Taking a train.. to visit my sister and see a lot of the U.S.

Thinking about taking a train out to CO. to see my sister sometime this year. I think it would be cool to take a train as I would be a good price and I think I would get to see a lot of the U.S. that I wouldn't from the air. So has anyone done a cross country trip on a train? It would be from Florida to CO. and then back..

There isn't going to be much of a photography opportunity on the train. Having travelled via train to Colorado before, fly unless you simply can't.

You can take pictures on a train.

One needs to remember you could be travelling 80mph while shooting outside scenery on the train.
Everything is moving past your lens at 117 feet/second or 1408 inches/sec. so you need a suitably fast shutter speed... 1/2000 still means things are moving across the frame 0.7" during the shutter open time.
So as the shutter slit moves across the frame it results in objects being 'distorted' as well as not recorded as sharp.

And the train windows will not be the pristine clean clear things you wish them to be, cutting contrast.

Go Greyhound.

Wilt wrote in post #17906655
One needs to remember you could be travelling 80mph while shooting outside scenery on the train. . . . as the shutter slit moves across the frame it results in objects being 'distorted' as well as not recorded as sharp.

And the train windows will not be the pristine clean clear things you wish them to be, cutting contrast.

Of course, there's some loss of quality for those reasons, but you get closer to the scenery by train than by plane. I shot this from Amtrak moving along at its normal speed, which I think, not sure, is kept to 50 mph for safety reasons.

My wife and I went from Ohio to LA on Amtrack and I would do it again in a minute. It was a great experience.

We had a suite with it's own loo, a huge window with a little table and chairs on either side of it. When we first arrived in the suite there was wine and snacks on the table.The meals were fantastic. Service was top notch. We were treated like royalty. It was an opportunity to travel by a conveyance that was very popular many years ago. Except now it is quite a bit more refined. It's also quite a bit more expensive that flying. But, it's a much more enjoyable experience.

There will plenty of photo ops but don't do it for that. Do it because it's different and a hell of a lot of fun.

We also took a steam powered stern wheeler up the Mississippi, but......another story.

saea501 wrote in post #17910757
My wife and I went from Ohio to LA on Amtrack and I would do it again in a minute. It was a great experience.

We had a suite with it's own loo, a huge window with a little table and chairs on either side of it. When we first arrived in the suite there was wine and snacks on the table.The meals were fantastic. Service was top notch. We were treated like royalty. It was an opportunity to travel by a conveyance that was very popular many years ago. Except now it is quite a bit more refined. It's also quite a bit more expensive that flying. But, it's a much more enjoyable experience.

There will plenty of photo ops but don't do it for that. Do it because it's different and a hell of a lot of fun.

We also took a steam powered stern wheeler up the Mississippi, but......another story.

My wife will not get on an airplane. What was the cost for the train trip from Ohio to LA in the suite. That sounds real nice. I haven't ridden a train since going from Weisbaden to Berlin back in the late 50's.

windpig wrote in post #17910765
My wife will not get on an airplane. What was the cost for the train trip from Ohio to LA in the suite. That sounds real nice. I haven't ridden a train since going from Weisbaden to Berlin back in the late 50's.

Oh, man.......I've got no idea. It was more than a few years ago.

I do remember that we had to take a transfer from Cleveland to Chicago that took about 4 hours. As soon as we stepped onto the transfer train, which was an ancient piece of crap, I thought....OMG, what have I done. That train rattled and shook and rocked you around in the seat. I was pretty pissed.

But once in Chicago and we got on the 'real' train........things changed dramatically. In fact, we were sitting in our suite having wine and goodies, looking out the window at all of the people running around on the platform and suddenly I realized that the train was moving. The platform started slipping past the window.......there was no sound at all, there was no vibration......pretty cool experience. Even at speed it was like riding in a car, a really nice car, on a newly paved highway. The gentle motion made you sleep like a stone. In fact, the only time I woke up was when the train stopped once during the night. It started moving again a few minutes later and.....ZZZZZZZZZZ.

I'd love to do a train ride cross country if I could get on something like you describe.

ThomasDidymus wrote in post #17906053
Thinking about taking a train out to CO. to see my sister sometime this year. I think it would be cool to take a train as I would be a good price and I think I would get to see a lot of the U.S. that I wouldn't from the air. So has anyone done a cross country trip on a train? It would be from Florida to CO. and then back..

Sorry, but I have never taken a long train ride like that, so I cannot answer your questions specifically.

However, I have driven a car across the U.S. many, many times. Perhaps with the cost of gasoline as low as it is currently this might be a worthwhile option.
I think that road trips and nature photography are a match made in heaven!
I've done Washington state to the NC/TN border in three days, so I think that if time were limited you could easily do FL to CO in three days and that would leave a fairly good amount of time to get out and smell the roses. If time is not limited, then you could take some detours and visit some really special places that are more or less along the way.

If this is something you are interested in, then feel free to hit me up with a PM; I've planned lots of these kinds of trips and I would be glad to provide any info or help that I can.

.

Tom Reichner wrote in post #17918727
Sorry, but I have never taken a long train ride like that, so I cannot answer your questions specifically.

However, I have driven a car across the U.S. many, many times. Perhaps with the cost of gasoline as low as it is currently this might be a worthwhile option.
I think that road trips and nature photography are a match made in heaven!
I've done Washington state to the NC/TN border in three days, so I think that if time were limited you could easily do FL to CO in three days and that would leave a fairly good amount of time to get out and smell the roses. If time is not limited, then you could take some detours and visit some really special places that are more or less along the way.

If this is something you are interested in, then feel free to hit me up with a PM; I've planned lots of these kinds of trips and I would be glad to provide any info or help that I can.

.

With trains you miss half the country because half the trip is at night. When you go through a town you see the backside of building, factories, and the parts of town you dont necessarily want to see. Its called the wrong side of the tracks for a reason. The romance of train travel wears off pretty quickly and you are left with bad food, few amenities, and lots of boredom.

gonzogolf wrote in post #17918984
With trains you miss half the country because half the trip is at night. When you go through a town you see the backside of building, factories, and the parts of town you dont necessarily want to see. Its called the wrong side of the tracks for a reason. The romance of train travel wears off pretty quickly and you are left with bad food, few amenities, and lots of boredom.

Man.......I very strongly disagree with this. Not at all my experience. The food on our trip was absolutely top notch. Service was great and boredom..........just about the furthest thing from my mind.

Sorry you had such a bad experience, my friend.

saea501 wrote in post #17919623
Man.......I very strongly disagree with this. Not at all my experience. The food on our trip was absolutely top notch. Service was great and boredom..........just about the furthest thing from my mind.

Sorry you had such a bad experience, my friend.

I made the trip to colorado several times and none of them were particulary pleasurable.