This paper describes some of the things that I think about when making plans for complicated Amtrak trips.

I checked the likelihood of making the various connections using a couple of quick and dirty programs that I wrote that rely on data from Christopher Juckins.  I checked history going back to the beginning of April of this year.

An Eastern Loop

I could use the Cardinal as one leg of the trip.  That’s a train between New York City and Chicago that runs three days per week and that I haven’t ridden in years.  Its on-time performance is notoriously awful, so I’ve ruled out using it eastbound since it might well arrive in the wee hours of the morning; but it’ll work OK for the return trip since, if something horrible happens on the last or next-to-last leg, it won’t destroy the whole trip.

There are two ways to do this, both constrained by the three days of the week that train 51, the westbound Cardinal, begins its journey.

Plan A via New York City

Day	Week- day	Train		From		To		Accommodation
		Nbr.	Name	When	Where	When	Where
0	MoWeFr	22	Texas Eagle	08:10	St. Louis	13:44	Chicago	Roomette
		318	Lincoln Service	14:55	St. Louis	20:00	Chicago	Business Class
		48	Lake Shore Limited	21:30	Chicago			Accessible Bedroom
1	TuThSa					18:42	New York
		Spend the night at the New Yorker
2	WeFrSu	51	Cardinal	06:40	New York			Accessible Bedroom
3	ThSaMo					10:00	Chicago
		21	Texas Eagle	13:52	Chicago	19:07	St. Louis	Roomette
		305	Lincoln Service	17:20	Chicago	22:23	St. Louis	Business Class
		307	Lincoln Service	19:10	Chicago			Business Class
4	FrSuTu					00:09	St. Louis

I could travel to New York and spend the night at the New Yorker Hotel which is just about one block from the Moynihan Train Hall.  I’d have a departure time in New York of 06:40 and so probably wouldn’t have time for a proper breakfast at the hotel; but maybe I could get something in the Metropolitan Lounge.

To get to New York, I’d take the Texas Eagle and Lake Shore Limited.  That gives me a really long layover in Chicago; but I’ve done it before and know that it’s survivable. 😊

Another option for the first leg is train 318 which would give me just a 1:30 layover; but that train originates in Kansas City and often loses lots of time west of St. Louis and misses the connection to 48 about 20% of the time.  I’ll leave it listed as an option just in case 22 isn’t running at all on my day of travel, which can happen if there’s really bad weather in Texas or Arkansas or the UP puts a train on the ground blocking everything.

The Cardinal misses the connection to 21 only about 2% of the time; but I’ll note anyway that trains 305 and 307 are available for the final leg; and the conductor on 51 can change that reservation for me.

Plan B via D.C.

Day	Week- day	Train		From		To		Accommodation
		Nbr.	Name	When	Where	When	Where
0	MoWeFr	302	Lincoln Service	06:35	St. Louis	11:40	Chicago	Business Class
		22	Texas Eagle	08:10	St. Louis	13:44	Chicago	Roomette
		41	Floridian	18:40	Chicago			Accessible Bedroom
1	TuThSa					13:05	Washington
		Spend the night
2	WeFrSu	51	Cardinal	10:59	Washington			Accessible Bedroom
3	ThSaMo					10:00	Chicago
		Final leg options same as via New York

I could spend the night in Washington, D.C. instead, which would give me a much more reasonable departure time for the return trip.  There’s a good hotel not far from Union Station.  It’s about a three-block walk; but I’ll have only one piece of luggage, a roll-around laptop case with room for toiletries and a change of clothes; so I should be able to take that stroll even with my currently limited mobility.

The way to get to D.C. used to be a train called the Capitol Limited.  That train used Superliner equipment, which Amtrak is running out of; so they created a new train called the Floridian which uses single-level equipment and replaces, not only the Capitol Limited, but also a train to Miami called the Silver Star.  41 has the same schedule between Chicago and D.C. as the Capitol Limited did; but the timekeeping between Washington and Miami is horrible in both directions.

I’ve used 22 to connect to 30, the eastbound Capitol Limited, numerous times and never missed the connection.  Lately, 22 has missed the connection to 41 about 13% of the time.  I’ll buy tickets on 22; but I’ll check 22’s performance early in the morning and be prepared to head for the station in time to catch 302 if I need to.

A Western Loop

This could include a ride on the Coast Starlight that runs daily between Los Angeles and Seattle.  The nominally westbound train 11 runs geographically southbound; and the nominally eastbound train 14 runs geographically northbound.  I rode 14 once from Los Angeles to San José years ago.

Plan A on the Texas Eagle and Empire Builder

Day	Week- day	Train		From		To		Accommodation
		Nbr.	Name	When	Where	When	Where
0	SuTuFr	421	Texas Eagle	19:42	St. Louis			Bedroom
1	MoWeSa			On the Train
2	TuThSu
3	WeFrMo					05:35	Los Angeles
If we make the connection to 14…
3	WeFrMo	14	Coast Starlight	09:51	Los Angeles			Bedroom
4	ThSaTu					19:51	Seattle
		Spend two nights in Seattle
5	FrSuWe
But if we miss the connection…
3	WeFrMo	Spend one night in Los Angeles (hopefully at Amtrak’s expense)
4	ThSaTu	14	Coast Starlight	09:51	Los Angeles			Bedroom (which we hope is still available)
5	FrSuWe					19:51	Seattle
		Spend one night in Seattle
6	SaMoTh	8	Empire Builder	16:55	Seattle			Bedroom
7	SuTuFr			On the Train
8	MoWeSa					16:45	Chicago
		Spend the night in Chicago
9	TuThSu	21	Texas Eagle	13:52	Chicago	19:07	St. Louis	Roomette

Trains 21 and 22, the Texas Eagle, run daily between Chicago and San Antonio; and then three days per week, one coach and one sleeper get coupled to trains 1 and 2, the Sunset Limited, which runs between New Orleans and Los Angeles.  The Eagle’s through cars to Los Angeles are called trains 421 and 422.  I rode 422 from Los Angeles to St. Louis once, but that was ages ago.

Unfortunately, train 1 (and thus train 421) is another train with horrible timekeeping; and since the beginning of April, it has missed the connection to 14 about 11% of the time.  If that happens, I could take the next day’s 14; and the conductor on train 1 will be able to change the reservation for me.  With any luck, there will still be a Superliner bedroom available; and if not, there’s always the Superliner accessible bedroom; and I could even survive a Superliner roomette for one night.  The possibility that I might need to do this is why I’d plan to spend two nights in Seattle (there’s a fancy hotel just half a block from King Street Station) in order to decouple this from the penultimate leg on the Empire Builder.

The Builder is also often late; and so I wouldn’t even think about trying to make connections to 305 or 307, but rather plan on spending the night in Chicago and taking 21 home the next day.

Variations using 28 from Portland:

Day	Week- day	Train		From		To		Accommodation
		Nbr.	Name	When	Where	When	Where
6	SaMoTh	503	Cascades	07:10	Seattle	10:35	Portland	Business Class
		505		08:55		12:20
		11	Coast Starlight	09:55		13:55		Roomette
		28	Empire Builder	16:45	Portland			Bedroom
7	SuTuFr			On the Train
8	MoWeSa					16:45	Chicago
		Spend the night in Chicago
9	TuThSu	21	Texas Eagle	13:52	Chicago	19:07	St. Louis	Roomette

Or I could just take 14 to Portland instead of Seattle, arriving at 15:40 instead of 19:51; but there’s not a hotel in walking distance from Portland’s Union Station.  OTOH, Union Station has a Metropolitan Lounge for passengers with sleeper tickets, but Seattle’s King Street Station doesn’t.

Taking 28 would give me a ride up the Columbia River Gorge which I haven’t done in years; but I’d get a really crappy supper the first night; and although I’d have a proper diner starting with breakfast on day 7, it would be at least five cars from the Portland sleeper.  Maybe I could move to a Seattle sleeper in Whitefish.

Plans B1 and B2 on the Southwest Chief and California Zephyr

• taking the Southwest Chief to Los Angeles,
• and taking 14 only to Emeryville, CA where I’d begin the return trip on the California Zephyr.

Day	Train		From		To		Accommodation
	Nbr.	Name	When	Where	When	Where
0	302	Lincoln Service	06:35	St. Louis	11:40	Chicago	Business Class
	3	Southwest Chief	14:25	Chicago			Bedroom
1			On the Train
2					07:57	Los Angeles
	14	Coast Starlight	09:51	Los Angeles
3					21:31	Emeryville
	Spend two nights in Emeryville
4
5	6	California Zephyr	08:25	Emeryville			Bedroom
6			On the Train
7					14:39	Chicago
	Spend the night in Chicago
8	21	Texas Eagle	13:52	Chicago	19:07	St. Louis	Roomette

Train 3 is even more likely to miss the connection to 14 (37% of the time); so, although I don’t show it in the table, I might well have to take the next day’s 14, which is why I’ve allowed two nights in Emeryville (like I did for Seattle in Plan A above).

There’s also a train 319 that can make the connection to train 3 in Kansas City; but that’s just the westbound version of 318 which I mention in the very first plan above, and which misses the connection to 3 about one time out of four.  I won’t even consider that an option and instead plan on going through Chicago to begin the trip.

These trains are all daily, so there’s no need to worry about what day of the week I’d need to travel on.

Plan C on the Empire Builder, Coast Starlight and California Zephyr

Train 11 doesn’t connect to anything in Los Angeles, but I might be able to connect to the Zephyr in California.

Day	Train		From		To		Accommodation
	Nbr.	Name	When	Where	When	Where
0	302	Lincoln Service	06:35	St. Louis	11:40	Chicago	Business Class
	27	Empire Builder	15:55	Chicago			Bedroom
1			On the Train
2					11:17	Portland
	11	Coast Starlight	14:22	Portland
3					06:28	Sacramento
	4	California Zephyr	10:23	Sacramento
5			On the Train
6					14:39	Chicago
	Spend the night in Chicago
7	21	Texas Eagle	13:52	Chicago	19:07	St. Louis	Roomette

I haven’t ridden on 27 or 28 through the Columbia River Gorge in years, so that might be interesting.  Since the beginning of April, 27 has missed the connection to 11 about 7% of the time; and I'd take that chance.  11 has missed the connection to 6 in Sacramento only three days out of the 127 days that I looked at.

I’d probably need to get some breakfast in Sacramento since the diner on the train won’t open that early.  I might even need to get some lunch if 6 is very late out of Emeryville.  I’m told that Old Sacramento is just a couple of blocks from the station, and there are probably several restaurants close by.

Current Favorites

Eastern Loop

Day	Week- day	Train		From		To		Accommodation
		Nbr.	Name	When	Where	When	Where
0	MoWeFr	302	Lincoln Service	06:35	St. Louis	11:40	Chicago	Business Class
		22	Texas Eagle	08:10	St. Louis	13:44	Chicago	Roomette
		41	Floridian	18:40	Chicago			Accessible Bedroom
1	TuThSa					13:05	Washington
		Spend the night
2	WeFrSu	51	Cardinal	10:59	Washington			Accessible Bedroom
3	ThSaMo					10:00	Chicago
		21	Texas Eagle	13:52	Chicago	19:07	St. Louis	Roomette
		305	Lincoln Service	17:20	Chicago	22:23	St. Louis	Business Class
		307	Lincoln Service	19:10	Chicago			Business Class
4	FrSuTu					00:09	St. Louis

Western Loop

Day	Week- day	Train		From		To		Accommodation
		Nbr.	Name	When	Where	When	Where
0	SuTuFr	421	Texas Eagle	19:42	St. Louis			Bedroom
1	MoWeSa			On the Train
2	TuThSu
3	WeFrMo					05:35	Los Angeles
If we make the connection to 14…
3	WeFrMo	14	Coast Starlight	09:51	Los Angeles			Bedroom
4	ThSaTu						Portland
		Spend two nights in Portland
5	FrSuWe
But if we miss the connection…
3	WeFrMo	Spend one night in Los Angeles (hopefully at Amtrak’s expense)
4	ThSaTu	14	Coast Starlight	09:51	Los Angeles			Bedroom (which we hope is still available)
5	FrSuWe						Portland
		Spend one night in Portland
If we can
6	SaMoTh	28	Empire Builder	16:45	Portland			Bedroom
7	SuTuFr					07:11	Whitefish
		8		07:26	Whitefish
8	MoWeSa					16:45	Chicago
		Spend the night in Chicago
If we must
6	SaMoTh	28	Empire Builder	16:45	Portland			Bedroom
7	SuTuFr			On the Train
8	MoWeSa					16:45	Chicago
		Spend the night in Chicago
And in any event
9	TuThSu	21	Texas Eagle	13:52	Chicago	19:07	St. Louis	Roomette