Recent content by oregon pioneer

If they downgrade you, you should be proactive and call immediately and ask to be booked on another train. This is assuming you have the time to take the Cap Ltd or the Cardinal through Washington DC? Both of those are very pretty routes, but they do take longer with the transfer to the NEC...

Don't they call it "talking Geordie?" I loved Newcastle, and the "mini-cruise" ferry sounds wonderful!

This is only a 49 minute connection, will they guarantee it? Chances are high you will miss it and be delayed two days. My solution to that problem is (and this is the ONLY solution if they won't book it as a guaranteed connection): I take the Coast Starlight to San Luis Obispo the day BEFORE I...

They must have canceled it, because today (2/8) there is no eastbound #8 showing (in fact, Train Status on amtrak dot com says yesterday's #8 was canceled). Today's 8/28 is suffering a "service disruption" and is scheduled to leave from SPK, with a bustitution between PDX/SEA and SPK.

A review, and a few photos, from my recent trip to California and return. On Friday January 24th, I boarded a Pacific Crest Amtrak connector bus at Bend's Hawthorn Station. There are restrooms and a warm place to sit at the station. The regional bus platform is on the north side of the building...

I've been watching that, as I have a bus from Bakersfield to Van Nuys next Wednesday afternoon. Does that bus take I-5, or a different route? Of course, this fire will probably not be an issue by then, but who knows where the next one will be? Have Watch Duty installed on both my iPad and phone...

I don't know about Schenectady, but I *have* had problems booking my desired itinerary even when I *knew* that it was possible. I had to call. When "Julie" answers the phone, just start repeating the word "agent" until she says I think you said you want to talk to an agent, is that correct?" Of...

I see that the train was truncated after MSP, and a bustituion was made. I never imagined that possibility! I can no longer sit up for too long without either getting up and walking around, or laying flat. I would be a basket case after a middle-of-the-night bustitution, and that might occasion...

1. You won't even need to make a claim on your trip insurance. Amtrak is really good to customers with guaranteed connections. This happened to me last January, just about the same time of year. When we had missed our connections, they sent an automatic rebooking on the next day's trains and...

T According to Train Status on amtrak dot com, today's Train #27 arrived fifteen minutes early at 11:02am (scheduled 11:17). Today's eastbound train #28 is scheduled to leave on-time at 4:45. The eastbound #8/28 that left yesterday lost 2 hours between Essex and Browning (Marias Pass) this...

asm.transitdocs.com says your westbound #7 is still in Montana, on-time at Shelby. By morning, it should be nearing Pasco WA. You can watch it on transitdocs, and see if it stays on time (amtrak expects that it will). #27 will show up separately on the map after they split the train at Spokane...

Thanks for the report and photos! Look forward to more as you go. Cell service gets spotty as you get into Montana, then nonexistent through the Rockies. You'll have good service again the last morning.

That's the current situation, as it was last February. I had the flex salmon and rice eastbound (it was served quite early, and the vegetables were pretty overcooked, but the salmon was OK). I was allowed anything I wanted from the cafe westbound. I had a turkey and cheese sandwich on a bun...

Would love to hear what the current response is if you ask flat-out whether the cafe lounge menu is an option for sleeper passengers.