The Metroliners: Trains that changed the course of American rail travel By Bruce Goldberg and David C. Warner White River Productions, P.O. Box 48, Bucklin, MO 64631; 124 pages, hardcover, 8 ½ x 11 inches; $59.95 shop.whiteriverproductions.com Recounting the history of the Northeast Corridor’s first premium service in a breezy narrative that knows what to […]
Railroad: Amtrak
First Viewliner II diner on the move NEWSWIRE
Viewliner II dining car Annapolis deadheads on the rear of the southbound Silver Meteor at Kissimmee, Fla., on Nov. 18. Scott A. Hartley MIAMI — Amtrak employees will soon train in the newest dining cars on the continent now that the first of 25 new Viewliner II dining cars has arrived at Amtrak’s Hialeah Maintenance […]
More than 20 charged with drug smuggling on the ‘Southwest Chief’ NEWSWIRE
CHICAGO — Federal prosecutors have accused 24 people of using Amtrak’s Southwest Chief to move cocaine and heroin from California to Chicago, the Associated Press reports. The U.S. Attorney’s Office in Chicago says the charges were the result of a multi-year investigation called “Operation Derail.” According to court documents, the suspects would often hide the […]
Amtrak equipment usage
Amtrak’s ‘Empire Builder’s consist will vary, but the number of trainsets for a route depends on schedules. Here it is westbound in June at Duplainville, Wis. Steve Sweeney Q For the past few years I have been trying to figure out how many trainsets are needed for a given train such as the Empire Builder. […]
Anatomy of an Amtrak delay and recovery* (updated) NEWSWIRE
FULL SCREEN Bob Johnston It took more than two hours for CSX track personnel to secure cutting tools, get to Connersville, and make the right-of-way passable. The train then backed into the station and passengers were allowed to get off. Here onlookers watch as two engineers and the assistant conductor rectify minor damage to the […]
‘Two-wheelers’ now welcome on Amtrak trains NEWSWIRE
Amtrak Assistant Conductor Tony Brey punches a bicyclist’s ticket for the eastbound Empire Builder on Monday. Amtrak will now accept bicycles without disassembling at most station stops for long-distance trains. Steve Glischinski Amtrak Assistant Conductor Paul Trossen loads a bicycle into a baggage car on the Empire Builder Monday. Steve Glischinski A bicycle loaded on […]
Side by side
Eastbound Providence & Worcester train NH-1 with B39-8 No. 3909 and B30-7A No. 3007 waits in the siding at Triebel interlocking at Guilford, Conn., for an eastbound Amtrak train to get by on June 15, 2009. Photo by Thomas Mik […]
Amtrak, Alstom reach $2.45 billion deal (with video)
WASHINGTON — Amtrak is contracting with Alstom to produce 28 next-generation high-speed trainsets that will replace the equipment used to provide Amtrak’s premium Acela Express service. The contract is part of $2.45 billion that will be invested on the heavily traveled Northeast Corridor as part of a multifaceted modernization program to renew and expand the […]
MR Insider: Highball to Indy!
Having trouble viewing this video? Please visit our Video FAQ page To get to the National Model Railroad Association’s (NMRA) 2016 national convention in Indianapolis, Ind., MRVP’s Ben Lake and Model Railroader magazine’s Dana Kawala hopped aboard Amtrak’s Hiawatha and Iowa Pacific’s Hoosier State. Enjoy Ben’s narrated journey to Indiana’s capital city, and then […]
‘Lake Shore Limited’ to temporarily lose dining cars
Amtrak’s Lake Shore Limited pulls into downtown Chicago on Monday, July 25, with two Amfleet II diner-lounge cars in the consist. Recently discovered structural problems forced Amtrak to remove heritage diners, ones built in the 1940s and 1950s, and reassign structurally OK diners from certain trains, including the Lake Shore. Bob Johnston CHICAGO — Amtrak […]
Tipping on trains
A dining car crew sets up for breakfast on the ‘Auto Train’ in 2012. Al DiCenso Q Having been a tipped employee, I know how important service and tips are to customers and employees alike. What would be an appropriate tip for average service for one guest in a roomette? What about tipping for meals […]
Amtrak releases ‘Southwest Chief’ Pueblo extension report NEWSWIRE
The Southwest Chief Commission wants to use the Pueblo Union Station, pictured here in this July 28, 2013 view. Bob Johnston PUEBLO, Colo. — An Amtrak revenue and ridership study requested by the Colorado Department of Transportation’s Southwest Chief Rail Line Economic Development, Rural Tourism, and Infrastructure Repair and Maintenance Commission Fund projects that the […]