Just curious, what made you think they're rebuilt Amfleet II's? Just the shininess?
Long Distance (LD) fleet replacement discussion (2022 - 2024Q1)
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Funny. My wife just took the Meteor from Florida to New York (continuing onto Boston) and I was really surprised at how bad the "new" Viewliner equipment is looking. Really shabby.
jis
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Oldest of these cars are 8 years old. Perhaps it is time for them a get a refresh of the livery vinyl stickers
It wasn't just the stickers. The Viewliner II car exteriors looked surprisingly worn as did the engines. On the other hand I am often impressed how good the Superliners still look and they are much older.Oldest of these cars are 8 years old. Perhaps it is time for them a get a refresh of the livery vinyl stickers
jis
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They do get washed a little more often than the Viewliners for several years now too.
There was a time when some Class 1 railroads felt the need to replace their top trains equipment in only 11 years, to be competitive.
Hence both the prewar 1938 streamlined Brroadway Limited, and Twentieth Century Limited got all new equipment in 1949…
If only Amtrak could do that today…
Hence both the prewar 1938 streamlined Brroadway Limited, and Twentieth Century Limited got all new equipment in 1949…
If only Amtrak could do that today…
Is that a sleeper or baggage car?
Of course that was for the prestigious name trains. If you were riding the unnamed #397 local to Podunk, you might be riding in a beat up un air conditioned heavyweight coach from the 1920's.
That was the baggage but the train had two Viewliner II sleepers and those looked pretty bad too. One sleeper had some kind of heavy streak stains coming off the roof and covering the windows and side. They certainly didn't look like "new" equipment and it doesn't seem that Amtrak is taking good care of them at least cosmetically.
Well the Chicago yard wash rack was/is out of service. Last weekend, track work in and around the building.
Trying to wash equipment anywhere is always a challenge. Effort and time need to pull the a train set into a wash bay.
Very easy step to skip if the train is running late.
Trying to wash equipment anywhere is always a challenge. Effort and time need to pull the a train set into a wash bay.
Very easy step to skip if the train is running late.
So apparently Amtrak has an active survey out there right now asking AGR members their opinions on different types of future sleeper accommodations including airline style lie-flat seats.
(No link available)
(No link available)
And if they’re short on crews to take the trains through.
This is very positive news. From what I've read elsewhere, it seems they asked about a variety of sleeper types but not anything resembling a 4 or 6-berth common European trains. Not complaining about that, just putting out there for consideration. I would love a lie-flat option!
Someone at Amtrak obviously isn't aware of the existence of portable car washers that are mounted on tow motors. Rotating brushes mounted on top of a modifies tow motor.
For those questioning if elevators will work reliability long term, California Cars all have one in the Cafe for freight. I have no idea if they are passenger rated or what their uptime is like but those cars are now 30 years old.
danasgoodstuff
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Didn't that 11-year-old equipment just get demoted to some 2nd tier train which had really old equipment?
west point
Engineer
Good question. In the 1950s both SOU RR and N&W ran the Jim Crow cars during busier times. The SOU cars were in the 1200 number series. Later SOU heavyweight cars were in the 1000 - 1091 series.
Where’s the elevator? Any pictures or videos of it? Are they on the surfliners too?
Interesting but seems kind of small for some of the larger electric wheelchairs. Maybe the pic is deceiving.
Yes.
Savings in per-passenger CO2 emissions using rail rather than air ... https://cfpub.epa.gov/si/si_public_file_download.cfm?p_download_id=541838
There are contradictory statements from Europe but then again that’s European rail which is far more electrified meaning less emissions on main lines vs the U.S. where we have continued on Diesel.
On the second statement. I was in error. I had to double check my self well I was taking the weekend. It was a projection made by the original Autotrain in justification for its Midwest line. A line that failed. Though a degree of that failure was Autotrain itself which couldn’t maintain operating the second line due to lack of rolling stock.
As someone who has thought a lot about using Amtrak as opposed to flying (reasonably) to reduce my carbon footprint, there's not a lot of great information about diesel locomotives vs. airplane emissions. Most of the existing research covers electric trains in Europe or Asia. With that said, I've found other studies that indicate that even beyond 600 miles, there are significant gains in carbon emission reduction.
https://kleinmanenergy.upenn.edu/ne...ross-the-united-states-the-old-fashioned-way/
This is not to say one study is right and the other is wrong, just that it's hard to get an accurate picture.
It's also worth noting that the Siemens ALC engines coming online for long distance travel claim a 15% reduction in fuel usage from the P42 engines.
All that said, there's one key factor that makes rail travel win. Planes emit other substances beyond CO2, notably sulfur dioxide and soot, at high altitudes in the upper atmosphere. These substances interact with ice particles in the upper atmosphere to create contrails, which surprisingly have a huge impact on warming of the planet. The scientific estimate is that warming for contrails essentially doubles the overall warming impact of plane travel. Caveat: contrails dissipate in a few days, while CO2 remains in the upper atmosphere for 30-40 years at current estimate.
https://e360.yale.edu/features/how-airplane-contrails-are-helping-make-the-planet-warmer
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