Martina McBride Eleven Across American Tour

[printman2000]

Surprised to find no topic already started about this.

Here is the blog.

Anyone know anything about the equipment being used? Is says from Los Angeles to New York. That means they will have to dump the Superliners somewhere for single level equipment.

 

[printman2000]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mSArIoFOrBo&feature=player_embedded

 

[printman2000]

Found some pics, you have to scroll down...

http://www.trainweb.org/chris/martina.html

Here is the consist from what I can tell...

P42

P42

Baggage Coach (wrapped

Sightseer Lounge (wrapped)

Dining Car (wrapped)

Sleeper (wrapped)

Sleeper

Sleeper

 

[printman2000]

Another video...

http://youtu.be/mQT3a1pgem4

 

[john h]

According to a site

The whistle stop tour will travel to 11 cities across the nation: Los Angeles; Flagstaff, Ariz.; Albuquerque, N.M.; Newton, Kan.; Kansas City, Mo.; Chicago; Cleveland; Pittsburgh; Washington, D.C.; Philadelphia; and New York City.

too bad they are skipping Texas

http://www.bigmachinemusic.com/story/martina_mcbride-news-republic_nashville/amtrak-partners-with-martina-mcbride-to-launch-her-upcoming-album

 

[printman2000]

According to a site

The whistle stop tour will travel to 11 cities across the nation: Los Angeles; Flagstaff, Ariz.; Albuquerque, N.M.; Newton, Kan.; Kansas City, Mo.; Chicago; Cleveland; Pittsburgh; Washington, D.C.; Philadelphia; and New York City.

too bad they are skipping Texas

http://www.bigmachinemusic.com/story/martina_mcbride-news-republic_nashville/amtrak-partners-with-martina-mcbride-to-launch-her-upcoming-album

So I guess they are staying on the Southwest Chief route from LA to Chicago, the probably the Capitol Limited route to DC. Then up the NEC where they will have to change from Superliner to single level equipment.

 

[john h]

According to a site

The whistle stop tour will travel to 11 cities across the nation: Los Angeles; Flagstaff, Ariz.; Albuquerque, N.M.; Newton, Kan.; Kansas City, Mo.; Chicago; Cleveland; Pittsburgh; Washington, D.C.; Philadelphia; and New York City.

too bad they are skipping Texas

http://www.bigmachinemusic.com/story/martina_mcbride-news-republic_nashville/amtrak-partners-with-martina-mcbride-to-launch-her-upcoming-album

So I guess they are staying on the Southwest Chief route from LA to Chicago, the probably the Capitol Limited route to DC. Then up the NEC where they will have to change from Superliner to single level equipment.

Well that's pretty obvious since superliner are too tall for the Tunnels

 

[printman2000]

According to a site

The whistle stop tour will travel to 11 cities across the nation: Los Angeles; Flagstaff, Ariz.; Albuquerque, N.M.; Newton, Kan.; Kansas City, Mo.; Chicago; Cleveland; Pittsburgh; Washington, D.C.; Philadelphia; and New York City.

too bad they are skipping Texas

http://www.bigmachinemusic.com/story/martina_mcbride-news-republic_nashville/amtrak-partners-with-martina-mcbride-to-launch-her-upcoming-album

So I guess they are staying on the Southwest Chief route from LA to Chicago, the probably the Capitol Limited route to DC. Then up the NEC where they will have to change from Superliner to single level equipment.

Well that's pretty obvious since superliner are too tall for the Tunnels

The Superliners have special wraps. I wonder if they will also have a special wrapped single level train.

 

[afigg]

So I guess they are staying on the Southwest Chief route from LA to Chicago, the probably the Capitol Limited route to DC. Then up the NEC where they will have to change from Superliner to single level equipment.

That is what the route looks like. Going on the Capitol Limited route, the special train will have to be scheduled to avoid the Sunday-Thursday block out period for the CSX tunnel work.

Given the fairly high profile nature of the special train tour with the publicity tie-ins, would not be surprised if an Acela trainset was used for the WAS-PHL to NYP leg. Plug the Acela, not drab old Regionals.

 

[Texan Eagle]

Rather naive question- Isn't Amtrak suffering from severe shortage of Superliner equipment? So from where was this entire extra trainset churned out? Any idea which route(s) are bearing the brunt?

 

[Trogdor]

Rather naive question- Isn't Amtrak suffering from severe shortage of Superliner equipment? So from where was this entire extra trainset churned out? Any idea which route(s) are bearing the brunt?

None. Summer is over. Travel is down, and consists are normally shortened by a car or two during the early fall.

 

[abcnews]

There is another route to Philadelphia - via CSX I believe, that can handle double stacks, etc... Maybe they go Wash - PHL via CSX? Then they can keep their consist together.

 

[Texan Eagle]

There is another route to Philadelphia - via CSX I believe, that can handle double stacks, etc... Maybe they go Wash - PHL via CSX? Then they can keep their consist together.

Can Phila 30th Street Station take in Superliners? If yes, only then this is an option.

What about NY Penn and the tunnels? I doubt they can take Superliners.

 

[AlanB]

There is another route to Philadelphia - via CSX I believe, that can handle double stacks, etc... Maybe they go Wash - PHL via CSX? Then they can keep their consist together.

Can Phila 30th Street Station take in Superliners? If yes, only then this is an option.

What about NY Penn and the tunnels? I doubt they can take Superliners.

Philly can clear a Superliner; but NY and the tunnels cannot.

 

[PerRock]

does is specifically say she is going to Penn Station? would Superliners fit into Grand Central (which would be a much better venue)? or maybe a ground-level siding somewhere?

peter

 

[AlanB]

does is specifically say she is going to Penn Station? would Superliners fit into Grand Central (which would be a much better venue)? or maybe a ground-level siding somewhere?

peter

No, clearances for Grand Central are even worse than they are for Penn Station. NYP can clear bi-level cars if they are shorter than the Superliners, and both NJT & the LIRR have bi-level cars that they run into Penn station. The Park Avenue tunnels to GCT won't clear anything but a single level car.

 

[afigg]

There is another route to Philadelphia - via CSX I believe, that can handle double stacks, etc... Maybe they go Wash - PHL via CSX? Then they can keep their consist together.

The Superliners don't need clearances for double stacks, just plate F. They might get the Superliners up to the Philly area via CSX through the Howard Street Tunnel in Baltimore, but whether the Superliner could get to 30th Street, don't know. I don't see Amtrak doing this, if the special train is going to DC. I see from the news that the tour is now in Chicago with a short concert there. McBride is also scheduled to appear on Letterman on the 13th, which got to get to NYC by Thursday afternoon. If the tour gets to DC in the morning, then Amtrak can put them on a single level train with a stop in PHL and then onto NYP during the day. Whether the single level train will have a wrap or not, no idea.

If Amtrak can keep the train on schedule, the tour is good publicity for the LD trains.

 

[AlanB]

There is another route to Philadelphia - via CSX I believe, that can handle double stacks, etc... Maybe they go Wash - PHL via CSX? Then they can keep their consist together.

The Superliners don't need clearances for double stacks, just plate F. They might get the Superliners up to the Philly area via CSX through the Howard Street Tunnel in Baltimore, but whether the Superliner could get to 30th Street, don't know. I don't see Amtrak doing this, if the special train is going to DC. I see from the news that the tour is now in Chicago with a short concert there. McBride is also scheduled to appear on Letterman on the 13th, which got to get to NYC by Thursday afternoon. If the tour gets to DC in the morning, then Amtrak can put them on a single level train with a stop in PHL and then onto NYP during the day. Whether the single level train will have a wrap or not, no idea.

If Amtrak can keep the train on schedule, the tour is good publicity for the LD trains.

The don't do it very often, but Amtrak has pulled Superliners into 30th Street Station before. To my knowledge they came in via Harriburg and the Keystone line.

Another factor with Penn, in addition to the tunnels, is the fact that there are no low level platforms at Penn. So if if you could get a Superliner in, and again you can't without destroying it, you'd have to climb up to the platform and on your return to the car jump down about 3 feet or so to get into the car.

 

[cirdan]

According to a site

The whistle stop tour will travel to 11 cities across the nation: Los Angeles; Flagstaff, Ariz.; Albuquerque, N.M.; Newton, Kan.; Kansas City, Mo.; Chicago; Cleveland; Pittsburgh; Washington, D.C.; Philadelphia; and New York City.

too bad they are skipping Texas

http://www.bigmachin...-upcoming-album

So I guess they are staying on the Southwest Chief route from LA to Chicago, the probably the Capitol Limited route to DC. Then up the NEC where they will have to change from Superliner to single level equipment.

Well that's pretty obvious since superliner are too tall for the Tunnels

aren't there any alternative (freight) routes they could use?

 

[Trogdor]

The train is going to be a single-level from WAS-NYP.

I always get a kick out of these threads, where people speculate on crazy detours to have a train wind up in the middle of nowhere just to get "Superliners" into the New York area, when Amtrak has a perfectly fine 125 mph electrified railroad that its own crews can operate and its own employees dispatch.

 

[saxman]

Here's a pretty cool aerial shot.

http://martinamcbride.com/media/photos/14871/400341

I thought it was amusing that the train ran late into Albuquerque at about 2:00 AM! Dedicated fans waited in the cold for a stopover concert at the station.

 

[printman2000]

Here's a pretty cool aerial shot.

http://martinamcbride.com/media/photos/14871/400341

I thought it was amusing that the train ran late into Albuquerque at about 2:00 AM! Dedicated fans waited in the cold for a stopover concert at the station.

I believe they were late leaving Los Angeles. Not sure if that was the whole reason for being late to Albuquerque or not, but certainly added to it.

They also added another P42 to the front. I wonder if one of them was having problems (surprise, surprise).

 

[printman2000]

I read elsewhere you can track status in Amtrk.com using train number 932. Looks like 932 goes all the way to WUS. After that, nothing. They must be using a different train number (and of course, trainset) for the trip from WUS to NYC.

It was posted the train from WUS to NYC would be 934, but I do not get anything.

 

[printman2000]

Just read one P42 did die and they added the Albuquerque protect unit. Can you believe they cannot even get two good engines to run a special like this? It is even called "Powered by @Amtrak"!

 

[wkaemena]

Here you can see the consist used at least till Chicago http://martinamcbride.com/media/photos/14871 Could not find any world on a train change. From Chicago they went to Cleveland and Pittsburgh and NOW as I write this they should reach Philli Facebook "The Eleven Across America Pink Express powered by Amtrak and Pink Together will arrive in Philadelphia, PA at the 30th Street station TODAY Oct. 13 9:45AM ET" This morning they should have beed in Washington Facebook Quote "Washington DC is our next stop for Eleven Across America! At Amtrak Union Station, tomorrow, Oct. 13, 7:05AM ET. Note that's AM! Come see us aboard the Pink Express." https://www.facebook.com/martinamcbride

By now somebody should be able to confirm on what consist they are now on East Coast.