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Gulped hard and booked our train trip for this summer for us and our 10 year old granddaughter--Keystone to NYC, Lake Shore Limited to Chicago, Southwest Chief to LA, and Surfliner to San Diego. (With a flight back to Seattle in time for the All Star Game--though she is more excited about the...

Lots of people got stranded at Seatac Airport in Seattle during the storm on Wednesday. All three runways were shut down, which had never happened before, so all flights got cancelled over a seven hour stretch. Worse yet, public transit got completely shut down, so those who got to the airport...

Well, I'm not sure what the markup is on other stuff, but the cafe sells a glass of Woodbridge wine for 8 dollars. I just checked my local supermarket--a 1.5 liter bottle, with 10 glasses, for 10 dollars. So, assuming that Amtrak paid a retail price--which they almost certainly don't--their...

Yes, community seating has long been the practice. In fact, it would be hard for the dining car to serve all the sleeper passengers without community seating, at least within normal dining hours. During the pandemic, community seating was discontinued, but then again, passenger volume was low...

Given the price being charged for wine compared with its wholesale price to Amtrak, I would guess that the cost of the attendant would easily be paid from alcohol alone, not the mention the additional cafe food sales from those who would not buy vending machine food but would buy non-vending...

I was listening online to the BBC World Service and came across a half hour documentary on Indian rail, particularly focusing on plans to electrify the system. A good, half hour listen...and apparently the link will work for a year. https://www.bbc.co.uk/sounds/play/w3ct4lrg

Ah, thanks...too bad, though. So back to gaffers tape and cardboard for me!

We're taking a couple of LD trains this summer and I will definitely want to deal with the ceiling vents in the Superliner. Has anyone tried using those magnetic vent covers that go over heating registers? I was thinking they'd be reusable and handier than messing around with cardboard and...

Amusing that your reference to what I assume is the South Lake Union Transit streetcar got asterixed for the acronym. But on the substance, both lines--the South Lake Union and the First Hill lines do connect to the Link Light Rail System, and the First Hill line connects to the Sounder...

Thanks so much to all of you for your terrific ideas! And, although Philadelphia won't be on this itinerary, I have copied the Philly suggestions into a file. Since my granddaughter has just moved to Lancaster, I know there will be a lot of Philly daytrips when we visit--as soon as they get a...

The backstory on the planned trip is that we had for many years promised our granddaughter than, in lieu of getting toys for her birthday and Christmas, we were going to arrange a trip for her, anywhere in the world she wanted, with me and Grandpa, when she was 10 or 11. (The idea is that she'd...

Call Amtrak and ask for Customer Relations, not Customer Service. They can and do issue refunds and vouchers for unsatisfactory experiences on Amtrak, and I cannot imagine a less satisfactory experience than missing the train because of being locked out of the boarding area! As always when...

Oregon's coastal towns are a delight. Now that I am retired, we plan to do more Pacific Northwest touring around to take full advantage of the area.

I'm willing to apply it as broadly as possible. Making short-term shareholder profits the touchstone of running a company--any company--tends to be disastrous for the public at large. A short-term mindset in general creates the functional equivalent of failing the marshmallow test--where kids...

I showed my husband, a retired Boeing engineer, these posts, and he concurred that Trogdor and 33 Nicolas's posts are a succinct and accurate assessment of the situation. It's terrible what the merger caused at Boeing, and the consequences have been tragic. When shareholder value becomes the...

Seattle has an easy system--don't bother checking for fares at all. We pay because it's the right thing to do, but hardly anyone seems to. This came in during the early days of the pandemic, and has continued till just recently. Now they are going to use employees to spot check fares, but if...

For me, the issue isn't privacy, it's safety. In an open coach area, it is less likely that women travelers will be assaulted. That's why I am okay with being on a plane overnight with strangers and no privacy. But in a secluded area with several strangers? I wouldn't recommend risking it...

How was the trip? Anything special to commemorate the re-start of the service?

They'll be ready once the Blue Jays clinch the playoffs. Having players unable to travel to Toronto for the playoffs would not be a good look for MLB, so I am assuming the timing here is being accelerated via 'conversations' with MLB.

A shame that enhanced service between Spokane and Seattle isn't there. This is not just a convenience but, during the winter, a practical necessity given how often storms close the passes between Eastern and Western Washington.