Prior to Amtrak...most all trains serving the Twin Cities, stopped at both cities...St. Paul Union Depot, and either the Great Northern, or the Milwaukee Road station in Minneapolis. When Amtrak began in 1971, they skipped St. Paul, until the Midway Station was opened half way between them in 1978. Now they only serve St. Paul.
Infill Amtrak stops
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As to Phoenix, the OP was wondering about cities that Amtrak actually runs through without stopping. The leaves out Phoenix, at least techically.
In my neck of the woods there is a grassroots movement afoot to establish a stop at Ritzville, WA, halfway between Spokane and Pasco. Ritzville is currently a Thruway stop, and was once upon a time a stop for the Northern Pacific's North Coast Limited, amongst other trains. Selfishly I'd like to see this, but it is immensely impractical. Ritzville is a town of about 1700, and there aren't many large population centers nearby. The only ones of any size at all are Moses Lake, 45 miles away(population 24,500) and Othello, also about 45 miles away (population 8700). And Othello is about that close to Pasco, which offers checked baggage which Ritzville surely wouldn't. Moses Lake is about 70 miles from Pasco, but again Pasco offers checked luggage. The boarding and retraining times would range from not great but not horrible to positively awful. Eastbound it would arrive there around 10:30 PM or so, and westbound would be around 4AM. It would be about 15 minutes longer for me to drive there than Spokane, and surely it wouldn't cost an arm, two legs, my firstborn, several units of blood, and a note from my mother to park like it does in Spokane. Ritzville does already have a station; it serves as a museum of railroad memorabilia. I'd love to see it but don't think it's practical.
trainman74
Conductor
Arlington, Texas, has a population just under 400,000 -- but if I recall correctly, the Texas Eagle generally doesn't pass through anymore (because it usually runs on the TRE tracks, which are further north).
Lots of smaller cities have been dropped thru the years, not because of reroutes, but other reasons. Other's have been added, in some cases as nearby replacements, but not always...
Places like Akron, Co, Monmouth and Aurora, Il, on the Zephyr...
Places like Akron, Co, Monmouth and Aurora, Il, on the Zephyr...
Troy, MT on the EB comes to mind as an example of this.
Marfa,TX used to be a Sunset Ltd stop, now its Alpine 20 Miles East.
Yeah, any stop on the Builder would either require a significant backup move, a reroute, or building a new stop. None of these, as far as I'm aware, have progressed beyond railfan dreaming at this point.
The most likely scenario for Minneapolis to get an Amtrak stop, especially if we exclude any potential Thruway service expansion, would be through Amtrak operating the Northern Lights Express whenever it gets funding. It's basically at shovel-ready status, and just needs funding to be built and start operation.
Were the mid-80's the last conventional service on this route?
The Amtrak Northstar, made its last run between Midway Station and Duluth in 1985...
http://www.timetables.org/full.php?group=19850428&item=0054
Thanks, that's what I thought but wasn't sure. It seems like an odd choice for high(er) speed service after a 35 year hiatus, rather than just restoration of something less - even after reading the linked proposal. It seems like more a candidate for Downeaster or Ethan Allen type of service. Maybe even an ideal route for RDC's (as discussed previously
). With the weather in that part of the country I don't know how well a modern MU would function.On the Crescent route you have Leeds, AL which is 18 miles east of B'ham with a population of 12,000. Then there is Pell City, AL which is 30 miles east of B'ham with a population of 14,000. At or near Pell City is a Honda plant an Talladega Motor Speedway.
Honda is Lincoln Alabama less than 20 miles probably Talladega Speedway is less than 40
railgeekteen
Service Attendant
Why doesn't the CONO stop in Cairo?
Probably a good guess...No clue. That was out of my area of qualification .
i am guessing no one there riding
It did stop at North Cairo earlier...
Ended in 1987.
Here's a link to an earlier discussion on it...
https://www.amtraktrains.com/threads/cono-illini-saluki-out-of-chi-and-stop-at-cairo.70425/
Qapla
Engineer
Silly me ... and here I was thinking Cairo, Georgia
The people who live in Cairo, Ga pronounce it like "Kay-row"
The people who live in Cairo, Ga pronounce it like "Kay-row"
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At least no one asked which side of the train you have to sit on to see the pyramids...
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I believe that is true in Illinois as well but someone can correct me if not.
jis
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You are correct. It's pronounced like Caro syrup, an ingredient needed to my my Boston baked beans.
Qapla
Engineer
I don't really care what Wikipedia says, (don't understand how to pronounce "keɪroʊ") my SIL's parents lived in Cairo, Ga until they died ... I have heard with my own ears how the people who live there pronounce it
I think the Cairo Illinois people pronounce it that way also. Isn't there a song where someone, perhaps a train conductor, calls out Cairo Illinois?
