You stopped in Indianapolis on that cross-country Greyhound trip, right? Well, that dungeon of a station is also the Amtrak station - it was right below you when you were taking that fresh air break off the train.
19:55 Miles I was at Thurmond Station today. There is a newly constructed concrete boarding platform for Amtrak now. You no longer have to step off into a pile of gravel!
Honestly, good freaking job for accessibility wins that the platform has been added to a station that most countries would not even think to upgrade. Amtrak and the Americans with Disabilities Act wins again!
🤓erm actually the sheriff is elected based on county voting, and can serve a small town if they don't want their own police dpt. Same with firedpts EMS, court systems, postal work, smaller cities contract county services.
The population is five they say / but when mass'chusetts comes t'play / it goes up by two. / Though Miles said coal not coaling, / zounds the town with a free museum, / West Virginia, almost heaven, / now has a population of seven.
Dallas is an interesting place for rail expansion right now. I always forget just how decently connected by rail it actually is. With a region so sprawling I'd really like to see TexRail expand into an actually Regional Rail system of some kind. The expansion plans for DART are pretty ambitious as well
Dallas and Fort Worth get too much hate. They actually have an expansive public transportation system with some of the most modern vehicles ever seen in the US, like Stadler multiple unit trainsets. A good example of what other transit agencies could be doing right.
Actually, I rode on the Cardinal in 2019, and the myth that it has no dining service is not true, the cardinal still had a pretty full dining service onboard, and much of the same stuff you would find on the Silver Star or Meteor (pre covid). The only difference was that it didn't have a dining car, just an amfleet II cafe car, but the Amfleet II was still used as a dining car in the same way.
You may not have noticed but just before you pull into the Dallas station, you pass by the infamous Texas Book Depository. On one trip I made it a point to be playing 'JFK: Reloaded' on my laptop as we passed by the building.
21:31 - What's funny, is all that glass, the windows sign and such are all very recent additions due to a block grant given. It was all broken glass, unpainted wood etc... While it is a ghost town, it was on purpose glorified with the federal block grant. Believe it or not, parking can be at a premium there due to all the trails.
Is it really rough? I recall quickly running into that station house, when I just wanted to use a vending machine while riding the Cardinal going east. I had no issues. It's also super close to a White Castle, besides a bar as I remember. I didn't go to WC, since I kinda worried placing a food order there would take a little too long, before the Cardinal departed. Only reason I didn't go there, and I used a vending machine within the Indy station.
My family and I stayed in a house just up the river from Thurmond and the most people I ever saw at the station/town was 2 or 3 cars. Usually empty. Maybe now that it’s a national park it’s drawing more people
Yeah, looks like the famous bridge (seen from below in the video) is halfway between stations, and this station is the one in the heart of the park. Lots of sexy bicyclers and fans here and people at the train visitor center. It had a display of hobo signs, also seen in the video.
Just found your channel Miles. Reminds me of some of my misspent youth. Excellent. Fun fact, in the 1940s Thurmond, WV generated more freight traffic (aka coal) than any other station on the Chesapeake And Ohio system.
4:02-4:42 the sum total of my Amtrak train experience. Also at 6:11 can confirm that riding every local rail line in DFW takes a while, had to spread it into 2 days.
Amtrak is phasing out the "toilet in the room" arrangement with its roomettes, but we did use the toilet! Not for Number 2 though - there are other bathrooms in the car.
Transportation options are limited, but you might be able to get a private company to drive you somewhere. ACE is the closest place to stay where you can be self-sustaining without needing to bring much, but there are also some campgrounds nearby, or you could walk the roughly 5 miles to Oak Hill and find accommodation there.
Sorry I missed this! We flew to Houston and took the Sunset over, which you can see in this video: ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-rA-_gyVSWpE.html
This is kind of the reason why people don’t view Amtrak as anything more than a burden. There’s no reason for that station to exist. Maintaining it is just a money pit.
What is there to maintain? The National Parks Service maintains the station as a visitors center and it lets people visit the National park! What's wrong with that?
