| It's 6:30PM on a pleasant summer evening as a small clutch of patrons wait by the Baker City Oregon "Amshack" for eastbound Train 26, the Pioneer, which is due in at about 7. Baker typlifies Amtrak's ability to touch small, rural towns that will never get airline service. The Pioneer was initated in 1981 as a Seattle to Salt Lake City train largely over the UP; it was extended to Denver in 1992. Reduced to tri-weekly status in 1995, the train was anulled in 1997. |