dakotafred With intercity service: Our pre-Amtrak passenger railroads had been around for a long time. As noted on this forum before, most had accumulated a lot of old equipment that was low-cost to keep and could be pressed into service for holiday traffic bulges and emergencies. Many of us older folks will remember occasional rides on these antiques. What I'm getting at: Amtrak is no spring chicken itself any longer, and has had time to build up a standby inventory of its own. I wonder to what extent it has done so ... as opposed to junking older equipment. (I have read of the latter happening.) Of course, I can just see certain congressmen jumping on Amtrak for ANY extra cost associated with owning seldom-used cars. I also remember that the thanks the old passenger railroads got for stretching to accommodate their holiday crowds was often: "Look at this old piece of junk. Next time I'll take the bus, or fly."
With intercity service:
Our pre-Amtrak passenger railroads had been around for a long time. As noted on this forum before, most had accumulated a lot of old equipment that was low-cost to keep and could be pressed into service for holiday traffic bulges and emergencies. Many of us older folks will remember occasional rides on these antiques.
What I'm getting at: Amtrak is no spring chicken itself any longer, and has had time to build up a standby inventory of its own. I wonder to what extent it has done so ... as opposed to junking older equipment. (I have read of the latter happening.) Of course, I can just see certain congressmen jumping on Amtrak for ANY extra cost associated with owning seldom-used cars.
I also remember that the thanks the old passenger railroads got for stretching to accommodate their holiday crowds was often: "Look at this old piece of junk. Next time I'll take the bus, or fly."
All true. Recall in the old days, the passenger lines could call on a large pool from Pullman for sleeper cars. Keeping older equipment for peak demand use properly maintained costs money. Are you supportive of that expense? And Amtrak's shops are expensive and don't seem up to the task in terms of capacity. It does seem, however, that Amtrak retired some cars built after 1971 or shortly before (Metroliner shells?) that could have been kept.
I remember riding those "old piece(s) of junk" in the mid-60s on the IC at holiday breaks. Fantastic!!
C&NW, CA&E, MILW, CGW and IC fan
Here is where you want to look...
http://sterlingrail.com/
CSSHEGEWISCH How many spares to carry on the roster is not an easy question to answer. Most larger railroads will carry about 10% spares to cover shop time, monthly inspections, etc. With suburban passenger cars for a public agency, the issue of waste and other political red herrings will always come up. Car shortages are a public relations nightmare but how much excess capacity to maintain is hard to determine when public funding is involved.
How many spares to carry on the roster is not an easy question to answer. Most larger railroads will carry about 10% spares to cover shop time, monthly inspections, etc. With suburban passenger cars for a public agency, the issue of waste and other political red herrings will always come up. Car shortages are a public relations nightmare but how much excess capacity to maintain is hard to determine when public funding is involved.
Did you here about the Amtrak Chairman who was reduced to panhandling? He stood in a corner of Penn Station saying, "Spare trains? Spare trains?"
If GM "killed the electric car", what am I doing standing next to an EV-1, a half a block from the WSOR tracks?
The Michigan cars cited, are mostly stored in the former PRR yard in Cadillac. Apparently they are occasionally rotated down to the Owosso shop for refurbishing. There are about 2 dozen ex-Metra stainless bi-levels. They have sat here for a few years for the proposed Detroit-Ann Arbor commuter service, which does not seem imminent.
Spares are needed. In the case of Amtrak, the back shops seem slow and much pricier than other ones. I think Don pointed that out so maybe more work can be subcontracted? It seems to me some Metra line trains are beyond capacity at rush hour even in decent weather.
Chicago METRA has announced that they want to lease some extra cars to prevent overcrowding when equipment goes out of service. That is raise spares to 10 . This especially during the winter months.
Unfortunately our wise pols have decided that there is not a bigger need for spare equipment. Do we know of any rail agency that has not experienced shortage of equipment both this winter and other times ? That is from Amtrak on down.
Some of us posters have maintained that there is not a need for more spares especially Amtrak. AMT seems to run about 10% out of service. The almost melt down at Chicago's Amtrak yard and also Metra may bode the lesson that there is not enough spares.
Where can spare equipment be found ? I just read that the older VRE equipment that was to be used for carrying military persons to the Pentagon is now up for sale. So where do other poster know of equipment. The list should be broken down to list now available, short term maintenance needed ( say 2 months ), and long term. As well break out those available for push pull or not. let us not go into new service but just present train service.
Here is a link for the METRA announcement.
http://www.suntimes.com/news/25691005-418/metra-may-lease-train-cars-it-sold-off-to-ease-crowding-during-storms.html
Maybe a separate list of locomotives that are needed should be started in a separate thread ?
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