MARC Sets for Amtrak Rush

Just wondering if any of you MARC guys down there have noticed any sets missing or know of any sets about to disappear to serve Amtrak on the post-Thanksgiving extras?

Wanderer wrote:Just wondering if any of you MARC guys down there have noticed any sets missing or know of any sets about to disappear to serve Amtrak on the post-Thanksgiving extras?

I was on the 5:25 PM express out of DC today (expresses to BWI, then local to Halethorpe, West Balt, Balt Penn, Martin St Airport, Edgewood, Aberdeen, and Perryville) and happened to know that my particular train set would assume an Amtrak Holiday Special flag at Baltimore and then continue on to New York.

Sure enough, as I disembarked at Baltimore Penn, a set of Amtrak Conductors were waiting to board; I verified with them that they were changing the train to the Holiday special at Baltimore and heading up to NYP.

Didn't stick around to see if the MARC conductors (who are also Amtrak conductors, just wearing MARC uniforms) stayed onboard, or if there was an engineer swap, but I did notice that it looked like our head end power was a MARC HHP and not an Amtrak engine.

The consist was a six car MARC II train set, which is your bare-bones legacy commuter car. No cafe in the consist, obviously.

This train is usually an all-double decker MARC III consist, incidentally, so it looks like Amtrak made the decision to request the single level MARC II, probably because the MARC III's luggage racks (or lack thereof) above the seats will only fit briefcases and no real luggage. The MARC III was specifically engineered to fit inside of the Baltimore tunnels (hence the laughable above-seat luggage racks), so I think they could probably make it through the New York tunnels, but I could be wrong. Either way, it was a single level consist the whole way.

Of note is that they threw a cab control car on the rear, so I wonder if the consist is going to make the return trip in push mode. Can't imagine why, unless they don't want to bother turning the train in the wye in NY and then again back in DC afterwards to put it back in MARC's standard north-pointing-engine position.

Anyway, it was pretty neat to see.

-Rafi

Turns out a MARC HHP8 with 8 single levels made the trip on Holiday Extra 3088 tonight. Ironically it was scheduled online, and not the printed version.

So is that why MARC has a reduced schedule the day after Thanksgiving, because some of their equipment is gone? Or is it because ridership is lower?

(I was a little surprised when I noticed the limited service; in NJ, where I'm from, the add trains on the day after Thanksgiving - as well as the day before.)

acs85 wrote:So is that why MARC has a reduced schedule the day after Thanksgiving, because some of their equipment is gone? Or is it because ridership is lower?

(I was a little surprised when I noticed the limited service; in NJ, where I'm from, the add trains on the day after Thanksgiving - as well as the day before.)

It's actually both... MARC primarily serves people going to work in DC (something I would like to slightly change, as there is a demonstrated need for weekend service, as well as commuters to Baltimore on the Old Main Line, bu that's another post entirely), and the day after thanksgiving is a day when most government or political workers are off. Consequently, MARC runs a limited schedule on all three lines.

And, since Amtrak needs the extra equipment, and since the MTA likes to make as much money as possible off of the MARC service, they lease out rolling stock to Amtrak that isn't being used, and it primarily makes the amtrak switch during or after it's final Wednesday run.

-Rafi

If anyone down that-a-way is interested, the two sets that made it up here were:

MARC4915 - 6 MARC Cars - MARC7759
AMTK AEM7 - 6 MARC Cars - MARC7758