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Cal

Cal

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I believe that Amtrak has sold some old superliners to private owner's in the past. How can you see if they are selling any railcars? Is there a website? Also, how much has Amtrak charged for a used superliner in the past?
 
I don't think Amtrak is disposing of any superliners yet, at least not serviceable ones. They hardly have enough to cover their own needs. The usable fleet has furthermore been reduced by a number being damaged in wrecks over the years.

Possibly you may be thinking of the ex Santa Fe Hi-Level cars which look very similar (and on which design the Superliner was based). This type is older than the Superliner and is no longer used by Amtrak . Possibly some may be in use by private owners.
 
TinCan782 said:
This is a few years ago (2018) and includes the five PPC cars...
https://www.amtrak.com/content/dam/...ecars/Amtrak-Sale-of-Used-Train-Equipment.pdf
also
https://www.trains.com/trn/news-rev...-to-sell-parlour-cars-locomotives-as-surplus/
Click to expand...
Yup. Those are ex-SantaFe Hi-Level cars, not Superliners.

Interestingly, in the first document linked above, they seem to say that the F40-PHs are GE engines. They are actually EMD., as correctly listed in the Trains Mag document.
 
Hi-Levels and Superliners would be pretty much the same thing to anyone in the general public. It wasn't until I became a full on train geek that I knew there was a difference and I grew up riding both. (I always did wonder why I didn't remember the SSL cars looking like SSL cars on the Texas Eagle... that's cause they were Hi-Level Lounge cars!).

The Pacific Parlour Cars on the Coast Starlight were Hi-Levels and were the last of the Hi-Levels to be retired. Most of them (maybe all?) are now privately owned. 2 of them are in Owosso MI and 1 of them is on a tourist train in Wisconsin.

As others have pointed out, Ozark Railcar does have some Hi-Levels for sale. If I had a few spare millions I'd buy some and recreate a Santa Fe train and run tour trains from LA to the Grand Canyon! (with those spare millions I'd be best friends with Warren Buffet haha).
 
cirdan said:
I don't think Amtrak is disposing of any superliners yet, at least not serviceable ones. They hardly have enough to cover their own needs. The usable fleet has furthermore been reduced by a number being damaged in wrecks over the years.
Click to expand...
amtrak has disposed of at least 8. Amtrak has enough if they could just keep more of the fleet out of the shop and repair the damaged ones.
This comes from LOSSAN TAC 8/4/22 but was based on a 6/2022 meeting between caltrans and the JPAs
1689953072014.png
 
GDRRiley said:
amtrak has disposed of at least 8. Amtrak has enough if they could just keep more of the fleet out of the shop and repair the damaged ones.
This comes from LOSSAN TAC 8/4/22 but was based on a 6/2022 meeting between caltrans and the JPAs
View attachment 33171
Click to expand...
Are they talking of the Superliners that they have on lease, to make that ownership permanent? Or are these additional units?
 
Ozark Mountain Railcar is one of my favorite mailing lists. They mostly post freight cars/engines, and a lot of track maintenance equipment. However they also list some really strange old passenger cars. I haven't seen any Sante Fe doubles in a while, but they list a lot of commuter double deckers.

And every now and then they list an entertaining miniature (rideable) complete railway. My spouse says I can't have one.
 

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