Was he flushed down one of the toilets?

No ticket!

Did he make his stop in Willoughby?

I'm surprised he wasn't found with a crashed Amtrak train on top of him.

hurdboy: Shoulda stayed on the train.

/-1. Submitter sounds like he hasn't ridden Amtrak in the past fifteen years; they're normally on time these days.

Depends on which line you're on. They still have to yield to freight trains, so service around areas like Kansas City can be a bit off on occasion.

/still infinitely better than flying

took Amtrak to Chicago in April. It was awesome.

/troll troll your boat train

Being in Rochester makes me wanna die some times too.

"Police say the man temporarily got off the train at Rochester but was denied reboarding by the conductor."

Sounds like he tried to ride Indian-class after they wouldn't let him back on.

I'm considering taking the Amtrak from Illinois to Texas next fall. We would be taking a 17 month old baby. Is it better than driving? The cost shows the train is a little cheaper at current gas prices. Any thought, Farkers?

big train crash in Argentina. 49 dead 600+ injured

hurdboy: Shoulda stayed on the train.

/-1. Submitter sounds like he hasn't ridden Amtrak in the past fifteen years; they're normally on time these days.

Not if you're going between Detroit and Chicago.

cgraves67

I'm considering taking the Amtrak from Illinois to Texas next fall. We would be taking a 17 month old baby. Is it better than driving? The cost shows the train is a little cheaper at current gas prices. Any thought, Farkers?

I considered taking one to San Fran to visit my brother just for the experience, I sure as hell wouldn't do it with a 17 month old. I used to take the train between Chi and STL and other than drink there isn't much to do.

cgraves67: I'm considering taking the Amtrak from Illinois to Texas next fall. We would be taking a 17 month old baby. Is it better than driving? The cost shows the train is a little cheaper at current gas prices. Any thought, Farkers?

The train is awesome. Pay the extra and upgrade to business class. You get a huge comfy seat, you can get up and walk around, and there is no constant noise like on a plane.

The conductor did not allow the passenger to reboard. The lawyers are already circling.

Rochester has a very scary train station, it looks like it hasn't had any upgrades or renovations from the 1970's. I wouldn't be surprised if there was more to the story.

Hobodeluxe: big train crash in Argentina. 49 dead 600+ injured

Where do they bury the survivors?

Lots of respectable people have been hit by trains.

If the train was the Lake Shore Limited, I don't think Rochester is a "smoke break" station. Every four or five hours or so they have a longer "smoke break" stop where you can get off the train, stretch your legs, have a cigarette, whatevs. If it's not a smoke break, you're not supposed to get off the train unless it's your final destination. They don't have time to chase people down who "just stepped off for a minute" at every stop.

My guess is, the guy ignored the "don't get off the train unless Rochester is your final destination" announcements and went walkies anyway.

/just took Amtrak from LA to NYC and back

LoneDoggie: Lots of respectable people have been hit by trains.

*shakes tiny fist*

cgraves67: I'm considering taking the Amtrak from Illinois to Texas next fall. We would be taking a 17 month old baby. Is it better than driving? The cost shows the train is a little cheaper at current gas prices. Any thought, Farkers?

If you get a sleeper the trip can be much easier than a car the 17 month old can walk around, nice privacy in your compartment, and last I checked free juice and soft drinks, just be sure to pack a portable video device with lots of prerecorded shows on it.

I rode Amtrak from New Haven to Boston - Back Bay and back a week and a half ago. The train to Boston actually arrived five minutes early.

/beats the hell out of driving.

It's Amtrak. Of course he died waiting!

Marine1: Depends on which line you're on. They still have to yield to freight trains, so service around areas like Kansas City can be a bit off on occasion.

Came to say this. The trains themselves are actually very pleasant to ride on, plus you get smoke breaks if you need them and you can smuggle your own scotch or sleeping pills in your luggage. Huge, reclining seats. Hell, I have an extra day off so I'm going to spend it chilling out as opposed to fighting with the airports, right?

The only thing I didn't know - yielding to freight traffic. It added an extra 12 hours to a 10 hour journey. And there really wasn't sh*t to do about it but fire off a letter in offline mode and grit teeth while waiting for a wi-fi spot to send it from (it was 2005, before smartphones and other connectivity). Except then you realize that it's pretty much printed on the back of the ticket - "You hereby surrender the right to b*tch about delays caused by freight transport."

Thing is, it was still preferable to flying. And I met a really, really cute girl to spend the time with. This being the internet, I'm tempted to lie and claim that we spent the long, stationary hours having wild monkey sex, but all we did was kiss tenderly at the end. Was actually kind of romanti...ALRIGHT I TURN IN MY MAN CARD, jeez.

/we'll always have Birmingham, AL, sniff

FuturePastNow: "Police say the man temporarily got off the train at Rochester but was denied reboarding by the conductor."

Sounds like he tried to ride Indian-class after they wouldn't let him back on.

Well, with his belly swollen with jackfruit, of course not

Yeah, whatever subby. At least Amtrak doesn't sell tickets for trains that don't exist.

Ahh, Amtrak. Not the absolute best mode of mass transit, but far, far from the worst. For comparison:

Traveler 1 (We'll call him Bob) gets up a few hours early to make his red-eye flight, since he doesn't want to pay for a flight at a decent hour. He's lucky today, and a friend drops him off at the airport. He then proceeds to get gouged for his luggage; two bags packed with the essentials for his business trip. The airline staff look at him with glazed, zombie-like eyes as they tag his bags and toss them on the conveyer belt with less care than a garbageman emptying trash cans. Well, Bob winces, knowing that some of those delicate electronics he was hoping to impress his potential client with are probably trashed, but the damage is done. Off to security waltzes Bob, where he proceeds to get get bombarded with unsafe levels of radiation or gate-raped by someone with a fake badge, blue shirt, and a degree from McDonald's fry school. While heading through security his laptop, containing proprietary information among other valuable data, gets jacked whilst the blueshirts stand around looking for a terrorist. Now Bob is pissed, because now he has to report that theft, which will never get resolved by the airport. Two hours of delays later, Bob is unceremoniously stuffed into a tiny, DVT-inducing seat with a screaming baby on one side, and a land whale on the other side. His recompense for this? A small cup of something to drink and a bag of stale Melba toast. When Bob stands up to stretch his legs, a frumpy old flight attendant comes along to assert her authority and cram him back into his seat. Four hours later a tired, miserable, stiff-legged, fuming-mad-at-the-world Bob arrives at his destination. The bag apes that reside in the sweaty bowels of his hometown airport have gone rogue; one bag is missing, and the other has the bottom wheels torn off. Thoroughly miserable, Bob flags down a cab and proceeds to try and salvage what's left of his business trip.

Traveler 2 (we'll call her Cindy) gets up at a normal time the day of her trip, and takes care of her usual morning rituals. She then proceeds to finish packing, and heads out the door to make her train. Like Bob, Cindy is fortunate enough to have a friend pick her up and drop her off at the train station. She, like Bob, has two big bags full of business prototypes that she hopes will impress a client. At ticketing, the unenthusiastic clerk prints her tickets, tags her bags, and shuffles them off into the back to await loading. Suddenly, Cindy realizes that the sign she's staring at says she can check three bags for free, up to 50 lbs! Wow, thinks Cindy, that's pretty damn nice! Cindy, being a sometime-smoker, steps out onto the platform to have a smoke and await her train. As she's smoking, a surprise! Her husband shows up to see her off! Amazing, thinks Cindy, nobody stopped him from getting onto the platform! There are also no blue-shirted TSA agents to be seen in sight. Cindy has a nice chat with her husband, so nice in fact that she doesn't realize it when her train arrives ten minutes late. No matter, thinks Cindy, it's still better than the airport. The conductors help Cindy with her bags, handing them up to her as she boards, and she stows it in an overhead rack that is dramatically larger than those on an airplane. She sits down in her wide seat, and waves to her husband as the train leaves the station. Cindy then proceeds to nap, watch videos on her iPad, listen to her iPod, turns on her laptop and gets some work done, stands up and walks around for a bit, buys some pricey food at the club car, and then reads until her train arrives at her destination later that day, all without ever getting harassed by stodgy old conductors. Cindy even got to get off every few hours to have a smoke, and chats with the conductors as she's indulging in her vice! As she steps down onto the platform, she heads inside and collects her (undamaged) bags, and hops a cab to her hotel.

Your witness.

/tl;dr: Trains are slower, but infinitely better than airplanes