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I am planning a Spring Break trip for early April. I have ridden and enjoyed all the western trains equally in the summer. Has anyone ridden any of these trains during early spring?
What do you think has the best scenery during early spring?
notelvis Member # 3071
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The best non-stop scenery would be the California Zephyr from the Bay Area to Denver.
If I were starting in LA and had the time to do a circle trip, I'd probably take the Southwest Chief to Chicago, spend a night, take the California Zephyr back to Sacramento, spend a night, and then return to LA the following day using the Coast Starlight.....or, if you want a moe reliable arrival, the San Joaquin to Bakersfield and the connecting bus. Your looking at a six night trip this way.
You could shorten it to five nights by looking at taking the California Zephyr roundtrip to Denver. Under this plan I would take the Connecting bus to Bakersfield, the San Joaquin to Sacramento, spend a night at the Vagabond Inn (Old Town location is across the street from the Amtrak station), and catch the California Zephyr the next morning.
Happy tRails and let us know how it went you get back.
Dixie Flyer Member # 4640
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Notelvis wrote
quote: If I were starting in LA and had the time to do a circle trip, I'd probably take the Southwest Chief to Chicago, spend a night, take the California Zephyr back to Sacramento, spend a night, and then return to LA the following day using the Coast Starlight.....or, if you want a moe reliable arrival, the San Joaquin to Bakersfield and the connecting bus. Your looking at a six night trip this way.
You could also shorten this to a five night trip, if you eliminate the night in Chicago by taking the Southwest Chief only as far as Galesburg, IL (scheduled arrival, 12:10 PM) and then boarding the west bound California Zephyr at Galesburg later in the same afternoon (scheduled departure, 4:38 PM).
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