Trains

[Gerald Wilgus]

What is the farthest you have traveled by train?

The fastest speed you have moved by train?

Everybody likes steam trains. Which do you think has the best excursions?

 

[tree]

The longest I have traveled by train
was from Michigan to Louisiana.

I have no idea of the speed of any train I was on.

A shorter trip by train was in high school when the
Art Club went to Chicago. We "surfed" part of the
way (stood up, pretending to surf)

 

[Gerald Wilgus]

What is the farthers you have traveled by train?
4411 km, Toronto to Vancouver, CP.

The fastest speed you have moved by train?
AVE, Madrid to Seville, 310 km/hr
Shinkansen, Tokyo to Osaka, 325 km/hr

Everybody likes steam trains. Which do you think has the best excursions?
CUMBRES and TOLTEC, Chama New Mexico to Antonito Colorado.

 

[Fino]

I've never been on a train!

 

[Gerald Wilgus]

I've never been on a train!

I hope you can get to try some. Almost every state has some excursion trains. Some famous runs still go: Chicago to New Orleans on the City of New Orleans, or Chicago to Seattle on The Empire Builder.

 

[Loren]

The only train-travel I've done, has been up and down parts of the coast of California/ approximately 700 miles total, on an Amtrak train called the Pacific Surfliner.

This particular train travels an average speed of approximately 80 miles per hour.

I would love to ride on a steam train, as well as one of the high-speed trains in Japan, should I have the opportunity.

edit: Neglected to mention, I've taken the BART, throughout San Francisco and surrounding areas, on numerous occasions, and have ridden the subway trains when visiting NYC.

 

[VictorR]

What is the furthest you have traveled by train?
816 mi / 1313 km, San Francisco to Vancouver, Amtrak (Coastal Starlight / Cascades).

The fastest speed you have moved by train?
TGV, Basel to Paris, 320 km/hr (listed top speed, not sure of actual)
I found it quite amusing that TGV (Trains à Grande Vitesse) basically just means "trains with great speed"

I haven't taken a steam train yet.

 

[Bolletje]

The furthest journey I’ve made by train is from Groningen to Rome (1747 km).
I have no idea how fast that train traveled.

 

[Gerald Wilgus]

I would love to ride on a steam train,

You have to be ready for a full sensory experience. The visuals of those black ancient engines, the restored, ornate, coaches. The sounds, from the engines coming up to temperature, the huff of the steam engine, and the roar of blowing the boiler down to keep scale deposits from creating problems. The smells of steam with a metalic tang. The burning coal and cinder emanating from the smokestack.

 

[Gerald Wilgus]

The longest I have traveled by train
was from Michigan to Louisiana.

I have no idea of the speed of any train I was on.

A shorter trip by train was in high school when the
Art Club went to Chicago. We "surfed" part of the
way (stood up, pretending to surf)

If you headed south from Chicago, you may have been on the City of New Orleans. Certainly you know the song.

 

[Loren]

You have to be ready for a full sensory experience. The visuals of those black ancient engines, the restored, ornate, coaches. The sounds, from the engines coming up to temperature, the huff of the steam engine, and the roar of blowing the boiler down to keep scale deposits from creating problems. The smells of steam with a metalic tang. The burning coal and cinder emanating from the smokestack.

Thank you for the fantastic description. I look forward to it. I think there's somewhere, here, in California, where they have an old steam train that offers short jaunts.

 

[Aspychata]

Took train from Detroit to San Francisco. Beautiful trip. Stood outside at the very end of the last car and watched the scenery past by. Now due to safety regulations, l am sure you can't stand outside anymore. They had a double decker on this Amtrack line. Sorry, no idea how fast.

 

[s3_gunzel]

What is the farthest you have traveled by train?

Sydney to Melbourne, 953-ishkm by rail. In Economy. Never again.

The fastest speed you have moved by train?

That particular train went up to 160km/h.

Everybody likes steam trains. Which do you think has the best excursions?

Honestly depends. A lot of the heritage rail guys here do much the same runs so it ends up being a case of who can you stand for longer?

 

[Jeff T]

Fastest train: TGV Lausanne to Paris, 150+ mph?

Slowest train (tie) Martigny to Chamonix, and Lindau to Munchen*

*steam train: Durango & Silverton

Electric trains in US: BART, local light rail, Sac Northern museum near Birds Landing CA (1920-194?)

 

[Luca]

The farthest I’ve gone on a train was Boston to New York City, on an Amtrak train.

I had never been on an Amtrak train and I was NOT prepared for how fast it was. It was a little jarring when it accelerated and the track was kind of uneven at certain points which freaked me out. I was used to the commuter trains and subway trains we have around here.

I used to travel by train a lot because most of my state has public transportation everywhere, even in non-urban areas like where I live. I also live right across the street from a bus stop and a ferry port. The nearest commuter train station is probably a 15-20 minute walk from here but we do not have access to subway trains unless we venture into more densely populated towns.

 

[Thinx]

Love the City of New Orleans song! When I was living in a Northen UK city and travelling to London to teach most weeks, I travelled mostly on the Pendolino trains, they do up to 200 mph but normally capped at 124 mph I think? They kind of sway, as I think they balance on a single rail? Italian design I guess. It takes 2 hours normally.

I love train travel, but covid has put me off for now. I come from the South West UK, and at Paignton in South Devon I often see the steam trains come in and out, and they steam past as I am walking there. Yes, full sensory experience is a good way of putting it, cough cough tears in eyes, but so enjoyable to see them powering up and steaming in and out. They hoot too. Whoo Whoo!

There's an early film about a mail train with John Betjemen talking, think he may be saying a poem as he was a poet. They used to have to throw the mail off and catch the new bags, at speed. Health and safety?, not so much!

My partner and I plan a steam train trip after our wedding when possible.

I remember the early diesel trains well too. They had corridors too, and compartments like the steam trains. Also smelly with the fuel. Used to go London to South Devon often as a young person.

 

[Aspychata]

Bart train is pretty neat to take , (San Francisco). I did do the train and the London tube , (subway) in the UK. And l took a train in Finland when l left my small town and ventured into Helsinki but suffered shock, when l could barely pronounce my small town's name upon returning home.

Before l went to Finland, l remembered reading that someone froze to death waiting for a train to come in Finland. So when l got off the train, l stopped for a perogie pie at a little foodstand, to avoid being a statistic.

 

[auslan434]

I've been up to 250 km/h on Germany's ICE or Intercity Express.

I did travel on the Eurostar from Paris to London via the "Chunnel" but I didn't see the speed display.

In Australia (where I'm from) it was the Tilt Train at 166km/h in Queensland on 3'6" gauge track.

My longest journey was on the Sunlander train from Brisbane to Cairns. The trip is about 1600km long.

 

[maycontainthunder]

Overnight sleeper from London to somewhere in Scotland for a coach tour. This was some years ago. Prior to this it was a trip to York from Oxford (?) to visit the National Railway Museum.

 

[Leo Zed]

The longest train ride that I have been on was from Sicily to Madrid. It was excruciatingly slow. Seemed like an eternity.

I have been fascinated with steam trains since I was a kid. I used to read about them in Encyclopedia Brittanica. I occasionally watch YouTube videos about steam locomotives. The only locomotives that I have seen in person were at the Henry Ford Museum (near Detroit). I remember being amazed at the size of the rear wheels - huge!