Uniq. Eqpmt Sightings: Private Varnish (PV's), Charters, etc

[chuchubob]

File photo of NYC 3 Portland

[liftedjeep]

Amtrak Train #48 Lake Shore Limited which it left Chicago, IL last night Wednesday Aug 12 has Private Car NYC 3 in the rear.

Thanks for the heads-up!
#48 is scheduled to arrive at New York Penn Station at 18:10 on Thursday 8/13.
Ben

[tvon]

Just saw the FRA train pulled by CSX power on the Chester, MA webcam.

[CSRR573]

Always a unique sight when a horizon car and the Pacific Bend make their way to Boston

[Train2009]

Amtrak Train #48 Lake Shore Limited which it left Chicago, IL last night Wednesday Aug 12 has Private Car NYC 3 in the rear.

Thanks for the heads-up!
#48 is scheduled to arrive at New York Penn Station at 18:10 on Thursday 8/13.
Ben

Late reply Ben you're welcome!

[jhdeasy]

Paxrail announced they have acquired Great Dome lounge OCEAN VIEW from Amtrak.

[gokeefe]

Nice to see the car will be based out of Chicago. Hopefully it will be able to roam the system successfully from there.

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[John_Perkowski]

Nice to see the car will be based out of Chicago. Hopefully it will be able to roam the system successfully from there.

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First it has to pass its PC2 and PC1.

[mtuandrew]

First it has to pass its PC2 and PC1.

I guess if I were with Paxrail, I would have gotten the inspections done before Ocean View left Beech Grove. Unless they plan to let the car sit for either a business upturn or renovation, that is.

[jhdeasy]

First it has to pass its PC2 and PC1.

I guess if I were with Paxrail, I would have gotten the inspections done before Ocean View left Beech Grove. Unless they plan to let the car sit for either a business upturn or renovation, that is.

I believe OCEAN VIEW and other Amtrak equipment was sold “as is, where is.” Amtrak is unwilling to do any work on the equipment for the buyers. They will allow outside contractors to come onto the property and perform the minimum work required to move the car off the property in freight service. This is usually an air brake system COT&S and repair of FRA defects.

If the new owner wants to operate on Amtrak and the car needs a full PC-1 thru PC-7 series inspections & documentation, it would be easier and probably less expensive to complete this work elsewhere.

[John_Perkowski]

If the new owner wants to operate on Amtrak and the car needs a full PC-1 thru PC-7 series inspections & documentation, it would be easier and probably less expensive to complete this work elsewhere.

Since OCEAN VIEW was in active company service a year ago, would Amtrak insist on the full suite of inspections?

Please factor in that Amtrak mechanical staff at the end were not at all fond of the car apparently.

[jhdeasy]

If the new owner wants to operate on Amtrak and the car needs a full PC-1 thru PC-7 series inspections & documentation, it would be easier and probably less expensive to complete this work elsewhere.

Since OCEAN VIEW was in active company service a year ago, would Amtrak insist on the full suite of inspections?

Please factor in that Amtrak mechanical staff at the end were not at all fond of the car apparently.

That's a good question.

I am not aware of what Amtrak mandated in the sale agreements, or any special deals that a purchaser may have negotiated. I don't think any historical engineering/maintenance records can automatically transition from an Amtrak car number to a 800000 series private car registered with Amtrak. The required documentation for a private car requires manual data input by an authorized individual.

Here is what I think:

PC-1: Annual inspection. Accompanied by PC-1A (data collection documentation) and PC-1B (record of single car air test performed as part of the PC-1 inspection). I am sure Amtrak will want these.

PC-3: Mileage log. Submitted with PC-1 and covers mileage since last PC-1 inspection. In this case, car owner would submit mileage since they purchased the car from Amtrak.

PC-4: Shop maintenance report. Summary of maintenance actions since last PC-1 inspection. In this case, car owner can detail work completed since they purchased the car from Amtrak.

PC-5: Clearance diagram. Car owner could try to say "There have been no changes since we purchased the car from Amtrak", but I suspect Amtrak would like the car owner to take all the necessary measurements and submit the documentation.

PC-6: Wheelset Serial Number Record. Covers axle, wheels, bearings and disc brake rotors. I'm confident Amtrak will want this info.

PC-7: Axle and Wheel Periodic UltraSonic Test Results. Documents when each was installed on car and date of last ultrasonic test. I'm confident Amtrak will want this info.

So, given that Amtrak will most likely require all of the above, it comes down to whether Amtrak will require a PC-2 (40 year full truck tear down and rebuild) inspection or accept a PC-2A (truck rollout inspection typically performed at 10 year intervals after a full PC-2) inspection in place of the full PC-2 inspection. I suspect they will want a full PC-2 documented. However, they may allow a PC-2A initially, with the stipulation that a full PC-2 must be completed within some period of time, such as one year.

When Field Entertainment sold all of their RBBX cars a few years ago, they refused to provide any records to the buyers. Amtrak specified that any of these former circus cars would need a full PC-2 inspection plus all other inspection documentation to operate on Amtrak. This despite the fact that all of these cars had previously been rebuilt and inspected to conform to Amtrak private car requirements. In the name of safety, it was basically an order to prove you private car meets 100% of Amtrak requirements for private cars.

[gokeefe]

Interesting that Feld refused to provide their records ...

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[jhdeasy]

Interesting that Feld refused to provide their records ...

Yes, and Feld Entertainment's refusal to provide that maintenance history documentation to purchasers is probably a significant reason why no former RBBX cars have been certified to operate as private cars on the Amtrak system.

[Gilbert B Norman]

Mr. Deasy, to your knowledge, have any RBBX cars been sold and placed in any kind of railroad rolling stock service?

Any for this?

https://youtu.be/agD4Qxsw7Ik