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at some station stops, its possible to sneak onto the train and sit in the lounge car, and then stay there, for hours, essentially getting a free ride. Anybody ever hear of someone doing this before?
Also, has anyone here ever hopped a freight? one of my stepbrothers rode on a freight across the country in the early 80's....
Capltd29 Member # 3292
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My high-school english teacher used to get a free ride on the Twilight Shorliner when it had a sleeper, his friend was a car attendant and he would be able to take the upper bunk in the attendant's room, thus getting a free ride.
And at many amtrak station most conductors will verify that you do indeed have a ticket on the train.
Jon Parker
Geoff M Member # 153
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From my experience, conductors and other crew are pretty eagle eyed when it comes to station stops. It's as much for safety (yours) as it is to prevent unauthorised travel.
Riding freight trains is incredibly dangerous. I saw a TV programme on it last year - dangers from shifting loads, moving trains, dust and debris thrown up by passing trains. Then there's the railroad police who were pretty good at spotting the hobos whenever they passed/entered a yard. Some of it was filmed by the hobos themselves; other times from a distance. The hobos were quite respectable people who "wanted some fun".
I know you're young and thus will do the exact opposite of what anybody older says, but I will say it anyway. DON'T DO IT. It's just not worth losing life or limb.
Geoff M.
LateShoreLimited Member # 2025
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Yes, and it's also possible to be arrested for theft of service.
Pojon Member # 3080
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I saw one young guy get arrested on the Silver Meteor by a plain clothes cop and the conductor after he took a shower in the viewliner car and had NO ticket for travel. He must have gotten on unseen at some stop and then proceeded to take a shower and maybe sleep in a compartment. All kinds of nuts around!
JONATHON Member # 2899
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You could, but but its hard not getting caught, when I see other people do it they almost always get caught, and getting arrested out of town will be worse, speacialy if you enter a differant state, differant laws, might not get any phone calls , that and you might be stuck there...
shanghaiamtrak Member # 2323
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do they close the sightseer lounge car at night?
RRRICH Member # 1418
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Shanghai - no I don't believe they ever "close" sightseer lounge cars, HOWEVER, there will be no food or beverage service after a certain time at night. On most Superliner trains, I believe anyone can sit in the lounge at any time, and often you may see coach passengers bundled up in the lounge car sleeping across some of the seats, since that is more comnfortable than in their coach cars -- the crews do not encourage that, however, and at a reasonable time in the AM, the crews WIll tell those bundled up sleeping passengers to get up.
RRRICH Member # 1418
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P.S. to my last post - often you will see train crews hanging out in either the sightseer lounge car or diner at night doing their work.
TwinStarRocket Member # 2142
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One time when I was riding the #27(Empire Builder) westbound to Portland, the lounge was locked overnight until food service opened in the morning. Some crew members were using it but they would lock it after entering. Since I wanted to see the Columbia River Gorge at sunrise for the first time, I was quite disappointed.
In the morning when I saw a crew member go in and forget to lock the door, I snuck in...only to be later thrown out. Later I found out from a different crew on the same train that they were not supposed to close it, but this was done on the initiative of a particular conductor who was known for it.
Another case of a bad apple that makes Amtrak's customer service look bad.
Gilbert B Norman Member # 1541
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I presume that the Lounge is the first passenger car on #27.
If it were in the middle of the train, where most Lounges are lined, then it would be a safety hazard to have the car locked, and for all i know, an FRA violation.
Once upon a time, it was routine to lock the Pullman sleeping cars, especially when passengers had no reason to access other parts of the train (sorry; railfan "excursions" to record a consist or count heads, even if riding Sleeper, did not count as a "reason").
TwinStarRocket Member # 2142
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Yes, the lounge is right behind the single engine on #27 west of Spokane, followed by the coaches and then sleepers. No baggage or transition cars.
Pojon Member # 3080
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I remember another trip where we were coming south from Montreal on the way to Washington, DC on the overnight Montreal to Washington train though Vermont (remember that one?). Some guy got on in the middle of the night in Vermont and brandished a gun in the club car threatening two older ladies who were playing checkers. The guy was drunk and though he looked respectable he was somewhat incoherent. The conductor and two car attendants tried to subdue him, succeeded and the train sat 4 hours in White River Junction, NH while the cops did their thing. Earlier that night we sat for 4 hours in northern Vermont while firemen fought a fire in a building which had fallen on the tracks. What a ride that was! At least the crew handed out boxed meals to everyone on the train twice on the run. More power to train travel!
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