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DAWall

Train Attendant
Joined
Apr 8, 2009
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75
I just saw this youtube video

that shows the Hoosier State with Superliners. This wasn't all a Beech Grove shop move, the entire train was Superliners. Any ideas why Amtrak did this? Are they running short of single level equipment do to the cold? Do the Superliners deal with the cold better, so they're using them instead of the single level coach's?
 
Yes, the Superliners do handle the cold much better than do the Horizons or the Amfleets. Mainly because all the pipes remain inside the car, instead of under the car.

Hard to say if that's why they are on that train, or if the yard just had problems and sent out whatever it could.
 
AlanB said:
Yes, the Superliners do handle the cold much better than do the Horizons or the Amfleets. Mainly because all the pipes remain inside the car, instead of under the car.

Hard to say if that's why they are on that train, or if the yard just had problems and sent out whatever it could.
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If the Horizons have such a tough time with the cold y'all should send them down here. It is a nice 75 degrees in HOS today.

That way we can finally start a HOS-DAL service.

We can just take the subsidy from Gov Goodhair's weekly salon bill. :giggle:
 
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Or send them down here to Atlanta along with some of those P40s still sitting in Bear. They're basically commuter cars right? Sure I'd prefer EMUs like METRA is getting, but I'll take what I can get :p

P.S. look at my forum signature :p
 
Amtrak would love nothing more than to send the Horizon's to a southern clime. Unfortunately, without any new cars to replace the Horizons at least for now, they won't be going leaving the Chicago area any time soon.
 
Amtrak regularly substitutes Superliners for Horizon cars on the Michigan trains during the winter. The Horizon just don't work very well in cold, snowy weather. This is the first time I've seen the Hoosier State with a solid Superliner train. Northern Indiana was hit very hard with lake effect snow during the first part of this week, so that may have brought about the Superliner substitution. Probably just two of the cars were open for passengers with the rest returning from Beech Grove
 
MikefromCrete said:
Amtrak regularly substitutes Superliners for Horizon cars on the Michigan trains during the winter. The Horizon just don't work very well in cold, snowy weather. This is the first time I've seen the Hoosier State with a solid Superliner train. Northern Indiana was hit very hard with lake effect snow during the first part of this week, so that may have brought about the Superliner substitution. Probably just two of the cars were open for passengers with the rest returning from Beech Grove
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Having ridden the Hoosier State a lot, I'd say you're right. Generally the HS only has two cars open to passengers: one for passengers to/from Indianapolis and one for passengers to/from Lafayette, IN. (Crawfordsville, Rensselaer, and Dyer passengers are just fit in where possible; there's a lot fewer of them than from the other two stations.) Superliners on the HS aren't a problem like they are on the Cardinal, since the HS goes nowhere near the Northeast Corridor.

(Thought I'd chime in with my first post on this subject, since it's a train I came to know and love when I lived in Lafayette....)
 
AlanB said:
Amtrak would love nothing more than to send the Horizon's to a southern clime. Unfortunately, without any new cars to replace the Horizons at least for now, they won't be going leaving the Chicago area any time soon.
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Not only is there no equipment to replace them in the Midwest, but there's also really no service in the south that they could run on. You could run three or four on the Heartland Flyer, and then...you still have some 70 odd cars that need a home.
 
Trogdor said:
AlanB said:
Amtrak would love nothing more than to send the Horizon's to a southern clime. Unfortunately, without any new cars to replace the Horizons at least for now, they won't be going leaving the Chicago area any time soon.
Click to expand...
Not only is there no equipment to replace them in the Midwest, but there's also really no service in the south that they could run on. You could run three or four on the Heartland Flyer, and then...you still have some 70 odd cars that need a home.
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Amtrak could always add service.... :rolleyes: Of course you're right, they'd have to find 70-some new cars to operate out of Chicago first. Anybody got any??
 
Ok, here's a wacky question, but when they do substitute Midwest service trains with Superliner equipment, where does the Superliner equipment come from in the first place?
 
During the winter, ridership demand falls off quite a bit, so lots of LD trains run with two coaches instead of the usual three.
 
HoosierStater said:
Trogdor said:
AlanB said:
Amtrak would love nothing more than to send the Horizon's to a southern clime. Unfortunately, without any new cars to replace the Horizons at least for now, they won't be going leaving the Chicago area any time soon.
Click to expand...
Not only is there no equipment to replace them in the Midwest, but there's also really no service in the south that they could run on. You could run three or four on the Heartland Flyer, and then...you still have some 70 odd cars that need a home.
Click to expand...
Amtrak could always add service.... :rolleyes: Of course you're right, they'd have to find 70-some new cars to operate out of Chicago first. Anybody got any??
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Wisconsin will be getting two Talgo sets for the Hiawatha service and Illinois will be buying new equipment for the Lincoln Service (based on the high speed grant), so at least some of those Horizons will be available for service elsewhere within the next two to three years.
 
Shawn Ryu said:
zephyr17 said:
Chicago -- Hub for all the Superliner equipped trains except the Coast Starlight, Sunset Limited and Autotrain.
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Chicago is the hub for all long distance trains except Coast Starlight, Sunset Limited, and Silver series services.
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Yeah, but the main point was about Superliner trains, not LD trains in general.

Now, say "Silver series services" fast three times. :D
 
In recent weeks, the Hoosier State has been running with 4 amfleets, and not using Horizons at all except for the "trial" Horizon lounge. Not sure if that was brought on by the cold weather, or if the stimulus money rebuilds has allowed Amtrak to switch to amfleet.
 
DAWall said:
In recent weeks, the Hoosier State has been running with 4 amfleets, and not using Horizons at all except for the "trial" Horizon lounge. Not sure if that was brought on by the cold weather, or if the stimulus money rebuilds has allowed Amtrak to switch to amfleet.
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Hmm...four's usually a bit long for the Hoosier State, which was usually two coaches plus an engine (plus the trial lounge now, of course). Were some of these Amfleets possibly run to Beech Grove?
 
CN put a minimum axle restriction on the train. So it's been running with more cars. As in this video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dDIckJ1J118. Not sure how many are in actual service and not along for the ride..but more to the point, is Amtrak has been using Amfleet and not Horizons on the Hoosier State for several weeks now. Seeing the train with a solid Superliner consist like in my OP is even more rare.
 
DAWall said:
CN put a minimum axle restriction on the train. So it's been running with more cars. As in this video: http://www.youtube.c...?v=dDIckJ1J118. Not sure how many are in actual service and not along for the ride..but more to the point, is Amtrak has been using Amfleet and not Horizons on the Hoosier State for several weeks now. Seeing the train with a solid Superliner consist like in my OP is even more rare.
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I thought it ran over CSX tracks...is CN just in Chicago suberbia or something?
 
MikefromCrete said:
Wisconsin will be getting two Talgo sets for the Hiawatha service and Illinois will be buying new equipment for the Lincoln Service (based on the high speed grant), so at least some of those Horizons will be available for service elsewhere within the next two to three years.
Click to expand...
Iowa also got funding to buy new rolling stock for the Iowa City to Chicago service as part of their $230 million award in the FY2010 HSIPR grants. California got $100 million to buy new rolling stock, but those will be bi-levels to expand their current fleet. I would expect Illinois and Iowa to team up on the purchase, but don't know whether they would get single levels, bi-levels, or Talgos.

If no one else for the Chicago hub services buys Talgos, it really won't make sense for Wisconsin to run only 2 Talgo trainsets mixed in with the regular fleet. Think about the maintenance overhead and operational complexity of 2 unique trainsets with different seating capacity. Would not be surprised if Washington State and/or Oregon buy the 2 Wisconsin Talgos to be able to increase daily frequency in a few years. Washington State did get up to $161 million more for the Cascades corridor for more improvements.
 
I think the MORR used to run Sups in the wintertime as well - but not the past few years.
 
I wouldnt be stunned to see Talgo broker a deal where they move down to Illinois and build the new trains for the midwest. That seems to be how Talgo's "hell on wheels" business plan works. Pat Quinn in Illinois has been very receptive to the idea of Talgo setting up shop in Illinois, so don't be surprised to see Talgo be the rolling stock of choice for the Midwest corridors.
 
eagle628 said:
DAWall said:
CN put a minimum axle restriction on the train. So it's been running with more cars. As in this video: http://www.youtube.c...?v=dDIckJ1J118. Not sure how many are in actual service and not along for the ride..but more to the point, is Amtrak has been using Amfleet and not Horizons on the Hoosier State for several weeks now. Seeing the train with a solid Superliner consist like in my OP is even more rare.
Click to expand...
I thought it ran over CSX tracks...is CN just in Chicago suberbia or something?
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The Hoosier State uses CN for a few miles between Munster Indiana (junction CSX ex Monon) and Thorton Junction (UP Villa Grove sub ex C&EI}.
 
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