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Those pillars in the middle of the CUS platforms pose another potential danger which hasn’t yet been touched upon in this thread. While there last May, we were sharing a Red Cap cart with another couple who were facing us and away from the direction of travel. The man extended one of his arms...

Are the Red Caps employees of Amtrak or Chicago Union Station? Who will be financially responsible for any lawsuits stemming from this cart accident?

Seeing the video of the Red Cap cart going off the edge of the platform, dumping its passengers onto the tracks below, and then falling onto the woman passenger, trapping her underneath, was a sobering wake-up call for us. Over the years, we’ve used these carts to get from the Chicago...

We're already looking forward to your trip report from this family adventure! Eric & Pat

To paraphrase a famous quote, reading a trip report, particularly a well written trip report, gives us someplace to go when we have to stay where we are. We’d just finished Caravanman’s thoroughly delightful trip report and then, just when we thought things couldn’t get any better, we’re...

Last September, a series of postings under the “Amtrak Dining Car and Café Service” thread discussed using personal heating devices in the coaches and sleepers. According to zephyr17, a sleeping car’s room outlets are on a 15A circuit that is shared with at least some other rooms. The use of...

Last month we booked a bedroom on the Southwest Chief from Chicago to Los Angeles using points and cash. Working with an agent, we paid for our bedroom from Chicago to Fort Madison using AGR points. We paid for our bedroom from Fort Madison to Los Angeles using our Guest Rewards card. We were...

In 2023, while we were riding west on Southwest Chief No. 3, an announcement was made that windows were not to be opened in order to smoke. If you did so, you would be put off the train. (We're not sure if the greater offense was opening the window or smoking or both.)

It is our understanding that if a SWC train is terminated in mid-passage and returns to its point of origin, those passengers who wish to return to the point of origin may do so, while keeping the same accommodations they had when they departed. They will also receive a full refund since they...

TinCan782 first mentioned this antenna in one of his posts which is how I found out about it.

Inside the Lounge there should be coffee, juice, sodas, water and hot water for tea. There will also be prepackaged snacks and fruit, although these tend to run out later in the day. The escalator up to the Food Court is located close by. There you will find a number of places where you can...

If your train enters a new time zone during a meal, the dining car will close using the old time zone's schedule.

This is how we judge that we're still able to go on long-distance train trips. We had no problems getting our carry-on items up the stairs last month so we're confidence we can do so again next year.

Before you brought this to our attention, we never really gave much thought to thru fares. (We also used our AGR points to pay for our connecting trains to LA and to Chicago so that obviously saved us some money.) Over time, we’ve accumulated what is for us a substantial number of points which...

We have no idea what the thru fare would have been and don't particularly care. Our main concern was to have a bedroom reservation in the 330 car from Chicago to LA and only by dealing with a live agent could that be accomplished with any degree of certainty. If by using our AGR points we...

zephry17, We’d actually run this idea passed you in a different thread earlier this year. You opined that, in theory, it should work, provided we dealt with a live agent. Again, this was the first time we attempted it and weren’t sure if we could pull it off. Much our delight, the AGR woman who...

This morning, we called Amtrak Guest Rewards and, working with an agent, booked a bedroom from Chicago to LA on SWC 3 using a combination of AGR points and cash. We used points to pay for the bedroom from Chicago to Fort Madison. We used our AGR card to pay for the bedroom from Fort Madison to...

If you make your reservations early enough, it might be possible to book the two roomettes on-line and then call to speak to an agent and arrange to have the roomettes you were assigned on-line to be changed so that they are across from each other. The key will be making the reservations early...

There is one postscript that needs to be added to our September trip report to make it complete. On our return trip on SWC No. 3, when we packed up just before arriving in Los Angeles, I somehow managed to leave my new Slim Duck scanner antenna behind in our bedroom. It was in a clear plastic...

Thank you so much for your Texas Eagle trip report. (It appears that you made this trip for the experience of the train ride itself and not specifically to visit Fort Worth.) We particularly liked the fact that you posted updates at regular intervals. (We looked forward to each new post to learn...