Passenger Trains > First day of long Silver Star Monday

With the Meteor annulled and some of its cars added to the Star, I photograpjhed train 91 speeding through North Philadelphia station/

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One more.

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Kinda like the Silver Star consists of the 1990s. Still shorter than the Star of the 1970s and 1980s.

Impressive.  Noth  STAR  and  METEOR  should  look  that  way  daily  with marketing.  Easy  for  me   to  say.
    Maybe  they  will wash it in Florida!!

Yesterday was trhe first day as I am on thew long one to Miami.\

Chris

Lots of hungry passengers on board. Hope they brought their own supplies. 

Yesterday was the first day as I am on thew long one to Miami.\

Chris

Mudrock Wrote:
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> Yesterday was the first day as I am on the long
> one to Miami.\
>
> Chris
Interesting.  The new schedule was announced as starting today.

cutboy1958 Wrote:
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> Impressive.  Noth  STAR  and  METEOR  should
>  look  that  way  daily  with marketing.
>  Easy  for  me   to  say.
>     Maybe  they  will wash it in Florida!!

Nope I saw the trains a couple times two weeks ago, and they are filthy northbound too. Another example of Amtrak indifference to providing a quality service. At least they used to wash the damn things.

Posted from iPhone

alan2955 Wrote:
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> cutboy1958 Wrote:
> --------------------------------------------------
> -----
> > Impressive.  Noth  STAR  and  METEOR
>  should
> >  look  that  way  daily  with marketing.
> >  Easy  for  me   to  say.
> >     Maybe  they  will wash it in Florida!!
>
> Nope I saw the trains a couple times two weeks
> ago, and they are filthy northbound too. Another
> example of Amtrak indifference to providing a
> quality service. At least they used to wash the
> damn things.

Dirty trains move people just as well as clean ones.

I'm sure this has been answered before but again what is the reason for running the baggage car at the end of the train?

WP17

I mean I hope Amtrak is successful in operating the SUPER Silver Star with this consist. I guess they have to operate that consist to also preserve the staff - so that when the split the trains apart, there's the same staff....

I am sure Amtrak realizes that cancelling one train (the Silver Meteor that was the stronger Florida/Northeast train as even proven with its larger consist) and putting it together with another train is certainly not going to automatically equate to everyone "moving over" to the Silver Star's operating schedule and train set. One plus one will not equal 2 in this situation, especially with absolutely no advertising to this whole arrangement to not only secure the current ridership base but also spur new riders to take the passenger train. It's nice to see the Silver Star consist of the late 1980s emerge once again, a time when the train also split at Jacksonville and Amtrak had a greater Florida market share (complimented by multiple train frequencies to/from Florida). That all makes a difference. 

In general it would be nice to see the Star emerge with 3 sleepers and the Meteor emerge with at least 4  sleepers when the Viewliner sleepers get re-distributed!

 

Baggage on the rear of a train this long must be a pain for employees train and station.

Posted from Android

The new language/mandates in the IIJA could have contributed to the decision to go with a daily star/palmetto and no meteor during this reduction. From a pure revenue/performance perspective it would have been a better move to “can” the star (or do a day split) but doing so would have reduced service at the star’s stops that see only the star. They may have interpreted their mandate to be we have to keep service daily at all stations if possible and that not significantly cutting service to individual stops has to be the biggest priority.

Posted from iPhone

lordsigma Wrote:
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> The new language/mandates in the IIJA could have
> contributed to the decision to go with a daily
> star/palmetto and no meteor during this reduction.
> From a pure revenue/performance perspective it
> would have been a better move to “can” the
> star (or do a day split) but doing so would have
> reduced service at the star’s stops that see
> only the star. They may have interpreted their
> mandate to be we have to keep service daily at all
> stations if possible and that not significantly
> cutting service to individual stops has to be the
> biggest priority.
>
> Posted from iPhone

No, I don't think so. It was Stephen Gardner's attempt at killing the higher revenue and shorter running time Silver Meteor to sabotage the LD revenue stream. The Chief and the Builder now have shorter-yet consists, and there was no concern about keeping 7 day a week service there, or west of Milwaukee and Galesburg. So much for concern of their daily "mandate". They could have kept daily service on the "A" line by having the 2 off days of the Meteor and Palmetto each being different.  

Let's not get carried away The Star keeps two state capitals on the route, one of which (Raleigh) is a busy station. The Star also provides Miami-Tampa service. No town lost service by annulling the Meteor except Jesup, where the Star now stops. That wouldn't have been the case if the Star had been annulled. Passengers in Georgia and the Carolinas on the ex-ACL usually rode the Palmetto because it was a day train. I don't disagree that the prior regime at Amtrak was cool to LD trains, but a decision in favor of the Star could have been made even by someone who likes LD trains and had to choose one or the other. 

ctillnc Wrote:
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> Kinda like the Silver Star consists of the 1990s.
> Still shorter than the Star of the 1970s and
> 1980s.

You mean the Star after 95? I remember seeing 92 come into Jacksonville with 18 cars back in 94 when I was in the Navy based at Mayport and then NAS JAX before I got out!

WP17 Wrote:
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> I'm sure this has been answered before but again
> what is the reason for running the baggage car at
> the end of the train?
>
> WP17

For the sole convenience of the operating department, screw the passengers this makes our job easier!