That is a weird consist.View attachment 37000
Hey everyone! Can you help me clarify the different types of cars in the consist?
1. Locomotive
2. ?
3. ?
4. Superliner transdorm
5. Superliner Sleeper
6. Sightseer car
7. Diner car
2 and 3 are also locomotives like #1.View attachment 37000
Hey everyone! Can you help me clarify the different types of cars in the consist?
1. Locomotive
2. ?
3. ?
4. Superliner transdorm
5. Superliner Sleeper
6. Sightseer car
7. Diner car
Thanks! I'm curious, how to determine how many locomotives are needed for a route? By distance? I saw some consists led by 2 locomotives.That is a weird consist.
Front to rear:
-3 P42 locomotives, the rear 2 elephant style, unusual for Amtrak.
-Transdorm (spotting feature: forward half window on the upper level)
-Coach (spotting feature, no half window on the lower level on the blank side of the door)
-Another transdorm (?!)
- 3 coaches. The third one appears to have a non-existant lower level window pattern
-Sightseer
-Diner
-maybe a sleeper? Small and fuzzy, may have that lower half window, hard to tell.
This is not the consist of any revenue train. I think it has to be photoshopped or an AI generated picture.
2 and 3 are also locomotives like #1.
5 is a Superliner Coach followed by another Transdorm, 2 coaches and, I can't tell what is in front of the lounge.
6 is Sightseer Lounge
7 is a Diner
In my experience it would be very unusual to have a transdorm in the middle of the consist as in this example. The transdorm is almost always at the front end just behind the locomotives or just behind the baggage car if there is one. If a transdorm was being hauled deadhead (out of service) it would usually be at the front of the consist and ahead of the transdorm which is in service.Thanks! Is there a specific order for the consist based on safety or installation regulations? For example:
Or is the order flexible?
- Car 2: TranDorm
- Car 3: Coach
- Car 4: Coach
- Car 5: TranDorm
- Car 6: Sleeper
...
Consist length/weight.Thanks! I'm curious, how to determine how many locomotives are needed for a route? By distance? I saw some consists led by 2 locomotives.
Things Amtrak appears to consider when setting consists:Thanks! Is there a specific order for the consist based on safety or installation regulations? For example:
- Car 2: TranDorm
- Car 3: Coach
- Car 4: Coach
- Car 5: TranDorm
- Car 6: Sleeper
A deadhead additional transdorm would usually be ahead of the baggage car, between it and the locomotives.it would usually be at the front of the consist and ahead of the transdorm which is in service.
Learn a lot from all the explanations. I just saw two diesel locomotives can run together, a practice known as double heading. They're connected using electrical cables and pneumatic hoses that synchronize the engines. This technology is called Multiple-Unit (MU) control. That's cool!Consist length/weight.
Things Amtrak appears to consider when setting consists:
- Switching where enroute switching required Empire Builder, Lake Shore Limited, Sunset/Texas Eagle are examples.
- Security of baggage cars, baggage compartments are kept locked, passengers cannot pass through them.
- No pass through passenger traffic in dorms.
- Separation of classes, minimize pass through of Coach passengers through sleepers. Diners/cafes between Coach and sleepers.
- Access to vestibules for single level cars without vestibule. Reason vestibule ends of Viewliners are always next to diners.
Typical LD Superliner consist sequence for unswitched consists is baggage, transdorm, sleepers, diner, lounge coaches. For single level, Coaches, cafe, (diner), sleepers, baggage.
Switched consists are just each constituent train's consist coupled together. Sleepers on each end.
The consist in the picture is absurd and a fake.
MU technology has been in place pretty much since the wide introduction of diesels into service in the late 1930's/1940s.Learn a lot from all the explanations. I just saw two diesel locomotives can run together, a practice known as double heading. They're connected using electrical cables and pneumatic hoses that synchronize the engines. This technology is called Multiple-Unit (MU) control. That's cool!
I remember riding the old Desert Wind over Cajon Pass. It only had one unit and the dispatcher often routed it up the 3% South Track. The engineer would cut the HEP on the worst of the grade to get up it. Those were F40sBest examples are SW chief over Raton that used to remove 3rd loco at ABQ westbound. Or CZ which needed extra HP westbound out of DEN.
I remember riding the old Desert Wind over Cajon Pass. It only had one unit and the dispatcher often routed it up the 3% South Track. The engineer would cut the HEP on the worst of the grade to get up it. Those were F40s
That is a very early iteration of the Desert Wind, during the Superliner transition era.Looks like the first trans/dorm and coach are deadheading.
The diners, lounges and transition coaches certainly were, as well as several of the "chair cars" - just can't be sure if all. The 6-axle diners were a regular feature on the DW, whether as the second diner on the Zephyr out of Chicago in peak season or added at Ogden/SLC (depending on the era). That train will always have a special fascination for me.Weren’t all the Hi-Level’s, including the 12 wheeled diner’s, converted to HEP?
IIRC, the Heartland Flyer was one of their last uses. One problem with the coaches was lack of ADA access…
YesWeren’t all the Hi-Level’s, including the 12 wheeled diner’s, converted to HEP?
IIRC, the Heartland Flyer was one of their last uses. One problem with the coaches was lack of ADA access…
Good find! Thanks for posting!
Those SDP's were big brutes, weren't they? IIRC, by then didn't they all have their steam generator's removed and replaced by a pair of Detroit Diesel 8v-71's powering HEP generator's?
Nobody wants to spend 36-65 hours in one car + trips to the cafe with no seating.windows it would be less of an issue of needing to go to another car for the sightseeing view. Its far too early to conclusive state what the end product of the first class lounge will entail and whether coach would have a way to access it.
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