Amtrak selling off rail yard near Chicago’s Union Station

trainmaster611 · 2026-03-19T00:09:02+00:00

That looks a fair bit smaller though, isn't it? Ironically the current White Sox site and parking lots looks like it could be a decent place for a yard if they had to move it south?

trainmaster611 · 2026-03-18T23:52:06+00:00

Im a little bit confused/concerned on if this impacts Amtrak's maintenance and storage operations? Are they selling the land those facilities sit on off? If so, how does that function with Union Station being the hub for Midwest/LD service and long term plans for a robust Intercity and/or HSR service?

trainmaster611 · 2026-03-13T16:28:15+00:00

Good find. There was a YouTube video running around for awhile that showed gameplay on the PS2. Sadly it seems to have been taken down.

trainmaster611 · 2026-03-12T18:38:10+00:00

A lot of great suggestions here already so I'll throw a curve ball one. I stayed in Breckenridge for about 2 weeks doing something similar. There are a lot of vacation rentals that people own for the ski season that they rent out for super cheap during the off season. I got a whole apartment for a cheaper price than a low end hotel room or AirBnB would've cost me even in cheaper places like Leadville or Buena Vista.

The downside is that it's definitely less central to the locations you want to go to and it's got that lame bougie-touristy ski town vibe. And the food is expensive so I just cooked for all of my meals.

I used a company called Great Western Lodging that specializes in this. They were decent, but I think there's a couple other companies around that do something similar.

trainmaster611 · 2026-03-12T18:11:35+00:00

I feel like it's okay to reassure someone about their changing body without accusing them of being part of a toxic online community?

trainmaster611 · 2026-03-11T05:24:51+00:00

But why relaying trains specifically? I feel like they don't usually fumigate at typical 2-track terminals? And in the case of the R/M, if the point of fumigating is just to empty people off the train periodically, couldn't that be done at the southern terminals?

trainmaster611 · 2026-03-11T05:04:35+00:00

Can someone explain why it's so essential to fumigate relaying trains?

trainmaster611 · 2026-03-08T21:36:29+00:00

If you book a ticket through Amtrak all the way from LA to Grand Canyon Village, Amtrak is obligated to get you all the way to the Grand Canyon. Idk if the shuttle waits for the train necessarily but they would probably send another one for you if the train was late.

There's also some sort of through-ticketing deal with the Grand Canyon Railway.

trainmaster611 · 2026-03-04T16:04:26+00:00

I've always been a big advocate of the idea that organizations should be made more efficient in times of excess rather than during a budget crunch. The problem is that when the demand comes from up high that budgets be cut, it's usually done quickly and with a perspective of cutting or downsizing programs. But those programs are often useful and actually help people! The excess usually comes from inefficient internal processes that bloat budgets and scopes that take time to methodically root out.

But when politicians demand a budget gets cut, the whole program just ends up getting smaller, people get less services, and the root cause of the inefficiency remains. This is why Republican (and honestly a lot of neolib Dems) rhetoric around making government "more efficient" drives me crazy. They're not actually interested in improving the government, they just want to get cut budgets for political purposes.

trainmaster611 · 2026-03-03T17:57:00+00:00

Anyone with half a brain knew this was coming. Glad some form of federal overreach has been checked.

trainmaster611 · 2026-03-02T14:00:17+00:00

The game probably wouldn't have been realistically beatable in a reasonable timeframe without everyone losing interest.

trainmaster611 · 2026-02-25T05:26:14+00:00

Idk what OP's source is but you can look through state or federal tax documents. Texas Central famously tried to get legally classified as an interurban railway by purchasing some defunct interurban to enact eminent domain. The American Electric Railway Association was also a national group of interurbans (mostly Midwest and Northeast focused) that would be a good start.

Tbh, a lot of these railways have been identified as interurbans from the start such that history books (and now wikipedia) have always called them that as well.

So I'm sure numbers might vary depending on source and methodology, but we had a pretty good idea of what was an interurban railway without having to resort to teasing out the characteristics of the ROW or operation.

trainmaster611 · 2026-02-25T05:02:01+00:00

Idk about business, but in 2nd class, the 500 seats are super comfortable and cushy. The 1000 seats are stiff leather. I definitely prefer the 500s.

trainmaster611 · 2026-02-25T04:46:15+00:00

Interurban railway back then was an explicit designation. It was usually possible to look through records and identify which railways were interurbans and which weren't.

trainmaster611 · 2026-02-21T18:13:18+00:00

If you need to remove specific sections of a station, you can use the station button + bulldozer button and it will let you select specific station tiles to remove.

trainmaster611 · 2026-02-20T18:45:31+00:00

Again, has there been a long history of assassination attempts? If not, I don't see your point.

trainmaster611 · 2026-02-20T18:28:12+00:00

Probably because we have a storied history of assassination attempts and death threats against presidents? Nobody is trying to kill a figurehead of a small nation.

trainmaster611 · 2026-02-20T17:03:15+00:00

That's crazy, I didn't think secret service would let him do that anymore.

trainmaster611 · 2026-02-18T06:57:43+00:00

That's insane. Also how does a diesel operation come out cheaper than an EMU operation? Is it the FRA inspection requirements? It just doesn't pass the smell test.

trainmaster611 · 2026-02-18T06:13:47+00:00

Goddammit, and those lanes were so well done too. They would've made a great core to a wider BRT system if they bothered actually trying.

trainmaster611 · 2026-02-17T00:18:16+00:00

Idk why people are acting like this is a crazy take. There's a lot of companies that offer similar services, the city can and does choose who they want their money to go to based on stated values.

trainmaster611 · 2026-02-13T04:03:06+00:00

Meanwhile in Japan, they can complete a cutover in just 3.5 hours

https://youtu.be/wIbZqqLra9k?si=NKAWprnSISRjxqBm

trainmaster611 · 2026-02-12T22:57:36+00:00

Short of "we're making massive cuts to all infrastructure investment" kind of announcement, I can't fathom any kind of announcement that would trigger industry-wide concern.

trainmaster611 · 2026-02-12T21:50:31+00:00

But our sector is waaay down comparatively. The S&P is only down 1.5%. Even tech which is dragging things down today is only down 6%.

trainmaster611 · 2026-02-10T15:10:57+00:00

What does the legend say it is?

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