Amtrak Downeaster Discussion Thread

Backshophoss wrote:The Diesel comes off at DC,ACS-64 DC to South Station. Sorry no sale.not possible!

Ah. I thought they put a diesel on north of NY somewhere, I don't know why. Maybe they once did? Oh well!

Tuesday, 8/21, is starting off as a bad hair day for the Downeaster. #680 is running over two
hours late due to a "disabled freight train" between Durham and Exeter.

In recent weeks, PAR seems to be running two of its four daily through freight trains more
during the early morning and early evening commuter rush hours with increasing delays to
both the MBTA and Downeasters. I did not get the cause of the disabled train this AM,

Dick H wrote:Tuesday, 8/21, is starting off as a bad hair day for the Downeaster. #680 is running over two
hours late due to a "disabled freight train" between Durham and Exeter.

In recent weeks, PAR seems to be running two of its four daily through freight trains more
during the early morning and early evening commuter rush hours with increasing delays to
both the MBTA and Downeasters. I did not get the cause of the disabled train this AM,

Is it time that NNEPRA, Maine, MBTA, and NH (ha...) to sit down with PanAm and start working out a deal to either buy the track or double track Dover - Haverhill?

dowlingm wrote:

electricron wrote: Why would they not? Do they share maintenance facilities at no charge on the south side of Boston?

I understand reluctance to share a yard but saying "we won't even give you a platform to sit on" seems a bit chippy.

North Station doesn't have a ton of spare capacity. There are only 10 in-service tracks right now. You'd be asking MBTA to turn over 10% of station capacity for several hours each day.

Renegade334 wrote:Is it time that NNEPRA, Maine, MBTA, and NH (ha...) to sit down with PanAm and start working out a deal to either buy the track or double track Dover - Haverhill?

Nope ... Just time for some more "slow but steady" capital grants.

Ridgefielder wrote:

dowlingm wrote:

electricron wrote: Why would they not? Do they share maintenance facilities at no charge on the south side of Boston?

I understand reluctance to share a yard but saying "we won't even give you a platform to sit on" seems a bit chippy.

North Station doesn't have a ton of spare capacity. There are only 10 in-service tracks right now. You'd be asking MBTA to turn over 10% of station capacity for several hours each day.

how many of those tracks are occupied between say 2230 (arrival of a balancing inbound service the night before) and 0630?

Just a guess, but I'd say all trains overnight run up to BET and camp out there. If so, there should be plenty of room for a Downeaster set to sit at North Station.

Rockingham Racer wrote:Just a guess, but I'd say all trains overnight run up to BET and camp out there. If so, there should be plenty of room for a Downeaster set to sit at North Station.

Yes, but where and who are there to refuel the locomotives, flush out the waste holding tanks, quickly clean both the interiors and exteriors of the trains, and do the other maintenance chores a train receives overnight?

electricron wrote:

Rockingham Racer wrote:Just a guess, but I'd say all trains overnight run up to BET and camp out there. If so, there should be plenty of room for a Downeaster set to sit at North Station.

Yes, but where and who are there to refuel the locomotives, flush out the waste holding tanks, quickly clean both the interiors and exteriors of the trains, and do the other maintenance chores a train receives overnight?

All good points. The trainset would have to go back to BET like the MBTA trains, I suppose.

AFAIK, all Downeaster locos are fueled at Brunswick or Portland. The wastewater tanks
are drained and flushed also at Brunswick and Portland, along with the interior cleaning.
Depending on what set was scheduled to lay over in Boston, that work could be scheduled
in Maine during layover time, even during daytime hours. AFAIK, NNEPRA does use the
wash rack at BET to periodically wash the DE train sets.

I think the washing is done at Southampton Street. Pretty sure no BET facilities are used whatsoever.

NNEPRA's Downeaster website indicates that the Dome car is on trains 680-681 and 686-687. Is this still true? They changed the Dome schedule from last year.

The website is almost certainly correct. Yes it changed.

NNEPRA has announced the schedule changes for PAR track work between Dover and Wells from September 8th to October 5th.
Details here:
http://amtrakdowneaster.com/construction" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

The track construction will also effect the operation of the Dome car from September 10th to September 23rd.
Details here:
http://amtrakdowneaster.com/dome-car" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

So for the week of the 10th will they be parking the two train sets that will be running DOV-BON north of DOV or are they going to deadhead from BRU before PAR starts their work for the day?

Also with all the BON is at capacity talk, I find it interesting that you have 1 train-set sitting at BON from 10:50AM (682) to 5PM (685) and another arriving at 4:50PM (686).