Amtrak Fall Foliage trips out of Philly

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I haven't gone on any excursion this years, so I'm in for this one.

Are we up to 60 for the private car, yet?
 
The Amtrak description did state a short stop in Harrisburg. In my timing that I cam up with, I did assume some time in Harrisburg.

I am not sure they will have the lunches on the train from the beginning of the trip. Maybe they will have the lunches handed out there. Or maybe they will hand them out earlier and use Harrisburg to deposit the trash.
 
Sold out?? Oh well - Its just as well, I'm taking off on a long rail journey the following Monday anyway, and I've ridden between Perryville and Harrisburg on the Broadway Ltd.
 
When it was sold out I decided to try and I was able to book it! Keep checking back.
 
If the train does sell out, I'm trying to picture the scene at 30th Street with over 600 crazed railfans lined up to get the 300 or so window seats. When the gate opens, it could be like Walmart on Black Friday. This could be epic.
 
PRR 60 said:
If the train does sell out, I'm trying to picture the scene at 30th Street with over 600 crazed railfans lined up to get the 300 or so window seats. When the gate opens, it could be like Walmart on Black Friday. This could be epic.
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I'll try to film the whole thing. If I do I'll put it on Youtube with the title "Foamers Gone Wild"! :lol:
 
I logged on at 4:55pm today, got me a ticky! YMMV? Could it possibly be that they actually added caches, and released X of more tix? That would be acting like a real railroad.

Wonder if CA in Philly will pre-board a special? Alan? JIS?

Anderson, are you going up Fri? PM me on your travel plans. Davey Crocket, u shud go stowaway!
 
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rrdude said:
I logged on at 4:55pm today, got me a ticky! YMMV? Could it possibly be that they actually added caches, and released X of more tix? That would be acting like a real railroad.
Wonder if CA in Philly will pre-board a special? Alan? JIS?

Anderson, are you going up Fri? PM me on your travel plans. Davey Crocket, u shud go stowaway!
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It depends, in part, on the track used at PHL. IIRC, the Club Acela elevators cannot access tracks 1, 2, 9 or 10. If the train is sent out from any of those tracks (which is possible for a special), then the answer is no. Otherwise, the answer is a firm "probably." :)
 
Your chances that the train leaves from 1,2,9, or 10 are greater with a Special That will leave from Philadelphia. That's just my experience. Not saying that this will happen but just stating something I've learned over the years.
 
rrdude said:
I logged on at 4:55pm today, got me a ticky! YMMV? Could it possibly be that they actually added caches, and released X of more tix? That would be acting like a real railroad.
Click to expand...
Wow.....sold out so fast? Perhaps if demand is that strong, they will run a second section, or at least run another train on that Sunday?

I think this is great, both for Amtrak bottom line and perhaps will have Amtrak consider running more of this kind of railfan excursion. I can think of all kinds of places they could run. One neat line in fall foliage woud be from Albany down to Binghamton and Scranton on freight-only scenic trackage....and there should be an extra trainset available from there....they could even originate it at NYP, and make a two day roundtrip out of it with a tie in at Scranton with Steamtown somehow.....
 
Nathanael said:
I suspect Amtrak is taking the opportunity to do something of a "Horizons on the East Coast" passenger-reaction test while they're doing this. Most informed speculation regarding fleet allocation has pointed to most of the Horizon fleet being unnecessary and unwanted in the Midwest starting in 2016 or so, and the logical place to move them is the east coast.
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I would prefer it if they brought any Amfleet that was still out West (California or Chicago), 'home' to the NEC, and kept or send Horizon cars out that way......If all the single level trains out West were converted to double deck, then in that case, okay, bring 'em East.....
 
railiner said:
Nathanael said:
I suspect Amtrak is taking the opportunity to do something of a "Horizons on the East Coast" passenger-reaction test while they're doing this. Most informed speculation regarding fleet allocation has pointed to most of the Horizon fleet being unnecessary and unwanted in the Midwest starting in 2016 or so, and the logical place to move them is the east coast.
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I would prefer it if they brought any Amfleet that was still out West (California or Chicago), 'home' to the NEC, and kept or send Horizon cars out that way......If all the single level trains out West were converted to double deck, then in that case, okay, bring 'em East.....
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California seems intent on making all their trains double-deck. Washington and Oregon have spare Talgos at this point. Michigan and Missouri have ordered enough bilevels to make all their trains double-deck. Illinois has ordered enough bilevels to make all its existing trains double-deck, though people seem unsure about the two new Illinois routes (Quad Cities and Davenport). The Hoosier State is probably going away. So once the new bilevels show up, the Hiawatha is likely to be the only corridor route operated with Amtrak's single-level equipment out of Chicago.
The Horizons are reportedly particularly bad in continuous snow/ice/cold conditions and so Amtrak would probably prefer to operate the Hiawatha route with Amfleets rather than Horizons if it has a choice. Meanwhile, I'm sure Amtrak would love to have all-new cars on the NEC, but nobody is ordering them. This really points towards bringing the Horizons to the NEC as they become surplus to requirements in the west.

Anyway, if the conductors ask y'all what you like and don't like about the cars, it may be an actual "what should we retrofit" question. :)
 
Here is a thought: Even though I don't like riding in the Horizons, put them on the NEC, and every time someone from The Hill rides Amtrak, make sure they get a Horizon car - especially in BC. :giggle:

The only problem with this idea is that I'm sure they all have you and me buying them FC on the AE. :angry2:
 
I am sure Trog can give a more informed view on this, but I suspect that even if and when the Horizons come east they will not be deployed on Regionals, until they replace those doors with trainlined doors. Without that, either NEC's schedules will be shot or NEC's cash surprlus will disappear as more conductors will be required on trains to operate individual doors. I don't see this happening.

They might get placed on Empire Service or other primarily off corridor use, e.g. Downeasters, Springfield Shuttles, Palmetto, Carolinian etc. But not on any Corridor Regionals, Keystones or anything like that.

And if they are going to redo the doors, they might as well do the full length trainlined doors like NJT has which can operate on both high and low level platforms.
 
The scuttlebutt is that more seats are being added today, so may be worth trying again. OTOH, it is now all over every railfan board in the US railroad universe. We were lucky to get a heads up soon after it was announced, and before all of the railfan boards came to know abut it.
 
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