Passenger Trains > Amtrak #3 out of Chicago today with a Weird consist

Seen on the VRF Ft. Madison cam this evening, # 3 had 2 units and Horizon coach 2 more
units and the usual 6 cars but they where reverse from normal...2 coaches, lounge, diner,                                            
2 sleepers. I assume they did not turn the train yesterday since it was so late...but the coach 
between the units is really strange.

Scott



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 03/18/23 22:45 by sfdrrfan3.

All I can figure is that two engines and the coach are there to get set out at La Junta, where they'll go to Pueblo and pick up an Acela set.

(Acelas going to/from Pueblo is still a thing, right?)

Equipment being moved to LA for PM.

Posted from iPhone

Seattle is also supposed to be getting more locomotives (I assume extra P42s) and around 5 more Horizons to run the expanded Cascades schedule. Lack of equipment is what's holding that up.

sfdrrfan3 Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> Seen on the VRF Ft. Madison cam this evening, # 3
> had 2 units and Horizon coach 2 more
> units and the usual 6 cars but they where reverse
> from normal...2 coaches, lounge, diner,       
>                                  
>   
> 2 sleepers. I assume they did not turn the train
> yesterday since it was so late...but the coach 
> between the units is really strange.
>
> Scott

The usual should be, bag, dorm, 2 sleepers, diner, lounge, then  2 coaches! They had the consist you mentioned for the past 2 years and I'm sorry, that's not a passenger train! 

Here's that #3 at Gallup running about 2.5 hours late.

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2904 Wrote:
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> Equipment being moved to LA for PM.
>
> Posted from iPhone

PM - Preventative Maintenance? Given Chicago's current equipment maintenance performance, probably better if performed in the LA shops.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 03/20/23 17:57 by Cumbresfan.

Seattle recently picked up seven additional Horizon coaches, and I just saw an eighth new one yesterday, the 54548.  We should only need a few more Horizon cars to get up to the eight four-car sets plus spare cars that we need to have six round trips between Seattle and Portland, six Horizon sets plus the two Oregon Talgos plus a couple of Horizon spares on hand.  By the way, I don't think we're running any three car Horizon trainsets anymore, they're all four cars, at least between Seattle and Eugene, and they're selling out many trips Thursday through Sunday.  A fifth Seattle-Portland round trip is supposed to start this fall, no date set yet.  The sixth is coming, but not sure when.  

As many know, the Horizons were the passenger car of choice for the Midwest corridor trains. Guess they are now settling in to the Cascades route. Horizons were to be the stop gap to replace the ill-fated Talgo equipment. Cascade corridor is to get its next generation of cars, but they can't seem to come soon enough. Still years away. Amtrak thought it would have the Venture cars fully deployed in the Midwest so the Horizons could be used in Cascade service, spares in general, and as new state corridor route/expansions. Horizons are also the passenger rail car of choice for new state corridor routes (e.g. Mobile to New Orleans). Many Horizons are still stored and not all Venture cars are deployed, so this continues to be a tight squeeze.