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[aegrotatio]

Are the rail cars mentioned in this article about expanding passenger service going to be existing Heritage cars or something else? Are they passenger or commuter? The article mentions they are refurbished commuter cars from the 1960s, so I guess that excludes Horizon cars.

Retro train cars coming to Hanford http://www.hanfordsentinel.com/news/local/retro-train-cars-coming-to-hanford/article_970636f0-fc5f-11e2-bd97-001a4bcf887a.html

[blue streak 1]

These cars were NJ Transit Comet - 1 commuter cars long parked by NJT.  Purchased for  ~~   $75,000 per car.  Sent to Amtrak Beech Grove and upgraded with current Amfleet HEP & equip,emt parts so no parts problems.   Insides refurbished as well.  Cost ~~  $1.0 M.  Unknown if trucks changed as well ? 

By no means are the interiors commuter anymore.  The equipment that these cars replace will be moved to expand other Capitol corridor and San Jaoquin trains with more capacity.   What will happen to these Comet cars when the new Bi-level cars are placed in service on these routes.  IMHO the Comet-1s will still have plenty of service life left.

[oltmannd]

blue streak 1

These cars were NJ Transit Comet - 1 commuter cars long parked by NJT.  Purchased for  ~~   $75,000 per car.  Sent to Amtrak Beech Grove and upgraded with current Amfleet HEP & equip,emt parts so no parts problems.   Insides refurbished as well.  Cost ~~  $1.0 M.  Unknown if trucks changed as well ? 

By no means are the interiors commuter anymore.  The equipment that these cars replace will be moved to expand other Capitol corridor and San Jaoquin trains with more capacity.   What will happen to these Comet cars when the new Bi-level cars are placed in service on these routes.  IMHO the Comet-1s will still have plenty of service life left.

They look great!  Looks like they have original trucks, just demotored.  Good Budd carbody will last forever....

[aegrotatio]

Thanks for the info. The fact that Amtrak's Horizon coaches were based on the Comet II which were built from Comet I designs with both high and low platform service modifications lends to lots of misinterpretation on my part.