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We'll have about 5 hours to kill in Sacramento on New Year's Day, roughly between 6 am and 11 am, while waiting for a connection from a southbound CS to eastbound CZ. All museums I checked are closed. Are there any suggestions of interesting things to do near the train station? Thanks!

Urgent help is needed with the following questions: (i) Do the Amtrak thruway buses still leave from Wynkoop street across from Union Station, or have they been switched over to the new bus concourse? (ii) Where the closest public parking to the station is located. Street parking is ok. Thanks!

We have two parties booked in two roomettes in different train cars, and I'm trying to see if there is a way to switch rooms so we can be next to each other or across the aisle. There's plenty of availability, but the two agents I spoke to said that any room switches would result in a...

We are a family of four, going NYP-WAS tomorrow at 7pm in Acela First. It's my dad's birthday and of course New Year's Eve, and we would really like to have dinner together at one of the four-person tables in first class. The problem is, there's only four of those, and seating is first-come...

I've run into this problem for a while now, and I'm getting sick of dealing with it. Basically, the issue is, I travel from Flagstaff, AZ to San Francisco often, but for some strange reason Arrow stopped allowing me to make this booking... not via the SWC-CS route, anyway. Try it on amtrak.com...

Is it just me, or has the noise level increased significantly on long distance trains lately? I don't mean train noise, I mean human-produced noise. I just got off a train that shall go unnamed for the time being, and it's been the worst one so far in terms of noise. In the sightseer lounge...

Hi all. My next train trip, coming up in a couple of weeks, will be Grand Canyon - Williams - LAX - SEA with some friends. We'll have bedrooms connected into bedroom suites. I'm a fairly experienced Amtrak traveler, but every trip I pick up some new tricks. For this one, my two questions are...

Hi all, I'm writing this from the Pacific Parlour car of the northbound Coast Starlight. When I boarded in LA a few hours ago, I noticed that 2 out of 3 sleeper cars (not counting the trans-dorm) are old beat-up Superliner IIs, not the refurbished Superliner Is typical for this train. I asked...

Since I'm scheduled to take the CZ in the next couple of days, I looked up its performance, and it's been downright abysmal lately. To add to the detour- and trackwork delays, a 3-4 hour delay between GBB and BRL apppeared in the last few runs. Does anyone know what's going on there? ---------...

American Geophysical Union blog recently published some photos of a railway line in New Zealand deformed by an earthquake: Although they come from a pretty reputable source, some of us have doubts about their authenticity, because the photos appear to indicate a significant lengthening of...

I often heard it stated on this forum that Amtrak tickets are just like cash, and once lost, they can't be replaced. Fortunately, it was not something I've ever experienced myself. On a recent trip, though, two members of our party lost their tickets. Long story short, they managed to get their...

I just returned from a trip DEN-EMY-PDX-WGL and back. On the way out, I experienced a "perfect storm" of downgrades from roomette to coach: DEN-EMY: Downgraded to coach due to mechanical issues with the sleeper car, including a broken air conditioner. EMY-PDX: Bustituted due to extremely late...

Two questions: 1) Can I call Amtrak and ask them to hold a reservation for a roomette until Monday without paying for it? I think it's possible if vouchers are used. 2) Can Amtrak agents, perhaps at the supervisory level, make any changes to AGR reservations? The reason why I'm asking is...

You learn new things every day. Today I discovered that it's possible to have different passengers on different legs of the trip, all on a single AGR award. I had an AGR reservation WGL-PDX-SAC-DEN, and was trying to add a third person. Here's how it went: Me: I'd like to add a third person to...

So, I have a pretty crazy trip coming up in two weeks. It started my family wanting to go to Glacier National Park by train, then I decided to join them, then invited some friends to join me... and it just grew and grew. We ended up with 4 different parties traveling to West Glacier as follows...

Can anyone suggest a good winter trip? The idea is to take the train from NYP around New Year's, spend several days somewhere, and return by train. We're looking to stay somewhere fairly rustic and relatively remote, like a cabin or a B&B, with good views of snowy landscapes. Canada is in play...

Not too long ago, AGR would not book three adults into a bedroom (http://discuss.amtraktrains.com/index.php?/topic/31191-three-in-a-bedroom/); the most they would do is two adults and a child. I've experienced it personally, so I can attest to it. Today I decided to give it another try, and to...

Just bought tickets yesterday, and today noticed that the price went down by $50. Unfortunately, I had the tickets mailed to me, so I can't just cancel and re-book online. What are my options? If I just make another reservation and send the tickets in for refund, most of the savings will be...

Saw this posted on Flyertalk and Railroad.net, and thought it was worth mentioning here. How do people feel about covering the Acelas in advertising wraps? The latest one looks like this: http://railpictures.net/viewphoto.php?id=332945&nseq=0 http://i29.tinypic.com/14178qr.jpg...

Hi all, Quick question here. Say I want to buy a ticket for departure from an unstaffed station with no Quik-Trak. Naturally, the website doesn't present me with a "pick up at station" option. However, I know that I'll be through lots of staffed stations before that particular trip, and will...