Passenger Trains > Amtrak's "Hiawatha" Doubles In Size

Thanks to three Metrolink Cars (going to Talgo for rebuild) and two Private Cars owned by Charter Manufacturing (going home to Milwaukee for the winter), this morning's Hiawatha train 331 doubled in size from five cars to ten. 



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 11/28/22 19:17 by sethamtrak.

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Those Charter cars are gorgeous— I switched them out in Oakland a while back and took a tour after spotting them up! The Observation car was once ICRR 11-bedroom “Belleville” built in 1953 by Pullman-Standard.. I rode on it w/ my family as a kid back in April 1971 on one of the last “City of Miami” trains.

Too bad they couldn't seel the Metrolink cars as coach space. 

joemvcnj Wrote:
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> Too bad they couldn't seel the Metrolink cars as
> coach space. 

You don't want to do that. Those seats are good for about one hour before your back starts hurting. Fixed seats and very thin padding.

PHall Wrote:
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> joemvcnj Wrote:
> --------------------------------------------------
> -----
> > Too bad they couldn't seel the Metrolink cars
> as
> > coach space. 
>
> You don't want to do that. Those seats are good
> for about one hour before your back starts
> hurting. Fixed seats and very thin padding.

It's only an 89-minute trip between Chicago and Milwaukee.

RuleG Wrote:
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> PHall Wrote:
> --------------------------------------------------
> -----
> > joemvcnj Wrote:
> >
> --------------------------------------------------
>
> > -----
> > > Too bad they couldn't seel the Metrolink cars
> > as
> > > coach space. 
> >
> > You don't want to do that. Those seats are good
> > for about one hour before your back starts
> > hurting. Fixed seats and very thin padding.
>
> It's only an 89-minute trip between Chicago and
> Milwaukee.

You mean you're not afraid of making yet more "never agains" for the crappy seats?

There's plenty of commuter rail trips with "crappy seats" over 89 minutes in duration.
Then there's the whole discussion of crappy seats in Venture cars.

I rode those cars, they're not bad if you don't have back issues!

Posted from Android

PHall Wrote:
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> You mean you're not afraid of making yet more
> "never agains" for the crappy seats?

No, that is NOT what I mean at all.

Until recently, Amtrak has regularly utilized commuter rail equipment on several routes to accommodate pre- and post-Thanksgiving travel.  While different commuter rail systems may have varying quality of seats in their railcars, I am sure that none of them offer the comfort of Amtrak coaches.

Most people traveling on the Wednesday before Thanksgiving and the Sunday after know that their trips will be more expensive, more prone to delays, more crowded and less comfortable regardless if they drove, flew in a plane, rode on a bus or took Amtrak.  Sure there may be a few who rode in commuter rail equipment who said never again, but I am sure the vast majority riding in those cars accepted the accommodations because their main focus was spending time with their families.  It was just a one-time (or perhaps two-time) thing.

During a 2016 visit to Los Angeles, I rode Metrolink's Antelope Valley Line between Los Angeles and Lancaster.  It was over two hours each way.  I don't remember any seat problems.  

More recently, I rode a South Shore train between Michigan City and Chicago which I recall having hard seats.  Those riding between South Bend and Chicago have nearly a two-hour ride.

People are willing to put up with whatever seating, especially if it is for just two trips over the Thanksgiving holidays.  If Amtrak cannot accommodate the riders in the first place, that is more discouraging (i.e, - forget about "never again" - they won't even try to ride in the future).