Horizon Coach Refurbishment

A few of the Horizons should be reconfigured into LD service so they to be used on a third train set needed for a daily Cardinal. they would be combined with equipment from the Viewliner II order to make that train set.

gokeefe wrote: ↑Sat Jul 13, 2019 9:28 pm I'm guessing these cars are potential candidates for operation on short distance corridor routes in the South. Heartland Flyer, "Gulf Coaster" (or whatever it's named), and potentially any new service in Louisiana serving Baton Rouge.

And the Downeaster, I hope.

Not likely at all. They have a history of trouble in cold climates.

As stated by others . The Horizons have many problems with cold weather. That really limits their reassignments to only trips in warmer climes. Unfortunately not any at present only future proposals, What is needed is for the forth coming Siemens replacement to allow for Amfleet-1s to be reassigned to the many NE routes needing more equipment. That include not only the DownEaster but Springfield, maybe the Vermonter, Ethan Allen, Saratoga racing season, Adirondack, Empire service to Buffalo and beyond, Harrisburg / Pittsburgh, Roanoke + a second train to Lynchburg , Carolinian,, 2nd Norfolk / Newport News. Maybe even the Hiawatha ? So it is not easy to just say lets add a car(s) to route X and forget all the other routes ( A- W )

I thought it was interesting to see confirmation in writing of the Fleet Strategy with regards to this rather large pool of equipment that will be available soon. Redeployment is clearly the intention along with a likely "refresh" of the interiors that should carry these cars to retirement.

Two questions:
-how certain are we that the Horizons still have cold-weather issues? It’s not like Hiawatha Service is known for its moderate temperatures come January, and the Wolverine passes near a town called Hell that literally freezes over
-that large pool of equipment includes a lot of Amfleets, which for all their good looks are getting quite tired. How long do we expect these cars to operate?

gokeefe wrote: ↑Sun Jul 14, 2019 7:28 am Not likely at all. They have a history of trouble in cold climates.

Yup. Forgot all about that.

Amfleet Is show up plenty in Midwestern Corridor services. The days of the Amfleet Is will be over in the short term. They have put in so many years of great service, especially where I live in the Northeast.

Horizon Cars would probably work very well on the trains that are proposed to run between New Orleans and Mobile as well as other proposed services down there. Amtrak should have kept the Horizons for routes in slightly warmer climates to begin with. They probably would have done great operating on a regular basis in the Northeast, especially with all of the high level platforms. The Horizon car concept was started in the Northeast, anyway. It was based off of the design of the original NJT Comet II. I don't know when the Horizons are going to retire but I guess maybe a few more years after the Amfleets retire.

The Downeaster operates in colder climates so having the Horizons operate there wouldn't be a good idea.

The Northeast is not an option because the cars don't have trainline controls for the doors. The Heartland Flyer is the most obvious option by far. There could be a cost savings to the state operator.

I don’t follow. Why would more Horizons cost TX and OK less than fewer Superliners?

Amtrak did a successful rebuild of the ex-NJT Comarrows foe Amtrak -Ca services,As MN and NJT are about to release their remaining
Comet II's as new Bi-level tfock goes online,would be a good time to buy some Comet II's for the Downeaster service,rebuild the interiors
cut down the costs of Amtrak's rental fees.

Amtrak should pick up a small fleet of Comet II's for intra-Florida service,there seems to be a pent up demand for a coach only train from Tampa to Jacksonville,onward to Pensacola on the panhandle.
Brightline will take too long to expand via it self bond funding routine.

Wouldn’t it be nice? More likely to see a state buy those cars off NJT, MNRR or MBTA though, and either buy or rent matching Horizon food service cars. Possibly New York would just keep its own Shoreliner cars and have Amtrak rebuild them to Horizon standard for NYP-ALB service.

The Horizon cold weather issues have been mitigated, although perhaps not solved. One of the biggest problem was the pocket/slider doors for loading passengers, and those were long ago changed to swing-doors like a traditional Pullman car had. The door pockets would fill with ice and jam, and I seem to remember the doors getting off-track, too. I haven't seen a sliding door Horizon in 20 years. I do see Horizons all winter on Detroit trains, though.

mtuandrew wrote: ↑Sun Jul 14, 2019 8:59 pmI don’t follow. Why would more Horizons cost TX and OK less than fewer Superliners?

Depends on rates but Horizon cars might cost less for a variety of reasons. It's black box stuff ... I dont know the actual rates but I wouldn't be surprised at all if they were lower.

mtuandrew wrote: ↑Sun Jul 14, 2019 8:59 pm I don’t follow. Why would more Horizons cost TX and OK less than fewer Superliners?

Lower operating weight = less fuel burn = lower cost to the States.

Might there also be a lower OBS crew requirement?