I rather enjoyed reading this opinion piece on Amtrak’s Quiet Car:

The Quiet Car, in case you don’t know, is usually the first car in Amtrak’s coach section, right behind business class. Loud talking is forbidden there — any conversations are to be conducted in whispers. Cellphones off; music and movies on headphones only. There are little signs hanging from the ceiling of the aisle that explain this, along with a finger-to-lips icon. The conductor usually makes an announcement explaining the protocol. Nevertheless I often see people who are ignorant of the Quiet Car’s rules take out their cellphones to resume their endless conversation, only to get a polite but stern talking-to from a fellow passenger.

I got more nostalgia from this quick story about Amtrak’s Quiet Car than I did the 90s video. Amtrak offered a service from Princeton to New York which I used for a few years before I moved; they canceled it a few years back. But whenever I travel by rail, if it’s not in business class, it’s in the quiet car where I can sit back, relax, and listen to the tracks beneath me and where my love of quiet is loved by everyone around me.

via Kottke