Passenger Trains > A place for the Wisconsin Talgos

Now that Wisconsin no longer wants them. Will they be pushed into Hiawatha Service or what is Amtrak going to do with them?

-George

Doubtful they will see service between Chicago and Milwaukee as Amtrak does not have the specialty equipment needed for maintenance of Talgo equipment in the midwest. The Cascades corridor in Oregon/Washingtom is a possibility as there is a Talgo maintenance facility at the King Street Yard in Seattle. Remember that two of the Talgo sets built in Milwaukee are already destined for the Cascades corridor.

Although this is a pipe dream, these cars would be perfect for a Las Vegas service (X-Train or Amtrak, you wanna jump on the bandwagon here?). Vegas would also be an excellent location to build an American Talgo Maintenance Facility/Factory

The cannot "be pushed into Hiawatha Service" since Amtrak does not own them.

joemvcnj Wrote:
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> The cannot "be pushed into Hiawatha Service" since
> Amtrak does not own them.

Right. At present Talgo owns them since the State of Wisconsin has not paid for them.

Eventually Talgo could enter into some sort of a lease/maintain/operate agreement with someone I suppose to recoup as much as they can out of this misadventure.

Right now Talgo is suing Wisconsin. That could be time consuming. I would like to see them in North Carolina. Active Passenger Rail State. Curves. need that maintenance facility, however.

I know this is really dreaming, but it would be great if a maintenance facility could be built in Jacksonville to allow the trains to run south to Orlando, Tampa, and Miami, north into the Carolinas, west to New Orleans, and northwest to Atlanta. Maybe Talgo could work with all the states involved, eah giving a little money, tax credits, etc., to create these new corridors.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 12/09/12 06:51 by Genesis803.

My dream for then is Washington State, to run a daytime service between Seattle and Spokane via Yakima on the ex-NP.

joemvcnj Wrote:
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> My dream for then is Washington State, to run a
> daytime service between Seattle and Spokane via
> Yakima on the ex-NP.

Good thinking! That way we all could get to the Yakima streetcar line in the proper fashion!

current issue of trains has an article on these, i still need to read it

Amtrak could put them on Amtrak 42&43 from Pittsburgh to NYP. They would look great on them trains?

railcity Wrote:
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> Amtrak could put them on Amtrak 42&43 from
> Pittsburgh to NYP. They would look great on them
> trains?


Except when you try to exit one in Philadelphia, Trenton, Newark, or New York, you will walk into the wall that forms the underside of a platform.

Oh, and trying to get onto one at these stations, you're roof-surfing....

Posted from Android

I think they'd look great rotting in the Bear, DE storage yard next to the Super Steel RTL-III Turboliners!

joemvcnj Wrote:
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> My dream for then is Washington State, to run a
> daytime service between Seattle and Spokane via
> Yakima on the ex-NP.

It would be better perhaps if Washington State or Oregon State just buys the Talgo train sets, since Oregon is getting two train sets from this same production run (in general).

However, the "Oregon Talgo Trainsets" and "Wisconsin Talgo Trainsets" do differ in consist composition (e.g. "bistro" and "dinning car). The Wisconsin sets would probably be "good enough" for just running back and forth between Portland and Seattle.

A "day train" between say Seattle and Spokane (on current Empire Builder route) and even Portland and Boise has been proposed in the past and perhaps this is where Amtrak needs to look. That is, after all settlements are done with in Wisconsin.

Otherwise, it looks like trainsets will indeed be heading to Bear, DE. And this is a time when Amtrak needs additional cars in service, not less......

joemvcnj Wrote:
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> My dream for then is Washington State, to run a
> daytime service between Seattle and Spokane via
> Yakima on the ex-NP.

Over Stampede!! How about Seattle-Yakima-Tri-cities-Spokane-Seattle? Nice...but a pipe dream, I'm sure.

I know! Send two the the Northeast Corridor, free up an Acela trainset, use that to stretch out other Acela trainsets to 8 cars! A lot cheaper than 40 new coaches...

JimBo

They only work on lines with at-grade platforms. I rode one back in the '80s on a demonstration and they seemed to ride a little rough...

Bill Deaver
Tehachapi, CA

jp1822 Wrote:
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> However, the "Oregon Talgo Trainsets" and
> "Wisconsin Talgo Trainsets" do differ in consist
> composition (e.g. "bistro" and "dinning car)....

and seat pitch. The Wisconsin Talgo's are sardine cans, packing in a hundred more seats than with the Oregon ones.

The Trains magazine just out goes over the various configurations pretty well. It said nothing about the tighter seat pitch, and was pretty dignified (or polite) in its description of the homely cab cars. They just blame the need on FRA, engineer cannot be centered, and each of 2 seats must have equivalent visibility.

After Wisconsin quit... Amtrak or someone else should invite Talgo build a maintenance facility in Chicago. It's the best place for them... Look:

-You got the lines to Michigan @ 110mph...
-The line into St. Louis.
-And more Chicago Hub based trains.

You can figure out a Wolverine Talgo or a Lincoln Service Talgo... Even send them on the Hiawatha once Walker is out of office!