Iowa Pacific Pullman Service

jhdeasy wrote:I would love to see the NY DOT and possibly the city of Saratoga Springs and local Chamber of Commerce put some pressure on Amtrak to allow PVs to be switched on/off Amtrak trains passing through Saratoga Springs. In theory, the revenue from the PV moves will add to the bottom line of those trains, reducing their loss and/or the amount of subsidy provided by New York. Saratoga Springs would become a year-round PV destination, as well as the point of access to Saratoga and North Creek passenger trains for private cars.

The issue may be complicated by how some senior managers at Amtrak feel about the entrepreneur who is behind the Saratoga and North Creek Railroad.

I could see a HUGE business for this in August*. Not just for Amtrak, but PV owners. And I'm guessing several including Mr. Jhdeasy have had the same thought.


(For those who aren't familiar, August is when the Saratoga flat track opens which attracts a LOT of tourists, many with a great deal of money and I'm guessing more than a few that would be willing to pay a pretty penny to arrive in "style".)

The second thought within Mr. Deasy's captioned post immediately by Mr. Moore, could not only have bearing upon an interchange of cars AMTK-SAR-SNC but also upon proposed operations regarding this topic's title.

Now regarding "pressure"; Amtrak is of course just a "political animal" like any other Federal agency. Does anyone here REALLY think that the through BOS-448/9-CHI cars were restored owing to some kind of internal marketing initiative by Amtrak?

Anyone????????

CSX sends their OCS outfit to Saratoga Springs each August for the horse racing there.
Photo from last year. Photo by John Sesonske.
http://www.railpictures.net/showphotos. ... =CP%2002ST

The modern (8 years old) station should be able to handle an influx of
private car visitors. Some re-connecting of the station tracks was
done last year to accomodate the S&NC operation. Saratoga Springs
handled about 30,000 Amtrak passengers each year for 2010 and 2011.
Here's some station photos.
http://www.trainweb.org/usarail/saratogasprings.htm

I would love to see the NY DOT and possibly the city of Saratoga Springs and local Chamber of Commerce put some pressure on Amtrak to allow PVs to be switched on/off Amtrak trains passing through Saratoga Springs. In theory, the revenue from the PV moves will add to the bottom line of those trains, reducing their loss and/or the amount of subsidy provided by New York. Saratoga Springs would become a year-round PV destination, as well as the point of access to Saratoga and North Creek passenger trains for private cars.

Perhaps if SNC offered to help with the attach/detatch operations so the Amtrak train could just get out of these as soon as possible. Often times setting out a PV can cost upwards of 20 minutes. On a regional service that sort of delay is unacceptable.

Interestingly, while Amtrak's page for PVs does not mention Saratoga, this this page does. And in fact it says to contact the owners of the facilities directly.

So sort of sounds like a case of the left hand not knowing what the right hand is doing.

Edit: Link corrected. Thank you Mr. Norman for bringing this to my attention.

I seems to me that this post has drifted a little from the intended course.

Latest news is that Iowa Pacific plans to add cars to the rear of the Lake Shore Limited between NYC and Chicago, AND to the rear of the Chicago to New Orleans train. I understand that the service will be point to point only.

We 'fans' can not know if this will all work or not, at least IPH is willing to try. For that, I am glad.

Hmmm....I would think that the Capitol Limited would have a higher demand of point to point destinations of the Midwest to East Coast trains - despite the Amtrak report that came out. I think this did not properly account for sleeping car passengers who indeed use this train as a point to point train (Pittsburgh being an exception now with the Three Rivers/Broadway gone). Course the Lake Shore has an interesting travel pattern of passengers as well. Hopefully IPPS will allow some leeway at Albany for passengers (i.e. those that may be going to Boston and have to switch to coach in the process), and provide for "dinner on the Hudson?" Not sure what cars are involved here.

The City of New Orleans would seem like a descent train to add such service to as well in this fashion. But I'd have to wonder if Memphis should be considered as a potential stop for IPPS passengers. I bet they could still charge full fares.

Is there a potential launch date?

This begs the question - are they include a diner, which has almost always been a money loser? If not, how are the megabucks pullman customers to be fed when riding 1-level pullmans in a Superliner train? Will the pullmans be placed ahead of the dorm transition car?

Tadman wrote:This begs the question - are they include a diner, which has almost always been a money loser? If not, how are the megabucks pullman customers to be fed when riding 1-level pullmans in a Superliner train? Will the pullmans be placed ahead of the dorm transition car?

The private rail cars have always provided their own services, including drinks and meals.

I don't know how or why this was missed....but I can't find any reference to the following in the Amtrak or General Discussion forum:

When was the last time you felt the sun on your face after ringing in the New Year? For the first time since 1979, first class, continuous passenger rail service between Chicago and Miami, with stops in Orlando and West Palm Beach, will be available to those longing to head for the beach instead of into a deep freeze. Pullman has partnered with three outstanding properties in three of Florida's top travel destinations to bring this option to you.

See more at the Pullman Rail Journey's "Fun in the Sun" page.

gokeefe wrote:I don't know how or why this was missed....but I can't find any reference to the following in the Amtrak or General Discussion forum:

When was the last time you felt the sun on your face after ringing in the New Year? For the first time since 1979, first class, continuous passenger rail service between Chicago and Miami, with stops in Orlando and West Palm Beach, will be available to those longing to head for the beach instead of into a deep freeze. Pullman has partnered with three outstanding properties in three of Florida's top travel destinations to bring this option to you.

See more at the Pullman Rail Journey's "Fun in the Sun" page.

Well, that is something. The times match up with a CHI-WAS-Florida itinerary on the Cap and the Meteor. You'd have to really want to take the train and really want first-class service to opt for PRJ. Though, if we are looking in the short term, the equivalent Amtrak fare with roomette on both legs would cost close to $1000. Maybe PRJ ain't so bad, especially including a one-seat trip and hotel accommodations.

https://www.travelpullman.com/varsity.html" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;
The above link claims that they also ran a trip from Chicago via Janesville to Madison, and includes a video of the private train which had no Amtrak equipment!

Jim, that was a service they ran for UW home games this fall. I almost rode for the heck of it.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=w_L8L8B3YKk" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_b85JtSvFg8" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

Another notable fact:

Pullman appears to be at or under Amtrak's pricing in their lowest level of accommodations offered on the City of New Orleans. Furthermore a check of their booking system appears to indicate they are sold out, as is Amtrak during the holiday travel period.

I know it isn't fair to make a direct comparison between an Open Section Berth and a Roomette but I think the service difference is significant. Good luck convincing me otherwise....

Amtrak's cheapest bucket fare from Chicato to New Orleans seems to $127 per person plus $124 for a "Superliner Roomette", a Section with sliding doors in addition to curtains.
That's a total of $251 for 1 person with exclusive occupancy or $378 for 2 passengers.
Pullman wants $450 for a Lower Berth and $300 for an Upper Berth, or $750 for 2 passengers. They don;t list a price for 1 person with exclusive occupancy of a Section. The price differential ratio between Upper and Lower is much greater than in Pullman Company days, implying that today's operator is protecting against many unsold Uppers.