Amtrak Cascades' new AIRO trains roll out, and Mike Armstrong was there for all of it

His Friday video runs from the public debut on September 27 to the last runs of the old trains and the first full day of service.

Channel: CoasterFan2105Story of October 3, 2026Trari Newsroom

Why this story? The channel's weekly summary: what went up this week, what is drawing views now, and where the channel stands among similar channels.

NEW Amtrak Cascades Trains

On a usual day, CoasterFan2105 draws close to 800,000 views across a back catalog Mike Armstrong has been building since 2002, by his own description. This past stretch ran higher, nearer a million a day, and the reason was rolling through the Pacific Northwest.

Amtrak Cascades' new AIRO trains entered service on September 30, and Mike documented the changeover from start to finish. A short went up on October 1 showing the new sets in revenue service. His regular Friday video followed: "NEW Amtrak Cascades Trains," a seventeen-minute look that opens at the public debut on September 27, tours the train inside and out, catches the final test runs, and pauses for the last runs of the old equipment before the first full day on trains 503, 508, 516 and 519. The short's description says eight sets were built for the corridor, two are running now, and the rest should arrive by spring. The AIRO is the Siemens-built fleet that pairs the company's Venture coaches with an ALC-42 Charger locomotive.

Half a day after the long video went up, it was already the channel's busiest, ahead of a two-week-old Texas tour of Amtrak, TEXRail and El Paso trolleys, and a Chicago Metra roundup from August that has passed 450,000 views.

Under the short, the comments are pure railfan. Viewers are delighted that the old F40 cab cars keep turning up, ask about the spare NPCU riding at the rear, and debate why the cab cars are not allowed to lead on BNSF track.

Among the aviation and machines channels around his size, the big weeks belong to Aaron Rheins, Pilot Debrief and Captain Steeeve, while Murphys Diesel holds steady. Mike's turn came on the rails, one long-awaited fleet at a time.

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The videos drawing views on CoasterFan2105 right now

Amtrak AIRO Trains Now in Service #train #amtrak #pnw #new13,192 views · 2026-10-01 Texas Passenger Trains and Trolleys94,292 views Chicago METRA Trains 2026454,600 views

The numbers

Here is how CoasterFan2105's week looks in figures.

views gained this week, compared with similar channels

Aaron Rheins

25,386,669

Dorothy Lech

16,753,389

Pilot Debrief

12,268,229

CoasterFan2105

4,903,423

Captain Steeeve

4,431,583

MURPHYS DIESEL

4,329,257

Tony 98 - Discovery

3,783,500

Diesel Creek

862,289

ALEX THE TRUCKING GUY

197,375

subscribers

1,210,000

no significant change in the last 7 days

total views

1,863,248,554

views per day

988,671

typical day: 797,451

this week's videos (first-day views)

Amtrak AIRO Trains Now in Service #trai…

9,572

compared with similar channels (subscribers)

Aaron Rheins

1,510,000

MURPHYS DIESEL

1,270,000

CoasterFan2105

1,210,000

Captain Steeeve

1,200,000

ALEX THE TRUCKING GUY

1,090,000

Pilot Debrief

1,070,000

Diesel Creek

1,060,000

Tony 98 - Discovery

851,000

Dorothy Lech

825,000

As of October 3, 2026 · Data source: Trari Social News, Trari Traffic Trends and Ranking Platform, Google YouTube

Subscriber, view, like and comment counts are YouTube's. Rates, usual days, rankings, comparisons and categories are Trari's own calculations.

Where next?

A different discovery todayVideo taking off 118x its usual first daySteve Chapman's 'ridiculous talk about a pointless project' turns out to be about lost catsThe artist's TEDxRoyal Tunbridge Wells talk sets out to do something only because it could, and ends up asking what makes us human.Channel: TEDx Talks · Story of October 3, 2026