Thanksgiving Week Extras

I'm arranging transportation for an encampment in Darlington, Maryland. The Conowingo Electric Power Company railroad's station on the grounds was abandoned after Hurricane Agnes, so the closest service is Aberdeen on Amtrak.
Between Newark Liberty International Airport, New Jersey and Aberdeen, Maryland on a Thursday, Amtrak.com will only show the 3 through trains. But many more trains stop at only one of these stations. A full schedule would make it easier to see at a glance that there are additional options to change trains at an intermediate station, or use a different day or airport.

lordsigma12345 wrote: ↑Tue Oct 29, 2024 8:46 am I'm sure you can, but in my opinion it's sufficient. This won't be a popular opinion, but I honestly think the impact of the lack of the printed timetables is kind of overblown. Most of the people that are angry about the lack of printed timetables in the traditional form are rail enthusiasts and railfans - I have never once heard a non enthusiast passenger lament it on any of my travels - corridor or long distance. I think they serve a purpose on commuter railroads for people who commute a lot but are not as important for a reserved service like Amtrak.

People these days are well accustomed to an airline style search entering the departure and destinations when booking travel - "can I get there from here - I think I'll pick this flight or train." And if one needs help one can consult their local station agent or call the call center. I think Amtrak should provide the complete schedule information in some form (which they do) but I am not particularly sentimental about the format that it is presented in. My opinion - I'm sure many disagree, but it's one of those issues that some rail advocates get energized about that for me at least is not really a high priority. Amtrak's efforts to feed train information and options into Google Maps and other apps is a far more relevant investment in 2024 than worrying about printed timetables.

For me, not just as a railfan, but also as a traveler, I always found having paper timetables, or even at least full timetables in .PDF format, are a HUGE assist in my trip planning. Especially when there are multiple options involved. It's just much easier for me to plot that way, especially when stopovers are involved. They have also come in handy when I've assisted friends and family who are not internet savvy or otherwise unable to access the internet at that point in time in planning trips.

Not at all like airlines, where I'm only concerned with Point A to B and nothing else.

Printed paper timetables may be a thing of the past, but having a good PDF timetable is a nice feature. Sometimes when I am planning a trip for work, I need to know which station is nearest, can I check bags or park, perhaps talk with an agent or connect to another train.... That's easier to get my mind around with a pdf timetable than a web app that only wants to know two points and a date.

Via is worse, their scheduling/ticket web app is atrocious. At that point just let a subcontractor handle it.