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It's better than driving. If USA had more public transit like The Philippines, I wanted to see it build more trains and not freeways.If there is a thing, you can commute by Builder from St Cloud to St Paul

If Amtrak owns all railroad even commuter ones, they should be like JR in Japan

We have similar cars in Canada, and the seats are too hard. And you have to pay extra for a forward-facing seat. The railways are imitating the airlines, sadly.

It's a gadget like a monorail. Just run more busses longer and more often. I mean, honestly, look at damn near every similarly sized city in Europe and it's pretty easy to see that this is a solved problem. The bus is cute, though.

How many hours was this trip.?

at one time we had the best street car and commutor lines in the country, wish we had that back.i still remember the days when you could ride a train to almost anywhere in the state. we need more rail travel. i can't wait for amtrak service to duluth to come back.

My favorite part about Amtrak 351 is that it speeds through dowigac niles new Buffalo and Hammond whiting stations

Ironic the smoker got kicked off at a smoke stop! If only they could have waited a bit…

So much for trying to snooze on that train

You're absolutely right about the Venture Car seats. Intolerable! No Amtrak exec ever plunked his ass on one of those seats for more than 15 minutes. I'm in Springfield, Illinois with occasional trips to Chicago. I always try to take the Texas Eagle to avoid the Venture cars. And, THANK YOU for settling my curiosity about whether or not there was value in opting for Business Class. Ain't worth it on the Venture cars.

You are so right, Steve, the people of the Motor City are exceedingly kind but walking out during early morning pre-daylight hours to catch a train...well? Much love from Chicago and a great video. Thank!

I live in Lafayette Park, which is just east of downtown Detroit. I've taken the Wolverine many times because it's a good link to the Chicago hub. There is good parking at the Dearborn station; I drive there, and I'll be able to drive away when I return. Ford did a great job restoring the old Detroit train station. That station is a 10 minute walk away from Mexican Village restaurant, which is the best restaurant in Detroit's Mexican Town.

Took the 351 to Chicago on 8/30 and the 354 from Chicago to Detroit on 9/10. I agree, the seats are not as comfortable.

Funny thing commuter trains or light rail. We were told that the Red Rock Corridor was 5-10 years out, that first they were going to "test the line" first, with buses. That was 15 years ago. We have neither. Hmm.

My biggest gripe about the new venture business cars is that why can’t the seats be facing forward - or the direction the train is going? No one should be paying a premium and seated backwards

Crappy seats and no tables. 😢 They're doing all they can to drive away even the most ardent supporters.

Can you bring your own food on the train?

I've been on the Pere Marquette and the trip was wonderful. The seat comfort was the weakest link. Nice video and definitely subscribed

Did your train have a full venture consist or was there an amfleet or horizon cafe car?

The possibility of connections to Canada and Boston are very encouraging.

In the early twentieth century Detroit was known as the Paris of the Midwest. And there are plenty of museums and historical places in and around the area. It's worth exploring.

"Hefty Ridership" HUH? I'm just SO PLEASED to have ridden the GTW, MC, (i.e. "Michigan Central), the C&O / B&O through West-Bound to Chicago, and then on the Burlington / or the "City of Denver") on the U.P. and headed towards Denver, (AND BACK)!!!

It's nice to see that "it" goes past the old Train station in Battle Creek, (which I thought the R.O.W. on the GTW was relocated miles away from this location. Who knows and/or cares right? The whole situation is an abomination of prior days when people gave a "flip" about passenger travel, especially on the GTW !!!

Dearborn looks very pretty with the sunrise in the morning.

I had my ID checked on an Acela between NYP and PHL about six weeks ago. Another passenger in the same car was also selected. The guard said I had been ‘randomly’ selected by the TSA. Luckily I had my passport. This was the first time in ages I’ve had a ID check on Amtrak - but it does happen.

Michigan Central Station has recently been rehabbed and repurposed, thankfully saving a beautiful older building. Sorry you had to walk so far to the new train station.

Steve, in answer to your question about id's at ticket time, there are several regional routes (Michigan service may be one) that offer a 10 ride ticket option, just like commuting. As I recall, the tickets were 10 rides, good for 6 months (as I remember) and the secret was they were 15% below the LOWEST published fare for that segment. It was a helluva deal. I had a multi year project in an Illinois town, and made countless trips there. I bought the first ticket: when I presented it on the train I was asked for my ID to match the name on the ticket. After that, the trainmen knew me (I used to spend a lot of time with them!) and I probably had to present ID a couple of times. To give you an idea of the economies of this arrangement, the 10 ride was $14 and change/ride. The weekend fare was $42! I couldn't drive that for $14. There were times I ended up eating a couple trips at 6 months , but at those prices, who cares?

Seems like the Venture cars still have some growing pains that need sorting out. Luckily, Amtrak refurbishes their rolling stock a lot.

If you stopped at Dearborn, then you passed by an outdoor museum called Greenfield Village! They have 3 steam trains that run there

Wow it really has changed i took the train from Detroit to Texas we had a overnight layover and they paid for it it was called the Texas Star don't think I'll be using Amtrak bad change's 🤔😩

Thank you so much for uploading this video! I’m taking this train soon to visit friends in Chicago and it’s my first time riding Amtrak - or any (non-light rail) train the America for that matter. I wasn’t really sure what to expect, but this makes me feel better :)

It's okay not have cafe car seating. On Amfleet cafes the tables end up being used by crew and those with a laptop who both hog tables for the entire journey. Go to Europe they either have this kind of cafe or a trolley a full cafe car like Amtrak has is the exception not the rule. Plus, remember this is state owned equipment so ultimately it was the states collective decision to have no full cafe car, not Amtrak's.

Guess I get to find out next month, hooo boy they look as bad as the complainers have been saying. Also given the semi-permanent coupled pairs of the Midwest Venture sets, it might not be 'cafe car on the opposite end today' but forever. Between this and the Charger's snow problems (which impacted me on the Wolverine in January) I'm wondering if we'll get a fix or if the Charger/Venture combo is going to turn out to be a real big misstep. Already miss the Amfleets! Also not sure why they did a coach/cafe rather than keep up the coach/business idea like the previous cars. Seems like a natural pairing to make use of the limited space. Also the international extension's a mixed bag. The two trains a day that are supposed to serve it will then miss the dogleg up to Pontiac, missing a fair number of customers like me. Not a huge deal I guess, but I'm a little puzzled at the utility of an hour customs wait (per the proposal) to just go a mile or two over the border to the Windsor station. It's cool to have a Via connection but if I wanted to get on Via I'd just get a ride to Windsor. For Chicago thru traffic I guess.

thanks, Steve for a very good videos ! It's the first time I have seen a complete train of these new venture cars . Sorry about the seats !

Rode the Amtrak from the Albion stop and from the Battle Creek stop to Chicago to visit my ex-girlfriend who I knew from school and lived near Wrigley. This was YEARS AGO. Looks like the Amtrak Battle Creek stop did a lot of remodeling since I was last there. Looks way nicer.

So everyone loves the exact same seats on Brightline but you all magically hate them on Amtrak. Give me a freaking break. Fake foamer controversy.

You can thank Illinois DOT for those crappy seats. Bring back the Heywood-Wakefield Sleepy Hollow seats!

Saying two thousand nine as twenty o nine feels like a crime but good video!

And here I thought I was crazy seeing a Septa bus on 94 around St Cloud

Mun-sing-er

Interesting video….great line - “It’s a good feeling to know…that at least half the things in that exhibit…I own…”

I don't see many people paying fares in the midway area..

Quite sad that Minneapolis is now (imo) murderapolis cuz of all the murders going on there Other than that, great video

This is my new favorite TV show!! I say that because this is the first video of yours I've seen, and I'm already feeling the same vibes I get from discovering a random episode of a TV show I"d never watched before, but ends up becoming my new favorite show. Happened the same way with "Northern Exposure", my favorite show of all time. Thank y'all both for bringing us along.

Amtrak is a total joke that this bus does not arrive and depart from inside the Transit Center. What the hell does that transit center exist for?

Complete waste of taxpayer money…I love trains as much as the next guy….but politicians, especially former ‘wrestlers’, could never foresee the impact of Zoom and Uber….have you ever worked with younger ‘office workers’….they literally refuse to go to work…this might be better used as one of those rails to trails for the pedal bikes…

Thank god. I was so worried we wouldn't spend BILLIONS of dollars MORE on toys that LOSE MONEY year after year after year. Are not flexible as busses are. All of these trains and what is mentioned non-stop.....the need for more BUSSES anyway! At least those platforms are super safe while you sit there waiting.

You took me on this trip

Nice Day Trip! We did take the Builder to Portland back in June. Even then it was snowing in Glacier Park. Interesting trip. Portland has really gone downhill in the past decade.

Thanks for spending so much time in LaCrosse. I love that city. Have spent a lot of my life there in boarding school and later in college. I recognized many of the places you showed. Could tell you stories, but will spare you all of that,LOL. I was even in an Explorer Post that was based in the basement of the (now gone) North LaCrosse BN Passenger station back in the mid 1970's. Still love living in this area, and get to LaCrosse as often as I can. (I actually live just east of the city.)