California Zephyr resumes full route after a week of cancellations

Passenger train on three-track main line

CHICAGO — Beginning today (Wednesday, March 6) Amtrak’s westbound California Zephyr will depart Chicago for California for the first time the Feb. 27 departure encountered freight congestion and weather obstacles that resulted in arrival into Emeryville, Calif., 10 hours, 35 minutes late. Those cars and locomotives, stranded for more than a week at Amtrak’s Oakland […]

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Classic Trains Film Archive | Colorado and Wyoming, J. David Ingles Reel 14

Classic Trains Film Archive | Colorado and Wyoming, J. David Ingles Reel 14  – Amidst the Great Plains states of Colorado and Wyoming, J. David Ingles vintage color footage captures notable classic railroads, including Chicago, Burlington & Quincy; Colorado & Wyoming; Rio Grande; Santa Fe; Union Pacific; and even Sperry Rail Service! ………………………………… Look back […]

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Venture cars officially launched on Amtrak San Joaquins

Passenger cars with multicolored striping on siding

STOCKTON, Calif. — The operating agency for Amtrak’s San Joaquins and the California Department of Transportation officially launched San Joaquins service using Siemens Venture equipment on Tuesday, March 5, with ceremonies featuring Caltrans director Tony Taveres, state Secretary of Transportation Toks Omishakin, and other officials. The first Venture cars debuted in San Joaquins service without […]

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Charlotte Light Rail

Light rail commuter service has arrived in the state of North Carolina. The Charlotte Area Transit System, or CATS, was formed in 1999, and initiated rail service with the Lynx Blue Line in 2007. This line now stretches 19 miles between the UNC Charlotte campus on the north side of town, and a station near Pineville […]

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Amtrak adds eight weekday, four weekend Northeast Corridor trains

Passenger train passing through station in heavy rain

WASHINGTON — Beginning today (Monday, March 4), Amtrak is scheduling four additional Northeast Regional round trips weekdays and two on the weekends between New York and Washington, D.C. The decision to reconfigure seating in each coach so that half of the seats face in different directions [see “Fixed forward and backward seating to speed Northeast Regional […]

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Coach passengers now can buy meals in Silver Star and Silver Meteor dining cars

Amtrak dining car with one person dining at one table

WASHINGTON — Amtrak’s New York-Miami trains will begin offering “traditional dining” to “a limited number of coach customers” starting today (Monday, March 4), according to spokeswoman Kimberly Woods. The company dropped meal-in-a-bowl “flexible dining” last March on the Silver Star and last June on the Silver Meteor [see “Amtrak returns ‘traditional dining’ …,” Trains News […]

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Big day for the Broadway

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It’s June 15, 1938, the date on which the Pennsylvania Railroad’s Broadway Limited made its debut as a streamlined train. K4s 3768, given a streamlined cowling two years previously, handled the train out of Chicago. Classic Trains collection […]

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West Coast winter weather affects California Zephyr, Empire Builder

Two passenger trains with bilevel equipment meet in snow

CHICAGO — Amtrak’s California Zephyr has been cancelled west of Salt Lake City through the weekend as weather forecasters are predicting heavy snow will pound Donner Pass and the Sierra Nevada mountains through Saturday. Service on the Seattle segment of the Empire Builder route was also disrupted this week. Trouble started early Thursday when the […]

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