Recent content by richm49

I would be looking to get a seat on the Capitol Limited to NYP at this point. Could be an awful big gamble hoping that service is restored by Saturday with so much snow already on the ground and more on the way.

Amtrak lists Maricopa as the "gateway" to Phoenix on the SL timetable and in various other literature. However, as of now, there is NO affordable public transportation of ANY kind connecting Maricopa and Phoenix! I doubt that you could even get a car rental in Maricopa. Using Maricopa to get to...

A few days ago I returned from my first cross country Amtrak LD trip. This was a bucket list item for me and was something that I had hoped to do for many years before finally making it a reality. Nearly 5800 rail miles plus a few hundred bus connection miles( thanks to Amtrak abandoning service...

If I read the links correctly regarding this issue, Amtrak is currently operating the Hoosier State service on a four month extension until Jan. 31,2015. If nothing gets done between now and then and this extension period lapses does that mean the end of the Hoosier State service? And if that...

Thanks very much for posting the video link for this story. Every rail fan needs to take a look at this video. Great line in this video where they say that train time is "found time". I will be going on a cross country trip of my own in just a few days and this video just heightened my...

I have lived my whole life in NYC( over 6 decades) and still hate to drive into Manhattan. The liberals who run this city do everything possible to make it harder and harder to get around in your car.On some avenues they have even literally moved the curb one lane out into the street to create a...

Re your quote regarding the nickel and dime Amtrak approach in the Dining cars I am reminded of a famous quote( can't remember from who) that states that in business you can't cut your way to profitability!! It has been tried by many companies and rarely succeeds in the long run. Short term...

No one needs to hype the OTP of the Cardinal. Although the eastbound Cardinal( #50) has struggled somewhat with it's OTO the westbound Cardinal(#51) has not. According to data from status maps.net archives here is the OTP of #51/Cardinal for the mont of September and October so far: 10/12 3...

Over on trainorders.com I found this reply from NS to the STB regarding their inquiry about poor OTP for Amtrak over NS tracks. I won't bore you with the details since it mostly states the same info about hiring new employees,completion of Englewood Flyover and also mentions attempts to re-route...

According to statusmaps.net 49/LSL(10/12) did lose time between Erie,PA and Cleveland due to the collision. It was 53 minutes late depart ERI and 4 hours, 6 minutes late departing CLE. But it arrived in CHI 10 hours,25 minutes late. That means that AFTER the collision just outside of Erie,PA...

Sorry that the Cardinal can't be of any help to you. I guess the promises from NS last week about improving performance on their Cleveland-Chicago route was just so much hot air.I guess that is typical of executives and politicians….. just tell them what they want to hear.

Well so much for the reports from train orders.com last week that things may be getting better in this mess anytime soon. It was reported that there were 16 hours of meetings amongst major users of Chicago Terminal railroads. In that meeting, NS was singled out for having adverse effects on all...

49/LSL(10/12) arrived in CHI at 8:10 P.M. 10 hours,25 minutes late!!!!!! Not only did it miss EVERY LD West Coast train but it even missed connection to City of New Orleans that departs at 8:00 P.M.!!! I will be staying as far away as possible from this mess of delays in the IN-OH freight...

Just read a story on train orders.com stating that rail car oil shipments in U.S. have jumped from 9500 in 2008 to over 415,000 last year. I am not saying that this is the entire cause for many rail delays but it is certainly a huge factor. On that same site today, there are photos of the LSL...

I guess that is Amtrak's answer to dealing with this mess. Just make the trains disappear from an activity database. Maybe they think that people will just forget about them if they don't report movement activity.