A superb 'Land Cruise'

[Mikado463]

Originally Posted by Formerly YB-2

We hope to do the Canadian at some point. Looks great. We did 30th St Station to LA via ABQ

Southwest Chief , great train, love the ride over Raton Pass. I ran into a guy in Scotland whose Grandfather was a engineer on the Super Chief, the Santa Fe predecessor back in the glory days of steam

and back thru El Paso a few years ago

Sunset Limited, used to be Amtraks only Trans-Continental train (LA to Jax), now terminates in New Orleans

Had a 2-person couchette

Glenn, do you mean 'economy bedroom' ?

Denver to the west coast thru Glenwood Springs is still pretty spectacular.

The best overnight train trip in the US, no question. Riding it Eastbound this time of year one gets to cross three mtn ranges (Sierras, Wasatch, Rockies) all in daylight. The descent into Denver is spectacular

Wish the clowns in our congress would give us a decent passenger rail system. So much better than the cattle-car flying of today.

Glenn, sadly it's a political football that's been kicked around for 46 years !

[Formerly YB-2]

Originally Posted by Mikado463

Glenn, do you mean 'economy bedroom' ?

No sure. Two person room with an upper bed that folds down from the top of the room. Worked well for us as we are neither that large. Wouldn't want to be over 6' tall or 200#.

[Mikado463]

Originally Posted by Formerly YB-2

No sure. Two person room with an upper bed that folds down from the top of the room. Worked well for us as we are neither that large. Wouldn't want to be over 6' tall or 200#.

Did you room have its own shower / toilet and sink ?

[Antonmb]

Wow, thanks for this, it brought back fond memories - I took this train from Vancouver to Montreal back in 1984. I had a single cabin with toilet and sink and a seat that turned into a bunk at night. I had a Walkman I'd borrowed from a friend and a deck of cassettes that included a lot of Pink Floyd, Allman Brothers, Stones, and some classical, and spent many hours with headphones on just watching the scenery roll by. It was a fantastic experience. It's probably changed a bit since then, but I still remember the guy walking the length of the car in the morning ringing a bell and calling "Dernière chance pour le petite dejeuner...last chance for breakfast!"

[80B]

Originally Posted by crwilli

Yes, I was thinking about the Theroux book. Until I lived in China, I thought that trip would be cool.

Could never have convinced my wife to do it after her woman's trip to the Silk Road where she stayed in a "Four Star" hotel that had an open channel in the floor for sink water to drain from room to room. That was in Kashgar on the very western border.

My apologies to Dave for the slight diversion!

Craig, if Dave doesn't mind the diversion going a bit further, here's a couple pics for you guys from that fateful trip - first is me at the station, next is a one of the train in Mongolia, and a young lady I met as she was moving from Beijing to Budapest. We'll celebrate our 25th anniversary next month.

About 12 years ago we did a silk road trip, starting in Urumqi, so we didn't get quite as far west as Kashgar. Train back then from Xi'an to Beijing was 24 hours; with the high speed network today, it must be much, much faster.

[crwilli]

Lucky guy! You were really traveling in China in the modern 'early' days! Quite the adventurer.

My first trip to China was in 1984 to Shanghai. It was a VERY different city than when I moved there in 2008.

The high speed trains in China today are awesome and usually run on time. Safest method of travel in China IMHO.

My Japanese colleagues would politely comment that the Chinese stole the technology from their Shinkansen.

[Mikado463]

80B, great adventure with a superb ending !

[Formerly YB-2]

Originally Posted by Mikado463

Did you room have its own shower / toilet and sink ?

Yes. Though be best for person number 2 to take a stroll when either the shower or toilet are being used. We did the same on a roundtrip to New Orleans several years ago.

[Mikado463]

Originally Posted by Formerly YB-2

Yes. Though be best for person number 2 to take a stroll when either the shower or toilet are being used. We did the same on a roundtrip to New Orleans several years ago.

Well Glenn, you got the bigger of the two bedroom variants, for the 'economy' room (or shoebox as I call it) would be like sleeping in a coffin ! Actually the handicap room downstairs is the largest though.

[Formerly YB-2]

Hi Dave - had not thought of the handicap room. My wife has handicap card for her parking (bad hip/back). Am guessing that would qualify for the train, though she is loathe to use it.