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Reminds me of waiting on the station platform at Fayetteville, NC, for the northbound Silver Meteor around midnight on a very cold winter's night in the late 1970's.  The train was over 45 minutes late.   I found a pay phone and called the 1-800 Amtrak number.  I asked the lady who answered when the Silver Meteor was going to arrive in Fayetteville.  She said "Let me look that up for you."  After about a minute, she said, "The Silver Meteor departed Fayetteville 45 minutes ago."  I told her that was a pretty neat trick as those of us standing (and freezing) on the platform never saw it go by.  "Oh! Well then it must have been delayed but we haven't gotten any more recent information on it."  The train did arrive about 20 minutes later.

I rode the Coast Daylight from Portland to Oakland last week.  The Portland local TV news stations reported that Amtrak was planning to discontinue the Coast Daylight because it was losing $46 million per year.  There was no followup and the story didn't have any information about the timing for discontinuing the train.  

The sleepers and coaches were full.  The business class seats were about 1/3 full.  I was surprised to learn that all of the high priced bedrooms were completely sold out. There was only one empty roomette in my car.  I had a roomette.   

The dining car had to stay open to about 10 pm to feed everyone who wanted to eat.  About 10 to 50 people boarded or disembarked at the small intermediate stations.  In other words, the train was busy.  

Amtrak has been proposing to discontinue the long distance trains for many years.  Only time will tell the fate of these trains.  As far as I can tell from this one trip, these trains are providing essential transportation service to many small and isolated communities along their route.  

NH Joe 

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