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We're planning a trip from Vancouver to Halifax toward the end of November. I know I'm asking about a 4,000 mile journey and the scenery will be varied, but am just curious what to expect. Snow anywhere along the way?

I got a new toy recently, an Aranet4. It measures CO2 concentration in a given space, which is one way you can get an idea of how well ventilated the space is. This is especially important at the moment given the airborne virus causing the pandemic. Here is a scientific paper from the University...

We are taking a trip from Emeryville to Truckee and were thinking that it would be nice to do it in the Family Bedroom on the CZ. Bedroom fares are through the roof. Roomettes wouldn't give us enough space to hang out together. Has anyone had any luck booking three adults in a Family Room...

I am trying to remember if Amtrak ever used mail hooks or delivered mail bags out of moving trains to remote places. Was this something Amtrak ever did?

Someone I follow on Twitter mentioned that they could only find one day with tickets available between Tucson and LA in the month of July. Does anyone have any idea what's going on? There aren't any Service Alerts posted.

I'm going to be doing a lot more traveling with my bike. I know the Capitol Limited sometimes has a Viewliner baggage, but sometimes only has a Superliner Coach Baggage. How does bike service work with the Superliner Coach Baggage? I see this thread but was curious to see a more definitive...

Being stuck at home this MLK Jr weekend, I decided to write up what we were doing this time last year. A long weekend in Denver, Glenwood Springs, and of course the California Zephyr back to the Bay Area. You can read my report here: Amtrak’s California Zephyr: Denver to Glenwood Springs to San...

A couple of weekends ago, my partner Vanessa and me decided to head down to Disneyland to check out the new Star Wars land. Instead of going the same old way (flying), I thought it might be fun to do something a little different. Our trip OKJ-SLO-CPN-LAX-ANA was booked! Amtrak happened to have...

I was just glancing at asm.transitdocs.com and see that it looks like #2 is detouring. It's running 4hr 15min late. Anyone know the cause of the detour? Or is this just a normal event?

I know this might seem like a dumb questions, however I'm a bit curious. Here in California, our state sponsored service has quite a few formerly wrecked Superliner coaches that the state either leased or purchased (I'm not sure). This got me thinking, if there are wrecked Superliner coaches...

I know someone on the Starlight #11 today and when they got to San Luis Obispo, the passengers were notified that the train would be combined with a southbound Surfliner (I believe 796?) and make all Surfliner stops to LA Union Station. Is this common? It turned their 30 minute delay into an...

There is a rumor among Amtrak staff that the Starlight is no longer going to offer business class. I'm not sure how business class yields were, but I do wish they would do a better job with the business class product on the Starlight.

This May I'm traveling on Via in business class from Toronto to Ottawa (train 42), and then the following day Ottawa to Quebec (train 26). Is there a way to find out what type of equipment operates each train? On a side note, it was pretty expensive compared to similar Amtrak routes, but the...

I'm curious if anyone has had luck getting the $79 annual fee waived? Since this is my only account with Bank of America, I don't have much experience negotiating the fee with them. For years I got Barclays to waive their $100 annual fee on my American Airlines card. I've had luck with some...

Last weekend we had a great trip on the City of New Orleans from Chicago to NOLA. One of the more interesting moments in the trip came shortly before Brookhaven, MS station. The train was cruising along at 60mph+ when with a small jolt, we struck a tree that had fallen on the tracks. Track...

Almost a year ago now we took a spur of the moment trip on the Empire Builder to see the winter scenery between Seattle and Chicago. Being from San Francisco, any time I get to see snow is novel, so it was quite the trip. I wrote it up on my blog with some pictures and video clips. You can view...

Currently headed from Chicago to LA Union Station on train #3. The girlfriend and I are in a roomette. This was my first time seeing the newish Metropolitan Lounge at Chicago Union Station and I have to say I was impressed. Great natural light upstairs. Tanisha is our car attendant and she...

There is currently a small derailment in Madera, CA impacting the San Joaquin route. A bus bridge is in place for the time being. Unfortunate that things like this happen, impacting the reliability of regional passenger service. Picture and report about it from local station CBS47.

Last December I rode Royal Railway's service from Sihanoukville to Phnom Penh. This is recently restored train service using French built DMUs as cars. You can read my trip report with pictures and videos here: https://parkerday.com/cambodias-royal-railway/

I have a business class ticket on Cascades train 502 from Portland-Tacoma and our plans changed so we decided to just go ahead continue on, so I booked another ticket using points Tacoma-Seattle-Chicago with the first leg still on train 502. I've done this on other trains but I've not been on...