Privately-Owned Rail Cars

Private collectors offer them for charter.

https://www.aaprco.com/

>so how do you get a privately owned train car and get it to the tracks or etc?

I think you wait in a remote bit of Nevada for a train to pass, and trigger a rock fall which causes the driver to slam on the brakes and bring the train to a stop just short of the rockfall.

Then, you and your posse jump out from behind some rocks and fire your revolvers in the air, and the driver sticks his hands up. There's much celebration, and back slapping as you discover the train also happens to have a massive amount of gold bullion on board.

The rest is a bit blurry, can't remember seeing what you then do, but it probably involves filing down the serial numbers on the frame or something like that?

Check in with the association of private railcar owners: https://www.aaprco.com/

There was some discussion on the process here a few years ago: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=19505897 written shortly after Amtrak complained "These operations caused significant operational distraction, failed to capture fully allocated profitable margins". It's not an easy process.

The companies that make train cars have a way to do this, so you probably just pay them to do it as part of the price you pay them to make you train car.

You keep it on tracks, either your own private siding, or rent from a railroad. When you want to go you arrang with the railroad to pick it up. Railroads do this all the time - they might or might not own the cars freight is going on either way they drop it off at your siding and pick it up latter. you need to plan a head though to fit their other scheduldes. There are big costs if you are not ready when the train arrives. (that is no asking them to wait while you store groceries)

How about the personal train car of (Mad / Fairy Tale) King Ludwig II of Bavaria: https://www.kulturstiftung.de/ein-versailles-auf-raedern/

That's what makes this interesting to me. Because I feel like, if you own an operatable train car that can be hooked up to AmTrak, then you not only don't have to ask for the pricing, but do you even have to google to see if you can hook it up?

I would 100% spend the whole time cosplaying the crew of Archer, and refer to it as Tunt Rail.

If a private jet is just too "new money" for you, you can travel in style like a 19th-century robber baron.

The rate document has costs

https://www.amtrak.com/content/dam/projects/dotcom/english/p...

It's linked as "Rate Addendum Number 7".

https://www.amtrak.com/content/dam/projects/dotcom/english/p...

If you have to ask you can't afford it.

Head End Power (HEP) is the electrical power supplied from the locomotive to the passenger cars for lighting, heating, air conditioning and other amenities - essentially the "hotel load" that keeps your private car functioning while attached to the train.

Parking at a terminal really gets you too

Pretty sure if you own your own $2 million+ private train car this is not a big deal.

Yeah, its a bank on top of many natural resources. It happens to be populated exclusively by people that failed wherever they came from, and a few bankers.

That seems to be chartering the cars from Amtrak, though, not from the private car owners.

If you're actually wealthy, you don't have to split a train car.

Last mile problem? Have your personal assistant drive whatever vehicle you want and have it waiting when the train arrives. They can take an Uber back to wherever they need to be next.

> Does my personal train car have a vehicle on board (probably I’m rich in this scenario)?

The back lowers and either a black Trans Am or a trio of red white & blue Minis drive out, depending on personal taste.

Unless you’re transporting something like the president‘s personal limo, the beast you just rent what you need at your destination.

When you get to the “pay someone to drive the car to where you need to be so that you can use it” amounts of money things become much easier.

The limo, driver, cook, and other toys follow in the second car.

If you can afford one, you can surely afford a second one to put your car/bike/gear/stuff in

Having a toilet in your sleeping compartment, in 40cm from your pillow is a horror story by itself.

We once rode the Amtrak from Sacramento to Reno, through the snow, with the kids. Figured it would be a fun adventure. On the ride up, we were about an hour behind schedule - no problem. On the way back, we started our day at 8am and didn't arrive home til 8pm. Train had to keep stopping for "unexpected delays". Regulars on the train were saying it happens all the time. Not fun.

Why anyone would pay 100x the price to have the same experience is beyond me.

This is definitely the weirdest part, their refusal to treat passengers with any respect. For the most part the crew often doesn't know if it will get fixed in one hour or ten hours, but they don't communicate this and there's never an option to bail and have someone pick you up.

Last time I took Amtrak out of LA Union Station, it broke down but luckily was able to pull into the next station so people could get off and find another route. I stayed on and after about 4 hours we were towed back to union station.

The car horror stories are much worse

>Cheryl Tunt, the company secretary,

The independently wealthy company secretary, whose family owned the railroad, as I recall.

If I was extremely wealthy I would ride around in my private rail car over flying 100% of the time.

Do you really have a privately owned rail car in order to go fast? It sounds to me more like a self-driving campervan, you can sit back and watch the world roll by.

needing to be anywhere at a particular urgent time is very nouveau riche. making people wait on you is more elegant, right?

/s

A private airship would definitely be cooler.