North Carolina NCDOT-Amtrak Carolinian Service

Somewhat related, but I'm posting this here since they were related to the Piedmont.

https://www.trains.com/trn/news-reviews ... -carolina/

SPRING HOPE, N.C. — Several former Ringling Bros. and Barnum & Bailey Circus railcars now owned by the state of North Carolina have been badly damaged or destroyed in a fire.

WRAL-TV reports the cars, stored on an isolated rail line just outside the city limits of the community of Spring Hope, caught fire this morning (Thursday, March 10), with at least four of the cars on fire and badly damaged as of 8 a.m. EST.

The state’s Department of Transportation bought nine of the Ringling cars after the circus shut down in 2017, intending to rebuild them to expand the car fleet for the state-supported Piedmont passenger service between Raleigh and Charlotte, which uses state-owned equipment. But the state subsequently ordered new equipment for the Piedmonts, and placed the Ringling Bros. cars and several others in an auction for surplus equipment

I kinda want to see if there's some in-tact dorm cars... that would be an interesting project to restore them.

The Ringling Bros cars that survived the fire are back up for bid: https://www.newsobserver.com/news/local ... 72705.html

In short (prices are minimums, bids due April 18th):

• $6,588 for one of circus dorm cars
• $4,883 for a baggage car
• $18,425 for a former US Army hospital car, now gutted out.

If they don't sell, they go up to a live auction.

This week I observed that one of the NCDOT Piedmont train sets was locomotive, coach, coach, combine, locomotive, ccu (cab control unit 104) (I did not get locomotive numbers) while the other set was locomotive, coach, coach, combine, locomotive. I understand multiple CCUs have been on the NCDOT property for a while. Anyone know why two locomotives one these sets and not one locomotive and one CCU?

RandallW wrote: ↑Sat Apr 09, 2022 4:26 am This week I observed that one of the NCDOT Piedmont train sets was locomotive, coach, coach, combine, locomotive, ccu (cab control unit 104) (I did not get locomotive numbers) while the other set was locomotive, coach, coach, combine, locomotive. I understand multiple CCUs have been on the NCDOT property for a while. Anyone know why two locomotives one these sets and not one locomotive and one CCU?

It's taken a long time for the FRA to approve the CCUs. They are just starting to enter service.

NCDOT received a $58 million grant from the CRISI program for the S-Line. The money will:

The money will go to several key parts of the rail project. It will pay for preliminary engineering work for a missing section on the line and preliminary design for the 162-mile route, according to Tillis.

For the record, Tillis is taking credit for a grant he did absolutely nothing to help with.

This is the first federal funding step toward funding construction on the route.

https://spectrumlocalnews.com/nc/charlo ... m-the-feds

This grant is a little confusing. What happened to the detailed survey of the ROW? That had about 20 - 30 various ROW survey maps of the "S" line. They also showed where purchase of additional land would be needed to enable 125 MPH from Raleigh to Petersburg.
Was NC tasked with contracting the surveys with VA DOT chipping in? Lost track. Has VA completed the purchase of the "S" line? If so, then VA or maybe NC can start acquiring the needed real estate. Wonder if part of the funds can be used to start acquiring that real-estate?

Are there any tentative plans to put wire up, considering that this will be mostly (if not all) passenger? It would be myopic not to at least consider it.

found link to detailed map of "S" line work. over 30 maps in total to click on.

https://railroads.dot.gov/sites/fra.dot ... _maps.pdfr

west point wrote: ↑Wed Jun 01, 2022 8:11 pm This grant is a little confusing. What happened to the detailed survey of the ROW? That had about 20 - 30 various ROW survey maps of the "S" line. They also showed where purchase of additional land would be needed to enable 125 MPH from Raleigh to Petersburg.
Was NC tasked with contracting the surveys with VA DOT chipping in? Lost track. Has VA completed the purchase of the "S" line? If so, then VA or maybe NC can start acquiring the needed real estate. Wonder if part of the funds can be used to start acquiring that real-estate?

Yeah, where were those surveys? I can't recall if it was VAPRA or SEHRS website.
iirc, VA and NC both now own the trackless ROW, I don't think they have started buying the land for the various curve reductions.
It's still a shame that ashland will always be a bottleneck.

mcgrath618 wrote: ↑Fri Jun 03, 2022 9:35 am Are there any tentative plans to put wire up, considering that this will be mostly (if not all) passenger? It would be myopic not to at least consider it.

They could do some preemptive engineering, but richmond to DC has higher levels of traffic, and should be considered for electrification, first.

scratchyX1 wrote: ↑Fri Jun 03, 2022 12:15 pm

mcgrath618 wrote: ↑Fri Jun 03, 2022 9:35 am Are there any tentative plans to put wire up, considering that this will be mostly (if not all) passenger? It would be myopic not to at least consider it.

They could do some preemptive engineering, but richmond to DC has higher levels of traffic, and should be considered for electrification, first.

It would become much more easy to justify DC to Richmond if Richmond to Raleigh already had wire. And now that Amtrak is likely retiring the Sprinters (perfectly in time for this project to come online), it seems like it would work out perfectly.

mcgrath618 wrote: ↑Fri Jun 03, 2022 12:26 pm
It would become much more easy to justify DC to Richmond if Richmond to Raleigh already had wire. And now that Amtrak is likely retiring the Sprinters (perfectly in time for this project to come online), it seems like it would work out perfectly.

I think a more likely timeline would be:

1. Electrify DC to Richmond (extension of existing electrification; there is enough service planned to justify it)
2. Atlanta to Charlotte HSR gets built (the preferred alternative is 220 MPH greenfield, electrified HSR)
3. Electrify and upgrade Charlotte to Raleigh as an extension of the HSR
4. Once all of the above is in place, electrify Raleigh-Richmond for full East Coast HSR service

Obviously, items 2-4 are 20+ years in the future under the current paradigm.

Are there even plans for DC to Alexandria? Knowing there is a new bridge, and new Crystal City station works happening - seems like these things would all be synced up. Plus talk of through-running MARC although to be honest, it only needs to get to Alexandria to be useful if it's really about Arlington, Amazon etc jobs.

mcgrath618 wrote: ↑Fri Jun 03, 2022 12:26 pm

scratchyX1 wrote: ↑Fri Jun 03, 2022 12:15 pm

mcgrath618 wrote: ↑Fri Jun 03, 2022 9:35 am Are there any tentative plans to put wire up, considering that this will be mostly (if not all) passenger? It would be myopic not to at least consider it.

They could do some preemptive engineering, but richmond to DC has higher levels of traffic, and should be considered for electrification, first.

It would become much more easy to justify DC to Richmond if Richmond to Raleigh already had wire. And now that Amtrak is likely retiring the Sprinters (perfectly in time for this project to come online), it seems like it would work out perfectly.

MCG - Amtrak is NOT retiring ANY of the ACS-64 motors anytime soon...
This paragraph in the current Amtrak five year plan describes what Amtrak's options are - From Page 132 bottom:

"Amtrak's purchase of ICTs will reduce the number of ACS-64 electric locomotives required for daily service.
As a result Amtrak will likely have surplus ACS-64 locomotives available for resale or lease to commuter agencies
or the secondary market in the late 2020s.
The exact quantity of units displaced and timing have yet to be determined"

Keep in mind the ICT is not only UNPROVEN and UNTESTED technology - these new locomotives are still on the
drawing board and have yet to be built...Count me as a skeptic in the realm of this new battery based tech...

Going back to the original topic - a 110 mile electrified extension into Virginia to the Richmond area would be a
natural extension southward of the Northeast Corridor - Let's see what the CSX reaction to this proposal may be...
CLE has a point - there will have to be the initial electrified trackage between Washington Union Station and the
Alexandria Station area for this extension to get built...VRE as example to Fredericksburg could benefit from this...
MACTRAXX