sounds so cool but so impractical to get into. Like it makes getting a boat sound like a cheap and easy hobby.
Probably not too impractical owing to the fact that you probably aren’t allowed to do jack shit yourself. It’s not like you can tow it from the depot to the station with your f150. Much easier than owning a boat :) presumably just as pricey though and with even less utility
How much does a rail car cost, and what is maintenance, inspection, etc like? This is still something of the very wealthy.
Yet slower, and far less convenient than air travel. Sight-seeing aside, I honestly don’t know who this is for.
Maybe there’s a train-enthusiast club out there that has a small fleet of rail-ready cars?
My guess is that this is a holdover from when rich people did have train cars (and sometimes even full trains!).
I would bet there are still a couple of rich people living out their train fantasies.
Because they love the experience. Trains are really a lot of fun.
I would gladly take the train over flying. You have more leg room, there is a dinning car, and way less security theater to deal with.
I’mma be taking so many trains when Rail Baltica gets built
Wait that sounds a bit wrong
Anyway yeah, for short to medium distances, rail is awesome. I haven’t tried super long distance rail yet. I’ve flown twice in my life and it was nice, but the first time was a short flight (3 hours) and the second time I had someone abuse their platinum status to get me one of dem nice emergency exit seats where there’s no limit to your legroom. I imagine if you’re going on like a 2 or 3 week vacation, taking a train or several there and back would be super nice, but if you’re spending a week on another continent because of time constraints, a plane sounds better.
Once shit gets built though, I can take a local train to Tallinn, then take the new slightly faster train to Poland, then from there to Germany. The most ridiculous thing about this is the fact that this train route is going to be a HUGE thing for car enthusiasts, because the biggest used car market in Europe is Germany, and right now you have to fly to Germany to go buy a car if you can’t find what you want closer (also German prices are better). So it’s gonna be a great train route for car enthusiasts (among all the other people of course).
can you ship your purchased cars home by rail easily?
No? You drive back the 2000 km obviously. Part of it is the Autobahn!
You can also skip half the distance with a ferry, but it won’t be saving much time.
bummer. I’m a sucker for cars on trains :D
Yet slower, and far less convenient than air travel.
you should be aware there is a non-insignificant population that despise air travel. whether it’s personal issues (fear, stomach problems etc.,) or they really hate the TSA…
Slow, sight seeing and not flying is exactly the point.
From some searching, they’re also available for charter. Still not something for a person of average means to do on their own, but maybe a group of upper-middle class people. Some Amtrak routes go through some incredibly scenic areas. The one that comes to mind in my neck of the woods is the Empire Builder. It would be a luxury experience for sure.
I have another thread in here talking about cost, but just the mileage fees for a trip on a car you own can be a significant percentage of the cost of chartering a plane. If you rent the car it can cost significantly more.
Owning a private rail car is a bit like owning a superyacht; it’s not a particularly fast or practical form of travel but it can be luxurious and fun so people with money do it anyways.
So is it possible to have a tiny home on rails?!?!?
Ok. Mr Burns
i hope america, and by extension, amtrak is still around when i retire, because this is cool as hell.
after the civil war of 2028 the railways were damaged beyond repair to destroy supply routes to the Federalists in DC. making it impossible for trains to travel more than 10 miles, if you were even lucky enough to find a working engine.
don’t worry though, there are plenty of trains in Europe, but in order to get on one of those you’d have to be a pow, and you likely won’t survive the destination.
If we have a civil war that destroys the railroads only the worst outcome would avoid massive improvements to rail infrastructure. It’s still absolutely crucial to pur indistrial capacity. A fascist victory would have low speed rail redesigned for precision scheduling. A progressive victory would get high speed rail between major population centers, expansion of intraregional rail, and reconstruction of the industrial rail network. Balkanization would wind up with progressive areas considering high speed rail to be vital.
Like if the west coast ditches, we’ll probably continue towards the San Diego - Seattle line because when all your major population centers are in a row and reasonably spaced it becomes obvious to do it.
But yeah currently American rail is more functional than the governmental and political landscape.
Yeah iirc thats an old holdover from when that was how rich people got around
Well, shit. Now I want to be rich
Do it!
