Recent 8400 sightings.

[Scott Orlando]

<blockquote class='ipsBlockquote'data-author="Acela150" data-cid="423459" data-time="1360972797"><p>A 5 Viewliner train. :blink: That'll be hard to get used to. </p></blockquote>

In a good way!!

And Scott where the heck were you positioned in Sanford with that large swath of open clear platform to get Auto Train? Great pictures, and thanks for racing to get these!

NE933, I dont know if it is part of Sunrail, but there is a large part of Rand Yard north of the AT terminal being redone. Even a year ago I would not recognize new track work because it was simply unheard of in Central Florida. Suddenly, it is everywhere. Judging from the base that I was standing on (and only venturing out ten or twenty feet, I dont want to be a whack job "foamer" and out trespassing on former CSX now FDOT property) I would say there is a serious remodeling of the entire south side of the yard well underway. Watching the Sunrail double tracking closely and starting to understand the track building process, I would assume that this same type of fine gravel that they lay before coarse ballast, ties and the rails go in. So what would normally be a mess of old worn yard tracks covered with weeds provided this nice open canvas for these pictures. As an added bonus, there are often freight cars parked in the siding, but not on this day and the weather was perfect. I knew when I took these pictures there would be a few people who would appreciate them. This is why I really like AU. Thanks.

 

[The Davy Crockett]

...So what would normally be a mess of old worn yard tracks covered with weeds provided this nice open canvas for these pictures. As an added bonus, there are often freight cars parked in the siding, but not on this day and the weather was perfect. I knew when I took these pictures there would be a few people who would appreciate them. This is why I really like AU. Thanks.

And this AU member says :hi: THANKS! :hi: for sharing these great pics!

 

[afigg]

Thanks for the photos. The baggage car either is badly in need of a wash and/or looks to be in its last legs. Wonder if Amtrak is cutting back on cleaning the Heritage baggage cars to save a little money.

A 5 Viewliner train. :blink: That'll be hard to get used to.

Now all we need is some Viewliner II coaches to get the Am-Cans off the LD routes, and we can have a 4x4 or 5x5 Viewliner train, with a lowly Amfleet Cafe/Lounge in the middle... that'll be an interesting sight for sure... :giggle:

When Amtrak replaces the Amfleet II coach cars, they would almost certainly order replacements for the Amfleet II diner/café cars at the same time. There would be a transition period with mixed equipment for the LD trains, but the Viewliner & Amfleet II only trains would after a couple of years should end up with up new(er) equipment.

 

[Amtrak Cajun]

Nice photos of the trains. Its interesting to see the Viewliner sleepers on the rear. I've never seen it in person. That shot of the Auto Train is epic. Love it.

Yeah, I cant wait for the Viewliner coaches as well. I think the Viewliner coaches would feel more roomy on the inside with the higher walls and such.

 

[user 1215]

I know this is late news, but I finally got to see Indianapolis for the first time last Friday night in Jesup. Also got to see their newly renovated station. It's got a small waiting room and nice restrooms. I was particulary suprised to see the number of folks getting on and off the train. Probably about 15 on and 15 off. Very busy time at this littly, lonely stop on the CSX Mainline.

I took a couple of pictures, but it was dark and I couldn't really get good shots. I also got to take advantage of the station Wifi to run my little railfanning geek program ATCS Monitor to watch the train make its way to the station - a whopping hour and a half late.

For those who don't know, ATCS is a program that allows you to have a 'dispatcher' type screen on your own PC. It's rudimentary - it only displays status of a block and some signals, and only where people who are geek enough are close enough to dedicate a full time radio server to feed this program. You can kinda see a train coming, but you don't know what the ID of any given train occupying a block is. So, we were taking gentlemens bets on which would pass through first - the Auto Train or the Meteor. To our suprise, the Meteor made it first. Looked like the Auto Train was relegated to stop and go duty behind 98 until it could find a place to pass it. I really thought Jesup would have been a good place to pass, but that's another story.

So, I got to see 8400, got to play with my scanner and ATCS Monitor, got to see the new Jesup station, and just because I took a picture of the train, I became "customer service" to someone reporting a glucose meter lost, and to a lady who was stopped by the train at a grade crossing how much longer she'd have to wait.

Sigh.

The Silver Meteor is a VERY long train. The platform at Jesup is about 20' by 20'. IF there are sleeper pax, they have to make a double stop. This night they didn't. 4 coaches, cafe/lounge, 8400, 3 sleepers and the baggage car on the rear.

 

[jis]

The Silver Meteor is a VERY long train. The platform at Jesup is about 20' by 20'. IF there are sleeper pax, they have to make a double stop. This night they didn't. 4 coaches, cafe/lounge, 8400, 3 sleepers and the baggage car on the rear.

On heavy traffic days sometimes it gets a fifth Coach.
The only longer single level train is the Lake Shore Limited west of Albany, since it often has 6 Coaches, 3 Sleepers, Diner, Lounge and two Baggage cars.

 

[Scott Orlando]

8400 is on 92(19) north out of Orlando tonight. 92 also has two bags on the rear...a little different

Hopefully in 2015, as the new View II Diners roll, we can start a thread "Recent 85xx Sightings"...

 

[Acela150]

Well in 2015 it seems that the Heritage Diners will be scrapped/sold.

 

[railbuck]

It was on 48(4). So was I, but not at a time the diner was open.

 

[battalion51]

IIRC according to the fleet plan there is a move planned to begin replacement of the whole Amfleet series in the latter part of the decade. I believe they're looking at a Bombardier style bi-level concept (similar to NJT/AMT's units) to take the place of the Amfleet Is. I would have to assume the Amfleet IIs would be replaced by a Viewliner concept. If this does turn out to be the case it is definitely the way to go. It keeps CAF continuing to turn out cars, and provides a steady stream of business for them. If that's the case, presumably the replacement of the original Viewliners would follow a coach/lounge order...

 

[AlanB]

IIRC according to the fleet plan there is a move planned to begin replacement of the whole Amfleet series in the latter part of the decade. I believe they're looking at a Bombardier style bi-level concept (similar to NJT/AMT's units) to take the place of the Amfleet Is. I would have to assume the Amfleet IIs would be replaced by a Viewliner concept. If this does turn out to be the case it is definitely the way to go. It keeps CAF continuing to turn out cars, and provides a steady stream of business for them. If that's the case, presumably the replacement of the original Viewliners would follow a coach/lounge order...

Well Amtrak does continue to play with the original Viewliner Prototype sleeper at the Wilmington shops, as those attending the Gathering tour saw, trying out various car type interiors to see what works and what doesn't.

Of course finding the money to actually buy more cars of any type is another matter; as always.

 

[jb64]

On 49 now and stepped off at Albany and saw that we have 8400. Going to dinner in a bit.

 

[AmtrakBlue]

Think it was on #19 today.

 

[Nathanael]

IIRC according to the fleet plan there is a move planned to begin replacement of the whole Amfleet series in the latter part of the decade. I believe they're looking at a Bombardier style bi-level concept (similar to NJT/AMT's units) to take the place of the Amfleet Is.

I believe NJT-style bilevels for Amtrak were reviewed and concluded to be pointless, as using "corridor" seat spacing (as oppposed to "commuter" spacing) it wouldn't gain many seats but would slow down boarding. Amtrak could always chage its mind though.

 

[SubwayNut]

The other issue with NJT bi-levels for Amtrak is they have very little space overhead for luggage because the cielings are so tight.

 

[lyke99]

Any more recent reports on the location of the Viewliner Diner? I'll be heading eastbound on the LSL 3/29 and westbound on the LSL 4/5.

 

[battalion51]

It seems like recently its been staying on the south end so crews can get more familiar with it pending the arrival of the rest of the fleet later this year. But you never know what the boys out at Sunnyside are going to do to the trainsets.

 

[jis]

IIRC according to the fleet plan there is a move planned to begin replacement of the whole Amfleet series in the latter part of the decade. I believe they're looking at a Bombardier style bi-level concept (similar to NJT/AMT's units) to take the place of the Amfleet Is.

I believe NJT-style bilevels for Amtrak were reviewed and concluded to be pointless, as using "corridor" seat spacing (as oppposed to "commuter" spacing) it wouldn't gain many seats but would slow down boarding. Amtrak could always chage its mind though.

AFAICT currently the plans, such as they are, do not include any multi-level cars for NEC for Amtrak. The Corridor Cars will be based on the PRIIA single level car design.
The multi-level cars are extremely space constrained, and for Regional Service considerable part of the floor spac will have to be devoted to luggage racks, since there is no space for overhead luggage racks in the main body of the car. this would significantly reduce the floor space available for seats thus reducing the capacity advantage of mutli-levels to the point that taken together with the slower ingress/egress time will make them a net negative in terms of capacity and performance.

But then again, the TGV Duplexes suffer from the same problem and yet they are used quite a bit. OTOH the French actually have a much more severe capacity problem than the NEC does due to the much higher usage of trains in France on the TGV corridors. My guess is after the NEC has managed to saturate capacity by running 12 car trains every 15 minutes, there will arise a situation where multi-level for Regionals will be considered again, but not until we come to that situation.

 

[PaulM]

The multi-level cars are extremely space constrained, and for Regional Service considerable part of the floor spac will have to be devoted to luggage racks, since there is no space for overhead luggage racks in the main body of the car. this would significantly reduce the floor space available for seats thus reducing the capacity advantage of mutli-levels to the point that taken together with the slower ingress/egress time will make them a net negative in terms of capacity and performance.

How do these compare to the Midwest bi-levels on order? Will they also be space constrained, etc.?

 

[battalion51]

The Midwest Bi-Levels will not have the same space constraints as they do not have to try to fit into the tunnels in Baltimore and New York (more New York than Baltimore). IIRC the spec calls for something that is comparable (albeit upgraded a bit) to the current Surfliner & California Car fleets. Although I forget, did they order cab cars or just straight coaches and BC?

 

[RampWidget]

Any more recent reports on the location of the Viewliner Diner? I'll be heading eastbound on the LSL 3/29 and westbound on the LSL 4/5.

It's not on either the Star or Meteor and my CLE spotter hasn't seen it on the LSL since the 20th. Crescent, maybe?

 

[Ryan]

Any more recent reports on the location of the Viewliner Diner? I'll be heading eastbound on the LSL 3/29 and westbound on the LSL 4/5.

It's not on either the Star or Meteor and my CLE spotter hasn't seen it on the LSL since the 20th. Crescent, maybe?

That was the last report on here, so that'd a good guess. Despite being in ATL, I'm way the heck south of town, so no Amtrak spotting this trip (hung out at the airport instead taking picture of Delta jet after Delta jet ).

Think it was on #19 today.

 

[crescent2]

Welcome to Georgia! Brrr! (Spring, hurry up.) We've had almost no winter for a couple of years, though, so I shouldn't complain about this cold snap.

 

[RampWidget]

Confirmation received from my CLE spotter that AMTK 8400 was on 49(26) yesterday.

 

[rrdude]

Confirmation that 8400 IS on 49. I just had breakfast in it. Embarrassed to admit when I boarded last nite in CHI, sipping a bit of wine in 8400, it took me 3-4-5 minutes B4 I even realized I *was* sitting in 8400.....maybe it was the wine I had B4 I boarded. :/