Hiawatha unique train consist tonight (1/28/20)

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DSS&A

Lead Service Attendant
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Aug 21, 2015
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The 5:08 pm northbound Hiawatha has seven passenger cars with a Siemens Charger on the lead and GE Dash 8-32BWH on the rear. The consist has one Amfleet business class, 2 Amfleet coaches and 4 Horizon coaches.
 
The 5:08 pm northbound Hiawatha has seven passenger cars with a Siemens Charger on the lead and GE Dash 8-32BWH on the rear. The consist has one Amfleet business class, 2 Amfleet coaches and 4 Horizon coaches.

Probably testing out the Siemens on the Hiawatha similar to the Empire Builder's test, which took place out of Chicago today. The consist was likely used to test tonnage or axle count and likely not a revenue run.
 
The last few times I've ridden the Hiawatha (at least a handful of times in the last half-year or so), one or both of the trainsets have had 7 cars, 6 coaches (mostly Horizon with some Amfleet) and 1 Amfleet cafe (the ones without Business Class seating, just table seating on both sides of the center cafe) with the cafe portion not in use but tables available for extra seating, and usually but not always a Charger on the north/west end and an F40 cabbage on the south/east end.
 
Hi,
Chargers have been assigned consistanly to the Hiawatha trains since May 2019. I rarely see a Genesis loco on the Hiawatha trains anymore. I know the Hiawatha I saw yesterday was a revenue train because I saw all of the passengers on it as it passes my train.

I saw another Hiawatha train consist today racing southbound across Wisconsin with Charger 4624, 1 AmCafe, 6 Horizon coaches and GE #517. This consist was also on the 5:08 pm northbound to Milwaukee tonight.
 
Hi,
Chargers have been assigned consistanly to the Hiawatha trains since May 2019. I rarely see a Genesis loco on the Hiawatha trains anymore. I know the Hiawatha I saw yesterday was a revenue train because I saw all of the passengers on it as it passes my train.

I saw another Hiawatha train consist today racing southbound across Wisconsin with Charger 4624, 1 AmCafe, 6 Horizon coaches and GE #517. This consist was also on the 5:08 pm northbound to Milwaukee tonight.

I'm wondering why AmCafes and Amfleet Business Class are involved in the consists then. Are there service changes in store?

I'll be on the Hiawatha from GLN-CHI three weeks from Saturday...I'll see if there are any of the oddities on my train, if I can.
 
There is no service change in store for the Hiawatha. The consist has been seven cars for about a year now. The seventh car is typically a cafe car (though no food service is available), open to passengers only during the peak trains (330, 332, 337, and 339) on weekdays for extra capacity. It’s only open on those trains because Wisconsin has to pay for an extra conductor for the seventh car to be open, so they only do it for trains that need the capacity.

Having a Siemens Charger on the head end isn’t new, either, as those have been the regular motive power on the Hiawatha for 4-5 years now (or whenever they went into service in the Midwest).

Honestly, having a Dash 8 on the other end isn’t really all that noteworthy, as that happens routinely whenever the cabbage cars break down (which, for some specific units, can be quite frequently).
 
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