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Buy cheap carriage.
Paint with radiation symbols and rainbow flags.
Write "GAY-diation distribution system" on the side.
Send it on a tour of red states and enjoy the freak-outs.
Label it as a mobile abortion clinic
Alternative plan: do the same with unattended freight cars for pennies on the dollar.
I would donate to this godundme
Top Gear did something similar with cars. It turned out as you would expect. https://inv.nadeko.net/watch?v=pKcJ-0bAHB4
I worked with someone that had some Great Aunt or whatever that did this. The lady just didn't like planes, so she would travel like this. Basically, you get all the amenities of an RV, water tank fill up, power hook up, plus you can walk up to the admittedly gross food car. She said it looked like an RV apartment combo, and that the Aunt was old money, so the Mr. Monopoly vibe is accurate.
I'm with Great Aunt whomever. Flying sucks.
Plus, you could make it an event or party car. Imagine a traveling bachelorette party with a murder mystery dinner, karaoke, no flying, no driving, and you end up somewhere cool and can nap on the way back.
(100% of the pre-wedding parties I've been to have had karaoke and a murder mystery dinner. Sample set of one.)
Coworker said that time is the luxury item. Unless your car is following exactly a regular Amtrak route, at some point you get decoupled in a yard and passed off to another train, which can take hours. Basically a layover. So it sounds like it can easily become a multi-day thing to get somewhere you can get in like 5 hours by air.
But yeah, if you have the time and inclination, it seems like a pleasant way to go.
the admittedly gross food car.
Is it gross to other people? Seems like an ordinary bare bones cafe to me: a few snacks, including some basic hot food, coffee/tea/soft drinks, beer, wine.
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.
Private car? Check
Decorative fireplace? Check
Small round wooden table? Check
Top hat? Check
Monocle? Check
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.
Amtrak does have the "auto train" which runs from just outside DC to just outside Orlando. You load your car on the train and ride the train rather than driving that distance. It's apparently really popular with both snowbirds as well as vacationers
Neat!
If anyone else is curious, there's a lengthy blog post with some photos here: https://www.aboomerslifeafter50.com/travel/is-the-amtrak-auto-train-worth-the-ride-heres-my-take-going-to-florida/
Two adult rail fares $286 + one roomette for two $565 + automobile $269 = Grand total $1120
And a Wikipedia page: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Auto_Train
Am I the only person without a personal train car? Am I surrounded by people in top hats and just don't know?
They stopped wearing the identifying top hats. Anybody might be secretly wealthy now.
This feels like a holdover from the Teddy Roosevelt/robber baron era!
Mumford and Sons is currently running a tour by rail using Amtrak's services!
But I've also heard of private groups pooling together to buy an old passenger car and keeping it maintained and up to whatever the current Amtrak requirements are so that they can do this regularly. Alternatively there's several private companies who you can rent and charter a car or several with if you don't want to commit long term to owning a railcar. I've specifically seen this one on private charter before for some model railroad events: https://261.com/cedar-rapids/
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.
It feels like the last time this service was used, everyone would have giant top hats, and their own personal railway spur to their houses.
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.
But how much is it?
Even assuming some passenger limit (otherwise you could sell your own tickets and make a tidy profit) for groups large enough to require a charter bus, this sounds like a reasonable alternative. In fact that might be their target market.
What advantages does this train have over, say, a motor car -- which I could also afford?
There were articles about people who make a lifestyle of this. Though the practice is apparently under pressure, as allowing random people to attach private carriages to your trains does complicate operating a railway.
How much does a rail car cost, and what is maintenance, inspection, etc like? This is still something of the very wealthy.
Why isn’t this sometime of trend or hobby?
I think private rail carriages are slightly more expensive and limited use than vans, which is why vanlife has taken off and carriagelife has not
Only the rich could afford this likely, and a huge subset of the rich are people who value their time too much to spend it on transportation they don't have direct control over.
However, I do think there are people out there who'd do this if they found out. Travel YouTubers. The more popular ones have decent income and starting a new niche or getting in on one early can pull a lot of new viewers.
This got me wondering. What if you build out a luxury trailer home in a shipping container. Could you just pay to have the thing shipped around while you're living in it? It seems like it's got to be efficient since there's so much infrastructure and logistics for moving containers around.
So is it possible to have a tiny home on rails?!?!?
