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An article in this morning's Norman (OK) Transcript indicates the Heartland Flyer will continue daily service between OKC and FTW (Texas and Oklahoma feed most of the expense kitty) but the consist has been reduced to a single Superliner Coach/Cafe and a unit on either end (I have not looked...

It has been almost 6 weeks since I completed a 1 week rental with Hertz under the 6x bonus points program and points have yet to post to the account. I have looked high and low on the AGR site trying to find out how to request a follow up on missing points from allied merchants/suppliers but...

WNBC New York blew a quick story explaining New York based Regionals will soon be offering New York themed food and booze in the Cafe cars. It did not say anything about Diner menus but I hope this is early action from President Moorman and that it will spread throughout the system; imagine...

Hats off to Enterprise for posting a nice bundle of Points to my AGR account less than 4 days after I turned the vehicle back in. They are currently offering 200 Points/day; so for a 2 week rental ($220) that puts a good feed into the Kitty :)

I just got a call from 877-201-3564 but, of course, did not answer it as I NEVER answer a Toll Free. I did look it up online and found out it is some operation claiming to be BoA looking to extract information, likely from new Cardholders. From what I understand banks NEVER make unsolicited...

I spent about 30 minutes catching up on this Forum just before going to sleep last night and sure enough dreamed Amtrak. It seems Amtrak got a massive budget increase and part of that money went to build a fleet of Viewliner Section Sleepers (Upper/Lower Berth or Touralux as Milwaukee called...

It looks like the title of Amtrak's Shortest Train now goes to the Heartland Flyer which has been running with only 2 Superliner Coaches (including the Snack Coach) the past few weeks. She still has a P42 on one end and a NPCU on the other. Of course later this week she'll lengthen out quite a...

Here is an OUTSTANDING pro-Amtrak article from The American Conservative: http://www.theamericanconservative.com/articles/dont-railroad-amtrak/

I just arrived Chicago on the Texas Eagle from FTW and as soon as the train arrived FTW I noticed a couple major changes. First, with all the extra Heritage Bags now on hand, Eagle sets now have one in consist. Second our set had a Straight (Full) Diner though only half was used for pax and...

I have a segment on the Texas Eagle next week and am wondering if the Dinner Steak has improved from a not too good offering I experienced last Summer. Then it was a couple small pieces of flat meat I would struggle to call proper Steak. Not bad but not up to the typical Steak I have enjoyed...

This has been Hell Week and then some for the Heartland Flyer culminating in a Service Dispruption for at least a couple days following a major Freight derailment near Valley View Texas today, a result of historic flooding. Wednesday of this week I took a Points run to FTW and flooding rain...

I am doing a little "off the cuff" research on the small fleet of Amtrak Gallery Coaches, the converted ex C&NW Double Deckers that ran on some of the Illinois Service trains during the early days of Amtrak. While I have seen plenty of exterior pics, I am looking for any interior shots or...

Now that we are within 2 weeks of the scheduled return of the PPCs, does anyone know what their status is? Did they get overhauled or just receive basic maintenance. Since there were reports of them heading east to Indiana, it sounds like whatever work was planned is being done on the West Coast.

A Ventura to Los Angeles Metrolink Train has derailed after hitting "something" at a crossing. Cars are on their sides and several injuries reported from first KNBC reports.

Illinois Gov. Bruce Rauner has scuppered plans to restart Amtrak service between Chicago and Rockford because of funding cuts. Last year former Gov. Pat Quinn announced a $223 million plan to resume the service which was last run back in the 80s. But no rail has yet been laid or updated.

This is scary as can be especially with the Driver speeding and continuing on despite being aware her Bus had problems! http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/local/breaking/chi-indiana-police-take-unsafe-megabus-out-of-service-20150101-story.html

Fearing a cavalcade of unruly drunks who will be participating in a Christmas Bar Crawl this weekend, the MTA will ban alcohol on Metro-North and LIRR Saturday and on into Sunday morning according to this evening's WNBC News. Sure enough it is up on the Metro-North Web site...

Metra (Chicago) is proposing some rather substantial fare hikes to pay for new equipment and to cover costs associated with implementing Positive Train Control. They claim some of their Gallery Coaches average 43 years of age, making me wonder if any of the 1950s vintage classics are still...

I am enjoying a good listening session on the scanner as at least 2 BNSF Freight Engineers are raising hell about being delayed because the Heartland Flyer is running 40 minutes late and Dispatch wants to get him out of the way. Suddenly the Defect Detector by me alerts TRAIN TOO SLOW...

Moments ago I got home from a very pleasant 4 day each way run from Norman OK to West Palm Beach and before I left I was curious how the truncated southbound (21) Texas Eagle was turned in less than 2 hours in FTW. Some great planning went into this. Rather than hurry and turn a potentially...