This is so much more baller than a private jet
“I am rich but I don’t need to rush around the country to keep being rich”
I’m gonna take my time and enjoy the ride. If you need me, come meet me on my train. I’m pulling into Kansas City tomorrow. See you there. Meanwhile I’m gonna have a cocktail and play some video games.
If I had to choose one, it would be the private rail car for sure.
For like 30 seconds I was thinking ‘car’ meant automobile and I was picturing like someone’s SUV hitched to the back of a train.
I should get some coffee.
Am I the only person without a personal train car? Am I surrounded by people in top hats and just don’t know?
I started a conversation the other day with some friends about if I ever ran for President and needed to travel the country, what impact would there be if I decided to go super old-school and get a Presidential train car.
Side conversation; Airforce 1 is the Airliner the Pres flies on. Marine 1 is the helicoper. What would be the train designation?
Choochoo McTrainFace 1
I read that in Ringo Star’s voice.
US-CAR 1 or uscar 1. We’ve had several before so it’s not particularly an abstract.
They’re all named after great explorers, Marco Polo, Ferdinand Magellan etc.
So theoretically if we got a new president who was into using trains to get around we could have a high speed uscar1 named Neil Armstrong or Yuri Gagarin? Though I assume astronauts wouldn’t be considered explorers and would be reserved for spacecraft the president is on
Correct though it’s unlikely any president will travel by train again given the best security is people simply not knowing where you are going or when. Being trapped in one direction is a big no no.
You KNOW that they’d have a fleet of helicopters, AWACS, fighter jets and vehicle escorts just hanging around the side of the running train.
imagine getting to be late for school because your bus got stuck at a Presidential Train Crossing, and being able to see the copters and jets fly over.
Was it McCain who said that he’d campaign in every state but was said to have regretted it because the time to travel to Hawaii, Alaska and a few other states (Idaho etc) were kid of a waste?
It would be a statement, that’s for sure.
Major problem is that Amtrak has the lowest priority on our rail network. Getting to a campaign rail-stop on time would be almost impossible without greasing some palms. So you’d have to hook up with a cargo rail line or something like that.
Edit: Now, if you had “improve rail transportation” as a major platform plank, showing up late would be a feature, not a bug.
Legally, passenger rail gets the highest priority.
However, the punishment for violating this is a fine which hasn’t been updated in decades. The rail companies realized a long time ago that it’s better to just take the fine instead of actually following the law.
Land Sealion.
I mean Trainforce1 is right there, but Landforce1 sounds good too
Locomotive 1
Amtrak 1?
Awful for security. Your whereabouts would be known at all times, and the USSS can’t protect every mile of track.
They stopped wearing the identifying top hats. Anybody might be secretly wealthy now.
But how much is it?
- Short hop (300 miles, 1 car): Mileage = 300×$4.72 = $1,416, but you’ll pay the $2,296 minimum (plus any parking/switching).
- Regional trip (500 miles, 1 car): 500×$4.72 = $2,360 (above the minimum). With one night of standard parking, ~$2,583 before any special switching.
- Overnight long-distance (1,000 miles): ~$4,720 for one car. Two cars on the same request price ~$8,340 (first car $4,720 + second car $3,620) before parking/switching.
Good god!
Guess I’ll keep flying for the time being.
What advantages does this train have over, say, a motor car – which I could also afford?
You don’t have to drive the train
But what if I want to?
25% discount
You are basically in a moving apartment, with bed, shower, bathroom, fridge, ability to cook…
It’s out of my price range, but I certainly could see the appeal.
The car will be way faster and more open ended in terms of where you start and finish, so it’s far more practical if you just want to get to where you are going.
well, you’ll notice how the private shower provides ample hot water, while … … gently massages your buttocks. well, count jerkface, shall we discuss the …
This one of those hobbies that sounds so cool but so impractical to get into. Like it makes getting a boat sound like a cheap and easy hobby.
Probably not too impractical owing to the fact that you probably aren’t allowed to do jack shit yourself. It’s not like you can tow it from the depot to the station with your f150. Much easier than owning a boat :) presumably just as pricey though and with even less utility
Ok. Mr Burns
So is it possible to have a tiny home on rails?!?!?
How much does a rail car cost, and what is maintenance, inspection, etc like? This is still something of the very wealthy.
Yet slower, and far less convenient than air travel. Sight-seeing aside, I honestly don’t know who this is for.
Maybe there’s a train-enthusiast club out there that has a small fleet of rail-ready cars?
My guess is that this is a holdover from when rich people did have train cars (and sometimes even full trains!).
I would bet there are still a couple of rich people living out their train fantasies.
Slow, sight seeing and not flying is exactly the point.
I would literally rather eat a bug than fly anywhere, unless i absolutely have to.
Because they love the experience. Trains are really a lot of fun.
I would gladly take the train over flying. You have more leg room, there is a dinning car, and way less security theater to deal with.
I’mma be taking so many trains when Rail Baltica gets built
Wait that sounds a bit wrong
Anyway yeah, for short to medium distances, rail is awesome. I haven’t tried super long distance rail yet. I’ve flown twice in my life and it was nice, but the first time was a short flight (3 hours) and the second time I had someone abuse their platinum status to get me one of dem nice emergency exit seats where there’s no limit to your legroom. I imagine if you’re going on like a 2 or 3 week vacation, taking a train or several there and back would be super nice, but if you’re spending a week on another continent because of time constraints, a plane sounds better.
Once shit gets built though, I can take a local train to Tallinn, then take the new slightly faster train to Poland, then from there to Germany. The most ridiculous thing about this is the fact that this train route is going to be a HUGE thing for car enthusiasts, because the biggest used car market in Europe is Germany, and right now you have to fly to Germany to go buy a car if you can’t find what you want closer (also German prices are better). So it’s gonna be a great train route for car enthusiasts (among all the other people of course).
can you ship your purchased cars home by rail easily?
No? You drive back the 2000 km obviously. Part of it is the Autobahn!
You can also skip half the distance with a ferry, but it won’t be saving much time.
bummer. I’m a sucker for cars on trains :D
Definitely a case of the journey being more important than the destination.
Yet slower, and far less convenient than air travel.
you should be aware there is a non-insignificant population that despise air travel. whether it’s personal issues (fear, stomach problems etc.,) or they really hate the TSA…
From some searching, they’re also available for charter. Still not something for a person of average means to do on their own, but maybe a group of upper-middle class people. Some Amtrak routes go through some incredibly scenic areas. The one that comes to mind in my neck of the woods is the Empire Builder. It would be a luxury experience for sure.
I have another thread in here talking about cost, but just the mileage fees for a trip on a car you own can be a significant percentage of the cost of chartering a plane. If you rent the car it can cost significantly more.
Owning a private rail car is a bit like owning a superyacht; it’s not a particularly fast or practical form of travel but it can be luxurious and fun so people with money do it anyways.
The German state railway company sells their used trains here: https://www.db-gebrauchtzug.de/
i hope america, and by extension, amtrak is still around when i retire, because this is cool as hell.
after the civil war of 2028 the railways were damaged beyond repair to destroy supply routes to the Federalists in DC. making it impossible for trains to travel more than 10 miles, if you were even lucky enough to find a working engine.
don’t worry though, there are plenty of trains in Europe, but in order to get on one of those you’d have to be a pow, and you likely won’t survive the destination.
If we have a civil war that destroys the railroads only the worst outcome would avoid massive improvements to rail infrastructure. It’s still absolutely crucial to pur indistrial capacity. A fascist victory would have low speed rail redesigned for precision scheduling. A progressive victory would get high speed rail between major population centers, expansion of intraregional rail, and reconstruction of the industrial rail network. Balkanization would wind up with progressive areas considering high speed rail to be vital.
Like if the west coast ditches, we’ll probably continue towards the San Diego - Seattle line because when all your major population centers are in a row and reasonably spaced it becomes obvious to do it.
But yeah currently American rail is more functional than the governmental and political landscape.
Yeah iirc thats an old holdover from when that was how rich people got around
Well, shit. Now I want to be rich
Do it!
with hookers and blackjack?
as many as your car can carry.
You can fit so nanny blackjacks in this "slaps side of car*
Who wouldn’t want to take a private cartage? Id get one for baboo too.
The thing I haven’t read in this thread: how do you get your personal trail car to the station, and how do you move it about on your destination?
It sounds cool but very inflexible.
You pay for someone (another rail company operating at that railyard) to move it for you into storage, where you pay the storage costs. If you need that railcar somewhere else, you pay someone to transport it somewhere else, same as how cargo rail would work.
should be called Amtrak Barnacles
