New York Times: "Riding the Rails"

[transit54]

Imagine my surprise when I pulled up nytimes.com this afternoon and was looking at a picture of an Amtrak train. The Times has a nice writeup on Amtrak LD services, nothing most of us don't already know, but a good read. Nice to see the LD trains getting some nice press in a very mainstream news outlet.

http://travel.nytimes.com/2009/03/08/travel/08amtrak.html?hp

For the next few hours, you may want to try going to NYTimes.com to see how much visibility they're giving the story on their home page.

 

[user 2160]

Imagine my surprise when I pulled up nytimes.com this afternoon and was looking at a picture of an Amtrak train. The Times has a nice writeup on Amtrak LD services, nothing most of us don't already know, but a good read. Nice to see the LD trains getting some nice press in a very mainstream news outlet.
http://travel.nytimes.com/2009/03/08/travel/08amtrak.html?hp

For the next few hours, you may want to try going to NYTimes.com to see how much visibility they're giving the story on their home page.

also, don't forget to read the comments!

 

[TimePeace]

Nice article - hope we get more like this in mainstream press -

David

 

[Long Train Runnin']

Did this go into the print edition?

good to see either way

 

[transit54]

Did this go into the print edition?
good to see either way

Not sure if it was in today's, but if not it will absolutely be in tomorrow's. Been a while since I actually had delivery of the print edition, I can't remember what day they publish the travel section...

 

[saxman]

Did this go into the print edition?
good to see either way

I happen to check the print version for today. It was not in there. When I get to Chicago tomorrow on the Lake Shore, I'll have to check in one of the news stands.

 

[PaulM]

I was surprised to see reference to sitting in the lounge car on the Cardinal. It's OL timetable doesn't list one.

 

[sechs]

According to the NARP hotline news, this is for the Sunday magazine.

Edit: The publication date bears that out....

 

[PetalumaLoco]

I was surprised to see reference to sitting in the lounge car on the Cardinal. It's OL timetable doesn't list one.

On the Cardinal page under the Routes pull-down, lists a lounge.

It's also mentioned in the online route guide under "Welcome Aboard".

 

[wayman]

I was surprised to see reference to sitting in the lounge car on the Cardinal. It's OL timetable doesn't list one.

On the Cardinal page under the Routes pull-down, lists a lounge.

The Cardinal carries a diner-lite, which is like having half a lounge car.

It was a little misleading to conflate the dining experiences on the Cardinal and the Zephyr into a single description, since one could come away with the idea that the flatiron steak is available on the Cardinal. But the purpose of an article like this isn't to give a detail-by-detail precise travelog as we would write on this forum, so I forgive the author for that. The goal of the writing was to encourage people to try Amtrak, and I think it does a marvelous job.

 

[birdy]

Hooray for the NYT! I subscribed a few months ago. Now I know why they call it the newspaper of record. They have kind of strange editorials a lot of times and a noticeable number of "experts say" nearly unedited articles. But their coverage and depth of reporting and, as this article shows, the quality of writing, is unparalleled. Its a national treasure.

My brother worked on his college newspaper in the deep south. He went to cover some kind of obscure local story. He was astonished when he saw that the only other reporter there was from the NYT. Just look at the thoughtfulness of their "comments" after the story compared to the comments of any other newspaper. They raise the tone of public discourse all by themselves.

Anyway, the rest of the public is with us. The Obama administration has figured this out when almost no one else has. Good times for American passenger rail.

 

[sportbiker]

I had to laugh: the author includes a photo of the Zephyr dining car, and the attendant serving the food (black woman with close-cropped hair) was our attendant when my friends and I took the Zephyr almost a year ago. Small world!

 

[RailFanLNK]

Hey SportBiker...she was our attendent in the dining car as well! She's nice and does a good job! I will be on the CZ in two weeks and I'm starting to chomp at the bit for the trip!

 

[TimePeace]

Wow! I just looked again at the comments section of the article, here it is the next day - and it is amazing to see such enthusiasm for the article and for Amtrak in general. The comments seem to run 5 or 10 to 1 positive to negative ratio.

In my comment (in the first 50) I gave this forum's URL. Maybe this great resource will get some more attention -

Best to you all,

David

 

[transit54]

Just noticed the article is #1 on the list of most e-mailed articles on NYTimes.com. That's really great to see.

 

[PetalumaLoco]

Just noticed the article is #1 on the list of most e-mailed articles on NYTimes.com. That's really great to see.

I just let about 30 people I know of the article.

Tell your friends!

 

[sportbiker]

Hey SportBiker...she was our attendent in the dining car as well! She's nice and does a good job! I will be on the CZ in two weeks and I'm starting to chomp at the bit for the trip!

Favorite memories:

I go through a lot of iced tea when I eat, so I was used to asking her for refills. At the beginning of one dinner she automatically set down two glasses of iced tea before I even had time to order. I jokingly said, "Wow, two glasses?" She responded with a twinkle in her eye and sass in her voice, "Now, who do you think you're kidding here? We both know you're going to drink that!" And I did. And more.

Near the end of the trip, at a lunch, one of our group, Alfredo, asked for cheesecake for dessert. The kitchen was out of cheesecake, so there was some back-and-forth about "boo-hoo, I really wanted cheesecake" kinda stuff. Everyone was laughing. Alfredo kept good-naturedly needling the attendant throughout the rest of our meal. Well, wouldn't you know, right before we left, the attendant came back with an item in aluminum foil. She said she scoured downstairs and found one last piece of cheesecake she didn't know they had, and she wrapped it up especially for Alfredo. We all thought it was such a nice thing for her to do -- to go out of her way like that.

We really enjoyed having her -- she was a firecracker.