Recent content by fredmcain

Thanks for clearing this up. I think I can see what happened now. Back in the old days of the AT&SF Railway, this would probably not have happened. They would’ve kept the line running albeit with delays. Raton and Glorietta passes can get heavy snow but nothing like Donner, so Donner Pass is not...

I have a couple of friends who recently boarded the eastbound SWC at LA in order to return to Indiana. Just an hour or two west of Albuquerque, there was an onboard announcement that the line ahead "was blocked" due to a "snowstorm". (But I'm not sure if it was actually a "snowstorm" or...

There has been an awful lot of talk lately concerning Tucson-Phoenix passenger service and developing the service into a "corridor" with several round trips per day. In fact, I think that federal funds for this to finance a study have already been approved. But what I'm wondering is whether it...

George, Thanks so much for the most interesting post and the information.

Mr. Anderson, When you say Virginia, are you referring to the defunct SCL line that was once a mainline that the State has been trying to revive? There is, as you say, a similarity there but also a difference. The difference is that the West Phoenix line has some definite freight potential...

Dear Mr. Anderson, Actually, to have Amtrak or the State of Arizona buy and reopen the West Phoenix Line (WPL) is a possibility that has been looked into and even studied by the Arizona DOT. My own personal, honest and humble feeling is that a private business such as the Union Pacific...

Alanh, My memory of what happened was that the SP approached Amtrak asking for help in maintaining the line west of Buckeye. By 1995 the SP only operated one, usually rather short, daily freight from Phoenix to Yuma. The SP believed that the much longer, circuitous route via Picacho could...

Actually, my memory is that it was actually the SP that took the West Phoenix Line (WPL) out of service a year or so before the UP took over. But I can no longer recall the exact date. Surely, we can find that somewhere. Here is my idea of what could be done *IF* Amtrak ever gets sufficient...

Justin, I wish I could provide you with more information on this but, unfortunately, I’ve never tried to do this. Last winter when we went out, we got off at Flagstaff and had a driver come up and fetch us at the depot. That worked pretty well. From my perspective, since I would be coming from...

I have long felt that as far as L.D. trains go, running head-end equipment carrying pre-sorted mail would help out a lot. I have always felt that Graham Claytor Jr. was on the right track with that. Then later, Thomas Downs came in and by cutting most of the LD trains to less than daily...

Is anyone aware as to whether or not Amtrak plans to buy new Superliner equipment? Do they even intend to do so? I have long felt that not only is this necessary to expand any new L.D. routes such as making trains 1 and 2 daily or a new long-distance train across Montana, which appears to be...

You know, it's not just Amtrak in my own honest and humble opinion. It kinda seems to me like nothing in America works very well anymore. I'm old enough that I know how things were 50+ years ago and they weren't like this! Things really got bad in our country when the pandemic hit but...

Well, although it was a number of months ago now, back in March my wife and I took the Southwest Chief out to Arizona and back. It was one of the best trips on Amtrak that I've ever had. The on-board service crew was very helpful and friendly. Our best experience was in the dining car. At...

In my own personal, honest and humble opinion, bringing back the National Limited is NOT feasible nor is it feasible to bring back any other L.D. trains until and unless Amtrak acquires more equipment. And as of right now, Amtrak does not appear to be seriously pursuing this.

This kinda supports my contention that the truck driver was at fault. Of course, nothing has been proven yet. It will take time to sort out all the details of what actually happened. I think that the historical precedent of the law is that at an unguarded crossing on a lightly traveled dirt...