Look down the side of the train (if it has power doors) for a red door indicator light on one end of the car on the side. If it is lit, it will be open on at least one door on that car.
In my experience (mostly in California) the 'regional' trains do just have an engineer (driver) and conductor combined with self-boarding - it's the long-distance trains in particular that have the over-the-top staffing and the very time-consuming boarding procedures. The checked-baggage handling doesn't help the staffing situation either.
Here's seven and a half minutes of 'Antidote to EMUs'Why haven't I found your YouTube channel before?! Love the sound of those big GE 7FDLs...
for you to rattle the windows with - I'll leave you to work out the locations (as you're an aficionado of US diesels it won't be hard...). Afraid it's a mixture of 7FDLs and EVOs but they both have their audio merits...
www.propublica.org
And of course, all that infrastructure sees at most three trains a day...
When I first knew Los Angeles Union Station, 1980s, there were I think about seven departures a day, four to San Diego, which had somehow held on as a "corridor", and one each up the coast to Seattle, on the ATSF to Chicago, and the southern tier to New Orleans. And that was it. For this all 10 original platforms appeared still available. Unusually for a US dead-end station the grand main building is all to one side rather than across the end, the tracks terminating against a wall with The 101 freeway immediately beyond, giving passing views of the Amtrak coaches stabled there (and where, against that boundary wall, we once saw when passing on the road the police had a group of suspects all out of their car and spreadeagled against the wall, just like something from a Hollywood cop show).
Yes, it is a bit odd how the platforms just end with no building and the Metrolink operation does make it more interesting (especially at the time this photo was taken).
When I visited in 1986 there was also the route to Chicago via Salt Lake City (combining there with portions from Seattle and Oakland, only the last still runs) but the New Orleans service was only three times weekly.
My understanding is it was designed like that to allow it to be converted to a through station in the future, if desired. In more recent times (post-Metrolink and increased 'Surfliner' regional services) that has been more seriously looked at to improve efficiency. It's busier now than it's ever been (although well below European levels of train movements for a station with 12 platform faces and 5 approach tracks).
In Washington state, the new Tacoma station is a two-platform affair used by both Amtrak and the commuter trains (Sounder), and there's nothing controlling platform access - commuter fares are done by tapping in on the platform but there's no gateline.
Have been to/from La Plata a few times over the years - but no longer that our friend in Kirksville has retired to Kansas. Big issue, especially when heading for Chicago, is that the train (Southwest Chief) comes from LA, and may a number of hours late by the time it gets to La Plata ....
Of course at the time New Orleans station was built, it had more service than it does today. The new services planned to Mobile AL and to Baton Rouge LA will help take up some of that excess capacity.
No platform tickets here unfortunately. Many stations with commuter service can be accessed but unfortunately there is a move to add barriers requiring tickets to be scanned at some stations such as Boston and Philadelphia. In Boston South Station this will be particularly annoying as the direct access from the station concourse to the bus station (coach station in UKese) via platform 1 will no longer be possible requiring a trip outside in the weather.
