[Yorio]

Instead of driving 13 hours to TV from Virginia, this will be the second year taking the Autotrain to Sanford. For those of you who have done the trip, what do you think is the best route from Sanford to TV. By the way, on our last trip, we found this great German restaurant in Sanford. Anyone tried it?

[CaptJohn]

There was a thread on here yesterday describing several ways to get to Sanford. I don't remember which thread just now.

[scrapple]

We've gone to The Willow Tree, the German restaurant. It was excellent authentic food with several staff speaking German and claiming to be Bavarian. They don't take reservations and every day at 7pm are 2 Umpah musicians. I'm a Rock and Roller and even though I've been to Germany several times, I didn't particularly want to wait on a table so we could see the players. We got there at 7p, seated right away and the musicians were really entertaining. I've been wanting to return and will the 1st chance I get!
Back to the train--what is the schedule and does it go into Richmond? Have you experienced delays and if so, how often? How is the price including auto?

[quirky3]

Originally Posted by scrapple

We've gone to The Willow Tree, the German restaurant. It was excellent authentic food with several staff speaking German and claiming to be Bavarian. They don't take reservations and every day at 7pm are 2 Umpah musicians. I'm a Rock and Roller and even though I've been to Germany several times, I didn't particularly want to wait on a table so we could see the players. We got there at 7p, seated right away and the musicians were really entertaining. I've been wanting to return and will the 1st chance I get!
Back to the train--what is the schedule and does it go into Richmond? Have you experienced delays and if so, how often? How is the price including auto?

Hi - I noticed that your avatar is a dog (most likely a pet). From what I have read, unfortunately, the auto train does not allow pets. If they discover one, they will make you get off at the next stop. That is sometimes a showstopper for some people.

[Yorio]

As per the dog, fortunately, there is one stop from Lorton and that is Sanford. Don't think Amtrak will throw the dog out of speeding train(slow) if you can get away with the dog. There is only one train leaving at 4 pm from Lorton and arriving at around 9 a.m. next day. The reverse happens from Sanford. Price depends on the season but two cars with sleep birth runs about 600 one way.

[cbg150]

So one car with 2 passengers in a sleep berth is $300?

[designerko]

Rates vary, just like airlines, depends on date (expect more for holidays), how far in advance you purchase, and size of your vehicle (more for SUVs and large autos). Visit Amtrak.com for the AutoTrain details. Ticket will be for 1 car, 1 seat, additional for more persons and sleeping berth.

[skyguy79]

Originally Posted by Yorio

Instead of driving 13 hours to TV from Virginia, this will be the second year taking the Autotrain to Sanford. For those of you who have done the trip, what do you think is the best route from Sanford to TV. By the way, on our last trip, we found this great German restaurant in Sanford. Anyone tried it?

We've done the trip more than once and the best route from Sanford to The Villages is via 46 to 441 to TV. Click below to view Google map route:

Amtrak (Auto Train) - SFA to The Villages, FL - Google Maps

[skyguy79]

Originally Posted by designerko

Rates vary, just like airlines, depends on date (expect more for holidays), how far in advance you purchase, and size of your vehicle (more for SUVs and large autos). Visit Amtrak.com for the AutoTrain details. Ticket will be for 1 car, 1 seat, additional for more persons and sleeping berth.

Your information is accurate designerko. This pricing system is called the "bucket'" system, and I'd like to note that prices can change within minutes on not only AutoTrain, but any train reservation you might be making. It happened to us when we called to make reservations a number of years back.

I called to get the pricing and ended the call once I had it. Checked with my wife and we decided to go for it. Called back about 10 minutes later and the price went up. If possible one should be prepared to make a decision while on the line with Amtrak or risk paying a higher price later.

BTW, just as a matter of useless information, I have a total of 23,263 lifetime rail miles and have acquired enough Amtrak rail points that between my wife and I, we could travel by rail from Florida to the West Coast round trip twice in a bedroom twice without paying a cent. I wasn't going to join their program because we didn't travel by rail often, but someone talked me into is and I've been glad they did. For information about their rail point program go to https://www.amtrakguestrewards.com/

Someone mentioned about dogs on the train. I don't know how anyone would get away with it. We had pets and went through considerable extra expense because we could not bring them on the train. The only animals that are allowed onboard are law enforcement dogs (usually sniffing for drugs) and those with legitimate accompanying needs. More details are provided on their website.