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Although I've made the 1/14 11/2 connection in LAX perhaps 20 times or more, 2 years ago, on a 3+ hour late #11, they got me off at Martinez, train down to Bakersfield, then 2 hr bus ride to LAX so I could make #2. Turned out that #11 made up time and arrived 20 minutes before #2 scheduled...

After reading about someone on another site booking a trip to 'try out' the restored Night Owl/Twilight Shorliner/65-66-67 sleeper as their first Amtrak trip since Covid, I decided to do the same and booked the same trip in mid-April as he posted his itinerary. I was stunned to find that the...

Pre-Covid, I was a 'frequent rider' from WNL. Breathing problems with a mask on are a problem for me, so I haven't been on a train in 13 months. Living only a few miles north in East Longmeadow, it was a choice of $10/day in a lot in SPG, or free at WNL. I've left my car there for days at a...

Until Covid, I was a frequent enough traveler in the SPG(WNL) - WAS corridor that most of the crew recognized me and I got to know a couple of them as well. The only constant was they were continuously being bumped or had bid to new schedules. One SPG-NHV conductor switched over to the new...

Amtrak closed the WOR ticket office several years ago, based on what I read at he time. I've passed through on #449 or #448 a couple of times per year, but never got off to look around. I don't remember if there are or aren't a bench or two outside on the platform. Maybe there's a Dunkin...

Amtrak's web site is so screwed up these days. The LD 3x has messed up short-hauls on LD trains. A couple of days ago, in conjunction of trying the new 'Night Owl' sleeper, I was looking at taking #449 BOS-SPG, a distance of 98 miles. Regardless of what day I chose, it showed ZERO trains. I...

In the 15 or more times I've ridden either #421/422 CHI-LAX in the past 20 years or so, I've learned that WHERE they wye the train and WHEN seems to change every couple of years. It might be affected by arrival tardiness as well. As I recall SAS, there's only 2 tracks at the station for Amtrak...

Being a very regular Windsor Locks passenger pre-Covid, coming home (northbound), perhaps 75-80% of the passengers get off at Hartford CT, regardless of whether it's a 2 car shuttle/flyer train or an 8 car train #148. After 6PM or so, perhaps 7-10 people get off at Windsor and about the same at...

The key phrase is 'way behind'. That assumes someone at Amtrak HQ or operations center cares 2 cents about trying to make up time and contacting the fuel company an hour before arrival. That further assumes that even if contacted, the fuel company is already fed up at the late train delaying...

I can't recall any subway tunnels in the USA that are NOT lit. Most are quite dimly lit, though. For emergency purposes, once one's eyes are acclimated to the lower light levels, it should be sufficient to exit the tunnel in an emergency. All of the tunnels along the NEC are lit. Again...

WPAFB was a SAC base while I was there. I think they've vacated since, though. While living in the barracks for my first 18 months or so there, although a sometimes heavy drinker myself, the 'SAC-rats' in the barracks, mostly mechanics, were true lushes! I wouldn't trust them to change a...

I've been told by a couple of private pilots in the past 40-50 years that following roads is sometimes the easiest way to navigate...if they already know, for example, that Interstate xx goes straight to whatever city. In the early 1970s while in the USAF, one of my railfan friends was an air...

Living in the Springfield MA area, I've taken a number of one-day 'triangle' trips to get each half of BOS-ALB. Leaving shortly after 6AM each day from the first stop after departing Springfield on #141 to NYP, I'd either get off at NHV, take a regional or Acela to BOS, then #449 back to SPG...

I'll add to that: That were made public... It's no different than the number of companies that I've regularly dealt with online that have received verifiable letters indicating their computers have been breached and my information compromised. I can only think of ONE - that's ONE - of the 8-9...

I have to take the opposite side from that of a number of prior respondents. The thought that the railroads would continue to run without all the aid of electronics just because they used to in the days of steam engines is a complete fallacy. For starters, they ran on train orders to manually...

ABSOLUTELY NOT!! Many have already responded with numerous reasons why not. But I'd like to add to that: 1. Perhaps only a few on this forum remember the time when smoking was only allowed in the lounge car. Every time I walked in, I was greeted by a thick cloud of smoke. When I got back to...

Years ago, I acquired a pair of quite large duffel bags with wheels at Walmart, as I recall. They have a hard plastic 'base' the length of them that opened up to allow 2-3" of stuff to be put in there. The wheels were at one end and an extendable handle at the other. The canvas-like duffle...

Between having to deal with a mask 100% of the time while in any station (even outside platforms, I presume), riding the NEC, and while in public areas on an LD train (there's absolutely NO WAY I'll keep the mask on in my roomette!), I simply unwilling to put up with the <expletive deleted>...

I don't have any measurements, but I can say that the space under the lower seat in roomettes is sufficient to put a nearly-empty rolling airline carry-on size bag under the bed in both Viewliners and Superliners. I'd add maybe 8 inches above that for the frame, seat cushion, and 1" foam...

One cannot forget the CHI departure of #21/421 is timed to be 'slotted in' with other westbound LD departures (afternoons to mesh with AM arrivals from the East) AND avoids the Metra rush hour trains. It also has to provide daylight arrival and departure times both ways at STL, DAL and FTW...