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Entire OBS staff changes at Winnipeg. A few might be asked to stay on if incoming crew is short staffed, but usually in a different role. For example on one trip a Prestige concierge/Park attendant Vancouver-Winnipeg was asked to stay on and worked Winnipeg-Toronto as a Sleeper Plus car...

The section needing the most work is a lightly used CN freight line. Someone else here knew the frequency of use and posted it, which I don't fully recall, but think it was maybe twice a week? Most CN cross border traffic in the general area goes to the New England Central, former GT, through...

My first ride on an intercity train was at age 3 on SP's Coast Daylight. I don't think I was asking many questions, just digging on the train. And I've been riding them pretty consistently ever since...

I have never, ever seen an OBS with a scanner, and I know many if not most of them know what they are. My conclusion is, at the very least, they are strongly frowned upon. I skimmed the Service Standards Manual and it doesn't call them out specifically for any thing, though. Technically, FCC...

The antenna is the biggest single factor in increasing range/sensitivity. So just get a larger, tuned antenna for your home. Plug it in at home and use the rubber ducky for onboard use.

Great scanner story. Capturing those kind of events is one of the big reasons I carry one. The engineer was talking to the CSX dispatcher, not Amtrak over the radio. Amtrak itself doesn't have the radio coverage/range there. CSX's main dispatching center is in Jacksonville, FL, IIRC, but they...

Most people who ride long distance sleepers are casual riders. They'll go once or twice in their lives, pay what price they find to experience long distance rail travel, not knowing if it is good, bad, or indifferent or even that it might change. Then they'll go back to mostly flying. Many...

We speak of "bucket drops", I do too, but it really is not an accurate way to think about how it works. All the inventory on a given train is allocated across the bucket price points at any given time, even though only the lowest one having unsold inventory can be seen. For example, current...

Truth!

Well, just for a baseline, I checked railsforless.us for two weeks from today, 6/21, and got 3 roomettes available at $274/single adult as the straight up price. If I were you, I'd do the same for your actual date. So it looks like there is some inventory. Do it just before you actually bid...

BidUp is a one shot. You don't get another crack at it. I am unclear on what you are saying Amtrak is suggesting that is a no-go.

If there were more Bedrooms left, allocated to a higher bucket, it would have displayed 3 Bedrooms for 6 passengers, all 3 at the higher bucket price. So, yes, those results indicate just two Bedrooms left on that departure.

The Carl Sandberg, train 381, is an Illinois corridor train between Chicago and Quincy. That routing is to take 381 much earlier in the morning to Galesburg and connect to the SW Chief later in the day at Galesburg. It follows the same tracks as the SW Chief does, earlier in the day. If you...

The proposals I've seen were Chicago-Toronto via Detroit. Detroit/Windsor, while a major traffic point, is where the border would be crossed, not a terminus. The model would probably be the Maple Leaf, not the Cascades or the Adirondack. That is because it would have many stops and local...

The platforms are gone but the mainline is still there. Looking on Google Maps satellite view the current tracks are around 200 feet from back of the concourse. It looks like it wouldn't be as far from the station to a new platform adjacent to the mainline than the relocated tracks are from...

Never had the AmKFC. That seems to happen mostly when the diner breaks down mid trip rather than the severely late scenario doesn't it?

I agree that use of MC is needed for Canada service via Detroit. One problem, however, is that the connection with the CP is awkward, to say the least, to VIA's Windsor station on CN and with VIA's CN hosted operation generally. There is a reason the International went via Port Huron/Sarnia on...

I seem to recall it is actually more for those on regular bid jobs. I think the Builder crews on regular bid jobs take about 2 trips per month. Those on the extra board can get called for another job with minimal time off though. There is probably a minimum rest time for folks on the extra...

I'd say it is probably closer to 99% 😉. One doesn't need to know about yield management buckets and inventory allocation. The usefulness of that information is in evaluating how good or bad an offered price is and being able to make a semi-educated guess on the probability or improbability of...

Standard internet shorthand, "If I Recall Correctly". Like LOL, Laughing Out Loud. Or BTW. Right now there is one whole car worth of Bedrooms, five, available at $2216 single adult pricing (6th bucket) on 4/15/2025. That translates to $2448 for two seniors. To me, that indicates the Bedrooms...