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Philmont Scout Ranch in Cimarron NM is the premier Boy Scout High Adventure camp and considered to be the pinnacle of scouting. I went there this summer on the SWC as an adult advisor on my son's crew. It is a 45 minute school bus ride from Raton to Philmont. In 2018 there was a huge...

Thanks again everyone for the answers! This is a great forum. One last (I think?) question: Is there Wifi on the SWC? It doesn't look like it.

Thank you so much everyone for your replies! Lots of great information. In particular, the timetables, route guide, delay website, and baggage/loading. For the person who asked, we are doing Itinerary 9-2. 34 miles, lots of programming, climb of Mt Baldy. I have a few follow-up questions: -...

In mid-July, I'll be traveling with a group of 23 people (8 adults, 15 scouts ages 13-17) from Milwaukee WI to Philmont Scout Ranch (Raton) in New Mexico. It has been over a decade since I last used Amtrak (SEA to MKE, coach; and MKE to NO, roomette) I'd like to get some information about what...

The 2008 Hiawatha extension to Madison had an ultimate buildout of 17 daily trains CHI/MKE, with 10 of them continuing to Madison and 7 of them continuing to Green Bay. The Eau Claire route is a bit of a mystery to me. The study for the 2nd daily for CHI/MKE/MSP did include this routing as...

My understanding was that there was some legal reason that Metra could not operate in Wisconsin, past the first station (i.e. Kenosha) But that seemed strange to me since the lawmakers can just change the laws to make it legal, if that's what they really wanted. Milwaukee looks like it is...

I'm pro-rail, and I voted for Walker. I think the state really needs a belt-tightening all around and based on his record as Milwaukee County Executive I knew he could do it. The past decade has seen our state's structural deficits go up every year, and for the most part the last two governors...

This is apples to oranges. A. The Boston metro area is much bigger than the Madison metro area B. The train time from downtown Boston to downtown New York is better than the drive time. C. The parking situations in those downtowns are much more expensive than downtown Madison or Milwaukee...

Yes, Mitchell Airport stands to be a big winner in all of this. But, because of airport fees or some other factors (perhaps a business or industry in Madison that has a lot of travel to a certain city), I could see the Madison airport getting some Milwaukee travelers for some flights. It...

1. Having the stop downtown means a one-seat ride. That is CRITICAL. People don't want to transfer to a bus or another rail system. From the downtown station they'll be able to walk to their destination. These train riders aren't materializing out of thin air, they are being coaxed from...

Here's a post from another forum that has pictures showing the preliminary designs for a new train shed. I thought WisDOT got stimulus money for it, but I'm not sure.

I listen to conservative talk radio every day. I'm VERY familiar with their tired arguments against it and how controversial it is. The HSR project from Madison to St. Paul will cost Wisconsin over $1 billion. What's an extra 20% if that makes the service 30% better? I don't know what the...

I think it is a great move to put the station in downtown Madison. Frankly, for there to be any hope of an extension to St. Paul, the route to Madison MUST be a success. And there's no way it was going to be a success with just a stop at the airport. Perhaps they'll completely reroute the St...

The existing locomotives will initially power the new Talgo trainsets. But according to the Wisconsin ARRA application, part of their $810 million will be used to buy eight new diesel locomotives. On another forum, a very knowledgeable poster said that presumably they will be the Talgo XXI...

Is that in this phase though with the money they now have? I haven't seen anything yet about the actual operations of the extended Hiawatha.

The two new Talgo trainsets that Wisconsin purchased last summer will replace the existing two Amtrak trainsets that operate the seven daily round trips. That translates to basically the same capacity as we have now. As a part of Wisconsin's $800+ million ARRA award for the Madison train...

Wow, that's great news! I would have definitely used that line at least for one end of my Amtrak trip to New Orleans in 2008. This article has a link to a map showing the different proposed lines. If they can also get money for the Convention Center and French Quarter loops, that would be a...

Scott Walker is not just anti-rail, but anti-transit. His "support" for express busses only goes as far as it needs to in order to block rail. The $91.5 million was divided up in March 2009 and there hasn't been a peep out of the county about the express busses it was wanting. Walker only...

I hope you're right that once they start spending the money, they'll need to spend it all and actually run some trains. Although if only a few million get spent by the time Walker is in office (early 2011), I could easily see him stopping work, repaying the Feds their few millions, and saying...

Scott Walker is just about as anti-rail as you get. In this case he does have a point about where the operating money is going to come from. But he has not shown ANY desire to compromise on any rail anywhere. He opposes HSR. He opposes the KRM commuter rail. He opposes the Milwaukee...