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Relevant to the Philadelphia crash and other topics that come up from time to time, here's a reasonably easy-to-understand primer on signaling systems from the 1800s until now. It includes an introduction to many of today's most popular alphabet soups like ACSES, I-ETMS, ETCS and more. Oooh! I...

Some interesting reading, even if none of it is too surprising. The request, on muckrock.com: The 300 resulting pages, heavily redacted, from the same site.

Earlier this year, a 40-mile trip from LAX to Santa Ana (to visit family) was $13. Today I looked it up and it's $16, a $3 jump. Three bucks may not sound like much, but that's an almost 25% increase for a trip that's only 30 miles. Irvine (to visit a friend) has gone from $14 to $17 for a...

Train 563 is an early-morning daily train from San Diego to LAUS. Beginning Feb 15, it runs weekends-only. In its place on weekdays is a new train, 563, that skips five stations: Capistrano, Laguna Niguel, Santa Ana, Orange and Fullerton. Both 565 and 563 depart at 7:05, but whereas 565 arrives...

I read today that Metrolink is having a 2-week tour to debut its new Rotem coaches and cabs. December 6th they'll be on display at LAUS. More information here.

On October 20, a friend and I rode the Builder from Chicago to Portland, then caught the Coast Starlight to L.A. We had a bedroom on both trains. This isn't a trip report, but some random observations. The equipment on the Builder did not live up to the "premier" marketing. Many (if not the...

Received a call today from a market research firm that wants to pay me $100 for two hours' worth of my thoughts about Amtrak. It would be on the evening of Thursday, Oct 21, the very time that I'll be near East Glacier Park, MT, headed west on the Builder. So because I'll be on Amtrak I can't...

Ad posted here.

The movie is set in L.A. Halfway through, the lead characters go to Santa Barbara. We see them going up a ramp from the station tunnel, boarding the train, then the movie continues with a few scenes inside a Surfliner coach and a snack car. After the events in Santa Barbara, there are some...

Another thread I haven't searched for asked a question about the training regimen required to become a sleeper attendant. At NTD today I spoke a real live honest-to-goodness SCA and asked. To be a SCA requires two weeks of classroom training that focuses mostly on FRA regs and safety rules...

I knew CA paid to refurb some Superliners in exchange for exclusive use on the San Joaquin and Capitol Corridor routes, and I've previously seen Superliners in std. Amtrak colors pinch-hitting on longer Surfliner consists, but today was the first day I saw a Superliner in Surfliner livery...

It's only a snippet, but according to Railpac, Amtrak staff has stated that States should not anticipate that funds will be available for improvements on state corridors. All funds not on the NEC will be used for equipment rehab and improvements to the long distance services. Sounds like some...

Much more here. From Trains Newswire via Seattle Transit blog.

I know it's last minute, but at 7:30 tonight (2/3), Huell Howser's show is about the Zephyr. He's on KOCE in Southern California.

A couple of months ago I booked from Santa Ana (SNA, CA) to San Jose (SJC). Arrow gave me the option of a Surfliner to LAX then the CS, and that's the itinerary I booked. Today I put in the same city pair but the CS doesn't show up. Instead I get a multi-segment trip through the [un]scenic...

Well, it's certainly embarrassing to run out gas in one's car, but when it's a train that runs out of fuel, that's really bad!

Tomorrow (Monday the 17th), four of us fly from L.A. to CHI for a couple of days, then we catch the Wednesday CZ to Emeryville, spend a night (Friday) in San Fran, then fly home. It's the first LD trip for any of us. This board has been invaluable in giving me insight and advice about what to...

I want to redeem points for a coach seat and pay cash for a business-class upgrade. Can that all be done as one transaction? If so, by which means: phone/online/station agent? Does it require two transactions? Say, book coach online, then later modify the transaction to upgrade to business...

I saw this on railpac.org: I'm playing Cruise Director next March for a small group on the CZ and it's our first LD trip. Is there validity to what those people observed? Did I make a big mistake? Will my travel friends ever talk to me again? Say it isn't so...

1. My home service, the Pacific Surfliner, has unreserved seating. The ticket doesn't even list a train number or a date of travel because each ticket is good for any train between the identified city pair for one year. It's more like a subway ticket than a train ticket. 2. I generally use a...