According to the man in seat 61 you can cross the states from sea to shining sea for a pittance: <http://www.seat61.com/UnitedStates.htm#Travelling by train in the USA>
He might be able to help you plan your trip from Harrisburg to St. Louis more effectively. Bob > -----Original Message----- > From: Bob W [mailto:[email protected]] > Sent: 24 May 2009 15:56 > To: 'Pentax-Discuss Mail List' > Subject: RE: OT - ranting about Amtrak > > > > > Are you still bitching about rail travel in the UK, Bob? > > > > ;-) > > > > that's not a bitch about rail travel, it's a bitch about bad > software design. > > I don't really bitch much about UK rail travel. It's > generally pretty good. Over-priced, but still better than > flying, mostly. > > Bob > > > -----Original Message----- > > From: [email protected] [mailto:[email protected]] On > > Behalf Of Scott Loveless > > Sent: 24 May 2009 15:36 > > To: Pentax-Discuss Mail List > > Subject: OT - ranting about Amtrak > > > > On 5/24/09, P. J. Alling <[email protected]> wrote: > > > Intercity passenger rail is expensive. It's estimated that > > Amtrak would > > > save the taxpayers money, (and in fact on some runs > > actually make a profit), > > > if every time someone bought a train ticket they simply > > issued them a plane > > > ticket to the same destination. Australia is a mostly low > > population > > > density place, much like most of the US so I expect the > > same economics would > > > apply. > > > > Allow me to rant. I know that I can get from Harrisburg, Pa to St. > > Louis, Mo (a trip I make by car about twice a year) on the > train. The > > Amtrak map confirms it. But if I go to the Amtrak site and try to > > book a train ride it tells me that I can't get there from > here. So I > > click the little multi-city trip link and start telling it where I > > want to go. The Keystone takes me from Harrisburg to > Pittsburgh. The > > Capitol takes me from Pittsburgh to Chicago. And the Illinois takes > > me from Chicago to St. Louis. I can't just say that I'd > like go from > > place to place, I have to tell it when I want to leave from > each city > > along the way. Since I don't know the train schedules I space them > > out over 2 days. But there's not a daily Capitol from > Pittsburgh, so > > I get a 26 hour layover 2 hours from home. Does it take that into > > account when showing me fares from Chicago? Noooo! I have > to hit the > > back button and start over, trying to remember exactly which train > > leaves when so that I can make the trip as short as possible. > > > > Furthermore, there is no checked baggage service on the Keystone. I > > also can't bring my bike. I can check baggage from Pittsburgh to > > Chicago, but still can't bring a bike. From Chicago to St. Louis I > > can bring my bike, but there's no checked baggage. Gah! > > > > Contrast this with the airlines. I can get from any airport in the > > world to just about any other. As you all know, I can go to Expedia > > or some similar site, plug in points A and B and it will show me a > > variety of options, consisting of different airlines, different > > layovers and different connections. And they all get from > A to B. I > > can check my bags. I can pay a few bucks extra and bring my bike. > > And since I have a credit card I can arrange for all of > this within a > > few minutes and it's cheaper than the train. > > > > Amtrak, however, makes me spend an hour on their site only > to find out > > that train tickets from Harrisburg to St. Louis, for me alone, costs > > more than airfare for my whole family. One company, one web site, > > they own the tracks (or lease them or whatever) and they > can't figure > > out how to get me to where they can supposedly take me. > > > > Spending 18 hours in the car over two days and paying for > gas and food > > and a hotel for the family is the least expensive option, even with > > last summer's fuel prices. > > > > Are you still bitching about rail travel in the UK, Bob? > > > > ;-) > > > > -- > > Scott Loveless > > Cigarette-free since December 14th, 2008 > > http://www.twosixteen.com/fivetoedsloth/ > > > > -- > > PDML Pentax-Discuss Mail List > > [email protected] > > http://pdml.net/mailman/listinfo/pdml_pdml.net > > to UNSUBSCRIBE from the PDML, please visit the link directly > > above and follow the directions. > > -- PDML Pentax-Discuss Mail List [email protected] http://pdml.net/mailman/listinfo/pdml_pdml.net to UNSUBSCRIBE from the PDML, please visit the link directly above and follow the directions.
