Search results

Reviving this thread as I'm looking into a July trip to Glacier Nat'l Park via the Empire Builder and particularly into what one can see and do without renting a car. Because rental cars ain't cheap, one of us shouldn't be stuck looking at the road rather than the scenery, and I've heard...

I like the Angus cheeseburger, it's my go-to meal on the Lincoln Service. De gustibus non disputandum and all that.

Judging from the two stations on Google Streetview, Burlingame depot looks like it would make a nice and cozy apartment while modern Millbrae Caltrain/BART station doesn't. I hope Caltrain tries to recoup their money by renting out the apartments if they can legally (zoning, etc.), especially...

A train that leaves the Bay Area at night and arrives in Los Angeles in the morning, and a train that leaves Los Angeles at night and arrives in the Bay Area in the morning, doesn't need heavy population in the middle where the train is passing through in the small hours of the morning. And it...

Technically, there IS a direct entrance to the northern platforms only, the stairs-only Madison St. entrance. But: (1) it's not at all accessible, and useless with any large amount of luggage, due to having only stairs, (2) it has a big rolling gate so it can be closed when the station is...

With all due respect, Amtrak left Midway for SPUD because a city-center legacy station was considered an upgrade. Unlike some old stations that survive as mostly not a train station, it still has the concourse leading out to the platforms. Someone correct me if I'm wrong, but the aerial view...

Can't CNBC use its own resources (vast conglomerate Universal!) rather than relying on a hit job analysis from the reliably anti-rail "Reason" Foundation?!

Just started reading this most interesting and revealing document! I already see a couple of interesting points on the "split trains" (Empire Builder, Texas Eagle & Sunset Ltd.): * On the Empire Builder, the diner and first-class lounge will go with the Seattle section but both sections will...

I forgot about the old entrances at Clinton/Adams and Clinton/Jackson! I don't *think* either is closed. I was referring only to the new entrance in the middle of the block on Clinton where I understand the Harvey House used to be.

A handful of stairs down from street level to station level, and no ramp, but there's an elevator off to your left as you come in from the street. Whether it's worth bumping a rolly-bag down a few steps not to wait for a very short elevator ride is up to each traveler.

I've gone to the Einstein Bagels on Grant, the street leading from the station, when killing time changing at Pittsburgh. As I recall, I asked the station agent, and they had a photocopied map of nearby restaurants. That was in 2018, so it may be different now. I just checked Google Maps, and...

Yes, and Chicago-Philly direct exists now too. But the Cardinal is significantly longer (albeit more scenic and serving other markets along the way) than a direct route via Pittsburgh, which is what the FRA is suggesting for Indy-Philly and I was suggesting for Chi-Philly.

As a Chicagoan, I can't help notice that if this comes to fruition as planned, various direct trips would be possible -- for instance, Denver to Houston, Indianapolis to Philadelphia -- that Chicago doesn't get without a change of trains. I don't begrudge *any* of these proposed routes, as the...

Let me expand on my preceding post: sending the Monday westbound train east of the incident back to WAS makes sense, but it was short-sighted not to run the Cap from Chicago to Pittsburgh Monday night so there'd be a westbound Cap trainset Tuesday.

If the disruption is east of Pittsburgh in WV, why wouldn't Amtrak run a shortened Cap between Chicago and Pittsburgh? Some people take the Cap only for that portion and the Pennsylvanian for the first part of their westward trip or last part of their eastward trip.

I hope they retire them from scheduled service but keep them for charters and specials to state fairs, sports events, and conventions. All those college football rivalries beg for a train of alums going to the big game (not a bowl, "just" a game between schools with taunting chants passed down...

Something can have more than one cause, but your letter points fingers and blame (disclaimer at the end notwithstanding) entirely and totally at Amtrak. My instinct with my limited knowledge, including that the weather really WAS atypical and fatally bitter some of the shutdown days, is that...

These things are at various stages. *Second train CHI-MSP is happening this year. It'll use existing equipment and existing Hiawatha slots. Money for track improvements has been appropriated, and it's been agreed to begin service without all the improvements completed and then update the...

The Metra commuter lines in Chicago use a lot of gas switch heaters with open flames to keep switches clear. The visual of multiple switches at a major crossing (like where the UP West crosses the Milwaukee lines by the latter's Western Ave. station) grabs the attention of TV and online news...

Swapping ends is a lot less time-consuming and disruptive than a wye. And half the seats in the Venture cars face each way. I'm sure some people will sit with their traveling companion(s) in a four-seater with a table, get up at Madison to stretch their legs, and sit back down facing their...