For several years now, the venerable, iconic Southwest Chief has been operating under a cloud. The train’s route runs from Chicago to Los Angeles and there are 28 stops along its 2,265-mile route, including major cities like Kansas City and Topeka and Albuquerque and Lamy, New Mexico, which is where you get off for Santa…
Those of us who are advocates for passenger rail often talk about how many towns are served by the Amtrak long-distance trains. But I’ve belatedly realized that there’s much more to the story. It happened during a reasonably polite discussion with another passenger over dinner one night in the Southwest Chief’s dining car. He…
I typically make my travel plans well in advance. In fact, I’m already thinking about what trains I’d like to take when I travel to NARP’s annual meeting in Washington, DC, next April. As usual, I’ll start by flying to the West Coast and taking one of Amtrak’s long-distance trains from there. If I…
OK, here’s a question for you about VIA Rail’s iconic train, The Canadian: Is one direction more scenic than the other? This would probably not occur to someone planning a long-distance train ride for the first time, but I can assure you that train travel enthusiasts have very clear preferences. It all has to do…