Amtrak ALC-42 Procurement (Long-Distance LD Charger Variant)

Apparently this isn't the final livery which the Chargers will be in, as one of these locomotives will be painted into a 50th Anniversary livery!

https://trn.trains.com/news/news-wire/2 ... tive-fleet

Five of the first six locomotives will have this version of the current Phase VI paint scheme, and one will be painted to recognize next year’s 50th anniversary of the inauguration of Amtrak service. A final scheme will be unveiled later as part of a fleet-wide plan.

If you concentrate on the quality and quantity of service your patrons receive, you might actually get real repeat business.

Instead, you seem to like paint jobs.

I can get to Chicago from KC by rail, by air, by bus, and by car. Right now, you’re last choice.

https://www.facebook.com/9411224013/pos ... 722234014/

The question here is... are they putting that on the ALC-42's and future procurements... or is that going to be slapped on every stinking engine they have running?

I can see it if it's on the ALC-42's and beyond (because that's in the cost of build). It's questionable if it goes on everything that's running. If it goes on the HHP-8's, then it goes straight to "I want ALL your financial records, not what you report to the public, ALL OF THEM. You're under audit."

Okay, now it gets into questionable. Do we really have to apply this to all the trains Amtrak has?

Of course they do. Amcrap can paint the dead horse all day long, but actually care about customer service?

John_Perkowski wrote: ↑Wed Aug 05, 2020 2:47 pm If you concentrate on the quality and quantity of service your patrons receive, you might actually get real repeat business.

Instead, you seem to like paint jobs.

I can get to Chicago from KC by rail, by air, by bus, and by car. Right now, you’re last choice.

https://www.facebook.com/9411224013/pos ... 722234014/

This is a curious statement considering its a new engine that would need paint and they have shown a tradition of a new schemes for new equipment. Also on your quality and quantity of service lets just say 218+51+1.

John_Perkowski wrote: ↑Wed Aug 05, 2020 2:47 pm If you concentrate on the quality and quantity of service your patrons receive, you might actually get real repeat business.

Instead, you seem to like paint jobs.

Completely agree. When Joe Boardman started painting the new Viewliners in Phase 3, it spoke of an utter lack of touch with reality. It said "we're really focused on colors of trains and we have no concept of what it means to run on time or provide consistent service". Someone probably spent 200+ hours on that project which could have been spent fixing a problem.

What bugs me about the Viewliners is after all these years they still don't have a consistent look. If you're gonna do Phase 3 on the new ones, at least get the Viewliner I's in matching Phase 3. But I digress.

I think this new variation on the Charger will be a sharp looking locomotive. I like the nose design, and hopefully the bolt on portion will be effective in reducing grade crossing collision repair costs.

Tadman wrote: ↑Wed Aug 05, 2020 7:01 pm

John_Perkowski wrote: ↑Wed Aug 05, 2020 2:47 pm If you concentrate on the quality and quantity of service your patrons receive, you might actually get real repeat business.

Instead, you seem to like paint jobs.

Completely agree. When Joe Boardman started painting the new Viewliners in Phase 3, it spoke of an utter lack of touch with reality. It said "we're really focused on colors of trains and we have no concept of what it means to run on time or provide consistent service". Someone probably spent 200+ hours on that project which could have been spent fixing a problem.

Now, I'm not saying this is true in this particular case, but "if you put lipstick on a pig, it's still a pig".

I'm hoping things change with operations and onboard customer service.

I’s prefer the blue was closer to dark blue, but I have to say I LOVE the new look! The arrow at the end of the engine reminded me a bit of the “AMRoad” arrow cropped out from the multimark logo on CPRail 4067 and 4070.

Someone on Twitter or Trains.com noted that it resembled the old “pointless arrow” logo.

If they had stenciled in a few extra white lines you could have the pointless arrow on the entire side of the engine

NH2060 wrote: ↑Thu Aug 06, 2020 3:36 pm I’s prefer the blue was closer to dark blue, but I have to say I LOVE the new look! The arrow at the end of the engine reminded me a bit of the “AMRoad” arrow cropped out from the multimark logo on CPRail 4067 and 4070.

Someone on Twitter or Trains.com noted that it resembled the old “pointless arrow” logo.

If they had stenciled in a few extra white lines you could have the pointless arrow on the entire side of the engine

Someone already did a photoshop job with Amroad on the side of the locomotive. It has turned up on Facebook as well as a few other places.

As for the "pointless arrow" the chevron on the back does pay homage to the original Amtrak trademark. I guess we can now call this new scheme Phase VII.

This is not Phase VII. This is an interim phase because supposedly Siemens couldn’t wait for Amtrak to finish their fleet redesign. This is a variant on VI that will likely be replaced once the fleet-wide redesign is released.

I don’t like it, but that’s what we have to work with.

John, if you want Amtrak to make improvements, either petition your government representatives to provide Amtrak with adequate funding to provide the amenities you would like to see plus better training for customer service staff or apply for a job there and be the change from within. That’s what I plan on doing, anyway.

Railcolornews has made an unofficial render of the ALC-42 livery:

https://railcolornews.com/2020/08/06/us ... e-charger/

Is that nose a bolt-on and will they be retrofitted to the midwest/PNW side? A few years ago that was the case with the P42, the bolt-on was fiberglass for quick replacement after light-medium damage.

Tadman wrote: ↑Mon Aug 10, 2020 8:59 am Is that nose a bolt-on and will they be retrofitted to the midwest/PNW side? A few years ago that was the case with the P42, the bolt-on was fiberglass for quick replacement after light-medium damage.

Yes, I recall an Amtrak document that stated one of the desired design changes for the long distance variant was a bolt-on nose for easier grade crossing collision repair. I doubt however that they will modify existing ones.