Amtrak Carolinian and Piedmont Trains.
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I am biased, but Greensboro really is a beautiful station. Burlington has a nice static display and diorama from when Burlington was the "Company Shops" for the NCRR.
I hope somebody tells him that even though you can't select your business class seat, you can do it immediately thereafter.
It's a also interesting that the Carolinian assigns business class seats, whereas the Palmetto, the Vermonter, and the Lakeshore Limited don't.
It's a also interesting that the Carolinian assigns business class seats, whereas the Palmetto, the Vermonter, and the Lakeshore Limited don't.
jis
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Carolinian is considered to be a Corridor train while the Palmetto is an LD train. Vermonter is the odd one. And of course LSL is an LD train as are the Silvers, the Crescent, the Cardinal and the Capitol. No assigned seats except perhaps at boarding on LD trains yet AFAICT.
EchoSierra
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Was his seat assigned on this ticket/reservation? Or was it assigned by the conductor based on either where he's going or how many seats are left?
I've only taken the Carolinian once, in coach, and I was assigned a seat at boarding by a conductor at WAS.
I've only taken the Carolinian once, in coach, and I was assigned a seat at boarding by a conductor at WAS.
Pre-pandemic, the crew would assign seats on the Carolinian. It's not done on the reservation. What they do now, I'm not sure.
On the Piedmonts, the crew will indicate which car you should go to, depending on your destination. Within that car you can sit just about anywhere.
jb
On the Piedmonts, the crew will indicate which car you should go to, depending on your destination. Within that car you can sit just about anywhere.
jb
When I've ridden the Carolinian, they've never assigned seats in Business class, either upon reservation or at the platform. Of course, the last time I rode the Carolinian was is 2019, so I guess they are now assigning seats in business class.
Mailliw
OBS Chief
They are. It's one of the reasons I choose Business Class.
Why no checked baggage on the Carolinian?
probably because NC doesn't feel like paying for it...
What, or maybe how is the better questions are the , would the costs be determined.? The larger stations are already staffed and there is checked baggage on the Crescent and they check baggage on the Piedmont, which is likely more day trips and less likely to need checked baggage, and the Piedmont trains are running during the time of day when the Carolinian is running so the same staff is at the station. I am more perplexed now than when I asked the question.
jis
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If you can get access to the Amtrak-NCDOT contract you may be able to figure out what is specified for how the incrementals are determined. If not, it will be hard to guess. It is all a matter of contract, which is guided to a large extent by specifications developed in support of PRIIA2008 Section 209.
Piedmont is a NC train operated by Amtrak using NC equipment including cars with bag capability, Carolinian is also NC subsidized, but leases Amtrak eqpt. Palmetto and Crescent are Amtrak trains. Adding baggage to Carolinian would involve paying for or providing cars to handle baggage. I don't know how the deals are negotiated.
That actually makes complete sense, like a caboose a baggage car is not really bringing in revenue. I think maybe the Piedmont and a 1/2 and 1/2 with seats/half baggage storage. TS Elsa is dumping the rain or I would walk over to the tracks and take a gander as it rolls by near my house. I have honestly not paid that much attention, beyond the Carolinian being a longer train than the Piedmont.
NC has bag lounge and bag coach cars on their roster, I'd imagine that is precisely what they use.
Mailliw
OBS Chief
Piedmont uses baggage/lounge cars with vending machines.
I am trying to visualize the space of each part. It seems about 2/3 is the free water frig/vending and maybe a table or two and that would leave about 1/3 for checked baggage.
The Wikipedia page for the Carolinian does mention a baggage car being removed due to Covid.
The Carolinian typically operates with 4 Amfleet I coaches, an Amfleet café, an Amfleet business class car, and a Viewliner baggage car. However due to the COVID-19 Pandemic the baggage car has been temporarily removed from the consist.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Carolinian_(train)
The Carolinian typically operates with 4 Amfleet I coaches, an Amfleet café, an Amfleet business class car, and a Viewliner baggage car. However due to the COVID-19 Pandemic the baggage car has been temporarily removed from the consist.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Carolinian_(train)
crescent-zephyr
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The Piedmont trains are my favorite - historic (heritage) equipment with a combine and 3 or so single level coaches traveling through the south. Strike up the Glen Miller Orchestra in your headphones and enjoy!
Seaboard92
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The Piedmont has the last for profit passenger cars built by Pullman Standard before Amtrak. They were built for the Kansas City Southern in 1964 right before the mail came off. Even that late into the 60s KCS was very optimistic about the future of the trains. They even bought an observation car or two off the New York Central around the same time to go with the new cars.
jis
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Ride the Piedmont Heritage cars while you can, since NCDOT plans to get out of the business of owning and maintaining equipment and opt for using standard new Amtrak Corridor equipment for its operations transitioning over the next ten years.
crescent-zephyr
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I don't think I appreciate the rolling equipment enough. I always mention how beautiful Greensboro station is; and, though small and staffed by non Amtrak NC DOT station attendants the High Point station is equally beautiful in its own right. I rode from Greensboro to High Point on the 50th Anniv. I was working that day and only have time for that short of a ride but it let me look around the High Point station for the first time in a few years. I forgot how pretty that station was. I have about a 20 min layover from the SB Carolinian and the last Piedmont of the day. I am so glad it worked out.
Seaboard92
Engineer
You must love VIA Rail Canada then because it's what I jokingly call the North American Museum of the post war passenger train.
The Piedmonts are a really great train with an incredible formula for success that could easily be copied for elsewhere. You have two strong end points, with a really strong midpoint in Greensboro. Even though I would argue both Durham and High Point are also fairly strong intermediates in their own right. What makes them unique is the fact that the south was and still is not known for public transit. So that the fact these trains are such a success as they are is testament for how good they are.
However there is room to make small improvements even now.
1. A Charlotte Airport Station. The mainline is only 590 ft away from the end of the renovated E Concourse. There is no reason you couldn't attempt multimodal service right there. And it's only an additional 7 miles of track and there is a siding already in place for the train to clear the mainline. And if you wanted to put a station in for non airport passengers there is a large grassy lot available right across the tracks from E Concourse. It would actually make a lot of sense.
2. Extend the trains down to Greenville, SC, Atlanta, GA, Columbia, SC, Augusta, GA, or Charleston, SC. You have the foundation for a really good network of regional rail out of a Charlotte hub. And even better if you can codeshare those trains and run them frequently enough so we curtail some of the shortest AA flights out of Charlotte to ILM, RDU, GSP, CAE, GSO, AGS, and CHS. Three of those without much improvement would be time competitive to flying between them and CLT.
