I liked the scene shot from the rear of the train with a sharp curve where you could see most of the train enter a tunnel. It appears you generally travelled in a compartment but you roamed the train to shoot your videos, especially from the rear and out the back door. Did you ever encounter much problem from the crew?
My family was railroad, so I was raised standing on back closed platforms and looking back along the tracks while Daddy pointed out the signals he had invented. So I just took for granted that I’d stand where I could see well and chat with the crew. I suppose if you ask permission, it’s more likely you’ll get no for an answer. Assumptions work good, along with friendly. And the camera didn’t hurt. I have a lot of shots of crew working on the train but the shots didn’t fit into the narrative I was building. As you can see from the dirt on the window, I’m never outside. Only time the windows are open is when I’m shooting a crew member leaning out an open window with his walkie-talkie. Had one to go with the people outside the train, but didn’t have enough time to fit it in. There’s a LOT of downtime for the crew, and I suppose they wouldn’t have those particular jobs if they didn’t enjoy chatting.
I always traveled in a compartment. It’s a base for a long trip. Think 2 1/2 days coast to coast in a box. Depending on which side of Chicago you’re traveling, you have other cars to visit. Double decker observation cars can’t go through some tunnels, so none NY-Chi. But there will be a dining car or a snack car. Most cars are assigned seating and you just walk thru them to get to the public cars. So people are on their feet all the time wandering car to car.
There’s an assumption in the public cars that you’re all part of the same adventure. No one sits at a table by themselves. The person who seats you fills your table and it’s assumed you’ll chat. I still have horrors remembering husband asking an elderly woman across the table if she was going to finish something on her plate. There’s friendly and there’s TOO friendly.
Let me add that all of these observations are from 25 years ago. The day I retired from IBM is the day I stopped traveling.