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I'm not absolutely certain, but I think the floor of the lower level of most or all bilevel cars is lower than the axle. The only way that it could work is with very small wheels (which would be much bumpier) or split axles where the left wheel and right wheel were independently mounted on...

Who says Amtrak gets to stop paying their employees the instant the train arrives at its destination? Amtrak. They should pay the crew for whatever reasonable amount of time it takes to finish up their duties after arrival. It sounds like the dining car crew should be paid for another hour...

Got the same email about half an hour ago! I only took two Amtrak trips last year, a round trip on Acela BOS-PHL in November (business) and a round-trip Boston to Salinas, CA in May (nephew's wedding), but that was apparently enough. I hope I can travel much more this year.

Don't forget Meteor Crater and the Petrified Forest, both near Winslow, AZ, the stop before Flagstaff (West bound), or about 45 minutes and 1.5 hours east of Flagstaff, respectively, by car.

It is important that the floors be flat, not necessarily level. (Otherwise, wheelchair ramps couldn't exist!) On some trains, the plates pivot up and down so the end of one car is even with the beginning of the next car, even when the plates have to tilt some to do it, so there is never any...

What a stupid name! "Screen door" is a term that has been in use for doors with screens in them for at least 150 years.

Screen doors? Doors with windows that have screens instead of glass? On a subway?

I had to do that once, and they put me in business class between Boston and Albany (both ways) and fed me. (I had a roomette in the New York sleepers between Albany and Chicago.) On the east-bound trip, however, dinner was a salad that was mostly still frozen. Fortunately, I was planning to...

Unlikely. Any new bi-level would have the same height restrictions as the SuperLiners. (Using more modern design, they might be able to get an inch or two of additional height by making the roof and 2nd floor structure a little thinner, but they would still have to pass crash test strength...

I had David on the LSL from BOS to ALB (my first LD trip and I didn't understand the ticketing and accidently booked a change of roomettes at Albany!) and he was terrific. He put a 3x5 card over my door with my name on it so I could find my roomette. I didn't know that wasn't SOP.

I took the Acela BOS to Philadelphia last Sunday and back on Wednesday, and it was sold out (and packed most of the way) both days.

In order to use a wye to change direction, a train has to back up through it. It needs a loop to avoid a backup, and there probably isn't room anywhere near the Rutland station. That said, there is a fork about 1000' SE of the Rutland station, and they could probably build a connecting track...

/pedant mode on I would disagree. "The Orient" is Asia, and Asia begins at the Bosporus, about a block from the train tracks. I don't know where the station was 100 years ago, but I doubt it was more than a walking distance from the ferry terminal. According to Wikipedia, one of the tunnels...

I think (but am not certain, and it's not like the MBTA has never totally screwed anything up in the past, say 72 hours), the fare gates at North Station are between the platforms and the station, and you need a ticket (either an MBTA commuter rail ticket or an Amtrak ticket) to pass through...

Thanks! I've travelled from Boston to Philly about a half dozen times and never figured out how to make this connection, and always paid the subway fare. (Well, the first time, I took a cab from 30th Street not knowing about the convenience of the subway.) I'm doing it again in about a month...

Yes, but what created the labor shortage in the first place? Amtrak management laid off large numbers of employees (including maintenance people) and then couldn't hire them back because they retired or got other jobs. If they had them (especially the maintenance people) instead working on...

That will only affect a few miles before the particular bridge being reconstructed until the next crossover after the bridge. Or is every single bridge between New Rochelle and New Haven going to be restricted to 2 tracks for the next 28 years?

Planning? What's "Planning"?

I don't know how long they typically take, but if it was more than a few days, I might get antsy. But if it is not until November, with all that is going on, they are probably dealing with more immediate situations first. Second, your train might not actually be cancelled. They might be...

That may be true, but the railroads were the direct beneficiaries of the government, in the 19th century, granting them the original ROWs and enormous tracts of adjoining land with the intent that they sell the land to settlers and use the income to finance the construction. The very...