Ridin' on the "City of New Orleans"

Amtrak's best and worst on-time train routes

TOP FIVE ON-TIME ROUTES
**As of July 2008

Hiawatha
Milwaukee - Chicago
Year-To-Date (YTD): 87.7 percent July: 88.5 percent
Amtrak’s most on-time route is, probably unsurprisingly, also one of its shortest.

BOTTOM FIVE ON-TIME ROUTES:

Texas Eagle
Chicago - St. Louis - Dallas - San Antonio - Los Angeles
YTD: 14.3 percent, July performance: 0.0 percent

Visit the Webbspun Ideas website to see the rest of the list.

This list comes from Peter Greenberg. Visit his website for more great info about traveling.

U.S. rail network facing congestion ‘calamity’

“For those of you who’ve ever seen a good rail meltdown, this is what it looks like,” Rose, CEO of Burlington Northern Santa Fe Corp., said as the crowded hall shifted uncomfortably in their chairs. “It’s literally chaos in the supply chain.”

While the nation’s attention is focused on air travel congestion and the high cost of fuel for highway driving, a crisis is developing under the radar for another form of transportation — the freight trains used to deliver many of the goods that keep the U.S. economy humming.

The nation’s 140,000-mile network of rails devoted to carrying everything from cars to grain by freight is already groaning under the strain of congestion, with trains forced to stand aside for hours because of one-track rail lines.

Read the entire article in Better Roads.

Wheels by Dan Tyminski

Great video for someone, like me, who loves train travel. I would have loved to have been on this train for the shoot.

Super Fall Foliage Excursion Trains

Take in the beauty of Tennessee when you take a ride on a Fall Excursion Train. Get more info and the schedule at the Tennessee Central Railway Museum website.

Bullet train may link Nashville and Atlanta

Tennessee and Georgia transportation officials are discussing the feasibility of constructing a bullet train linking Nashville and Atlanta.

The train would use magnets to propel the train up to speeds of 310 mph.

According to a feasibility study, the Nashville to Chattanooga leg can be constructed for $5 billion.

The route would run along Interstate 24 and have stations in both downtowns, the cities' airports and in Murfreesboro.

Both legs from Nashville to Chattanooga to Atlanta would take an estimated 10 years to build.



Visit WSMV for more news from around Nashville.

Riding the train in Germany with chocolate and sausages

Corey shares some thoughts about the cost of fuel and how it affects travel

Riding the train in Germany

The Darjeeling Limited

This was a really good movie that could really sneak up on you and make you laugh. I really enjoyed it and loved the pace and the setting of the movie. I recommend it.

Plot Outline:
Three American brothers who have not spoken to each other in a year set off on a train voyage across India with a plan to find themselves and bond with each other -- to become brothers again like they used to be. Their "spiritual quest", however, veers rapidly off-course (due to events involving over-the-counter pain killers, Indian cough syrup, and pepper spray), and they eventually find themselves stranded alone in the middle of the desert with eleven suitcases, a printer, and a laminating machine. At this moment, a new, unplanned journey suddenly begins.

Inside the Hamburg train station

The Worst Holiday Travel Treks

Plane, train, or automobile? Doesn't matter--avoid Chicago.

In compiling lists of the nation's worst roads, airports and rail lines for the holiday travel season, the windy city's a triple winner, the only U.S. metro appearing on all three lists. By our calculations, no holiday itinerary could be worse than flying into O'Hare and then hitting Interstate 90 to head for the suburbs or getting on Amtrak for points west.

Thanksgiving weekend is also the busiest time of year for the nation's roads, with the majority of trips lasting at least and hour and a quarter of them encompassing 200 miles or more, according to Mapquest.

It's all bad. But where is it worst?

Read the complete article in Forbes.

Lets Go Ride the Train

If you are going to New Hampshire soon and you are looking for something fun and unique to do, check out the Hobo Rail Road. See the sights, eat good food and enjoy a ride on the rails. Good family fun for everyone.



Tracks Ahead is a Public Broadcasting show and caters to folks who love trains, riding the rails and to travel. Check it out and see if you like it as well.



Trains.com sponsors the Tracks Ahead show and they are all about trains and models trains. Give them a look and have fun riding on the train or playing with one.

Traveling Webbspunerys

Train Hopping

Jimmie Rodgers - Waiting for a Train

Train Fans Want Amtrak Back in Nashville

It's been nearly 30 years since the last passenger train left Union Station, but advocates of city-to-city rail hope it won't take another 30 years to get it back.

A spider web of routes takes a broad circle around the city, passing through Louisville, Ky., Memphis, Atlanta and Charlotte, N.C., but national rail advocates consider Tennessee to be the most underserved rail state. In a report released last week, they targeted Nashville for the expansion of passenger rail.

Trains equal less pollution and highway congestion, proponents say, but state officials say Nashville isn't populous enough to support a city-to-city route.

"It would be wonderful to say I can be in Memphis and jump on a train to Nashville, but the volume of people who would do that isn't anywhere close to what the cost would be to provide the service," said Ed Cole, chief of environment and planning with the Tennessee Department of Transportation.

Read the rest of this story in the Tennessean

Cross-country trip by train

By A.B. MINTHORN, For The Associated Press
Mon Jun 18, 2:45 PM ET

The Empire Builder snakes through Montana's Rockies, past evergreen forests and mountaintops that glisten with snow even in the warm months. It's a glorious morning in my transcontinental railway journey.

Amtrak's intercity express had departed Portland, Ore., at 4:45 p.m. the previous day bound for Chicago. My destination was Penn Station in New York City, four calendar days and 3,216 miles distant.

Traveling before a holiday, I wanted a no-stress alternative to jammed airports and packed jetliners. I also wanted to travel in comfort, so for $1,792.90 one way, I booked a deluxe bedroom compartment in blue decor, with a lavatory and shower. My meals and dinner wine were included.

I hadn't made a sleeper-car journey since the 1960s, when airliners and interstate highways came to dominate long-distance travel. My friends were intrigued by the idea of a train trip across the Rockies and Great Plains, through lands traversed by Lewis and Clark 200 years ago.

Read the entire story in Yahoo News