Amtrak Auto Train to Florida

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Jarlaxle

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So...motorcycle trip this summer. Planning to hit Panama City (wife's relatives), Pensacola (Naval Air Station museum), Mobile (USS Alabama), and Galveston (USS Texas). My wife mentioned the Auto Train, and it seems like a reasonable plan. It runs from Lorton, VA (Fairfax County, about halfway between DC and Fredricksburg) to Sanford, FL (near Orlando), leaves around 4pm, gets to FL about 9am. We can cut probably 700 fairly-boring miles, as well as get from Virginia to Florida while getting a good night's sleep. (We would get a sleeper.)

Anyone here taken the Auto Train?
 
If price that out vs transport and two likely dirt cheap plane tickets.

Amtrak is so expensive compared to domestic flights. We recently did $100 round trip direct to DC from Boston Logan. Beyond slow Amtrack I belive was $240 similar.
 
He wants to take his motorcycle, so plane tickets are out, as well as transport. I think its a great way to cut back on fatique, see the east coast in a way you havent before, and just relax before your road trip in florida. Id do it, I mean price is an issue, but it is saving you fuel, food, and a hotel for those 700 miles, and they would be on a bike so usually its alot harder on you than a car. Go for it, try it once and see how you like it.
 
Originally Posted By: madRiver
If price that out vs transport and two likely dirt cheap plane tickets.

Amtrak is so expensive compared to domestic flights. We recently did $100 round trip direct to DC from Boston Logan. Beyond slow Amtrack I belive was $240 similar.


I would ship myself LTL freight before I would fly.
 
Probably the longest auto train there is runs from Perth Australia to Adelaide, a distance of 2700 km. There are only a couple of curves in the line.It crosses the Nullarbor desert. Don’t forget the Cheetos.
 
JA, the trouble with the car -train, is that it eliminates the wrong leg of the trip. I 95 south of Providence to DC is the part to miss.
 
My friend takes it every year. He's a snowbird and spends a month or two in Florida each winter. I would just drive myself but he likes the train.
 
Originally Posted By: andyd
.. it eliminates the wrong leg of the trip. I-95 south of Providence to DC is the part to miss.


It's slow & congested no matter what method you use.
 
Originally Posted By: Jarlaxle
So...motorcycle trip this summer. Planning to hit Panama City (wife's relatives), Pensacola (Naval Air Station museum), Mobile (USS Alabama), and Galveston (USS Texas). My wife mentioned the Auto Train, and it seems like a reasonable plan. It runs from Lorton, VA (Fairfax County, about halfway between DC and Fredricksburg) to Sanford, FL (near Orlando), leaves around 4pm, gets to FL about 9am. We can cut probably 700 fairly-boring miles, as well as get from Virginia to Florida while getting a good night's sleep. (We would get a sleeper.)

Anyone here taken the Auto Train?


Actually, the best part of the ride will be from Lorton,Va through Va, NC, Tn and western Ga. Skyline Drive and the Blue Ridge Parkway is the best motorcycle riding in the country! Hardly boring!
 
Originally Posted By: gman2304
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0XFvZzGThBI

This guy has nice videos from Tampa to Skyline drive in Va and back. I think he has two videos on youtube. Personally, after watching the videos, I'd rather ride.


That's cool. Pretty much the reverse trip I had. I can see Skyline Drive out my back window and took the Autotrain to Florida - final destination Tampa.

We made this trip in May 2009. My wife and I took my parents (bucket list trip for my dad who was dying of cancer) to the white sand beaches of the gulf coast of Florida. We reserved two of the "best" rooms - the ones with bathrooms, I think.

We live an hour from Lorton. It took a couple of hours to load. Amtrak rides on tracks that it doesn't own, so its trains have the lowest priority. Many times we sat on tracks in the middle of nowhere, waiting for a freight train to pass.

It was loud and bumpy - clickety clack, clickety clack. I was the only one of the four of us that slept over night. My wife and parents couldn't sleep at all.

My only complaint is that the train trip takes longer than a car trip down 95. Add in the time waiting at the stations and you can save a lot of time by just driving.

In the end, I wouldn't be opposed to riding the Autotrain again, but I prefer to just drive (and my wife says never again - ha!). The train was loaded with older people and people with motorcycles - both groups who the train probably makes total sense for.

In the end, it's a neat thing to do. I would give it a try!
 
Originally Posted By: cpayne5
In the end, it's a neat thing to do. I would give it a try!


x2

Disregard the price and all logic associated with that. You're on vacation.
 
I haven't driven to FL since '73. Been to the Carolinas a few times. I used I-81, I-64 to rt 29 or I-77. I-64 to 29 is Walton country. Lot nicer drive.
 
Been there and done that several times. Yeah, it takes longer for sure, but it's great if you enjoy watching the scenery from a train.

Accommodations are not awesome, but it's an experience. I don't regret having done it.
 
Originally Posted By: gman2304
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0XFvZzGThBI

This guy has nice videos from Tampa to Skyline drive in Va and back. I think he has two videos on youtube. Personally, after watching the videos, I'd rather ride.


I have ridden it. I am going to be tighter on time than I like...I am basically thinking that this will let us make a day's worth of riding while sleeping.
 
Originally Posted By: dlundblad
Originally Posted By: cpayne5
In the end, it's a neat thing to do. I would give it a try!


x2

Disregard the price and all logic associated with that. You're on vacation.


It's not the price, really. I just worry about being stuck on the train until noon in Florida.
 
Originally Posted By: Jarlaxle
Originally Posted By: dlundblad
Originally Posted By: cpayne5
In the end, it's a neat thing to do. I would give it a try!


x2

Disregard the price and all logic associated with that. You're on vacation.


It's not the price, really. I just worry about being stuck on the train until noon in Florida.


Yeah, it becomes pretty monotonous. Nowhere to go, and when I rode it, not much to do. Guessing they have wifi these days, though?

It's like a long plane ride. Though, you can get up and move between cars (dining car, etc).
 
I will bring books and probably a laptop...they do have wi-fi. Once in Florida, I expect I will have uninterrupted 4G phone coverage from Jacksonville to Orlando.
 
Sounds like a fun trip. Why not.

My family from NY makes the trip to florida every winter. They typically tow their harleys on trailers, I have heard of the auto train but have no experience with it.

Consider the USS Lexington in Corpus Christi. That was a neat experience I have gone 3-4 times. The surrounding area is a little ghetto, but the natural beaches of Port Aransas/Mustang Island are really nice beaches for Texas.

Be aware the area took the brunt of the hurricane last year, I do not know what stage of rebuild they are in. The Lexington was not affected.

Galveston does not have nice beaches, I have not been to the USS Texas, but there are several attractions in the area and I have fun when I go down there. The seafood on the Texas coast is AMAZING.

PM me if you have any questions I live in Central Texas, but we go to the coast 3-4 times a year, so I know my way around there.
 
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