Aww. I liked it, even though it was clear before the pandemic that it was on the downswing.
Rail travel is just much more relaxing and interesting than air travel. People in an airport act like zombies, but people on a train act like people.
One time, I was on a Empire Builder that got stuck in a freight yard around midnight. The freight company had donated an engine to replace one that had broken on the Amtrak train, but apparently the crew didn't have a key to unlock it.
So we sat in a freight yard for about an hour, with snow gently falling around us. It had been several hours since our last stop, and the passengers started to get restless. 4 hours without a smoke break is considered a mortal sin in Montana.
Eventually, the crew relented and let people out in the freezing snow to smoke on the train tracks, under a litany of disclaimers about trespassing and liability and whatnot.
It was hilarious and surreal. Amtrak felt like a system run by human beings, so it was chronically late and haphazard, but I'll still miss it compared the the sterile almost-competence of modern airports.
I don’t think that’s true that all of empire builder was on a downswing. Before Covid, (and maybe still), empire builder was going to get a second train in each direction daily on the stretch from St Paul to Chicago.
Right now 90% of the route from St. Paul is forbidden from traveling to Chicago.
And dining service was being removed from many routes before Covid, I’m sure that has been accelerated.
Rail travel is just much more relaxing and interesting than air travel. People in an airport act like zombies, but people on a train act like people.
One time, I was on a Empire Builder that got stuck in a freight yard around midnight. The freight company had donated an engine to replace one that had broken on the Amtrak train, but apparently the crew didn't have a key to unlock it.
So we sat in a freight yard for about an hour, with snow gently falling around us. It had been several hours since our last stop, and the passengers started to get restless. 4 hours without a smoke break is considered a mortal sin in Montana.
Eventually, the crew relented and let people out in the freezing snow to smoke on the train tracks, under a litany of disclaimers about trespassing and liability and whatnot.
It was hilarious and surreal. Amtrak felt like a system run by human beings, so it was chronically late and haphazard, but I'll still miss it compared the the sterile almost-competence of modern airports.