Recent content by Northwestern

A proposed happy hour, on the Zephyr, from Chicago to Galesburg. How about a 2nd happy hour from Glenwood Springs to Grand Junction. On the eastbound train, possibly Reno to Winnemucca and Winter Park to Denver.

I most definitely agree that a shutdown of the NEC would be a complete catastrophe. Truncating or eliminating the Cascades routes might not be as disastrous, but only because the Cascade ridership isn't as great as the NEC. However, for someone who travels a lot in the Pacific Northwest, it...

I guess grocery stores is a departure from the title of this thread. But, I wonder if there are any fans of Piggly Wiggly supermarkets? Back in my teens, my family drove back to Rochester, MN to visit my sister who was living there at the time. We once drove by a supermarket called, "Piggly...

Trader Joes doesn't always have healthy foods: https://is.gd/FhVFn9 I like Whole Foods for quality. It also seems to have very friendly check-out clerks.

I completely agree. Pod coffee makers would be a great replacement for the percolators between the sleepers. I think, however, if you have a little bin of coffee pods, the pods would be completely pilfered by the end of the day. Possibly you could have a coffee pod dispenser, accessed by a...

****************************************************************** I've often wondered if Amtrak management ever goes to "Amtrak Unlimited", or similar websites, to read about Amtrak passenger experiences. Especially, in this age, when just about everything you buy is followed by an email...

I think most would agree with Mr. Palmland's assessment of changes that Amtrak needs to make. I don't think, however, we will see improvements in Amtrak's employee selection, standards, and discipline. The 3 main and largest Amtrak needs, in my opinion, are: 1. A very, very significant...

Sanderson, Texas was near the site of one of the last great train robberies in Texas: https://is.gd/Qmr3Lz Ben Kilpatrick, on of the two train robbers, was an original member of Butch Cassidy's Wild Bunch gang.

***************************************** Good question. Also, are single seats, in business class, available on the Cascades? This summer I plan on a Cascade train from Portland to Seattle, then another Cascade from Seattle to Mt. Vernon. If single seats are available in BC. can you ask...

******************************************************** Well, too bad. I guess it gets down to renting a car, in East Glacier, and driving across the border into Alberta and Waterton Lakes park. The Customs border crossing point, I assume, would be the Chief Mountain customs station at...

I think another thing, affecting ridership counts, would be arrival time for a given Amtrak station. I don't know what the annual passenger traffic is for the Amtrak stations in Spokane and Salt Lake City, but I would have to think the passenger count would a lot higher if the EB and Zephyr...

THURMOND, WEST VIRGINIA, as mentioned by Caravanman, is the town where the movie "Matewan" was shot. Matewan is a movie about the "Battle of Matewan", where a famous coal miner strike took place back in 1920. https://is.gd/8kpCu7 The cinematography of the movie is superb. I'll bet not...

Is there a current bus service between East Glacier, Cut Bank, or Shelby across the border and up to Banff? I once thought of taking the Builder to East Glacier Park and head north to Waterton Park, but I didn't want to rent a car. t

Sanderson, Texas heads the list of the 10 loneliest Amtrak stations, based on passenger traffic. https://is.gd/LbBYT0 I thought Browning, Montana would have a lower passenger count. I used to live in Browning, and took the Empire Builder out of Browning several times. It is a seasonal...

https://is.gd/3YDyLK When Amtrak relaunched the CS Pacific Parlor car, from 2006-2009, the overall Starlight ridership increased 15%. I never believed Amtrak's excuse for eliminating the Parlor Car. I wish they would give it another try.