Infill Amtrak stops

[Ashland Train Enthusiast]

(1) Yes, VA plans to add Suffolk. The main issue is that the tracks in use now are not the tracks they ultimately plan to use, so they don't want to build a station just to have it become redundant in a few years.
(2) In VA, other infill stations that come to mind include Orange, VA (there have been on-again/off-again efforts on this front), Carmel Church, VA (about halfway between Richmond and Fredericksburg), Norge/Toano (on the north/west side of Williamsburg; the target here is folks taking the train from that side of town, since parking at WBG stinks and expecting folks to go to NPN is a joke...does anyone know where the Lightfoot stop was?), and possibly something between CVS and LYH. I'd also add Busch Gardens (since the overflow parking lot for them is literally within spitting distance of the tracks).

Anderson, do you know the latest discussion around the Orange station stop? I was involved in some conversations with the CoC a couple of years ago about making the case to DPRT and Amtrak based on the experiences ASD had, but haven't heard anything about this moving one way or the other.

-Charlotte: Gastonia probably qualifies on the southern side of town. Kannapolis or Concord might work on the north side (bearing in mind that Salisbury is "only" 42 rail miles away)

Looks like Amtrak/NCDOT has decided that Kannapolis does work ;-). I've always thought that with the explosion of growth in the NW suburbs that there would be appetite for a station in the UNCC/Harrisburg area, with easy access of of 485.

 

[jis]

Looks like Amtrak/NCDOT has decided that Kannapolis does work ;-). I've always thought that with the explosion of growth in the NW suburbs that there would be appetite for a station in the UNCC/Harrisburg area, with easy access of of 485.

I have taken a Piedmont to Kannapolis. So Amtrak does stop there already.

 

[Anderson]

You're right, that's my bad. I was using LD timetables for the most part.

 

[KMSAlex]

Clockers were continuation of PRR service for New York - Philadelphia Commuters.

In NJ their low fares in line with NJT for monthly tickets was subsidized by NJDOT. Eventually NJDOT decided that it was cheaper for them to just let NJT run the service between Trenton and New York, funded by them. At that point there was a mild attempt to get Pennsylvania to cough up subsidy to continue running them to Philly. But the usual Pennsylvania - New Jersey - SEPTA - NJT politics kicked in, and that was the end of that. Remember, it took years of wrangling to get the NJT Atlantic City service to start serving Philadelphia 30th St. too. In any case, no one has so far seen it fit to touch that one with a ten foot barge pole yet.

So today the remains of the Clockers are the NJT outer zone express trains between Trenton and New York on weekdays, and the NEC semi-expresses on weekends.

Amtrak has been reluctant to stop trains at PJC because it involves running their trains limited to 110mph often behind NJT trains limited to 90mph (for the EMUs), thus killing their fast schedule on their only piece of higher speed service in NJ. This situation will be considerably mitigated upon the completion of the NJ HSR project, which among other things, adds higher speed switches from the middle higher speed tracks to the side lower speed tracks at around Jersey Avenue, and also raises the max speed of the outer tracks between Jersey Avenue and Trenton to 125 mph, and simultaneously gets NJT push pull trains to be certified to operate at 125mph, thus decongesting the mess between County and Fair CPs. At that point it should become possible to get a few more Regionals to call at PJC.

Now, if they in their infinite wisdom had not removed at least the crossovers for moving to the slow line westbound and moving to the fast line eastbound at Nassau interlocking ...

I travel somewhat often to Rutgers University from Central SC and back. Orignally being from NJ i've been suprrised to find that New brunswick is surved by Amtrak at all. Only 1 train south bound and 2 north bound. Is this station owned by Amtrak? It's rather historic and has an amtrak ticket office but looks to be more controlled by NJTransit.

I've never boarded or de-trained here, I go to Metropark, NWK, or Trenton and back track. Does Amtrak have a history of stopping here more often, and do the high speed cross overs mean a likely increase in service here? Or is it not warented, unsure of how popular amtrak service is here.

 

[jis]

I travel somewhat often to Rutgers University from Central SC and back. Orignally being from NJ i've been suprrised to find that New brunswick is surved by Amtrak at all. Only 1 train south bound and 2 north bound. Is this station owned by Amtrak? It's rather historic and has an amtrak ticket office but looks to be more controlled by NJTransit.

AFAIK all NEC station in NJ except Newark Airport, are owned and operated by NJTransit. Newark Airport is PANYNJ thing IIRC.

I've never boarded or de-trained here, I go to Metropark, NWK, or Trenton and back track. Does Amtrak have a history of stopping here more often, and do the high speed cross overs mean a likely increase in service here? Or is it not warented, unsure of how popular amtrak service is here.

All Clockers stopped there. Amtrak has in general downgraded service within New Jersey and concentrated on serving Newark Penn, Newark Airport, Metropark and Trenton. They have been up and down on Princeton Jct., and New Brunswick is basically just an afterthought. I don;t think that will change anytime soon.

 

[thully]

From my time in San Diego, I’d say a station between located near UTC mall with a connection to the future Mid-Coast Trolley line and nearby bus service would be useful. Would be more convienent for UCSD/Scripps as well as those destined for Sorrento Valley (home of Qualcomm and other major tech companies in SD). Of course, that may be difficult without other work there (such as a tunnel under UTC), though I do recall a Coaster station was studied for Nobel Dr. (There also is a Coaster station at Sorrento Valley, though the only other transit there are dedicated shuttles for the Coaster trains).

 

[Siegmund]

There was - so I was told second hand long ago - a company "rule" that stops had to be more than 50 miles apart. Or that a new stop had to be that far from an old stop, or something. This rule was cited as the reason the Pioneer quit stopping in Brigham City, UT, for instance.

If anyone has any firm history on that alleged rule, I'd be interested to hear it. I am skeptical that it ever existed, given how many exceptions there were (and how many new exceptions get made - adding Leavenworth, WA to the Builder, for instance.)

On routes where Amtrak already doesn't compete well on a speed basis, it doesn't seem like a bad idea. If we actually get twice-daily frequencies on more LD routes, then there is room to distinguish 'local' and 'express' service.

I think a freight railroad might rather like the idea of a local - a 70MPH through freight and a 79MPH passenger making frequent stops might 'fleet' quite well.

 

[ehbowen]

I'd like to see a Sunset Limited stop added between Houston and San Antonio.

 

[Bob Dylan]

I'd like to see a Sunset Limited stop added between Houston and San Antonio.

Several towns have worked on this( with Flatonia the most active) but so far UP and Amtrak have not given the OK to any of the Plans since they probably dont add up financially!( plus the Daily CHI-LAX Texas Eagle is still a possibility with a Stub Train proposed for SAS-NOL.)

 

[AlamoWye]

Actually UP did give approval for the Flatonia stop in 2017, of course with some conditions. When I was there for Czhilispiel last October, it didn't look like much had happened but they are planning to use the old depot, which had been converted to a police station, once again. I just don't know if any town would see much benefit until, unless, the Sunset is made daily

https://www.fayettecountyrecord.com...op-closer-ever-after-union-pacific’s-approval

 

[dogbert617]

I've always been greatly puzzled, why Hamilton, OH was removed as a Cardinal Amtrak station years ago(90s/2000s, I can't remember the year). IMO it seems like that would be a big enough place, to support a return of Amtrak's Cardinal to there once again. Also when I did research, it looks like Catlettsburg, KY used to have a station called Tri-State Station, that served both that main Cardinal Amtrak line, plus a former one that ran through places like Welch, WV, Christiansburg, VA, and Roanoke but no longer does. Forgive me, that I ALWAYS forget the name of that train and never can remember it, to save my life! The James Whitcomb Riley, I think? I guess to a lesser extent vs. Hamilton, it'd be nice for a place like Catlettsburg to once again have Amtrak service.

Actually UP did give approval for the Flatonia stop in 2017, of course with some conditions. When I was there for Czhilispiel last October, it didn't look like much had happened but they are planning to use the old depot, which had been converted to a police station, once again. I just don't know if any town would see much benefit until, unless, the Sunset is made daily

https://www.fayettecountyrecord.com...op-closer-ever-after-union-pacific’s-approval

I seem to remember reading there was once some stop Amtrak did stop at between Houston and San Antonio(Rosenberg?), but I forget which town it once was at years ago. Good luck to Flatonia, and hopefully that becomes a Sunset Limited stop down the road.

Now to move away from thinking of those 2 places, I agree with the posters who mentioned Dunkirk, NY, and Emporia, KS. For sure it is surprising both those 2 places, don't have an Amtrak station.

I'll contribute a new mention to this thread, the fact there's no station in either Wendover, UT, or West Wendover, NV on the California Zephyr route. It's a considerable distance to get to the 2 closest Amtrak stations(either Elko or Salt Lake City), and I'm sure the combined approximately 5700 people there(when I googled population between both communities) would welcome Amtrak service. Don't forget the casinos in West Wendover, as they'd welcome Amtrak service as well! So I'd probably construct the station in West Wendover instead of Wendover, but that's just me.

 

[brianpmcdonnell17]

On the SS, Sanford, NC seems to stand out as a sizeable town without a stop. Also, why don't the SS and SM stop in Wilson? On both the Palmetto and Carolinian, it generates significantly more traffic than Rocky Mount, which the SS and SM do stop at. In general, it seems like a waste of resources to maintain LD stops bypassed by other LD trains serving different city pairs (Mendota, Bryan, Selma/Smithfield, Dillon, Jesup, and Okeechobee come to mind), but based on the ridership numbers Wilson seems especially obvious. I'd also like to see the Coast Starlight reinstate the Richmond stop for the BART connection, although I understand the reasoning in that case.

 

[JayPea]

I've always been greatly puzzled, why Hamilton, OH was removed as a Cardinal Amtrak station years ago(90s/2000s, I can't remember the year). IMO it seems like that would be a big enough place, to support a return of Amtrak's Cardinal to there once again. Also when I did research, it looks like Catlettsburg, KY used to have a station called Tri-State Station, that served both that main Cardinal Amtrak line, plus a former one that ran through places like Welch, WV, Christiansburg, VA, and Roanoke but no longer does. Forgive me, that I ALWAYS forget the name of that train and never can remember it, to save my life! The James Whitcomb Riley, I think? I guess to a lesser extent vs. Hamilton, it'd be nice for a place like Catlettsburg to once again have Amtrak service.



I seem to remember reading there was once some stop Amtrak did stop at between Houston and San Antonio(Rosenberg?), but I forget which town it once was at years ago. Good luck to Flatonia, and hopefully that becomes a Sunset Limited stop down the road.

Now to move away from thinking of those 2 places, I agree with the posters who mentioned Dunkirk, NY, and Emporia, KS. For sure it is surprising both those 2 places, don't have an Amtrak station.

I'll contribute a new mention to this thread, the fact there's no station in either Wendover, UT, or West Wendover, NV on the California Zephyr route. It's a considerable distance to get to the 2 closest Amtrak stations(either Elko or Salt Lake City), and I'm sure the combined approximately 5700 people there(when I googled population between both communities) would welcome Amtrak service. Don't forget the casinos in West Wendover, as they'd welcome Amtrak service as well! So I'd probably construct the station in West Wendover instead of Wendover, but that's just me.

It seems to me I have read somewhere that there are those in "the Wendovers" who have pushed for an Amtrak stop.

 

[dogbert617]

On the SS, Sanford, NC seems to stand out as a sizeable town without a stop. Also, why don't the SS and SM stop in Wilson? On both the Palmetto and Carolinian, it generates significantly more traffic than Rocky Mount, which the SS and SM do stop at. In general, it seems like a waste of resources to maintain LD stops bypassed by other LD trains serving different city pairs (Mendota, Bryan, Selma/Smithfield, Dillon, Jesup, and Okeechobee come to mind), but based on the ridership numbers Wilson seems especially obvious. I'd also like to see the Coast Starlight reinstate the Richmond stop for the BART connection, although I understand the reasoning in that case.

What was the exact reasoning, why Amtrak removed the Richmond, CA stop for the Starlight? Seems weird they'd remove that stop, but that's just me. Did say too few riders, use that station on the Starlight?

For Wilson, NC, you'd think either the Star or Meteor if not both trains(am totally forgetting where the split occurs, for the routing of the Star and Meteor in NC), would serve Wilson! Particularly since that town has a college, that coincidentally and funny enough a friend of my brother's is a professor at. Also maybe it's just me, but I don't mind places like say Mendota, Bryan, Okeechobee, etc. having stations, and would oppose their removal. But that's just me. Do you not look favorably at towns that do have Amtrak regional trains stopping there, but that long distance Amtrak trains don't stop at(i.e. Oregon City, OR, Dwight, IL, Amsterdam, NY, Rome, NY)?

Back to infill stations, another one on an existing long distance route where I'm surprised Amtrak removed that station, is in Seligman, AZ. I think considering the distance to Kingman and Flagstaff on the SW Chief, that it should be brought back. But that's just me.[/QUOTE]

 

[JRR]

Wilson NC also has Parkers Barbecue which has its fans!

 

[jis]

I've always been greatly puzzled, why Hamilton, OH was removed as a Cardinal Amtrak station years ago(90s/2000s, I can't remember the year). IMO it seems like that would be a big enough place, to support a return of Amtrak's Cardinal to there once again.

This might give you some insight on what caused the discontinuance of service to Hamilton OH.

https://www.newspapers.com/clip/25678508/amtrak_hamilton_october_31_2005_part_1/

Also when I did research, it looks like Catlettsburg, KY used to have a station called Tri-State Station, that served both that main Cardinal Amtrak line, plus a former one that ran through places like Welch, WV, Christiansburg, VA, and Roanoke but no longer does. Forgive me, that I ALWAYS forget the name of that train and never can remember it, to save my life! The James Whitcomb Riley, I think? I guess to a lesser extent vs. Hamilton, it'd be nice for a place like Catlettsburg to once again have Amtrak service.

You can find answers to most of your questions regarding Catlettsburg at:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Catlettsburg_station

It is almost exactly halfway between Huntington and Ashland with a population of 1,856. It is part of the Huntington-Ashland MSA. I don't see any particular need to add a stop there in addition to the stops at Huntington and Ashland.

I seem to remember reading there was once some stop Amtrak did stop at between Houston and San Antonio(Rosenberg?), but I forget which town it once was at years ago. Good luck to Flatonia, and hopefully that becomes a Sunset Limited stop down the road.

Yes, there was a stop at Rosenberg TX, 35 miles west of Houston, discontinued in 1981. This is where the Sunset route and the Inter-American/Texas Eagle Houston section's route diverged.

Now to move away from thinking of those 2 places, I agree with the posters who mentioned Dunkirk, NY, and Emporia, KS. For sure it is surprising both those 2 places, don't have an Amtrak station.

Dunkirk is currently a Thruway destination, which connects from morning westbound Empire Service trains. Only the Lake Shore passes by Dunkirk westbound at oh-dark-thirty and east bound at a slightly more civilized hours.

Emporia used to be a stop of the Southwest Limited/Chief. But IIRC, discontinuance of Emporia as a crew change point caused Emporia to go away as a stop in 1996. The crew change discontinuance resulted in Amtrak moving out of the station building to a bus shelter type structure. The station building subsequently burned down and was torn down sometime after 1996. Now there is nothing left there.

 

[brianpmcdonnell17]

What was the exact reasoning, why Amtrak removed the Richmond, CA stop for the Starlight? Seems weird they'd remove that stop, but that's just me. Did say too few riders, use that station on the Starlight?

For Wilson, NC, you'd think either the Star or Meteor if not both trains(am totally forgetting where the split occurs, for the routing of the Star and Meteor in NC), would serve Wilson! Particularly since that town has a college, that coincidentally and funny enough a friend of my brother's is a professor at. Also maybe it's just me, but I don't mind places like say Mendota, Bryan, Okeechobee, etc. having stations, and would oppose their removal. But that's just me. Do you not look favorably at towns that do have Amtrak regional trains stopping there, but that long distance Amtrak trains don't stop at(i.e. Oregon City, OR, Dwight, IL, Amsterdam, NY, Rome, NY)?

Back to infill stations, another one on an existing long distance route where I'm surprised Amtrak removed that station, is in Seligman, AZ. I think considering the distance to Kingman and Flagstaff on the SW Chief, that it should be brought back. But that's just me.

[/QUOTE]
The reason the Richmond stop was cancelled is that the station is operated by BART, which means that a late CS frequently passed though the area after the station was physically closed. This required Amtrak to buy taxi rides for ticketed passengers from Emeryville to Richmond. The southbound train was not impacted by this issue, so I suppose Amtrak just decided it was not worth it to only have the CS stop in one direction.

As to the other stations, I don't support closing them; I support expanding service to them. My point was that stations like Okeechobee and Jesup would be much more useful if the SS and SM both stopped there, as it wouldn't require any new infrastructure and have minimal impact on the schedule.

 

[dogbert617]

This might give you some insight on what caused the discontinuance of service to Hamilton OH.

https://www.newspapers.com/clip/25678508/amtrak_hamilton_october_31_2005_part_1/


You can find answers to most of your questions regarding Catlettsburg at:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Catlettsburg_station

It is almost exactly halfway between Huntington and Ashland with a population of 1,856. It is part of the Huntington-Ashland MSA. I don't see any particular need to add a stop there in addition to the stops at Huntington and Ashland.

Yes, there was a stop at Rosenberg TX, 35 miles west of Houston, discontinued in 1981. This is where the Sunset route and the Inter-American/Texas Eagle Houston section's route diverged.

Dunkirk is currently a Thruway destination, which connects from morning westbound Empire Service trains. Only the Lake Shore passes by Dunkirk westbound at oh-dark-thirty and east bound at a slightly more civilized hours.

Emporia used to be a stop of the Southwest Limited/Chief. But IIRC, discontinuance of Emporia as a crew change point caused Emporia to go away as a stop in 1996. The crew change discontinuance resulted in Amtrak moving out of the station building to a bus shelter type structure. The station building subsequently burned down and was torn down sometime after 1996. Now there is nothing left there.

Thanks for mentioning this info, about all these cities and towns! That's too bad the condition of Hamilton's station, is what led to its elimination. Considering how bad I've heard the flag stop in Sanderson, TX on Sunset is like, and that Deming, Lordsburg, and Benson don't look in good shape either, only having outside shelters and not an indoor waiting room at all. It'd be nice if someday, Hamilton could regain a stop back on Cardinal.

Catlettsburg's('Tri-State') elimination as a Card station makes sense, as that stop was essentially moved over to Ashland.

I see I was right on Rosenberg, TX, and that's odd I didn't realize Dunkirk was an Amtrak thruway bus stop. IMO that should instead be a stop for Lake Shore, considering there is a SUNY college nearby. And thanks for answering about Emporia. Where in Kansas did that crew change point, move to? Too bad to hear the old station, burned down.

The reason the Richmond stop was cancelled is that the station is operated by BART, which means that a late CS frequently passed though the area after the station was physically closed. This required Amtrak to buy taxi rides for ticketed passengers from Emeryville to Richmond. The southbound train was not impacted by this issue, so I suppose Amtrak just decided it was not worth it to only have the CS stop in one direction.

As to the other stations, I don't support closing them; I support expanding service to them. My point was that stations like Okeechobee and Jesup would be much more useful if the SS and SM both stopped there, as it wouldn't require any new infrastructure and have minimal impact on the schedule.[/QUOTE]

I see, about Richmond, CA. I guess Starlight (-late) had enough northbound delays late enough after the end of service, that it didn't allow connections to BART subway trains?

And thanks for explaining your opinion about stations like Jesup, Okeechobee, Bryan, etc. Yep I have no idea why certain stations get skipped by one Amtrak train, yet another one may serve a certain station.

 

[chakk]

It seems to me I have read somewhere that there are those in "the Wendovers" who have pushed for an Amtrak stop.

The original California Zephyr used to stop in Wendover. It was the middle of the night in both directions.

 

[chakk]

Thanks for mentioning this info, about all these cities and towns! That's too bad the condition of Hamilton's station, is what led to its elimination. Considering how bad I've heard the flag stop in Sanderson, TX on Sunset is like, and that Deming, Lordsburg, and Benson don't look in good shape either, only having outside shelters and not an indoor waiting room at all. It'd be nice if someday, Hamilton could regain a stop back on Cardinal.

Catlettsburg's('Tri-State') elimination as a Card station makes sense, as that stop was essentially moved over to Ashland.

I see I was right on Rosenberg, TX, and that's odd I didn't realize Dunkirk was an Amtrak thruway bus stop. IMO that should instead be a stop for Lake Shore, considering there is a SUNY college nearby. And thanks for answering about Emporia. Where in Kansas did that crew change point, move to? Too bad to hear the old station, burned down.


The reason the Richmond stop was cancelled is that the station is operated by BART, which means that a late CS frequently passed though the area after the station was physically closed. This required Amtrak to buy taxi rides for ticketed passengers from Emeryville to Richmond. The southbound train was not impacted by this issue, so I suppose Amtrak just decided it was not worth it to only have the CS stop in one.

Given the crime situation around the Richmond BART station, Amtrak probably paid not only for a taxi driver but also for someone to ride shotgun -- with a shotgun! [emoji6]

 

[jis]

......
And thanks for answering about Emporia. Where in Kansas did that crew change point, move to? Too bad to hear the old station, burned down.
......

Coming to think of it, I am not so sure about the crew district thing even though it is mentioned in that web page. Emporia is just too close to Kansas City for that to make any sense. OTOH maybe in the miles per day regime of crew districts it made sense. Anyway, the longer stop was in Newton for both the Chief and the Lone Star, if a common crew district point between the two trains was an issue.

Anyhow today the crew district point is Dodge City. Here is a handy map of Amtrak crew districts which is mostly upto date.

http://trn.trains.com/~/media/files/pdf/map-of-the-month/trn-m0506_a.pdf

 

[dogbert617]

(1) Yes, VA plans to add Suffolk. The main issue is that the tracks in use now are not the tracks they ultimately plan to use, so they don't want to build a station just to have it become redundant in a few years.
(2) In VA, other infill stations that come to mind include Orange, VA (there have been on-again/off-again efforts on this front), Carmel Church, VA (about halfway between Richmond and Fredericksburg), Norge/Toano (on the north/west side of Williamsburg; the target here is folks taking the train from that side of town, since parking at WBG stinks and expecting folks to go to NPN is a joke...does anyone know where the Lightfoot stop was?), and possibly something between CVS and LYH. I'd also add Busch Gardens (since the overflow parking lot for them is literally within spitting distance of the tracks).

@west point:
Going down your list:
-Richmond (south): I agree, insofar as most of the trains don't hit Main Street. Snarkily, one could say this is "Petersburg". The bigger problem here is the "Suffolk problem"...the long-term plan is to move traffic to the S-line, which would make any stop on the A-line redundant.
-Raleigh (already has Cary): Raleigh/Cary is probably sufficient pending SEHSR.
-Charlotte: Gastonia probably qualifies on the southern side of town. Kannapolis or Concord might work on the north side (bearing in mind that Salisbury is "only" 42 rail miles away)
-ATL (both east and west): Actually, I think "Atlanta, anywhere" would be a good idea due to the parking problems. The fact that the NS tracks parallel MARTA for several miles (and several stops) makes this all the more inexcusable. Lenox, Brookhaven, or Chamblee seem like decent candidates (Lindbergh Pocket, the next stop east/north, has a bad layout for co-location while Doraville is, unfortunately, right next to a yard that NS probably doesn't want messed with, even if that might also make it ideal for "not blocking the line"). There's probably a case for moving to one of these stops (on the "east" side), adding a stop on the west side, and then dumping the current station as being redundant, poorly accessible, and badly located. Note that the current Atlanta station's lack of MARTA access is a killer here: If MARTA served it, this wouldn't be as strong a situation.
-Minneapolis-St. Paul: There's probably a case to add a Minneapolis station as much as anything.
-Denver: Agreed on both sides of town. In particular, westbound should help with the Ski Train as well. Eastbound, is there anywhere you could co-locate with their mass transit system?
-Pittsburgh: Three one-a-day routings out of here, two are in the middle of the night. Dubious value.

First off, let me say for Gastonia, the Crescent already stops there. It's one of those late night stops, but better than nothing for the Charlotte area that Amtrak serves that station. Kannapolis (sp?) already is a Piedmont and Carolinan stop, but that Crescent doesn't stop at Kannapolis.

For Atlanta(never mind there's discussion on a different thread about other worthy stops for a 2nd area one, if you don't count Gainesville), Doraville would be a possible one, since there's a lot of vacant land that way after the GM plant was demolished. West of Atlanta (there's been less discussion in that other thread about possible just west of Atlanta stops, and most has been discussion east of Atlanta), I could see Mableton, Austell, or Douglasville being a possible new Crescent stop after looking at the 'track a train' Amtrak map. Lol, I must not be the only person, who has to look at the 'track a train' map to remind me which towns, suburbs, etc. Amtrak runs through?

For northwest Pittsburgh metro area, though it'd be a late at night/very early morning stop, and similar to Alliance, OH, I could see a stop around Monaca, Beaver, Rochester, or New Brighton being the most successful? There are some plants and factories by there, so maybe it'd work as a stop. East of Pittsburgh is already covered on the Pennsylvanian(to Harrisburg, Lancaster, Philly, and on to NYC) route, with Greensburg being a current stop. On a side note for the Pittsburgh area, it'd be nice if the T (their light rail system) could possibly be expanded just a little bit more. It is a pretty good system, and as it is covers a lot of ground. There also are busways(dedicated bus only roads, like the one going east to the Lawrenceville neighborhood IIRC) in other areas, so as it is their public transit coverage isn't bad. Finally with a stop in Connellsville, not sure if Amtrak would consider another Capitol Limited stop in the middle (I.e. Clairton, Jefferson Hills, Baldwin, sorry the track a train map oddly isn't loading up on my phone at the moment, and I'm not near a computer to look at that map for the moment).

I'd disagree with eliminating Dallas as a stop, and considering the Heartland Flyer special 'Big Game' trains (for the Oklahoma vs. Texas game) make an extra stop in Dallas, no way that would work. OTOH, you definitely could argue Minneapolis could become an additional Empire Builder stop. At least for now there is a light rail system between St. Paul and Minneapolis(and one of the light rail lines currently goes between both cities), so that there is some efficient way to travel between both cities.

I'll think of some more about suburban/exurban possible stops on this thread later, when I can get the 'track a train' map to load up again, and when I'm on a proper computer. And like I said earlier, am surprised Seligman, AZ isn't trying to lobby Amtrak to bring a stop back there. As it once was a Super Chief stop in the Santa Fe RR era, and I want to say even into the Amtrak era it was a SW Chief stop for a little while. Finally, there's a definite gap of no service, between Flagstaff and Kingman. Yes adding such a stop here probably won't be a high priority due to the fact it'd be an 'o-dark-thirty' stop if added, but I think it'd help SW Chief riders to bring a stop back there. Also between Winslow, AZ and Gallup, NM, maybe Holbrook could be considered as a new stop location? Bonus that this wouldn't be an o dark thirty stop, if a new stop here was added.

 

[jis]

I thought Seligman used to be a stop because it was a crew change/division point, and not so much because it had significant ridership. It has a population of 445 or so. There is a gap between Flagstaff and Kingman, because there isn't enough ridership to be had by stopping anywhere in between those two points. You cannot just stop a train in some random place just because there is a gap. Maybe Amtrak should reinstate the concept of flag stops, and then have dozens of them like VIA does for the Canadian, where mostly the train does not really stop at all.

Incidentally, even though Amtrak shows the stop at Grimsby as a regular stop, VIA treated it as a flag stop in both directions when I passed through there. Since there was no one boarding or disembarking, they did not stop.

 

[dogbert617]

I thought Seligman used to be a stop because it was a crew change/division point, and not so much because it had significant ridership. It has a population of 445 or so. There is a gap between Flagstaff and Kingman, because there isn't enough ridership to be had by stopping anywhere in between those two points. You cannot just stop a train in some random place just because there is a gap. Maybe Amtrak should reinstate the concept of flag stops, and then have dozens of them like VIA does for the Canadian, where mostly the train does not really stop at all.

Fair enough, about Seligman. And you're right that unless it was a flag stop, it's probably unlikely Amtrak would add a station there. One thing I've noticed that is odd on a lot of the newer year Amtrak schedules, is how come for stations that were traditionally flag stops, they don't have that icon next to the station as often as past year schedules often would have?

Guess Seligman was like Emporia, that years ago it was mostly stopped at, due to the town being a crew change point.

 

[Qapla]

The Waldo Fl Amtrak Station still exists - though it hasn't been open in years ... overall, the building still looks to be in OK shape, though it is NOT ADA compliant.

The station used to be full service with checked baggage and a ticket counter.

Back in the 1960's and moving into the 1970's a friend of mine's father was the Station Master. The station was not open full-time - but opened for service an hour or two before the train was scheduled and stayed open for 30 minutes after the train left.