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So excited to be taking my not-quite-one-year-old on their first Amtrak trip with their Mom and Grandpa! Looks like the Metropolitan Lounge is kind of back in business. Canned sodas, chilled and sparkling water on tap. Coffee from the urn, but the espresso machine was not running. Seeing...

I was just thinking: Wouldn't it be great to take my car with me from Chicago to Reno, enjoy the CZ and have my car with me when I stop? The Auto Train is the most successful of all the LD trains, mainly because it serves a specific market developed after the decline of passenger rail. Yes, it...

There's a lot of discussion here advocating for a return to the "height of the train travel era". As railfans, it's always fun to see what once was. However, as far as advocating for the future of rail, arguing for a "return to the old days" in rail is as destined to fail as arguing for a...

One of the consistent things that creeps up in discussions of Long Distance Dining is the inconsistent quality of the On-Board Service. If we really care about LD trains and seeing them continue, On-Board Service needs to be fixed. If you ride the LD trains long enough, you'll run across OBS...

Before we begin, please don't beat up on Flex Dining here, there's a nice 20 page thread for that already. What I'm interested in discussing here are specific, actionable ideas that don't require a major increase in funding. How feasible they are is debatable. However, since we're in a...

The discussion of full service dining on Long Distance trains got me thinking about who's riding today's Sleeper Cars. Amtrak probably made some assumptions about who's traveling and those decisions informed the demise of dining. I figured I'd ask here to see if my assumptions are aligning with...

Normally I take Amtrak from Michigan out to Reno for projects I'm involved in out there and then fly back. Given how cramped an airplane is, the number of people I could come into contact with at an airport going through two major hubs (usually MSP, SLC) AND potential exposure during gas stops...

I think this will be my 4th of 5th trip on the CZ, again in a roomette. Leaving CHI on 7/1 and returning 7/6. I'm pretty sure all meals will still be served in my room, but what I'm wondering is how they'll manage the lounge car. A recent YT video shows that the dining and lounge cars are...

I'm a longtime rider of the CZ, but never took a trip on the Southwest Chief. The big thing I really enjoyed about this trip were the big signs along the rails that appear to predate Amtrak. They were pointed directly at the trains and very briefly explained the locale or upcoming sights. The...