Amtrak Status Maps, Amsnag, ASM Alerts

[Ted Bell]

In the meantime try this for Amsnag, at least until Amtrak catches up with it.

Posts like this on Facebook probaby aren't helping:

 

[Ryan]

The odd thing is that most airlines have a "my dates are flexible" search that do exactly that. United's seems to be the best, you can pull up a calendar and get prices for every day for a month at a time. It's been real helpful in planning our trip to HNL this coming Christmas.

That said, how hard is it to get Amsnag up and running on a different sever to help split the load? I'd gladly host it on my server space (and keep the URL distribution limited).

 

[John Bobinyec]

"That said, how hard is it to get Amsnag up and running on a different sever to help split the load? I'd gladly host it on my server space (and keep the URL distribution limited)."

I'm going to PM on this one.

jb

 

[SarahZ]

I believe Expedia has the monthly view too, or at least +3/-3 dates around your preferred dates. It was helpful when I flew to visit Brent when he still lived in ABQ. Sometimes I'd leave on a Tuesday instead of a Monday because it was $70 cheaper. I wish Amtrak had the "flexible dates" or at least the +3/-3. I'm having issues with our CZ trip right now because the buckets are all over the place and change every day (or so it seems).

 

[Ted Bell]

Posts like this on Facebook probaby aren't helping:

Interesting, Amtrak removed the posts with links, but left the post with the word "Amsnag":

 

[Phil S]

John - I see you added a "filter" option! It works great! Thanks so much. -- Phil

 

[PRR 60]

Posts like this on Facebook probaby aren't helping:

Interesting, Amtrak removed the posts with links, but left the post with the word "Amsnag":

Here's an idea for Amtrak. Instead of "working on" developing fare search, they could simply pay John for the rights and incorporate Amsnag into Amtrak.com. Maybe $10,000 would be fair compensation? No, I'm not kidding.

 

[Ryan]

That would be most excellent.

John, got your PM, I've got no great ideas. Sorry.

 

[John Bobinyec]

John - I see you added a "filter" option! It works great! Thanks so much. -- Phil

What filter option?

jb

 

[John Bobinyec]

Posts like this on Facebook probaby aren't helping:

Interesting, Amtrak removed the posts with links, but left the post with the word "Amsnag":

Here's an idea for Amtrak. Instead of "working on" developing fare search, they could simply pay John for the rights and incorporate Amsnag into Amtrak.com. Maybe $10,000 would be fair compensation? No, I'm not kidding.

Paul owns Amsnag.

jb

 

[xyzzy]

Few examples are XFK is Folkston, X2G is McIntosh, GA, and XN5 is Contentnea, NC. As far as the NEC, all interlcokings have a X code for tracking in Arrow.

It's too bad that Amtrak doesn't allow these codes to be queried. After the introduction of Flightaware, some airlines (e.g. Delta) are now providing semi-realtime aircraft locations on the website. With the gradual loss of monitorable ATCS on CSX lines, the X codes is really all we can use to determine where an Amtrak train is.

 

[SarahZ]

Tiny bit of feedback for Amsnag. First of all, thanks a ton for putting that together. Secondly, how hard would it be to add a drop-down for a specific train?

For example, when I search CHI to ABQ, I get the SWC plus an option to take the Missouri train. When I search CHI to EMY, I get several different trains on every date.

Would it be really difficult to add an option to only show a specific train, like the SWC or CZ? If so, just ignore me.

 

[xyzzy]

It's too bad that Amtrak doesn't allow the X codes to be queried by the public. After the introduction of Flightaware, some airline websites (e.g. Delta) now provide semi-realtime locations of aircraft en route. With the gradual loss of monitorable ATCS on the CSX A-line, the X codes are really all we could use to determine where an Amtrak train is.

 

[Phil S]

John - I see you added a "filter" option! It works great! Thanks so much. -- Phil

What filter option?

jb

Oh geez, I did it again! I meant Paul.

 

[PaulM]

Tiny bit of feedback for Amsnag. First of all, thanks a ton for putting that together. Secondly, how hard would it be to add a drop-down for a specific train?
For example, when I search CHI to ABQ, I get the SWC plus an option to take the Missouri train. When I search CHI to EMY, I get several different trains on every date.

Would it be really difficult to add an option to only show a specific train, like the SWC or CZ? If so, just ignore me.

Actually, someone who wanted to go from BOS to ALY (Albany, OR) beat you to the punch. My favorite is CHI to DEN via the Raton bus. In any event, try the new filter option. It uses check boxes. Eliminate (check) everything and then uncheck the connection(s) you want.

The tricky part was you have to do a 3 day dry run to pick up 3 day / week options. Then I realized the feature would be useful for wading through NEC results when you were interested in only a narrow time windows. Being from fly-over country, I was not aware schedules there depend on the day of the week. So I use Fri, Sat, Sun, and Mon.

Hopefully, this picks up all trains. Also, can anyone tell me if this is overkil, i.e., are NEC schedules similar to many transit systems where there are week day, Saturday, and Sunday/holiday schedules? I.e., are Fridays the same as Mondays?

 

[Ryan]

Looking at the new system timetable, I see trains listed as Daily, Mo-Fr, SaSu, Sa and Su, so it looks like you can just grab Friday or Monday.

 

[PaulM]

Looking at the new system timetable, I see trains listed as Daily, Mo-Fr, SaSu, Sa and Su, so it looks like you can just grab Friday or Monday.

I found 38 options on both Fri 1/25 and Mon 1/28. Digging through about half of the 38, it does appear the schedules are the same.

So Fri thru Sun should take care of both the 3 day/week and the NEC oddballs.

 

[PaulM]

Looking at the new system timetable, I see trains listed as Daily, Mo-Fr, SaSu, Sa and Su, so it looks like you can just grab Friday or Monday.

I found 38 options on both Fri 1/25 and Mon 1/28. Digging through about half of the 38, it does appear the schedules are the same.

So Fri thru Sun should take care of both the 3 day/week and the NEC oddballs.

Not quite! No's 93 and 2175 run on Monday, but not Friday.

 

[Ryan]

2175 should be Mo-Fr according to the timetable.

93 is Mo-Th with 83 being Friday only.

Although I just noticed the "Will not operate" and "Will also operate" rows. For example, 2175 will not operate 1/21,2/18, and 5/27. That'll really mess things up.