Silver Meteor—Why 3 engines and an extra baggage car?

[Siegmund]

In my part of the world, 3 engines invariably means one of the units is not trustworthy mechanically and they are carrying an extra to make sure that 2 make it to the other end alive. I tend to assume the same is true on the Silver service; the consists aren't remotely long enough to require 3 engines for power, they barely even needed two.

 

[MARC Rider]

In my part of the world, 3 engines invariably means one of the units is not trustworthy mechanically and they are carrying an extra to make sure that 2 make it to the other end alive. I tend to assume the same is true on the Silver service; the consists aren't remotely long enough to require 3 engines for power, they barely even needed two.

Oh yes, one of my Capitol Limited trips. I had a scanner on that one, and heard the crew talking about the bad locomotive before we even left Washington. After messing around with it for a while, they decided rather than delay the train any further, they'd just take the bad engine to Chicago and deal with it there. So we basically went over the mountains with only one engine. Then at South Bend, the bad engine died so completely, they couldn't even keep dragging it along. Fortunately, there's a little siding a bit west of the station where they could dump the bad engine, but we had to wait around while they called someone from Norfolk Southern to come by with the key to the lock to operate the switch. They allowed us to get off and hang around on the platform, and it was a nice day. Finally, the dumped the bad loco, and we were off. We were only a couple of hours late into Chicago. The point it, though ,that they can run the Capitol Limited over the Sand Patch grade with one engine, but it's probably a good idea to have one or two extra for breakdowns.

 

[railiner]

Oh yes, one of my Capitol Limited trips. I had a scanner on that one, and heard the crew talking about the bad locomotive before we even left Washington. After messing around with it for a while, they decided rather than delay the train any further, they'd just take the bad engine to Chicago and deal with it there. So we basically went over the mountains with only one engine. Then at South Bend, the bad engine died so completely, they couldn't even keep dragging it along. Fortunately, there's a little siding a bit west of the station where they could dump the bad engine, but we had to wait around while they called someone from Norfolk Southern to come by with the key to the lock to operate the switch. They allowed us to get off and hang around on the platform, and it was a nice day. Finally, the dumped the bad loco, and we were off. We were only a couple of hours late into Chicago. The point it, though ,that they can run the Capitol Limited over the Sand Patch grade with one engine, but it's probably a good idea to have one or two extra for breakdowns.

A bit off topic, but surprised the Amtrak crew did not have the necessary NS switch key. I thought they were required to have them on any road they regularly were qualified on, and operated over?

 

[jiml]

Nice view of 13-car Meteor on Feb. 26 VR Grab Bag at 44 minute mark. Baggage cars both ends, but only two engines...



Stay tuned after Amtrak passes for CSX office car special that follows it.

 

[joelkfla]

Nice view of 13-car Meteor on Feb. 26 VR Grab Bag at 44 minute mark. Baggage cars both ends, but only two engines...



Stay tuned after Amtrak passes for CSX office car special that follows it.

What's the deal on that CSX train? Is the whole thing maintained just to transport CSX executives? Does it have sleepers, diner, etc.? I noticed the partial dome car.

 

[Dakota 400]

What's the deal on that CSX train? Is the whole thing maintained just to transport CSX executives? Does it have sleepers, diner, etc.? I noticed the partial dome car.

That's a good question. I wondered the same thing. And, why so many cars?