Hacker News Reader

Comment by brightball | Hacker News Reader

Is it true that Amtrak will ship your car for you? I thought about doing a cross country trip and the idea of having my car with me on the other side seemed like a solid plan.

View on HN

I've done it. It was pleasant. It felt like a throwback, because they had a dinner service where you dined with three other guests (or two if you're with someone). If you have the opportunity, I'd recommend it.

There is a car train, but it runs along the eastern seaboard. Useful if you live in New York and want to visit/move to Florida for the winter.

To clarify, there is only one route in the US that has an auto train. It goes from Lorton, VA (about 30 minutes south of DC on I95) to Sanford, FL (a suburb of Orlando), and in the other direction. It has sleeper berths or regular coach class seats, leaves at 4pm and arrives at 9 am, and is generally full of "snowbird" retirees and families going to Disney.

I used to work for a shipping company, they did a lot of business shipping cars back and forth to Florida for baseball players doing spring training.

I've heard similar stories from a friend working at a major freight logistics broker here in Midwest, he also arranges the moving of parts for the pair of Boeing jets belongs to the New England Patriots NFL franchise.

It's not something that sits at the front of your mind, but it makes total sense: logistics for professional sports teams must be a whole industry all on its own.

When I worked for the Chicago Bears, I had the pleasure of driving the smallest of the moving trucks to training camps. A max length box truck. Followed by 3 semis _just of equipment_ - clothing, gear, weights that the college didn't have.

It is a circus production every year.

Bummer. Seemed like a great option to travel coast to coast if it was available.

You could arrange to have your car shipped separately, but the costs associated would be large enough that I'd just rent (unless you were moving).

The fares for this route have historically been dirt cheap, something like $95 one way was common. Adding your car was like $250. I moved from Florida to DC this way with all my possessions crammed into my car. It was pretty fun when they still had a dining car, had some great conversations with other passengers.

Reply on news.ycombinator.com