Recent content by Literalman

Most of the Amtrak lines radiating from Chicago have daytime coach service. You can go to Milwaukee, Quincy, St. Louis, Carbondale, Grand Rapids, Detroit, Indianapolis, and places in between, and maybe some I've forgotten.

"What if a passenger misses a stop, do they arrest him?" I'm sure the reference to involving the police was about pulling the emergency cord, not because the woman hadn't paid. When I was commuting on Virginia Railway Express, though, conductors would issue citations to passengers who boarded...

"Taking the 3:40": I thought that meant you were leaving that day!

I read most of the report, and I didn't see anything about through service between Reading and New York, only separate Allentown-Reading and Allentown–New York services being proposed. Surely through service would attract more passengers. Reading might have its own service to New York via...

Welcome, Ken. My first Amtrak trip was in 1972, so I'm a fellow fossil. :) Oregon Pioneer, Exeter, NH, is on the Downeaster route.

Travels With Kev has "Amtrak Coach Class: A Guide for New Passengers" I guess you're on your way by now, but this may help with future trips or help others who come here looking for information

I don't think you need to go out and cross 8th Av. It's been a few months since I was in Penn Station, but I think there are elevators from the main level down to the Long Island level, and you can walk inside from there to Moynihan, with, as best as I can recall, no steps. From 6th Av. to 7th...

You can't copyright names. (I worked in publishing for many years and dealt with copyrights and trademarks, along with other work.) You could trademark them, but to keep the trademark, you have to register and defend it. Many trademarks have been lost and become generic words (for example...

My wife doesn't look out the window much but strongly prefers facing forward. Even on short trolley rides, if we have to face backwards, she wants to change seats as soon as a forward-facing seat opens up. I prefer facing forward. When I commuted on VRE, however, I liked facing backwards because...

I called Guest Rewards and got the reservation within a few minutes. The friendly, helpful agent said I had two reservations not paid for. She canceled one, applied the voucher, and pointed out that the flex fare for train 42 was only $3 more than the saver fare, so we opted for the flex fare...

I will call Guest Rewards soon when I have plenty of time. I've generally gotten good help from them but sometimes with a long wait. And I got a fast reply from Amtrak: "We are currently experiencing technical difficulties with our site. We are aware of the problem and are currently working to...

I've been trying to make a reservation for a June round trip between Philly and Lancaster. Every time I get to the end and click Purchase, I get the moving train symbol, the word "Loading," and then it logs me out. I tried Firefox and Edge, both of which I have used numerous times to make online...

When I needed to go to the airport from Crystal City, I used to walk the trail partway until I was across the highway, then cut across an access road and a parking lot. I could walk from the VRE station to the airport terminal in about ten minutes. When VRE had a presentation at the Crystal...

Hi, Devo. I live in Drexel Hill and ride the trolley a lot, as well as the Wawa regional rail about once a week. I love trains too. :-)

Syracuse, NY, has Amtrak and intercity and local buses all in the same building.