That’s a phrase you often hear in these islands and it’s more apt than ever in light of the violence that occurred the other night in Charlottesville. Of course we...

The word has gotten around that I’m an authority on train travel and I keep getting emails from both friends and total strangers with questions. First, let me say that...

There’s a lot to say for taking a couple of days out of already extended itinerary to stop off at Charlottesville, Virginia, just to spend a couple or three hours...

The Cardinal is Number 4 on my list of Most Scenic Amtrak trains. It really is a wonderful ride and, I’m delighted to say, I’ll be on the eastbound train...

From time to time, I’ve complained here about the folly of operating trains on a less-than-daily schedule. Amtrak has two such trains in its long-distance system: the Sunset Limited running...

For me, planning a trip is almost as much fun as the actual travel itself.  I enjoy putting together itineraries, coming up with interesting routings for the train portions, looking...

This is one of my favorite rides. The Cardinal runs between New York and Chicago, but it takes a meandering southern route that makes it, without doubt, one of the...

(The following is an account of one of my several trips on the Cardinal. It was originally published in the Columbus Dispatch. Part 2 on Monday.) The Cardinal isn’t a...

In November of 2007, a group of civic leaders from central Virginia, got together, formed the Piedmont Rail Coalition, and started banging the drum to get Amtrak to extend it’s...