The Empire Builder on the Northeast Corridor

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Tracktwentynine

OBS Chief
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Amtrak has a new website dedicated to marketing to gay and lesbian travelers. On one webpage, they advertise taking Amtrak to Martha's Vineyard. Which is all well and good.

But along with a paragraph about the Northeast Regional, they include this picture (with the label "Northeast Regional"). It's actually the Empire Builder near Marias Pass in Montana.

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Oops.
 
That is like the facebook posting they had today of a blog post about taking amtrak in the NEC. The picture was a superliner - I think maybe the SWC based on the scenery.
 
That is like the facebook posting they had today of a blog post about taking amtrak in the NEC. The picture was a superliner - I think maybe the SWC based on the scenery.
The OP already said it is the EB, and I'm also sure that it's the EB.
Yes, I am sure that the picture above and the one on the ridewithpride site is the EB. I am sorry if I was not clear, but I was referring to a different picture that amtrak posted on FB today with a blog post about the NEC. I actually then clicked on the blog post and I believe the error is actually the blogger, but nonetheless, it was another example of someone posting a picture of a superliner while referring to travel on the NEC.
 
You know, if it was upstate New York, I could see some ditz in the ad office mixing up "Empire Builder" and "Empire Corridor" or "Empire Service". That would be a fair mixup, and not unlike how on hearing of the Crescent Star I once got it in my mind that somehow the Crescent and the Silver Star were getting stuck together.

But the Builder and the NE Regional? Wow.
 
That is like the facebook posting they had today of a blog post about taking amtrak in the NEC. The picture was a superliner - I think maybe the SWC based on the scenery.
The OP already said it is the EB, and I'm also sure that it's the EB.
Yes, I am sure that the picture above and the one on the ridewithpride site is the EB. I am sorry if I was not clear, but I was referring to a different picture that amtrak posted on FB today with a blog post about the NEC. I actually then clicked on the blog post and I believe the error is actually the blogger, but nonetheless, it was another example of someone posting a picture of a superliner while referring to travel on the NEC.
I'm sorry. I did not understand. Could you provide a link to the blog post?
 
That is like the facebook posting they had today of a blog post about taking amtrak in the NEC. The picture was a superliner - I think maybe the SWC based on the scenery.
The OP already said it is the EB, and I'm also sure that it's the EB.
Yes, I am sure that the picture above and the one on the ridewithpride site is the EB. I am sorry if I was not clear, but I was referring to a different picture that amtrak posted on FB today with a blog post about the NEC. I actually then clicked on the blog post and I believe the error is actually the blogger, but nonetheless, it was another example of someone posting a picture of a superliner while referring to travel on the NEC.
I'm sorry. I did not understand. Could you provide a link to the blog post?
Blog post that was posted on the amtrak FB page today:

http://www.frugaltravelguy.com/2012/07/amtrak-how-to-travel-in-the-northeast.html

www.facebook.com/amtrak - scroll down a little bit, it was posted 6 hours ago.
 
That is like the facebook posting they had today of a blog post about taking amtrak in the NEC. The picture was a superliner - I think maybe the SWC based on the scenery.
The OP already said it is the EB, and I'm also sure that it's the EB.
Yes, I am sure that the picture above and the one on the ridewithpride site is the EB. I am sorry if I was not clear, but I was referring to a different picture that amtrak posted on FB today with a blog post about the NEC. I actually then clicked on the blog post and I believe the error is actually the blogger, but nonetheless, it was another example of someone posting a picture of a superliner while referring to travel on the NEC.
I'm sorry. I did not understand. Could you provide a link to the blog post?
Blog post that was posted on the amtrak FB page today:

http://www.frugaltra...-northeast.html

www.facebook.com/amtrak - scroll down a little bit, it was posted 6 hours ago.
Wow, this is just horribly inaccurate. The first picture is #469 running the Cascades, when it's supposed to be in the NEC. Then the second pictures is the CZ at Glenwood Springs, again totally inaccurate. If you look closely, you can see "Glenwood Springs" written beside the train, so it is clearly the CZ, not SWC.

edit: error, don't have ieSpell.
 
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The webpage is partially cut off when I read it. It is probably fake.
I checked the "whois" entry. The registrant says "Amtrak" but not much else. The ISP is a host out of Lansing, MI. The DNS is EZITSOLUTIONS.NET

The domain seems to have been registered via GoDaddy. Of course, GoDaddy could be maksing the real registrant (ie. "private registration").

At any rate my extended family has owned property on Martha's Vineyard for almost 50 years. The first picture is accurate - it's the clay cliffs of Aquinnah (formerly, Gay Head). Although that must be a very old picture because the cliffs have suffered a lot of natural erosion and there's been a lot of development nearby. The other pictures also seem accurate, but I'm not up on all the resorts in Edgartown (my family was all Vineyard Haven/Oak Bluffs). My aunt/uncle, who introduced me to Oak Bluffs are both now buried there... my aunt only recently (within the last two months).

It's weird, though. The "historically recognized" gathering place for the LGBT community in that area has always been Provincetown, on the cape's horn. This is the first I've heard of the Vineyard being advertized as such.
 
My guess is that they chose the vineyard because its an easy connection via amtrak. If you wanted to go to P-town, that's also an easy ferry ride away from BOS, though.
 
I think the site was a fake one..and a fairly convincing one at that. But why go to the effort of creating a mock Amtrak Site? To promote gay causes?

The underlying rationale that impelled folks to create this forgery totally eludes me
 
That is like the facebook posting they had today of a blog post about taking amtrak in the NEC. The picture was a superliner - I think maybe the SWC based on the scenery.
The OP already said it is the EB, and I'm also sure that it's the EB.
Yes, I am sure that the picture above and the one on the ridewithpride site is the EB. I am sorry if I was not clear, but I was referring to a different picture that amtrak posted on FB today with a blog post about the NEC. I actually then clicked on the blog post and I believe the error is actually the blogger, but nonetheless, it was another example of someone posting a picture of a superliner while referring to travel on the NEC.
It was clear to me that you were talking about another picture.
 
My guess is that they chose the vineyard because its an easy connection via amtrak. If you wanted to go to P-town, that's also an easy ferry ride away from BOS, though.
I gather via Amtrak -->PVD -->BUS--> New Bedford Ferry. I'm a "traditionalist." I always took the ferry to/from Woods Hole. :D
 
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Someone please explain me why does Amtrak need to have a separate website for gay and lesbian travelers? Isn't it contradictory to the idea they want to promote- that gay and lesbian travelers are welcome on Amtrak as equally as hetrosexual people? To me the idea of separate site sounds like "Hey look, Amtrak caters to normal people, and you gay and lesbian people too" indirectly marginalizing them. A train is a train for everyone, use the same site. Does Amtrak have separate websites for Hispanics, Blacks, Asians, physically handicapped passengers etc?
 
Someone please explain me why does Amtrak need to have a separate website for gay and lesbian travelers? Isn't it contradictory to the idea they want to promote- that gay and lesbian travelers are welcome on Amtrak as equally as hetrosexual people? To me the idea of separate site sounds like "Hey look, Amtrak caters to normal people, and you gay and lesbian people too" indirectly marginalizing them. A train is a train for everyone, use the same site. Does Amtrak have separate websites for Hispanics, Blacks, Asians, physically handicapped passengers etc?
At the risk of taking this thread even further off track, I would respond that a savvy marketer figures out what people are interested in and customizes pitches to them. I have no idea why Martha's Vineyard is a destination of choice for gay and lesbian travelers, but let's assume for the moment that it is. Why shouldn't Amtrak call attention to the fact that you can travel there via Amtrak. ("Hey, you can take the train even though

you're going to an island!")

Amtrak already markets to certain niches: Outdoors enthusiasts, music afficianados, and (shudder) Mets fans!

That's right: That person sitting next to you on the Acela could be a Mets fan. Not that there's anything wrong with that.
 
Someone please explain me why does Amtrak need to have a separate website for gay and lesbian travelers? Isn't it contradictory to the idea they want to promote- that gay and lesbian travelers are welcome on Amtrak as equally as hetrosexual people? To me the idea of separate site sounds like "Hey look, Amtrak caters to normal people, and you gay and lesbian people too" indirectly marginalizing them. A train is a train for everyone, use the same site. Does Amtrak have separate websites for Hispanics, Blacks, Asians, physically handicapped passengers etc?

Careful, you will soon be called a homophobe, at least that is what happened to me on another thread. I am with you, the use of labels only perpetuates our differences instead of making us inclusive. We are humans, first, after all. Beyond that, who cares?
 
When I saw the name of this thread, I thought it was referring to something like the "North Jersey Coast Empire Builder", so nick-named by railfans back in the '70's, when New Jersey acquired a bunch of hand-me-down cars from the Burlington Northern to run between Newark and Bay Head Junction. What a treat for commuters back then to relax in the deeply reclining seats on their commute.... :)
 
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