PORTLAND–The last of my eight train rides–Seattle to Portland today–was to be the frosting on the cake: a relaxing five-hour ride in the Coast Starlight’s parlor car. Alas, it was...

VANCOUVER, B.C.–When I arrived at Seattle’s King Street Station this morning, I knew there had been a mudslide to the south that was disrupting Amtrak service. Both Amtrak Cascades trains...

There’s an interesting phenomenon going on around the country and it neatly illustrates the disconnect between what’s happening in the real world and the perception of that world in the...