No Planes but, trains, automobiles, buses, boats, golf carts and ambulances.

[SCTigerCock 171]

I'm curious how your trip compares to riding Amtrack from Alexandria to Charleston, I'm betting MUCH better. Just knowing the only stop are for crew change and refueling.

I'm also curious how CRX prioritizes this train compared to pure passenger Amtrack trains. Amtrack is "suppose" to get priority from CRX, but that dosen't always happen.

Can't wait to read more.

[mommy rainbo.....Bo 41]

We had decided to go a little ways up the road from the train station to get lunch and burn some time. (it was 11:30 and the train doesn’t leave til about 4, and we cant get on the train til 3) If you go back out the train station road and go left. I think the next intersection with a light is the strip mall(on right) We went in and ate at Glory Days Grill, it was at the far end.

Sorry there is no Pood Forn as I am new with this reporting thing and forgot to take pictures. G- ordered the BBQ ribs plate, I had the pulled pork sandwich and J had cheeseburger sliders. All the meals were good. Not too pricy. About $38 and hubby had a beer of some sort. Service wasn’t fast or slow so plan accordingly. We tried to eat slow. It was now just before 1pm. We walked down to the Supermarket to get a few things we overlooked(chocolate candy). It is a full sized market. You can buy wine in the market and this row of stores has a liqueur store if you need it. On our stroll back we stopped at the Baskin-we are out of a lot-Robbins ice cream shop.

I wanted a chocolate shake. She had no milk. DD wanted mint chocolate chip icecream she was out. DD settled for strawberry. G- got some carmel something or other. I didn’t get anything. We went out and sat at a bench to eat.

We finished up and walked back to the car. I let J play for a little while before we went back to the station. It is 17 hours on a train in a small room.

It is now 2pm and we loaded up to get back to the station and turn in the car. We pull in to the booth check in with our tickets and ID. The woman there is very bubbley and quickly does her part. We are then directed to pull up to the main building to turn in the car and off load what we were taking on the train. Just like any other thing, do not leave valuables in your car unless they are secured(locked in the trunk) The trip south is pretty good about this.(actual amtrak employees not outsourced) They put a magnetic number on your car and write that on your ticket packet so you can claim your car on the other end. (I am not positive but was told last cars on are the first off and that worked for us) So if you get there early you and check in you car you will be waiting on both ends of your train trip. Timing is everything….

We re-enter God’s waiting room to wait for boarding. Here is your waiting room. Side note the bathrooms were pretty clean and plentiful.

It was warm that day at 64 degrees. The building was warm so I took J outside to play on the little area they have.

And before long it was time to load up. Handicap people go first and get settled, then they call for everyone. I didn’t explore enough to get the pictures of the platform. I will do this next trip. So see the little picture I found on the internet

Our room was on the second floor. The stairs are tiny and steep so plan what you have to carry up. Most people just take their pillows and maybe a blanket. I am traveling with a 5 yr old so I have a ton. (I will be cutting back on what we take on the train with us, before the next trip). This is our train car.

and the hallway you have to travel to the lounge and dining cars.

Ah…. our room with a view. I don’t know why I said that they all have a view.

After we move in. The upper bed is folded up. The bathroom/shower is on the opposite wall you enter from that far end.

Yes it is as small as you think, but it is ours for the trip. I am glad to have it and not have to walk to the coach bathrooms. I have heard that is the one draw back to the coach seats.

[Momof6....aka Marty 769]

Two comments about bathrooms! This is a trip report by a mom who has her priorities straight!

Can't wait to read more. :D

[mommy rainbo.....Bo 41]

I am working on some facts of the auto train for everyone.

[Tri-Circle-D 2,059]

Holy moly, that room is small!

But, it looks like you have everything you need.

Love the retro colors-very 70's.

TCD

[mommy rainbo.....Bo 41]

Cost:

I picked a random day in september of 2013, prices are one way. (My husband is an Amtrak employee so what we pay is deeply discounted and why we get the superliner.)

Adult $100 each

Kids 2-15 $50

Vehicles were $175.00

Roomette : 2 beds no bath $136 (great deal to have some privacy, I would travel this way.)

Family: 4 bed room no bath $360

Superliner: 2 beds and a bathroom/shower $444

Basic facts:

Amtrak Auto Train is an 855-mile-long train service for passengers and their automobiles between Lorton, Virginia (20 miles south of Washington, D.C.), and Sanford, Florida (near Orlando, 1 hour or so to Disney).

Passengers ride either in coach seats or private sleeping car rooms while their vehicles (car, van, sport utility vehicle, motorcycle, small trailer, or jet-ski) are carried in enclosed automobile-carrying freight cars.

The train also includes lounge cars and dining cars, and is the only Amtrak route to allow smoking while on board the train. Make sure you don't sit above the smoking car if you don't smoke,

What to expect

The train operates every day. At 11:30 am, the station gates are opened to allow the passengers for the next trip into the vehicle staging area. Here, the vehicles are assigned their number, which is affixed to the driver's door magnetically.^[ The vehicle is typically video surveyed to document any preexisting dents and other damage, in the event a damage claim is later filed.

The passengers leave their vehicles here and take their carry-on bags with them into the station to await boarding. The vehicles are then staged near the ramps by size and length for optimal loading order, and are then loaded onto the car carriers. (I didn’t see this. They just loaded how they came, or so it seemed)

In the case of motorcycles, the owner assists with tying their bikes down to a dedicated motorcycle carrier which is then loaded into the train. Passengers do not have access to their vehicles during the trip.

Boarding begins at 2:30 pm. At 3 pm, a WINE and CHEESE tasting is offered in the lounge cars.

So go, G did and brought back some cheese for us, he hogged the wine which is ok by me not my drink of choice.

The last vehicles and passengers are accepted at 3 pm, So don’t be late, at which time the autocarriers are closed and coupled together, the passenger cars are coupled together. At 4 pm,(or a little before) the locomotive engineer is given clearance to occupy the main line, and the train departs the station to begin its run.

There are 2 or 3 dinner seatings, depending on how full the train is. Dinner (included in the ticket price^[16]) is served in the dining cars at 5, 7, and when there is a third seating, 9 pm.(in our case going down we were at 9) Each seating is announced over the intercoms in each car, and in each sleeping compartment. After the first dinner seating, a recent (Liars) movie is shown on televisions in the lounge cars, which is repeated later in the evening, (FYI fruit is available in baskets in the lounge, wish I had know this on the way down, J was too tired to eat at 9 and loves fruit). After midnight, the train arrives in Florence, South Carolina, where it stops briefly to be refueled and re-watered. A crew change also occurs here for the locomotive. (your Attendant does not change, they go round trip, please tip well for good service)

At 6 am, the dining car crew serves breakfast. No announcement is made for this seating until 7 am, however. Breakfast is served until 8 am (box cereal, muffins and fruit).

As the train approaches the destination station, announcements are made concerning arrival time updates, and a general call for the passengers to gather up their personal belongings.(We got in before 9, They average an early arrival, but it depends on the CXS trains, CXS own the tracks Amtrak uses. CSX has right of way) At 9:30 am the train arrives in the destination station. Passengers may not immediately detrain at this point, as the autocarriers are first decoupled from the train, and in the case of the Sanford station, the passenger cars are split into 2 sections to fit on Sanford's shorter platforms.

At this point the passengers are then allowed to detrain and move to the auto claim area. Cleaning crews move into the train once all passengers are off, and the train is re-supplied with that day's food and water.

At this point vehicles begin to roll off the train and come to the claim area, where they are identified and announced by a vehicle number that was attached to the vehicle at the origin station. Vehicles are not unloaded in the same order they were loaded the previous day. It normally takes 2 hours to unload all vehicles from a full train.

We where out of the station and on our way, in about 20 minutes of getting off the train in both directions. Last car loaded is one of the first unloaded.

[mommy rainbo.....Bo 41]

Two comments about bathrooms! This is a trip report by a mom who has her priorities straight!

Can't wait to read more. :D

I am a woman and a Mom. I know what is really important...lol

[mommy rainbo.....Bo 41]

Holy moly, that room is small!

But, it looks like you have everything you need.

Love the retro colors-very 70's.

TCD

It is small but cozy, we were able to switch positions pretty easily, seat to bench or bathroom without falling all over each other. The bottom seat is the fold out bed. It is longer than it looks and quite comfy, so DD and I ended up laying across it a ton. Our bags fit under the seat and above on the one shelf. I will warn everyone. The water is under pressure in the sink and comes out with force.

[Big Kahuna aka John 71]

This looks cool... Sorry about Baskin Robbins... that sure doesn't sound like a profitable franchise or customer orientated one... out of milk... with a grocery store in the plaza... hmmmm

[CCIntrigue...aka Gwen 547]

Just curious -- please forgive me for asking -- but why did you take the train instead of driving?

[mommy rainbo.....Bo 41]

My husband works for Amtrak. So it works out cheaper than flying for us. On the plus side we have our car(which we needed), no gas spent on ride down, we didn't have to pay for a hotel, or drive thru the night with a 5 year old or my husband and arrive reasonably rested.

[SCTigerCock 171]

While working in DC, I looked into it and the cost of the trip at that time was the same amount I would have incurred driving. Plus with the train leaving at 4PM, you would get out of DC and south MUCH quicker than driving.

But after my experience with the regular Amtrack service I decided against it. But it sounds like this would be better.

Thaks for the info!

[Katman1356...Jason 1,140]

While working in DC, I looked into it and the cost of the trip at that time was the same amount I would have incurred driving. Plus with the train leaving at 4PM, you would get out of DC and south MUCH quicker than driving.

But after my experience with the regular Amtrack service I decided against it. But it sounds like this would be better.

Thaks for the info!

Silvia and I are going to take the auto train this summer. While it may be cheaper for us to drive, the thought relaxing on the ride down is nice and means no hotel room necesary for us.

[mommy rainbo.....Bo 41]

I will say the crew on the auto train are great(even before we were outed as employees). They pretty much stay on the same shift, more like a family, per our conversations with the crew. Very different from the regular Amtrak trains.

[CCIntrigue...aka Gwen 547]

My husband works for Amtrak. So it works out cheaper than flying for us. On the plus side we have our car(which we needed), no gas spent on ride down, we didn't have to pay for a hotel, or drive thru the night with a 5 year old or my husband and arrive reasonably rested.

Silvia and I are going to take the auto train this summer. While it may be cheaper for us to drive, the thought relaxing on the ride down is nice and means no hotel room necesary for us.

Okay, that makes sense. Thanks!

[dblr....Rennie 224]

So far everyone missed one of the best tips to travel like this, last cars on are the first ones off but with the way they take the train apart loaded in the middle might geta a cahnce to get unloaded quick also. Great pictures and thanks for all the info just wish they would take larger vehicles like campers, maybe they need to add some flat cars.

[CCIntrigue...aka Gwen 547]

just wish they would take larger vehicles like campers, maybe they need to add some flat cars.

If we could load our moho and stay in it while traveling, it would be great!

[mommy rainbo.....Bo 41]

We move in. I was able to pretty much find a space for everything and everyone. It is pretty comfortable. It is about 3:00 and we have about a half hour before they start hooking up the pieces of the train so we can go. This is our view.

They shut off the power for a few minutes to hook up. Then they power up and in a few minutes we are OFF. The time is 3:50pm so we are leaving early.

Bye bye Virginia.

The train moves very slow at times(this is one of them) and for quite a while. We are eating, snacking and looking out of the window. Mostly looking at back of warehouses..lol.

We then settle down for a long long long trip. Remember me telling you about my traveling companions "hurry up and wait" issues... -G- is as bad as the 5 yr old.

We colored.

We played with the princesses.

After dark we played a game. Looking for Christmas lights. My daughter loved it. Some of the houses where close to the train tracks and had nice decorations. No pictures, the train was moving too fast for good ones.

It got dark outside early so we were waiting on the 9pm dinner seating (since the train was full it was a late dinner, and employees eat last) by 9 my daughter was fried. She was a hot mess and even though we walked over to the dinning car she didn't eat a thing, even the ice cream they offered. All the seniors in the lounge made a fuss over her as she walked thru to eat. It was cute, I wish she was in a better mood to play up to them. The food was really good. I didn't get pictures but I did get menu's.

First is the Sleeper cars menu-

Coach cars Menu

This just about what our dining car looked like if no one was in it. Ours was packed.

Per my husband the wine wasn't bad. I just had a soda. -J- Didn't drink her chocolate milk. I just ate as fast as I could since I felt that -J- was just about to have her first melt down. I did eat half of my cheese cake dessert. It wasn't the worse or the best, but not bad. DD and I headed back to the sleeper to put her to bed. It was about 9:30 or so.

The train uses CSX tracks. This train bumps, and sways and rolls. So please be careful walking around.

When we go back our beds where made by the attendant Justin. (a very nice guy who has been working the auto train for years). I borrowed this photo from the internet sorry it is so small)as was the room now...lol

My daughter crawled into the bottom bunk and was asleep in less than a minute. I turned down the lights and piped in satellite radio music and crawled in with her. The bottom bunk is wider than the upper. It was fun watching -G- get himself up in that bunk...

We slept good until about 6 when the light started coming thru the shades. It was still pretty quiet on the train. We all got moving by 7. -G- went to the dining car for breakfast while we straightened up. Justin came by and put our beds back to benches. -G- brought us a few muffins and my DD favorite fruit. We did not try out the shower part of the bathroom. We would wait until Disney for that. We ate, played with the Dolls and colored for a while. We watched the farms and towns go by. We pulled into Sanford at about 8:50. It was 9:30 by the time everyone got off the train. Sanford is a smaller version then the Lorton station. I was updated in the last 2 yrs and they look alike. Our car was back to us in 15 minutes or so. We piled in an we are off. In about 40 minutes or less we saw this.

Then this.

Then this.

Then the best of all. The Fort sign. Ah... We made it.

[dblr....Rennie 224]

Great pictures seems like you had a very good time so far.

[Momof6....aka Marty 769]

I am really enjoying this TR. Thanks for sharing!

If I lived further north, I would definitely consider doing this. You could take the auto train and rent a camper when you get there.

[AC in A2......Aaron 693]

Youre there!

[Big Kahuna aka John 71]

Wow those menus were not what I expected.

[CCIntrigue...aka Gwen 547]

Wow those menus were not what I expected.

Me neither. They looked a lot better. Was the cost of the food included in your ticket?

[mommy rainbo.....Bo 41]

Me neither. They looked a lot better. Was the cost of the food included in your ticket?

Yes, the meal is part of your ticket, dinner up and back was very good, steaks cooked to order, free wine with dinner, white or red. That is one of the great things about the auto train. There was a free coffee machine in each train car, ice with popcorn style bucket, fruit in the lounge car with a movie playing on the TV's(ours was the remake of sabrina, I think?)

[Beckers 1,136]

I will say the crew on the auto train are great(even before we were outed as employees). They pretty much stay on the same shift, more like a family, per our conversations with the crew. Very different from the regular Amtrak trains.

I have heard the Amtrak puts their best employees on the auto train.