In 1980, Amtrak persuaded the state of Oregon to subsidize two trains a day between Eugene and Portland. Known as the Willamette Valley Express, the train lasted 17 months before the state, hard pressed by a major recession, stopped funding … Continue reading
This timetable shows Amtrak operated seven trains a day from New York City to Albany, four of which went on to Buffalo. One of those trains connected with a train to Toronto. The overnight New York-Buffalo train took 8 hours … Continue reading
Most of Amtrak’s overnight routes see just one train a day in each direction, and when I’ve tried to figure out how to make Amtrak work better I’ve sometimes thought they should run two trains a day on some of … Continue reading
The Postal Service ended most railway post office contracts in 1967, which brought about the end of the Silver Age of passenger trains as most railroads ran RPOs with passenger trains and depended on the income from RPOs to supplement … Continue reading
One group that would like to see an end to Amtrak subsidies is intercity bus companies. But in 1975, when they issued this brochure complaining about subsidies to their competition, the bus industry itself was declining. Ridership had peaked sometime … Continue reading
Decorated with the original Empire Builder font, this menu is designed to warm the hearts of Great Northern rail fans. The front cover painting by Craig Thorpe illustrates the Great Northern heavyweight and dome-laden streamlined Empire Builders plus Amtrak’s own … Continue reading
The Coast Starlight was a true Amtrak success story. Prior to Amtrak, the Southern Pacific had reduced Portland-Oakland train service to three times a week. Travelers from north of Portland to south of Oakland would have to change trains twice. … Continue reading
A frisbee, a beach towel, ceramic coffee tastefully decorated with the word “Amtrak” repeated seven times, or a set of four plastic coffee mugs with photos of Amtrak locomotives are the sum and total of the souvenirs offered by this … Continue reading
A railcar shortage allowed Amtrak to dramatically increase bedroom fares in the 1980s. To mitigate this increase, as well as the downgrading of dining car menus, Amtrak began giving sleeping-car passengers free meals. This 1989 lunch menu was used by … Continue reading
This 1987 brochure offers three attractive fare plans. Two of the plans are based on dividing the country into three regions: east of Chicago and New Orleans; west of Denver and Albuquerque; and a central region between Denver and Chicago. … Continue reading
