![]() ![]() "We are proud of the team members across our properties that work to make the traveler experience unique and memorable. "It is an honor to have Margaritaville ranked #1 in guest satisfaction" said Dan Leonard, President of Hospitality at Margaritaville. The authoritative record of NPR’s programming is the audio record.Margaritaville Ranks #1 in Guest Satisfaction in J.D. This text may not be in its final form and may be updated or revised in the future. NPR transcripts are created on a rush deadline by an NPR contractor. Visit our website terms of use and permissions pages at for further information. (SOUNDBITE OF DISNEY STUDIO CHORUS' "CASEY JUNIOR/SONG OF THE ROUSTABOUTS")Ĭopyright © 2018 NPR. ![]() As the couple always says, the airplane flies over you, the interstate passes by you, but the train doesn't forget you. By no means are private rail cars the fastest or cheapest way to get around, but that's not the point. Black and McGahee worry that an entire way of life may soon be gone. SALAMA: In recent weeks, Amtrak has begun denying requests for private rail car trips like this altogether. UNIDENTIFIED PERSON #4: Fifty, that will do. SALAMA: I wake up as the train arrives in Huntington. After a few minutes, I go back into the warmth of my small bedroom, where I fall asleep to the rocking lull of the train. You stand out back, and it's fitting that everything's just rushing away from you so quickly, from this historic car which the couple says is meant to be an escape into the past. It's pitch black out, and I watch as a single pickup truck races alongside the train tracks. ![]() Thirty-five degrees on the back platform of the Dearing. SALAMA: Around midnight, I step out onto the platform on the back of the train. And it makes me think often of how huge this country is. And you get to see things there's no other way to see. SALAMA: Black says that part of what she loves most about train travel is it's a chance to see things that aren't possible with other modes of transportation.īLACK: I mean, there's no power lines. But we've also done a lot of things in between. SALAMA: The couple has visited 46 states on the Dearing.īLACK: We've done the entire outside of the country. In the hallway, there's a map of the country with pins on all the cities they've been to on the rail car.īLACK: Well, and we've been from Maine to Seattle, Seattle to. By the time dinner's over, night's fallen, and we're about three hours south of Chicago, rolling through Indiana farm country. SALAMA: Out comes a three-course steak dinner complete with champagne and dessert, all made fresh from Black's bumpy 7-by-12-foot kitchen. We've just passed our first stop, Dyer, Ind., and it's time to eat. SALAMA: To help cover those costs, they'll usually charter out the car to paying guests, basically running a bed-and-breakfast on the train. For this 13-hour ride, the couple will pay Amtrak a fee of nearly $1,500 just to move. SALAMA: The costs for these trips can run in the thousands of dollars. That's what this is all about, is an experience. People don't have to wear coats and ties. Though it's the same length and width as every other train car running in the United States, the inside makes you feel like you're staying in a rustic wooden lodge.īLACK: You know, we try to do elegant meals and - not stuffy. SALAMA: The Dearing is a 1920s-era Pullman sleeper car and has three bedrooms, three bathrooms, a full kitchen, dining room and lounge. It's - certainly we can live in it comfortably for several weeks at a time, which we do. SALAMA: That's Nelson McGahee, who co-owns this train car with his wife Borden Black.īORDEN BLACK: It's pretty spacious. And we will arrive in Huntington 7 or so in the morning. NELSON MCGAHEE: The run we're going to do today is from Chicago Union Station. SALAMA: While the train will soon depart Chicago on a 500-mile overnight journey to Huntington, W.Va. UNIDENTIFIED PERSON #2: All right, everybody. But today behind that baggage car is the Dearing, a privately owned rail car that rides caboose. JORDAN SALAMA, BYLINE: The last car on an Amtrak long-distance train is usually reserved for baggage. Before that change, independent producer Jordan Salama took a trip on a private rail car, and he brings us the story of these so-called yachts on rails. New Amtrak guidelines now restrict where private cars can be added or removed from Amtrak trains. These are private vintage railroad cars which pull riders paying top dollar across the country. and there's a chance that while you're chugging along in coach, others might be riding in luxury behind you. Get on an Amtrak train anywhere in the U.S. ![]()
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