All things Pennsylvanian AND Keystone West

Amtrak7 wrote:

Suburban Station wrote:It will not be an overnight train. Not only is demand lower for overnight trains without sleepers it would be useless to most of the state. I'd look at a train running closer to the pennsylvanians original schedule which ran opposite the current train

But given the run time, having the entire run be at a "reasonable" hour isn't possible. The current 7:30
noa Pittsburgh departure can't really be made earlier. Add a second one in the evening, say at 6pm, and you've got yourself a post-1AM arrival in NYP.

Going the other way, I guess you could have the westbound leave earlier, but any departure from NYP post-2pm would get you into Pittsburgh after midnight.

Not true. The old run left 120 out of pgh which is 9 pm. A 215 out of ny would be 1130 or so. Presumably the current westbound would be moved back to its old schedule which would be roughly the 725 am westbound

Such a schedule was what was looked at by Amtrak and PennDOT when they were last considering a new day train on the line. The thought was that the earlier train would take more of the ridership looking to get to Pittsburgh as a destination in itself, at a reasonable hour, while the later train would handle connecting traffic for points west on the Capitol Limited.

And now for something completely different: Pennsylvanians on Thanksgiving Sunday with seven cars
train 43 arriving PHL from New York and departing for Pittsburgh
train 42 arriving from Pittsburgh with P42DC 145

chuchubob wrote:And now for something completely different: Pennsylvanians on Thanksgiving Sunday with seven cars
train 43 arriving PHL from New York and departing for Pittsburgh
train 42 arriving from Pittsburgh with P42DC 145

If you wait until next month, (Jan at the outside) the Pennsylvanian is likely to have a slightly different look, particularly on the Keystone corridor.

Just catching up on this thread, which passed me by. If we add the sleeper cars, timing may not be so bad.

Once again, looking at the schedules at Pittsburgh:

• Capitol Limited DC Bound: Arrive from Chicago 5:05A leave 5:20A, arrive DC 1:05P
• Pennsylvanian NY Bound: leave 7:30A, arrive Harrisburg 12:55P, leave 1:05P, arrive Philly 2:55P, leave 3:25P, arrive NY 4:50p.
• Pennsylvanian Pittsburg bound: leave NY 10:52A, arrive Philly 12:12P, leave 12:42P, arrive Harrisburg 2:26P, leave 2:36p, arrive Pittsburg by 8:05P.
• Capitol Limited Pittsburg bound: leave DC 4:05P, arrive Pittsburgh 11:48P.

When I rode the Pennsy, I got in Pittsburgh around 7pm (and I'm considering it again this year). If we employ another train with a sleeper or two, it'll be quite possible to run it. Pennsylvanian second train schedule.

That said, I wouldn't mind an overnight train... from DC, up through Baltimore (hell, start it here, we'll rebuild gate B to be high-block w/elevator), then over in Pennsylvania. Call it the Cougar Mountain, because you bet folks will love extra trains going to Anthrocon (and I really don't like the timing of the Capitol Limited. 4pm to Midnight? Then 5am to 1pm on the way back?!?). With the extra track on the side for berthing a train in the morning/afternoon hours, I think it can be pulled off. Cougar Mountain train schedule.

BTW, the sheets I've linked to, if you copy them and tweak the minutes between train stops and the start time for each run, will nicely calculate each stop time.

ThirdRail7 wrote:

chuchubob wrote:And now for something completely different: Pennsylvanians on Thanksgiving Sunday with seven cars
train 43 arriving PHL from New York and departing for Pittsburgh
train 42 arriving from Pittsburgh with P42DC 145

If you wait until next month, (Jan at the outside) the Pennsylvanian is likely to have a slightly different look, particularly on the Keystone corridor.

Train 42 on January 25 looked remarkably similar to train 42 on Thanksgiving Sunday, except with the usual six cars instead of seven.

Perhaps whatever was planned fell through?

Wasn't the Washington section of the Broadway, in its final Amtrak incarnation, run on a schedule similar to the proposed Cougar Mountain schedule?

chuchubob wrote:Train 42 on January 25 looked remarkably similar to train 42 on Thanksgiving Sunday, except with the usual six cars instead of seven.

Actually, it changed and changed back. You missed it that quick. However, other things may be afoot.

ThirdRail7 wrote:

chuchubob wrote:Train 42 on January 25 looked remarkably similar to train 42 on Thanksgiving Sunday, except with the usual six cars instead of seven.

Actually, it changed and changed back. You missed it that quick. However, other things may be afoot.

O.K., but they should tread carefully. The Pennsylvanian is one of the most successful trains in Amtrak's stable. So do more of what's been working, but don't mess up!

From the FRA "Quarterly Report on the Performance and Service Quality of Intercity Passenger Train Operations”
for year ending Sept 30, 2015 and released Dec. 30, 2015, a table of info,
PERCENTAGE OF FULLY ALLOCATED OPERATING COSTS COVERED BY PASSENGER RELATED REVENUE, TABLE 2 (B),
Excluding State Revenue:

Acelas
195

Regionals
137

Keystones
70

Carolinian
94

Pennsylvanian
71

Vermonter
61

Palmetto
60

Meteor
54

Star
46

Lake Shore Ltd
47

Crescent
43

Capitol Ltd
40

Cardinal
34

ThirdRail7 wrote:

chuchubob wrote:Train 42 on January 25 looked remarkably similar to train 42 on Thanksgiving Sunday, except with the usual six cars instead of seven.

Actually, it changed and changed back. You missed it that quick. However, other things may be afoot.

Was it an ACS64 to Harrisburg?

P42 156 is the ph I Heritage loco.

Any word on the second train penndot asked about?

Second train to Pittsburgh still suffers from the same problems that Amtrak has every where. No spare equipment - another loco and V-2 coaches to at least replace the Amfleets needed for the service.

east point wrote:Second train to Pittsburgh still suffers from the same problems that Amtrak has every where. No spare equipment - another loco and V-2 coaches to at least replace the Amfleets needed for the service.

Perhaps more accurately, poor equipment utilization and lack of capital investment to improve trip times. Anyways, you are saying it's officially dead?