40th Anniversary Train disposal

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battalion51

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So I think all would agree that the 40th Anniversary Train has been a huge success, and has brought awareness of Amtrak and its history to tens of thousands across the country. But, with the train finishing up its tour the question is, what will happen to the trainset once its service is done. Obviously the 822 and 406 are going to stay on the road and be part of the Intercity fleet very soon. The dorm will likely return to being part of the Boardman moves when he and his staff travel. But the three baggage cars have had their doors welded shut, and are of little use to Amtrak. The lounge car was pulled out from the stored serviceable pile at Bear, and is still partially in Acela Lounge configuration. Anyone have some insight as to where these four cars will end up?
 
Storage? Hopefully, there will be no need for those baggage cars, and the lounge will resume its former status.
 
My understanding is the tour is not over with by any amount. Last I heard, they were booking stops all around the country well into FY13.
 
My understanding is the tour is not over with by any amount. Last I heard, they were booking stops all around the country well into FY13.

Where do they plan to send it? Any cities with no existing Amtrak service? I wonder how this train will affect ridership in 2012/2013?
 
As for the baggage cars, Amtrak probably figured that the new Viewliner II baggage would be in service by the time the tour is over & so those would get retired along with the rest of the heritage baggage cars. #406 is probably little use to Amtrak as is, it was sitting in a collection of stored 'service & run' pile of F40s & Cabbages so at the least it'll go back to that pile. 822 will probably just continue service as with the rest of the Anniv Engines. The Dorm is still a dorm car and will just get put back into it's old life cycle again (of mainly sitting on a siding somewhere). That leaves the Amfleet, I think part of it's future will depend on whether Amtrak orders new Viewliner Cafe/Lounges or not. If Amtrak does, it'll probably go into storage for parts; if they don't it might get the store end taken out & tables put back in.

Most of the equipment chosen for the train were already just dead storage cars. If you read the bio on each car on the 40th website it tells you what the car's status was before the train. So anything not retired will probably just return to where it was before the train.

peter
 
My understanding is the tour is not over with by any amount. Last I heard, they were booking stops all around the country well into FY13.
Where did you hear that??? On the site it says Spring of 2012 as a wrap up date...

406 will hopefully be fitted with Cab signals and used for Midwest Push-Pull service. 406 does NOT have cab signals and that is why it never leads. I think the Amcan is the only car that will have use after this.. Maybe if Amtrak feels like playing nice they'll keep it the way it is.. I kind of like the set up in there.. Heck while were at it can we keep the Phase III??? :lol:
 
If the museum cars are not usible to Amtrak, maybe they could donate it to a museum. Probably won't happen but just a thought.
 
Anyone have some insight as to where these four cars will end up?
Hopefully, my back yard!
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Or on the Penthouse Suite Train! Those boxcars will be a nice "wine cellar" to store my booze and food!
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If there are no more stops, pity. I would have liked to see the train. Whenever I was on the East Coast, it wasn't. Whenever I was in the Midwest, it wasn't. I guess I scared it away.
 
I am pretty sure the anniversary train won't be running in to 2013.

I was on the Coast Starlight this time last year -- and got to hang out with some of the crew plotting the anniversary train. They said it was going to wrap up at the end of 2011 (if it wasn't a success) and would go into 2012 (if it was a success and the funding continued). They said the anniversary train would make it back to Washington just before National Train Day 2012.
 
They said the anniversary train would make it back to Washington just before National Train Day 2012.

Any ideas on what it will do in DC? If you look at Amtrak's news release for NTD - 2012 http://www.amtrak.com/servlet/BlobServer?blobcol=urldata&blobtable=MungoBlobs&blobkey=id&blobwhere=1249236641561&blobheader=application%2Fpdf&blobheadername1=Content-disposition&blobheadervalue1=attachment;filename=Amtrak_ATK-12-006_National_Train_Day.pdf DC is not specifically mentioned as celebrating NTD. NYP, PHL, CHI and LAX are listed, but not WAS. Now it does say "...and other communities throughout the nation." - whatever that means.

Was NTD such a disaster in WAS last year that they decided not to do it this year? Did the members from here, that were at that mini-gathering at NTD - 2011, play a part in this? :unsure: :giggle:
 
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They need to put the baggage cars back into service. Those are in much better shape than some of the ones out on the road.
The doors are welded shut.. They won't/can't put them in service if the doors are welded..
I would assume they can make them operable again.
They can but why do that when you have new baggage cars coming in the new year? Yes three cars would do a little something. But the time and money that would go into making the cars see service wouldn't be the best idea. Since the cars are going to be retired in a few months after they get the new VL II's.
 
They can but why do that when you have new baggage cars coming in the new year? Yes three cars would do a little something. But the time and money that would go into making the cars see service wouldn't be the best idea. Since the cars are going to be retired in a few months after they get the new VL II's.
Have you seen the baggage cars that are currently in use? Many are in horrible shape. It still be quite a while before they get enough new cars to get rid of the heritage. It would cost hardly anything to reopen the doors and start using these cars. The waste of money would be in storing these cars which are in great shape.
 
They can but why do that when you have new baggage cars coming in the new year? Yes three cars would do a little something. But the time and money that would go into making the cars see service wouldn't be the best idea. Since the cars are going to be retired in a few months after they get the new VL II's.
The FY2013 budget document has a Rolling Stock Count and Availability table that shows the same number of Heritage baggage cars on the active roster of 73 (60 net available) will remain at 73 at the end of FY13, which is September 2013. The number of active Heritage diners is to drop from 20 at end of FY12 to 12 by the end of FY13, while 25 new "Long Distance Single Level" cars are projected to be in active service. The table indicates that the new baggage cars won't start delivery until FY14 and the Heritage baggage cars start being retired. If there are new baggage-dorms in the 25 new cars to be put into service in FY13, which would make sense, that will ease shortages of the Heritage baggage cars. What happens to the Anniversary train baggage cars after May could depend on how severe the Heritage baggage car availability is until mid to late 2013. New equipment is being built, but it won't all be available for revenue service until 2015.
 
If one looks at this photo. This shows that the Amfleet is equipped for the wifi services on coach cars. The cafe cars have the full receivers. The coach cars have the small antennas. So it's possible that they will make this car into a coach car when it's done it's service on the 40th train.
 
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