Travelers who had a breakdown during their Amtrak train travels recently answered questions about their experiences. This was especially true if it happened in a remote area.
Dodie and I just traveled from San Antonio, Texas to Maricopa, Arizona and back on the Sunset Limited. Our 8 day vacation was to visit family in Phoenix/Scottsdale.
For 25 years, I traveled extensively on airplanes. I gave speeches and attended meetings. I also visited properties as a busy executive for H-E-B Food-Drugs based out of Texas.
Seating is more spacious than airplanes.
We reasoned that travel during the Thanksgiving week would be particularly hectic especially at airports. Driving usually takes us two or three hotel nights both ways.
My favorite mode of travel to escape from the hustle bustle continues to be by train. Even in Europe I enjoyed riding the famous Oriental Express.
This trip to Arizona and back was my 13th and 14th on Amtrak. Although Dodie has ridden some local trains (like to the Grand Canyon) this was her first Amtrak experience. (She is tired of airport hassle too). She loved it.
When the questions, “Has anyone ever experienced an Amtrak train breaking down in a remote area?” and “what happened next?”, here were some answers:
Stuck for eight hours:
Couldn’t get over the mountain:
Still power in the coaches:
Just pack your patience:
Comfy in the observation car:
Derailed in remote area:
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I had to chuckle when I read this. I always had a dream of taking my grandkids on a train trip to Chicago. While it was a nightmare for me, it didn’t seem to bother the kiddos at all. Upon boarding in SA, we quickly realized our car had no AC (in August), and there was an overnight ride included. So they made a stop outside of New Braunfels to add another car for us to stay in. That took many hours. Once in Chicago, we had a great time. BUT, when we were scheduled to leave a few days later, we ended up sitting in the train station in Chicago for hours waiting for our train living on vending machine food. Apparently our train was a couple miles down the track with mechanical issues and no ETA. Out comes the laptop. To make a longer story short, I booked us a flight (not cheap) to SA the following morning, requiring another night at a hotel. No seats together, so I’m just thankful my kiddos have good manners. Ahh but the memories! LOL
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What a nightmare and such ashamed. So sorry this happened. Just WOW!
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Love reading this. So many interesting stories! Looks like you are enjoying yourselves, too, and you bet, If I didn’t drive, trains are the way to go. I’ve only gone from here to D.C. and back one time, and I would like to see trains return. Anybody else like to watch train videos on Youtube?
I don’t suppose it would be much fun waiting for a ride from a wrecked train in November, though. We’ve got 0 degrees this morning. Cold enough!
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I once rode an Amtrak from Davis, California to central Iowa back in 1995.
I rode my first freight train back in 1980 from Fremont to Chapman, Nebraska.
The First Time I Rode a Freight Train (short story) | The Road
The second time I rode a freight train was back in 1983. I had just hitchhiked from Nebraska to California to see a friend in Big Sur. After spending several days in Big Sur and Lucia, I then hitchhiked to Reno and hopped a freight in Sparks (suburb of Reno). We stopped for about an hour in the middle of Nevada. It was nice and quiet out there in the desert. There were no highways out there. Just railroad tracks and sagebrush. It was very peaceful. I rode that freight train all the way to Burlington, Iowa.
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