Got my first time on electrified Caltrain and SMART

Seat maps for the next gen Acela seem to be showing up in the Amtrak app now. One of my trips just got changed to a 9 car train

Caught one of the Amtrak Crayola locomotives on my way out to see the NS Savannah in Baltimore

In Zurich we took a few interesting railways inlcuding the Uetliberg Bahn (the steepest standard gauge railway in Europe) and the Dolderbahn (A rack railway). Finally one more high speed train back to Zurich airport to complete the trip and make the most of our passes.

Next we headed up to St. Moritz for the night to start our trip on Rhaetian Railways Albula and Bernina lines which have been designated a UNESCO world heritage site. We would take the entire length of the route from St. Moritz to Tirano, Italy and from St. Moritz to Albula on our way to Zurich.

Next our first Swiss train of the trip and the start of some of the most scenic train rides I've ever taken. This SBB ETR 610/RABe 503 would take us from Munich to the border of Switzerland where we'd transfer to a Railjet for a 10 minute trip to travel over 100% of Liechtenstein's railway network.

After spending a few days in Vienna and taking day trips to Bratislava and Budapest we took our last long Railjet of the trip to Munich on our way to Switzerland. While not actually a train we had a great time staying at Hotel du Train in Munich with rooms modeled after classic night trains.

Leaving Prague for Vienna we took our first of five Railjet services for the trip. The first train was operated by ČD and the next three operated by ÖBB. The onboard restaurant cars all featured good food, especially the Czech one with pork shoulder and Pilsner on tap.

Next stop was Prague where we didn't end up using the pass until we left as we mainly walked and took Prague buses, trams, and the metro which aren't covered under the pass. However, an overlook near the train station provided great views of the quad-tracked approach viaduct.

Almost all the trains in the areas we were visiting were reservation optional. So why not start the trip taking a high-speed ICE train from Frankfurt Airport into the city. A bit more luxurious than your average S-Bahn train. However, most S-Bahn lines in all the cities we visited were included too.

Didn't end up posting during the trip but I figured I'd post a thread of interesting train highlights from 2 weeks of traveling around Europe on a Eurail pass with @seriousprotectn.bsky.social

Swiss deciding to highlight maritime disasters on their inflight map on a transatlantic flight is an interesting decision (USS Thresher pictured, a nuclear submarine implosion that led to the introduction of the Navy subsafe program)

My ride over to Frankfurt this evening, 25 year old Lufthansa 747-400, D-ABVX.

Last @wmata.com trip for two weeks, easy ride out to IAD on the silver line. Time to see how many trains you can take on a 2 week Eurail pass.

My 2024 @wmata.com rewind. Aiming for 400 trips and 4,000+ miles this upcoming year.

Back in the bay for the holidays and checking out the new @gocaltrain.bsky.social trains getting lunch in San Mateo with @road29.bsky.social