Recent content by Eric in East County

We, too, no longer bring anything with us on our long-distance trips that needs to be checked as baggage. Having everything with us at all times gives us greater flexibility should unforeseen circumstances force us to change to our travel plans in mid-trip. If two seniors in their late 70's...

We've always wondered about this too, particularly when a train is full and people want to use the observation car to observe the scenery.

This derailment serves to remind us how vulnerable Amtrak passenger service can be to events caused by the weather and/or human or structural failure.

The help which the kind people on this forum furnish has also been invaluable to those of us who have already made more than a few long-distance train trips!

Shortline, It is my understanding that SWC Nos. 3 and 4 are only providing service between Albuquerque and Chicago for the time being due to the BNSF derailment that took place near the Arizona-New Mexico border last Friday. No trains are departing LA but one should be departing from KC as...

To paraphrase a famous quote from World War II: in preparing for an Amtrak trip, planning is indispensable. Once the trip begins, however, plans are often useless.

No, this does not make any sense. The logical thing would be to bus SWC No. 3 passengers from Albuquerque to wherever SWC No. 4 is stopped and bus SWC No. 4 passengers east to Albuquerque. SWC No. 4 would become No. 3 for the return to LA and No. 3 would become No. 4 for the trip back to...

According to the Pacific Surfliner Travel Advisories web site, train service will be temporarily suspended between Irvine and San Clemente on April 27 - 28 for scheduled Metrolink track work. Bus connections will be available for passengers between Irvine and Oceanside on select trains. (A...

Thank you for taking the time to provide this rather detailed review of items on the new menu which we’d found posted online at https://www.amtrak.com/content/dam/...routes/Long-Distance-Dining-Car-Menu-0424.pdf. We’d printed out a copy so that we could look it over and consider in advance which...

A different thread discusses the high prices now being charged by Chicago hotels. Whenever Amtrak has to provide overnight hotel accommodations for those passengers who, due to the late arrival of their train, missed a guaranteed condition, do the Chicago hotels give Amtrak a special rate that...

For those who need clean, comfortable, reasonably priced sleeping accommodations convenient to the Toledo, Ohio Amtrak station, we can recommend the Comfort Inn which is only 8 ½ miles away in nearby Maumee. (There are actually two (2) Comfort Inns in Maumee. We always stay at the one on...

That's still another reason why we refuse to fly.

As Nero Wolfe would say, "Satisfactory. Highly satisfactory."

Back when I was in college beginning in the mid-1960s, there was a White Castle hamburger restaurant right across the street from my campus. Back then, the sliders were 15 or 20 cents each, and you could get a whole sack full for $1.50. Although it never became a national institution like...

Booking different accommodations on a long-distance trip in order to eventually get into a bedroom is something that never occurred to us before. (Usually. we reserve a bedroom for the entire trip.) We can see where this might be a game saver in the event that one of our long-distance trains is...