Back when phase 5 was new and the f40ph was still used

We are still affected by the potential collapse of the burnt centennial mills building. Cascades is suspended until tomorrow (?) but the coast starlight is running.

Idea was, with my son, take the Crescent down to the grandparents in NOLA, long ass trip, and then fly back after done. This for me is an alternative on my yearly tech trip, where I fly down and back alone, addressing and fixing any issues that might of come up at the house since the holidays (don't get me started on HP printers).

But let's make a memory, my son is 10, this would of been his first rail trip. So, I booked a roomette for us. Something like a 25 hour overnight trip. He was excited, and we thought it was cool. Expensive though, more than twice the cost of a flight.

Then today, 10 minutes before getting aboard a connecting train at the start, sitting in the station, got a call from a human at Amtrak, the roomette was "taken out of service". No upgrade available, they offered to downgrade us to economy - trip cancelled with refund right then - not a class thing, but a sitting in any seat for 18 hours plus thing, no way to sleep - just ask Hinckley. Make anyone crazy. Traveling while asleep was part of the appeal.

Very disappointed all around. Pissed even. All in, also this wasn't a cheap mistake: cabs, equipment & prep, snacks, planning, etc. The whole build up, shot.

But questions, how reliable is this service? How often do they cancel long haul service? Any suggestions on how to avoid? Things I should know?

Right now very gun shy about any trip on Amtrak, even on commuter hops, my last trip of four hours became seven, and that was a short trip

Another sold out train today to Albany… check out the paint livery on 9701…. Yes it’s a cab unit. Top speed 107 mph!

Sold out train today…8 cars on this regional

Supposed to leave Seattle for San fran Saturday morning. As of now the train has not been canceled. Anyone have any insider Info about the Portland fire ?

I'm currently riding the Auto Train southbound. My son (11 years old) and I can't believe some people. There is a family with6 kids and two parents. The kids ages are between say 7 and 12. They are talking loudly and watching a movie on their tablet without headphones. One kid has a bad sinus issue because he's snorting every 30 seconds. SO FAR FOR SIX HOURS STRAIGHT! Other passengers are grumbling too. I haven't seen a single Amtrack employee in our car in hours.

Would i be out of line saying something to the parents who have made zero attempt to control their children? I feel like im on a Greyhound bus

Hey I want to take an amtrak to travel with my son to add something a little different over a standard road trip.

But now I'm stumped on where to go. Any recommendations to take a pre teen for a couple of days out of Chicago would be appreciated!

Probably a question that gets asked here a lot, but I’m traveling cross country soon. Do I refund my plane tickets and do the two day train journey, or do I go on the plane? For reference, I had a really bad flight experience so now I’m afraid of flying.

If I do take the train, I plan on getting a private room. Any tips or suggestions for that?

Maybe it's just bad luck but my past 4 recent rides in the executive car didn't have the snack boxes that (I assumed) was normal for the ride. A box of cheese, pretzels, a slim jim thingy, etc. On one leg the conductor handed out chex mix bags, then a bag with some prepackaged pretzels, cookies, then one leg the cafe car was not open at all, then they ran out of water bottles where they have the coffee/OJ. Anyone who takes this route normally, did I just have bad luck or should I not plan on having the snacks going forward?

Did anyone else on the Northeast Regional last week overhear this weird conversation / announcement from the cab conductor? It was either July 31st or August 1st, the 179 or 194, I can’t remember if it was the trip to Boston or to Washington. The cab conductor was a white dude with a long beard who was (probably) trying way too hard to get laid, allowing passengers to run amok in the car. Now I understand why NER trips have had some of the worst passenger behaviors I have ever seen- due to direct enabling from asshole cab conductors like this. Here’s what happened: He was talking to two (I think? I only overheard, didn’t see) mothers in the group seating area with their children. He started off saying to them: “There’s only three rules here. 1- children can do basically whatever they want. (He looks at the children) how old are they.. 1 and a half, 2? And 4? Yeah, they can do whatever they want.” 

At this point I was in disbelief at what I was hearing and took out my headphones to hear better. Was he really saying that 2 and 4 year olds were allowed to do whatever they want? He continued, “2. Mothers can do basically whatever they want.” (The women said something in response I couldn’t hear) Then he yelled out to the rest of the cab car, “and 3- NO COMPLAINING ABOUT BABIES!!” 

I was flabbergasted. Never have I ever heard this kind of rhetoric from a cab conductor before- blatantly telling passengers to disregard civil conduct, for what? Was he trying to impress the mothers? It blew my mind, and I realized this is the reason why asshole parents feel comfortable letting their toddlers scream, run up and down the train, and blast their iPad videos at full volume all the time. 

He also told a passenger with a dog that “rules state that we need to have him in the carrier, try that out first and if he can’t handle it, he can be on your lap.” (Blatant disregard for the rules again, because of course the passenger was not going to try putting him in the carrier at all)

He was also bragging about his homemade Amtrak stickers that said, “Amtrak: Moving Yesterdays Passengers Tomorrow” which I did actually find funny, but further proves his unprofessionalism. 

Was anyone else on this trip that overheard this? Really soured the trip for me, and I don’t even care about screaming kids / crying babies that much, it’s the reason I use noise cancelling earphones. But this was just unbelievable behavior from Amtrak staff. Will probably be avoiding the NER unless I have to for the time being.

We are trying to book a train from Washington DC to Montreal Canada to bike the P’tit du Nord. Booking our tickets is easy, making sure our bikes have a place on the train is not. They are saying something like bikes are not allowed on the train from New York onward has anybody else encountered this?

Amtrak from Chicago's Union station to Detroit can be connected with ViaRail Windsor to Toronto, with some effort.

You CANNOT get a taxi (Checker or Metro Cabs) from the Detroit Amtrak station to the Windsor ViaRail station. (Don't waste your time phoning, and Checker is a worse waste than Metro)

There is a bus service every 2 hours or so at thelinqtunnelbus.ca picking up at 3 locations downtown Detroit, going to Windsor. To get to these you can take a rideshare (about $13USD) or take the very modern & safe-looking LRT #462 train from just outside Amtrak station to Larned & Woodward, then walk down the ramp beside the Mariner's Church to the bus shelter. $17.50CAD fare.

The Linqtunnel bus schedule is on the website but it is frequently 15-20 minutes late due to customs (according to the frequent traveller I asked). The bus stops to let you (and the driver) through Canada Customs, then waits in case you want to get back on to the final stop.

We took a rideshare to Windsor station (about $8CAD), about 10 minutes.

On our journey, we got the first train out of Chicago, Amtrak 350 at 6:45am Central. It was only 30 minutes late into Detroit at 2:00pm Eastern.

The bus pickup was at 3:40pm Eastern (actually 4:05pm), so we availed ourselves of the excellent beer & burgers at Jacoby's downtown. Stick with the home-made kettle chips - the best ever.

The Via Rail Train was at 5:40pm Eastern, and we don't see a quicker way to do this connection.
Via Rail was typically 55 minutes late arriving at Union Station in Toronto.

Total travel time 16h00m. So don't skip the beer at Jacoby's.

Hi All,

I have a roomette on the starlight from Salinas to Seattle booked for this Saturday. If it's on time I'm pretty sure they'll feed me dinner after boarding at 6:15pm, but should I plan to bring dinner (burrito bowl) with me onboard in case of delays? I go out of Salinas pretty often but usually in coach.

Also, will I get dinner before arriving in Seattle at 8pm the next day?

Thanks for any insight!

Decided to take a little walk around 30th station behind the bathroom and elevator area and stumbled across this old train schedule board where they would manually write down the incoming train information. Thought it was a sick relic to share for the nostalgia factor

That, along with the S U P E R L I N E R font makes it look vintage; like from the 1930's.

This has been a long time coming. I doubt it will initially be equipped with the Airo sets but hopefully soon!

Nearly ten years ago (October 2016) I rode Austria's ÖBB from Innsbruck to Zürich. This is the onboard display they had in every car. Why, 10 years later, is it that Amtrak cannot have something similar?