riding the rails

Get on board!

2008-06-05T08:58:00.000-07:00

Maybe the time will come. More and more people are turning to rail transportation as gasoline price keep rising and the airlines do crazy things, like eliminating planes as well as the number of flights and cities to which they will fly. Ridership is up almost all over the country: 20% in North Carolina, 19% between Chicago and St. Louis, 20% on the Boston-NY-Washington Acela run. but most of the developed world laughs at us. You can get from London to Paris, 213 miles, in 2 hours 15 minutes which is about the same distance as NY-Washington and our trains take 45 minutes longer. Having seen a tv segment on this line it's easy to see why it takes longer: the track is not always in a straight line, the engineer must slow down for curves to avoid going off the track. Fixable? Not without a lot of trouble, no doubt, but "where there's a will, there's a way". And we need to find the way to do things like this in addition to a lot more in order to get Åmerica's rail system up to snuff!!

2008-06-05T08:57:00.001-07:00

Administration meddling

2008-05-22T13:26:00.000-07:00

Aha! Gotcha! Those of us in the know acknowledge the fact that the present administration is anti-Amtrak, even probably anti-transcontinental passenger rail. Receipt of a rail association newsletter proves it. I don't know when the National Surface Transportation Report came out but an entire section dealing with pro-electric rail was deleted, leaving the readers unaware of some pretty important and useful information.

The opening paragraph of this deleted section states:

"It is the view of the Commission that public transportation, especially in the form of electric railways, must and will play a significantly larger role in Americans' mobility. Federal transportation policy should not only accommodate but encourage this development."

It goes on to discuss the factors that indicate a need for increased public transportation:
1. Increasing traffic congestion
2. Failure of many urban areas to meet Federally-mandated air quality standards.
3. Renewed congestion on newly constructed freeways.
4. Negative impact of automobiles.
5. The rising price of gasoline.

"Rail transit has repeatedly demonstrated its success in drawing riders from choice, people who have a car and could drive but choose to take transit instead, while buses generally carry only the transit-dependent. . . rail transit, but not buses, has a significant potential impact on traffic congestion.

Many cities once had electric railways but they lost them mostly due to massive government intervention in favor of highways and cars. And they lost them quite a long time ago. By the 1920s one-third of the streetcar companies were bankrupt and after WWII the pressure was on to convert to buses.

In conclusion this part of the excised section states: "In the long term, it should be the objective of Federal transportation policy to provide every American the option of mobility without an automobile. In a 21st century where oil supplies will be increasingly uncertain, such a policy will give our country needed security in the form of security of mobility. For a nation as dependent on mobility as America, security of mobility is as important as security of life, liberty and property."

Now if that last bit doesn't speak for increased passenger rail transportation, electric or otherwise, I don't know what does? Why did the administration delete it?

Encouraging thoughts

2008-05-19T08:44:00.000-07:00

More and more reports turn up every day about increasing ridership on Amtrak. As the cost of gasoline keeps rising more people are turning to public transportation and are saying they want more.

A report today in The Buffalo News (New York State) leads off with a headline "Nation must commit to passenger rail travel". Douglas Turner finds fault, justifiably so, with Sen. John McCain who is the "least likely to care about a national transportation policy"; he is not alone in the GOP as most Republicans think Amtrak should make money, not subsidize it. It is unfortunate to note that neither of Democratic presidential prospects has stepped forward to say anything about a national rail system. Turner points out that it is the way "people of modest means, and people who can't fly or drive, get from one downtown center to another. Amtrak's intrepid customers include the elderly, armed services personnel, students, kids and commuters who don't have limousines".

It's a shame that this nation, once in the forefront of intercity, transcontinental passenger rail transportation has, under the present administration, has fallen so far behind what most of Europe has done. High speed rail is expected there. Good service has not been neglected. Governments--and their citizens--are ready, willing and able to provide funds for the improvement of track and equipment.

Will a new administration (expectedly Democratic) do something to improve the situation? Who knows--as we can't get any answers from the two contenders. As for Sen. McCain, were he to win the election, forget Amtrak and any other government supported rail system. If each state was unable to provide the funding for passenger rail we'd end up with a fractured system, composed of bits and pieces to satisfy commuters in local areas.

Not what we need.

Amtrak overseas?

2008-04-22T12:35:00.000-07:00

Thanks to a Google search more news about Amtrak, this time from the Railway Gazette International (UK). It's a report about Amtrak's President and CEO Alexander Kummant requesting $4.67 billion in subsidy for next year (2009). Surely that's a small amount to help Amtrak pursue improvements, both for operating support and capital projects. It would be nicer if somebody woke up and realized we could--and should--do more to make national passenger rail more attractive to the traveling public.

Spreading the news

2008-04-21T11:05:00.000-07:00

Google's a great aid in gathering information about what's being said about Amtrak around the country. The Detroit Free Press on April 16 thinks a "new plan for transportation" would be a good idea although it will require "vision and courage". Well, that last bit is going to be hard to find. I found one reporter who said he'd sent all the present presidential candidates a questionnaire about public transportation and none of them responded. Surprise? Not here. Some things are so far down their list of topics to raise for discussion it doesn't bear thinking about.

On April 18-19 the Iowa City Press-Citizen and WQAD of Iowa City say a study on regional railroading supports "restoring passenger service in the Quad cities". It was more than 30 years ago that the area lost the Rock Island Line but now they believe they can get nearly two hundred thousand riders. And that's just between Iowa City and Chicago!

And that's two mid-western areas only.

As gasoline prices continue their upward curve more and more people are going to seek public transportation. Now we need the government get out of the road-building and airline support businesses and give serious thought to Amtrak!!!!!

Encouraging?

2008-04-16T12:58:00.000-07:00

Recent news reports about the problems most airlines are having (cancellations, lost or delayed luggage) encourage those of us who have high hopes for Amtrak and the American rail system in general. A recent column in the Detroit Free Press makes a good point about the lack of a national transportation policy. The current administration has been anti-Amtrak from the beginning, trying constantly to break it up into state-funded pieces. More and more people are coming to appreciate the varied pleasures of riding a train: going from city center to city center, being able to get some business done comfortably, perhaps even getting a decent meal (or food, at any rate).

Yes, problems continue to plague Amtrak. Full funding is still fought by the current administration, relatively nothing allowed in the present budget. But maybe things will change. They will change if the public has to face higher gas prices and increasing problems with the airlines.

Same old news

2008-02-06T12:25:00.000-08:00

A year later and our famously neglected rail system faces the same old problem: funding!! And the same president rides the same train as in previous budget proposals. At a time when the people are turning more and more to public transportation he rejects funding for this in addition to funding for Medicare, Medicaid, education, protection of the environment and transportation infrastructure. I'd pose the question: Why? But the answer lies in his dedication to throwing more money at the mess in Iraq. Where once we had a trillion dollar surplus we are now so far in debt, our children's children will be trying to catch up.

I'm not going to continue to rant and rave about his views regarding domestic priorities versus a single-minded approach to a futile war in a part of the world that, if we don't take care, will be pleading to become a state or a territory of the US.

Instead I must describe a recent Amtrak trip which would have made a first-time rider never want to ride a train again!

Planning a Christmas holiday to the west coast from the eastern seaboard involved leaving my home town at nearly two in the morning heading north to Washington, DC. With 80 other passengers, some lugging blankets and pillows to make their coach seats a bit more comfortable for the small children in tow, we were glad to get into our roomettes and fall asleep to the gentle rock and rumble of the train. Not too late in Washington we had plenty of time to find some lunch before our afternoon departure on the Capitol for Chicago. Comfortably settled in our roomettes, I read a while, looked out at the scenery and about 7:30 enjoyed dinner in the diner. The following day went smoothly until we arrived at Elkhart, IN shortly after breakfast when we were informed of a freight derailment some 60 miles west. We were not alone in our inability to proceed, the North Shore Ltd from New York was right behind us. Since neither of us could move, an initial proposal was to join the two trains and work their way around the derailment. However, it soon appeared this would not be possible and all passengers were to be transported to Chicago by bus, a two hour ride. If only it had been as simple as that sounds. Not only the people had to be moved, so did all the luggage, checked bags from the baggage car as well as one's personal things. Everything was unloaded onto the concrete station platform, snow covered and icy. For younger people this was not much of a problem but older folks had to struggle with finding their bags and then struggling to get them to the bus and load them by themselves. Once I would not have had a problem with doing this but not now!

At least the bus was comfortable and warm. The arrival in Chicago's Union Station was hectic, to say the least. No one was on hand to help with getting one's bags or to guide us to our connecting train. The departure area was a madhouse with lines of people stretching from one end of the lower level to the other. An Amtrak employee finally appeared to help those of us trying to find the platform for the Empire Builder and eventually we were settled in our compartment, ready to relax and enjoy our run to Seattle. Our relaxation was relatively short-lived. While enjoying our dinner a conductor came around looking for passengers in another sleeper, the one next to ours. It had a technical problem and was going to be disconnected from the train and put on a siding. Accommodations for the passengers in that car would have to be relocated and we were caught in that relocation. We had opted for the accessible bedroom but someone from the other car needed the accessibility more than we (when I saw her size I understood how she could not use a roomette or the standard wc). We were asked if we would accept a roomette for the one night (she was departing at a stop the next day) and I could not in all good conscience say no.

So now we were not only behind the schedule because of our late arrival in Chicago we lost another hour or more as the defective car was removed from the train. This affected the Seattle arrival so badly that the following morning, about seven o'clock, we learned that we would be bused from Spokane to Seattle, a four-hour bus ride. With about an hour to dress and have breakfast (brought to us by our car attendant) we braced ourselves for a repeat of the Elkhart procedure. All luggage off-loaded to the platform, find your own bag, drag it to the bus, load it on by yourself and then find a seat on the bus. And this bus was not as comfortable as the other, nor were we able to get seats together--younger, sprier passengers got theirs by the windows. There was a brief stop at a MacDonald's so we could get some lunch (on our own dime) and arrival in Seattle was some four or four and a half hours later.

After a Merry Christmas visit with relatives we thought our return journey via the Empire Builder, the Capitol and the Star would surely be trouble-free. But such was not the case. Our departure from Seattle was delayed from a scheduled 4:45 departure to actual boarding at 7:30pm. Once on board we learned what was probably the reason for the delayed arrival, thus departure, there was no diner on board and would not be all the way to Chicago. We saw the troubled diner on a siding when we went through Havre, Montana. To give credit when due, we were not all that late getting into Chicago but just late enough for the Capitol to have already departed. Faced with an option of Amtrak putting us up in Chicago overnight or taking the Lake Shore (departure at 10pm for New York) we opted to take the Lake Shore, stay overnight in New York and catch the Star as it began its run south from New York.

Many would blame Amtrak for all the disruptions but it doesn't take a wizard to see that the problems were not Amtrak's. The freight derailment would have been just that, a derailment on its own track if Amtrak had a dedicated rail of its own. The problems with defective equipment would not have happened if funding had allowed Amtrak to properly maintain its equipment and/or acquire new cars as needed.

Does this change my mind about travel in the US? Not a bit. I'd like more help when it comes to having to transfer to a bus but I really do prefer having a relatively comfortable, warm, place to sit or put my head down to what happens all too frequently to air transport.

Back and Forth!

2007-03-16T14:10:00.000-07:00

Or is it "Up and Down"? Congress and/or the administration keep chasing one another around and around, each trying to outbid the other on how much funding they'll allow for Amtrak. Gasoline prices are on the way up again and many rail lines are reporting increased ridership but does this reach the brains (if there are any) of the administration? Some in Congress are trying to see the way clear to propose more than the president's budget wants to allow. Some talk about high-speed rail--when? (Exasperating as I read today of the French doing a high speed connection from Paris to Strasbourg reducing the rail time from four hours to two and a bit!) Some other proposals talk about providing milliions to run more trains between cities within 400 miles of one another. So what's supposed to happen to long-distance rail? Does that proposal cover the lines that provide service (through cars) from Chicago to Los Angeles or Chicago to Seattle or New Orleans to Los Angeles?

Midst all this someone did mention the difficulties posed by freight trains on the same track as passenger trains, that the freight companies haven't lived up to their agreement to give passenger trains priority. I can just see CSX or UP living up to that rule!!

A Last Ride?

2007-01-08T14:39:00.001-08:00

Why is there such opposition to funding for Amtrak? Reading blogs or responses to articles about Amtrak reveals such a negative opinion of support for a national rail system (because that's what it amounts to) boggles the mind--or my mind, at any rate. The latest flurry I just finished reading was an unmitigated rant about taxpayers paying for others to ride: if I don't ride Amtrak why should I be taxed for those who do? If I don't have a car, why am I being taxed for roads to be constructed or maintained? That aspect of reasoning never seems to have occurred to those who oppose funding for Amtrak.

What's ahead for Åmtrak?

2006-12-14T14:54:00.000-08:00

It's hard to know if Amtrak is on the right track or has been put off on a siding. There are new engineers handling the locomotive and I'm not sure if he knows the rules of the road or he's just going to feel his way along the track. Some news reports show improved ridership on some lines but there are still some crazies who think privatization is the way to go. What's the point of selling off your assets to create another bureaucratic nightmare? Adequate funding is what is desperately needed. Maybe if gasoline continues to be expensive the traveling public will wake up and take to public transportation.

A new leader (?) for Amtrak

2006-08-30T14:06:00.000-07:00

Too long an absence from this post but the appointment noted today (8/30/06) of Alexander Kummant as president and CEO of Amtrak deserved some comment. Mr. Kummant comes to Amtrak with a railroad background, except that maybe it's the wrong background. He previously served as a Regional VP of Union Pacific! He also served as UP's VP and General Manager of Industrial Products. It is reported that as a leader for both units, he "was rsponsible for substantially improved customer service, on-time delivery of client products, and significant gains in financial and operational performance". So he's supposed to work the same magic for Amtrak? I guess that means treat people (passengers) as products to be delivered on time and "gains in financial performance" translates to cutting dining car and sleeping car service because that will improve financial performance, right? His other, more recent position, was with Komatsu America, a supplier of construction equipment. Well, that might mean an ability to get some construction equipment for improving rail infrastructure (track, bridges).

Anyway he is supposed to build on the growing national desire for more and improved passenger rail service. I wish I could believe that someone who comes from UP would really do that. UP has not got a good record on handling their freight lines, how can Mr. K deal with improving Amtrak? Maybe his wife (a former senior executive with Santa Fe and BNSF) will exert a good influence over him.

It all remains to be seen. Given the state of travel nowadays rail in the US should be given priority. Improved service, like passenger trains given priority over freight, would be nice. Maybe people would be ready to trade in less speed (flying) for taking a train--none of the prolonged delays on security lines and you can still take something to drink (or get it on board) and your scissors, knitting needles, etc.

A partially new Amtrak

2006-05-14T13:49:00.000-07:00

Home again after another, relatively short trip, on Amtrak. The ride from home to Indianapolis and Chicago and back again was pretty much on time. Our departure was about 40 minutes late but it didn't make any difference in our arrival in Alexandria; we had plenty of time before our departure for Indianapolis. Meals on all routes were served on the new plastic plates which weren't as bad as I expected. The plastic wasn't the soft picnic plate kind of thing, even had a decorative border on it. Coffee served in plastic with lids, not a bad idea as it prevented spilling hot stuff when you tried drinking while the train was going over rough track. Choosing roomettes for all sleeping space was a good idea as no one had a problem with climbing into an upper.

We had a good time in both cities, especially when it came to dining out: The Oceanaire, McCormick & Schmick in Indianapolis and Shaw's Crab House and Vong's Thai Kitchen in Chicago.

Since returning home I've been catching up on news items relative to Amtrak and its future. Lots of voices singing from different choirs though not as much from Mr. Mineta with his anti-Amtrak tirades.

What'll it be this time?

2006-04-14T14:02:00.000-07:00

Without a doubt the fate of long distance American rail service is in trouble. The powers that be, those now in charge of Amtrak, have already made changes in the food service. No longer meals to be served on china with suitable implements with which to eat a meal; it's down to plastic. Certain foods will be prepared ahead of time and it looks as though we've seen the end of what was one of the lines best meals--the strip steak. This is supposed to save Amtrak "tens of millions of dollars" annually.

I suppose the next step will be an attempt to eliminate sleeping car service. Let them eat cake--let them ride in coaches.

What short-sightedness. How can we attract tourists, home-grown or from abroad, if we cut back on the very things which appeal to those who prefer to see our country at ground level? It has not penetrated the thick heads of those advocating saving money that the very things they're proposing will do nothing to save but will act to cause the system to lose money as travelers will opt for some other means of travel. Airlines? Good luck. As more and more of them go into bankruptcy their services are faltering, too. How about paying for your pillow, your blanket, your water? And traveling by car won't be any picnic, either, with the way gasoline prices are heading.

Go ahead, Mr. Laney. You and your fellow mis-handlers of Amtrak, cut off your noses to spite your faces. In the meantime, there are plenty of us calling curses on your deeds.

I'm about to sample some of the above as I take off on a trip to Indianapolis-Chicago-Washington and home. I'll sample the new meal service, find out how the sleepers are doing and try to talk to some of the railroad employees.

Whither train travel?

2005-12-10T18:00:00.000-08:00

It's very dispiriting to think about train travel right now. Amtrak fired its president, David Gunn, supposedly because he wasn't running Amtrak the way the board (one person?) thought he should be. But it goes along with Sec'y Mineta's line of attack on Amtrak's long distance service. Gunn has been doing as well or better than could be done given the handicaps he had to work with. The man who fired him, David Laney, had only a few months earlier, complimented Gunn on the work he was doing; evidently he got the message from Mineta: Get rid of this guy--he knows how to run a railroad. As long as those who wield the power have their way there's little chance America has of ultimately keeping a transcontinental system as we once knew it.

The only thing saving any of it right now is the fact that Congress has already passed the subsidy funding for 2006. Soooo?

Lost opportunity

2005-10-13T12:35:00.000-07:00

Who's to blame? I note the latest information regarding Hurricane Katrina and another mis-step by the New Orleans local authorities was their missing the offer by Amtrak to use the trains to evacuate residents. There were many missed opportunities to help those who had no other way to leave town and perhaps this is just another example of--I'll be kind and say 'overlooking' when I'm thinking 'ignoring' the role trains can play in disastrous circumstances.

How many people recall--or know of--the value of rail transportation during WWII? Troops were transported across the country, from one coast to the other, by rail. Are we so confident that the only way to do this nowadays is by air? We are constantly reminded of the threats by terrorists to air travel; might it not make a difference as to how we would always move the troops?

It's conceivable that more people will come to recognize the importance of keeping transcontinental lines alive as the administration nags at us to be more aware when we travel. I, for one, think the security measures at airports are wasteful, time-consuming, and will do little or nothing to deter a terrorist from carrying out whatever desperate measures he/she wants to inflict on the American people.

Hurricane Katrina wipes out rails

2005-10-04T17:23:00.000-07:00

There's no doubt that when Katrina blew into the Gulf and onto the shores of Florida, Alabama, Mississippi and Louisiana it did as much damage as the tsunami in the far east. Towns were wiped out, homes and businesses disappeared, several hundred people lost their lives and those who survived may never recover their lives as they once knew them. Considering how much of the rail track runs so close to the shore and at water level across marshes it's no surprise that most of it is gone. The Florida to New Orleans run of the Sunset Ltd may never return considering how this particular line of the Amtrak system has been so disliked by the government.

To make matters worse a Republican Study Commission reviewed the budget and came up with a spending cut plan to help offset the billions which will be needed to rebuild what the hurricane destroyed. Not the least of these cuts, which cut back by millions every program in the budget, were those affecting transportation. Although the federal subsidy for Amtrak took a big hit, at least the highway 'earmarks' were cut back more proportionately. As usual short-sightedness reigns supreme and the administration and Congress can't see beyond their noses when it comes to passenger rail.

Of course, the freight lines will put some of their profits which runs into the billions into replacing what they need to enable the 'goods trains' to continue to transport cars, grain, coal, whatever is carried in containers from one coast to the other or from one border to the other.

Railroads and disasters

2005-09-17T02:55:00.000-07:00

Very little comment has been made about the railroads, what happened to various lines (freight and Amtrak), services lost or cancelled, at the time of Hurricane Katrina, August 27-29. It's as though they didn't exist, didn't have tremendous jobs to do all along the Gulf coast and into New Orleans. Even as clean-up procedures began nothing was said in the media, other than references to the effect of shipping various products from the north down the Mississippi. What little I could learn was thanks to an email service that covers all sorts of transportation affairs and it had more to say about what was happening to the freight lines than what happened to Amtrak and the New Orleans station. Amtrak's own web site did report changes in schedules: the City of New Orleans would run only to Memphis, the Crescent to Nashville and the Sunset was totally wiped out from Florida to Louisiana, which we easily understood having ridden it in July. One news source did say something about Amtrak having offered rides out of New Orleans either at the time of the storm or shortly thereafter when living conditions deteriorated so badly but apparently nobody pursued the offer. There was such an overall snafu that it's no wonder lots of things got overlooked or ignored. (School buses left to the flooding when they could have been used to get people out of the city.)

I find it incomprehensible that people in the transportation business--buses, planes, trucks--seem to have lost track of the value of railroads. It's as though we never transported people in passenger cars on railroad tracks, that thousands, if not millions, of people once crossed the United States by rail. Today people look at you oddly when you refer to riding a train, especially if it's over a great distance. It surprised me no end to find several people as we crossed the country who were riding the train for the first time and enjoying it.

When I worked for Pennsylvania in the 1940s in a New York City ticket office, people bought tickets to go across the country despite the fact that we were involved in a world war. There were enough railroad cars to supply the military's needs as well as the private sector. It was still possible to call up an entire second section of the Broadway Limited if the passenger demand was there. Now Amtrak has to struggle to keep old equipment suitable enough for service.

End of Journey

2005-08-07T16:45:00.000-07:00

The week of the convention was a busy one, sometimes too busy, as we had no time for seeing Portland on our own, thanks to arriving back from our excursions too late to go anywhere. The hotel was on the wrong side of the river, making it necessary to take the tram over to what I call the main part of town. We did do it one night so we could indulge in a dinner at McCormick & Schmitz on the river. It was nearly nine o'clock by the time we got there which made for a late dinner. Most of the excursion departures were correspondingly early so late night dining was not in order.

Some excursions were more interesting than others, either because of the destination or because of the equipment used to transport the riders. The trip to Wishram, Washington, (not a particularly historic or interesting destination) was outstanding because of the locomotives carrying the train, two very historic SP engines, a Daylight in brilliant orange and black and an SP&S in shiny black. It was a very long train and must have looked wonderful to chasers and people on the other side of the Columbia River. Our barbeque lunch at Wishram was an event in itself, quite marvelous as they handled so many people and never ran out of delicious barbeque, salad, dessert and liquid refreshment. There was another excursion that had a lunch as its end point but the ride wasn't as spectacular as the one to Wishram. Some of the private varnish accommodations we had were outstanding, one so-so. But I can honestly say it was overall a fine convention.

Returning home we rode the Empire Builder (noting new lounge car equipment) to Chicago where we caught the Lake Shore Ltd to New York for an overnight stay before taking the Silver Star back to Columbia. The last two sections were not very good, schedule wise. We should have been in New York about 3:30 but didn't get in until 7pm which shot my hopes for dining out somewhere special. We ended up dining in the hotel's restaurant and turning in early. The Star was a little late leaving New York the following morning and lost time all along the way, getting us in Columbia at 4:30am instead of midnight. Good thing we had our taxi waiting for us. Once in the house we just dropped everything and fell into bed.

More of the 9200 mile trip

2005-08-02T17:30:00.000-07:00

It's so hard to understand why the administration persists in viewing rail travel or at least the major transcontinental portions of Amtrak as unproductive or that nobody rides these trains. When we went to lunch (before noon, shortly before arriving in Reno) we found it was already full and we had to leave our name on "the list". It meant a wait until 1:30. When we finally were called wouldn't you know our table companions were the non-stop laughing girl and her Dad.

The scenery from Truckee (Lake Tahoe) to Colfax was gorgeous. At one point the train was atop one ridge with a valley far, far below us, and we were traveling under a very slow order. The elevation was enough to kill Ron's hearing, something that is usually attributed to airplane flights. There was a brief stop at Colvas, elevation 2421 ft, 144 miles to San Francisdo--and it will take us 4 hours or so for us to get there. Eventually we were 2 hours late into Emeryville which didn't matter that much as it gave us plenty of time to find something to eat before our departure on the Coast Starlight at 10:12. The station and surroundings look very new but nothing like a restaurant in view. I asked a baggage handler if there was anything nearby and she said there was a food court on the other side of the tracks. Leaving our bags behind the ticket counter, we climbed the stairs to the bridge (elevator out of order) over the tracks and found a great mall with an international food court. We could have had Thai, Chinese, Indian, Vietnamese, any south of the border cuisine, straight American fast food--but we settled for some tasty fish and chips with a couple of beers. With a Borders book store right near by we stopped in for more stuff to read. Then it was back over the bridge to collect our bags---and got the bad news that the Starlight wouldn't arrive until 1:30 or 2 in the morning!!! How much more of this can we take?

Despite such a ridiculously late bedtime I was awake and up at 7:30; Ron was already up. Breakfast and some time in the parlor car lounge. We had an excellent view as we went around the Cantera (?) Loop where you can see the engines and the end of the train at the same time. Next came views of Mt. Shasta, equally spectacular. Got some good pictures, despite the windows. A news announcement said we'd be 5 hours late at Klamath Falls. At one point we passed the Los Angeles to Portland private varnish special off on a siding about 3/4 of an hour out of Dunsmuir. There were ten or more cars. If they follow us, they'll be even later into Portland.

We kept losing time all along the way as we had to pull over to sidings to let #11, heading south, or a local go by or get stuck behind a freight. Lunch and dinner ok, nothing remarkable, good table companions. When we finally got to Portland we collected our large green bag, shipped from Columbia, were met by a convention member and eventually were taken by the hotel bus to the Doubletree. It was 10:30 or later by the time we were in our room. We just showered and fell into bed!

9200 miles on the rails

2005-07-31T14:45:00.000-07:00

It was a long, long trip on Amtrak but well worth it, if only for the chance to see how my version of Amtrak's problems differ from the administration's. We (my husband and I) were aboard a train daily from June 28 to July 15 with only a few hours in between portions of the trip in a station.

It did not begin well. Our taxi pick-up at home was prompt and we were at Columbia's station about an hour before the train was due. As soon as we checked our luggage (one piece going directly to our destination, Portland, Oregon) we saw the notice on the Arrivals/Departures board that the Silver Star was 2 1/2 hours late. No reason known for why it was so late. Since we had now something like 3 1/2 to 4 hours to sit in a station with no enhancements at all was almost unbearable and there was no place to walk to for some kind of diversion. When the Star finally arrived at 2:30am the few dozen passengers boarded as quickly as possible so as to get some sleep on the way to their various destinations. For us it was easy to tuck into our respective roomettes and sleep until we were ready to get up for breakfast in the dining car. Since we were now expecting to be in Orlando closer to noon than the scheduled 8:20am, we could take our time about everything. As we sped through the Florida countryside I was more than glad that we never thought to retire there--such dismal scenery.

Arriving in Orlando we had a relatively short wait for our departure on the Sunset Ltd, thank goodness. Orlando's station is decent enough but not one in which you'd want to spend several hours which would have been the case had we been on time. I guess Amtrak doesn't count on passengers having much of a layover so they don't have any amenities to offer beyond restrooms and a drinks dispenser. But the Sunset departed on time--1:45pm--and we were off on the second leg of our journey, New Orleans. Since we'd had no lunch we opted for the earliest dinner reservation, 5pm. Steaks, mixed veg, a baked potato, a salad, some Merlot wine, cheese cake and coffee more than made up for the loss of a mid-day meal.

A knock on my roomette door the next morning got me going; Ron was already up and dressed. The weather was foul, very heavy rain just about all the way to New Orleans. How nice to be dry and comfortable with somebody else doing the driving. I was glad to have my knitting as I was just about finished with the first of several books I'd brought along. We noticed herons and small flying birds in the vast bayous of Mississippi, occasional signs of man'w works, remnants of docks and at one point an enormous structure that appeared to have been an oil derrick--huge, sitting on stilts well above the water. The usual accumulation of freight trains coming and going, as well as right ahead of us, caused another delay, putting us in New Orleans about three hours late. Again it didn't matter: our departure on the City of New Orleans was scheduled for 1:45pm so we had little more than an hour to kill.

The station in New Orleans has had some considerable renovations since our last run through there. But it still seems to be in a little regarded area as there is only one newstand and one fast-food restaurant. The first class lounge, which we would have been entitled to use, was closed for fumigation purposes so we had to sit with the hoi-polloi in the general area. Not a problem, though, as we had a couple of interesting conversations, one with a young British woman who told of her experience with passport clearance when she entered the country (fingerprinting, etc) and the other with a couple, NARP members, who were completing the last leg of their round-the-country by rail, much like our own trip.

The City of New Orleans departed promptly but delays began as we barely left the station. There were several stops along the way to drop off or pick up passengers. No lack of passenger traffic. We spoke to more people about the Amtrak funding problem and none of them were aware of it. There wasn't much to comment on about this stretch, mostly farmland, but no more rain. We were in Chicago not only on time, but a few minutes early. At least it meant we could have lunch at The Corner Bakery which I'm convinced has the best sandwiches in the country. Since I hadn't slept well after about 4:30am I was glad to sit and snooze in the Metropolitan Lounge while Ron went out to photograph whatever he thought interesting.

As usual, another delay. This time in departing from Chicago. Supposed to depart at 1:50pm we didn't collect our bags and get a ride to the train until 1:20. After settling in our compartment (bedroom this time) an announcement asked coach passengers to occupy only one seat as others coming from the Lake Shore Ltd were boarding and the Zephy was booked solid! Another knife in Mileta's argument that no one rides Amtrak! We made a 7pm dinner reservation and had very enjoyable dinner table companions, though I suspect some topics (relating to the gov't) might have been inappropriate as he did contract work for companies like Halliburton. We had to set our watches back an hour as the next day we'd be on mountain time.

Up early and a good thing as the dining car was full when we went down; we had to put our names on the "call list". Not yet into Denver so the scenery was still flat, cattle and ranch land. Our breakfast table companions were delightful, two gentlemen, slightly younger than us, were from Toronto on their way to Salt Lake City for a barbershop quartet convention. Later we sat in the lounge car so as to get the best views of the mountains as we headed for Winter Park. The spectacular scenery brought lots of people to the lounge car where we sat until lunch time. With our table companions, Malinda and Gary Parks from near Sacramento, we had a great discussion about trains, outdoor life and their new home construction. Shortly after crossing into Utah we ran into signaling problems, forcing the train to sit for more than an hour. Nothing like being in the middle of a desert to stall! Of course this would mean another delay in our arrival at Emeryville.

Our dinner companions were the worst we've had in ages. In Chicago I had noticed a young woman and a severely handicapped man boarding, using the handicapped room. Although not wheelchair bound he was bent and twisted with a considerable lack of mobility. They were seated with us. No problem with the man, though he was very hard to understand as he had severe speech problems but his daughter was impossibly cheerful. She accompanied everything she said with laughter, suitable to what she was saying or not. It was the most awful dinner hour.

More later--------

No Rails?

2005-06-13T15:45:00.000-07:00

I am trying to imagine the country without any transcontinental rail service which is probably a no-brainer for most people. I have, however, enjoyed too many rail journeys to think that, after my upcoming major trip, there might never be another. It is a possibility, given the present administration's view of what a railroad should be. As far as they're concerned we might just as well think of crossing the country by horse and wagon, I guess, since the airlines are all heading for bankruptcy and no one's doing much about that situation, either.

I'm not without some compunctions about the June-July trip. We had so many delays and interruptions last year that it's not impossible to have even more this year, especially on the way to Portland. Departing from Columbia at nigh on to midnight it's conceivable the Silver Star could be late--so on our way by one or two in the morning? Which, of course, means a late arrival in Orlando--or will they take us off at Sanford or Jacksonville for our next leg on the Sunset Ltd? Probably the run into New Orleans will be on time (it's the NO to LA that is so often late) and our departure for Chicago will be on time as that's the origination point for the City of New Orleans. Will it arrive in Chicago on time? We have nearly four hours before our departure on the California Zephyr but I don't know if there's much to do with that amount of time. I think most of Chicago's sights are pretty far from Union Station. Then it's on to Emeryville and five hours (if we're on time) there before we take the Coast Starlight to Portland. Maybe enough time to get into San Francisco for dinner?

I'm glad we arrive in Portland late in the afternoon: time to clean up, change and find a good dinner, not that that's a problem. I feel quite confident about restaurants in that city!

Given the hours of departure and return of the excursions we've signed up for I am dubious about how eager I'll be to go dining out every night. With Laura joining us I'd hate to be a wet blanket about going out for dinner. By the end of the week we'll all be ready to slow down. As she goes on to her Forest Service program in Idaho we head back to Chicago on the Empire Builder, then New York on the Lake Shore Ltd. An overnight in New York (no more as July is not my favorite time of year in the city) and return to Columbia the next morning, arriving in Cola at 11:55, home by one or so.

I don't know how much enthusiasm I'll have for any other trips this year!!

It don't get no respect!

2005-05-29T15:50:00.000-07:00

Try as one might there just isn't any counter-attack to Sec'y Mineta's (and the administration's) fulminations about Amtrak. Talk about a bully pulpit. He's all over the country, meeting with this group and that--but no one else comes along with any rebuttals about what he and/or the White House really wants. Determined to dispose of Amtrak or any other nationwide passenger rail system they continue to paint Amtrak as a money losing corporation. I'd love to know how many rail passengers they have spoken to, other than commuters. I guess I've got a preconceived notion that traveling by rail can be a relaxing way to travel, certainly nowadays where airline travel is no longer what it used to be. Americans have become so overwhelmed by the notion that they should get to where they're going as quickly as possible--therefore fly--or by having complete control over how and when you get there--therefore drive yourself--that they've forgotten, if they ever knew, how great a train ride can be.

I'm about to take my fourth major trip with Amtrak and I'm looking forward to it as much as I used to anticipate a flight to anywhere.

Empty Trains??

2005-05-04T16:55:00.000-07:00

The latest info I have found discrediting the current administration's disinterest in funding Amtrak is in the May 2005 issue of Railfan & Railroad. Under the Capitol Lines heading by Wes Vernon he reports that the "overall view in Washington is that there is little chance Amtrak is going to die" but he cautions that this should not lead to false optimism. Emphasis is placed on the importance of Amtrak's route through Montana: the Empire Builder contributes nearly $14 million annually to its economy. There is no parallel bus service on a 982-mile stretch from Spokane, WA to Minot, ND, and Greyhound buses don't stop anywhere between Billings, MT and Minneapolis.

A tour director who uses many of Amtrak's services says that if the long-distance services are eliminated, "the few surviving corridors will rapidly die due to a lack of connecting passengers and the vastly increased cost of carrying the full expense of the rump of Amtrak." NARP, the National Association of Rail Passengers, says trains are filled and Secretary Mineta's comments are not resonating with the people who are riding the trains. This same tour director offers the contrast between the operating subsidy of Amtrak with that of highway spending: $1.2 billion in 2004 with $133 billion in 2001--and 40% of that was not recovered from gas taxes.

Whither the trains? I'm probably repeating myself with the comparison of riding a train nowadays with flying somewhere. Yes, it's restricting me from traveling abroad but given the exchange rate that's no big loss. The difficulties involved with security at the airports still rankles me beyond reason so for now I'm more than content to travel about the US by Amtrak!

Memories of trains

2005-04-23T17:30:00.000-07:00

The earliest is not of the train but the train station: Pennsylvania Station in New York City. My earliest trip was to Atlantic City for a summer holiday. At the age of six, more or less, I was not too conscious of the train ride but that station! Its huge size, the light streaming through what seemed like glass everywhere, people on the move through the concourse on their way to trains--the impression is unforgettable. Much later as a young woman I enjoyed going through the station just to enjoy that size and those people. There was also a cafe, the Savarin, where I could stop for lunch when working at Macy's, just across the street. Tearing down this magnificant building was the beginning of a strong historical preservation movement, not only in the city, but nationwide.

Sometime after its destruction I traveled on the Lehigh Valley RR, the Black Diamond, on my way to college. Another journey not too well remembered, though the sound of the steam engine as it whistled its way along Lake Cayuga echoed around the campus as long as I was a student.

My first job after graduation was with Pennsylvania RR as a ticket agent. I worked in a city ticket office on 47th Street in NYC, first as a telephone reservation clerk, then promoted to the front desk as an information clerk. The next step was becoming a ticket agent, a seller of tickets, maker of reservations, planner of trips! After a couple of weeks half a dozen of us (all females as there were no newly hired men--they were all off fighting WWII) were given a tour of the Penn RR equipment which meant a trip from NY to Chicago, Philadelphi and Washington, mostly so that we could become familiar with the various types of accommodations on Pennsy trains. In Philadelphia, Pennsy's home base, we attended some classes also. This was a dream job, ended only when the 'boys' began returning from service and it became "Last hired, first fired".

Not much railroading after that until I married a man who was as rail-conscious as I was. I had my history of working for Pennsy as well as loving train travel and he had a grandfather who worked for the railroad which meant he got to take lots of train trips.

Baaaad news

2005-04-16T16:55:00.000-07:00

Talk about destroying fond memories. Everything I'm reading today is bad news for Amtrak. A country that once had the greatest rail system in the world is about to collapse--or will do so if the present administration has its way. A Passenger Rail Investment Reform Act was introduced in Congress on April 14 that is supposed to "breathe new life into the nation's inter-city rail service" and "improve Amtrak's operations nation-wide". So much is overlooked in the administration's determination to make these so-called improvements: the subsidies to roads and highways, to aviation--that to call the miniscule (by comparison) subsidy of Amtrak some kind of drain on the budget boggles the mind.

Not that this is a new notion for the Office of Management and Budget: they've been trying for 25 years to cut off funding but now the president has some congressional conservatives who believe the government shouldn't be subsidizing a corporations. BUT Amtrak was never created as a private enterprise business. It was founded by Congress to take over passenger travel service that the freight railroads had been operating at a great loss. And transportation needs have always been subsidized by government: building lighthouses, dredging harbors, and even, believe it or not, laying out the national highways. Subsidies for roads have doubled, for aviation nearly tripled. And for Amtrak--virtually flat.

For my part, I'm convinced the railroad traveling public has little idea as to what is happening. If things go from the present bad to worse, I'm going to distribute flyers on my next Amtrak trip explaining to the passengers what they are about to lose (if it's not already lost by then).

The past exists

2005-04-10T17:50:00.000-07:00

Last night we three, father, mother and daughter, traveled a mini-memory path. We viewed a DVD of historic western rail trips and enjoyed reliving the experience of riding one or two of them. I guess the most memorable to me was our ride on the Durango and Silverton. Alas, this was back in a time when I wasn't keeping a travel diary so exactly when it was I can't tell but she was young enough to enjoy every minute of everything we did. It was, as I recall, an extended Western journey and our single day excursion on the D&S was only one of many highlights. We rode in an open car, the better to enjoy the scenery as the train skirted the river or creek or stream, and oohing and aahing over every turn in the track. There might well have been soot from the locomotive all over us when we returned but none of us would have cared.

The video we watched shows no evidence of a loss of interest in this bit of the past. Passengers, young and old, still get their thrills from the ride that is now more than a hundred years old. Who, back in the days when this was a working railroad, transporting the silver miners back and forth, that their route would be enjoyed by people in no way connected to the work of a railroad, but were just getting their kicks by riding an old narrow-gauge railroad.

Destroying Amtrak

2005-04-02T16:20:00.000-08:00

It has become one of the present administration's goals to, as they put it, "reform" Amtrak. What they really want to do is destroy the national system. One of the earliest indications as to what was happening was noted in a Feb. 8 report out of Chicago that Sen. Dick Durbin said during a press conference in Chicago's Union Station that he couldn't think of a worse "idea than eliminating the only passenger rail service in America". He noted that the government subsidizes other forms of transportation (air, highway travel) and that it should also subsidize Amtrak which helps keep cars off the highways. What triggered this was the revelation that the budget GWB proposed the day before provides no operating funds for Amtrak and the president is pushing for privatization and for cutting unprofitable routes, which essentially means the transcontinental routes.

On Feb. 9 a report noted that the proposed cuts could end passenger trainservice in Arkansas. The Texas Eagle passes through Arkansas on its route between St. Louis and Texas. Rep. Marion Berry, D-Ark, called the cuts "illogical--infrastructure is the lifeblood of rural America. We cannot expect to eliminate transportation options for growing areas of this country and expect their econoies to continue to expand." Rep. Mike Ross, D-Ark, said that he was concerned and thought that for the "President to cut vital programs such as Amtrak, while also calling for making his tax cuts permanent, is wrong."
Dr. Bill Polalr, president of Arkansas Rail, a 27-year-old passenger train advocacy group said the president's proposal is shortsighted. He thought if the president's budget were to be enacted, it would be "the end of Amtrak as we know it. . .it would be the end of passenger rail service in America and that is one reason that Congress won't allow that to happen." He plans on contacting congressmen around the state and lobbying officials whose towns may be directly impacted by a loss of commerce if routes are eliminated.

Next came Secretary of Transportation Norman Mineta's ride around the country (I wonder if he went by Amtrak?) "explaining" what the president had in mind. He persisted in saying that Amtrak is "dying and everyone knows it" but rejecting the notion that he's trying to help it do that. He is trying to convince the public that we're wasting money with a funding systemthat is "fundamentally irrational." He claims that it "runs money-losing routes and diverts cash away from repairs to cover operating losses." This was Feb. 14 in Chicago, Feb. 22 in Charlotte, NC, March 23 in Boston, March 25 in Detroit (at the railroad station--did he get there by train?) and who knows where next?

Europe's trains

2005-03-31T12:15:00.000-08:00

When that young lady got married she found a like-minded guy who also loved riding the trains. After they made several transcontinental trips by train (pre-Amtrak) some with a six-year-old, they ventured overseas. At first they used the four-wheeled vehicle type of transportation but after a while HE got tired of the double yellow lines and not being able to enjoy the scenery so they tried out the trains in Britain and on the continent.

Both were more than satisfactory. It was a time when boarding a train still meant opening the door to a compartment right from the platform. To HER this was like living a movie scene from now long-forgotten British or French films. Together they criss-crossed England, Scotland and Wales. They crossed the Channel and explored train stations in Paris, Copenhagen, Oslo, Hamburg--wherever trains would begin and end.

The wonderful novelty of reading a departure board in London's Victoria Station, noting the track number, rushing to board your train and then settling down in your compartment, often with several other passengers, was a far cry from the American experience of boarding a coach car and having seats lined up a la airline format. On the continent they rode one of the TGV trains from Paris to the south and marvelled at the speed. Nothing like this to compare in the U.S. How ridiculous!

Dining aboard was also a novelty at times. In the German trains they were served at their seats by a waitress, with china plates and stainless steel knives and forks. In many cases, a trolley was pushed through the cars, stocked with sandwiches, assorted snacks, tea or coffee, cold drinks.

Perhaps all this was too long ago. It's been several years since they've ridden European trains. But they know the TGV in France still exceeds any speeds in the U.S. Governments can give the people comfortable transportation without adding more highways and increasing pollution. If they can do it there, why not here?

Saving The Rails

2005-03-27T14:29:00.000-08:00

Many years ago a young woman, fresh out of university, got her first real job as a ticket agent with Pennsylvania Railroad. On 47th Street in New York City, a large glass-fronted office provided travelers with information about rail trips, long or short, and the chance to buy tickets without going to the station. Several railroads--New York Central, New York New Haven & Hartford as well as Pennsylvania-- shared the huge space; counters where passengers planned long-distance holidays or bought their communter tickets lined the walls. Although there was no seating for the future travelers, it didn't seem to matter to them how long they had to stand to plan a trip. Ticket agents were prepared with timetables and brochures describing various routes across the country and the time needed to do this didn't matter to them, either.

The system map in those days was, compared to the present-day Amtrak system, extremely extensive. The transcontinental trains, the north-south routes, featured trains with nostalgic names: The City of New Orleans, The California Zephyr or The Broadway Limited. People were, of course, accustomed to a more leisurely pace to their cross-country trips as this was still before the desire for speed in getting from place to place.

What happened to "travelin' by train'? How did it become a third rate means of transportation for Americans? Why have other nations--Japan, France--surpassed the once superior railroads of the nation?