Riding from Minneapolis to Chicago on the Empire Builder recently, Fritz Plous, a former reporter with the Chicago Sun-Times who specializes in railroad issues, had what we can only hope...

. . . I was telling my wife about a few of the interesting things that occurred during my recent cross country train ride. In particular, I tried to remember...

I think I’ve finally got the business of tipping in restaurants pretty well sorted out. I tend to tip around 20 percent in the more ordinary establishments where the modest...

The tipping issue when I travel drives me crazy. I am never sure what’s expected, and I don’t ever seem to have the right denomination of bills or any change....

I have a lot of empathy for the people who work in the Amtrak dining cars. Consider the dining car crew on the California Zephyr, for instance. They leave Chicago...

I usually suggest that people thinking about a long-distance train ride at least consider traveling in a sleeping car. There are several reasons: privacy, comfort, a bed to sleep in,...

I received an email yesterday from someone about to take an overnight trip on Amtrak. She wanted to know who and how much to tip. Good question! About the only...