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What's Still Great
Midnight Train to Georgetown
Traveling cross-country to CPAC in style.
It was the Rand Paul incident that finally did it. The senator from Kentucky was going through airport security en route to D.C. in January when a metal detector went off. Paul said there was a mistake and wanted to walk through the detector again to clear it up. TSA wouldn’t allow that. Its agents insisted on an enhanced pat-down. Paul, a vocal critic of the agency’s intrusiveness, wasn’t up for being groped that day. He missed his flight in the ensuing standoff.
Paul is a sitting senator in the United States Congress and thus enjoys constitutional protections against being detained on his travels to and from D.C. This isn’t one of those so-called dormant clauses of the Constitution either. Patrick Kennedy once invoked congressional privilege to beat a possible DUI charge after a fender bender on Capitol Hill.
The reason Ron Paul’s son didn’t assert his enhanced rights is that he is indignant over the government’s enhanced inspections of ordinary Americans. It’s a noble sentiment that we can applaud him for. Yet I have a hard time imagining TSA would have just let him go and not added him to a no-fly list if he were simply Rand Paul, eye doctor.
For me, that tore it. I had to go to D.C. for the CPAC conference that starts today, but there was no way I was going to fly there and I had no desire to personally reenact Forrest Gump. So I took the train.
When I told people I was going to do this, their first reaction can be summarized as “Are you nuts?” Their second reaction was quite different. They asked about the cost and length of the trip. When they learned that the trip was three-plus leisurely days of room, board, and travel with at best a spotty wifi connection, they were envious.
As well they should have been. If they flew while I took the train, they had to deal with long lines, luggage restrictions, cramped seating, and a culture of cost-cutting that gouges you for everything — from checked luggage to stale bagels. First class is a little better, but not much, and it doesn’t seem worth the expense for the short duration of the flight.
I walked onto the train with only minutes to spare; gave them my ticket but didn’t walk through any screening apparatus, take off my shoes, or show ID; put my own bag in one of the large storage compartments without anybody fussing over its size; and kicked back in my own room with facing benches, which made into a bedroom at night.
All meals are included in the ticket cost. You can have them either delivered to your room or take them in the dining car, which has “community seating.” The host plops you down with fellow train riders, mostly other sleeping passengers, and you hear stories and accents from all over the country.
The other riders told me how not to hail a taxi cab in Argentina, how small towns in North Dakota have turned into boom towns because of oil development, how much real estate prices have shot up in certain ski spots, and how annoyed Americans all along the 49th parallel are with Canadians.
Amtrak also came up with other ways to keep the overnighters engaged. My car’s attendant gave me a bottle of champagne upon departure. One afternoon, the dining car had a wine and cheese tasting that I’m not sure I signed up for, but got roped into anyway.
Nearly every first-time rider told me “This sure beats flying!” at least once, and many movers of the air traffic industry agreed. I took several meals seated next to actual pilots. When not in the cockpit, they told me, train travel is more fun. It gives you room to stretch and some time to think, uninterrupted by most of the noises of modern life, and you can step out for actual smoke breaks without being fined.
And the views! You can see some marvelous things from far above the earth, but closer is better. I saw the sun peak through the clouds after a hazy day and set over the waters of the Puget Sound; Montana’s panorama of stars at night; Glacier National Park covered with snow; lakes in the process of unfreezing, with chunks of ice cracking off near the shore and drifting into the watery center.
There is no rail-driven equivalent of flyover country. We rode through major metropolises, booming areas, poorer patches literally on the wrong side of the tracks, and plenty of small and abandoned towns not along the interstate that I would one day like to find the time to explore. If I ever get around to it, odds are I’ll be taking train.
About the Author
Jeremy Lott is editor of RealClearPolicy.com, RealClearBooks.com and RealClearReligion.org and associate editor of RealClearScience.com.
Letter to the Editor View all comments (27) | Leave a comment
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Richard| 2.9.12 @ 7:08AM
You forgot the excellent food in the dining car. I took the train from Wyoming to San Francisco a few years ago. What a great experience. Great views and no hassles. Comfortable seats that folded into comfortables beds. Nice people and competent employees. Quiet and calm. Very enjoyable.
choochoo| 2.9.12 @ 8:29AM
Which train was it? The Empire Builder? California Zephyr?
And you had to change trains in Chicago. You would have taken the Capitol Limited from Chicago to Washington, D.C.
Yes, cross-country train trips are a pleasure, but with your own bedroom the price is around six to eight times what you would pay for a one-way plane ticket.
KyMouse| 2.9.12 @ 10:43AM
I grew up in an L&N family that is now a CSX family, so I love trains. My parents used to take us to Florida every spring on the "South Wind."
A few years ago, my sister and I took the "Texas Eagle" from St. Louis to San Antonio. We loved sleeping in our tiny berths, but were mystified at how the train seemed to be stuck in about the 1950s.
Excess luggage was stored in an open rack right next to the exit door, where anyone could have walked off with someone else's stuff. Our little room had only a hook-and-eye lock.
During mealtimes, we marveled that passengers who didn't even have that modicum of security simply left their belongings, including some purses and briefcases, on their seats and went to the dining car (where, we were informed, our meals weren't cooked, but merely heated in the microwave -- still, they were pretty good).
We asked one attendant if they had many thefts on the train, and he assured us that such things didn't happen.
When we went through Dallas, all of us had time to stretch our legs on the platform. We noticed two urban youths on their knees -- how nice, we thought for a moment; how nice of them to be thanking God for a safe journey.
Then we noticed that they were in handcuffs, thanks to a pair of plainclothes cops who had been on our train.
I'll go anywhere by train, any time, and I'm glad we arrived in San Antonio with everything we started out with.
Alan Brooks| 2.9.12 @ 10:06PM
Midnight Train? sneaking around, as Lincoln in 1861, to avoid assassination, Jer? wassa matter, can'tcha ride a chooch in daylight like a brave guy?
oldfart| 2.9.12 @ 7:30AM
There - you went and did it. Blast you - you let the cat out of the bag. BOO HISS
Appleby| 2.9.12 @ 7:33AM
I took my nephew, age 7, to Washington DC from Atlanta in a first class sleeping car because he was afraid to fly, and if you have to travel with children, that's the way to go. Not least of all considerations is the first class waiting lounge in DC, where my well-behaved nephew played quietly with his Space Toys and we both watched a Family of Four rampage unmolested by their parents who seemed to have forgotten they had children. (As we walked through the cars to our sleeping accommodations, Steven spotted this mob ahead of us and said, "There are those brats who were in the First Class Lounge with us." I am sure the rest of the passengers were glad to know they were travelling in private accommodations.)
Train travel between Canada and the USA is hit or miss; I regularly travel between my home and my Mama's home and you never know what you'll meet at the border. One trip we were caught in a massive sting operation that captured a number of Young Couples whose large wheeled suitcases apparently contained firearms destined for the Great White North where same have been illegal since 1938. But generally it's a quiet ride in relative comfort and although one is always late to one's destination, it's a whole lot better than flying.
Brian Mc| 2.9.12 @ 7:47AM
I believe that I will go now, and google "Amtrak".
Brian Mc| 2.9.12 @ 8:22AM
Sorry, don't care to circumvent the lower 48 in order to get where I want to go.
Indy| 2.9.12 @ 8:08AM
Glad you escaped the TSA but it's only a matter of time. The TSA is expanding its turf to trains and buses.
oldfart| 2.9.12 @ 9:15AM
And rest stops on the Interstate. TSA wants to make sure that they will not let any potential foreign or DOMESTIC bad person slip through their fingers.
Next will be the requirement for an internal travel card with a background investigation before you can travel more than 50 miles from your home.
Fred Farkel| 2.9.12 @ 10:25AM
TSA may get a surprise if they start invading highway rest stops. Truck Drivers call them 'Pickle Parks' . You can guess why. They seem to attract assorted perverts and Democrat politicians looking for .... welll... you can guess.
Moe Blotz| 2.9.12 @ 12:42PM
Not all pickle parks are the domain of perverts. A Big R driver I knew circa 1981 stopped in a pickle park on I-84 east out of Hartford near West Willington, CT between midnight and 05.00 AM to get his plumbing serviced on a regular run to Boston. The lady of the evening who attracted the local drivers operated in the back of a Ford van and called on the CB radio for drivers to stop in for a visit with "Like the Breeze". No, I never stopped to check it out.
MAC| 2.9.12 @ 8:46AM
The train is the way to go. You see countryside you would never see otherwise. You can also talk to all sorts of interesting people, while everybody on a plane seems afraid to talk. I am planning to take my granddaughters on a train trip soon. Loved the article. It is the best way to see our great country and also our neighboring country,Canada. Good article! Mac
Wineguy999| 2.9.12 @ 9:09AM
I'm all in favor of the train, but $1538 on Amtrak vs. $260 on Continental (SFO to DC)...obviously Amtrak doesn't want people to ride.
Brian Mc| 2.9.12 @ 9:30AM
What did you expect from socialists? A prime example of what occurs when private enterprise is usurped by the fed for its own good. No economic accountability through privatization gets us to a point where only the politburo can afford a steak. And the elitists wonder why we're pissed.
fckewe| 2.9.12 @ 10:11PM
you mean by private enterprise... the bankrupt Penn Central (and how many others) who never kept their tracks up, but pocketed profits and pensions and subsidies for maintenance? Amtrak and Conrail SAVED an industry that is thriving today. It is PROOF that constant infrastructure investment is a necessary Government responsibility. Because Private enterprise just leaves their dead right in the middle of the rails.
fckewe| 2.9.12 @ 10:08PM
Well, how much is First Classcross country?
Vern Crisler| 2.9.12 @ 9:26AM
The train is a good alternative to flying, until a terrorist blows up your train.
John| 2.9.12 @ 12:19PM
Ah, the perfect NEW AMERICAN. Government's got you afraid of dust bunnies under the bed too?
Take it from someone who has come within a few minutes of being blown to bits twice in my life, terrorists are real but that's no reason to let the government take away your liberty.
Welcome to the New, Improved America 2.0, the Police State Perfected. You are going to fit right in "citizen"
crookedwren| 2.9.12 @ 10:56AM
My husband and I have fond memories of the train from Atlanta to NYC and then back again. Certainly, after 9/11, we wondered why we weren't "carded" and inspected. We worried about that a bit, but enjoyed traveling that way. Leisurely. We could READ! We could LOOK OUT THE WINDOW at America. Certainly there were the beautiful meadows and hills and rivers and valleys, there were the quaint Virginia towns, and there were the ravaged places -- the bad side of East Philly comes to mind.
We've shared meals with brilliant musicians and veteran train travelers, with funny folk and quiet folk and intriguing folk.
When we hear a train whistle in the distance, we remember the days when we took more than twelve hours to travel, but it was soooo pleasant.
Still, we began to see certain people staring at everyone getting on the train. Wondered if (hope that) they were perhaps some kind of "marshall," trying to keep crazy jihadists off the tracks.
It's expensive, though, to travel that way, and now we live in a place where we'd have to travel six hours to get to a place from which to catch the train.
With the blossoming of Agenda 21, our children and grandchildren will have to travel by rail or mass buses or such. They will all be crammed together and will not be permitted in areas where flora and fauna and native species can flourish.
Check it out.
Ron| 2.9.12 @ 12:50PM
Is this the same Amtrak that would go broke without HUGE federal subsidies each year?
jaytrain| 2.9.12 @ 1:45PM
Yes we all love have a good time when someone else pays the bill . That would be the taxpayer , you and me . The really sad thing is the diversion of subsidy monies to a luxury tourist enterprise when real transportation uses such the the Northest Corridor which still makes some practical sense are starved for funds . If you want a Wagons - Lit Orient Express vacation , pay the full freight . I would estimate doubling your fare would about cover it
Stammon| 2.9.12 @ 3:08PM
One of the real joys in life is getting up at 2 am from your private cabin bed and walking to the bar for a "topper". Spying all the scrunched face people trying to sleep on those seats brings a glow to my heart. That and train coffee is the best in the world.
Gary| 2.9.12 @ 10:13PM
Your article is reminiscent of a virtual hymn to the long distance passenger train published in Life magazine August 2, 1968. It was written by Ray Bradbury and included the observation that if we killed off all the passenger trains we would have to invent them all over again for the pleasures they provide.
He's right. I have been fortunate to ride many long distance trains, trips that provided delights and surprises. Aboard the eastbound "Saint Louisan/Gotham Limited" from Harrisburg to New York, my cousin and I had the run of two deadheading Pullman sleeping cars thanks to my conductor Uncle, her father. Later, as a college student, I rode the observation car of the all-Pullman "Broadway Limited" with an unobstructed rearward view of the infrastructure of the mighty Pennsylvania Railroad -- stone arch bridges, flying junctions, interlocking plants and a four-track speedway. On other trains, rounding Horseshoe Curve, one marvels at 19th century engineering that made America's growth possible.
In the darkened observation car of the "Denver Zephyr," in the middle of the night, I conversed with the conductor, an amateur historian. As we raced through southwest Nebraska on the Chicago, Burlington and Quincy mainline, he pointed out the moonlit hills and described the Indian wars that raged there.
One afternoon and night out of Chicago, on board the "North Coast Limited," I raised the window blind in my Pullman bedroom to see a yellow fox jumping over a log along the shore of the Yellowstone River. I've seen the Milky Way from the comfort of a dome car at Sandpoint, Idaho. I've seen the farms and plantations of Virginia from a speeding "Crescent Limited" in the early morning; Lake Pontchartrain's gentle waves in the approach to New Orleans on the Southern Railway.
In the middle of the night, lifting the window blind approaching Memphis on "The City of New Orleans," the Barnum & Bailey circus train waits in a siding for us to pass.
Eastbound on the "Lake Shore Limited," the boisterous conductor waxes loud with tales of the great days of the past and tells me about the regular appearances of Lowell Thomas on the "Twentieth Century Limited." When he realizes my enthusiasm for railroading, he gestures me off at the station stop at Erie. We walk forward to the three locomotive E-units. As a way of proving his authority, I conclude, he yells up to the engineer, "Hey, let this guy ride up here." And I do, all the way into Buffalo, with a fascinating conversation with the crew who recalled the glory days "over on the big four" that paralleled our approach into the city.
Given the randomness of dining car seating, I was paired with a beautiful co-ed on the northbound "South Wind" out of Florida. Eastbound to New York on Amtrak's "Broadway Limited" I enjoyed dinner with Johnny Roventini, the "Call for Philip Morris" page who became a corporate symbol for the cigarette company for several decades, along with his normal-sized brother. On another day, cruising along the Juniata River on the Pennsylvania Railroad's former Middle Division, I recognized Rogers E. M. Whitaker, a writer and editor for "The New Yorker," famous for writing about railroads under the nom de plume, Frimbo. I invited him to lunch in the dining car and had a wonderful two hours of conversation about railroading.
I have about 1.7 frequent flyer miles on Delta Air Lines because, in business, I had to get there with speed. But every mile on a passenger train beats the airways every time.
I would say to the unexperienced, "If you've never been lulled to deep sleep by the gentle swaying of a Pullman sleeping car, you have missed a unique pleasure."
Thanks for your article.
albert constantine jr.| 2.9.12 @ 11:51PM
In acknowledgement of the article's title, I think it is appropriate to quote the railroading authorities known as the Pips, with their highly relevant "Whoo Whoo".
Not the fun RR of yesteryear| 2.10.12 @ 12:57AM
Homeland Security, the TSA, et al has already swamped and destroyed the train experience here.
No buying a ticket without two forms of photo ID. This, right at the outset, is a non-starter. Baggage size is measured and must conform to a very small dimension otherwise extra fees (fines). The ticket prices are anything but cheap; one can usually obtain, with planning, a better deal via a rental car company.
I'll have to check again, but they do not take cash for the tickets. See -- they want credit card information/tracking info.
Bags are scanned and given the TSA treatment, as is the human cargo.
I have no idea how the author, making a full cross-country trip, could have slipped past these present-day human injustices.
HH| 2.10.12 @ 1:19AM
Mr. Lott, please do an article on what you refer to in this article. You mention Americans on the train with issues about Canadians, Americans who live near the border.
What's going on? For those of us further from that northern border, we'd like to know. Thank you.