Messages In This Thread

• O/T: Amtrak #51 ride.................. *LINK*
  • I've ridden Amtrak, but rather sporadically. I've ridden in the 1980s to Illinois, to Charleston, SC in the early 1990s, and coming home from Florida following the 9/11 attack. I do recall not getting a lot of sleep due to just wanting to watch the scenery slide by at night *NM*
  • Trains.......trains........trains.........trains........I used to catch 6 trains a day to work & back home....for 11 yrs...yep I'm a slow learner, didn't have one thing for model trains in the old shop......trains.....trains......trains..........lol. *NM*
  • Rode Amtrak once. Our car lost power. No A/C - no lights at night. Windows don't open. No restaurant car for food. *NM*
    • Sometimes that happens and people are "one and done". *NM*
      • Contrast with European trains that are fast and spotless - shaking my head...
        • Whenever people (rightfully) praise rail service in Europe and compare to America, I think it’s important to keep context in mind. European countries are much smaller and much more densely populated than the US (for example Germany has 7X the population density vs USA)…
          • 100% correct..... *PIC*
          • Also, in the US freight trains are in the way. *NM*
            • And freight trains tearup the RoW and make high speed passenger impossible on 90% of the routes. *PIC*
              • Current 'future' project right now is a proposed "bullet train" from Dallas to Houston. Opponents questioned whether enough folks will 'need' to ride that train to make it worthy, and some people don't want their land to go to the project.
                • Brightline in FLA is working as it is NEEDED......... *NM*
    • Amtrak can be up and down at times still, but it's way better than it used to be in the 1970s and 1980s. *NM*
  • This coming August, we're tentatively planning to take an Amtrack from Wisconsin out to Boston, then renting a car and making our way up to New England. *NM*
  • Once rode from Yuma to Tucson by rail....way before Amtrack. Loved every minute of it. *NM*
    • That was so long ago, that I think the locomotive was steam! (JK, it was 1965). *NM*
      • LOL I was born in '65. *NM*
        • Makes me stop & think....I was building models in 1965.....Airfix planes & the like, cars didn't arrive till 1966 with the JoHan Toronado & Plymouth Fury kits....oh to young & silly again....now just silly....lol. *NM*
          • Lol, I've heard something similar about being young and stupid and possibly old and wise but now I'm just old. Lol *NM*