Ask any professional advertising or marketing person what is the single most effective and least expensive form of advertising and I’ll bet the answer will be, “Word of Mouth.” Take...

Veteran rail travelers know from personal experience that Amtrak’s long-distance trains often run late— sometimes very late—and rather than take a chance on making a connection, we’ll stay overnight and...

My part in my latest book project is just about done. The manuscript is 99-percent finished and all that remains will be a final read-through looking for anything that needs...

I’ve been trying for several days to bring some order to the mishmash of photos that are stored helter-skelter in my desktop. To my everlasting regret, most of the photos...

There’s almost no end to things that can go wrong on a railroad. Locomotives break down; boulders tumble down rocky slopes and block the tracks; several cars on freight train...

I was the only sleeping car passenger on the platform when the southbound Coast Starlight arrived in Davis, California, spot on time at 6:50 yesterday morning.   The door of...

I continue to get emails and comments from people expressing anger and frustration over Amtrak’s announcement that the Pacific Parlour Cars will be permanently removed from service during the first...

It’s official. In a cold one-sentence statement, Amtrak says that in two weeks the Pacific Parlour Cars will no longer be part of the Coast Starlight experience.   Yes, I’m...

There are only five Pacific Parlour Cars in the Amtrak fleet and they’re only found on the Coast Starlight, the overnight train that runs daily in both directions between Seattle...

 When I was maybe eight or nine, my dad took me on a plane ride just for fun. It was American Airlines and I think it was a DC-3 because...