"train" news and stories

Train's latest news has nothing to do with music. Instead, the band is promoting its very own wine club.

The Grammy-winning band Train, whose second album "Drops of Jupiter" (2001) catapulted the band into popularity, along with the album's lead single "Drops of Jupiter (Tell Me)," debuted a subscription-series wine club -- appropriately named Train Wine Club.

Guitarist and wine enthusiast Jimmy Stafford started the website. "Hey all. My name is Jimmy Stafford. I'm in that band Train, and I happen to like wine," he writes in the "About" section. Stafford also keeps the site's blog. In addition to signing up to receive two bottles of wine (a red and a white) each month, fellow oenophiles are invited to join forums. Have a wine bar you'd like to recommend? Maybe you're looking for a wine bar near your hotel on that next business trip?

Amtrak has a new feature in store for its riders, and luckily, it's better than random bag checks.

If you get hungry on your Amtrak or Acela ride, forget those sub-par turkey sandwiches and tiny pretzels - you can now purchase a "GoPicnic" meal from the cafe car. The meals are perfect for long train rides, as they don't require refrigeration or heating and have a long shelf life. What makes them special? They're all-natural and organic, and don't contain partially hydrogenated oils, high fructose corn syrup, or MSG.

As most airline and train meals aren't exactly a picture of nutrition, these sound promising. There are a ton of meal choices, and some even come in vegetarian, kosher, and halal options. But a closer look reveals that, like most prepackaged meals, most are too good to be true. Remember: just because a meal is trans fat-free, doesn't automatically make it healthy. Some of the meals are ostensibly good for you, but their ingredients contain copious amounts of sugar, salt, and calories. For instance, the "Anytime Break" meal comes with pretzels, white cheddar corn puffs, mixed nuts and chocolate chunk cookies. And the "Deli Break" meal isn't much better - mini salami slices, peppercorn cheese spread, crackers, chips, and those cookies again.

The company does provide other meals that contain more lean fish, dried fruit, and healthy protein sources like hummus and skim-milk cheeses, but you won't find these choices on Amtrak.

The meals are okay if you're caught without food on a long trip, but if you know you're going to be train traveling, bring your own snacks. You'll save calories and money.