15 cars, 600 restless riders

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Trogdor

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For those keeping an eye out for tonight's train 59 out of CHI, it will have two engines, a baggage, and 15 Superliners.

The front half of the train is being turned from inbound train 4, with an extra diner-lounge (to NOL) and five extra coaches (to MEM). Looking at well over 600 people on the train at its peak.
 
For those keeping an eye out for tonight's train 59 out of CHI, it will have two engines, a baggage, and 15 Superliners.

The front half of the train is being turned from inbound train 4, with an extra diner-lounge (to NOL) and five extra coaches (to MEM). Looking at well over 600 people on the train at its peak.

Why, got any more info ?
 
well today is the busiest travel day of the year, so maybe that is a factor.....
 
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:eek: Wonder if any of the other LD Trains out of CHI will carry extra cars? Most days they are SOLD OUT and with the heavy Holiday Travel ALL could probably sell lots more seats!!These cars have to be turned in Memphis and NOL and returned, so #58 should be plenty long on Tuesday unless some of them are run on the Sunset to LAX on Wed??If all the fares are High Bucket, this will be the biggest Revenue Day for the City ever no doubt!! "The Chicken Bone Express" is coming up in the World! :lol:
 
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I just have 1 question... Why? This train is usually not full, how is there that much demand for service on this route?
I imagine a good part of that load is college students who will dump out at U of I and SIU. I venture to guess the Saluki (what a great name for a train!) and Illini are just as packed.
 
You're right... Saluki and Illini are also packed. I'd go take some pics when the CONO comes thru Carbondale but it happens at 2 am, even on an on time night. I don't like you guys that much !!
 
Amtrak.com shows 1 roomette and 1 bedroom left for that train tonight. It is packed! I couldn't even get it to sell me 8 coach seats.
 
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Recently I was photographing a wedding at Main Street Station in downtown Richmond Virginia, and it too was a Sunday night. We could not believe the crowd that off loaded at around 9 PM from a train from New York/Boston (bound for Newport News, VA). Maybe up to 80, or perhaps even 100 passengers, I know it was a lot - and I've never seen anywhere near that amount before. It was a Sunday night and most were VCU students. The train was about an hour or so late arriving.
 
"I'll be gone five hundred miles when the day is done."

That is, assuming

  • No autos driven on the track to hit
  • No drunk pedestrian trying to figure out what that light is that keeps getting bigger
  • No trucks trying to beat the train to the crossing
  • No bridges out
  • No flooded tracks
  • No broken down freights in the way
  • No signal failures
All in a day's work.

Good night, America, how are you?

Don't you know me I'm your native son,

I'm the train they call The City of New Orleans

I'll be gone five hundred miles when the day is done.

Think they'll make a song about Continental 3675?

Riding on Continental 3675,

Illinois Ohare Monday afternoon plane

One plane and a hunrded fifty squeezed in riders,

Three attendants and twenty-five snacks of grain.

All along the southbound odyssey

The plane pulls out at Runway 03

Flies over houses, farms and fields.

Passin' over trains that have no names,

Freight yards full of old black men

And the graveyards of the rusted automobiles.

 

Good morning America how are you?

Don't you know me I'm your native son,

I'm the plane they call a nightmare to New Orleans,

I'll be gone two round trips when the day is done.

Dealin' food to the rich men in first class.

Five dollars a snack and we are keepin' score.

Pass the paper bag that holds the barf

Feel the wheels fallin off 'neath the floor.

And the sons of pullman porters

And the sons of engineers

Don't ride this horror of plastic and steel.

Mothers with their babes screamin',

Are rockin' to their iPod beat

And the TSA grabbin' is all they feel.
 
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"I'll be gone five hundred miles when the day is done."

That is, assuming

  • No autos driven on the track to hit
  • No drunk pedestrian trying to figure out what that light is that keeps getting bigger
  • No trucks trying to beat the train to the crossing
  • No bridges out
  • No flooded tracks
  • No broken down freights in the way
  • No signal failures
All in a day's work.

Good night, America, how are you?

Don't you know me I'm your native son,

I'm the train they call The City of New Orleans

I'll be gone five hundred miles when the day is done.

Think they'll make a song about Continental 3675?

Riding on Continental 3675,

Illinois Ohare Monday afternoon plane

One plane and a hunrded fifty squeezed in riders,

Three attendants and twenty-five snacks of grain.

All along the southbound odyssey

The plane pulls out at Runway 03

Flies over houses, farms and fields.

Passin' over trains that have no names,

Freight yards full of old black men

And the graveyards of the rusted automobiles.

 

Good morning America how are you?

Don't you know me I'm your native son,

I'm the plane they call a nightmare to New Orleans,

I'll be gone two round trips when the day is done.

Dealin' food to the rich men in first class.

Five dollars a snack and we are keepin' score.

Pass the paper bag that holds the barf

Feel the wheels fallin off 'neath the floor.

And the sons of pullman porters

And the sons of engineers

Don't ride this horror of plastic and steel.

Mothers with their babes screamin',

Are rockin' to their iPod beat

And the TSA grabbin' is all they feel.
Someone is real creative. lol. That's a good one. :rolleyes:
 
abcnews,

That somehow does not surprise me. Though 83 was fairly sparse coming into RVM last Wednesday by comparison (it was the third train in that day), it still let off a decent number of folks for about 10 PM at night. I counted close to 60 boarding 66 that evening, too.

As to the CONO:

1) Five extra coaches? That's what? 7 or 8 total? That also sounds like a supplement to the IL service...I wonder if IL is pressing to load some additional cars on the CONO to Memphis to allow extra in-state capacity (doing so would be well within what they could at least theoretically pay for, and the CONO offers an interesting "supplemental" time on that route (as well as a decent northbound overnight time).

2) By an extra "diner-lounge"...is that a CCC or a full diner being put into a different service setup or what?
 
abcnews,

That somehow does not surprise me. Though 83 was fairly sparse coming into RVM last Wednesday by comparison (it was the third train in that day), it still let off a decent number of folks for about 10 PM at night. I counted close to 60 boarding 66 that evening, too.

As to the CONO:

1) Five extra coaches? That's what? 7 or 8 total? That also sounds like a supplement to the IL service...I wonder if IL is pressing to load some additional cars on the CONO to Memphis to allow extra in-state capacity (doing so would be well within what they could at least theoretically pay for, and the CONO offers an interesting "supplemental" time on that route (as well as a decent northbound overnight time).

2) By an extra "diner-lounge"...is that a CCC or a full diner being put into a different service setup or what?
Yes, I believe that would make it 8 coaches. I assume that diner-lounge is CCC; I would be shocked to find it not be. Even though I think it's in the realm of possibility for Illinois to pay for those extra coaches, I disagree that the times are convenient fro arrival/departure into Carbondale (since that is the biggest college city along the route). Since it is a Sunday night thing also, I don't think that Illinois cares whatsoever about the northbound times, since it would be a weekday, and the again, neither the north or southbound trains are that convenient, but I guess if you're catering to college students, no time of day is unreasonable
rolleyes.gif
 
Consist was

1 CHI-NOL P42

85 CHI-NOL P42

1717 CHI-NOL Baggage

39043 CHI-NOL Transition Sleeper/5909

32049 CHI-NOL Sleeper/5900

32011 CHI-NOL Sleeper/5901

38055 CHI-NOL Diner

33019 CHI-NOL Lounge

34077 CHI-NOL Coach/5930

31024 CHI-NOL Coach/5931

31017 CHI-NOL Coach/5932

34120 CHI-NOL Coach/5933

37004 CHI-NOL Diner-Lounge (listed as "Lounge")

34100 CHI-MEM Coach/5934

34040 CHI-MEM Coach/5935

31035 CHI-MEM Coach/5936

34062 CHI-MEM Coach/5937

34041 CHI-MEM Coach/5938

Car 39043 still had the old "SUPERLINER" billboard titles on the side of the car.
 
A few corrections:

Yes, I believe that would make it 8 coaches.
The train had nine coaches.

I assume that diner-lounge is CCC; I would be shocked to find it not be. Even though I think it's in the realm of possibility for Illinois to pay for those extra coaches, I disagree that the times are convenient fro arrival/departure into Carbondale (since that is the biggest college city along the route).
The biggest college city would be Champaign/Urbana.

Since it is a Sunday night thing also, I don't think that Illinois cares whatsoever about the northbound times, since it would be a weekday, and the again, neither the north or southbound trains are that convenient, but I guess if you're catering to college students, no time of day is unreasonable
rolleyes.gif
Any time between 5 am (bed time) and, roughly, noon, would be unreasonable for college students.

Also, the train was not expanded at the request of the state. It was expanded because Amtrak saw an opportunity to sell a bunch of tickets and make a bunch of extra revenue on the busiest travel day of the year.
 
A few corrections:

Since it is a Sunday night thing also, I don't think that Illinois cares whatsoever about the northbound times, since it would be a weekday, and the again, neither the north or southbound trains are that convenient, but I guess if you're catering to college students, no time of day is unreasonable
rolleyes.gif
Any time between 5 am (bed time) and, roughly, noon, would be unreasonable for college students.

Also, the train was not expanded at the request of the state. It was expanded because Amtrak saw an opportunity to sell a bunch of tickets and make a bunch of extra revenue on the busiest travel day of the year.
I concur on the other two, but I was only saying that in response to Anderson's theoretical argument that IL COULD be paying for it... I knew they weren't
 
If Amtrak has the extra cars for this, why don't they use these cars on a regular basis?
Because most non-essential maintenance work is halted this week just to make as many cars as possible available for the rush.

Next week, equipment goes back on a regular maintenance schedule.
 
If Amtrak has the extra cars for this, why don't they use these cars on a regular basis?
Yeah!!! Use it for the "Sparks Cars" initiative or maybe extra Denver-Glenwood Springs/Denver-Chicago capacity. I don't need anyone challenging the Denver-Glenwood Springs thing, even though I know it is weaker than the others, I just know how much demand there is in that corridor. Actually, with just a minor tweak in the schedules (assuming that #5 and #6 would both always be on time), two coaches could be cut from #5 at GSC and added to #6 to return to DEN each day... but I agree with NY Penn that these cars should all be in service SOMEWHERE, ANYWHERE. Any extra revenue Amtrak has the potential of making, they should make. One thing that surprises me though is that this super-long CoNO only needs one engine... I guess there just aren't any major hills... Being in CA, I'm used to having all of the LD's w/2 or 3
rolleyes.gif
 
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