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reefgeek

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Saw this car parked in CUS. What do they use it for?

Cali_2011148.jpg
 
It is an Amtrak business car. Executives will use it to move around the country. You will find it tacked on to the rear of trains occasionally.
 
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The Man rides in style, for sure. No microwave cheeseburgers for the brass.
 
Neat photos. I am allways wanted to know what the inside of that car looks like. Like the photo of Boardman. He is the best Amtrak President since Clayter.
 
It would be nice to have a GPS screen like that in all the Sightseer Lounges so we can see where we are.
 
Interesting that the last two windows are Amfleet II windows, but the rest of the windows are Amfleet I windows.
 
Well the car was put together from the shells of two badly damaged Amfleets, although I don't know whether they were Amfleet I or Amfleet II. It does seem hypothetically possible that one half was Amfleet II and the other was Amfleet I. In all likelihood it was two Amfleet Is and they just cut two larger window holes in the back end of the car since that's where the theater section of the car is...
 
Now that I think about it this car was on display at Lackawana Railfest in Scranton this past year. Along with 818 and a car that is a coach now that was formally a yum yum car (cafe car), a cafe car and and the Rent a Cops car, someone said OMG a washer and dryer! I laughed and said this car is only used by the Rent a cops. It is a interesting car. Sadly whoever set up the train also put PV in back of BG. So I couldn't get any shots of the back. BG also has larger bedrooms and my guess a Full sized bed if not queen.
 
The most prolific occupant of that car was the late Amtrak VP Jim Larsen, who rode all over creation on Amtrak test trains over rare mileage.

I was fortunate enough to ride a few of those test trains, although not in that car, but in the 'rider' coach with the train crews. Most memorable were Denver to Chicago via the UP and C&NW-Mr Larsens former employer. Also NYP to Bangor via New London and Worcester.

I remember Mr. Larsen as being a most gracious host, allowing this railfan/employee several chances to ride rare mileage. I believe he was one Amtrak official that was well-respected and accepted by the operating officials of the host railroads, rare in those early years.
 
Funny how they can keep the exterior of this car clean and shiney, while the regular fleet has an inch of grime on it. On a recent trip, at the origination point in Chicago, the sleeper I was in was black with soot. As the trip progressed, it got even worse. Never once were the windows washed making it impossible to take pictures. Why can't they polish or at least wash the cars more often? It looks like they need to be scrubbed, squirting a water hose on them does nothing.
 
Funny how they can keep the exterior of this car clean and shiney, while the regular fleet has an inch of grime on it. On a recent trip, at the origination point in Chicago, the sleeper I was in was black with soot. As the trip progressed, it got even worse. Never once were the windows washed making it impossible to take pictures. Why can't they polish or at least wash the cars more often? It looks like they need to be scrubbed, squirting a water hose on them does nothing.
Thanks for the great photos!

A GPS would be very nice! Are there specialty GPS's that railfans can get for trips? I've long wondered about exactly which routes trains I've been on have taken, esp when there are alternate routes available.

Speaking of dirty windows, has anyone here ever cleaned their own window (inside and out)? I wonder if, at some of the more remote stops, it's possible to bring a telescopic mop on the train and just use it from the outside to remove grime, as needed? ;-) For photographers, it might be an idea. I remember a few years ago, on the Sunset Ltd, while on the Huey Long Bridge (feel the vibrations), my sleeping car neighbors gained permission from the sleeping car attendant to open the window on the door and take panoramic photos of the city. Is this common (or even allowable) practice?

It was nice of the SCA, but I hope that he/she didn't get into trouble for that.
 
Are there specialty GPS's that railfans can get for trips?
I don't know of any special "railfan" GPSes. I've brought a Garmin Nuvi car GPS aboard Amtrak in the past, and it worked fine for figuring out where we were -- only problem was that when there were any roads near the train tracks, it would "snap" the train's position to the road rather than keeping it on the track.

On my last trip, I just used the built-in "map" feature on my iPhone (which also has a GPS) -- it actually worked better in that it showed the train being on the track the whole time. The problem there compared with the dedicated GPS was that the maps themselves get continuously downloaded from the Internet, so if there's no Internet connection, you can't tell where the train is.
 
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I have to agree, why aren't some of the cars clean?? Superliner seems to be in better shape than most of the Amfleet.

Also, looks like they have TV of a camera on front of the train, and GPS map
 
Funny how they can keep the exterior of this car clean and shiney, while the regular fleet has an inch of grime on it. On a recent trip, at the origination point in Chicago, the sleeper I was in was black with soot. As the trip progressed, it got even worse. Never once were the windows washed making it impossible to take pictures. Why can't they polish or at least wash the cars more often? It looks like they need to be scrubbed, squirting a water hose on them does nothing.
Thanks for the great photos!

A GPS would be very nice! Are there specialty GPS's that railfans can get for trips? I've long wondered about exactly which routes trains I've been on have taken, esp when there are alternate routes available.

Speaking of dirty windows, has anyone here ever cleaned their own window (inside and out)? I wonder if, at some of the more remote stops, it's possible to bring a telescopic mop on the train and just use it from the outside to remove grime, as needed? ;-) For photographers, it might be an idea. I remember a few years ago, on the Sunset Ltd, while on the Huey Long Bridge (feel the vibrations), my sleeping car neighbors gained permission from the sleeping car attendant to open the window on the door and take panoramic photos of the city. Is this common (or even allowable) practice?

It was nice of the SCA, but I hope that he/she didn't get into trouble for that.
I brought some Windex in a nasal spray bottle for my trip on the CZ last week. I used it to clean the window I was shooting pictures through in the lounge car. Several other pax borrowed it due to greasy nose-or-face prints on their windows. As for the outside, I think a mop might get you in trouble, or perhaps a trip to the looney bin. How about an RC helicopter with a sprayer on it instead? I use a big magnet to clean the inside of my fishtank, if you could get it to the outside of your window, you could wipe it whenever you wanted though the entire trip. http://www.magfloat.net/ .The windows on the train last week (lounge and sleeper) were not too bad. Except the window at the back of the train, that was extra-filthy.

We got stuck in the desert for 12 hours, and car doors and windows were opened. The crew had to get a couple of sick people to ambulances, and after they had the doors opened we opened the windows to watch. Plus, with the power off we needed the ventilation! The open door seems very dangerous, there was quite a drop if you add the tumbing-down-the-roadbed part. The crew told us to shut the door (and open it when they wanted to climb back in!) but not the window. I got some good pix out of the open window.
 
Funny how they can keep the exterior of this car clean and shiney, while the regular fleet has an inch of grime on it. On a recent trip, at the origination point in Chicago, the sleeper I was in was black with soot. As the trip progressed, it got even worse. Never once were the windows washed making it impossible to take pictures. Why can't they polish or at least wash the cars more often? It looks like they need to be scrubbed, squirting a water hose on them does nothing.
What train were you on ??? The City of New Orleans turns into the Texas Eagle in Chicago. Some one in Chicago thought it would be better to send the train set out to San Antonio and back and then to NOL without a car wash. That's about 4,000 miles without even a bottle of Windex. Think what your windshield would look like driving New York to San Francisco to Portland without cleaning it...I've seen laborers on overtime cleaning the domes on UP business car trains in the dark !!!
 
I have to agree, why aren't some of the cars clean?? Superliner seems to be in better shape than most of the Amfleet.

Also, looks like they have TV of a camera on front of the train, and GPS map
Wow, I didn't see the TV, until just now.

I started on Amtrak just after the TVs were removed (on Superliners).

A very good friend traveled on the Texas Eagle and mentioned that "Rio Bravo" was playing for the

entire trip. The sounds of gunfire (from the movie) coming from the observation car were quite loud, she mentioned.

For how many years were TVs/movies shown onboard?
 
I have to agree, why aren't some of the cars clean?? Superliner seems to be in better shape than most of the Amfleet.

Also, looks like they have TV of a camera on front of the train, and GPS map
Wow, I didn't see the TV, until just now.

I started on Amtrak just after the TVs were removed (on Superliners).

A very good friend traveled on the Texas Eagle and mentioned that "Rio Bravo" was playing for the

entire trip. The sounds of gunfire (from the movie) coming from the observation car were quite loud, she mentioned.

For how many years were TVs/movies shown onboard?
There's three different type screens....the Crescent runs with Heritage equipment. For a very short while the Heritage lounge cars had GPS maps on monitors showing just where the train was located.Never saw them again and that was in the late '90's. The movies (no TV) in the SSL lasted about 8 years; just a while longer than the music that was piped into every room when the Superliners first came out. About the biggest bomb was the Viewliner screens~ if they worked you had to close the curtain to see the screen. They lasted about 10 years but had major operational difficulties in addition to pax trying to pry them off the wall!
 
I brought some Windex in a nasal spray bottle for my trip on the CZ last week. I used it to clean the window I was shooting pictures through in the lounge car. Several other pax borrowed it due to greasy nose-or-face prints on their windows. As for the outside, I think a mop might get you in trouble, or perhaps a trip to the looney bin. How about an RC helicopter with a sprayer on it instead? I use a big magnet to clean the inside of my fishtank, if you could get it to the outside of your window, you could wipe it whenever you wanted though the entire trip. http://www.magfloat.net/ .The windows on the train last week (lounge and sleeper) were not too bad. Except the window at the back of the train, that was extra-filthy.

We got stuck in the desert for 12 hours, and car doors and windows were opened. The crew had to get a couple of sick people to ambulances, and after they had the doors opened we opened the windows to watch. Plus, with the power off we needed the ventilation! The open door seems very dangerous, there was quite a drop if you add the tumbing-down-the-roadbed part. The crew told us to shut the door (and open it when they wanted to climb back in!) but not the window. I got some good pix out of the open window.
Call me crazy! but I have clened the outside of the bottom windows in the Lounge car on the SWC a few times .

Peter
 
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