Carolinian discussion

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McLeansvilleAppFan

OBS Chief
AU Supporting Member
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Jul 29, 2019
Messages
518
Location
Greensboro, NC
What is the normal consist for the Carolinian?

No baggage car today 24 Nov 2023 on 80. Not sure if they added a coach but I counted 1 engine, 5 coach, a cafe and 1 business class.

I thought there might be an extra coach for the holiday travels but that would seem to make a baggage car even more needed.
 
PVD said:
I thought it was the Piedmonts that had baggage, not the Carolinian. Do I have that wrong? Sounds like an extra coach.
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Baggage cars have returned so both 79/80 and 89/90 have baggage cars now. Though I think I read they removed them when they added the extra holiday cars - due to platform lengths, I think.
 
AmtrakBlue said:
Baggage cars have returned so both 79/80 and 89/90 have baggage cars now. Though I think I read they removed them when they added the extra holiday cars - due to platform lengths, I think.
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If they removed it the reason must have been something else since the Carolinian is not really all that long. It shares the baggage service stations with the Silver Star and the Crescent, with the caveat that it uses a different platform from the Crescent at Greensboro, but IIRC that platform is not all that short.
 
AmtrakBlue said:
Baggage cars have returned so both 79/80 and 89/90 have baggage cars now. Though I think I read they removed them when they added the extra holiday cars - due to platform lengths, I think.
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79 hasn’t had a baggage car all week. I’ve been passing them near Zoo on 600 every day. So that logic may be true.
 
jis said:
If they removed it the reason must have been something else since the Carolinian is not really all that long. It shares the baggage service stations with the Silver Star and the Crescent, with the caveat that it uses a different platform from the Crescent at Greensboro, but IIRC that platform is not all that short.
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Charlotte has a platform that is very long and I can't see the Carolinian being so long as to not fit on the platform with an extra coach and keep a baggage car. A few stations don't have checked baggage and Greensboro has a long platform for both platforms. Not all of the platform is covered but it is able to have room for the station baggage golf cart to move to the end of the platform if needed.

Seems like you could at least attach a baggage car and use it at the stations that have the platform length and if any stations just can't fit this short train then those stations go without checked baggage. Having checked baggage for CLT, GRO, RGH (and likely DNC and Cary) would open up some space for those stations that either don't have checked baggage and likely few passengers such as Burlington, or even any bigger stations that just can't fit the entire train on the platform.

Could it be so many Amtrak station agents take off over the next few days there just is not enough staff to handle bags and everything else. Most stations baggage check is at the station agent window but Greensboro has a separate room and that does require more than one person to work that station for the more in-demand trains such as the Carolinian and Crescent.
 
In my experience Cary is the one that routinely requires the Star to double spot. Its platform is quite short on both sides IIRC and also blocks a grade crossing at least on the Hamlet side.

BTW, the station manager at GRO is quite a character. I got to talk to him briefly in the passing when I spent many hours at GRO connecting from the Carolinian to the Crescent. He does take his job very seriously. They seem to need to do a station sweep every so often to get non-Amtrak ticketed people, mostly spillovers from the bus station, out of the Amtrak waiting room. It is a beautiful and clean station.
 
I had a video clip of this morning's 80 and I posted on another social media site. A reply was that the storage track in Charlotte can only hold 7 cars. Looking at Google Earth I think I know of which track the Carolinian is stored though it also looks like it could hold about 8 or 9 cars this reasoning does make a ton of sense.
 
jis said:
In my experience Cary is the one that routinely requires the Star to double spot. Its platform is quite short on both sides IIRC and also blocks a grade crossing at least on the Hamlet side.

BTW, the station manager at GRO is quite a character. I got to talk to him briefly in the passing when I spent many hours at GRO connecting from the Carolinian to the Crescent. He does take his job very seriously. They seem to need to do a station sweep every so often to get non-Amtrak ticketed people, mostly spillovers from the bus station, out of the Amtrak waiting room. It is a beautiful and clean station.
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Greensboro is gorgeous for a station of its size. I think I say that every time I mention my home station, but it really is.
 
McLeansvilleAppFan said:
I had a video clip of this morning's 80 and I posted on another social media site. A reply was that the storage track in Charlotte can only hold 7 cars. Looking at Google Earth I think I know of which track the Carolinian is stored though it also looks like it could hold about 8 or 9 cars this reasoning does make a ton of sense.
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That makes sense. It certainly is the case that in the consist plan Carolinian never has more than 8 units, 7 passengers cars and one locomotive. If a Coach is added, the Bag gets removed.
 
jis said:
That makes sense. It certainly is the case that in the consist plan Carolinian never has more than 8 units, 7 passengers cars and one locomotive. If a Coach is added, the Bag gets removed.
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The best could tell the siding for the Carolinian measures ~~ 700 feet. 8 units at 85 feet = ~~ 680 feet. Fairly tight storage. Too bad there probably has never been consideration to add / remove cars at Raleigh?? Does anyone know what the planned length of the CLT gateway sstation platform is planned?. Also the length of the never used maintenance location?
 
west point said:
The best could tell the siding for the Carolinian measures ~~ 700 feet. 8 units at 85 feet = ~~ 680 feet. Fairly tight storage. Too bad there probably has never been consideration to add / remove cars at Raleigh?? Does anyone know what the planned length of the CLT gateway sstation platform is planned?. Also the length of the never used maintenance location?
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The covered part of the platform measures 1500 ft and the siding is around 700-730 on the long side but the tracks may be too close at that point 9 cars would certainly be the limit and that might be impossible. Platforms at new station are 1100 ft long. They are pretty easy to see on Google Earth as they are a block from the baseball stadium.

Greensboro is 1179 ft for the northern Crescent platform though the cover is shorter than the platform. The southern Greensboro platform for the Carolinian/Piedmont is 786 feet long and the cover is shorter than the entire platform.

That reduction in platform length at Charlotte is very telling about the history of train travel in the US. I wonder how long the Crescent was in 1979 when Amtrak finally took over the Crescent.
 

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