With Trump having Gardner deleted today, there's no telling what will happen next with Amtrak.

I'd feel bad for the car owners still operating, they've been through the wringer.

What will they do if there isn't even a wringer to latch on the back of anymore if (when?) Amtrak gets Doge-ed on?

This not to incite a popcorn fest, just exploring a real (surreal) world possibility. Car values would plummet overnight if the long-hauls get cut, and there's not too much excursion or dinner train revenue to pick up, especially in a tightening economy.

I thought Amtrak had stopped handling private cars quite a while back.

Officially, they hadn't ceased PV operations--evidence includes rare outings by the DC Chapter NRHS' Pullman Dover Harbor and recent regular outings between NYC and Albany by two cars of the URHS-NJ.

What had happened was that Amtrak had put such onerous conditions and costs upon prospective PV operations--restricting them to between certain terminals as but one example--that it could be considered by some to be virtually impossible to run PVs like in "the good old days."

I was going to say this as well. Last summer I got some photos of the AAPRCO convention on the Finger Lakes Railway and at one stop I was talking with the owners of PRR Colonial Crafts and he mentioned how the numbers of AAPRCO cars had dwindled from previous trips of 15-18 cars down to less than half of that, with the number of trips also heavily reduced, largely because of Amtrak levying fees for every little thing.

Move to Canada?

You may be being facetious, but for the sake of argument: does VIA agree to add private cars to its trains? I don't recall seeing any photos of them. Plus, VIA's existence seems as tenuous as Amtrak right now.

That is a great question. They seem friendly to private excursion trains, the Rocky Mountaineer has been running for many years, with a Covid related gap.
Like you, I don't recall photos of PV's on VIA. Is that a thing?

I think the Rocky Mountaineer is a private self contained excursion train (loco's, food service, sleeping, generator car(s)). It is operated on CN rails with I presume CN (or Canadian Federal Licensed) Engineers and/or Pilots.

VIA, I believe, currently has nothing to do with operating the Rocky Mountaineer, perhaps the Mountaineer uses some VIA stations and pays VIA a fee for station rental/access ?

I would be sure that CN has a strict scheduling policy with the Mountaineer folks and the excursion train is likely at the mercy of CN dispatchers.

Cheers, Kevin.

I don't think Rocky Mountaineer works with VIA or Amtrak for operations. I can't say for certain but that's how it appears.

Hopefully, Amtrak doesn't completely disappear.

[quote="Crescent-Zephyr"]I don't think Rocky Mountaineer works with VIA or Amtrak for operations. I can't say for certain but that's how it appears.

The US Rocky Mountaineer is a stand alone General System Tourist/Excursion operation with their own operating crews and equipment operating on a host freight railroad.

I am pretty sure that the Canadian operations are similar.

MD Ramsey