Cheers Steve, yep middle-aged grumpiness and positivity - I’ll take that 😂 Actually that’s a great description for my KZfaq banner, I might steal that sometime if you don’t mind. Plenty more stuff to come mate 😊👍

Yes they do still mark your seat and I’m not really sure why they do that either. Tell you what, if they had a little open-air balcony-type thing on the back, I’d be out there and wouldn’t need to sit down! The food, well I could have taken some on board but, for ‘research purposes’ I took the plunge 😂 and yeh it was a lot different to last time I was over there. All-in-all though, really enjoyed it. I’ll be back again at the end of the month - roomette next time! 😊👍

@@LetsMakeaTrip back in January 2021, they opened up the fantastic looking Moynihan Train Hall as an extension to NY Penn Station, I highly recommend you check in out, because now all Amtrak trains departing nyc leave from there 😁 very pretty compared to the old Penn station concourse

If it isn't Steve the man himself, hello son, let's have a collaboration between you both through the Australian outback!

No he didn’t pass through Mystic as he came down to New Haven from due north, more or less. Mystic is on the electrified NE corridor to the east of New Haven - interesting little town that one!

Amtrak has diners with full traditional dining on the western overnight sleeper trains, but have flexible dining in the diners on the eastern overnight sleeper trains. For a considerable time now the eastern and western day regional trains have dinettes/cafes with mostly convenient store microwave food, not traditional diner food. Flexible dining is just an extension of the dinettes/cafes Amtrak instituted during the pandemic when Amtrak furloughed its diner staff. Unfortunately for Amtrak much of that staff found other jobs while furloughed and have not returned.

Cheers Shane, yep loved filming this video as the scenery was so nice. It won’t win the ‘most watched content of the year’ award but sometimes, it’s more my own personal enjoyment of the trip that counts and that’s why I’d definitely recommend it 😊👍

Thanks Sheila, appreciate the kind words and yes, it was a lovely trip 😊

Cheers Simon, yep a seat on the left going south is upmost importance for the views! Plenty more content to come mate 😊👍

Cheers James, glad you liked it 😊👍

Cheers Gareth, enjoyed this trip a lot and I’d definitely recommend it - some great scenery 👍

Cheers Lukas, I’m fine thanks mate, hope you are too. I had this ready to publish on Tuesday so I thought I might as well put it out tonight rather than tomorrow as usual. Besides, I’ve got a 9 and-a-half hour Flixbus trip in the morning!!

Cheers Jerry! Enjoy Boston, I did 😊👍

@@LetsMakeaTrip Thank you

Yes, totally agree. It’s kind of weird that because I can take and film some really fantastic trips: this one, the Douro Valley, Mexican coach journeys, flying around the Orkneys etc etc and it’s really really hard for them to gain any traction. Whereas the coach/bus journeys are doing really well. Many more of the latter to come and yep, that is the niche 👍

Here’s my thoughts on this. Perhaps it is due to ‘what comes in mind’ when travellers want to explore a certain area/city etc. I mean, a few bus travels between cities could be categorized as ‘Tier 1’ travel - easy to manage, book, fairly cheap etc. Where as the e.g. Portsmouth-Santander ferry, I would call a ‘Tier 2 or 3 travel’ due to cost, familiarity about ferry travel, perhaps more remote harbour locations to access the ferry. Anyway, great channel! cheers from Mike from Denmark.

Give us a break. There are no long distance bus routes on the isle of Great Britain unless it also involves a ferry to the European continent mainland. One can drive across the UK in a single day, or ride a bus from Aberdeen to London in a single day, never mind Liverpool to Hull. There are KZfaq videos revealing bus journeys across America coast to coast that lasted 60 hours at best, many usually longer... Even some top one hundred hours for a bus coast to coast across America...

​@@LetsMakeaTrip Hi Mark, picking up on your remark about what gets views (bus and coach journeys) have you seen the viewing figures for some of the car journeys taken from a dash cam pov (but with a decent camera) just following even a country lane? Stumbled on one filmed along a lane in the Cotswolds that was very badly filmed, less than five mins long and no commentary or music, just the sound of the car .... and over a million views in five years (4k a week!) Makes you wonder mate....

Cheers Matt, a pleasure. Definitely recommend the journey (if you’re not in a rush) 😊

That average time included numerous stops slowing the train down significantly considering the average speed... Usually when underway Amtrak tops out at 79 mph by the signals in most of America... Like every railroad there are speed restrictions to deal with too...

Well, I just happened to be in this diner and then this train went past and, well, one thing led to another 😂 Seriously, cheers mate thanks very much for your support - appreciated 😊

@@LetsMakeaTrip When I get on a train, I usually end up at Skegness. 😁👍

Oh yep, easy trip out via the sky train or whatever they’re calling it. I kind of enjoyed New York a bit more this time but prefer the quiet of the country most of the time tbh 😊

Cheers Luis! Thanks, as always, for your support 😊

Haha, well it’s obviously my sparkling witty persona, they just can’t help themselves 😂 cheers mate 😊

Cheers David, appreciate you taking the time to comment and the kind words. All the best, Mark 😊👍

Indeed they are!

Cheers mate, yep I just wish they’d retained some of the other ‘old-style quality’. Like the food!

@@LetsMakeaTrip Unfortunately Amtrak learned from a former Delta airlines CEO how to use airline pre prepared food to save significantly. His tenure as Amtrak's president was the closest Amtrak ever got to breaking even... Instead of hiring chefs, dish washers, and waiters, just hire waiters and microwave frozen food already prepared by a factory. At least two jobs cut from a train's payroll, if not three...

Cheers Robert, thanks for the comment. Glad I got the pronunciation right 😊👍

Cheers Derisley 😊😊😊😊🚄🚄🚄🚄🇺🇸🇺🇸🇺🇸🇺🇸🇺🇸🇺🇸

Pleasure mate and I bet that trip was awesome. I did the Lake Shore Limited up to Chicago then the Californian Zephyr all the way to Emeryville on the west coast way back in the late 90’s now. It was a similarly amazing experience!

Which 2 trains at least did you take?. There are few ways of doing it, you could of took a train from New York to Chicago than hop on the Texas Eagle or Southwest cheif to LA or you could take the crescent to New Orleans and then the Sunset Limited to LA, the most expensive and longest way but 2 of the trains if in sleeper have traditional dinning which is take a train to Chicago then hop on the Zephry to Emerville and then take Coast Starlight to LA

@@LetsMakeaTrip If you have the time and the financial resources, I split my long distance Amtrak journeys with a layover somewhere on the routes. I keep telling myself over and over I wish I could spend a day here or there, well split book your journeys and do spend a day here and there. Any city or small town will suffice. Back during the 1960s there used to be a British television personality who did stop at small stations on the British Railway network, sometimes for hours, and sometimes overnight... Stop to smell the roses...

Freight is king on the US railroad Enrico as I’m sure you know. It’s still an iconic means of transport though (for me) and I’ve booked another one on the Silver Star in a few weeks. Same food I would guess but a proper roomette this time 😊👍

Unfortunately Congress has read the reports revealing that less than TWO percent of Americans have rode long distance and regional trains, not commuter trains, while over EIGHTY percent have flown, and ONE HUNDRED percent use the highways one way or another, if only to roll a wheel chair across the highway. Numbers don't lie... There IS a reason why the US Government itself chose to FLY the mail long distances more than a half century ago when the USPS terminated the railroads mail contracts. No longer do passenger trains in America have a dozen or more mail cars on their consists. No wonder why quickly thereafter the railroad running America's busiest route on the northeast corridor went bankrupt. The main reason why Congress created Amtrak... At that time no mail, no passenger train, well, not without government subsidies... America is not a TINY nation one can drive across in a single day like France or Germany. Long before there was a UPS or FedEx the USPS chose to FLY the mail long distances. HOURS versus DAYS...

I really enjoyed this trip. Hopefully visit the region again sometime 👍

Hi Dan, yep, good to meet you mate 😊 I hope you enjoy the upcoming stuff, plenty more bus/coach videos to come. Good luck with your travels 😊👍

@@LetsMakeaTrip Thank you very much! I will definitely be looking forward to your future vids!

@@Danny-mv9qj pleasure mate 😊

I’m the same Keith, give me the country over the city any day you like! Shame about the meals these days, maybe I need to do the coast to coast again. It’s been a while!

Hello lurker! Why aren’t you subbed 😂 it’s not a Coventry accent, it’s Shropshire so you weren’t far off tbf. Glad you enjoy the videos 😊

@@LetsMakeaTrip I have rectified that oversight now. :D Leamington Spa is a nice town to travel from - or through - in your case. There used to be a train that went (I think) from Edinburgh to Bournemouth that came through here. I don't think it exists any more though,

@@mazzab1970 thank you mazza 😊probably a CrossCountry train that one. Might still exist as they do tend to head that way 👍

Haha, I’m in a London Travelodge tonight if that’s about as far away from Mars as you want to get (I bet Trek Trendy will do it though one day - wish I had his money!). Early start in the morning - Edinburgh bound 👍

Hi mate, yep Glenwood Springs - I remember it well from my last trip on Amtrak over 20 years ago! That was an amazing adventure though I couldn’t afford a sleeper back then and they’re not particularly cheap now either. Having said that, I have managed to get a roomette on the Silver Star in a few weeks for a decent price. Not expecting much from the cafe there either but it is what it is I guess and Amtrak don’t seem that bothered about it.

Vermont is one of the cleanest safest best states in America alot of guns no problem because Sanders pushed community health care centers all over Vermont and community clubs have Canadian flags and alot of Canadian foods and liquors and crafts beers from around the world

Cheers Matthew, I was hoping someone would provide the info 😊👍

Amazing! Isn’t it a small world when this kind of thing happens 😊 I did enjoy it, great scenery, staff were great too. Food well, yep, you know the score. Things I’ll do for the purposes of content creation 😂 cheers onion 😊👍

Amtrak hasn't served diner food on the regional services for decades. I do wish Amtrak quickly reinstates the traditional dining on their east coast overnight sleeper trains. But alas, you revealed why Amtrak doesn't have diners on regional day trains... While everyone wants to dine on traditional diner food, no one riding in coach wants to PAY for it at these prices.

Cheers Caleb, thanks for the info.

Many thanks for the detail Ross - very informative, cheers 😊

Thank you sir! 😊

Changed a bit since I took the Californian Zephyr back in the early 2000’s. Still a must-do train though 👍

While Amtrak's average speed won't increase much, all of the Superliners and Amfleet II cars in the fleet are being refurbished, while the Amfleet I, Horizon, and Talgo cars in the fleet are being replaced with new Siemens cars similar to the ones introduced in California and the Midwest/Chicago. Most of the Superliner and Amfleet II cars have reached 50 years in age... Almost all of Amtrak's track improvements underway involves the northeast corridor's bridges and tunnels that are owned by the federal government...