VRE's New Gallery Cars

The middle two Pullman cars in that consist are still in Metra/RTA colors, that VRE has not repainted... not sure if that would count as a VRE scheme or not.. but I believe VRE has two different schemes of thier own on the Pullman cars.

http://www.railpictures.net/viewphoto.p ... 4&nseq=182

http://www.railpictures.net/viewphoto.p ... &nseq=1366

Look familiar?

a vre consist in illinois yea just with a different paint job lol.

Matt Johnson wrote:

davinp wrote:Here is a picture of V710 during a test run connected to the antique cars
http://www.railpictures.net/viewphoto.php?id=167271

Wow, how many different paint schemes does VRE have?!

After many years of railfanning here in DC, I have yet to count them all, but here's a start

1) Kawasaki bi levels, new gallery cars Three Stripe Red, white, blue
2) New modern Blue on Red thing on like 3 locomotives
3) Red and Black on Gallery cars
4) Red, grey, blue METRA (being sold back to chicago & nashville)
5) Regular multi - stripe R, W & Blue pattern on most locos and some of the gallery cars

hope this helps

Okay. This could have been put in the Amtrak forum, but here it goes...

I rode VRE 336 from Alexandria to WUS yesterday, I get off the train, and the Capitol Limited (29/30) is sitting there with maybe 4 or 5 new gallery cars hooked up behind two P42s. Are they delivering these or taking them back to Wisconsin? And why, if it's supposed to leave for Chicago in less than five minutes, does the train have the two locs. on the SOUTH side of the train. Do they back it out and wye it in IVY CITY?

I caught only one car number, V711. There were a bunch of workmen running around, brakes hissing, and all of those workmen looked pissed.

so n e way... what's going on?

vreenthusiast01 wrote:Okay. This could have been put in the Amtrak forum, but here it goes...

I rode VRE 336 from Alexandria to WUS yesterday, I get off the train, and the Capitol Limited (29/30) is sitting there with maybe 4 or 5 new gallery cars hooked up behind two P42s. Are they delivering these or taking them back to Wisconsin? And why, if it's supposed to leav e for Chicago in less than five minutes, does the train have the two locs. on the SOUTH side of the train. Do they back it out and wye it in IVY CITY?

I caught only one car number, V711. There were a bunch of workmen running around, brakes hissing, and all of those workmen looked pissed.

so n e way... what's going on?

Those gallery cars are probably the ones Metra bought from VRE for $10K, and the Cap. Ltd. is probably taking them to Chicago. When VRE returned their Sounder cars it was the Cap. Ltd. that ferried them to Chicago, and they were put onto another Amtrak train to Seattle. I'm suprised they put the cars directly behind the locos, they would usually be at the other end.

You can never count on the Cap. Ltd. being on time, especially the inbound train, which can be 1-4 hours late. I wouldn't surprised if that train has not been exactly on time (or early) since the begininning of the year. The outbound train is usually delayed 5-10 min or so, and was such a problem that MARC 890 (express to Frederick) had to (inconveniently) change its departure time from 4:05pm to 3:50pm because the Ltd. would constantly delayed it; the Ltd. changed its time from 3:50pm to 4pm in exchange

As far as I know, all Amtrak trains are wyed on a track near Brentwood Metro yard, adjacent to the inbound/outbound track for MARC Brunswick Line trains.

Do they typically connect up HEP if commuters cars are transported at the rear? I imagine this could be a source of grumbles if the cars are placed at the front.

Since cars were right behind locomotives the HEP had to be hooked up. unless you know of a way to transmit 480 volt 3 phase from locomotive to next in service car 450 feet away.

Of course.

My question was about placing them at the rear. Not the front.

realtype wrote:

vreenthusiast01 wrote:Okay. This could have been put in the Amtrak forum, but here it goes...

I rode VRE 336 from Alexandria to WUS yesterday, I get off the train, and the Capitol Limited (29/30) is sitting there with maybe 4 or 5 new gallery cars hooked up behind two P42s. Are they delivering these or taking them back to Wisconsin? And why, if it's supposed to leav e for Chicago in less than five minutes, does the train have the two locs. on the SOUTH side of the train. Do they back it out and wye it in IVY CITY?

I caught only one car number, V711. There were a bunch of workmen running around, brakes hissing, and all of those workmen looked pissed.

so n e way... what's going on?

Those gallery cars are probably the ones Metra bought from VRE for $10K, and the Cap. Ltd. is probably taking them to Chicago. When VRE returned their Sounder cars it was the Cap. Ltd. that ferried them to Chicago, and they were put onto another Amtrak train to Seattle. I'm suprised they put the cars directly behind the locos, they would usually be at the other end.

You can never count on the Cap. Ltd. being on time, especially the inbound train, which can be 1-4 hours late. I wouldn't surprised if that train has not been exactly on time (or early) since the begininning of the year. The outbound train is usually delayed 5-10 min or so, and was such a problem that MARC 890 (express to Frederick) had to (inconveniently) change its departure time from 4:05pm to 3:50pm because the Ltd. would constantly delayed it; the Ltd. changed its time from 3:50pm to 4pm in exchange

As far as I know, all Amtrak trains are wyed on a track near Brentwood Metro yard, adjacent to the inbound/outbound track for MARC Brunswick Line trains.

Thanks for clearing up the amtrak question. However, I think the gallery cars they are sending back to Chicago are the older ones, these were NEW stainless steel gallery cars. Odd...

Anybody have any idea what horn the Gallery cabs have? I know it has 5 bells but after being on them for a few times, I'm still unsure of what horn it is.

You know, I was thinking about this the other day. The cab cars we usually have (listed from most to least common) are V707, V723, and V717. My evening train is the same consist (300/307), so I really don't get much variety unless they swap equipment.

Who here is good with telling horn types by audio? If we can get recordings we might be able to tell. But otherwise, I'm not sure where to get that answer unless VRE is contacted directly. *shrug*

Watch this: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=14ndGpcq ... re=related

I would assume the K5LA since I figured most commuter equipment used it (that's the only horn I know of anyway ). Sounds different from the MARC horns I'm used to though (which I know are K5LA's).

The new cars aren't going to Chicago. Why would VRE sell it's new cars to Chicago?

V710 - V730 are the new cab cars
V800 - V819 & V850 - V869 are the new coaches.
(V800 - V819 have restrooms, where as V850 - V869 do not)

Metra had recieved 5 Pullman cars from VRE in the fall of last year, these are of course some of the same cars that VRE recieved from Metra in 2003.

metraRI wrote:Metra had recieved 5 Pullman cars from VRE in the fall of last year, these are of course some of the same cars that VRE recieved from Metra in 2003.

Yes, VRE sold them back to METRA. They sold back the worst condition gallery cars and kept only the best condition ones.