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Quote from Jim Loomis: All Aboard - The Complete North American Train Travel Guide (2011): "The new positive train control system (PTC) will be in place on all trains by 2015." What is the status of this system? Has it been installed on all trains? Just curious.

My son and I have been on a short but nice train journey in the state of Tennessee. We visited The Hermitage, President Andrew Jackson's home and mansion, now an interesting and beautiful museum, and we didn't want to take an Uber back to Nashville, so we took the Music City Star to Nashville...

An interesting short documentary.

On Monday, May 10, 1869, today 150 years ago, the last tie was laid on the completion of the Pacific railroad, and two locomotives, the Central Pacific's Jupiter and the Union Pacific's No. 119, met at Promontory, Utah Territory. Five days later, regular train service began on America's first...

In one of the older System Timetables the former CEO of Amtrak, Joe Boardman, wrote that the total network of Amtrak comprises 21,300 miles. The Amtrak National Facts Sheet says “more than 21,400 miles.” Now, I know that to verify this I can calculate it myself by consulting the Timetable, but...

Who came up with all the names of the North American trains? I know that Amtrak inherited a lot of names from the freight railroad companies pre-1971, and I also know that e.g. the Missouri River Runner’s name was the result of a competition. And that the Southwest Chief was a result of merging...

Thought this might be of interest to some of you. And a question: Are there any stations like this in North America? https://interestingengineering.com/this-train-station-doesnt-access-railway

My wife and I have been on a beautiful train journey in the Republic of Ireland. We flew to Dublin, and there, at Heuston Station, we boarded an InterCity train to the West Coast and Connemara, the city of Galway. It is a short trip, only 2 hours and 20 minutes. Here are a few impressions of...

My wife and I have been on a beautiful train journey in Lithuania. We flew to Vilnius, the capital, and there we boarded a train to the Medieval town of Kaunas. It is a short trip, only 1 hour and 40 minutes, and we bought First Class tickets. Here are a few impressions of our trip. This is...

Does anyone know why Amtrak changed Birmingham, MI, to Troy, MI, as a stop on the Wolverine? In older system timetables Birmingham is mentioned, but in the current timetable Troy is the station stop between Pontiac and Royal Oak.

In Sweden, trains are on-time if they reach their final destination within a maximum of five minutes after the scheduled arrival time. In the case of short-distance trains, such as commuter trains and airport trains, in April 94 percent of those trains reached their final destination within the...

I’ve just been on a beautiful train trip again, this time crossing the border twice on Amtrak’s Maple Leaf and Adirondack. I was surprised that I had to pay six dollars to enter the U.S. again on the Adirondack. When I told the CBP officer at the border in Rouses Point, NY, that when last year I...

In May I'm off again on a North American train trip. The Dinette on the Carolinian, is that similar to the Café Car (Sightseer Lounge downstairs) on the long-distance trains? And the Piedmont has nothing but machines to buy food and beverages? What can I expect in terms of quality? Are those...

I like to read about American and Canadian railroad history and about train travel in general. Over the years I've bought quite a few books and I've enjoyed reading them. Here is a list and I wonder if Forum Members could provide any suggestions for other interesting books: Bradley, Simon: The...

Thought it'd be nice to share this small trip report of a spectacular journey across Alaska which I did in 2014: https://alaskabyrail.wordpress.com

My wife and I have been on a beautiful train journey in Austria. We flew to Vienna and from there we boarded the Emona, the train to the capital of Slovenia, Ljubljana. Emona was the ancient Roman name for Ljubljana. It is a six-hour trip and we booked it, of course, because of the very scenic...

Sometimes my colleagues ask me ”What is better, eastbound or westbound?” in terms of scenic beauty in daylight, travelling at night but missing interesting sites, etc., and I feel that it is difficult to answer. Or is it? What would you say about Amtrak’s long-distance cross-country trains in...

Anyone on this excellent Forum who has experience of riding the southbound Adirondack? I would love to take the train from Montréal to Rutland. The Adirondack arrives in Fort Edward-Glens Falls at 4:16 PM and the Ethan Allen Express leaves Fort Edward-Glens Falls at 7:10 PM. My question: I’ve...

Interesting article and film by BBC Travel: http://www.bbc.com/travel/gallery/20170726-the-people-who-want-to-buy-a-railroad

In June I rode three VIA Rail trains across Canada, coast-to-coast. I've made a short trip report (10 minutes) and I hope you like it. (It should start in HD, but if not, you can choose HD1080 in Settings (right hand corner). And please do not forget Full Screen and your loudspeakers.) Have...