Train Travel Help? Amtrak Website is confusing me?

Question

Hi, I might seem like I missing something. I have never traveled by train and I want to plan a train trip for my family. I went on Amtrak and since I don't know the routes or how to figure it. We live in Oregon, We just want a senic trip, maybe to TX orNM or wherever. Is there a site that is simple to use when you know nothing about trains routes?

Answer 1

Amtrak website has some weak points. Just for fun check out   virgintrains.co.uk. Its Richard Branson's railway in Britain and its very user friendly. There is even a section where ideas are exchanged.

I know this answer is off the mark, but I just wanted you to see a creative rail website.

Answer 2

When you are on the Amtrack web site pick the route and in the bottom right hand corner there is a view route map. That will show you where all the trains travel. Also just to let you know take an ice chest with snacks. The snack foods in the cafe car are very expensive. Also it is cool on the train so you may want to plan for a blanket. I dining car has great food so it is a nice to plan one meal on the train for the excitement but It is to expensive to eat all your meals on the train. Hope you have fun..

Answer 3

In Oregon you have only one AMTRAK train. The Coast Starlight south to Los Angeles then transfer to the Sunset Limited that basically follows Interstate 10 all the way across. You can stop anyplace and visit then get on the return train back to L.A. and then back up to Oregon. One thing you need to know: The Sunset Limited only runs 3 days a week so you need to coordinate your Coast Starlight to coincide with the Sunset.

Answer 4

Don't try to use the reservations system or route scheduler on Amtrak, it's a mess.  Call 1-800-USA-RAIL to book.

However Amtrak's website has very good info about the various trains, as do many other web sites.

  

West of Chicago, there are four east-west transcontinental routes:

#7-8  EmpireBuilder, Seattle/Portland, Minneapolis to Chicago

#5-6  California Zephyr, Oakland, Salt Lake, Denver to Chicago

#3-4 Southwest Chief, L.A., Albequerque, Kansas City to Chicago

#1-2 Sunset Limited, L.A., El Paso, New Orleans to Florida

Then there are the north-south routes

#11-14, Coast Starlight, Seattle, Oakland, San Luis Obispo to L.A.

#58-59, City of New Orleans, Chicago, Memphis to New Orleans

That's it for long-hauls, west of Chicago.

Answer 5

www.trainweb.org has a map of AMTRAK's routes across USA.

AMTRAK's own site - www.amtrak.com gives details of its various routes, also.