Amtrak Metroliner cab car roster, status and locations

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edjbox

Service Attendant
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Feb 8, 2014
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Anyone know where all the Metroliner cab cars are located in the Amtrak system, which routes uses them and how often, and how many are left?
 
to start off,

keystone corridor trains,

new haven to springfield shuttles

and vermontiers (seasonal)

if any trains are missing you can add

and i think 9639 is gone due to that truck v train incident a few weeks ago
 
Those Metroliner cabs are ancient at this point. Does anyone know what they will be replaced with?
 
They will probably be replaced when the amfleets are replaced- which means probably not for the next 10 years at least
 
There's talk of pulling the engines out of the AEM-7 locomotives and turning them into Non Powered Control Units like was done to the F40PH locomotives after they were retired.
 
ayezee said:
But won't doing that require new coaches to make up for the seats lost dumping the metroliner cab cars?
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You can still operate use the Metroliner cab cars as a coach without using the cab.
Also Amtrak will have a lot of Amfleet and Horizon cars freed up over the next few years as California and the Midwestern states get more bi-level cars.
 
With the new reroute the Vermonter will be using later this year, will there still be a cab car for that train?
 
Since it won't have to perform the reverse move at Palmer, I would imagine the Vermonter wouldn't need it after the reroute and would be replaced with just another Amfleet I to maintain the 5-car length.
 
I'm not sure if there's a wye (at SAB), but the northbound trainset is always somehow turned around for the southbound departure the following morning.
 
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We're talking about a wye at Springfield ma. Anyways, it looks like there is a wye at Springfield but it is under a highway
 
FreeskierInVT said:
I'm not sure if there's a wye (at SAB), but the northbound trainset is always somehow turned around for the southbound departure the following morning.
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So that's a yes IMO..

edjbox said:
We're talking about a wye at Springfield ma. Anyways, it looks like there is a wye at Springfield but it is under a highway
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Springfield has a wye as their is a direct regional to SPG everyday.
 
Thanks for the clarification.

Back to the original question: how many cab cars are on the Keystone Service pool, how many in the shuttle pool? Do they ever switch between the keystone and Springfield shuttle?
 
William W. said:
Those Metroliner cabs are ancient at this point. Does anyone know what they will be replaced with?
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Well that statement makes me feel really ancient.....I recall when the first Metroliner cars hit the rails, emblazoned with PRR Keystone's....they were the last word in ultra-modern rail travel.... :)
 
There are about 8 Keystone sets in operation on a weekday (might be 9, but I don't think they can do the current schedule with less than 7). Then there are usually anywhere from 1-3 sitting in the Race St Yard. Add 2 for the Vermonter, and then the Springfield Shuttle. That puts you around 15. Add in ones that are in for scheduled maintenance and a good guess would be between 15-20 on the active roster. Plus any listed dead in Wilmington or Bear.

Not bad for a piece of equipment still active that should be in a museum
 
Amtrak has 19 metroliner cab cars on the roster (9632-9651) although David Warner at OTOL says that 17 are active as of May 2014. That doesn't include last months wreck so they may have as few as 16 active.
 
St. Albans VT has a wye (and room to lengthen it if necessary). Springfield MA has a wye but it annoyingly crosses the Boston-Albany CSX mainline so it's obnoxious to use it.

The most important use of the cab cars is for the Keystones, which can't maintain their schedule without them; they *have* to reverse en route at Philadelphia. The second most important use is on the Vermonter, but it's going to become irrelevant with the reroute. The other uses are just for convenience.
 
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I don't know that I would include the Shuttles as having cab cars as a "convenience." Obviously there are wye facilities in Springfield and New Haven, but the same is true for the Keystones (wye in Harrisburg and loop at Sunnyside). The Shuttle sets can have just as fast of a turnaround time, if not faster, as a Keystone set. Don't forget that ten years ago before electrification was put back in use between PHL and HAR that the Keystones ran with an electric from NYP to PHL and then a diesel from PHL to HAR, and were wyed in HAR. The Shuttles, Vermonter, or Keystones could just as easily be run with two engines (one on either end), but using cab cars help alleviate the strain on the thinly stretched locomotive fleet.
 
One leg is actually used to enter the station from the Springfield line. To get to the other leg you have to go out on to CSX, the other leg is adjacent to the old station. There is a diamond across CSX that completes the move.
 
battalion51 said:
I don't know that I would include the Shuttles as having cab cars as a "convenience." Obviously there are wye facilities in Springfield and New Haven, but the same is true for the Keystones (wye in Harrisburg and loop at Sunnyside). The Shuttle sets can have just as fast of a turnaround time, if not faster, as a Keystone set. Don't forget that ten years ago before electrification was put back in use between PHL and HAR that the Keystones ran with an electric from NYP to PHL and then a diesel from PHL to HAR, and were wyed in HAR. The Shuttles, Vermonter, or Keystones could just as easily be run with two engines (one on either end), but using cab cars help alleviate the strain on the thinly stretched locomotive fleet.
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Irrelevant. The a Keystones change direction at 30th Street in revenue service- that's why they need a cab.
 
Green Maned Lion said:
battalion51 said:
I don't know that I would include the Shuttles as having cab cars as a "convenience." Obviously there are wye facilities in Springfield and New Haven, but the same is true for the Keystones (wye in Harrisburg and loop at Sunnyside). The Shuttle sets can have just as fast of a turnaround time, if not faster, as a Keystone set. Don't forget that ten years ago before electrification was put back in use between PHL and HAR that the Keystones ran with an electric from NYP to PHL and then a diesel from PHL to HAR, and were wyed in HAR. The Shuttles, Vermonter, or Keystones could just as easily be run with two engines (one on either end), but using cab cars help alleviate the strain on the thinly stretched locomotive fleet.
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Irrelevant. The a Keystones change direction at 30th Street in revenue service- that's why they need a cab.
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Plus rush hour Keystones need the seating that the cab car provides, and could actually use an additional Amfleet if one was available, so replacing the cab with a NPCU just isn't feasible.
 
What are the chances of Amtrak ever getting new MU's like the originally built Metroliner's? Then all they would have to do is turn seats for short, corridor type runs.....or not....just leave half the seats permanently facing opposite directions like the regional operator's do....

Think of all the savings of not having to turn entire trains at terminal's.....
 
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