I was just wondering how Amtraks equipment situation is for the long distance trains is now a days? How is Beech Grove doing on getting wrecked damaged cars back on track? I know in 2002 the equipment for long distance trains (Mainly Superliners) was dyer! Hopefully this year there will be enough cars on the rails to have good sized capacity on the Long Distance runs!
Hows the equipment situation
- Thread starter P40Power
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Viewliner
Engineer
Hey, a slow repair is better than none. I'm happy to see some progress. Lets hope they can get Superliners for the Cardinal in time for either the October or next April (latter more likely) schedule change.
EmpireBuilderFan
Lead Service Attendant
Amtrak must be planning for the summer addition of equipment. I was watching the sleeper availablity on #28 (Portland section of the Builder) for May 11th, which is the day I'm scheduled to depart for summer break. Overnight, accomodation availability went from only lower level and reserved coach open to all accomodations available. At about the same time, prices dropped quite dramatically. Needless to say, that was also about the same time as I purchased my tickets. 
Yes, tuballen. I hope so also.I have been there and seen how much business that CHI-DEN sleeper gets. In the pre-Amtrak past there was so much traffic to and from Denver alone there was a completely separate streamliner, the Denver Zephyr. It had no connection to the California Zephyr---two completely different trains. But that just to give you an idea of how much of a market there was. In fact he very earliest "Denver Zephyr" was one of the earliest streamliners(late 30's), a little short articulated (all joined together) consist, as I recall.
Well in the East, hopefully there are enough Amfleet IIs and Viewliners to equip all the Long Distance trains for summer. Back in 97 the Lake Shore used to run commonly with 5 NYP coaches and 2 BOS coaches, but now its more common to see 3-4 NYP coaches and 2 BOS coaches, though alot of the time in the summer there are usually enough people on the train to fill up 5 or more coaches. How is the Amfleet II situation? Are there alot of these cars out of service? and one more question, does Beech Grove repair alot of Amfleet cars or does other shops such as the Bear, DE shop handle most of them? I know the Viewliner situation is pretty tight, which it always has been pretty much, especially since Viewliners started going on the Three Rivers and Cardinal. I still think Amtrak should have put retention tanks on those Heritage cars for the Three Rivers and use them on that train, that would free up a couple of Viewliners right there!
I last rode the CZ eastbound three years ago. It arrived Dever one hour early, allowing me, for the first time ever, to roam around a little of the city, and also the station. I was overwhelmed at the number of people l saw boarding in Denver. We added one coach and one sleeper, each must have been full.
The Devner Zephyr, referred to above, was, I think, the last brand new full streamliner built by the railroads. That for its re-equipment in about 1956. I also think it carried the nation's first ever slumbercoach. And there were other trains, and other routes, from CHI to Denver. so the market is there. The Denver Zephyr was scheduled as a busnesspersons train, leaving each city about 4 p.m. arrivng about 9 or so the next morning. But it was not all blue suit business--a few cars from it went on to Colorado Springs.
The Devner Zephyr, referred to above, was, I think, the last brand new full streamliner built by the railroads. That for its re-equipment in about 1956. I also think it carried the nation's first ever slumbercoach. And there were other trains, and other routes, from CHI to Denver. so the market is there. The Denver Zephyr was scheduled as a busnesspersons train, leaving each city about 4 p.m. arrivng about 9 or so the next morning. But it was not all blue suit business--a few cars from it went on to Colorado Springs.
Bill,Bill Haithcoat said:
Yes, it was hectic as all heck for us, the crew! My experience last summer was that those two cars that got added on were indeed full, and they were full of only DEN-CHI passengers. There were yet probably another 50-100 on average that boarded other cars going to intermediate stations. It is quite a busy time for us at Denver.
Allen
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