Saw this car parked in CUS. What do they use it for?
Ya mean like this?That's Beech Grove, Amtrak's business car. Boardman uses it to ride around the system.
What amenities does it have? Is it like a PV car, with sleepers and a lounge area?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.
It has an open platform on one end...........What amenities does it have? Is it like a PV car, with sleepers and a lounge area?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.
And I thought I was causal! :lol: Wondering if he was saying, "Hey how's it going? Are you a railfan"? OR, "STOP TAKING PICTURES OF MY CAR"!!! :lol:Ya mean like this?That's Beech Grove, Amtrak's business car. Boardman uses it to ride around the system.
Thanks for the great photos!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.
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.Are there specialty GPS's that railfans can get for trips?
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.Thanks for the great photos!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.
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.
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 !!!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.
Wow, I didn't see the TV, until just now.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
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!Wow, I didn't see the TV, until just now.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
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?
Call me crazy! but I have clened the outside of the bottom windows in the Lounge car on the SWC a few times .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.
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