A 'Roomette with a View'! My Overnight Sleeper Trip on Amtrak's Silver Star!

[Music] thank you [Music] guys and Raleigh Union Station waiting for my train the Amtrak SilverStar which is going to take me all the way down to Tampa Florida tonight um getting in around about 12 o'clock tomorrow that's cool it's quite nice for all these actually this the station's quite impressive I wasn't expecting much uh but there's yeah a really nice um waiting room um a very friendly guy on the tickets and baggage checking Canada apparently he's going to drive me to the train in a while um so I guess I don't know I assumed it would just be around here somewhere but maybe not we'll see what happens with that but uh yeah this is real travel isn't it I've flown up here today from Austin Texas and then I've caught two buses I walked for the rest of the way a few blocks down down to the Union Station I'm pretty tired but uh yeah it's going to be a good a good evening uh like I said about 40 minutes or so until the train arrives I've got a nice little roommate tonight so um we'll see what that's like shall we and um yeah I'll catch you on the train in a bit yeah so the current Valley Union Station it turns out only opened in 2018 and it had been relocated from the smaller Cabarrus Street Station about two blocks away which itself replaced the original Seaboard station back in 1986. and the main hall here is an old steel Warehouse apparently you can see they've still got some of the old fittings in the roof and around about it really is an excellent space you've got lots of seating a working Wi-Fi toilets Refreshments the usual thing and on the ticket office baggage claim here at the far end next to the access to the platforms which is on the left as I said I checked in with the guy behind the counter who told me to wait in the immediate area and shortly after that another member of Staff approached and they took my name and explained the boarding procedure so importantly if you've never been here before there are plenty of friendly staff around who will help you out yes I'll show you in room four of the 11 car yeah my first time on this so okay I'm not quite sure and you hear about departure time they'll make an announcement when they're ready to board when you go out the sleepers are all the way to end so there's like an overhang okay just walk to the end of the overhang and you should be in a good spot what okay yes I'll do my best thank you very much you're welcome to the black bench inside there and state I'll be right there thank you very much the train information display here shows you that our train uh during a 9 10 in the PM was on time and with the only other train of the night that appeared a month so due in about an hour later and we proceeded through the doors where to my surprise a golf buggy was waiting to take me and a couple of other passengers down to the platform yeah kinda yeah thank you very much yeah brilliant [Music] Murray Bueno yes put it on it's a bit of a nice Spanish yes I was eager to find out about the building and the history of it all so I had a quick chat with the guy about that as we made our way down that old um field building we've just been in is that like the old freight terminal something like that station building oh it was a steel uh Warehouse all right yeah we we rebuilt the [Music] yeah because I wasn't expecting anything like that gonna admit it's still new and still new the last week it's really impressive yeah they even have a computer that mixes stay right here okay watch out oh okay [Music] it must be quite a long train this then yeah it was a lot longer after code they combined the silver meteor and the star all right YouTube videos you can go back and look at they call it a super train it wouldn't film the platform we had to do two stops really yeah this is designed to hold one Silver Star set uh so you'll be down here okay the baggage car will be almost on the end brilliant yeah I'm sure I can just take this in the room yeah yeah um traveling light to the moment I'm going to park you right here and then I'm going to get there so you're bored anywhere from right here to right over there okay someone I'll just come and show me there'll be funny people and I'll be back too now look at your ticket is it say 91 10 or 91-11 I think it's 91 11. it's okay [Music] yeah both of us okay so the very last car is the baggage car well it's okay okay the car so it's coming in this Direction coming towards you right so it'll go by actually I see the lights on the uh it's coming right now so when it stops the baggage cars on the back yeah and you're the very next car okay yeah here so I think stand but uh oh what's on the bench it's wet and I'll be back in a minute I think it's it you're very welcome thank you it's usually on this side it's the only train coming but okay thank you very much already well I'll tell you what absolutely fantastic series from the Amtrak staff there drove us all the way down to the platform in the golf buggy and told me well he's put he's parked me exactly where I'm supposed to be getting on pretty much and I can hear the train you can probably hear it too in the background there so let's take a few shots of this as it comes in foreign Silver Star ladies and gentlemen here it comes pretty much yeah it's bangle time ten past nine in the evening [Music] quite busy as well in the um coach class oh this is what you want [Music] [Music] all right foreign you're in room number four it's all ready for you right here to the left straight down the hall okay excellent thank you very much cheers thank you Martin cheers thank you alrighty but then guys in the roommate we met number four of uh the new style of vumex apparently and that's what Martin the cabin attendant just told me a little bit more room in these and yeah I'll be showing you around the the room at in the morning when it's light obviously it's um it's dark but we left on time pretty much and um yeah we're just um going through the outskirts of Raleigh now heading down towards Florida and we'll be getting there sometime in the early morning I've been informed that the daily car is closed but that's fine I was expecting that the bar was still open so it's about three cars down I'm gonna head down there for a beer and and then when I get back um I'm going to give Marty the shades and he'll make the better for me so yeah all good and um yeah I'm really looking forward to the rest of the trip I'll catch you in a bit so I walked down to the cafe bar and well I decided to have a whiskey in the end Woodford Reserve bourbon at 8.50 and I'll pop a link to the onboard menus in the description to this video if you want to have a look in the selection and prices at the time let's record it I don't know any rain too long in there to be honest it was all a bit bright really um yeah in actual fact I think I'd have been better off taking it back to the room at uh but there you go and unsurprisingly before I turned in for the night I thought I'd better use the toilet at the end of the car and it was pretty good really you could tell it was kept very clean by the attendant on duty our toilet seat covers as well now there's a thing push button Taps operating the hot and cold water liquid soap and power sockets here plenty of extra stuff up here in the corner if anything runs out a well illuminated mirror and a little bit of a little Trash Can I should say as you would expect um everything functioned well and was available apart from cups in the cup dispenser but I'm not really sure what they'd be used for anyway all in all yeah pretty good bathroom area okay guys well it's just gone 10 o'clock in the evening and uh yeah I just wanted to show you before I actually go to sleep tonight and the bed elements and it's made up position um which yeah there's a nice little fleece bag there that um is provided and I think overall it looks pretty comfortable the pillows are super soft so I'm hoping that um I'll kill a few hours sleep tonight I'll tell you what I need it I'm pretty tired uh so yeah I'll let you know about that um when I wake up in the morning uh but yeah it should be all right um it's comfortable enough I'm really pleased with it so far so uh yeah I'm gonna get some shots out and I'll catch you in the morning well good morning from Jacksonville Florida and we've just arrived here pretty much on time and I've woken up so we're gonna I'm not sure how much sleep I got I think I got a decent amount on and off as per usual with me and the um the room at the bed I thought was pretty comfortable actually and temperature wise just right for me anyway it's um obviously about 7 15 in the morning so I'm not quite sure um what the best thing is to do now whether to just grab a coffee and go get a shower it was a shower and down at the end of the um of the car so we'll go and have a look at that in a bit um and yeah maybe you have to get some breakfast in the dining car which is a couple of cars along um towards the front of the train yes so yeah um plenty of time for all that got another floods five and a half hours to run something like that until we get to Tampa so yeah plenty of time to have a look around and enjoy the ride so um I'll see you in a bit [Music] thank you [Music] [Music] foreign [Music] for the dining car and get some breakfast courtesy of chef Mike who is in charge of Amtrak's flexible dining menu I opted for the three egg omelet which came with chicken sausage sun-dried tomatoes mozzarella potatoes and a coffee I'd already had a coffee in my room you may have seen there's a flask in the coach near the vestibule and yeah you can just help yourself to that I mean yeah breakfast was okay really I mean it was filling enough and the dining car itself well I thought it was quite nice and much better than the cafe bar and of course all the meals are free for Sleeper Car and remap passengers now if you're traveling in coach you can still access a darling car it's just you've got to pay for everything so after breakfast I wandered back to my room at past some of the sleeping compartments along the way now I think the first car here was 9110 with the older style design and I didn't get the chance to look inside one of the compartments but you will notice the difference in a minute I like this sign here by the way for anyone who's looking for the dining car and ended up going the wrong way another Superstar itself started way back in 1947 and runs from New York all the way down to Miami 1522 miles and 31 and a half hours later and it's typically made up of three amp Fleet to two coaches uh the cafe bar car a view liner 2 dining car and two viewliner sleeping cars and a baggage car right at the rear now the consist is pulled by an electric ACS 64 locomotive on the New York to Washington section and then to p42 DC locomotives all the way down to Miami is much newer and nicer than the other one I did pass an open sleeping compartment here yeah they are very smart aren't they they're a bit more expensive than the roomet but much better if there's two of you and of course then you can share the costs can you and I'll come on to how much I paid for this trip in a short while but first of all let's get back to the roommate and we'll have a look around that shall we right then guys in the room mess and it has been made up into its seating configuration a little bit tight for two people I reckon this but ideal for one person so I'm going to show you a little bits around that we met I'm not going to go into massive detail because there's quite a lot to see but uh yeah obviously for two people you have the top bunk which is up there and that just drops down with that handle it comes all the way down that track in there and the bottom bunk is it's normally in these two seats and live flat so what have we got various switches here which control leading lights and room lights call Button there for the attendant and the PA speaker I could hear the PA fight so I'm assuming that's on there's a few other bands there for things like ceiling lights and the thermostat I thought the temperature was pretty good last night so just about right above us here page a couple of Coatings and there's storage there for the top hunger person curtains all the way around for privacy which is great here is the sink which is pretty neat actually just and drops down like that we've got hot and cold running water the hot wasn't working last night so I couldn't get any hot from it anyway so I don't know whether that's been resolved but that's is not an ideal situation is it mirror there we've got towels flannels and soap similar kind of light situation on the opposite side here some shelving which doubles up as a step to get up until the top bunk that has storage for the bottom monkey is just underneath there yeah you can see various levers I actually got the um attempted to make the bed for me last night I did offer to do it that buddy said that's it it's probably better if he has a go himself because Anything could happen if I try fiddling around with stuff like that similarly the table which I've just actually got out for the first time and I've managed to do it pretty well I think quite pleased with myself for that it falls out and quite a sizeable table [Music] if you're having breakfast or dinner in the roomette then it's fine isn't it I chose to take breakfast into the dining car this morning so I could show you that but yeah just drops time out of the way and like so cup holders Etc yeah I think it's it's fine uh this is one of the new Style remix by the way and uh there's a little bit more room in it apparently and I think for one person then yeah absolutely fine spacious enough for two it's going to be a bit cramped isn't it but you know if you're traveling this kind of distance and you're on a bit of a budget and you do actually want to get some sleep this is the one for you isn't it because the Sleep the actual sleeper cabinets are a lot more expensive anyway we're about three three and a quarter hours out of tamponade so yeah I'm just going to enjoy a little bit more of the scenery and I'll catch you in a little while [Music] [Applause] [Music] foreign [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] right so after pulling away from Lakeland station I thought it was best to go and have a shower I wasn't really sure what to expect to be honest but here I was looking in the used towel bin not sure why um but pleasingly there were fresh towels here to the right of a really large mirror another trash can here opposite which is the shower cubicle itself behind this frosted glass door oh and inside you have a little corner seat and a decent sized shower hose and nozzle attachment I won't show you the Gory details all I would say um is the water was reasonably hot and I was able to have a much needed and comfortable shower so we weren't far away at all now and because of our time of arrival and I wasn't expecting any lunch but attendant Martin offered to bring me some to the room and yeah so I went for the chicken ala Rosa which was like some pasta dish with a bit of salad and lots of plastic everywhere I had a code to go with it too they're very useful but really because it's saved me having to go and hunt for lunch when I got into Tampa anyway we were slowly pulling into what was my final destination by now so I packed up my stuff and headed towards the door hopefully for the better for you yeah yeah I'm gonna hear a few days that's all yeah I just gotta go back to the cold and rain in the UK then oh wow yes sir flying visit thank you very much I tipped Martin the attendance as you should do by the way and headed up the platform to have a look at the locomotives and the rest of the train as it pulled away [Music] [Music] thank you now in terms of pricing this trip cost me 322 dollars which I believe is quite cheap for the us but when I compare it to other sleeper trains I've been on in the UK and Europe it is pretty expensive let me know what you think in the comments below and would you pay over 300 for what was a 16-hour train journey or would you rather Fly for a fraction of the price okay well it was a lovely day here in taupo and as I watched the Silver Star depart on its way down to Miami I took a minute or two just to sum up the journey before heading into the lovely station building and Beyond well guys 16 hours from Valley North Carolina down to Tampa Florida what do you think of that I thought it's um yeah not a bad trip really uh let me know what you thought of the roomet and um let me know what you thought about the food and one was reasonably okay the other one was well left a lot to be designed to be honest didn't it but you know that's Amtrak for you uh at the moment certainly on the Eastern side of the country anyway uh I'm heading off now to find my Airbnb uh or rather I'm going to type the address into Uber and let them do the rest thank you very much for watching as always it's lovely warm here I'm going to catch some sun as well I shall see you on another adventure soon and as always guys so cheers for now [Music] foreign

Channel: Let’s Make a Trip!

Views: 23,691

Keywords: amtrak silver star, amtrak, amtrak silver service, amtrak roomette, amtrak roomette vs bedroom, amtrak roomette tour, amtrak trains, silver star roomette, amtrak sleeper train, amtrak sleeper car tour, amtrak sleeper roomette, tampa, raleigh union station, amtrak raleigh to florida, amtrak raleigh union station, raleigh to tampa, silver star, amtrak viewliner ii, amtrak viewliner roomette, amtrak viewliner, us sleeper train, sleeper train

Id: RcvZyOYL8rI

Length: 25min 44sec (1544 seconds)

Published: Fri Apr 28 2023