I'm not a traveler, and the closest I've gotten to dining on a train was an occasional adult beverage on the club car of the commuter train I used to take....but these stories make me want to book a rail trip somewhere....

quote:

The Return of the American Rail Dining Car

Changes at Amtrak may revive the beloved tradition of enjoying chicken cordon bleu and Moroccan beef with chickpea salad with fellow travelers

https://www.eater.com/22736799...source=pocket-newtab

And beyond Amtrak, there's the Orient Express...



https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sjYwHj8mL-s

The last time I had dinner in the diner was on a trip from Savannah to Pittsburgh via Washington, DC. The meal was less than stellar and, from what I know of the cost-cutting in the next couple of years, had gotten even worse with meals for sleeping car passengers reduced to microwave reheated entrees and nothing much at all for coach passengers on many routes. Very recently, some improved choices have returned to certain long-distance routes. I haven't had the opportunity to try any yet.

That said, I've had a few memorable meals on board the train in years past. I remember an excellent steak with a half-bottle of red wine on a 10-degree night coming out of Indiana, headed to Pittsburgh on the B&O before Amtrak came on the scene. I enjoyed a cigar and a whisky on the rocks in the lounge car afterward as we rolled on down the track, snow blowing behind us.

I ate the biggest Idaho baked potato I've ever seen in an Amtrak diner headed toward Chicago from Minneapolis. It was delicious.

In 1987, I rode the train between Whiting, Indiana and Pittsburgh several times while I was working on a project at Inland Steel. I don't recall any especially memorable meals, but there was a certain pleasure in boarding. stowing my bag in a roomette, heading to the diner to eat and have a drink, and then retire until arriving in Pittsburgh early the next morning. It seemed a more civilized trip than fighting traffic around Chicago on a Friday night to get on board a cattle car at O'Hare.

I really hope the recent improvements take hold and people can begin to enjoy some of the pleasures of train travel that used to exist in this country.

Big Al

We Orient Express is a little salty for me but if you're interested in Amtrak I can help.

Chef prepared meals only happening on the sunset limited, the Empire Builder, the California Zephyr, and the Southwest Chief.

All the rest are these glorified TV dinners called flexible dining that are ok, but definitely not first class.

They're trying but they're dealing with the resignation phenomenon like everyone such that even I have considered applying.

$30 plus an hour overtime after 8 and 40, 60 hours plus per week, railroad retirement, union, all interesting. With my Trucking background I love being on the move

Even with all the cuts and delays, my recent trip from Chicago to Portland Oregon and back, 46 hours each way, an afternoon, a night, a full day, a night, and the morning, was a ball.

My partner and I are taking the Texas eagle from Chicago to San Antonio later this month to visit my 90 year old dad. That's 30 hours each way. Roomette both ways.

I won't go coach even though there's like six feet of legroom. If I can't get a roomette I will drive because I don't like to fly. Meals are all included with sleepers and also complimentary coffee and water in the sleeping car in the mornings.

The Empire Builder though this past spring. Absolutely fantastic especially Northern Montana and Northern North Dakota running along us-2 just miles from the Canadian border.

So flat that the slight embankment that the railroad tracks were on enabled us to see well into Canada easily for much of the trip. And it was easy to verify that it was indeed Canada by using Google Maps, and using a mountain I could see in the distance as a reference.

And breakfast in the sightseer Lounge going 79 miles per hour along the north Bank of the Columbia River was absolutely fantastic.

George K on the other page is also a frequent Amtrak traveler and he talked me into getting the Amtrak MasterCard and OMG I'm racking up points so fast LOL. I have a V8 car and a V8 diesel pickup truck and for once my crummy gas mileage is at least racking up lots of Amtrak travel points lol.

If you want to take a trip I recommend taking a long one. And you just get settled into your little room and bring comfy shoes and watch the world roll by.

One caveat with Amtrak is that the price for everything is in "buckets."

So... a mystery number of each accommodation is at the Rock Bottom price. Once that quantity is sold it goes to a next higher price.

So this summer they had a big sale on rooomettes which are normally the most economical accommodation. But they sold so many that they sold out of the lowest price tickets and the mid-range tickets as well but they didn't sell any of the family bedrooms or handicap rooms or Deluxe bedrooms with bath so now when you look on Amtrak you will often see that the roomette is the most expensive, which is crazy.

The booking site is totally unintuitive. And like I said there's no Rhyme or Reason to fares. You might find, for example, an Empire Builder roomette from Chicago to Portland Oregon one day for $800, for 2, then the next day at $1,700.

But the deluxe bedroom which has a bed for two skinny people down below that converts into a sofa and a bigger upper bed and a separate chair and a private full bath in the room and vanity and sink with three-way mirror might still be at the low bucket price or around $1,200.

The fun thing about traveling during the pandemic was the sleepers were never more than 50%. And coach was probably not even 20% west of Minneapolis.

One thing to do to try to figure out what the lowest price is is to put together a phony itinerary 10-11 months in advance, or in winter, departing on a weekday. Then try the weekday before and after once you get the hang of it that's a good way to shop to see what the fares are.

You get charged a fare price for a coach seat or two, then the sleeper is added on.

The only thing I'm not looking forward to with this trip coming up is more of it is going to be in the dark then I want but at least when we go the other direction a lot of Texas that is going to be in the dark going down will be daylight going back.

Arkansas and Missouri are pretty much in the dark both ways year around.

Sorry about the book!!!

Talk to text!

Didn’t read the article. But I’m all for it!

There is a local commuter train, called Metro North, that runs north from Manhattan. It was a matter of great consternation when they announced they were discontinuing their bar car a couple of years ago. I wonder if they ever reinstated it.