After some 200,000 miles traveling on Amtrak long-distance trains, I have formed some general impressions of the folks who travel in coach and those riding in sleepers. It has always seemed to me that for most of the coach passengers, their train trip is for a serious purpose. Maybe they’re off to college. Perhaps…
Amtrak has apparently bowed to pressure from the traveling public, from RPA, and from most of the rest of the civilized world and they have overhauled the “contemporary dining” food service on the Lake Shore Limited and the Capitol Limited. There is a new menu—and I’m sure most of us veterans of the long-distance…
Over the past few years, Amtrak has been shaving costs wherever possible. One by one, the nice little extras have disappeared—tokens and gestures that make passengers feel as though they’re appreciated and that their long-distance train ride is a special experience. For example, this morning my coffee mug sat on a souvenir coaster I was…