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Yep. Unbelievably stupid move, but then Amtrak management is not known for being the sharpest.
It's almost possibly like, during a pandemic, Amtrak decided not to have its workers together more than necessary. With saving money while a lot few people were traveling being a happy side-effect.

IMO, the people who want Amtrak to have laid on extra labor and caught up on their maintenance backlog during the slowdown are ignoring why there was a slowdown in the first place.
 
It's almost possibly like, during a pandemic, Amtrak decided not to have its workers together more than necessary. With saving money while a lot few people were traveling being a happy side-effect.

IMO, the people who want Amtrak to have laid on extra labor and caught up on their maintenance backlog during the slowdown are ignoring why there was a slowdown in the first place.
And yet, catching up on maintenance backlogs is exactly what most of the transit agencies did. And they did it while maintaining social distancing and (once the science became clear) requiring masks. Why, I wonder how they did that? Competence.

If MTA and MBTA could do it, Amtrak should have been able to do it. Instead, Amtrak apparently laid off people and then didn't get them back when they needed them back.
 
I recently read something comparing how the European governments handled the Covid economic downturn differently from they way we did it here in the States. In the States, we used the stimulus money to expand unemployment benefits, and thus provide funds for laid-off workers. In Europe, apparently, they directly subsidized employers to encourage the employers to not lay off people, even if business was in the toilet. The US did have a "paycheck protection program," that apparently was poorly managed and may not have saved many jobs, and the loans were apparently given to businesses that didn't need them.

The advantage of having stimulus money directed to encourage employers to keep people on payroll despite the lack of business is that when business picks up again, you have the staff immediately available to retstart operations. While business is lousy, you can use the employees who are being subsidized to do stuff like, say, repairing and ugrading equipment (rail cars) and facilities. It's also a lot less stressful on the workers, as they're not facing the hassle of being laid off and having to deal with the various state unemployment compensation systems or the shame of "losing" their jobs.
 
This doesn't directly apply to the reduced consists on the Superliner trains, but it seems like the reduced coaches on the single level LDs may be partly due to the delay in the introduction of the Venture coaches in the Midwest. Many of the Midwestern trains have been using Amfleet IIs recently, which would make sense if Amtrak didn't prioritize maintenance for the existing Midwestern cars in anticipation for the Ventures entering service.
 
Didn't the OG Capitol have Heritage domes and coach domes?
Not at first iirc. My first ride on the capitol was when it was a part of the Broadway Limited and was split off in Pittsburg. That train had coaches and an Amcafe.
My first ride on the Capitol Limited on its current route was in may 1991. That train had heritage coaches and dome cars and a full diner.
 
This doesn't directly apply to the reduced consists on the Superliner trains, but it seems like the reduced coaches on the single level LDs may be partly due to the delay in the introduction of the Venture coaches in the Midwest. Many of the Midwestern trains have been using Amfleet IIs recently, which would make sense if Amtrak didn't prioritize maintenance for the existing Midwestern cars in anticipation for the Ventures entering service.
When are they due to enter service?
 
Didn't the OG Capitol have Heritage domes and coach domes?

I remember riding the Broadway Limited in the early 80s and enjoying the dome before it was split off at Pittsburgh with the Capitol Limited consist.
 
Planning on training from DC to Pittsburg this spring with bikes in tow and biking back. For the week we're interest in, there are plenty of train seats available, but carry on bike reservations are booked out every day that week - as well as in reverse in case we did the trip in the opposite direction.

Is it (still) possible to check a bike in the luggage car at DC Union Station heading to Pittsburg on the Capital Limited? I see in posts like the one linked below that there were options to check bikes, in luggage cars with racks, at some point in the past, but also get the impression that may not always be an option? But then on the Amtrack website (link also below) see the Capital Limited should include both train-side checked bikes and carry-on options.

Was hoping for some recent rider confirmation that checked bikes are still fine, as its a key consideration of our trip. And, if so, is boxing mandatory? There also seems to be varying posts on that over the past several years and longer.

https://www.amtraktrains.com/threads/capitol-limited-bike-service-with-no-baggage-car.78721/https://www.amtrak.com/onboard/bring-your-bicycle-onboard/bike-faqs.html
 
Sorry I don’t have any recent experience on the CL - my experience is 2019. That time I rolled it up to the baggage car and loaded it myself with supervision. Round trip South Bend IN to DC.

Next trip is on the Cardinal in a couple of weeks - that one is a roll-on from Crawfordsville IN to Charlottesville. When I’ve gone CRF to CHI in the past, they’ve handled roll-on a few different ways. Available space in an unoccupied Coach handicap area, the aisle way of a deadheading sleeper, and a dedicated bike rack in the Cafe.

Of course none of that is much help. Sorry.
 
The Capitol Limited should have 8 bicycle carry-on reservation-only spaces per train. If all of the reservation spaces are booked, you might try another day. Checking your bike in a box is still an option. There is no train side loading into the baggage car on this route. For a spreadsheet on all Amtrak routes and heaps of information on how to travel with your bike on Amtrak, visit Train Travel
 
I did that trip in September 2016, and it was great! Three days on the GAP and three days on the Towpath. Took the train back to Pittsburgh, but our fellow travelers took my bike back so we didn't have to worry about that. PM me if you have any questions about the biking portion of your trip!
 
I've taken my bicycle on the Carl Sandburg twice:

In 2011 it was running with Superliners, two coaches (one a snack coach) and a Cross-Country cafe. My bike road in the unused kitchen! I got some fun pictures.

In 2012 it was regular Horizons and basically just sat squeezed between the end row of seats like IndyLions photo.
 
We looked I to this recently with the idea of taking 4 bikes onboard. When we tried to reserve it, there are only 2 bike slots available. The Capital Limited doesn’t have a full baggage car, but a coach baggage car. So only 2 spots available. This is pretty dumb since this route has some of the most popular cycling trails.
 
We looked I to this recently with the idea of taking 4 bikes onboard. When we tried to reserve it, there are only 2 bike slots available. The Capital Limited doesn’t have a full baggage car, but a coach baggage car. So only 2 spots available. This is pretty dumb since this route has some of the most popular cycling trails.

Even more dumb is you could probably fit a dozen bikes in half a baggage car without breaking a sweat.
 
We looked I to this recently with the idea of taking 4 bikes onboard. When we tried to reserve it, there are only 2 bike slots available. The Capital Limited doesn’t have a full baggage car, but a coach baggage car. So only 2 spots available. This is pretty dumb since this route has some of the most popular cycling trails.
When Amtrak finally instituted roll on - roll off bike service at all stations on the Capital Limited in late September 2015, it used repurposed coach baggage cars with 7 or 8 bike racks. The two times I used it, there were 2 regular coaches and this coach-bike car.

It appears the new Capitol Limited doesn't have a baggage car; and there is only one coach and one coach baggage, i.e., no coach-bike car. I tried dummy bookings in several days in April, June, July, and September. The serviced tab under detail all showed bike service; but all were sold out. Now we know that Amtrak's computer systems can't tell the difference between something that is sold out and something that doesn't exits. So it appears that there isn't enough room in the coach-bike cars for bikes and baggage. Or perhaps the coach-bike cars have gone to that mysterious bone yard where all bad cars go. Either way, it is just another service downgrade.
 
Last night #30 departing Chicago had a car at the back of the consist that was all window facing the back. Maybe four levels of tiered seating behind the window. Two levels of windows on the sides.
Any ideas of what it’s identity?
Thx.
 
Last night #30 departing Chicago had a car at the back of the consist that was all window facing the back. Maybe four levels of tiered seating behind the window. Two levels of windows on the sides.
Any ideas of what it’s identity?
Thx.
Probably “American View”, track inspection car…
 
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I was on this train and I can confirm it was American View. We also had Pacific Bend and one more in between (Viewliner based) that I didn't catch the name/number on
 
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