Mixed Amfleet consists

[JSmith]

Today I took a short round-trip from Niagara Falls, NY to Buffalo-Exchange St and back on the Maple Leaf, for the AGR 20,000,000th member bonus points promotion. On the first trip, I was in Amfleet I #82572, which is a "Regional Coachclass (Push-Pull)", with blue-green seats and not a whole lot of legroom. On the way back, I was in Amfleet II #25057, with dark blue seats, foot rests, and curtains on the windows. To exit the train, I walked through #82731 which was also in the "Regional Coachclass" setup.

I was a little surprised - I thought the Maple Leaf was running all Amfleet IIs. My question is: when they mix cars like this, do they attempt to use the roomier Amfleet IIs for passengers going all the way from NFL to NYP (or a significant portion of it) and save the more cramped Amfleet Is for short-haul passengers like me? Or is it kind of random how the consists are assembled and how the conductors choose to seat their passengers?

I liked the Amfleet II significantly better. We are on the LSL in a couple of weeks for a 3 hour trip - I hope we draw one of them for that trip. Maybe my memory is playing tricks on me, but I thought the "Regional Coachclass" layout was more cramped-feeling than the refurbished Amfleet I I rode three months ago on the Empire Service.

Are the "Regional Coachclass" cars named as such because they're the standard car for Northeast Regional trains?

Also, what does "Push-Pull" refer to? Does it mean the seats can rotate and the car can be coupled facing in either direction?

Is there a list somewhere of all of the possible coach configurations for Amfleet cars and how to tell them apart?

 

[AlanB]

I too though that the Leaf was all Amfleet II, but perhaps this is how they got the extra cars for the Adirondack, by running mixed consists on both the Leaf and the Adirondack, with those AMF II's going the longer haul passengers. And yes, I would hope that the conductor seats those going the longest distance in the long distance cars.

Yes, Regional Coachclass implies that the cars were designed to run on the Northeast Regionals.

Push-pull means that the car is setup with the necessary cables that permit Amtrak to place a cab car at one end of the train to be able to control the engine at the other end of the train. The seats rotate on most Amtrak cars and have nothing to do with push-pull.

This list doesn't really help you to tell how to tell the cars apart, other than by car number, but it will give you some idea at least of the various types out on the road.

 

[Green Maned Lion]

I too though that the Leaf was all Amfleet II, but perhaps this is how they got the extra cars for the Adirondack, by running mixed consists on both the Leaf and the Adirondack, with those AMF II's going the longer haul passengers. And yes, I would hope that the conductor seats those going the longest distance in the long distance cars.
Yes, Regional Coachclass implies that the cars were designed to run on the Northeast Regionals.

Push-pull means that the car is setup with the necessary cables that permit Amtrak to place a cab car at one end of the train to be able to control the engine at the other end of the train. The seats rotate on most Amtrak cars and have nothing to do with push-pull.

This list doesn't really help you to tell how to tell the cars apart, other than by car number, but it will give you some idea at least of the various types out on the road.

I've also seen an Amfleet I running on the Pennsy.

 

[jis]

My guess is that they needed 4 Amfleet IIs (2 per consists) for the Adirondack. This they achieved by subbing 1 Amfleet by and Amfleet I on the two Pennsylvanian consists and the two Maple Leaf consists. As I said just a guess trying to fit the observed facts with a scheme.

 

[AlanB]

My guess is that they needed 4 Amfleet IIs (2 per consists) for the Adirondack. This they achieved by subbing 1 Amfleet by and Amfleet I on the two Pennsylvanian consists and the two Maple Leaf consists. As I said just a guess trying to fit the observed facts with a scheme.

Makes sense to me. I was certainly wondering where they planned to find those extra cars in the first place. I'm glad that they are doing it that way, as the Adirondack really does need AMF II's for the long haul pax.

 

[cpamtfan]

They've had mixed Amfleet day trains for a while.

 

[rtabern]

In the past year or so they have been adding Amfleet cars to the Hiawatha train sets between Milwaukee and Chicago. My guess is they don't have enough Horizon cars in Chicago when they make up the train? This summer they have been adding a 6th car to the Milwaukee trains... 2 Amfleets and usually 4 Horizon cars. Generally I perfer the Amfleet because they're not as bright... and apparently some passengers don't think they can sit in the "different looking cars" so they are often less crowded.