Passenger Trains > An Hour in Chicago

After dropping off some supplies on the south side for tomorrows family get together, I decided to take a detour on my way back to the north side. First was 7 with a newly rehabbed amfleet heading to the Cascades. Someone made an interesting observation on my Facebook post. He noticed that there were several liveries in one shot. Front to rear: VII, VI, VII, III and VI. Next thing you know, phase VIII will be released. 

Pacific Sunset arrived from LA yesterday evening and is headed to Albany or NYC tonight on 48.

49 had four P42s up front. 

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Pacific Sunset, a former UP 10-6 sleeper. Now a 6 bedroom buffet lounge if I remember correctly. 

Freshly painted Viewliner I now in phase 7 as a "first class sleeper" acting as a spare Viewliner sleeper. It is awaiting assignment on the storage tracks.!

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Charger 346 pulls into the wheel shop to get its wheels trued.

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Cardinal 51 (which was stabbed for almost 2 hours near Lafayette due to freight interference) arrives. Note 3 styles/types of viewliners. A II sleeper, II bag-dorm and a I which is the American View theater car. 

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Train 380 wyes. An amfleet dinette is a stand in for a regular Business class-coach married pair. This duo was set out in Quincy yesterday morning due to reported shelled wheels. This knocked out two cars and not just one since the two cars are "married". The train deadheaded to Chicago empty with the remaining cafe and coach. This seems to be the replacement for the married pair as of today. An amfleet dinette and one single coach. A Texas Eagle ITCS P42 was filling in due to a shortage of working Midwest chargers. 

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On a bathroom/snack break at Whole Foods we see a freshly rehabbed lounge car, baggage car and the V1 first class sleeper mentioned earlier. Along with two metrolink cars going up to Milwaukee on Hiawatha 331 tomorrow morning. 

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10 mins after my "pit stop" at Whole Foods, 51 shoves out for a spin on the wye

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Seth / thanks for all this information! We appreciate your efforts

Bill

Posted from iPhone

351 arrives almost two hours late due to an ITCS failure on engine 59. A 59 MPH train to Chicago. How fitting. The Eagle P42 is filling in due to the state charger shortage. 

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Not a minute after 351 came by, 390 shoves into CUS. This was the filthiest Amtrak train I have EVER seen in my life. The train was gray. The whole thing. 192 substituting for a state charger due to the ongoing charger shortage. A transition sleeper, diner, and snack coach were the 3 axle count cars. The other set has a refreshed diner, diner-lounge and sightseer as axle count. 

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Once 351 and 390 were out of the way, 51 pulls south. And then backs PAST the washer and not through it. None of the trains I saw washed. The bag-dorm was totally filthy. The coaches were dirty but not as bad as the bag-dorm. The V2 sleeper and American View were the only two clean cars. 

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Historical note:

The current “Pacific Sunset” was built as “Pacific Range”.

The real “Pacific Sunset” was wrecked in 1974, as part of the Train 4 the Amtrak Southwest Limited at Malvern KS. The original “Pacific Sunset” was later scrapped in Topeka KS.

Hu.

I've always wondered why my car (Pacific Sunset) was given the name of a wrecked car?? It just seems strange. I do like the name better than Pacific Range though! 

Is the car washer working in Chicago?

Posted from iPhone

Was that rehabbed Amfleet for Cascades service on 7 to leave Chicago today (Saturday 4/4))?  We certainly need it out here in Seattle. It's probably one of the ones we lost recently.

Yes, “Pacific Sunset” is a terrific name!

Posted from iPhone

amtrakbill Wrote:
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> Is the car washer working in Chicago?
>
> Posted from iPhone

Seemed so. Doors were open and lights on but all trains passed it up. 

Nice pictures, P42s look good pulling Ventures.

NPRocky Wrote:
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> Was that rehabbed Amfleet for Cascades service on
> 7 to leave Chicago today (Saturday 4/4))?  We
> certainly need it out here in Seattle. It's
> probably one of the ones we lost recently.

That's correct. It will arrive on Monday. 

wish Amtrak would let passengers ride in the amfleet , and put some seats in the computer inventory  for folks, even 000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000