Baggage cars

[Joel N. Weber II]

Another issue is that freight cars (including, I believe, the freight cars Amtrak used to run) don't tend to be equipped to pass HEP through from the locomotive to the passenger cars to run the lights and air conditioning.

 

[Dutchrailnut]

thats true i mean its a good thing that the demand is up but um idk it just seems like if they need baggage cars the freight lines have enough box cars to lease or give or something to amtrak that they can use for temp baggage cars

There are a number of reasons Amtrak can't "just" lease box cars form freight RR's. First of all they are not roller bearing equipped for NEC speeds. Secondly, as previously mentioned, you cannot enter the car from either end to load and unload baggage. They would constitute a safety hazard as no one could reach the engine unless the train was dead stopped.

There are no revenue service cars left on freight or elsewhere (exept museums) that do not have roller bearings.

Freight cars are good for about 75 mph max. and even the MHC cars Amtrak has, have problems derailing at speed.

two entire series of cars were restricted to 60 mph by CSX and BNSF due to derailments.

As for freight cars used as Bagage cars, not unless they have 4 full HEP connectors and trainlines, A communications trainline and a possible traction trainline.

 

[Green Maned Lion]

Huh? :unsure: On most Amtrak trains one can't access the engines from the rest of the train anyhow. There is no door in the nose of a P42 so one can't pass from one engine to the next. And it wouldn't matter if you were running two elephant style or back to back. Only on a train with one P42 could one enter the engine from the rest of the train while it's moving.

What about the GE Dash-8s?

 

[Rail Freak]

thats true i mean its a good thing that the demand is up but um idk it just seems like if they need baggage cars the freight lines have enough box cars to lease or give or something to amtrak that they can use for temp baggage cars

There are a number of reasons Amtrak can't "just" lease box cars form freight RR's. First of all they are not roller bearing equipped for NEC speeds. Secondly, as previously mentioned, you cannot enter the car from either end to load and unload baggage. They would constitute a safety hazard as no one could reach the engine unless the train was dead stopped.

There are no revenue service cars left on freight or elsewhere (exept museums) that do not have roller bearings.

Freight cars are good for about 75 mph max. and even the MHC cars Amtrak has, have problems derailing at speed.

two entire series of cars were restricted to 60 mph by CSX and BNSF due to derailments.

As for freight cars used as Bagage cars, not unless they have 4 full HEP connectors and trainlines, A communications trainline and a possible traction trainline.

HEP????? :unsure:

 

[PetalumaLoco]

HEP connectors.

"Amtrak style HEP consists of twelve #4/0 wires running from one end of the car to the other..." etc.

Google is your friend.

 

[had8ley]

thats true i mean its a good thing that the demand is up but um idk it just seems like if they need baggage cars the freight lines have enough box cars to lease or give or something to amtrak that they can use for temp baggage cars

There are a number of reasons Amtrak can't "just" lease box cars form freight RR's. First of all they are not roller bearing equipped for NEC speeds. Secondly, as previously mentioned, you cannot enter the car from either end to load and unload baggage. They would constitute a safety hazard as no one could reach the engine unless the train was dead stopped.

Huh? :unsure: On most Amtrak trains one can't access the engines from the rest of the train anyhow. There is no door in the nose of a P42 so one can't pass from one engine to the next. And it wouldn't matter if you were running two elephant style or back to back. Only on a train with one P42 could one enter the engine from the rest of the train while it's moving.

Well the City, Texas Eagle and quite a few other trains (Hiawathas, Downeaters, Surfliners etc, etc., would qualify for the one engine consist <_< <_< And what about the high speed trucks?

 

[Rail Freak]

HEP connectors."Amtrak style HEP consists of twelve #4/0 wires running from one end of the car to the other..." etc.

Google is your friend.

:huh:

HUH?

OK!

 

[printman2000]

HEP????? :unsure:

Head End Power

It is the power that the locomotive sends to the cars for electricity.

 

[Guest_timetableflagman_*]

Extra boxcars could be coupled to the rear of a train as baggage cars. As far as AMTRAK getting cooperation from the rr's or even leasing cars on the spot, Is AMTRAK that flexible? D they even have that good of a relationship with the rr's. It goes quite deep into those kinds of problems. There doesn't seem to be that level of a good business relationship between AMTRAK and the necessary partners.

 

[Joel N. Weber II]

Extra boxcars could be coupled to the rear of a train as baggage cars.

It's still not quite that simple, because Amtrak's cars have built in lights for the rear of the train, whereas freight railroads normally use FREDs. I don't know if Amtrak's locomotives would operate properly with a FRED instead of a passenger car at the rear of the train.

It might also complicate the process of backing up the train. I've been on #449 about ten rows from the back of the train when the conductor was at the back of the train while the train was backing up, and it seemed like him standing there in the coach car looking out the back window was somewhat more convenient than anything that might happen with a boxcar and a FRED.

 

[AlanB]

Extra boxcars could be coupled to the rear of a train as baggage cars.

It's still not quite that simple, because Amtrak's cars have built in lights for the rear of the train, whereas freight railroads normally use FREDs. I don't know if Amtrak's locomotives would operate properly with a FRED instead of a passenger car at the rear of the train.

All Amtrak locomotives, except for the AEM-7's, can handle FRED. They had to do that back when Amtrak was in the Express freight business and carried boxcar and refers on the rear of the trains. So that would not be an issue overall.

 

[engine999]

Standard boxcars do not have graduated release brakes, which are typically used on Amtrak trains. Most freight equipment features direct release brakes that do not allow for a partial release of the trains brakes. Although both types of equipment can be operated together without a problem, the lack of a partial release would be undesirable in the operation of Amtrak trains. I believe, but cannot confirm that the auto train operates with direct release brakes due to the auto carrier and limitations of the graduated release system. Also, I am not sure what type of brakes the old mail and express business utilized.

The addition of an End Of Train device (FRED) makes no difference to the operation of the train. An end of train device provides a marker for the rear of the train, information to the engineer about brake pipe condition at the rear of the train, and the ability to trigger and emergency application of the brakes at the rear of the train.

 

[VentureForth]

Well, Joel makes a good point about backing. Conductor has to stand in the Rail Fan's vestibule (back of the train) and call the back up. Of course, if they rode on TRE's rails, that could all go away!

Amtrak has to do something about baggage. Bags are thrown into a dirty bin and tossed about without regard to their contents, sliding all over the floor getting scuffed and dirty. And, as in the photos above, sometime with the door left open, it's amazing more baggage doesn't get thrown to the forest.

 

[transit54]

Well, Joel makes a good point about backing. Conductor has to stand in the Rail Fan's vestibule (back of the train) and call the back up. Of course, if they rode on TRE's rails, that could all go away!
Amtrak has to do something about baggage. Bags are thrown into a dirty bin and tossed about without regard to their contents, sliding all over the floor getting scuffed and dirty. And, as in the photos above, sometime with the door left open, it's amazing more baggage doesn't get thrown to the forest.

Yea, but its the same way with the airlines, too. Except they also tend to loose it.

I mean, when I worked for an airline and would occasionally help out on the ramp, we always slid bags in the bins to get them stacked. Maybe its because there wasn't exactly the room to stand up and carry the bags to where they needed to go, but it just seemed that sliding them along was a lot faster and easier than carrying them. As for the bags sliding around enroute, Amtrak would just need to install some webbing in the baggage car to keep stacks of bags in place. And bags are going to get dirty - I've never seen an aircraft bin or baggage car that was particularly clean - and our oldest aircraft was eight years old, with most of them only being 2-4 years old.

And yes, the airlines also sometimes leave their baggage doors open too (and ironically, railroad employees end up returning the baggage).

 

[battalion51]

OK, time for me to jump in here.

1. Auto Train operates in Direct due to the carriers.
   
2. The MHC's basically had the guts of a passenger car. They could handle COMM lines, HEP, etc., and could operate in Graduated Release. If they couldn't operate in graduated practically every train in the system would've operated in direct for one car. Which makes little to no sense. The Express boxcars and RoadRailers however all had to be operated in direct.
   
3. The Baggage Cars may be old and dirty, but how often do you get your bag off the train and there's visible dirt on it? Not very.
   
4. It's not very often that bags fall over in the baggage car, since there isn't a whole lot of side to side motion (and what motion there is side to side is very smooth since you can't really swerve with a train). The Conductors are very good at making piles, and things don't shift a whole lot in transit (unless you hit something).
   
5. Reverse moves happen on every railroad. Freight Conductors have to hold on to the side of a car to do their reverse moves (as do Auto Train Conductors). It's not a long duration move, and the guys are trained to do the moves safely.