Passenger Trains > Ever wonder what happened to the Amtrak MHC cars?

They're stored en masse in Santa Maria, CA.

Driving out to Guadalupe today to catch the southbound QRVML, the SMV switching, and AMTK 799, we took Betteravia Road south out of Santa Maria to stick closer to the Santa Maria Valley RR tracks. Nearing SMV the spur that once served the now-derelict beet processing plant, I looked closely for any little sign of the once-bustling rail activity there. Boy was I suprised to find not one, not two, not twenty, but at least FIFTY old Amtrak MHC cars shoved on the spur! At least a mile of cars, in many places two tracks full, broken only for crossings. It filled the entire spur. I'd venture to say there are more than a hundred there, in at least 3 different paint schemes.


To get there, take 101 to Betteravia and go south, or take Hwy 1 to Main Street in Guadalupe, then go right on Betteravia and follow it south, then east to the beet plant.

I may not be the first person to post this, but it certainly surprised the hell out of me to see all those Amtrak cars in this area that hadn't seen passenger service in 50 years and has no permanent Amtrak employees.

Pictures to come when I get home (sunday).

I was suprised to see them also. If you look closely, you can see them while you are aboard the Coast Starlight.

Take Care,
Alex Ramos

The decision to store them near the ocean has "Amtrak" written all over it. I guess finding a dry location where rust isn't a problem makes too much sense.

The 71000 and 72000-series are pratically new cars (built fall-1997 and later). Why are they sitting unused and not leased to a freight railroad?

David.Curlee Wrote:
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> The decision to store them near the ocean has
> "Amtrak" written all over it. I guess finding a
> dry location where rust isn't a problem makes too
> much sense.
>
> The 71000 and 72000-series are pratically new cars
> (built fall-1997 and later). Why are they sitting
> unused and not leased to a freight railroad?


Probably because like so much at Amtrak, they are NOT in a State of Good Repair.

FrankHatfield Wrote:
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> Probably because like so much at Amtrak, they are
> NOT in a State of Good Repair.

Good point. The only favorable thing in this situation is their age. Compared to other equipment, Amtrak didn't get as long of an opportunity to screw them up.

They're stored in Harrisburg, PA

Gonut

Did anyone ever see these cars in transit??

Any photos??

Wonder if any of them came up in a dedicated train.

Didn't see any reports of these cars on headsupcoastfans;
usually someone notices when something like a bunch of
amtk MHC's come into town.

If no one knows, I'll ask the Guadalupe switcher or SMV crew what
happened, next week.

Beth

David.Curlee Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> The decision to store them near the ocean has
> "Amtrak" written all over it. I guess finding a
> dry location where rust isn't a problem makes too
> much sense.
>
> The 71000 and 72000-series are pratically new cars
> (built fall-1997 and later). Why are they sitting
> unused and not leased to a freight railroad?



Could be that no freight railroad is interested.

The UP used to have similar-sized express boxcars that were used in passenger trains. When that need ended in the 1960s, UP did repaint some of them and put them in freight service. That didn't last long, though, because their smaller capacity meant the railroad couldn't charge the prevailing carload rate for them. Anyway, the trend then (and now?) was toward bigger freight cars, not smaller ones.

there is a difference

DutchDoor Wrote:
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> The UP used to have similar-sized express boxcars
> that were used in passenger trains. When that
> need ended in the 1960s, UP did repaint some of
> them and put them in freight service. That didn't
> last long, though, because their smaller capacity
> meant the railroad couldn't charge the prevailing
> carload rate for them. Anyway, the trend then
> (and now?) was toward bigger freight cars, not
> smaller ones.

Aren't the 71000/72000 series cars the dark green boxcars built by Gunderson? They are pretty well standard 50 foot double-door boxcars, with extra passenger train equipment that should be easily removed/disabled/ignored for freight train service.

If nothing else, paint them yellow and put them in the TBOX pool!

dan Wrote:
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> there is a difference


And that is?

wigwagfan Wrote:
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>
> Aren't the 71000/72000 series cars the dark green
> boxcars built by Gunderson? They are pretty well
> standard 50 foot double-door boxcars, with extra
> passenger train equipment that should be easily
> removed/disabled/ignored for freight train
> service.
>
> If nothing else, paint them yellow and put them in
> the TBOX pool!

That's a good point, but this thread specifically mentions "MHC"s, which I take to mean the original, low-profile cars that came with HEP wiring.

Making Host Complain ?

...Lorenzo

Since there are no pictures accompanying this report, I don't know for sure which cars are stored in California, but it sounds to me like they're the old 1400 or 1500-series Material Handling Cars with passenger trucks and HEP pass-through, not the newer boxcars acquired in the late 1990s.

Cars in Santa Maria are not the 1400 series MHC's - they were all sold off. Might be 1500's, might be the 7xxxx stuff.

The boxes stored on the SMVRR are the ex-Express cars. There is no HEP run through. Cars were moved via dedicated trains soon after the end of the Express business.

pdt Wrote:

> Did anyone ever see these cars in transit??
>
> Any photos??
>
> Wonder if any of them came up in a dedicated
> train.

There were a few mentions of the trains here, but I don't recall seeing any photos.

http://www.trainorders.com/discussion/read.php?4,801140,801140#msg-801140
http://www.trainorders.com/discussion/read.php?4,801549,801549#msg-801549
http://www.trainorders.com/discussion/read.php?1,798216,798294#msg-798294

PhantomofCajon Wrote:
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> The boxes stored on the SMVRR are the ex-Express
> cars. There is no HEP run through. Cars were moved
> via dedicated trains soon after the end of the
> Express business.


Then they're not MHC's.

toledopatch said, "Then they're not MHC's"

PhantomofCajon said, "they are ex-Epress cars . . ."

MHC's are not Express cars.

PhantomofCajon Wrote:
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> toledopatch said, "Then they're not MHC's"
>
> PhantomofCajon said, "they are ex-Epress cars . .
> ."
>
> MHC's are not Express cars.

I wasn't correcting you, but the original post certainly describes these cars as MHCs.