Amtrak Auto Train: A brutally honest look at my ride from VA to FL

I'm driving down highway 286 in Virginia towards the Amtrak station in Lorton Virginia I'm going to take the Auto Train from Virginia down to Florida and I'm going to take this car on the train as far as I know this is the only train in America where you can take your car so we're gonna see how this works how do I get the car on the train and what is the private compartment like the auto train runs once a day 855 miles in both directions between Lorton Virginia near Washington DC and Sanford Florida near Orlando it's an overnight train that makes no stops Auto Train is Amtrak's most profitable service mine was scheduled to leave at 5 pm and arrive at 10 A.M 17 hours later dinner and breakfast are available on board you can choose between coach seats or various classes of private rooms Amtrak did not make this trip easy the first indication that things weren't running smoothly was when the turn lane to get into the Amtrak station was blocked by a police car and ahead I saw why the train leaves at 5 PM supposed to have your car on it until it checked in it's left by three there is a huge line of cars way out of the Amtrak station way down the highway it's probably half a mile or more of just line of cars so I gotta go way down this highway find the end of it make a U-turn and wait in line I guess okay found the end of the line I hope this is the right line I think it is it wasn't clear at all if this was the Amtrak line a couple temporary signs would have helped greatly Arc that Eerie silence you hear is the sound of me having turned off the car because we're still just sitting around waiting and waiting and waiting also It's 301 p.m so we're not going to be checked in by three o'clock it's 3 48. um we have started to move a little bit there's been a little progress every now and then we'll move up a few car links as usual someone decided they didn't deserve to wait in the sign and tried to cut I'm glad to say that none of us let this person in slow train right right after all that I've had people wait for 95. oh really oh yeah yeah that's what I was worried about it's just some sporting event around here I don't know about or something people it's either the Britney Spears concert or um run Fest one of the two what's up I'm stuck in traffic all right well that's progress we've turned off the road into the actual entrance to the Amtrak Auto Train we continue to slowly make progress we are right next to the platform and I can see where we're going sort of I just want to make a video now because it's 501 pm and the train was supposed to leave one minute ago so just wanted to Mark the occasion by now desperate bathroom refugees were abandoning their cars and running ahead if Amtrak couldn't even send someone out to put up a sign for the cars on the road they sure weren't going to design a sensible and Humane parking system for when they're running late Larson 159 is your number all the way to the left lane five driver side window down leave the keys in it turn the vehicle off grab the things you'll need for the evening go inside and check in okay next time you see the contents of the vehicle being in Florida so make sure you grab what you need this is it they're not really ready to leave yet because all of these cars apparently presumably have to be loaded oh here are all the people look at this [Applause] uh dinner will be the third meal service on the train no matter what time it is you're supposed to be the only time we have left all right getting closer it's 5 35 they say they're gonna start boarding at six I see my car still sitting over here where I parked it uh it's not moved I hope they remember the car would be something to get to Florida and my car is still here you've heard of lost luggage it was just before six when an Amtrak driver got in my car and drove it onto one of the mini Auto Train railroad cars the Auto Train cars still weren't even attached to the main train yet all right I just happened to be walking by when they were putting my car on that's it right there my car is on the train now as long as they connect that train car to this big train that I'll be on I'll meet my car in Florida our room was a bedroom and a Sleeper Car passengers were confused about the car numbers and it took a while for us all to find our assigned rooms the whole boarding process already late was kind of chaotic all right we're boarding now we are going to be boarding soon and find our room hello okay good thank you I think I've dropped my room number that's the lady all right okay so this is the bedroom on the Auto Train my first time in one so let's look around and see what we have this converts somehow somehow we have a little closet here not bad we got a curtain for the door for at night we've got our own sink hot and cold water if they both work now we have a lot of towels here and the reason is this right here the toilet paper has a plastic guard on it because there's a shower private shower you get everything wet in here it's pretty uh snug let's see what else do we have here we have curtains each place to set has a power adapter and a little heat thing and a light this is the extra seat so two people can sit here see one two there's one seat here and there's actually quite a bit of room here as you see it's pretty comfortable I wouldn't recommend putting your shoes on the furniture but you know it is America why not three bottles of water this is kind of a table pull that out and there you go nice place to put your computer she just announced that there's Wi-Fi on this train if it works I'll be impressed it may actually work coat hooks and I believe another coat hook for use in the bathroom under the sink here we got cabinets with more supplies more toilet paper we have your own private trash can and more towels and you got little cups I don't know how many cups but little cups to actually drink this water I don't know maybe they're going to be serving dinner soon I'm really looking forward to that I don't know how that works we paid through the news for this room this this room is over a thousand dollars because it's two people it's this it's the nicest bedroom I think that Amtrak has and we had a car that was extra feet I just wanted to see what it was like to kind of max out the Amtrak Auto Train experience um so I decided to go in debt just to see what it was like so I hope you enjoyed this because it cost me lightly privacy still waiting to depart and I was just thinking um it's already it's gonna be at least two hours late that we're leaving that may have implications for the arrival time beyond the two hours because Amtrak uses Freight Lines I assume that's true of Auto Train and if Amtrak's really late the freight lines have precedent so if we're cutting into some kind of freight train schedule then we're gonna have to wait for them to do what they do that's when things can get out of hand on Amtrak I hope that's not the case because it's supposed to be a 16 hour or so little over 16 hour train ride if they just give us meals I'll be okay um Auto cars to the train and then gives us a signal to go then we'll be good to go any questions uh where do we eat dinner it'll be in the dining car so once you leave out here just make a left and it's just three four cars down okay okay been sitting here idling for about half an hour now since boarding the Train's not on yet I don't hear any sounds and I can see out the window they're still pulling cars onto the Auto Train cars so the train's coming in this morning was late so that delays us our scheduled time of arrival is supposed to be 10 a.m tomorrow morning that is out of the window at give you an estimated time for tomorrow morning but I will keep you updated in its entirety the Auto Train averages nearly three-fourths of a mile in length and is the longest passenger train in the U.S we are carrying a total of 535 passengers on board we have 252 in the coaches we have 259 in the sleepers I'm actually telling you we have two conductors two engineers 20 onboard service personnel and myself and 25 sacks a male we're moving if you're holding tickets one and our main tickets only one please come to the sleeper Diner at this time you will be sitting with other people it's slow going but we may be on our way right outside the window I see I-95 all those poor suckers out there having to drive themselves wow our car is being towed for us here on this train and it's just pure luxury and when I say luxury I mean I am track luxury but I like it so uh where's that dinner I'm gonna try the bathroom so the light for the bathroom oddly is over here okay here's what it's like being inside this bathroom not a lot of room my arm is uh completely straight but my back's on this wall I can touch the other wall with my knuckles anyway this is it so you got the towels up there for the shower that'll be later whoa whoa and toilet while I was standing here being some water dripped out of here onto my shoe so be careful when you're in here give the nozzle a wine birth foreign thank you to everybody who's supporting this channel on patreon if you would like to support independent travel content like this please go to patreon.com t1d wonder choose a tier and join the adventure and now back to the video well it's 9 00 p.m I am very hungry our meal tickets are for group three they've called group one about an hour and a half ago they have not called group two yet now I could go to the cafe car and get some food but have to pay for it and I've already paid for my meals I'm kind of waiting it out you know the ride is very nice the train is comfortable it's quiet it's very dark outside so it's kind of soothing but I have nothing to entertain me because there's Wi-Fi on board but it doesn't work and I don't have a cell phone service in America because my phone is Japanese so um not much to do just enjoy the darkness okay I just called the attendant and she came and asked her about dinner because it's been about two hours since they called group one and there's been no announcement for group two or my group group three anyway she came and she said it was going to be probably around 11 o'clock I got the Supercar guests only this is going to be the first call for our second dinner City on tonight's Auto Train if you're holding tickets too and I mean only two please come to the sleeper Diner at this time by the time they called group three it was after 11 30. I tried to roll with the punches when traveling but even my patients had run out I was no longer in the mood to eat I just had to biologically the lights in the dining car for some reason were dimmed very low like a dungeon but the place is worse two two okay first time oh do you like it not so far okay the choice for this Meal which is included in the room price was between steak chicken salmon and rigatoni I got the salmon they'd run out of beer but had wine you get one free alcoholic drink with dinner but under the circumstances they let us finish the whole last bottle without charging us okay we actually got our food started eating about midnight it's not ideal for a diabetic it's not ideal for anybody we sat with another couple of people who were also upset when they first arrived anyway after eating we all felt a little better and we were talking and laughing and everything was okay so excellent the Food Service F minus I mean the people there in the dining car were nice but just the Amtrak system of taking six or seven hours to feed whatever 150 people or 100 people would really really stupid um but I'm not here to complain I'm here to talk about my trip on uh Auto Train whatever this train is called it's probably past one o'clock now and I'm a little tired but we still have to put the beds down and I'm gonna try the shower I'm actually gonna try the shower and despite the late time by the way we're also in North Carolina somewhere I don't know where there's a latch over here this latch controls that you're a ladder all the bed sheets and another pillow and a little pouch for your cell phone and stuff and a belt to keep you from falling out with those on the top bad huh now it's like 1 30 something like that 1 30 A.M one more thing to do try the shower okay two things the water is very hot very very nice two there's a sign in here that says you may find showering easier while sitting which is a nice thought and I didn't see it until after I was already finished so I was like oh that would have been easier third thing bonus thing showering in this small space not so bad drying off with the towel that's the challenge but for a train shower very very good all's well that ends well I think this is going to be a good night's sleep I love the sound and the feel of a train when I'm sleeping good night see you tomorrow for breakfast good morning ladies and gentlemen at this time it is now 7am and we are gonna make our first call for breakfast service for all passengers on board you are traveling and the coach portion of the train your breakfast will be in the Cross Country Cafe car and if you are traveling in the sleeper portion of the train your breakfast will be in the sleeper Lounge for grab and go or you may come to the sleeper diner for sit down service as a friendly reminder if you do come into the diner it is first come first served at this time we are just a little north of Savannah we are still in South Carolina we made an announcement this morning that we're going to arrive in Sanford Florida about 1pm and just after that we stopped for about half an hour we're moving again slowly through the swamp I kind of think it's going to be around two by the time we actually get the car and get on the road it's probably going to be two or three um so that's where things stand now not too bad considering that we left late well fed endless coffee if you want it my second cup of coffee here and it's real nice now sitting here watching the sunny swamp drift by this is kind of the good part this is the fun part after everything's relaxed and calm and everybody's fed and it's sunny and there's nothing really to do but look out the window the Wi-Fi by the way does work on board but only in the dining car or maybe the lounge car too haven't been to the lounge car yet but it works in the dining car and as soon as you walk through the door of the dining car out it stops working okay at 11 o'clock this morning they're going to close the cafe car and the sleeper Lounge so let's go check them out before they close see what they're like all right good morning excuse me Excuse me yes sir also noticed something else on this train you can press this open the door but you can kicks it's kind of have a question so kicking your way through the train Google Maps can of Coke for 250. although he had no change so it was three dollars we found the dispatch to let us go so we have to go slow we are almost through all of that we are gonna be a little bit later as soon as we get moving full speed I'll get back on here and update you with a better estimate time of arrival for completion area well it's nearly one o'clock we just left Jacksonville kind of settling into a Groovy Kind of pace here watching the scenery go by but I'm hungry so it's lunch time everything's closed on the train it posted you have arrived you know nine o'clock this morning and they just decided to close everything at 11 but I got these from The Breakfast I got these from the breakfast bar today or the breakfast it's a golden crumb cake 64 grams of carbs or something and a banana I got my free water so that's lunch today sweet cake not bad black is normally an indication that we're about an hour and a half out that should put us around a three o'clock to 3 15 arrival we do have to stop one more time a little bit later down the road for a recruit because our conductors and Engineers run out of time here's only a couple of minutes and then we will be heading into the station we are literally right outside of it okay it's about 4 17 p.m we have just arrived in Sanford Florida we're going to be getting off the train soon they tell us it can be between 20 minutes and an hour and a half to actually get the car back next part of this journey although we're already about seven hours late the next part is actually getting the car what an experience thank you okay final thoughts on the Auto Train now that I'm here at Sanford in Florida waiting for the cars waiting for my number to be called my number is 159. um overall I enjoy the Auto Train uh it was a fun ride it was a nice room it was kind of a dingy dirty room but not dirty but you know very worn seat covers nothing very warm but uh bed itself and the uh and the sleep it was very nice The Strain was the train was pretty steady going through we left three hours late we arrived seven hours late cars are exploding inside of everything um but overall is great the only big problem was the dinner service was uh completely not thought of it's a big problem that apparently nobody's interested in fixing so it had its problems but it was the quintessential Amtrak experience wish me luck in getting my car within you know a reasonable amount of time two three UFC okay about 5 15. thanks Auto Train when the lady took the 159 magnet off my car it was almost exactly 24 hours after the guy had put it on yesterday in Virginia so seven and a half hours after the scheduled arrival time I was finally absorbed into the endless evening rush hour traffic jams of Orlando having had For Better or Worse a quintessential Amtrak Auto Train experience I'm glad to have done it the trip is unique and even with the delays I could have stayed aboard even longer listening to the rails and watching the gothic scenery drift by especially if they'd figure out their food situation like making sure a cafe car was always open there was only one thing left for today find some real southern food for dinner I don't know where to eat Waffle House or Waffle House I know

Channel: T1D Wanderer

Views: 572,279

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Id: C16UYeOj62E

Length: 23min 59sec (1439 seconds)

Published: Sun May 07 2023