My heart is warm with the friends I make,
And better friends I'll not be knowing;
Yet there isn't a train I wouldn't take,
No matter where it's going. -- Edna St. Vincent Millay
The late Austin Coates, the founder of United Rail Passenger Alliance, was known to one and all as a courtly, Southern gentleman. Always quick with a friendly handshake, and at a times a poignant pause which was sincere in every way, he did have his grumpy moments in his later years. When Amtrak had been particularly naughty, he was known to say, “They ought to just pull ‘em over and park ‘em,” referring to Amtrak’s trains serving the various united states. Read more…