posted
To answer the original question, my favorite Amtrak train would be the Southwest Chief, especially when it ran 90-100 mph. Reasons: among the best in variety of scenery, fast and smooth, train watching on the transcon, Flagstaff, beautiful stations.
Pre-Amtrak - where do I begin? Most are trains I never rode but I would rank them as follows:(scenery and luxury being common reasons for all)
1. Olympian Hiawatha for quirky route and 700 mi of electrification. 2. Shasta Daylight (OK, I feel good in orange) 3. City of San Francisco (with Michael Corleone) 4. City of Los Angeles 5. North Coast Limited (stop in Yellowstone) 6. Twin Star Rocket on thru car to the Golden State. 7. Anything through Feather River Canyon. 8. Whatever went through Royal Gorge and Tennessee Pass. 9. The California Zephyr on an open platform.
All in First Class with suitcases full of money. I only left off the Super Chief and the Builder because I have done those on Amtrak.
Posts: 1572 | From: St. Paul, MN | Registered: Dec 2002
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quote:Originally posted by TwinStarRocket: To answer the original question, my favorite Amtrak train would be the Southwest Chief, especially when it ran 90-100 mph. Reasons: among the best in variety of scenery, fast and smooth, train watching on the transcon, Flagstaff, beautiful stations.
Pre-Amtrak - where do I begin? Most are trains I never rode but I would rank them as follows:(scenery and luxury being common reasons for all)
1. Olympian Hiawatha for quirky route and 700 mi of electrification. 2. Shasta Daylight (OK, I feel good in orange) 3. City of San Francisco (with Michael Corleone) 4. City of Los Angeles 5. North Coast Limited (stop in Yellowstone) 6. Twin Star Rocket on thru car to the Golden State. 7. Anything through Feather River Canyon. 8. Whatever went through Royal Gorge and Tennessee Pass. 9. The California Zephyr on an open platform.
All in First Class with suitcases full of money. I only left off the Super Chief and the Builder because I have done those on Amtrak.
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I like your list. I would add the Twentieth Century Limited, Broadway Limited, Santa Fe Chief, City of Portland, Orange Blossom Special. Coast Daylight and Great Northern. I'm glad you picked the Shasta Daylight....would really like to have taken that one.
Richard
Posts: 1909 | From: Santa Rosa | Registered: Jan 2004
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posted
Really good list. I would say a lot of those trains are really good. The Olympia Hiawatha sounds like a good challenge to write about too.
Posts: 465 | From: elgin (s-line) | Registered: Dec 2008
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