Passenger Trains > X train equipment

Who can supply us with its origins? Looks like a 1953 Budd ATSF 48 seat coach on the CZ today. Perhaps a reconfigured PRR congo car as the other one?

Who is doing the rehabs? What are their planned consists?

Will this equipment ever be used in any revenue service?

None of their published advertising matches the picture of the car that they have been putting out there. My own personal opinion and guess is that they are leasing that car from somewhere in the Midwest, and they have a temporary sticker or magnet with their "X" logo on it for photo purposes. The inside of the car is probably just a shell, or is just some regular coach or something.

Compare what they've advertised to what they are allegedly delivering. It's all smoke and mirrors in my opinion.

I tend to agree with coaststarlight99 post. Based on Aussieheinz photo and the routing of the cars, I believe they came from Mid-America Railcar leasing. The cars are most likely the PRR buffet lounge Henry Hudson and the Mohave an ex ATSF lounge car.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 01/22/14 19:13 by CZ20.

Where is this planned to run? Maybe,.

MEKoch Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> Who can supply us with its origins? Looks like a
> 1953 Budd ATSF 48 seat coach on the CZ today.
> Perhaps a reconfigured PRR congo car as the other
> one?
>
> Who is doing the rehabs? What are their planned
> consists?
>
> Will this equipment ever be used in any revenue
> service?

A friend in the know said that the cars are indeed leased from Mid America - and are the Mohave (1953 Budd Chair car now lounge) and Keystone Grill (1952 Budd PRR Congressional parlor car Henry Hudson). A long term lease is the more economical way to ease into this particular venture than going all out on a fleet of former RTA bi-levels. It's pretty obvious that this product will surpass and surprise regarding the renderings previously floated around. The cars are not just shells, and have been further re-vamped from their past status in the Mid America fleet. The work was done by contractors selected by both parties. Those of us who like Budd Heritage cars will be happy - much better than PS bi-levels.

All I can say is stay tuned - same channel, same time - there will be more fun coming down the pike......



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 01/22/14 19:30 by Carondelet.

My former co worker at Amtrak in Lincoln just confirmed the above info
800644 Mohave and 800651 Keystone Grill bringing up the markers.
Coming off at SLC according to the consist.
If it wasn't 1 degree with -15 wind chill I would go take photos.
Sorry
Steve



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 01/22/14 21:32 by wpjones.

The Mohave sure does get around. I've ridden it a few times. The first time I rode it was when it was part of the AAPRCO train behind the ATSF 3751 from Los Angeles to San Diego, and then San Diego to the Port of San Pedro. That was a longggggg second leg of the trip, and I ended up sleeping in the Mohave along with about 25 others who were very tired from a long day.

Then the car made an appearance again in Pleasanton, CA, where it sat on the UP siding along Stanley Avenue (I'm drawing a blank on the name of the siding....not Hearst....the other one...). Anyway, the UP brought it there where it sat for several days and then was finally brought to Hearst (along Hwy 680 in Pleasanton) where it interchanged with Niles Canyon Railway. They leased that car for a few months, but I can't recall why. Maybe it was the Train of Lights?

So the last few times I saw the interior, it was just a coach. Nothing to write home about. The seats were standard AmSeats, and it was just "Coach Class" and nothing more. So now supposedly the X Train has come along and has redesigned the interior? Where did this come from all of a sudden? What about all of the X Train updates that would say things like:

-"We have acquired rolling stock now and are working on our double-level luxury train cars" (along with an artist's rendition of what the inside will look like)

-"We have acquired locomotives!"

-"We will be the party train to Las Vegas, and our station will be near Rio off of I-15".

There are loads and loads of things they've put out, and NONE of it matches what we're seeing in these pictures. At this point, all they are is a PV charter company---that's it (if they're even that much). Time will tell, of course, but for now, that's really all they are. Pay them money, charter two cars, get hooked on behind Amtrak, and voila---"The X Train". LOL



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 01/22/14 22:46 by coaststarlight99.

The Mohave hasn't been configured as a coach in years. The interior was convertible from full lounge to full dining space or any combination thereof. I'd like to see what upgrades have been done but I've always enjoyed my many times working the car on various charters.

MWP in STL

Didn't I see that they expect to start running these cars from LAX to SAN ( Diego ) soon?

The car you are talking about is the Tolani, based on the west coast. 2 different cars.

Wait and see what the interior looks like before you draw 2 many conclusions.

Heritage cars are a big improvement over the RTA bi-levels.

coaststarlight99 Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> The Mohave sure does get around. I've ridden it a
> few times. The first time I rode it was when it
> was part of the AAPRCO train behind the ATSF 3751
> from Los Angeles to San Diego, and then San Diego
> to the Port of San Pedro. That was a longggggg
> second leg of the trip, and I ended up sleeping in
> the Mohave along with about 25 others who were
> very tired from a long day.
>
> Then the car made an appearance again in
> Pleasanton, CA, where it sat on the UP siding
> along Stanley Avenue (I'm drawing a blank on the
> name of the siding....not Hearst....the other
> one...). Anyway, the UP brought it there where it
> sat for several days and then was finally brought
> to Hearst (along Hwy 680 in Pleasanton) where it
> interchanged with Niles Canyon Railway. They
> leased that car for a few months, but I can't
> recall why. Maybe it was the Train of Lights?
>
> So the last few times I saw the interior, it was
> just a coach. Nothing to write home about. The
> seats were standard AmSeats, and it was just
> "Coach Class" and nothing more. So now supposedly
> the X Train has come along and has redesigned the
> interior? Where did this come from all of a
> sudden? What about all of the X Train updates that
> would say things like:
>
> -"We have acquired rolling stock now and are
> working on our double-level luxury train cars"
> (along with an artist's rendition of what the
> inside will look like)
>
> -"We have acquired locomotives!"
>
> -"We will be the party train to Las Vegas, and our
> station will be near Rio off of I-15".
>
> There are loads and loads of things they've put
> out, and NONE of it matches what we're seeing in
> these pictures. At this point, all they are is a
> PV charter company---that's it (if they're even
> that much). Time will tell, of course, but for
> now, that's really all they are. Pay them money,
> charter two cars, get hooked on behind Amtrak, and
> voila---"The X Train". LOL

Posted from Android

I assume the ATSF Mohave coach was once a 4800-series Heritage coach ?

When the Mohave was on the NS 30th Anniv. Employees train, it was the favorite car. Very nice. Now both cars have gotten major interior upgrades in the Indy area- but not by Amtrak - and won't be available to travel behind the NKP 765 in 2014 or longer.

Carondelet Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> The car you are talking about is the Tolani, based
> on the west coast. 2 different cars.


Ah, correct you are. It was indeed the Tolani.

coaststarlight99 Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> None of their published advertising matches the
> picture of the car that they have been putting out
> there. My own personal opinion and guess is that
> they are leasing that car from somewhere in the
> Midwest, and they have a temporary sticker or
> magnet with their "X" logo on it for photo
> purposes. The inside of the car is probably just a
> shell, or is just some regular coach or something.
>
>
> Compare what they've advertised to what they are
> allegedly delivering. It's all smoke and mirrors
> in my opinion.

TO members have been silly enough to give it free publicity, with three separate threads. In any case, the moral of the story is credibility, or lack there of. I was happy when no one talked about this for months after they were trying to talk to Amtrak about going to Las Vegas. I'll like them better if they can lobby and bring back the Desert Wind. Good luck!!

PV owners already offer similar services, as well as the upcoming Reno Fun/Snow Trains we have in Northern California, so what X Train is trying to do is absolutely no big deal. If they succeed, you think they will offer enough "competition" to lower prices? :-)

I'm often amazed at how anyone with a little $$$ and/or some web design and computer animation and illustration skills can put together a knock-your-socks-off website that bears little or no relation to the reality of their operation. Makes it hard to know who to trust any more, although the old caveat applies: "If it seems too good to be true..."

The thing I don't understand is X-Train's latest "update" on Facebook. They said that as of early this morning, their cars had arrived into Salt Lake City via Amtrak. From there, they're being disconnected and then attached onto a UP freight where they will go to Las Vegas for some sort of "event". WHAT??? Why are they doing an event with two leased cars in Las Vegas, when they aren't even GOING to Las Vegas as part of their operation? Sorry---I know a few on here say to "stay tuned" and that I might be surprised, give them a break, etc, etc, etc....Nope---not gonna do it. The proof is in the pudding. If the proof is there, great. If not, then......

davew833 Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> I'm often amazed at how anyone with a little $$$
> and/or some web design and computer animation and
> illustration skills can put together a
> knock-your-socks-off website that bears little or
> no relation to the reality of their operation.
> Makes it hard to know who to trust any more,
> although the old caveat applies: "If it seems too
> good to be true..."


Exactly. Nothing on their web page matches what they are doing right now. NOTHING.

It's all smoke and mirrors still to this day.

* Lease the railcars and slap your graphics on them.

* Have a large press conference when the cars arrive with whatever D list celebrity you can get to show up and promote it for you.

* Announce the LA - SD runs (as they've mentioned on their Facebook comments) while they work out the logistical details of how they're going to get between LA - Vegas.

* Run a couple charters from LA - SD to prove that they're a real business to investors to milk them for more money.

Then the lease expires on the cars from Mid America, the cars get returned and you announce that you were unable to secure a way into Vegas and thank everyone for supporting their attempts.