Passenger Trains > Inaugural Amtrak Service Arrives in Norfolk 12-11-12

A few pics of Todays Amtrak Inaugural Special to Norfolk. Amtrak 156 lead followed by 119, 5 amfleets, CSX business car "Greenbrier" - NS dome "Delaware" and Amtrak Business Car "Beech Grove" bringing up the Markers. The special left Washington DC Union Station promptly at 9:10am, made stops in Ashland, VA, Richmond, VA Petersburg, VA, and arrived at Norfolk at 3:13 (3 minutes late).

The Governor of Virginia, NS CEO Wick Moorman and Amtrak CEO Joe Boardman were among many of the VIPs on board. The train arrived to a large crowd in Norfolk with a live band, festivities and speeches galore.

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More Pics

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Last couple of pics - sorry for the low quaility but cloud cover and an Iphone hampered me a little.

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Just 4 coaches ? No wonder it sold out.

It's not sold out. The Amtrak reservations website shows seats available tomorrow morning to Washington for $54, to New York for $128 and to Boston for $149.

Nice platform. Appears to hold 8 1/2 cars, end to end, so you can actually get one end of a 9th car on the platform. Nice length for a new platform.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 12/11/12 16:01 by knotch8.

joemvcnj Wrote:
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> Just 4 coaches ? No wonder it sold out.

This was a special move for the big guys. They are dead heading 125 down this evening and the 5 Amfleet that came down on this train will go back out in the am on 174 so it will actually have its normal 8 cars plus these 5 and 2 engines. The business cars will head out later tomorrow as a special move.

Sharon Evans
Glen Allen, VA



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 12/11/12 16:00 by RNinRVR.

RNinRVR Wrote:
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> joemvcnj Wrote:
> --------------------------------------------------
> -----
> > Just 4 coaches ? No wonder it sold out.
>
> This was a special move for the big guys. They are
> dead heading 125 down this evening and the 5
> Amfleet that came down on this train will go back
> out in the am on 174 so it will actually have its
> normal 8 cars plus these 5 and 2 engines. The
> business cars will head out later tomorrow as a
> special move.

There are 4 amfleets and 1 cafe car in this consist, and 2 Amfleet 1 diners at St Julian's in the servicing facility so I hope they bring a few coaches with the deadhead move tonight. The consist is supposed to be 7 coaches and a Cafe car for 8 total right?

Posted from iPhone

As I noted, train 125 with it's engine and 8 cars is deadheading to Norfolk tonight to become tomorrow's train 174. You take the 5 cars now in Norfolk and the engine which will be attached to 174 for a total of 12 cars with 2 engines. Now they may leave 1 or 2 of the amfleet to come back with the exective train later in the morning tomorrow so 174 would have 10 cars. Only tomorrows train will tell the answer to this.

Sharon Evans
Glen Allen, VA

Thanks for posting. Jealous in OHIO!!

Bear in mind that eight cars will NOT be the normal consist.

Four extra cars were added for ONE DAY: tomorrow.

That said, these VIP "inaugurals" are always fun. Eat free food and schmooze with bigshots; and the
air conditioning (or heat) ALWAYS works. Same with all the toilets.

I rode every one for a decade. Then there was a dearth of them. It's nice to see NEW services
being inaugurated again.

I'm with ya Gene, hope this train does well!

GenePoon Wrote:
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> Bear in mind that eight cars will NOT be the
> normal consist.
>

Gene, 8 cars is the normal consist for the trains that have been turning in Richmond and I see no reason that this would change just because 125/174 now goes through to Norfolk. The only one of the regionals that serve eastern VA that has less then 8 cars is the 67/66 duo and it has 5.

Sharon Evans
Glen Allen, VA

Why on Earth does this train leave Norfolk so early? Most folks aren't even up by then. Are they trying to kill it off before it even starts? Weekend times a a bit better.

Train leaves so early because it is simply an extension of an existing state-supported train that leaves Richmond at 7am. Have to leave Norfolk before 5 to be in Richmond in time to leave at 7. The early departure may appeal to the considerable military market here that needs to get to northern Virginia for morning meetings and such. We shall see. Hopefully folks wishing to travel at more reasonable times will opt to catch the Thruway bus to a later train from Newport News and return on the Norfolk train. The southbound schedule into Norfolk isn't bad at all.

JimVB Wrote:
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> The early departure may appeal to the
> considerable military market here that needs to
> get to northern Virginia for morning meetings and
> such.

The Army used to have recruiting ads on TV proclaiming that "we do more before 9am than most people to in a day"....I guess taking the train to a meeting at the Pentagon will now be one of those things :-)

Dave

And for anyone that's keeping track there was a total of a whopping 304 paying passengers on the train leaving Norfolk Va this morning.

More newspaper accounts:
VIRGINIAN-PILOT, 12/12/12 (Norfolk/NS):
http://hamptonroads.com/node/661999

DAILY PRESS, 12/12/12 (Newport News/CSXT):
http://www.dailypress.com/news/traffic/dp-nws-amtrak-norfolk-start-20121211,0,2675599.story

125 is arriving in NFK with 250 passengers this evening, 135 of them 3 separate groups of passengers.