Can someone help a noob out on finding the train station?
 

Hello all,

Man I'm not sure if Google ever thought about people using the train or I'm just not doing it right. :o

It happens both here at home and when I'm looking for the nearest train station traveling. Let's start with out and about first. OK so I'm looking at doing a trip to So the first thing I'm looking at is where's the nearest Amtrak station. So on the Google map I hit directions and enter "Amtrak station". What comes up is directions from Malheur National Wildlife Refuge to LA. It is telling me the nearest station is here in LA I think :foo: Certainly there has to be a station closer right? How would you find the nearest station?

I really end up with the same whacked out results trying to find the nearest train station close by. On this example lets use OK so I tried a couple of searches and none were the closest or the best. I tried "metro train station" "metro station" and none were the closest. One time I even got reply back that mapped me to the Metro Link station. The subway system is called the "Metro rail". The bus system is called "Metro bus" ( I think ). Lots of people just call each part as the Metro. So having a clear and distinctive name for thinks like "The BART" or "The Tube" doesn't really help matters. Even in Sacramento everyone refers to the subway system as "The Light Rail". How do people find the nearest subway station in their parts of the world? I'm assuming you use Google to do it. I'm also assuming you do use the subway. Even if you don't, there must be times where you're out touring where you need to get to the nearest subway station, right?

Any help on this matter would be GREATLY appreciated. :thumb:

Took me 2 minutes to find this near your lower map. Just looked for clues like rail lines. And I am not that familiar with the LA area.


https://www.google.com/maps/place/Va...83269?hl=en-US

North from Shasta Cal, Chico and so forth,

Amtrak coast starlight goes thru Klamath Falls OR and stops there ( It was late at night)

https://www.amtrak.com/servlet/Satel...st%20Starlight

and Here near Mt Walker https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chemult_station

then the route follows route 58, turns west, crosses over the Cascades to Eugene-Springfield

(ref: paper Nat Geo Maps)

I used the Emeryville station to Eugene , It takes rougly 24 hours , from one afternoon to the Next.

seeking out where the Amtrak train stations are seems Logical..



./.

:lol::roflmao::lol:

If you're looking for public transportation in the middle of the desert... Maybe try Greyhound.

Bus stations in Burns, OR | Greyhound

It looks like a couple of places near Burns show up.

Reids Country Store
230 Hines Blvd
Burns, OR 97720
Tel: (541) 573-7666

I think maybe I didn't phase my question correctly. If you're some place, this time lets say . How do you find the nearest train station? I thought you could do it by using the correct search term. Obviously I don't know it. Sure I could open up a nice big map and kinda move everything around cause I got a 30 inch monitor and a sweet mouse. What do you do when you have a phone or a little tablet? You better be good at putting the correct search term in or you're going to be doing alot of painful and slow grabbing and moving around that map on your phone.

So at Crater Lake I put "Amtrak Station" and it actually gave me probably the correct answer.
So I looked around HERE AT HOME and I actually had alot of problem finding another station. I'm following tracks where I'm not even sure they are Amtrak used tracks. Which doesn't help matters if you're trying to do this on a little phone or tablet on the road.

Now there should be a way where someone can find the 3 nearest Amtrak stations or something like this. My results showed just a route from Crater Lake to Eugene. This came out correctly ( I think ) cause there are probably alot of travelers doing this yearly. So it probably wasn't the best choice.

Really I'm not interested in personal experience where someone knows the best route. I appreciate you reading this, but I am interested in the process.

What happens if you just tell Google Maps you want to go from A to B, but click on the public transit icon? Works great in the SF Bay Area: it finds Caltrain, BART, regional bus lines, etc.

Won't work if you are a significant distance from a transit station. I would be nice if Google let you enter your own max walking distance.

Yeah that works if you know point B. In my examples I don't know point B.

It you are at a location just enter "train station" in the search bar.

If you want to check nearby to a given point, right click select Search Nearby and enter "train station".

Have not tried this in the app just the web version.

I like the second link here. That actually gave me an Amtrak bus station near by.

"Search Nearby" is now called "Nearby". If you try the first two links I posted on this thread. One will tell you there isn't a train station near by, the other result will give you Amtrak stations and ignores subway stations that are closer by. Would be rather frustrating if you're in a unfamiliar town and trying to get around.

K I was able to find the subway station by searching that. So I'll start using "subway station" and hopefully that will work. Still it would be nice to get an answer for the closest 3 "train stations" or "subway stations".

Anytime I want to find something, I just type "Train station near ... " or "Bakery near ... " or "Hotel near ... " or "Campground near ... "

So if we were to travel to Melbourne, I'd type "Hotel near Melbourne Airport", then when I'd settled on one, I'd type "Restaurant near Melbourne Airport" ... and if we wanted to travel by train, I'd type "Train near Melbourne Airport".

So in your case, I typed "train station near long beach california" ... just like that, but without the quote marks.

And I got a list of 8 light rail stations.


Next I typed "amtrak near long beach california" ...

And I got the Long Beach Transit Gallery which looks like it makes an Amtrak connection.

That whole process took me just a few minutes.

Great idea! Lets take the first post........... I go to a fresh Google page and type "train station near Malheur National Wildlife Refuge". The first page has NOTHING about that, or at least what I'm needing.

Great idea! I go to a fresh Google page and type in "Amtrak near Malheur National Wildlife Refuge" and I don't get anything of help. SIDE NOTE; this thread comes in 4th on that search.

I go to search on to amtrak.com and I type in "97721" for from, and type in "lax" for to. I get;


Problem with Departure Station or City Name: Unfortunately, we cannot find a departure station matching the text you entered. To find a specific station, please try entering different text, or click on the 'Find a Station' link and select a station from the list provided and resubmit. You may also click the 'Stations' tab above to find Amtrak stations in the vicinity of your requested city.
[Error ID: 527S]

It's the find a station link at amtrak. You just need the zip of where you want to start at and give a search radius. Which gives the results of;

1 Burns, OR - Bus Stop (BNS) - 74.39 miles

For searching from "97721"

May I suggest you reread the 1st post? Let me point out a couple of things on it. The 5th sentence states; "So the first thing I'm looking at is where's the nearest Amtrak station." The 2nd question states; "How would you find the nearest station?"

Most travelers and me included would take ANY station and look at the possibilities. Yes trains would be preferred but why would a traveler ignore bus stations?

smh

I can't tell if the OP is actually wanting to travel, or just complaining that Google isn't very good at finding train stations where there are none.

Around here, Amtrak has both buses and trains, often on similar routes. However, the buses are often closer to being on-time, while the trains more frequently have quite significant delays.

If one is actually wishing to take public transportation to Crater Lake, then I'd encourage looking at Tour Buses.

I think the Green Tortoise may even go to Crater Lake. I haven't ever been on their buses, but they have had a reputation for being unique in the past. Rather different from Amtrak.

Green Tortoise even still Operating? They Had their Maintenance Barn in Lowell.

and a breakfast/ supper/Sauna& cool Dip stop on Cow Creek near Roseburg, on the regularly scheduled Run
between Seattle and LA.

I Used the Eugene to SanFrancisco section in the Past.

They Did have Excursion Charters Too, but I thought they had long ago shut down By Now.


'Point' Bus is More traditional . http://www.oregon-point.com/

NB 2 routes, their ends are at the 2 Amtrak stations (below and above Crater lake area),
The Train connects to 3 0f the 4, changing busses in Bend connects to the 4th..



./.

I rode through Lowell a couple of weeks ago and saw a bunch of dilapidated Green Tortoise buses in a yard there.

They do have a website that looks professional, but it is hard to make heads or tails out of it.
Green Tortoise - Adventure Travel and Hostels

I have to wonder how the Marijuana laws in Oregon, Washington, and Colorado affect them.

Recognizing that in post #11 wasn't good enough for you? Do me a favor here BobG. Can you please move on as you stated you would do?

User, I apologize for using the term that I did. That was indeed inflammatory language. I've deleted my posts except for where they've been quoted and I can't.

Here's where your search went wrong-

"Great idea! I go to a fresh Google page and type in "Amtrak near Malheur National Wildlife Refuge" and I don't get anything of help. SIDE NOTE; this thread comes in 4th on that search."

You need to go to Google Maps, not Google, and type in "Amtrak near New Princeton OR". Click on LEFT "search" (magnifying glass) icon button, not the right "directions" icon button as you did on your Crater Lake/Eugene map at post 5). You will get zero hits nearby. However the same "search" for "Amtrak near Crater Lake OR 97604" will show the station at Chemult.

"I go to search on to amtrak.com and I type in "97721" for from, and type in "lax" for to. I get; Problem with Departure Station or City Name:"...

You need to type 97721 into the Amtrak "Find station by location box" after defining your search radius. If you want to catch the bus at Burns then you need to type the BNS station code into the "from" box (not the 97721 New Princeton zip code). If your destination is Los Angeles you then type LAX into the "to" box.

The only reason I suggested a phone call was because of your thread title, "Can someone help a noob out on finding the train station?" The phone agents at Amtrak have all this info at their fingertips and can be much more accurate than us BFers who have to go and Google for you.

Again, apologies if I used inflammatory language. I'm just trying to help you navigate those sites where you are having a problem.

edit: As Machka notes below, "train station near..." or "bus station near..." may result in more Google hits.

You've got to be a bit more general than that.

I discovered that the Malheur National Wildlife Refuge is in/near Princeton, Oregon. So I typed "train station near Princeton, OR" into the Google Maps Search, and got an Amtrak station in Chemult, which is a mere 181 mile bicycle ride (with 3000 feet of climbing) from the Malheur National Wildlife Refuge. :)

If you want a bus station, then type "bus station near Princeton, OR" and you'll get a whole list of them.

Your nearest bus station appears to be at Buchanan, OR ... a 60 mile bicycle ride.

Next I looked up your Malheur National Wildlife Refuge just to double check it's location, and it turns out that Buchanan is a flat-as-a-pancake 41 mile ride away. That would probably be your best bet! Half a day's ride. :)