Passenger Trains > What's the weirdest thing that's happened to you on an Amtrak

Question for frequent riders and conductors. What are some of the strangest/scarriest/funniest things you've encountered while working or riding on one of Amtrak's long distance trains. The long distance routes certainly can attract some characters.

Guy on #7 wandered into Havre to have a drink in bar. Train left him behind. He talked someone into driving him to Shelby with hefty cash offer. Arrived into Shelby on the fireman side just as we were pulling out again. Started desperately pacing then jogging along the ROW flailing his arms around and yelling just behind my car and window. In final act of desperation, he jumped on the side of the train at a door grabbing the side handles. Clung to the side briefly until the train lurched to a stop (sounded like air was dumped). Extended delay at Shelby while Sheriff held the guy for Feds who planned to charge him with federal train interference charge(s). That was one effing expensive drink…

While I was working for Amtrak, probably in the spring of 1976, Train # 15, the Lone Star came uncoulped south of Temple TX, somewhere near Cameron.   The last two coaches just separated without warning or reason.  Thankfully no one was hurt, just freaked out.  The crew recoupled and continued on to Houston where we poured over those cars and could find ABSOLUTELY NOTHING to have caused it.  Our only guess was someone in Temple pulled the pin while it was stopped there and it continued with the steam conduit connection for another 40 miles.  The steam conduits were damaged but we had spare parts to repair them.

It never happened again as far as I know.  WEIRD.

Myself and another TO member were threatened by the conductor on #3 to be thrown off at the next stop for not wearing a mask during Covid by taking too long to drink our bottle of water in the lounge car. He was just doing his job, but as I knew then and as we all know now, wearing a mask doesn't prevent getting or transmitting Covid.

I've told this story before.  It didn't happen ON the train, but riding the Desert Wind up Cajon pass in 1995 I saw a railfan perched on a rock up ahead who appeared to have tan coveralls on.  It seemed way to hot to be dressed in coveralls; as we got closer I realized he was completely nude, equipment hanging out, facing the train taking photos.  You should have heard the 3 girls in the bedroom next to mine when they realized it too.

Andy

One New Year's Eve, I boarded the Broadway Limited in Pittsburgh destined to Chicago.  Shortly after boarding, I headed to the lounge car for a drink.  I sat down at a table with a lounge lizard-type dude.  He asked me to sit somewhere else, telling me that he wanted the space for some woman to join him to ring in the New Year.   His request surprised me, but I left the table in disgust.  In retrospect, I should have yelled out "Hey ladies, if you want to get 'lucky' tonight, here is your guy!" 

  Back in the day, The Zephyrs used to come into the Bay Area at night. I was on a train from Reno, Nevada and we were running on time. I had a sleeper and a whole bunch of alcohol. I usually timed it ro where I would have drank all of my stash, but the train was actually on time. I was used to substantial delays that gve me more time to drink. We were approaching Richmond, California on a very cold and rainy December night. Also approacing the tracks on foot,was a young man who told his family that he was walking to the store. He made his way to the rails The engineer blew the horn repeatedly and the man turned on the outer rail and into the direct path of the train. The man was mechanically seperated by the train and the train was stopped. The conductior made a generic announcement and EMS could not locate us and had difficulty accessing us. The rain kept pouring down and I had enough time to finish my liquor. The conductor made contact with the man who was struck and the man had no remarks and seemed to be aware and at peace that he was hit by the train and knew his life was ending, The man was initially difficult to find, given the darkness and the two dollar flashlight rejects that AMTRAK provided at the time and the body traveled in a unanticipated direction. We were held in place for severl hours and the man died in a cold, wet field, being stormed on in Richmond, California. The train had to be recrewed and we pulled into EMY several hours late. I had enoigh time to finish my bottles and took a taxi home. The man routinely walked to the store at night. His family reported he was not acting unusually at the time. He was walking opposite the direction of the store that he intended to go to and no identifiable need to travel across the tracks was known by anyone. I felt sorry for everyone involved The family had lived in Richmond for several years and no note was left, no reasons were ever discovered as to why he did this. I stopped drinking in 2007, unrelated to this

Train got to destination ahead of time.

On the Auto Train i sat at the same dinner table as a fireman. He suggested we go to the lounge car and see if we could pick up some hoes.

I did not need any gardening equipment so I declined.

Michael

In 1997 I was 14 years old and my father and I rode the Empire Builder from Seattle to Chicago. The first night of the journey, I met a girl who was also 14 and destined for Chicago, traveling with her mom. That girl ended up being my first kiss, as we were lucky enough to have an entire, empty and unlocked sleeping car to ourselves that happened to be deadheading to Chicago on the rear of the train. The god's of Fate, Romance and Railroads were really nice to me that day!!

Tom Loftus
Omaha, NE

SP4360 Wrote:
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> Train got to destination ahead of time.

Nice, beat me to it. Or, the train actually got there on time...

JG

once I had clean windows

Pre-Amtrak during the summer of 1969, I was riding the train cross-country for the first time to visit my grandparents in Richmond, VA traveling from Los Angeles on the Santa Fe's El Capitan. I was age 14 and, during our stop at La Junta, the courier nurse opened the door of my hi-level coach. I took in the fresh air but, when the hogger blew the horn at departure after the conductor's highball, I did not see her anywhere. Not spotting her on the platform, I closed the vestibule door as we were leaving town. I later learned she reboarded the train at a different car. The car attendant noted I closed the vestibule door and thanked me for doing so.

It should be noted that at the time, assuming my parents and relatives were OK with my travel, pre-Amtrak, the railroads had no issue with my traveling alone overnight, including making the connections in Chicago (from Dearborn to Grand Central to make my connection with the Capitol Ltd.) and Washington D.C. (to the R.F.and P.s Everglades to arrive at my destination.)

A couple years ago I was headed to Boston on the Lake Shore.  Train pretty full, and at Rochester the aisle seat opened up beside me, and a new passenger, a 'nice white haired old lady' took it, no conversation was initiated.   Just another long afternoon on the train.

Somewhere near Syracuse she was on her phone, and suddenly an explosion of expletives, as the phone started beeping.   She was literally watching her checking account get hacked and emptied in front of her.....  Any longshoreman would have been blushing.... but this was serious.    She called her 800-number, her account and credit card was frozen pending review.  But now she had no working accounts and was panicked, had $20 in cash.   I had get on my phone.... where are you headed?    "Salem".   OK, I found a branch bank there, she called the manager, set up an appointment to confirm her identity and reopen accounts, she resumed being a 'nice little old lady'.

With a curious twist.   "Salem"?   Right.   Her daughter is a professional witch and runs a store there. same strip mall as the bank.   She was visiting her daughter  -  the witch.  The rest of the trip was more than interesting.   Turns out they actually do have "Eye of Newt" available.  Best part was that for $50, you could have a spell cast for you to insure financial success.   

Yeah, think about it.

Sitting within earshot of an ancient man (80s or 90s), using oxygen, on the westbound Empire Builder, listening to him complain because they wouldn't let him smoke.

Art House

1979 my parents took my middle brother and I out to New York City on Amtrak. We rode the Lake Shore out and the Broadway back. On the Lake Shore somewhere around Albany some old guy came out of the lounge car telling everyone The Russians Are Coming The Russians Are Coming. On the Broadway back to Chicago dad got us Slumbercoaches(an upgrade). So we notice some big cooling towers near Harrisburg. Turns out that was 3 Mile Island. Get to Chicago and it made the news. 
MILW86A 

In 1973 I was westbound on the Zephyr, riding in a Slumbercoach. The coach in front of us had an electrical fire at about 1am, and we pulled to a stop in Crete, Nebraska, where the local volunteer firemen made quick work of taking care of the fire, which caused some smoke damage.We had to wait for a locomotive from Omaha to help cut the car from the train.
It was a rather pleasant night in late May, so many of us got off the train and chatted with one another. When I got back on board, the lady across from me pulled a bottle of Old Crow and started pouring drinks (in those paper water cups) for us. An attendant walked by and smiled with approval. The whole atmosphere was rather festive, with people enjoying the interruption to their travels. 
Then there was the time I got propositioned by a guy. I was traveling coach and he had a sleeper. We shared a table at dinner and he invited me to share his  roomette. I think this was eastbound on the Desert Wind sometimes in the '80s. 
BTW, I declined. 
And one more: I was waiting on the platform in Emeryville for a very late Zephyr. Next to me was a couple speaking German, and on the other side were four young Amish women speaking Pennsylvania Dutch. Both parties were in the sleeper, and the German couple were across the aisle. Who would imagine hearing two varieties of German on the Emeryville platform? The Amish women were really enjoying the trip. I believe they were going as far as Elkhart, which I understand has a lot of Amish passengers. The German couple were headed to Chicago and had tickets for a show that evening. I knew they weren't going to make it since we did not make up much time along the way. 



Edited 2 time(s). Last edit at 05/08/25 08:18 by colehour.

I've got many stories along these lines, during my decades w Amtk in various RR crafts. Remembering various incidents to report here in the thread. One still stands out in my memory. Working the SW Chief #3 WB, I was checking on the psgrs in my lower lever Superliner, to see if anyone required servce.  Pretty quiet that day. I checked on a kindly older lady, the very idea of a Norman Rockwell grandma, to see if she needed anything. "No thanks" she said "I just want to go home." We had just left Trinidad; were working our way up the famous Raton Pass. Coming down the Hill into Raton- I made another check on my Lower Level people. The other passengers had a sad and glum look on their faces. "You need to check her; she seems really sick," The kindly grandma had passed away, about when we were transiting the Raton Tunnel. Could have been the altitude, but who knows. Made the Immediate Assistance call on the PA to the Conductor. The operating crew were there in a flash.We called for any medical personnel among the passengers to report to the Lower Level. Several of them in various specialties came down right away to assist, but she was gone.

Railroaders here will know what happens next, in thse situations. Apparent deaths on board require certain protocols. The local Coroner will be called. The Train will go nowhere, until released by other local authorites, such as the Sheriff Dept. Our delay was about 2 1/2 hours. It was a sad thing to witness, but Amtk handled it well and properly. As an aside, there have been babies born on Amtrak trains. The Circle of Life continues. 

I had a strange one on the eighth this past weekend, traveling from Seattle to Chicago.  I returned to my roomette in the 830 car and discovered a lady sitting there.  I asked her what she was doing in my room.   She explained that her room "went poof".  I figured she was probably in the correct room, but the wrong car.  I asked if she had her ticket.  She could not produce her ticket, so I called the SCA, and he handled it.  She went "poof". I did not see her again.  I think she got off in the middle of the night.  

My strangest experience was on a cold winter day in Garden City, Kansas in the early 1980s.  Many mornings I went to the Amtrak station to see the Southwest Chief make its westbound stop.  I went to my office after seeing the train depart.  I went into my normal parking space, covered with several inches of snow, and there was a body there.  I told the agent in the station and didn't stay for the train.  An older gentleman  had gotten off the eastbound Chief the night before and started his pickup.  For some reason, he left his pickup and died .  .  His body remained beside the running truck all night.  The newspaper article about it said that a "railroad employee" found him.  I guess that was my one time working for the railroad.  .