Passenger Trains > Horizon Car Question

I think this is a Horizon Car. Photo 1 Snow or Fun Train through Roseville on Tuesday.

As it passed by I snapped a photo. Upon viewing the image I noticed the volunteer assistant conductor was putting what looked like a key into the control panel. Photo 2

Is this how the door is closed? With a key? Looks like a skeleton key.

chris bekiaris

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That's an Amfleet-1 car, and yes, he shuts the door with a key.
Horizon cars used to have that mechanism. One or both vestibules on each car were converted to manual doors.

Horizon cars look a bit more boxy then Amfleet cars. This is an Amfleet car in your pictures, and as was said above they do have power (Compressed air cylinders) door operations on the high-density (corridor) cars (Amfleet I).

Do Amfleet II cars ever make their way out west?

Tony

The doors close just the same as they do on the California cars.

What else does the key operate? Such as end doors, etc..

There's no such position as 'volunteer assistant conductor', no one gives away their time to the railroad that's for sure. It's either a obs person working as a car attendant, or a person from the tour company working as a car attendant.

Amfleet I doors are NOT compressed air operated. From that "Door Operator" location the conductor can operate that door, or if a selector switch is set for Trainline, all the doors on the same side will open at once. This is used on the North East Corridor. The doors on each end are opened or closed by use of Push Plates located on the bottom or top of the doors. The end doors can also be left open by a toggle switch.

Misfit138 Wrote:
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> What else does the key operate? Such as end doors,
> etc..


Possibly the bathrooms? That's a skeleton key also but I don't know if it is the same keying.

They used to just pull the handle above the door to operate them when the Amfleets were out here on the San Diegans. If they aren't compressed air operated, then what operates the door then????

ats90mph Wrote:
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> They used to just pull the handle above the door
> to operate them when the Amfleets were out here on
> the San Diegans. If they aren't compressed air
> operated, then what operates the door then????


Electricity. All the doors on Amfleet cars have electric door motors that operate off the LVPS or Battery. There is also no trainline switch, the doors on Amfleet I cars are all trainlined. The panel has three columns of buttons. The left column opens and closes all doors in front of the car location, the middle column opens and closes the local door only, and the right column opens and closes all doors behind the location.

And assuming they work the same way on Amfleets that the controls on Metra cars do, the key can be turned to either an "enable" or "disable" position, with every panel kept in the "disable" position except when a conductor is present and preparing for a station stop. That way nothing happens if an overly-anxious passenger starts pushing buttons as the train reaches a station--or worse still, between stations.

The doors are operated by electric motors. When the system on Amfleet equipment is all up and operating, the conductor can open all doors by pushing the button on the door panel. You can see this being done on the Northeast corridor, where they use high platforms and Amfleet is still the backbone of the operation. Out west, it is important not to open unstaffed doors, since the traps do not open automatically and a lackadaisical passenger might launch themself.

The confusion over the air operation comes from the fact that the doors have an air baffle that kicks in when they are closed to keep the seal tight. On cars which do not have operational door mechanisms, you open the door by activating the emergency door handle, which releases the air and the door can then be manually forced open. This is how 90% of the Amfleet doors are opened out west.

The Amtrak coach key is vital to activate all the automated door systems, to lock the car end doors closed, to get into the trash bins, to open P.A. enclosures, and dozens of other functions, which is why all engineers, conductors, and on-board service people have them. They are derived from the coach keys used on the predecessor railroads.

This is a Key Holidays train. Staffing except for engineer and Amtrak conductor are with Key Holidays. So I came up with the term Volunteer Assistant Conductor.

http://www.keyholidays.com/tours.html

Chris Bekiaris


fjc Wrote:
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> There's no such position as 'volunteer assistant
> conductor', no one gives away their time to the
> railroad that's for sure. It's either a obs
> person working as a car attendant, or a person
> from the tour company working as a car attendant.

All Coaches and food service cars are staffed by an Amtrak employee. There is also more then one mechanical rider with the train. There are few if any of the Key Holidays' staff that open doors.

The Key for the door controls is the same used for the bathrooms, PA cabinets and several other lockers.