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My apologies to everyone I ditched in the chat on Sunday night, but my wireless network crapped out on me and I was down until well after midnight EST. I'll see you all next week I guess. SORRY! -Firebert

Said dome car is rumored to be operating on the Reno Fun Trains this spring, so it may not be in service at the time of this particulat trip. Stay tuned to this and other Amtrak discussion boards. They follow the dome like savages. -Firebert

I could get some good use out of a Los Angeles - Las Vegas Corridor. It would be great to take the train to Vegas a few times a year for a weekend. It would be great if they could extend that monorail to meet the tracks, or if they built the new train station at the Rio I'd be set. There's lots...

One explanation for the ever changing paint on Amtrak's equipment is cost. For example, the broad mylar stripes for the phase 3 and 4 genesis locomotives could cost thousands of dollars per unit. The current Shamu scheme saves money because it is actually masked off and sprayed on. The only...

The Chief time table I mentioned is for departing Los Angeles, so Fullerton would only be the first station stop. The last few nights the train has been taking about 40 min. from Los Angeles to Fullerton given a 6:30 departure schedule. It arrives in Fullerton around 7:10 to 7:15 and sits for 30...

I picked up my copy of the National Timetable on Friday, and right away I spotted something interesting on the cover. The photo is of an Acela train crossing a river in what looks like northern New England. (I've never been out there so I'm just guessing.) I'm wondering if the person who...

Does that mean the NEC is only double tracked to Washington DC? I would have expected at least four tracks. -Firebert

Probably swapping out equipment on the Heartland Flyer for maintenence cycles. That's just my guess though. -Firebert

Well, the train could actually work, when considered as an extension of the California Zephyr service. Here's how things would have to look in Salt Lake City from an operations stand point. First, the southbound Pioneer and northbound Desert Wind would arrive and layover. Meanwhile, BOTH 5 and 6...

Yeah, it had something to do with the trucks on the 1400 series MHC cars. The 1500 series cars used the standard Superliner/Viewliner style trucks, so they shouldn'thave had the speed restriction on them. I think CSX did it anyway and doomed the whole fleet. However, those were different from...

Yes, but that was in the Warrington era of lies saying that they could break even. I also remember that little money coming with strings attached saying they they weren't going to get anymore money after a certain date. It's interesting to wonder what could have happened with Gunn's "tell it...

Those were actually the Amtrak M&E boxcars, not the MHC fleet which was mothballed some time ago. They are headed for storage until they are eventually sold off. With a fleet like that I'm surprised Amtrak couldn't make a decent buck just leasing the cars out. Also, there are no more pepsi can...

Alan- You are right, accessibility does enhance property values. I still think that NIMBY-ism comes from people who are along the right of way who don't have a local station. (They get the noise/pollution/etc. without the benefit of using the transit system.) It terms of Maglev, it would be...

How is that any different from any other neighborhood ever? Nobody except maybe people who visit boards like these would ever want to live in a transportation corridor. -Firebert

I have a couple of Amtrak CA photos on my site. I hope they can help some. Also, Model Railroader did a whole layout ont he cars a few years ago. I'd try to track down a copy of that for all the info you'll need. -Firebert Surfline Photos

Spot- I used to live in San Diego, there's plenty of great things to do down town. If you hop the trolley to the Convention Center and walk about 2 blocks north there's a great restaurant called Pat & Oscar's. I highly recommend you try it. You can also hop bus #7 on Broadway (just south of the...

Mt. St. Helens is 50 miles North of Portland. The Builder heads east at Vancouver so it's unlikely it would cause a disruption to that train if it blew it's top. The Starlight and Cascades would be the services in the most trouble. -Firebert

Batallion- There are four Superliner 1 Coach/Baggage cars assigned to the California corridors. THe point I was making was that they had gone beyond that to use regular coaches. The state needs some new equipment badly. The only releif in sight that I see is the possibility that when the...

Where did you get the three sheets logo decals? That's what's been stopping me from making phase 4b Superliners. -Firebert

Alan- You're right, but the perspective I was taking is that if you eliminate an entire car from the consist you could run an entire extra sleeping car. (LOTS more revenue there.) Granted a superliner sleeper is going to weigh a whole lot more than an ex-ATSF baggage car, but hopefuly that's a...