Recent content by omaha

According to J Volpe's Final Report on Basic National Rail Passenger System (1971) "The route segment beyween Chicago and Birmingham via Indianapolis was chosen primarily because population along the Indianapolis route is nearly eight times that along the alternative Fulton (City of Miami)...

Reminds me of the classic Seinfeld episode when they did not have a car available. Jerry said: You know how to take reservations for cars. You just don't know how to keep them

A good way to see what sleepers were like is to visit Omaha's Durham Museum in the former Union Station. They have three passenger cars on display inside the museum that you can walk through---a 1924 Pullman sleeper with an observation lounge, a 1949 Southern Pacific lounge car, and a 1956...

The other tracks were removed when the office building and science museum were built. The science museum and a parking garage occupy the space where the tracks were.

Amtrak explored the possibility of using Union Station in the late 1970s. They would have used the western part of the station and built a plywood enclosed passage from the waiting area through the museum to the platforms. The museum was opposed to this idea because it would have been a...

When the Empire Builder went tri-weekly in 78-79 ridership dropped from 321,400 in 1976 (last year with daily service) to 187,800 in 1978 and 201,100 in 1979.

Casey was going too fast but the derailment was caused by failure to see a brakeman's signal on a foggy night and running into a train ahead of him

I do not know if you would consider this a hub city but many railroad timetables before Amtrak had 2-3 pages listing connections with other railroads at major cities. I always found this helpful

A couple of years before the National Limited was discontinued Amtrak studied the possibility of diverting the train thru Cincinnati.

The book was written around 1957-58

I would like to see Amtrak try something like the Chuck Wagon on the pre-Amtrak Denver Zephyr. It had a three-man crew (one chef and two waiters). They had three dinner selections (and a la carte selections) that were quick and easy to prepare

A great description of the poor management of the Milwaukee Road is THE NATION PAYS AGAIN by Thomas Ploss. He was a lawyer who worked for the Milwaukee Road during its final years. He attributes the problems of the Pacific Extension to the GN and NP who refused to let the Milwaukee get the...

According to Amtrak's Route selection manual in 1971 "In general, the route segments selected either covered the largest population or generated the greatest ridership. However, in choosing the northern route rather than the southern, between Fargo and Spokane, the relative absence of...