To Philly For Fifty

Likely, this is the most appropriate existing topic at which to place this material, but even if the conclusion reached by some around here will be different than mine, Washington Post has an article that should stir interest:

Fair Use:

The Empire Builder and other “long-distance” trains also provide a glimpse at what rail travel looked like before Amtrak’s creation in May 1971.

In recent years, Amtrak has touted the idea that its most successful routes connect cities that are 100 to 500 miles apart. Earlier this spring, when President Biden announced his new infrastructure plan, Amtrak released a map showing 30 new routes, most of which fit into that range, connecting Los Angeles with Las Vegas; Savannah to Atlanta; and Madison to Milwaukee. But a half-century after its creation, the backbone of Amtrak’s national system is still its long-distance trains, ones covering thousands of miles of land, with historic names like Capitol Limited, California Zephyr and Empire Builder, all of which predate Amtrak.

The Empire Builder — the train that normally rumbles through my town every morning and every night — first connected Chicago with Portland and Seattle in 1929. The train was named after the Great Northern Railway’s founder, James J. Hill, a Canadian-born rail baron known for his industrial empire that stretched from the Midwest to the Pacific Northwest. While other passenger trains came before (the Great Northern was built in the 1890s), the Empire Builder offered travelers unparalleled comfort, with spacious sleeping cars and a dining car offering up fresh fish, lamb and prime rib. There was even a barber onboard. In that era, railroads spared no expense in trying to lure passengers aboard trains and even worked to develop attractions along their routes to entice the public to take a trip.

Articles likes this will only arouse the advocacy community wasting Congressional time with the usual array of "Bring back...." litanies.

"It's over" - and should have been forty five years ago, allowing for a "five year ease the pain transition" following A-Day.

Rather than “Its Over” I think (1) the LDs may morph when their current rolling stock is exhausted, but they are proven too important politically (2)the new corridor-oriented proposal is “its overlaid”—diminishing the *relative* importance of the LD in Colorado, Wyoming, Indiana, Kentucky, Georgia, and Tennessee, and any other state that wants corridor service

The "Methuen" curve: maybe Methuen should be Metuchen.