I think you are probably correct. I myself am NOT a 'railfan' per se, but I do find the view of the train ahead making a curve to be scenically attractive, so I include decent shots of this in my videos.
@@youtuuba if you werent a railfan you foooled me my friend. love the material though. i was in socal in 2016, flew to santa ana then to capistrano. had seen alot of this area.
The videos are just absolutely awesome. I am visually impaired and I really enjoy you describing the trains, where are you are going and everything along the way. It makes me feel as though IM aboard the train. Please keep up the good work, thank you.
My wife and I have traveled many times on the CZ and Chief. We enjoy rail travel for relaxation and the opportunity to meet people from all over the world. For those who are not members of the National Association of Rail Passengers, (NARP), please consider joining. It's an organization that lobbies Washington to promote Amtrak funding.
I am watching A Train Odessey 2 for the third time. It get better with age. I have be considering this same trip for some time now,however I will be starting off in KC. Ten thousand thumbs up Sir.
I just love your videos. I have watched everyone of you Amtrak videos at least twice and being retired Air Force at 75 years old, I love your aviation videos. Keep up the good work!
I just want to thank you for posting these informative videos. I grew up riding trains back and forth from Atlanta to New York and back and once as an adult from Atlanta to Washington DC and back with mother and my kids to a wedding. At that time I read some of AMTRAK’s books and realized all the train routes it had that crossed the country. But it wasn’t until I watched your TH-cam videos I became enlightened about the scenery and how accommodating the trains are for long distant travel on land. This is an excellent way to see the country without driving. You’ve shown all the do’s and don’ts, the meals, the sleeping accommodations, practically everything. I’d like to call this kind of traveling “Land Cruising”. I’m planning my own train odyssey soon. I can’t wait!
Outstanding video. It brought back memories of our trip on the Southwest Chief. My husband and I have also taken the Empire Builder and Coast Starlight. We love AMTRAK.
While I may be in the minority, I actually love looking at the rich huge partially green farmlands in western Illinois. It may not be mountains but this area is so vital to us all. It makes me appreciate this fertile and productive part of our country to see acre after acre of our lovely land.
love watching your videos,,,its now my dream to see the USA this way...if i ever win the lotto ,then thats what i will do,..thankyou for your informative and very entertaining videos,always watch them in the morning after work ..
Thank you so much for posting your videos. You very informative and helpful. I’m going to do one of these long distant train trip soon. I love beautiful scenery.
I really enjoy your train videos. They are very informative and interesting, and watching them has given me the bug to try travel by rail, which I have never done.
EXCELLENT . Your camera shots are beyond superlatives as if I am right there with you. You capture sights and surroundings . . . the "feel" of the Road ; the aesthetics of the viewing.
I love these train trips with you and the narration with your wonderful radio/TV type voice. Thank you so much! I live west of Chicago in Aurora, an old train town.
I will have to watch later. I am in San Francisco right now after having taken the California Zephyr. Your previous video sold me on the idea. Despite the A/C problems the first night that even had the Amish complaining and the over 4 hour late arrival I am hoping to take more of these trips in the future.
Nice video! I've been on the Chief a bunch of times over the years, dating back to the F40s, Superliner I's and ex-ATSF Hi-Levels. Your video brings back some great memories! Around 2:21:30, you mentioned the Transition Sleeper. I got to ride in one on a trip in October 2007, from Chicago to Topeka. You're right... the rooms on the upper level are all roomettes. The rooms in the rear half are spill-over, and the rooms in front are for the crew. A double swinging door separates the crew rooms from the rest of the car. The setup is similar to the way they had the ex-ATSF Hi-Level Coach Dorms set up back in the 1980s. Rear half was coach seating, and the front half was crew rooms. On the Transition Sleeper I was on, the "room" at the right rear of the upper level was a shower room. IIRC, that particular one didn't work! (I think that crew had a bunch of junk stored in there.) Lower level is a crew lounge, located where the roomettes on a standard Superliner Sleeping Car would be, and forward of the vestibule. I think there was a lounge chair or two in there, and a printer. (I took pictures, but I don't know where they are right now.) Rear half of the lower level was restrooms. I saw a car diagram once, and it looks like there might be one large bedroom at the very rear of the lower level, but I'm not entirely sure. The ride was smooth and quiet. I think the attendant from the 31 sleeper handled us passengers in the Transition Sleeper on that trip, but that was close to 11 years ago now, so I don't know how it's staffed these days.
It, just, occurred to me: You went from Union Station (Chicago) to Union Station (L. A.) to Union Station (Portland) to Union Station (Chicago). You traveled thousands of miles and kept ending up at Union Station.
Great video, as usual, Youtuuba! At 53:30, that is the Camerion Connnector, where the w/b 5 and 3 shared routes diverge; the CZ staying straight ahead to the Burlington IA Mississippi River crossing and Emeryville, CA while the SWC switches off to the south, to Fort Madison, IA and then LA. Can't wait to see n/b CS and e/b EB! en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cameron_connector
Another great video set and journey thanks. Wonderful scenery. Good idea showing us the route on paper atlas too. I used to spend whole weeks on UK Rover Passes. Even when I was a Railway Signalman haha. But it's nice to watch the World go by, both off and on the train. Meeting interesting people etc.
I love your videos and this one doesn’t disappoint. Your odyssey is on my bucket list, doing the circle but from LA to Chicago and back. It was a shame about the noisy observation car with the National Park speakers. Too many people with a sense of entitlement and disregard for others.
If you’re not going to listen to the speaker don’t go to the lounge car. There is plenty of time to go when the speaker is done. It would’ve been nice to show a little respect to the people that did want to listen. SMH
I took the Southwest Chief back in March of 2017. From Chicago to Kingman AZ. During our trip, it was cold but when at the west end of Kansas into Colorado, there were no clouds in sight. We were actually able to see the Mountains in the far distance. Since it was the end of winter, the mountain tops had snow still. Was an amazing trip. We had 2 superliner bedrooms, which the crew can actually connect together. I would like to do the California Zephyr next time, but the Southwest has always been a great experience since it was my first time on a long distance train. I remember during the night while in Kansas, we were joking about how the train felt like it was traveling 80 mph, I guess we were right!
I am watching the wonderful video on Train Journey staying in India,as I am at home in India,but I am not on this Train Journey, I like to watch this type of Videos on my Cell Phone,I love the Video,at last I thank the Channel for uploading such a nice Video on You Tube Channel👍💖🙏👌🌹💖🙏👍🙏💖👍👍👍👍👍👍👍👍👍👍👍👍👍
What a treat! A new train vid from Youtubba! It hit me as I was eating dinner watching this vid, I subscribe to you and Stobe the Hobo to get my train fix. He is the raw train jumper, and you're the refined first class experience.
I'm watching these in reverse order. I've done a similar, but different solo adventure. Greyhound from Louisville, KY to Chicago Union Station to board Cal Zephyr ( from Chicago to Sacramento) to Coast Starlight from Sac to Seattle then Empire Builder back to Chicago, then back home via Greyhound to Louisville. It was a great trip. Lovely people and the bus was so relaxing I actually fell asleep. The Amtrak service was excellent, but they really need increased funding. The railbeds are awful in certain areas forcing "slow orders" and then there are the freights that can be 2 to 3 miles long.
So, you do interesting programming too! Cool! These train trips allow you to shop in different places for cool programming essentials like books on how to program in different languages , I bet! The joy of finding a treasure in terms of programming books is shared by all!
Love your vids bud.. very relaxing .. on my bucket list riding a train cross country.. getting to see diffrent scenery than from a car.. have been falling asleep to them for the past few weeks dreaming I'm on a train journey. . Keep it up.. would be awesome if you could do all the amtrack routes in the end...
After watching other's Amtrak videos for a couple of months, it's always good to come back to one if youtuuba's.. kind if like running into an old friend.
Thank you for posting a great video. Both the California Zephyr and Southwest chief goes through Galesburg. At Cameron, the south west chief goes over the tracks of the California Zephyr. Galesburg is where the split takes place. I live about thirty miles from Galesburg and have taken both trains out of there. Keep up the good work!
I love your videos. Perfect blend of scenery and commentary. You tell it like it is. This trip though? I would not pay money for this particular journey:))
Great vlog. Just a small correction. The railroad was built first and roads such as I 25 follow the railroad rather than vice-versa. The engineers who built the railroad were careful to choose the most favourable routing and the highway engineers chose their routing for the same geographical reasons!
Really enjoy your videos. As far back as the 1985 I planned or should say dreamed of taking Amtrak tours similar to yours. At that time Amtrak offered Rail America passes where you could do 30 day unlimited travel for a set fee. Unfortunately I never did that but now I’m going to as soon as this COVID thing is over. Thanks again for your great videos.
great video contribution, I will keep watching for quality vids from whereever I can get them and take the plane next trip, and avoid dirty windows, incomplete meals and rude help, our tax dollars at work
I love your train videos. I hope you do more. I was I think ten when I took the Zephyr from Chicago to Denver. That would have made it '61. The roomettes were essentially the same.
It’s fun to watch the vid on my tablet and also follow along on google maps on my smartphone as you call out the various towns, rivers, and such that you pass. It’s a nice way to experience almost being there. I can zoom in and see the buildings and various features to look closer to understand what those places might look like. Very cool! LOL, I’m currently looking at the train station in Mendota IL and also trying to see if the town has any traffic lights which I can detect.
Took the Chief to Lax in April and than on to San Deigo on the Surfliner and back to Galesburg. Great trip, 90 mph at many times across the plains. What to you get to the rough sections of old track. Best to be in your seat. Enjoy
I've always wanted to make this trip! LA Union station is quiet beautiful. Also, I had the same problem with a new Fuji camera that had the default resolution set to something really extreme and it ate my whole memory card! Thanks for the video and info!
The trip you are doing sounds like the one America by Rail has called Totally Trains. SW Chief to LA then get on the Coast Starlight get off in Portland. Next train Empire Builder out of Portland to Chicago. If I did that trip I’d have an extra train to take, the Illinois Zephyr 383 to Galesburg IL. It goes all the way to Quincy, IL.
From Newton, KS to Trinidad, CO is Rattletrap Alley, the old Santa Fe main line, which is not well maintained because not much freight uses it. Unfortunately, you cross it at night in both directions on this route.
Thanks for bringing me along. I have taken most routes in the past since the late 60's but I just can not ride any long trips because of a bad back. The last video of yours I saw was the Texas Eagle and I enjoyed that one too. We watch on the big TV (smart) and It is so enjoyable. Back in the 70's I was a purchasing agent for Honeywell avionics and purchased the testequipment included in our 5 bay test equipment used on aircraft carriers. The business went to Sperry and they were bought by some other company. I have watch some of your Tech reviews for similar products. Looking forwards to your next legs when you get them ready for TH-cam. Minneapolis.
Thanks so much for letting me tag along on the Southwest Chief portion of your rail odyssey around the West. I've been on the trip west from Albuquerque to Los Angeles a few times, but never in a roomette and with the map and GPS to add depth, weight and context to the trip. I was especially interested in your comment on the Cholla power plant near Holbrook AZ "all lit up like a Christmas tree." You mentioned that you were part of the design team. I wonder if you knew and worked with my good friend Tom Parker, who helped build the plant and recently passed away. It has always been one of my favorite landmarks on the trip, either by train or by car.
Bruce Daniels, while I was lead design engineer for one of the subsystems at Cholla, I only actually made a handful of trips to the plant; most of my involvement involved meetings with other involved engineering companies at their offices, and with the plant DCS vendor in Cleveland. So I did not get to know the plant personnel very well, and those who I did deal with on my visits, well, I have forgotten their names with the passage of time. Still, I always look out for the Cholla plant whenever I am on the SWC train. I always made a point of visiting the Meteor Crater on my return trip from the plant to Phoenix. Too bad it can't be seen from the train!
@@youtuuba Thanks! I really loved your video and plan to catch up with the other legs of your odyssey. It was definitely a vicarious pleasure, since I probably won't be making the ABQ to LA trip again. Have you ever stayed at the renovated La Posada in Winslow? Now that's something that still may be in the cards for me -- train or no train.
Youtuuba Thank you . I took the Pioneer from Cago to Pendelton , Oregon about 1989 . I rode coach both ways and had face glued to the windows . I look forward to watching the rest of the Video later .
I was joy riding on metra bnsf the day you departed Chicago, I was on the 1:40 pm metra to Aurora, so I just missed you. Plus this trip is a couple days shy of the California Zephyr Trip I took with my mom from Chicago to Oakland, starting our journey on May 16, just wanted to point out how close I was to meeting you and how cool it is our great rail journeys across the country were so close to each other. By the way, you make my favorite railway trip videos, keep up the awesome work. EDIT: I watched your train pass, just south across the street from the roundhouse depot in aurora. Right next to the tracks you were on, the video cut off just before you could see me.
You mentioned that you weren't sure if the Southwest Chief went through Santa Fe. How ironic is it that the Santa Fe Railroad didn't, and doesn't, go through the town it was named for. There's a stub spur from Albuquerque to Santa Fe, though. You should go to the California State Railroad Museum in Sacramento. It's a pretty cool place to visit.
Hi Sir, that was exactly one day before my (83rd) birthday this year. And your way of film making is similar to mine. But there is one thing that I can't realize: To have such a long trip inside my own country Germany. Thanks for making! What I have 24/7 on one of my monitors or on the TV screen via Fire TV is La Grange LIVECam… - where lots of freight trains are crossing the town in the middle of a street. What I'm - sometimes - missing in your video: a better focus. (I use HX90 compact cams and have never any probs.)
I took similar routing in April 2016. Starting and ending from Princeton, IL. PCT-LAX-SEA-CHI-PCT. With overnight stays in Seattle with guided tour of the Boeing Plant. And two nights at the Izaak Walton Inn in Essex, MT
Yes, in Colorado the train runs close to the Arkansas River I think into LaJunta. Between Tulsa and the Missippi River and on thru Fort Smith, Arkansas there are locks and dams for river traffic. I am a Michigander, but was raised in Fort Smith.
Loved this video!!! I took #3 last November 11th from CHI to Kingman AZ/Las Vegas, with the leg from Kingman to Las Vegas a 100 mile "Thruway" bus trip.. Could not afford a sleeper, being it was $500 vs the $153 for coach.. Loved the trip none the less, and am glad I took it when I did, as this new Amtrak CEO seems to want to kill the long distance trains...
The people protesting at Galesburg station appear to be showing support for the long-distance trains. "National Network" refers to Amtrak trains outside of the Northeast Corridor (meaning both the overnight trains and the state-supported routes).
"Highball" is an expression which was used to indicate whether the station-master had "orders" for the train. If the ball was high, no orders were required. If the ball was low, it was an indication to expect to be handed those orders. The station master would meet the train with "hoops". The hoops were used to recieve orders without stopping the train. The station master had two varieties, tall and short. Hoops were wooden; think of the letter "p" with a long tail or a short tail. They had a small metal clip used to hold the folded up order(s) during the handoff. The tall hoops were used for the engineer, who would catch the hoop on his arm, remove the orders attached to the hoop and then discard the hoop for the station master to retrieve. The short hoop was for the tail end/conductor, who would catch the hoop on his arm and then retrieve the orders and toss the hoop down onto the ground for the station master to gather for the next time orders were to be passed along.
You should do a train Odessey on one of AMTRAK’s Silver series trains, the Silver Meteor or the Silver Star from NYC to Miami. Both train start and end north or southbound but the Silver Star takes a backwards detour to Tampa Fla. beautiful coastal scenery.
For anyone watching this video, if you want to see, in detail where the Amtrak train usually goes, go to www.amtrak.com/track-your-train.html and zoom in. You can flip the view to get a satellite view as well.
We just got back from our train trek. Took the California Zephyr from Omaha to Sacramento. The scenery was amazing. We had a sleeper room. If they (Amtrak) would update their cars, they would have many more customers. The rooms are so worn and uncared for, we will most likely never travel this way again. There are a lot of boomers who can afford to pay the price to travel this way but with the state of disrepair of the cars, they won’t. We do enjoy all your videos and your voice is spectacular. Thanks for sharing.
I find that while all the passengers I have talked to or heard from in other ways, they all recognize that AMTRAK's fleet is somewhat threadbare in many ways, especially with things like upholstery, carpeting, etc. And they recognize that with Congress cutting their budget there will be things that suffer, like perhaps quality of food, how well/thoroughly the cars get cleaned, whether windows are well cleaned, etc. But because they enjoy the trips anyway, they continue to travel this way.A lot of 'boomers' can afford to travel by train, but I suspect that they have little interest in doing so. I doubt that they are NOT riding on account of trains being somewhat rough around the edges.....for that to be true, those boomers would need to actually consider train travel in the first place, but I doubt that it is even on their radar.
The heyday of long distance train travel ended in the 50's. Those of us who still want to savor the experience of the journey are still around. Amtrak is committed to getting its passengers to their destinations safely. Airlines have cut back on their amenities and the cabin interiors aren't cleaned regularly. However, every seat is filled and people aren't concerned about the journey at all, just getting to their destinations safely and timely. For awhile, there were privately run luxury long distance excursion trains offering one way trips at double the cost of an Amtrak ticket with sleeping accommodations. I believe there wasn't enough interest and they went belly up. We've learned to accept less on account of how rail service continues to be threatened annually. The truth is, folks want to get where they're going as fast and as cheaply as possible and Amtrak loses in the fast department. I will continue to watch these videos with hopes that I can again plan another long distance trip on Amtrak.
I should look at Amtrak schedules, to see if Lincoln Service northbound + Southwest Chief would take more or less total time than Lincoln Service southbound + Missouri River Runner to Kansas City + Southwest Chief. Coordinating the timing & the length of the layovers would be a factor, as well as moving oneself to more or fewer different trains. Plus perhaps having the sleeping car the entire route of the Southwest Chief might make up for the on-paper less direct route. (There would be less of a difference if one intended to travel in coach the whole way, of course.)
!["And Then There Was One" - Full Documentary [OFFICIAL]](/img/n.gif)
You know you're a rail fan when the train goes around a bend and you get excited to watch front or rear end of the train.
I think you are probably correct. I myself am NOT a 'railfan' per se, but I do find the view of the train ahead making a curve to be scenically attractive, so I include decent shots of this in my videos.
Amen to that ... sometimes i just want to lean out and hand the locomotive engineer a cup of coffee!
@@youtuuba if you werent a railfan you foooled me my friend. love the material though. i was in socal in 2016, flew to santa ana then to capistrano. had seen alot of this area.
@@billtimmons7071 I'd go along with that anytime.
Anything having to do with travel, overland, or by air, fascinates me. Always have.
The videos are just absolutely awesome. I am visually impaired and I really enjoy you describing the trains, where are you are going and everything along the way. It makes me feel as though IM aboard the train. Please keep up the good work, thank you.
I love these train videos that you do. Just the right amount of narration, and the views make it almost seem as though we're right there with you!!!
My wife and I have traveled many times on the CZ and Chief. We enjoy rail travel for relaxation and the opportunity to meet people from all over the world. For those who are not members of the National Association of Rail Passengers, (NARP), please consider joining. It's an organization that lobbies Washington to promote Amtrak funding.
I am watching A Train Odessey 2 for the third time. It get better with age. I have be considering this same trip for some time now,however I will be starting off in KC. Ten thousand thumbs up Sir.
I just love your videos. I have watched everyone of you Amtrak videos at least twice and being retired Air Force at 75 years old, I love your aviation videos. Keep up the good work!
Im a 27 year old dude, cool vids. I play them when im winding down
Of all the Amtrak videos you have presented, this has been the best and most enjoyable one you have produced thus far.
I agree Russell !
I find it relaxing just listening to the train sounds and watching the scenery. Thank you
Another great video. Your videos inspired me to take my first trip coast to coast starting this weekend.
I just want to thank you for posting these informative videos. I grew up riding trains back and forth from Atlanta to New York and back and once as an adult from Atlanta to Washington DC and back with mother and my kids to a wedding. At that time I read some of AMTRAK’s books and realized all the train routes it had that crossed the country. But it wasn’t until I watched your TH-cam videos I became enlightened about the scenery and how accommodating the trains are for long distant travel on land. This is an excellent way to see the country without driving. You’ve shown all the do’s and don’ts, the meals, the sleeping accommodations, practically everything. I’d like to call this kind of traveling “Land Cruising”. I’m planning my own train odyssey soon. I can’t wait!
Outstanding video. It brought back memories of our trip on the Southwest Chief. My husband and I have also taken the Empire Builder and Coast Starlight. We love AMTRAK.
While I may be in the minority, I actually love looking at the rich huge partially green farmlands in western Illinois. It may not be mountains but this area is so vital to us all. It makes me appreciate this fertile and productive part of our country to see acre after acre of our lovely land.
By far the best video I’ve seen for this trip! I’m looking forward to Parts 2 & 3.
I love the crickets at La Junta! Sets such a peaceful western vibe. Thanks for all of your awesome videos!
I'm fasinated with your videos sir... and find it hard to go to sleep until i see more of them.
Me too
love watching your videos,,,its now my dream to see the USA this way...if i ever win the lotto ,then thats what i will do,..thankyou for your informative and very entertaining videos,always watch them in the morning after work ..
Thank you so much for posting your videos. You very informative and helpful. I’m going to do one of these long distant train trip soon. I love beautiful scenery.
I really enjoy your train videos. They are very informative and interesting, and watching them has given me the bug to try travel by rail, which I have never done.
EXCELLENT .
Your camera shots are beyond superlatives as if I am right there with you. You capture sights and surroundings . . . the "feel" of the Road ; the aesthetics of the viewing.
I love these train trips with you and the narration with your wonderful radio/TV type voice. Thank you so much! I live west of Chicago in Aurora, an old train town.
Enjoyed your video as if I was on the train myself. Thank you.
Oh that Los Angeles River is so famous a landmark because it’s been in sooo many movies.
Nicely done! Brings back memories of driving through this country every year in the 60s and 70s.
watch all of your train videos as they come out. Love that you have a running commentary to tell what your filming. Two Thumbs up!
Your voice is very relaxing.
Youtuuba, I Vote for you take over for Art Bell... Get your Broadcast License, move to the High Desert, and begin your C2C reign.
You sound like Rev. Lovejoy from the Simpsons.
Your train videos are excellent! Very relaxing and informative.
I will have to watch later. I am in San Francisco right now after having taken the California Zephyr. Your previous video sold me on the idea. Despite the A/C problems the first night that even had the Amish complaining and the over 4 hour late arrival I am hoping to take more of these trips in the future.
I guess you really are a glutton for punishment. Be my guest.
Great vid. I thoroughly enjoyed it. I loved the mapping the entire trip. Thanks foe posting
I was watching your videos during pandemic and it was great to escape on an odyssey. Thanks for making those videos.
Nice video! I've been on the Chief a bunch of times over the years, dating back to the F40s, Superliner I's and ex-ATSF Hi-Levels. Your video brings back some great memories! Around 2:21:30, you mentioned the Transition Sleeper. I got to ride in one on a trip in October 2007, from Chicago to Topeka. You're right... the rooms on the upper level are all roomettes. The rooms in the rear half are spill-over, and the rooms in front are for the crew. A double swinging door separates the crew rooms from the rest of the car. The setup is similar to the way they had the ex-ATSF Hi-Level Coach Dorms set up back in the 1980s. Rear half was coach seating, and the front half was crew rooms. On the Transition Sleeper I was on, the "room" at the right rear of the upper level was a shower room. IIRC, that particular one didn't work! (I think that crew had a bunch of junk stored in there.) Lower level is a crew lounge, located where the roomettes on a standard Superliner Sleeping Car would be, and forward of the vestibule. I think there was a lounge chair or two in there, and a printer. (I took pictures, but I don't know where they are right now.) Rear half of the lower level was restrooms. I saw a car diagram once, and it looks like there might be one large bedroom at the very rear of the lower level, but I'm not entirely sure. The ride was smooth and quiet. I think the attendant from the 31 sleeper handled us passengers in the Transition Sleeper on that trip, but that was close to 11 years ago now, so I don't know how it's staffed these days.
It, just, occurred to me: You went from Union Station (Chicago) to Union Station (L. A.) to Union Station (Portland) to Union Station (Chicago). You traveled thousands of miles and kept ending up at Union Station.
It's like a Twilight Zone episode.
@@chiapet27 😂😂
@@chiapet27 My thought was "Groundhog Day", but Twilight Zone works, too.
OK. Sounds fine to me.
Kinda similar: almost all main Stations in Austria are on "Südtiroler Platz" (South-Tyrolian Square) for some reason
Great video, as usual, Youtuuba! At 53:30, that is the Camerion Connnector, where the w/b 5 and 3 shared routes diverge; the CZ staying straight ahead to the Burlington IA Mississippi River crossing and Emeryville, CA while the SWC switches off to the south, to Fort Madison, IA and then LA.
Can't wait to see n/b CS and e/b EB!
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cameron_connector
Thanks so much for this new video. I like your other videos, but as a railfan I always look forward to your train videos.
Me to I went to Los Angeles from Fayetteville NC on August first and really enjoyed it
GREAT VID! i can't travel by train so am VERY GLAD that You are willing to record Your trips!
Another great video set and journey thanks. Wonderful scenery. Good idea showing us the route on paper atlas too. I used to spend whole weeks on UK Rover Passes. Even when I was a Railway Signalman haha.
But it's nice to watch the World go by, both off and on the train. Meeting interesting people etc.
I love your videos and this one doesn’t disappoint. Your odyssey is on my bucket list, doing the circle but from LA to Chicago and back. It was a shame about the noisy observation car with the National Park speakers. Too many people with a sense of entitlement and disregard for others.
If you want quiet, don’t go to the observation car.
If you’re not going to listen to the speaker don’t go to the lounge car. There is plenty of time to go when the speaker is done. It would’ve been nice to show a little respect to the people that did want to listen. SMH
Another wonderful video!! Thanks for letting me tag along on another adventure!!!!
Thank you for making and sharing your trips
Thanks for taking us along on your trip!
I took the Southwest Chief back in March of 2017. From Chicago to Kingman AZ. During our trip, it was cold but when at the west end of Kansas into Colorado, there were no clouds in sight. We were actually able to see the Mountains in the far distance. Since it was the end of winter, the mountain tops had snow still. Was an amazing trip. We had 2 superliner bedrooms, which the crew can actually connect together. I would like to do the California Zephyr next time, but the Southwest has always been a great experience since it was my first time on a long distance train. I remember during the night while in Kansas, we were joking about how the train felt like it was traveling 80 mph, I guess we were right!
Another excellent video, love the footage and your commentary explaining the journey! Looking forward to train odyssey parts two and three.
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What a treat! A new train vid from Youtubba! It hit me as I was eating dinner watching this vid, I subscribe to you and Stobe the Hobo to get my train fix. He is the raw train jumper, and you're the refined first class experience.
I'm watching these in reverse order. I've done a similar, but different solo adventure. Greyhound from Louisville, KY to Chicago Union Station to board Cal Zephyr ( from Chicago to Sacramento) to Coast Starlight from Sac to Seattle then Empire Builder back to Chicago, then back home via Greyhound to Louisville.
It was a great trip. Lovely people and the bus was so relaxing I actually fell asleep. The Amtrak service was excellent, but they really need increased funding. The railbeds are awful in certain areas forcing "slow orders" and then there are the freights that can be 2 to 3 miles long.
Quite the trips! Thanks for sharing. 😲
So, you do interesting programming too! Cool! These train trips allow you to shop in different places for cool programming essentials like books on how to program in different languages , I bet! The joy of finding a treasure in terms of programming books is shared by all!
When I last rode that route in the mid 60's it was the Santa Fe Super Chief and took 39 3/4 hours LA to Chicago. Good video.
I just went from LA to Utica, New York 3 weeks ago on Amtrak....took 93 hours! Lol.
You post really good vids. They always make me feel like I'm on the train with you..
Thank you for all your videos.
Love your vids bud.. very relaxing .. on my bucket list riding a train cross country.. getting to see diffrent scenery than from a car.. have been falling asleep to them for the past few weeks dreaming I'm on a train journey. . Keep it up.. would be awesome if you could do all the amtrack routes in the end...
Love to watch your video because you tell us all the cities that you pass by.
Thanks for sharing this beautiful video. Greetings from Brazil.
Thanks for posting and sharing. You sound like Harry Nile the radio detective.
thank you for these videos, I'm planning a trip in June and this one for the Southwest Chief is so helpful.
Finally, a train video long enough to kick back and enjoy! Thank you!
Well good news, I have a bunch more of them.......
I had to watch this series again to remember what it’s like to hit the rails. I hope you have plans for some more train travels in the near future.
Very enjoyable, once I stayed awake......train travel does that to me. I love it........however these days.....I guess not so much......
I like it when us coach passengers are on the rear of the train. That way I can get videos from the rear door window, which I've done a lot of.
After watching other's Amtrak videos for a couple of months, it's always good to come back to one if youtuuba's.. kind if like running into an old friend.
Thank you for posting a great video. Both the California Zephyr and Southwest chief goes through Galesburg. At Cameron, the south west chief goes over the tracks of the California Zephyr. Galesburg is where the split takes place. I live about thirty miles from Galesburg and have taken both trains out of there. Keep up the good work!
Great video youtuuba ! I love the scenery and your interesting comments during the trip. Makes me wanna do the same. Maybe next year...
I love your videos. Perfect blend of scenery and commentary.
You tell it like it is.
This trip though?
I would not pay money for this particular journey:))
Great vlog. Just a small correction. The railroad was built first and roads such as I 25 follow the railroad rather than vice-versa. The engineers who built the railroad were careful to choose the most favourable routing and the highway engineers chose their routing for the same geographical reasons!
Really enjoy your videos. As far back as the 1985 I planned or should say dreamed of taking Amtrak tours similar to yours. At that time Amtrak offered Rail America passes where you could do 30 day unlimited travel for a set fee. Unfortunately I never did that but now I’m going to as soon as this COVID thing is over. Thanks again for your great videos.
I am enjoying your Amtrak videos.
great video contribution, I will keep watching for quality vids from whereever I can get them and take the plane next trip, and avoid dirty windows, incomplete meals and rude help, our tax dollars at work
I love your train videos. I hope you do more. I was I think ten when I took the Zephyr from Chicago to Denver. That would have made it '61. The roomettes were essentially the same.
It’s fun to watch the vid on my tablet and also follow along on google maps on my smartphone as you call out the various towns, rivers, and such that you pass. It’s a nice way to experience almost being there. I can zoom in and see the buildings and various features to look closer to understand what those places might look like. Very cool! LOL, I’m currently looking at the train station in Mendota IL and also trying to see if the town has any traffic lights which I can detect.
Watching your southwest chief trip from Newcastle Australia
Doing the same from Newcastle England
Watching from Milwaukee Wisconsin.
Watching from Hamilton Ontario Canada
Port Crane, New York USA
Took the Chief to Lax in April and than on to San Deigo on the Surfliner and back to Galesburg. Great trip, 90 mph at many times across the plains. What to you get to the rough sections of old track. Best to be in your seat. Enjoy
I've always wanted to make this trip! LA Union station is quiet beautiful. Also, I had the same problem with a new Fuji camera that had the default resolution set to something really extreme and it ate my whole memory card! Thanks for the video and info!
Super job. Can't wait for part 2 to appear!
The trip you are doing sounds like the one America by Rail has called Totally Trains. SW Chief to LA then get on the Coast Starlight get off in Portland. Next train Empire Builder out of Portland to Chicago. If I did that trip I’d have an extra train to take, the Illinois Zephyr 383 to Galesburg IL. It goes all the way to Quincy, IL.
From Newton, KS to Trinidad, CO is Rattletrap Alley, the old Santa Fe main line, which is not well maintained because not much freight uses it. Unfortunately, you cross it at night in both directions on this route.
Thanks for bringing me along. I have taken most routes in the past since the late 60's but I just can not ride any long trips because of a bad back. The last video of yours I saw was the Texas Eagle and I enjoyed that one too. We watch on the big TV (smart) and It is so enjoyable. Back in the 70's I was a purchasing agent for Honeywell avionics and purchased the testequipment included in our 5 bay test equipment used on aircraft carriers. The business went to Sperry and they were bought by some other company. I have watch some of your Tech reviews for similar products. Looking forwards to your next legs when you get them ready for TH-cam. Minneapolis.
R
Thanks so much for letting me tag along on the Southwest Chief portion of your rail odyssey around the West. I've been on the trip west from Albuquerque to Los Angeles a few times, but never in a roomette and with the map and GPS to add depth, weight and context to the trip. I was especially interested in your comment on the Cholla power plant near Holbrook AZ "all lit up like a Christmas tree." You mentioned that you were part of the design team. I wonder if you knew and worked with my good friend Tom Parker, who helped build the plant and recently passed away. It has always been one of my favorite landmarks on the trip, either by train or by car.
Bruce Daniels, while I was lead design engineer for one of the subsystems at Cholla, I only actually made a handful of trips to the plant; most of my involvement involved meetings with other involved engineering companies at their offices, and with the plant DCS vendor in Cleveland. So I did not get to know the plant personnel very well, and those who I did deal with on my visits, well, I have forgotten their names with the passage of time. Still, I always look out for the Cholla plant whenever I am on the SWC train.
I always made a point of visiting the Meteor Crater on my return trip from the plant to Phoenix. Too bad it can't be seen from the train!
@@youtuuba Thanks! I really loved your video and plan to catch up with the other legs of your odyssey. It was definitely a vicarious pleasure, since I probably won't be making the ABQ to LA trip again. Have you ever stayed at the renovated La Posada in Winslow? Now that's something that still may be in the cards for me -- train or no train.
Don't know how I stumbled to this video but I watched all that : D
Youtuuba Thank you . I took the Pioneer from Cago to Pendelton , Oregon about 1989 . I rode coach both ways and had face glued to the windows . I look forward to watching the rest of the Video later .
I was joy riding on metra bnsf the day you departed Chicago, I was on the 1:40 pm metra to Aurora, so I just missed you. Plus this trip is a couple days shy of the California Zephyr Trip I took with my mom from Chicago to Oakland, starting our journey on May 16, just wanted to point out how close I was to meeting you and how cool it is our great rail journeys across the country were so close to each other. By the way, you make my favorite railway trip videos, keep up the awesome work.
EDIT: I watched your train pass, just south across the street from the roundhouse depot in aurora. Right next to the tracks you were on, the video cut off just before you could see me.
Just now enjoying my first video, your comments even make it more fun.My dad was a railroad man,I am 81 so you see that’s a while back.
You mentioned that you weren't sure if the Southwest Chief went through Santa Fe. How ironic is it that the Santa Fe Railroad didn't, and doesn't, go through the town it was named for. There's a stub spur from Albuquerque to Santa Fe, though.
You should go to the California State Railroad Museum in Sacramento. It's a pretty cool place to visit.
The Santa Fe refers to the actual trail which the tracks run right next to for most of the route from Chicago to Lamy.
Really enjoyed your video (as always).
Hi Sir,
that was exactly one day before my (83rd) birthday this year. And your way of film making is similar to mine.
But there is one thing that I can't realize: To have such a long trip inside my own country Germany.
Thanks for making!
What I have 24/7 on one of my monitors or on the TV screen via Fire TV is La Grange LIVECam… - where lots of freight trains are crossing the town in the middle of a street.
What I'm - sometimes - missing in your video: a better focus. (I use HX90 compact cams and have never any probs.)
I took similar routing in April 2016. Starting and ending from Princeton, IL. PCT-LAX-SEA-CHI-PCT. With overnight stays in Seattle with guided tour of the Boeing Plant. And two nights at the Izaak Walton Inn in Essex, MT
Yes, in Colorado the train runs close to the Arkansas River I think into LaJunta. Between Tulsa and the Missippi River and on thru Fort Smith, Arkansas there are locks and dams for river traffic. I am a Michigander, but was raised in Fort Smith.
Loved this video!!! I took #3 last November 11th from CHI to Kingman AZ/Las Vegas, with the leg from Kingman to Las Vegas a 100 mile "Thruway" bus trip.. Could not afford a sleeper, being it was $500 vs the $153 for coach.. Loved the trip none the less, and am glad I took it when I did, as this new Amtrak CEO seems to want to kill the long distance trains...
New Amtrak Cheif wanted to make a point. The railroad doesn’t want to maintain a line for 2 trains a day.
i love to do trips like these!!
The people protesting at Galesburg station appear to be showing support for the long-distance trains. "National Network" refers to Amtrak trains outside of the Northeast Corridor (meaning both the overnight trains and the state-supported routes).
Thanks for the train video,I love them//Enjoy
"Highball" is an expression which was used to indicate whether the station-master had "orders" for the train. If the ball was high, no orders were required. If the ball was low, it was an indication to expect to be handed those orders. The station master would meet the train with "hoops". The hoops were used to recieve orders without stopping the train. The station master had two varieties, tall and short. Hoops were wooden; think of the letter "p" with a long tail or a short tail. They had a small metal clip used to hold the folded up order(s) during the handoff. The tall hoops were used for the engineer, who would catch the hoop on his arm, remove the orders attached to the hoop and then discard the hoop for the station master to retrieve. The short hoop was for the tail end/conductor, who would catch the hoop on his arm and then retrieve the orders and toss the hoop down onto the ground for the station master to gather for the next time orders were to be passed along.
I wasn’t paying attention to the Metra stops, but then I saw Libertyville. You live way out there .
You are my hero. Intrepid man!
You should do a train Odessey on one of AMTRAK’s Silver series trains, the Silver Meteor or the Silver Star from NYC to Miami. Both train start and end north or southbound but the Silver Star takes a backwards detour to Tampa Fla. beautiful coastal scenery.
Great video! I'm taking my first trip on the Southwest Chief this December. Thanks for sharing.
For anyone watching this video, if you want to see, in detail where the Amtrak train usually goes, go to www.amtrak.com/track-your-train.html and zoom in. You can flip the view to get a satellite view as well.
We just got back from our train trek. Took the California Zephyr from Omaha to Sacramento. The scenery was amazing. We had a sleeper room. If they (Amtrak) would update their cars, they would have many more customers. The rooms are so worn and uncared for, we will most likely never travel this way again. There are a lot of boomers who can afford to pay the price to travel this way but with the state of disrepair of the cars, they won’t. We do enjoy all your videos and your voice is spectacular. Thanks for sharing.
I find that while all the passengers I have talked to or heard from in other ways, they all recognize that AMTRAK's fleet is somewhat threadbare in many ways, especially with things like upholstery, carpeting, etc. And they recognize that with Congress cutting their budget there will be things that suffer, like perhaps quality of food, how well/thoroughly the cars get cleaned, whether windows are well cleaned, etc. But because they enjoy the trips anyway, they continue to travel this way.A lot of 'boomers' can afford to travel by train, but I suspect that they have little interest in doing so. I doubt that they are NOT riding on account of trains being somewhat rough around the edges.....for that to be true, those boomers would need to actually consider train travel in the first place, but I doubt that it is even on their radar.
The heyday of long distance train travel ended in the 50's. Those of us who still want to savor the experience of the journey are still around. Amtrak is committed to getting its passengers to their destinations safely. Airlines have cut back on their amenities and the cabin interiors aren't cleaned regularly. However, every seat is filled and people aren't concerned about the journey at all, just getting to their destinations safely and timely. For awhile, there were privately run luxury long distance excursion trains offering one way trips at double the cost of an Amtrak ticket with sleeping accommodations. I believe there wasn't enough interest and they went belly up. We've learned to accept less on account of how rail service continues to be threatened annually. The truth is, folks want to get where they're going as fast and as cheaply as possible and Amtrak loses in the fast department. I will continue to watch these videos with hopes that I can again plan another long distance trip on Amtrak.
I took amtrak from fayetteville nc to los angeles california really enjoyed it
I should look at Amtrak schedules, to see if Lincoln Service northbound + Southwest Chief would take more or less total time than Lincoln Service southbound + Missouri River Runner to Kansas City + Southwest Chief. Coordinating the timing & the length of the layovers would be a factor, as well as moving oneself to more or fewer different trains. Plus perhaps having the sleeping car the entire route of the Southwest Chief might make up for the on-paper less direct route. (There would be less of a difference if one intended to travel in coach the whole way, of course.)
I love this just like I love the other ones.
1 hr 59 minute mark Raton to ABQ follows I25 through Las Vegas NM not Taos / Angel Fire area. Thank you for the video. Enjoyed.