Customer Reviews

All Aboard! Revised 2nd Edition: The Complete North American Train Travel Guide

5 star:		(15)
4 star:		(6)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

I've taken a few U.S. East Coast train trips, some overnights with sleeping accomidations, and I thought I knew the system pretty well. I learned so much more after reading this book and I wish I had read it before my first train trip. There are so many little tips that can make your travel better. From the book I learned a lot about the operations behind the scenes and this is helpful information for an overall enjoyable train experience. It's a great book. I have not come across any other book like it. Thinking about a train trip? Get the book and hit the rails. Already have a trip planned? Get the book and enjoy your trip even more.

My friend and I are planning a trip to the USA in 2000 and not being too confident about driving on the "wrong" side of the road, had vaguely thought about doing a train trip, but the one travel agent we consulted was a bit vague about the subject and gave us an Amtrak brochure and sent us on our way. As we aren't yet up to booking (just after Christmas, we'll do that) we were a bit lost. Imagine our delight to come across 'All aboard!' in our local library. I have devoured it from cover to cover and have ordered my own copy to take with us. Being Aussies, a lot of the local customs are foreign to us. It is wonderful to have the on board etiquette spelled out, eg. tipping isn't common in Australia, and I would hate to slip up by not tipping appropriately etc. We are planning our holiday using 'All aboard'as our bible. I give it 5 stars.

This book will take you behind the scene of railroading in North America with emphasize on amtrak in USA. Thanks to Jim Loomis enthusiastic writing style I learned a lot about trains, on-board personnel, operations, logistics, history and rail terms in general. If you are rail freshman like me than you'll appreciate this book just for that alone. Recently I took a trip from Halifax to Vancouver with VIA and now I'm looking forward to take similar route (coast to coast) with Amtrak. The only thing that you'll not find in this book is comprehensive list of places to stay and see that are typical for classic travel guides like the Lonely Planet series. (If you're planing the rail trip in Canada then don't miss the excellent travel guide "Trans-Canada Rail Guide".) Overall this book deserve five stars. Recommended!

This is the latest edition of an earlier book written by an enthusiastic supporter of American rail travel. It includes changes in Amtrak's system within the last five years. If anyone is looking to travel by train for the first time or is a supporter of rail travel themselves, you should get this book. It explains everything from the duties of crewmembers, who to go to with questions while onboard, an excellent history of Amtrak from its formation by Congress in the early 70s and some sample itineraries. Coverage of the Canadian VIA system and Mexico's Copper Canyon is also included. His section on the Copper Canyon route will make you want to go, and he tells you how to do it. If you need help planning your itinerary, this book provides great advice and even lists some travel agencies who specialize in rail travel.

Old rail veterans may consider this book a little trite, and there isn't a whole lot of detail about the trip descriptions in the book. However, the history of rail travel and the technical information about railroads is pretty interesting.

Great book for the rail fan or wannabee rail fan! My favorite escape is planning train trips (even if they don't usually pan out) and I have read every book I have found. Jim's books are extremely readable and have lots of intersting information that I didn't know! It makes you long for the whistles and sway of the train. I did just go on the Copper Canyon and used Jim's comments on that trip; however there were barely 17 pages, which were not enough. If you haven't been - GO. I had a great trip and will give any interested parties all my secrets if you care to drop me an e-mail. But be sure to buy and read Jim's book before you go!

The information is good -- plenty of background material on North American trains, etc. I'd recommend reading it if you're planning a vacation and are interested going by rail (or could be talked into it).

But having read it, I can't help feeling that it would be more useful if it were organized and presented differently. Rather than a thick paperback with about 10 typically-sized chapters, maybe it would be more useful if the chapters were broken down into smaller, better delineated sections, with stronger cross-indexing. Maybe spiral bound. More maps?

If you're planning a vacation in North America, it would be good to get this book and read it during the planning stage. But it wouldn't be very useful to throw into your backpack and take it with you, which is too bad because with a different organization I think it could be.

My wife and I have enjoyed a few overnight (Lake Shore Limited) train trips and, based on this experience, fantazied about a cross-country trip. When it came time to forfill this particular fantasy (now with our son), we found this to be the best source of pratical, how-to, what-side-ot-the-train-to-sit-on advice. the author clearly loves train travel and has a first-hand knowledge of his subject. My 4-star rating is based more on the lack of artistic style than content. In you're planning a trip, this is an eminently useful book.

I hadn't taken an Amtrak crosscountry trip although I've ridden trains in NY area, in Europe, etc. So when we planned a crosscountry train trip, I got this book (there's a second edition published in 1998 too) and it was marvelous. We knew what to expect, this book explained it all. The book is honest and detailed in what it says, and it's easy to read. Plus it's self-contained, meaning you can read only one part and know all you need to about that part without having to go through the whole book. Well worth it for anyone taking an Amtrak trip of 2 hours or 2 days (done both now). Only point to add is that in the sleepers, he recommends against room A since it's a bit smaller, but the other rooms (B, C, D, E) have a door for connecting rooms together for parties of 4 instead of 2, and the door isn't as soundproof as the rest of the wall. So A is a bit smaller but quieter. Also, there is space in the ABCDE sleepers to stow two suitcases under the bed, as long as they aren't too big (9 or 10" x 19" x 23" fit OK) and thus they are out of the way, and I'm not sure he makes that clear--or maybe I was overzealous in figuring out how to get the suitcases out of the way. BTW, on 6 Amtrak trips in the midwest and west, we've never subsequently made up any time, so any delays that happen have stayed with us for the rest of the trip. A good book for a novice train traveller or for one who wonders how some of the stuff happens in the train world. And he's right, the coach seats compare favorably with business class/first class on planes.

Chicago is a big hub. From there, we've taken trains to Seattle, New Orleans, San Antonio, Washington DC. A very useful book to explain what you'll encounter. A train trip is a lot more restful than a plane trip nowadays (yes, I fly a lot too).

I was planning to take a train across the country on a sleeper.It is certainly nice to know what to expect before you embark unless you are a real adventurer. Author provides very detailed information about the life on board of the train, living quarters, conditions. This takes about half of the book. Than he describes each route. I found this part very short, for my purpose was to know what kind of cities or sceneries I would expecte to see or where to get off the train for a day or two. So for that reason I was a littel dissapointed.But the TV shows gives you some information anyway. So this book was more valuable for life in train.

I've found this to be a valuable book. I use it every time I make a train reservation. The information and "insider tips" can help you save money and get better seating and sleeping accommodations.