Railroad Forums 

  • Amtrak Branding NEC: Acela, Metroliner, Regional

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

Moderators: GirlOnTheTrain, mtuandrew, Tadman

 #1517157  by ExCon90
 
The PRR named every train on the Corridor, and I never heard anyone speak of taking the Legislator, or the Mount Vernon, or the Judiciary--it was always the 8:30, or the 9:30, or the 10:30. The few exceptions were the Congressional (which deserved a name, considering it carried an all-drawing room parlor car in addition to five or six others), and often the Boston trains. In any case, the term Congressional had a certain cachet at the time, which I fear has been lost in more recent years ...
 #1517185  by gokeefe
 
Having ridden in the Alexander Hamilton (former PRR Congressional parlor car) while it was in service on Maine Eastern and Acela FirstClass (more than once) I would offer this perspective ...

Acela was by far the better experience of the two. Although I completely acknowledge that the service offerred by Maine Eastern was not Pullman in the 50s I can at least compare the accomodations.

Acela FirstClass was just as comfortable (if not more so) and in many ways a better experience. The sight lines throughout the FirstClass cabin make for better viewing than the Alexander Hamilton which had partitions between sections of the car. The observation end was fun but ultimately a seat at the window in FirstClass is at least as good if not better (it's also bigger).
 #1520115  by BandA
 
penncenter wrote: Thu Aug 08, 2019 12:33 am For the new non-stop WAS/NYP, why not call it The Congressional.

For the new non-stop BOS/NYP, why not call it The Senator.
The Congressional or The Senator both sound very corrupt, incompetent and wasteful. And slow to reach their destination. Also the US Senate doesn't meet in NY or Boston.

Metroliner would be a good name for Northeast Regional, or for some subset. Perhaps a name for "vanilla" Northeast Regionals that don't go past Washington or go to Springfield. I think DMU vs. push-pull shouldn't have a different name, just one is used for off-peak trips, etc. You want people to expect a certain level of service and speed & not care what specific model of rolling stock is being used.
 #1520116  by BandA
 
electricron wrote: Thu Aug 08, 2019 12:42 pm I suggest keeping to traditional railroad theme schemes;
Locals for all stoppers
Limiteds for limited stoppers
Express for non stoppers
Why reinvent something the entire world knows?
I thought Express was better than Local and Limited was very, very few stops and best speed, like 20th Century Limited or The New England Limited.

Toyota brands their cars LE, SE, XLE and Limited.
 #1520142  by BandA
 
I was talking about the New York and New England Railroad's "crack" train from the turn of the previous century "The New England Limited", not the New York Central's "The New England States". Sorry for the confusion.
 #1520197  by Tadman
 
BandA wrote: Sun Sep 15, 2019 1:28 am
The Congressional or The Senator both sound very corrupt, incompetent and wasteful. And slow to reach their destination. Also the US Senate doesn't meet in NY or Boston.
[/quote]

You have to take these names with a grain of salt. There are no chiefs aboard the SWC, scottish or native american. There's a sunset from most trains, not just 1/2. And there's almost no views of the lakeshore from the Lakeshore Limited. I think there's maybe a minute or two near Chicago, a stretch or two in Ohio, and that's it. The California Zephyr spends most of it's time outside of California. The Crescent carries most of it's passengers north of Atlanta.

This is kind of fun, but you get the picture. The name Senator and Congressional are inspirational, and there are many elected officials that still try hard rather than try to get reelected.
 #1520252  by ExCon90
 
I don't think there was ever a hard-and-fast distinction between Express and Limited:
Empire State Express, Cleveland Limited, The New England States;
Northern Express, Gotham Limited, The Admiral;
Pacific Express, Erie Limited, The Lake Cities/The Midlander;
and plenty of top-notch trains that didn't use either.
 #1521158  by leviramsey
 
bostontrainguy wrote: Tue Aug 06, 2019 11:30 pm This is an Acela vs. airplane comparison from Amtrak's website:

Why Acela_ _ Amtrak.pdf

https://www.amtrak.com/route-content/why-acela.html

Not so sure it is very convincing or how accurate the $678 airfare is (I have never flown New York to D.C. - First Class maybe?), or the 2 hr 45 min Acela trip time, but it is interesting.
Delta shows Monday LGA-DCA shuttles at $500-$550 before taxes/fees, so the $678 figure is plausible.
 #1521365  by eolesen
 
Plausible is going to depend heavily on day of week, time of day....

Looking now, you can fly for $449 on Delta, or $399 on United for later today (Tuesday) on multiple flights.
 #1521582  by Ridgefielder
 
ExCon90 wrote: Mon Sep 16, 2019 2:14 pm I don't think there was ever a hard-and-fast distinction between Express and Limited:
Empire State Express, Cleveland Limited, The New England States;
Northern Express, Gotham Limited, The Admiral;
Pacific Express, Erie Limited, The Lake Cities/The Midlander;
and plenty of top-notch trains that didn't use either.
From what I can tell, the distinction between Limited, Express, etc. had more to do with the decade in which the train first ran than anything else. The first named trains seem to have mostly been called "Flyer" or "Express"-- Green Mountain Flyer, Empire State Express. Then there was a brief period when the most common name for a premier service was "Special" -- The Sunshine Special, The Pennsylvania Special. Around about 1905 or the other modifiers gave way to "Limited"-- the 20th Century Limited, the Merchants Limited. That generally lasted until the mid-30's when modifiers were dispensed with altogether-- the Hiawatha, Yankee Clipper, 400, Commodore Vanderbilt, City of San Francisco etc. etc. etc.

That said there are tons of exceptions to the rule, with "Limiteds" in service as early as the 1880's on the one hand and the Exposition Flyer entering service between Chicago and Oakland as late as 1939.
 #1521844  by Tadman
 
Very interesting analysis, I never thought of it that way but it makes sense.

Bigger picture, there were certain railroads that had a distinction between Express/Limited etc... so one could buy the correct ticket for the service needed. But I've never heard of any national scheme to harmonize such modifiers. The Illinois Central electric commuter system had Special, Limited, Express, and Local. I can't recall which was which, but there was a definite scheme and one could select the right train based on the name. Funny thing was, there was no other name to modify, just a station name. Harvey Express, Homewood Limited, Flossmoor Special, all just suburb names but very descriptive.