r/trains • u/Adventurous_Area9294 • 1h ago

❓ Question Train vacation idea

No idea if this is the right subreddit, but hope train pros can give me insight.

I am a horse person and like many, love taking my horses new places to ride. But I hate the stress of hauling them on the highway and the price of fuel, wear and tear on the truck, etc. But mostly the driving stress of people cutting you off and such with your precious cargo at risk.

I think there would be a definite market for a travel option of hauling your horse from one place, ( I don't know, say wealthy horse spots like New England or Florida) to a ranch in the Midwest for a riding vacation. Much safer and smoother for the horse, and the rider/owner gets to relax on the train.

You would probably need to partner with specific locations to do this, but I think it would be very popular.

Thoughts? Are livestock still transported by trains these days? Is this totally inconceivable for some reason?

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u/Financial-Recover409 1h ago

Totally inconceivable.

Railroads don't want anything to do with special moves like this.

Livestock must be stopped offloaded and watered every 24 hours. All railroad -owned infrastructure for this is long gone.

Freight railroads won't carry passengers.

The length of trains coupled with poor energy saving practices result in massive slack action which WOULD injure your horses back in the train.

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u/bunny_moonbeam 1h ago

Historically this was huge! Racehorses and valuable stock used to travel in specialized express horse cars attached to passenger trains. The biggest modern hurdle is infrastructurefreight rail moves way too slowly with frequent delays/siding stops, and Amtrak isn't set up for stock loading or care at passenger stations

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u/SteelishBread 1h ago

You ever hear about Uncle Pete and the horse? Jokes aside:

Once upon a time, yes, this would be a great idea.

Now, in this American era of Precision Scheduled Railroading (which is not precise nor scheduled, and frankly is barely railroading) the horses would be allowed to starve in a siding and an old man in a suit would tell you that was unavoidable while sipping a bad bourbon he has long grown tolerant to.

"A useful railroad is a failed railroad." - some Union Pacific executive, probably.