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Steel Wheels: July – September 2016
Dear members: By now you will have received your latest Steel Wheels magazine. In the rush to meet the deadline for mailing the conference registration a few errors crept in, for which I apologize. Andy Selden’s excellent account was spoiled somewhat by missing captions. Andy took the photos which are in order of appearance Denver…
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Annual Steel Wheels in California Conference
September 24, 2016 | 10:00 – 3:30 PM The East Theater of the California State Railroad Museum
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Important message from the RailPAC Board
Dear Passenger Rail Supporter: RailPAC has endeavored over the past thirty eight years to advocate investment in and the greater use of passenger in California, Nevada and the west. The campaign continues with publications, online news briefings, visits to Sacramento and DC, and with local officials. We believe that we have made a difference, and…
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Thanksgiving Ride on Train 4, the “Roughwest Chief”
During this past Thanksgiving holiday I had a privilege to a ride on the eastbound Roughwest Chief, from Los Angeles to Chicago… I’ve traveled on the Chief before, and it seemed to be fine. However, this past trip will probably be my last.
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Bullet Train will Start in the Bay Area
The Rail Passenger Association of California welcomes the decision of the CHSRA to construct north from Bakersfield to link with an electrified Caltrain at San Jose. At the same time money will be spent on the long overdue modernization of Los Angeles Union Station, especially permitting through services between the north and south of the…
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Amtrak Long Distance News in the New Year … the good, some bad, and the expected “ugly”
Let’s start with the ugly status of the Dining car removal from the Silver Star train, since it’s the hottest news. On January 28, just as this is being written, URPA learned that Amtrak employees were told the day before that the Star’s dining car is PERMANENTLY gone. As predicted here since this “experiment” was…
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Western Long Distance Trains at the End of 2015: A Positive Report
Here we are, Christmastime 2015, and lo and behold the Amtrak long distance trains continue to roll and to some extent thrive despite the negative publicity that they are “money losers.” In recent posts this writer has talked about the positives that are being accomplished on the Coast Starlight, and the opposite effects that are…
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The Coast Starlight: Paso Robles to Eugene; not endpoint travel! What about the food?
Report and Commentary by Russ Jackson with Ralph James Amtrak likes to tout its end points and the volume of traffic it gets between those departures and destinations on all of its routes, but while some passengers do that it is the intermediate station travel that fills up the trains. Can you imagine, as RailPAC…
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Pacific Parlour Car Temporary Withdrawal
A well-informed source has told RailPAC that Pacific Parlour Car service will be missing from the Coast Starlight in the coming weeks because the FRA has some concerns about the glazing. Apparently one car has already been fixed and Amtrak is awaiting delivery of material for the rest of the fleet. Unfortunately we cannot offer…
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Metrolink in a Tail Spin: Is there a way out?
Napoleon used to say that he liked his generals to be lucky. Presumably he would not have employed the first CEOs of Metrolink, who suffered considerably from ill fortune, particularly the Glendale accident. But bad luck is only one small part of the picture that has brought about the near collapse of Metrolink. After 23…