"School Boy Special" for 2005

[Miami Joe]

Horizon cars are starting to arrive in Hialeah for the WPB charter.

Anticipate 21 cars, 1 loco and a crew dorm. Don't know about food service.

Will update as needed!

MJ B)

 

[battalion51]

Whoa, they're only gonna put one pony on that thing this year? I pity the Engineer who's going to have to run that slow pony. :blink: I'd expect they'll have the Viewliner back for dignitaries, and probably an Amfleet I or Horizon Lounge. I'll be interested to see if they bring the Superliner Dorm back this year. Well I know I'll be waiting down by the bridge for it this year, rather than at WPB, that was a friggin nightmare. h34r:

 

[Miami Joe]

I thought about the Superliners too.

How would you access the car with the high vestibules?

B)

 

[AlanB]

I thought about the Superliners too.
How would you access the car with the high vestibules?

B)

1 - Trans/Dorm.

 

[battalion51]

Well last year the only Superliner was a Dorm. All Dorms are Transitioned cars, so you have the low vestibule (which you attach to the rear coach), and the high vestibule, which brings up the markers.

 

[Amtrak OBS Employee]

Horizon cars are starting to arrive in Hialeah for the WPB charter.
Anticipate 21 cars, 1 loco and a crew dorm. Don't know about food service.

Will update as needed!

MJ B)

Those of you who may be interested read on..........

I am happy to provide the dates (I am not permitted to provide exact times, however) of operation this year as follows:

Each trip.... Thurs-Sun... departure WPB on Thurs late AM..... arrival in WAS Fri early AM......departure WAS Sat mid-late PM...........arrival WPB Sun mid-late PM.

The dates are........ Jan 13th-16th...... Jan 20th-23rd...... Jan 27th-30th..... Feb 3rd-6th....... for a total of four trips.

 

[Amtrak OBS Employee]

I hope it stays warm for a while during this deal as I am on it at least one trip this year!! Get your cameras ready!! :lol:

 

[battalion51]

Wow that's different having it come inbound on Sunday, it was a Monday for as long as I can remember, but these things do change from year to year. It will definitely be a blessing for the crews to not have to rush at West Palm with two platforms in service and a Sunday coming home. It was insane last year trying to get the Special, P616, 91, and P619 through. I know what I'm doing on the 16th, 23rd, 30th, and 6th. :lol:

 

[Amtrak OBS Employee]

Wow that's different having it come inbound on Sunday, it was a Monday for as long as I can remember, but these things do change from year to year. It will definitely be a blessing for the crews to not have to rush at West Palm with two platforms in service and a Sunday coming home. It was insane last year trying to get the Special, P616, 91, and P619 through. I know what I'm doing on the 16th, 23rd, 30th, and 6th. :lol:

Those were just the dates given to me. The departure date/day may very well be Sun PM with arrival into WPB on the following MON. That was always the way I saw it ran for as long as I can remember, too. I will post if I find out otherwise!

 

[Amtrak OBS Employee]

Don't have to worry about #91 this year I would imagine! They may run neck and neck from SAV on South, but then they will go to TPA and the "School Boy" will leave 'em in their tracks after Auburndale!

 

[Viewliner]

I didn't realize they used a Superliner Dorm last time. I know one car that's going to be in the consist, #54048 in Phase VI, Sean and I had it on 91(23), it was nicely refurbished I must say, was surprised to see it when I was walking through my train to take the consist down. I'll post pictures of it if I can ever manage to get my FTP to let me upload pictures (unless I need more disk space) with my trip report, maybe a little before.

 

[Viewliner]

Now a Lounge is headed your way, someone posted links on trainorders to their pictures of the Star in TRE.

http://www.transitspot.com/gallery/Bobs-Am...tos/05_01_02_20

 

[Trogdor]

Now a Lounge is headed your way, someone posted links on trainorders to their pictures of the Star in TRE.
http://www.transitspot.com/gallery/Bobs-Am...tos/05_01_02_20

The car in the photograph is newly-rebuild Horizon Club-Dinette 58007.

I saw it in the Chicago coach yards on 31 December. That night, it was added to the Lake Shore Limited (in place of an Amfleet II lounge). I guess the Lake Shore spends the night in NYP, then heads out the next day as the Silver Star (this photo was taken on 2 January). Unless there was another Amfleet II lounge in Miami, the club-dinette would have remained on the train as it headed north (anyone know for sure?).

Since I have not yet been inside a rebuilt Horizon car, I'm hoping it's still on a Silver Service train arriving into NYP today, and that it heads out on the Lake Shore Limited tomorrow. I'm ticketed for Friday's Lake Shore out of Chicago, and I'm hoping to see this car on my train.

 

[Viewliner]

I hope you'll see it, but If you don't, I'll have pictures of the interior of Coach 54048 (one of the whole car, one of a set of seats) posted soon.

 

[battalion51]

Getting back to the original topic, I still have not confirmed a schedule for the special, or whether the train is leaving Washington on Saturday or Sunday. One piece of information that is a significant change is where the Special's southern station will be. The stop for the special is being changed from West Palm Beach to the Tri-Rail Boynton Beach Station. The Boynton station offers a large parking lot for the multitudes of parents, bus loading areas, and twin platforms. The special will load in both directions on the west platform (traditionally a southbound track) so that the kids don't have to climb the towers to cross the pedestrian bridge. Tri-Rail passengers will be directed to board all trains on the East Platform. Southbound Tri-Rail trains will be forced to hit the crossovers at Orange Blossom, and depending on the status of the Double Track possibly Coconut as well. If I hear anything further regarding the special I will pass it along.

 

[Trogdor]

I hope you'll see it, but If you don't, I'll have pictures of the interior of Coach 54048 (one of the whole car, one of a set of seats) posted soon.

Didn't have the 58007, but I did get 54582 on the Hiawatha (another remanufacture). I was unimpressed with the remanufacture. Didn't seem to be much (if any) improvement over the existing Horizon updated interior (the one with the hard walls and electrical plugs). The seats were nice and blue with the traingles. However, one seat had a blue seat back but a green seat bottom cushion.

 

[National Limited]

Can someone tell me what the "school boy special" is?

 

[battalion51]

It's a special train that has been going on for a number of years now. It is funded by a local businessman who sends Safety Patrols from Palm Beach county to Washington for a few days to learn about civic duty, see the sights, etc. He decided for the volume of kids he was sending (about 1,000 per trip) it made the most sense to send them on the train. So every year around this time there is the Safety Patrol/School Boy Special. The train has evolved over the year, initially as cars on the rear end of the Meteor or Star, and now its own train. The train has evolved over the years from Amfleet equipment, to Superliners, to the current Horizon. It's really a cool train to watch roll by, with two ponies kickin and 18 cars it's really a sight to see.

 

[National Limited]

Wow. That is interesting. How is on-time performance for this special train? Does Amtrak do other special trains for special occasions?

 

[battalion51]

Amtrak will do a special if you have the number of people and/or the cash to warrant a special. Amtrak runs specials like the Reno Fun Train, NRHS Specials, Political Specials (Kerry/Edwards), and even the AOE is considered a special for Amtrak. Many times when only 100 people or less are involved cars are added to regularly scheduled trains. It's only when there is an excess number of people that specials are run.

 

[Trogdor]

The 58007 was added to Yesterday's departure of the Capitol Limited as a deadhead, so it may very well be headed to the Special after all. Can't think of any other reason they'd send the car to DC.

 

[Amtrak OBS Employee]

Well, the "School Boy" should be on its way northward by now (at time of this posting). For operation north of SFD, they will most likely be slotted either right ahead or behind "Auto Train." I am not aware of what their operating ID (train #) is today though.

I'm on it on its second or third trip, so it will be a new deal for me, but I am looking forward to it. OBS...

 

[PRR 60]

I'm on it on its second or third trip, so it will be a new deal for me, but I am looking forward to it. OBS...

Looking forward to working a train full of kids? You're braver than I am!

 

[AmtrakWPK]

When should it be coming through the Orlando corridor NB?

 

[battalion51]

Did anyone hear whether it's coming south through Florida on Sunday or Monday. I never heard from anyone in JAX about it.