Passenger Trains > More news on CAF Baggage Car

Amtrak Ink, the employee newsletter, is generally posted on amtrak.com. The July issue has an informative article on the new baggage car.
URL is http://www.amtrak.com/ccurl/634/467/Amtrak-Ink-July-2014.pdf

Andy

atsffan Wrote:
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> Shame they didn't mention the bike racks being
> installed in the baggage cars.

Actually it was mentioned.

I was surprised to learn that the baggage doors are hinged, with doors opening inward. They do not slide.

Is this an original idea?; I don't think I've ever seen a baggage car without a sliding door.

Joe



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 07/25/14 11:32 by floridajoe2001.

floridajoe2001 Wrote:
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> I was surprised to learn that the baggage doors
> are hinged, with doors opening inward. They do
> not slide.
>
> Is this an original idea?; I don't think I've ever
> seen a baggage car without a sliding door.

========================================

A lot of us who had to wrestle with balky sliding doors wished for
them, MANY years ago. Some good railroaders have actually gotten
hurt struggling with those things.

We were always told that a hinged door would reduce the available
floor space in the car. That wasn't so important in baggage service
because the car would never be full of baggage, but in Express and
Mail service it could make a difference.

Outward-opening doors, as you can imagine, would be a no-no.

In my train-watching, I've seen lots of sliding doors, and then Amtrak converted lots of coaches to baggage cars which had a garage-door type of vertical rolling door. Those are the ones you see going by that have the door open a foot or 2 or 4. Back when Amtrak still handled mail, sometimes you'd see the corrugated "garage doors" with holes in them where the forklifts had punctured them.

I hope the inward-hinged doors work well. I hope they keep the rain and snow out of the cars, which I've heard has been a problem in recent years with deferred maintenance. I think the old cars had steam grilles near the sliding doors, which melted the snow, which could be messy, but at least there weren't piles of snow inside the cars. I've always wondered how VIA Rail (and CN and CP before it) kept the snow and rain out of their baggage cars. And, for that matter, how US railroads did it before Amtrak. I'm not bashing Amtrak, but I've never heard old-timers talk about snow or rain inside baggage cars in years past, but I hear Amtrak train and station personnel talk about it these days.

I worked hundreds of baggage cars while at Amtrak and have thrown tons of mail sacks, then loaded cages with mail, remains, live animals (back in the day) and scores of luggage.

In my opinion, a swing door will greatly restrict the ability to load and move outbound and inbound bags due to the swing area of the door. No more stacking a pile of items coming off at the next stop ready to unload unless you work with the door open while the train is moving. A safety issue. Similarly, loading large volumes of group luggage will have to go directly behind you in the baggage car aisle, likely, as to get it in the car quickly. That could impede sorting and unloading of other items.

While working at Omaha in blizzards, the snow and ice usually freezes to the baggage car door. We used the tongue of the fork lift to push open the sliding door when they were frozen stuck. Unless these doors are heated, opening them may be a challenge in severe weather.

Then again, with Amtrak reportedly losing interest in long haul trains, perhaps they envision them only in the Northeast Corridor? I hope not.

My suggestion, don't scrap those Santa Fe Budd built baggage cars for another 20 years.

When I worked for AMTRAK the snow filled baggage cars were usually due to the end doors not being closed by the crew.
Steve



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 07/25/14 21:45 by wpjones.

floridajoe2001 Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> I was surprised to learn that the baggage doors
> are hinged, with doors opening inward. They do
> not slide.
>
> Is this an original idea?; I don't think I've ever
> seen a baggage car without a sliding door.
>
> Joe


90230 has swing doors and they open outwards.

shorthoodlead Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> floridajoe2001 Wrote:
> --------------------------------------------------
> -----
> > I was surprised to learn that the baggage doors
> > are hinged, with doors opening inward. They do
> > not slide.
> >
> > Is this an original idea?; I don't think I've
> ever
> > seen a baggage car without a sliding door.
> >
> > Joe
>
>
> 90230 has swing doors and they open outwards.


The doors on that Cabbage Car. Are the Original doors for when the Cabbage still had it's
engine. Not really ideal doors for baggage cars.

Jerry Martin
Los Angeles, CA
Central Coast Railroad Festival

BuddPullman Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> I worked hundreds of baggage cars while at Amtrak
> and have thrown tons of mail sacks, then loaded
> cages with mail, remains, live animals (back in
> the day) and scores of luggage.
>
> In my opinion, a swing door will greatly restrict
> the ability to load and move outbound and inbound
> bags due to the swing area of the door. No more
> stacking a pile of items coming off at the next
> stop ready to unload unless you work with the door
> open while the train is moving. A safety issue.
> Similarly, loading large volumes of group luggage
> will have to go directly behind you in the baggage
> car aisle, likely, as to get it in the car
> quickly. That could impede sorting and unloading
> of other items.
>
> While working at Omaha in blizzards, the snow and
> ice usually freezes to the baggage car door. We
> used the tongue of the fork lift to push open the
> sliding door when they were frozen stuck. Unless
> these doors are heated, opening them may be a
> challenge in severe weather.
>
> Then again, with Amtrak reportedly losing interest
> in long haul trains, perhaps they envision them
> only in the Northeast Corridor? I hope not.
>
> My suggestion, don't scrap those Santa Fe Budd
> built baggage cars for another 20 years.

If there was a "post of the day", this would be my nominee.

The heated track for sliding doors is a great idea.

The ACF Army Hospital cars (including heavyweight mortuary car conversions) all had dual hinged doors which opened inward and swung back against the wall.

The last series built by StLCC had sliding doors (I think) or were converted to sliding doors when transferred to Amtrak.

Michael