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Superliner Equipment Status

Discussion related to Amtrak also known as the National Railroad Passenger Corp.

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Superliner Equipment Status

 #1601634  by John_Perkowski
 
Bob Johnston of Trains posted this analysis of Superliner availability in the wake of 4’s Mendon, MO wreck:

Chief wreck puts further strain on Amtrak capacity woes: Analysis By Bob Johnston, July 6, 2022

Brief, fair use quote:
Amtrak was able to scrounge enough cars and locomotives to send a Southwest Chief west last Thursday [see “Southwest Chief resumes service after Missouri derailment,” News Wire, June 30, 2022]. However, the westbound train departing Chicago on July 2 and eastbound Chief on July 4 did not run “due to crew and equipment availability issues for that route,” Amtrak spokeswoman Beth Toll tells News Wire.

Re: Superliner Equipment Status

 #1601727  by Greg Moore
 
Well, fortunately Amtrak can just ring up CAF here in NYS and order another dozen or so cars.
Of course it may take a decade or two for the first ones to roll off the assembly line :-)

Re: Superliner Equipment Status

 #1601728  by rcthompson04
 
It feels like the Amfleets might make some late life runs out west again after departing for the most part for over 3 decades. I don't think they run much these days outside the east and Pacific states.

Re: Superliner Equipment Status

 #1601731  by Gilbert B Norman
 
Mr. Thompson, likely you intended to note Midwest states vice Pacific.

The Midwest Corridor trains have consists comprised of Amfleet and Horizon cars. As the Venture cars enter revenue service, who knows how car assignments will be affected.

Re: Superliner Equipment Status

 #1601737  by mcgrath618
 
Aren't there several VIIs just... not being used right now?
Make the Capitol single level again. You can even reextend it to NY. Then, put those cars on western assignments where they belong.

Re: Superliner Equipment Status

 #1601738  by eolesen
 
I've said this countless times.... the era of the bi-levels needs to be over.

It's time for a fleet where the LD's can pull from the corridor pools as needed and vice versa.

It's time to have an ADA conforming fleet that doesn't isolate the mobility impaired to their sleeper compartments.

Single level. Nationwide.

Re: Superliner Equipment Status

 #1601772  by mcgrath618
 
Why were bi-levels ever preferred? Capacity? Considering I’ve never seen a Capitol Limited at anything less than packed, you’re really not getting those benefits right now with such a limited supply of cars.

Re: Superliner Equipment Status

 #1601800  by RandallW
 
The Capitol Limited changed from a Heritage + Amfleet II train to Superliners; I think it made the change before the Viewliners were introduced. It never ran to New York as it carried a dome car and a thru coach from Miami (and maybe a thru car from Philadelphia -- I'm at little hazy about what happened at midnight in Pittsburgh on those trips). I think (but don't know) that using Superliners allowed Amtrak to run the Capitol with one less locomotive and eliminate a bunch of switching moves.

When I travelled from Raleigh to Chicago in the '80s, we were on the thru coach (last car northbound on the Silver Star) which was pulled off the rear of train in Washington. After the coach was pulled, it was shoved forward onto the waiting mail/baggage cars on the next track and shoved up just north of the platforms where the engines to pull the Capitol then shoved us into the platform with the rest of the train. We weren't allowed into the dome until after the train cleared the cat leaving DC. Once the Capitol switched to Superliners, the thru coach was dropped.

Re: Superliner Equipment Status

 #1601802  by Greg Moore
 
There is in theory an advantage of the bi-levels of higher capacity per car which in theory can save money.
And for the western trains, honestly, the observation cars are pretty damn nice.

Re: Superliner Equipment Status

 #1601807  by rohr turbo
 
Many western Superliner trains have to make double-stops at stations where the platform is not long enough. So some are advocating going single level and then what? triple or quadruple stop?? Or tell passengers at 3 am to make their way forward 5 cars with luggage to disembark? That's nuts. Superliners are roomy, comfortable, efficient (passengers per car, etc.) and great for scenery. Replace them with new double-level cars!

I don't see the logic of a uniform lowest-common-denominator fleet. All the Amtrak equipment liveried for Downeaster, or NE Regional, or Midwest belies their desire or need for interchangeability on even the existing single-level routes. Even the airlines don't have fleets of a single model. Different routes demand different configurations and many companies have long ago figured out fleet management.
Last edited by rohr turbo on Thu Jul 07, 2022 9:20 pm, edited 1 time in total.

Re: Superliner Equipment Status

 #1601809  by mcgrath618
 
RandallW wrote: ↑Thu Jul 07, 2022 7:52 pm The Capitol Limited changed from a Heritage + Amfleet II train to Superliners; I think it made the change before the Viewliners were introduced. It never ran to New York as it carried a dome car and a thru coach from Miami (and maybe a thru car from Philadelphia -- I'm at little hazy about what happened at midnight in Pittsburgh on those trips). I think (but don't know) that using Superliners allowed Amtrak to run the Capitol with one less locomotive and eliminate a bunch of switching moves.

When I travelled from Raleigh to Chicago in the '80s, we were on the thru coach (last car northbound on the Silver Star) which was pulled off the rear of train in Washington. After the coach was pulled, it was shoved forward onto the waiting mail/baggage cars on the next track and shoved up just north of the platforms where the engines to pull the Capitol then shoved us into the platform with the rest of the train. We weren't allowed into the dome until after the train cleared the cat leaving DC. Once the Capitol switched to Superliners, the thru coach was dropped.
While correct, I was talking about the pre-Amtrak days when the Capitol was the B&O's main NYC - Chicago train.

Re: Superliner Equipment Status

 #1601811  by eolesen
 
Excluding domes, only two pre-Amtrak railroads ran bi-levels... CNW and ATSF. The average single level chair car carried 56 people, while the hi-levels and bi-levels carried an average of 20 more. GN ran full length domes on the Builder up to the end, and the MILW originally ran full domes on the Olympia Hiawatha, but by the 1960's they were relegated to CHI-MSP.

CNW ordered a baker's dozen bi-level lounge and chair cars using the same gallery car shell as their commuter fleet. The plan was to convert those into the commuter configuration once they disposed of their passenger service . Half of those wound up with Amtrak, and the rest went to the commuter fleet. As far as I know, none of those survive today except as spare parts for newer cars built for the ARR and cruise lines...

That leaves ATSF, who deployed bi-levels on their two longest trains running CHI-LAX and CHI-SFO. They bought a total of 73 cars, none of which were sleepers. They were chair cars, lounges and diners. Customers liked them without a doubt, but they didn't stop ridership from falling off as people moved towards air travel.
Last edited by eolesen on Fri Jul 08, 2022 5:42 pm, edited 1 time in total.

Re: Superliner Equipment Status

 #1601832  by Gilbert B Norman
 
Mr. Olesen, assignments during the Amtrak-era for the C&NW intercity configured Gallery cars were first the Illinois Zephyr then the Valpo Local during the time such was state funded.

I once rode those cars C&NW Station to the C&NW Milwaukee Lakefront Station (before I hired on with the MILW). All I could think is that these were commuter cars just waiting for reassignment. Yes, they did have reclining seats providing somewhat more "pitch". But that's all they had.

Re: Superliner Equipment Status

 #1601899  by eolesen
 
Amtrak ran them as long if not longer than CNW did.

Corridor Rail owns the bulk of the hi-level fleet and I believe it's stored in Madison, IL (near St Louis). They've tried for years to do something similar to Iowa Pacific using that fleet.

The only outfit they've managed to lease cars to that I can think of is the people that took over the Indiana Transport Museums excursion run. I don't see them ever covering the acquisition and storage costs that Coston has incurred, but at least he didn't go insolvent like Ed Ellis...

If Amtrak were truly in a bind for equipment, I suppose they could go lease a few of those ATSF cars, but I really do think that the likelihood of seeing new bilevel orders is fairly low.

Sent from my SM-G981U using Tapatalk

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