A Couple Things About the California Zephyr

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Agent

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Amtrak train #6(08) came through Iowa today (as seen below), leaving me with a few different things to report here.

First is that there is only one Genesis diesel locomotive pulling the train. I haven't heard about anything about leaving a unit behind. Does anyone know what happened to the other engine? Odd that this is the second time this has happened in as many months.

Second, as earlier forewarned here: http://discuss.amtraktrains.com/index.php?/topic/62022-toms-rail-trips-9-cz-and-csrm-oct-2014, the coaches and sleepers on the California Zephyr have been switched. So now it's baggage car, transition dorm, sleeper, sleeper, diner, sightseer lounge, coach, and coach. This brings the Zephyr to the same standard as other long-distance Superliner trains, similar to how the Zephyr's engines were changed from back-to-back to both facing forward earlier this year. I suppose this is related to not dropping the summer season's third sleeper in Denver anymore.

Third, #6(08) has three extra cars on the end of it. They are the BNSF business cars Santa Fe and Bay View, and the Iowa Pacific Pullman-built Caritas. I believe these three were substituting for the two Iowa Pacific dome cars that were derailed by a broken rail in Nebraska on November 1.

http://youtu.be/SdIrbqW4uAM
 
Reduced consist with just two coaches. Let's see if the thired is added back for Thanksgiving week and Christmas week.

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Suspect it's situation dependent, but, the third coach: did that likely get put into service elsewhere? ... they're taking advantage of it's downtime to do delayed maintenance, maintenance that can't be done within the normal schedule? Or, is just a cost savings of not having to drag it around, and it's collecting dust somewhere?
 
Suspect it's situation dependent, but, the third coach: did that likely get put into service elsewhere? ... they're taking advantage of it's downtime to do delayed maintenance, maintenance that can't be done within the normal schedule? Or, is just a cost savings of not having to drag it around, and it's collecting dust somewhere?
Or putting it on a train they can fill it with paying passengers?

Any of the above would qualify as good management choices.
 
The third coach is always dropped during the times of lowest ridership; late October, early November, late January, and February I believe. It will definitely be back for the Thanksgiving rush. One year I saw four coaches on #6 the day before Thanksgiving. I wish they did that every year.
 
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