Equipment Swapping

[ColdRain&Snow]

I'm up in Emeryville today to do some railfanning before my trip out on #6 tomorrow morning. My hotel balcony is directly across from the EMY station, so I have been seeing quite a bit of Amtrak action. Here are some pics taken so far.

My question relates to the commingling of Amtrak's locomotives with those of the state sponsored trains such as Amtrak California, Cascades, et al. I regularly see state sponsored trains' locomotives subbing on Amtrak long distance trains such as Cascades engines running on the Coast Starlight and Empire Builder. And I have noticed up here in Emeryville that state sponsored trains use Amtrak's Genesis units as well, including AMTK 1 and Heritage Unit 184 seen here last night.

Does Amtrak own the state sponsored trains' locomotives? Or since they are operated by Amtrak, is it just that the states don't care that Amtrak uses their locos on its long distance trains so long as the state sponsored trains are provided power of some kind by Amtrak? Thanks for any insights.

 

[Trogdor]

Caltrans owns the CDTX2000-series engines (the F59s and P32s in the 2000 series). Amtrak owns the F59s in the 400-series (which are all painted in either Surfliner or Cascades colors).

Thus, Amtrak can really do whatever they want with their F59s, and they can and often do wind up elsewhere. The Caltrans-owned engines stay on the Capitol Corridor and San Joaquin, except when they need to go elsewhere for maintenance.

 

[ColdRain&Snow]

Caltrans owns the CDTX2000-series engines (the F59s and P32s in the 2000 series). Amtrak owns the F59s in the 400-series (which are all painted in either Surfliner or Cascades colors).

Thus, Amtrak can really do whatever they want with their F59s, and they can and often do wind up elsewhere. The Caltrans-owned engines stay on the Capitol Corridor and San Joaquin, except when they need to go elsewhere for maintenance.

Thank you for the helpful information, Trogdor. 184 just passed by again pushing a Capitol Corridor train. So in this case, is Amtrak just being a good partner by providing the CC its power today, or does Caltrans pay Amtrak extra if it needs to use one of Amtrak's engines?

 

[Trogdor]

Thank you for the helpful information, Trogdor. 184 just passed by again pushing a Capitol Corridor train. So in this case, is Amtrak just being a good partner by providing the CC its power today, or does Caltrans pay Amtrak extra if it needs to use one of Amtrak's engines?

Don't specifically know the answer to that. I'm sure it's buried in some contract somewhere that Amtrak has to provide power for the California trains if there aren't enough Caltrans locomotives available, but whether it's billed per use, or if it's just a flat fee part of the contract, not my area.

If I were to guess, I'd say it's just built into the contract, since Amtrak is responsible for the maintenance of the Caltrans equipment, and therefore one could theoretically argue that if there aren't enough CDTX engines to go around then it's Amtrak's "fault" for not maintaining them properly.

 

[sechs]

Actually, there aren't enough engines in the northern pool, period. There's not enough rolling stock to meet the needs of the Capitol Corridor and San Joaquin.

Presumably, the Genesis locomotive is leased, along with the Superliner coaches.

 

[Big Iron]

I'm up in Emeryville today to do some railfanning before my trip out on #6 tomorrow morning. My hotel balcony is directly across from the EMY station, so I have been seeing quite a bit of Amtrak action. Here are some pics taken so far.

My question relates to the commingling of Amtrak's locomotives with those of the state sponsored trains such as Amtrak California, Cascades, et al. I regularly see state sponsored trains' locomotives subbing on Amtrak long distance trains such as Cascades engines running on the Coast Starlight and Empire Builder. And I have noticed up here in Emeryville that state sponsored trains use Amtrak's Genesis units as well, including AMTK 1 and Heritage Unit 184 seen here last night.

Does Amtrak own the state sponsored trains' locomotives? Or since they are operated by Amtrak, is it just that the states don't care that Amtrak uses their locos on its long distance trains so long as the state sponsored trains are provided power of some kind by Amtrak? Thanks for any insights.

Off topic but you scored some great fan shots for one day, museum train, UP lead loco, heritage unit and museum train.

 

[ColdRain&Snow]

I'm up in Emeryville today to do some railfanning before my trip out on #6 tomorrow morning. My hotel balcony is directly across from the EMY station, so I have been seeing quite a bit of Amtrak action. Here are some pics taken so far.

My question relates to the commingling of Amtrak's locomotives with those of the state sponsored trains such as Amtrak California, Cascades, et al. I regularly see state sponsored trains' locomotives subbing on Amtrak long distance trains such as Cascades engines running on the Coast Starlight and Empire Builder. And I have noticed up here in Emeryville that state sponsored trains use Amtrak's Genesis units as well, including AMTK 1 and Heritage Unit 184 seen here last night.

Does Amtrak own the state sponsored trains' locomotives? Or since they are operated by Amtrak, is it just that the states don't care that Amtrak uses their locos on its long distance trains so long as the state sponsored trains are provided power of some kind by Amtrak? Thanks for any insights.

Off topic but you scored some great fan shots for one day, museum train, UP lead loco, heritage unit and museum train.

It's been a nice variety up here! Gotta keep working on those darn night shots though. Woke up to some interesting weather, perhaps we'll see some snow up in the pass this afternoon.