Also TIL it's bi-directional

They were powerful as fuck; and UP tried to use these lads to replace the big boys for a reason

What a cool retro-looking steampunk things this is! Didn't get to ride, but the deep purple color and big oval windows and crazy fish-head looking ends... Just so cool!

(Isle of Wight Steam Railway, Isle of Wight, UK)

beautiful GE U11B (only 5 left in the world of the 10 produced) with a small maintenance trains in Curridabat, San José, Costa Rica!

Some photos I took recent of the 1218 in Roanoke, VA

The collab that I never knew existed, nor thought would exist. Basically, back in 1990, as part of Nickelodeon Studios opening Day Celebration, Nick partnered with Amtrak to create the Nick Express. They chose a handful of kids from a sweepstakes they ran to ride the train from New York to Orlando to visit the studio. An Amfleet ii (and possibly other cars/the entire train) we're decked out in Nickelodeon decor of the era, as well as with some Universal Studios decor and IPs, along with activities for the kids, including several TVs with Nintendo Entertainment Systems strapped to the top of them. On board the excursion were Nick stars like Mark Summers and others.

The route alone gives away the fact that it was one of Amtrak's eastern long distance routes. Unfortunately, there's next to no information on this excursion online asides from the Opening Day celebration footage, and a person talking about said footage. The train itself could be the Silver Meteor, Silver Star, Palmetto, or even the Auto-Train, as this was before Superliners were added to the it. From what I've heard, the only car that was decked out like this was an Amfleet ii, but in some of the shots from the Opening Day Celebration, the windows don't seem to match those of Amfleet ii's, so I'm thinking that some other cars (i.e. heritage fleet cars), were also decorated, if not the entire consist, but I doubt it.

This is a really intriguing mystery to me, and one that I'm hoping can get solved (mainly because I want to model this in HO scale). If you have any information about or footage of this train, feel free to share.

Nick Studios Opening Day Celebration footage (skip to 22:27 for the Nick Express portion) https://youtu.be/N3nDgI5trMQ?si=uv2FmzO3FVrMzHHZ

Nickelodeon Studios documentary (skip to 37:46 for the Nick Express portion in this one)

Versailles PA

I've recently been researching rail transport in Japan and came across Sunrise Express trains. They're sleeper Electric Multiple Units with a seamless design, similar to High-speed or Intercity trains. Europe's Nightjet is -probably- permanently coupled locomotive and cars, so why doesn't Europe have sleeper train designs similar to Japan's? Is it easier to run as locomotive+cars or there is another issue to solve?

It’s been a dream of mine since I was a kid. I can’t find a straight answer online so is there anyone who knows how to get a job working as a steam locomotive engineer? I’m just really curious.