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The result of a Monday-afternoon CSX derailment of four cars carrying caustic sodium hydroxide in WV. From the linked news article, "The derailment resulted in Monday night’s westbound Capitol Limited returning to Washington, D.C., after it had departed there; the rest of that trip was...

An interesting look at the massively heavy armored train that North Korea's Kim Jong Un will take to pow-wow with Putin in Vladivostok. (A different kind of "Orient Express.") Like his father and grandfather, Kim is phobic about flying, which is kinda limiting in world-"leader" circles...

Sounds like the ex-Prairie Home Companion host and writer will be riding the Lake Shore and the Southwest Chief this week. Precisely because he and his English visitors deplore the pejorative phrase, "flyover country." From Looking forward to a week of uninformation - Garrison Keillor: "I...

Railfan friends, I'm thinking of taking a mini-circle* trip in late September or October, just to burn up some AGR points and to get some "train therapy." (It's been too long since I traveled for pure pleasure. My commutes on the Cap between DC and Pittsburgh don't fully count, given the sad...

From the Washington Post. "I wanted to see the country in a different way, so I decided to skip the short flight from Ho Chi Minh City [former Saigon] to Hanoi and take two overnight trains over three days instead...The result was just as I hoped." First leg was on the 22+ hour "Reunification...

"Dirt was discovered in the railroad’s locomotive shop all alone as a kitten in 2008. Not wanting the little cat to starve, the shop crews started providing him with cans of tuna and soft cat food. It took time, but after a while, the cat started to trust the workers, and shortly after that, the...

And I'm loving this. (So did at least 96,899 others. Nearly 10 times as many as "liked" the Southwest Airlines tweet to which Amtrak was responding.) Mind you, a typical Amtrak tweet might get 100 or so "likes." (Count me among many who loathe Southwest Airlines, its chaotic seat selection...

The station is due for big improvements that'll better knit together Metro, Amtrak, and MARC. (Plus the eastern terminus of the future Purple Line.) The plan also envisions significant residential and commercial development. It won't benefit me, but I can envision many travelers getting off...

It struck a dump truck carrying heavy stone (!) that was crossing the tracks. Norfolk Southern. 17 cars derailed and 9 ended up in the Allegheny River, leaking oil. No deaths, luckily; three people taken to hospital. A busy road nearby will be affected, water quality is compromised, and boat...

Originally constructed between 1887 and 1932 during Italian colonial occupation. "[The railway] once connected the seaside port city of Massawa to the inland city of Agordot, spanning about 190 miles in total. After falling into disrepair over decades of conflict, sections of the railway are...

I'm exchanging emails with dear friends and fellow fans of old movies, spurred by the Joel McCrea/Jean Arthur classic The More the Merrier about the housing crunch in wartime Washington. (Highly recommended, by the way.) One friend's mom, still with us at 98 though getting frailer, actually...

Journalist Ray Suarez tweeted yesterday about taking Amtrak from DC to NYC and arriving at least three hours late. (Left DC at 5:15, scheduled to arrive at 8:45.) And this on the Northeast Corridor, the "crown jewel" of the Amtrak system and supposedly the only profitable and reasonably fast...

A heads-up to RKV riders: The Washington Metro Area Transit Authority (WMATA) has just posted this announcement that there'll be no Metro service at the Rockville station for 3 months, starting Sept. 11, during canopy reconstruction: Metro to begin three-month closure to replace aging platform...

For fans of trains, history, and black-and-white photography, a description that probably captures a lot of Amtrak Unlimited members: Atlas Obscura today re-upped a wonderfully evocative 2018 article showing hazardous train yards from the eyes of a locomotive engineer. Or worse, from the eyes...

Historian Michael Beschloss posted this wonderful cover of a Penn Central timetable, effective 50 years ago today, June 30, 1970. Sure to bring a lump to the throat and a flood of reminiscences from many forum members. Question: I see that five decades ago, I would have traveled between my...

Atlas Obscura, a website devoted to travel both real and armchair, has an interesting article about how the Southern Pacific’s “Sunset Route” helped to diversify Southern California and create a Little Louisiana, where many migrants came from. (Featured today, reprinted from February 2019.)...

A feel-good story about the on-board holiday party organized by commuters on the Amtrak Hiawatha. (Sent to me by a friend and Milwaukee native.) Excerpt: "'You spend three hours a day with these people, so you get to know them. They become friends and family, both on and off the train,' says...

Read the article, and weep. Atlas Obscura highlights a newly-digitized collection of dining-car menus collected by railfan Ira Silverman. "After a long career in transit, he donated the collection to his alma mater’s [Northwestern University's] Transportation Library, which recently digitized...

I'm trying to plan a little vacation in May. That's too-short notice to get a good cross-country roomette fare on the Zephyr or Chief, my real dream, so I'm thinking of doing a little jaunt to Montreal instead. Has anyone done such a round-trip, there and back with only 3-4 nights in Montreal...

Whether your reaction is "uh-oh" or "great, hipsters will rejuvenate Amtrak," here it is: http://www.apartmenttherapy.com/affordable-cross-country-train-trip-240767 It's targeted at a readership many of whom have probably criss-crossed Europe by train but never dreamt about doing so in their...