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  1. Maglev

    UP discouraged employees from reporting freight car defects (per news article)

    Tank cars hold about 30,000 gallons. Even at $1 per gallon value, the cost of refitting the tank cars pales in comparison to the value of what they haul.
  2. Maglev

    UP discouraged employees from reporting freight car defects (per news article)

    How much does it cost to equip a tank car with ECP? Trump's administration rescinded the requirement. https://www.phmsa.dot.gov/news/phmsa-rescinds-ecp-brake-mandate-after-ria-finds-costs-outweigh-benefits
  3. Maglev

    UP discouraged employees from reporting freight car defects (per news article)

    I'm afraid to click on an Apple News link; it takes me to some other weird program... Here's another link: https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2023/mar/03/us-rail-workers-east-palestine-ohio-train-crash One comment: rail lines do not only run through poor neighborhoods. Some of the most...
  4. Maglev

    Next Roomette Deal?

    Amtrak occasionally runs a special offer where a second person in a room does not pay any rail fare (the first person always pays railfare plus the accommodation charge). They refer to this as a "Buy-One-Get-One" offer, but in fact most of the cost of a room is the accommodation charge...
  5. Maglev

    Amtrak Metropolitan Lounges

    My dominant memory of South Station's lounge was a feeling of being too close to a ceiling that was designed to be viewed from a greater distance. @TimePeace 's third photo above illustrates this.
  6. Maglev

    Baggage checking

    I've seen people bring all kinds of stuff on trains--a large dog on an overnight trip, mountains of luggage... No wonder Amtrak crews are sometimes surly! The only person who has ever given me trouble with luggage is the lounge dragon in Los Angeles. We were within our limits on number of...
  7. Maglev

    Baggage checking

    I would not count on being allowed to make multiple trips.
  8. Maglev

    Locomotive in Middle of Freight Train?

    On an Empire Builder trip in 2021, I saw (and had read about) BNSF's coupling two trains together, so there were locomotives in the middle of a very long train.
  9. Maglev

    FRA Long Distance Service Study discussion

    Thank you for the rational explanation! It appears that the Silver Meteor is lacking some night-time running, too... I submitted the following comment: " The "Long-Distance Network Service and Performance Characteristics Time of Day Analysis: Daytime and Nighttime Service" (p. 58) map is...
  10. Maglev

    FRA Long Distance Service Study discussion

    Here's a link to the Trains day and night running map: https://www.trains.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/10/tm1103-amtrak-day-night.pdf
  11. Maglev

    FRA Long Distance Service Study discussion

    I even question the definition of 11 pm to 5 am as "nighttime." Are we only allowed six hours of sleep now? Average night length globally is twelve hours. 11 pm is about the latest I like to be getting home; I'd really prefer my train got into the station a while before then. With the Empire...
  12. Maglev

    FRA Long Distance Service Study discussion

    Trains 28 and 8 arrive in Spokane at 12:17 am and 12:37 am respectively. Yes, the last bit should be blue. This is interesting to me because I was specifically searching for point-to-point ridership figures for Seattle to Spokane, which I think are fairly high despite its being a...
  13. Maglev

    Should we say "good riddance" to the Acela 1s?

    I think the Acelas are remarkably un-aerodynamic, with those boxes on the roof at both ends of the cars. The power cars aren't bad; maybe one of them should end up in a museum.
  14. Maglev

    FRA Long Distance Service Study discussion

    It just bugs the crap out of me when I look at one thing in this report in detail about which I have prior knowledge, and the information in the report is incorrect. Should I believe the rest of what's there? The Empire Builder does not have daytime running from Seattle and Portland to...
  15. Maglev

    Farewell to the Queen of the Skies

    I remember a cockpit camera on an American Airlines DC-10, displayed on TV screens in the cabin. Those were such unsafe aircraft! Back on the topic of the 747, at the Museum of Flight, in the prototype 747, there are visible numerous cables running through the ceiling. I'm sorry for not...
  16. Maglev

    WSDOT retiring, selling Talgo trainsets, not acquiring "Wisconsin" trainsets yet

    One of the Talgo VI Bistro Cars, with the map of the Northwest Coast on the ceiling, has made it to a museum in Washington...
  17. Maglev

    Farewell to the Queen of the Skies

    My first flight on a 747 was Honolulu to Boston in June, 1973, on United Airlines. The plane had a coach lounge in the front of the coach section before first class. There was a scheduled stop in San Francisco, and we ended up changing planes (to another 747) there due to an engine reverser...
  18. Maglev

    Pacific Parlour Car Permanently Retired February 2018

    I don't remember that information from the article in Classic Trains about the Hi-Level cars.
  19. Maglev

    Pacific Parlour Car Permanently Retired February 2018

    One of the elements of modern design is ease of maintenance. The Pacific Parlour Cars were not easy to maintain. A truck overhaul could take weeks for a PPP, but only days for a Superliner.
  20. Maglev

    Comfortable, inexpensive travel Seattle to Pittsburgh

    When I was in high school (late '70's), I'd take the train to Florida for vacations and ride in coach. The car attendant would give pillows to all the passengers. Nowadays, a big problem is that there is no place to store all those pillows. Even current sleepers have limited storage for clean...
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