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Generally I think taxing consumptive activities like buying expensive new cars and encouraging maintenance of existing cars is a good thing (and I live in a state where registration is a fraction of your car's depreciated value), provided it's not targeted at one particular market segment. As...

As long as we're discussing airline economics... one more to throw into the mix: it is outrageously expensive to park a 737 (or even a Cessna) on the ground overnight at many of the busy hubs. Flying an almost-empty plane to an airport with cheap or free parking is a good business move. It was...

What I want -- selfish non-Washington-resident that I am --- is for there to be easy transfers from the Starlight and Builder to the Vancouver trains. I have these visions (from 35 years ago, now) of seeing cross-platform transfers from the Starlight to the San Diegan, and from the LSL to the...

I was speaking, in round terms, of my impression that (before the pandemic) the Starlight ran full through California even in the offseason, more so than the length of any one person's ride. (It is the only long distance train I've seen overbooked to the point of people sprawling asleep in the...

It seems an odd decision - in what possible universe can they make more running carrying people 50 miles 3 times a week, than 500 miles every day? Even 3 coaches feels like, well, a 2022 consist for the Starlight. I would imagine that at least in California those seats were close to selling out...

May I ask if that was at the very beginning of the Superliner age, just after the time when the Pioneer had a Heritage sleeper and an Amdinette but Superliner coaches? Or was that the latter-day Denver Pioneer that ran up to 7 or 8 cars without a lounge?

Not unique - a total of eleven Superliner I coaches had snack bars added downstairs in the early 80s. They have had assignments on various short-distance trains (Seattle-Portland before the Talgos were built, San Joaquins before the California cars were built) and in happier times when the...

Instead of commenting on weatherproof railroads of the past, I'll express my disappointment in weatherproof railroads of the present. I am thinking of that January 1977 cold snap, that was featured prominently in the current Trains magazine, that brought steam-heated equipment to its knees, but...

The Heritage era is getting to be so long ago that next time someone does a North Carolina - style restoration of old equipment, they'll be doing it by refurbishing discarded Amfleets and Superliner Is, I imagine. At least that way we have some hope that the total number of cars in service...

Out of curiosity... is there any other place in the system that can accommodate the existing superliners, but cannot accommodate Plate F (17'0")? On the freight system, if your route is not limited to Plate E (15'9") it will almost certainly be certified to accommodate Plate F everywhere on the...

This cynic would say "abundantly available sleeper space went away 50 years ago, and it never was inexpensive." (Yes, it's even MORE outrageous now than it was before -- but it was expensive enough 40 years ago to be well out of reach for my parents, even for one special night of a cross-country...

I would note there are factors to consider other than purchase cost and ease of maintenance. (Indeed the maintenance savings would pretty much only apply to Chicago: right now, LA is maintaining only bilevels and Miami is maintaining only single-levels, despite the fact we have 2 types in the...

As Maglev said, the Builder crew has a particular obsession with closing down the diner 3 hours before arrival so they have time to...um... do whatever it is they do when the diner is closed. Last call for breakfast is when you go through the Cascade Tunnel. Before the schedule change this...

At a distance of 30 years it's hard to provide too many details --- when I said "engine" I meant those-things-at-the-front-of-the-train in general, not specifically any one component. I would assume it was traction motors overheating. As ehbowen mentioned, at low speeds the limit is on current...

You can have breakfast eastbound if you get up early - diner opens at 6:30, just after you go through the Flathead Tunnel if you are on time. You won't get dinner westbound. On the new schedule you won't board until about 10pm.

A much simpler project, putting solar panels on the roofs of Amshacks in sunny areas, might well pay for itself. I am hoping to someday see a lot of elevated solar panels above parking lots, so that I can park in the shade and walk into a building in the shade, at the same time as the sun is...

I've never smelled it upstairs - but I was under the impression that this was simply a fact of life in the H room -- just what you expect with an in-room toilet and 4 more of them right outside your door. It is one of the reasons I don't want to see in-room toilets in any future roomettes. That...

I hear a lot of people saying "the Cascade Tunnel is at capacity." That capacity being in the vicinity of one train per hour (WADOT says 28 trains per day.) I can't help observing it carries somewhat less than half that, at present: the Skykomish webcam logs show 12-14 trains most days, and when...

The Black Hawk still shows in the November 1969 Official Guide. The spring 1970 BN timetable advertises a connection to the Pioneer Limited (but no mention of any assistance getting the Milwaukee station to catch it.)

At least at one time, there was some some sort of very expensive and invasive "40-year inspection" that was required when a passenger car turned 40 years old. I do not know the details of what it entailed --- but throughout the 80s and early 90s, it was cited as the reason why the Heritage Fleet...