Recent content by Mark P

Just road Cascades biz class last week, on the Talgo trainset, and can confirm they do not assign seats. First come first serve.

East

Found the reason why from Amtrak twitter:

Just got news that my Wolverine train 350 from CHI to PNT (morning departure from Chicago) was already cancelled all the way out in early October. What would make this cancellation happen so early? Looks like many of the 350 trains were cancelled around my dates. Any chance it will come back?

Looking to take the MO River Runner next May and excited to try out the new Venture coaches. Any idea as to the schedule of the new business class cars? Will they be operating on that route by then? The old split cafe/business cars do not look too exciting.

Flooding where? The land between LA and San Antonio is dry as a bone.

Holy cow, what weather could have been severe enough to cancel the entire route between LA and San Antonio? I was on the Sunset Limited departing LAX on 5/29 and got to New Orleans just fine, uninterrupted.

Thank you! Lots of great suggestions in the guide and in this thread!

Taking the Sunset Limited from LAX to NOL next week, and am wondering if there are any bits of interesting scenery along the way I should be on the lookout for. So far I'm just thinking El Paso and the proximity to the border wall and Mexico could be interesting. And am hoping for some "bayou"...

You don't even need to get an ORCA card if you are just a visitor. Download the TransitGo app, you can buy all fares there and show them to the bus driver on your phone. For the light rail, it's honor system as they have not been enforcing fare collections since the start of COVID.

Taking the Cascades train from PDX to SEA in December...I see there are three Cascades trains that day (500, 504, 508) and one Coast Starlight (14). Is there any way to know which of the Cascades trains will be Talgo and which will be Horizon? I have a business class upgrade to use and I like...

It's open, I was there back in late June. No food/bev inside the lounge, they were giving people vouchers to use at the mini mart inside the station.

Good to hear, thank you! I'll read his travelogue now.

Taking the SW Chief. Assuming the SSL is still there then?

Is Amtrak still running the sightseer lounges on the long distance trains? If so, are they enforcing any kind of seating restrictions for social distancing purposes? Have a trip on July 1, and if for some reason there are no lounges, will most likely cancel.