Lake Shore Limited Issues/Questions

[jis]

West of Albany the LSL generally has two P42s. Of course with the current shortage of power anything can happen I suppose.

These days the units that come from Chicago are detached at Albany and return from there to Chicago with the westbound. They have to hang out in Albany for 24 hours possibly when the eastbound is late and possibly otherwise too, and are possibly rotated with other P42s in Albany to keep utilization up.

 

[PVD]

That's what makes talking about Amtrak interesting. We know what is supposed to happen, and then we get to talk about what did happen! Almost every time I've been on the LSL, it got 2 units in Albany like everyone says. last time I rode it there was only one. Was one bad ordered, or were they just short out of Chicago the day before? I never asked, I was just happy we made it.

 

[neroden]

The acceleration is pretty good from Albany to Schenectady, thanks to flatness -- better the other direction! When all the upgrades are done, the LSL probably can hit 110 on that stretch, eastbound anyway. There probably isn't enough distance from Schenectady to Hoffmans.

 

[Palmetto]

The stretch between Hoffmans and Schenectady is long enough to get up to 110. Done it a couple of times. Leaving Renssalaer, after crossing the Hudson, there's a pretty good uphill grade that challenges significant acceleration to high speed.

 

[west point]

Acceleration out of Rensselaer ? Is the bridge just north of the station still have a speed restriction ? If so is it still not planned to replace the present bridge so the trains to SDY could get a head start on speed ?