Anyone taken it? What was your experience? Is there a cost/time/convenience benefit to this service over airline and rental car? Is the load and off-load time of a full train really 2 hours?

It terminates at Sanford Florida, you may want to wait awhile

While I've never taken it, I know some people who have. It does take a while to load all the vehicles which is why they want you there two hours early. I've heard it's best if you're planning a longer trip to Florida - for a weekend trip, you're probably better off flying and renting a car. Here are some other thoughts based on my limited knowledge and information passed along to me:

You can pack whatever you want in your car without having to worry about airline luggage limits or TSA rules or the like. But note that you do not have access to your car during the trip.

They do a good job with the cars. You have to check in no later than 3 PM the day of your trip and they MEAN IT. My friend says they prefer to shoot for 2:00. Certain oversized vans and such must come by 2:00. When you drive up, they have a booth a little like a tollbooth where they take your vehicle ticket and put a magnetic number on the side of the car. The number is like a coat-check ticket—the next morning when the cars roll off the train they announce them by number. You then proceed to the car drop-off point. An Amtrak employee will go all around your car with a video camera and will note any pre-existing damage.

When you check in at the station, you select a dinner seating time. All meals are included whether you're in coach or a sleeper (not like other routes, where meals are only included for sleeping car passengers). In my experience, train food is pretty decent.

There are two classes of service - coach class and sleeper class. Coach seats are pretty nice on the whole—you get more space than you do in the "first class" section on a domestic flight on an airline. Downsides of coach are that you're in the same open space with everyone else and so you are more subject to annoyance from noisy passengers or passengers who snore or fart a lot at night. Also, if someone does not close the curtain near their seat, you'll be awake early. Coach seats do not recline flat for sleeping. Also...a benefit of checking in early is being able to get a seat in the middle of the car, away from the sliding doors at either end. You may also want to bring a power strip, as there are limited numbers of outlets in the car. In sleeper class you get more privacy, which is nice for sleeping but some people feel that meeting other passengers is part of the whole rail experience. You also get a lie-flat bed. I've traveled in a "roomette" on other trains - you get two seats that face each other and then they fold them down into two bunks at night for sleeping. Bathrooms are down the hallway and showers are on the lower level. The larger rooms (family bedrooms I think they're called) have a private toilet. I'm not necessarily sure that's a good thing due to the odor of the chemical toilets used on trains.

The train is scheduled to arrive at its destination at 9:30 the following morning. Remember that you still have to wait for your car to be delivered to you. Cars do not leave the train in the same order they were loaded because the rail sidings in Sanford and Lorton are configured differently. It can take anywhere from 20 minutes to two hours to get your car. So factor that in when planning your schedule.

Make sure to shop around and check out all the different options. There is a AAA discount that gets you 10% off, but it's not always cheaper if there is some other special running. Depending on your age I believe there may be an AARP discount. Also, if you have an American Express card that gets Membership Reward points, you can redeem those for an Amtrak voucher (up to $300) that you can then use towards the cost of the ticket.

Hope this helps.

We've ridden the Auto Train several times. The comment BG posted sounds a lot like someone sent him an edited version of the same post I put on the Washington Nationals Fan Forum a couple of weeks ago because it's pretty close to verbatim what I said there. See this link. I'm glad someone found my comments there useful!

http://www.wnff.net/index.php?topic=24958.msg946499#msg946499


For us the decision to use the train has boiled down to a couple of things:

(a) If we go for a weekend it's not worth it. Takes too much time. Same goes for driving.

(b) For one week it's borderline. Two people flying and renting a car is expensive, but the time factor on either end when you drive or take the train is an issue.

(c) If we go for two weeks the train makes a lot of sense, especially since we have relatives in the Melbourne area (so if we take the train one-way coming home, we can take our time in the morning, drive the approximately one hour to Sanford, and check in for the train in early afternoon). I don't mind the long drive if we just drive the whole way, but the difference between driving and the train is that when I drive I can't do anything else other than listen to music or talk to my wife. On the train I can read a book, walk around, etc., and I can drink wine with dinner without worrying about getting back in the car and driving. Other thing is, even though in raw number of hours the train is a longer time commitment than driving, it's an overnight train. That is, if I leave home at 7 AM, I don't hit traffic, I average 70 to 75 mph, and I make three or four stops for gas/food/toilet, I'll hit Jacksonville around 6 PM (it's about 690 miles to the northern edge of that area). Orlando or Melbourne will be about another 160 to 170 miles depending on which roads you then use, so another 2.5 to 3 hours. That's a long day, or a day and a half if we stop for the night (my wife is unlikely to put up with another 3 hours in the car after 10 to 11 hours already), on which I can do nothing but drive, whereas on the train I have half a day free on each end. So an overnight train ride suddenly looks a lot better, you know?

What we've done the past few times is to take the train one way and drive the other. I can generally get 425 to 450 miles on a tank of gas (93 octane) on the highway, so I'm looking at a fillup around Florence, South Carolina, and then again when I get to my destination if I'm not going further south. Figure three tanks of gas. Let's assume gas is $4.50 a gallon and I put in 15 gallons per fillup. That would be $67.50 a fillup, $202.50 in gas one-way. I just punched up the Auto Train fare for a trip this June in coach class and it quoted me $511.00 with the AAA discount, so if I were to use the Amex points it'd be $211.00. That's pretty comparable to the cost of gas. (As I said in the other comments linked above, we tend to go for the roomette. It usually adds about $100.) To compare that to flying, last time I looked airfare to Orlando was running around $375 to $400 per person. Multiply that by two and add a rental car and you're over a thousand dollars pretty quickly. So the idea of taking the Auto Train or driving suddenly sounds a lot better as long as your trip is for a long enough time to justify it. I never sleep worth a damn on the train, even in the "roomette," but the time savings and money savings make me willing to suck up one night with minimal sleep.


One thing to bear in mind is that you should NOT plan on anything time-sensitive on the day of your arrival on the Auto Train because the trains are notoriously late on weekdays. CSX owns the tracks and so they give their own freight trains priority. There are fewer freight trains operating on weekends or around Christmastime and so at those times the train may be early. We were an hour early arriving into Lorton on the Auto Train the Thursday morning after Christmas earlier this winter. Also, as noted above, you have to wait for your car to come off. In Sanford there is a further slight delay in disembarking the train because the platform is shorter and they have to decouple some of the passenger cars and move them to the other side of the platform.

Some people try to show up at the last minute to check in their car for the trip because they think they'll be the first off. That doesn't work. The sidings in Sanford are a lot shorter than the ones in Lorton and so the car-carriers are all arranged differently.

I have never waited two hours for our car to come off, but it's possible. I have waited an hour.

BTW, the reason they insist that you have your car checked in by 3:00 PM is that they have to assemble the train. The car-carriers are all on different siding tracks with bridges between the cars and they have to close all that up, then tow the car-carriers out to the main track and couple them onto the back of the full train (and, in Sanford, they have to assemble the passenger portion of the consist as well).

It is incredibly noisy so don't count on getting a lot of sleep. There is a fist class sleeper that has its own shower, otherwise you can get the bunks. Coach seating is like the Greyhound bus and everyone brings their own blankets and pillows.

The dining car is nice, with each table having fresh white table cloths. Also, each table has it own window so you can see poor people's back yards. They serve salmon or chicken for dinner.

We used it when my kids were small because we could pack the car full of stuff we couldn't take on an airplane.

"We used it when my kids were small because we could pack the car full of stuff we couldn't take on an airplane"

Same here.
Short version of the above epics:
Do it for long stays. Pack everything you won't need on the train into your vehicle.
Get to the station ON TIME.
Book well in advance for the best $$.
It's a decent ride, but not the Orient Express... or even Acela.

Thought this might help, here's a review section forAmtrak's Auto-Train. Seems to be mostly positive.

http://www.yelp.com/biz/amtrak-autotrain-lorton

BTW, another thought: If you use the Auto Train, bring the "valet key" for your car. When you drop off the car at the station, gather up your carry-on bags, then lock the remote trunk release and the glovebox using your normal key. Take that key with you and leave the valet key in the ignition. The valet key normally can't open the glovebox or the trunk. While I haven't heard of any thefts out of cars by Amtrak personnel, I think providing temptation is foolish.

Also, regarding food: Coach class and sleepers have separate dining cars. The food in sleeper class is somewhat better and the wine is a definite step up. Either is better than I had expected prior to our first trip, however, and neither is comparable to a sit-down restaurant nor to first class on international airlines.

Disclaimer: I haven't taken the Auto Train

I keep looking for an alternative to flying, but we're generally able to get tickets to fly for $200 (must be timing why other prices mentioned are higher). With a week of rental car, the total is $1000 for a family of 4. We have tried, and failed, to find a cheaper deal with the Auto Train. I really want to take it sometime, for the experience, but flying is just too competitive and more flexible on time.

I think if you're going for more than a week, the train probably starts to get more competitive.

Maybe one day.

FUNdamental Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> It is incredibly noisy so don't count on getting a
> lot of sleep. There is a fist class sleeper that
> has its own shower, otherwise you can get the
> bunks.

Ouch "fist class" might explain the noise

Sounds like a great way to move some blow. If you do get popped, well, the car was in Amtrak's care and custody and I just don't know how those duffel bags got there officer.

Hi there. Been a lurker for a while, but wanted to post.

I've taken the AutoTrain from Lorton. It's a fun ride - especially for the family. But, its EXPENSIVE.

On the plus side, you don't have to rent a car in Florida and you don't have to deal with airport hassles. On the other hand, the expense for four people to take a train and get two roomettes or a family bedroom means you're going to spend close to $1500 round trip. You can fly a family of four down to Orlando for less than $200 each and you can certainly find rental car deals for less than $50 a day. Plus, you're in florida in 2.5 hours verus 1.5 days.

I took the Auto Train down to Florida with my family in 2010. We have reservations for a repeat this summer. For a family of 7 travelling for 3 weeks, it's a no brainer. Besides for being cheaper than flying, you also save on the car rental. You also have the option to take along as much food as you want. That also save some money.

As for the trip itself, it was really nice. You don't have the pressure of flying with young kids. The staff on the train was super nice. My kids loved the experience.

Have taken the AT over a dozen times and used all classes of accomodations. Generally we take the train one way and drive the other, although have done round trips. Since you live nearby, save money and take coach on the way home. Once you get you car it is a 20 minute ride home and you can shower and sleep if you are tired. Since we like to get the most out of the first day in Florida, we generally get a roomette or private sleeper on the way down. The food is better than in coach too. Don't leave any valuables in plane site - bury them in your luggage. The guys loading don't have much time to look through your stuff.