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Dutchrailnut said:
Its not about stupidity, it about who is lowest bidder for specifications as listed in RFP, they have to go with lowest qualified bidder if they like it or not. sometimes a RFP can be tweaked to favor a prefered bidder but he still has to come in lowest or its not gone fly.
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Dutch, I seriously have to disagree with you on Septa here.. They gave Rotem a contract for 120 EMU's. Rotem f**ked that up so bad that Septa almost got all 120 EMU's for free. The SL V's were 4-5 years behind schedule!! Best part is with those EMU's is that when they first entered service they were OOS for days with issue after issue. I have a friend who works for Septa and tells me that those cars are pieces of s**t. I've been on them and everything was fine and they went into emergency in the middle of 16th Street Jct. Fouled up the entire rush hour. Septa screwed the pooch on that order. Kawasaki was supposed to get the order but Septa pulled the contract.
 
Here's Amtrak #6(24) with AMTK 630 west of and in Ottumwa, Iowa this morning running abut an hour late. There's a report on Trainorders of another Sprinter on #6(25), presumably AMTK 628.

 
ACS-64 #628 was in the Oakland yard attached to the head-end of what looked like the CZ consist (still with baggage and transdorm) on Christmas Eve, so I can believe the report of it heading east on #6(25).
 
Hey Agent, were you wearing a red jacket and filming Train 6(25) with a tripod this morning in Agency? Saw you as we flew through town.
 
Though I hesitate to perpetuate a tangent :) I have to ask the Silverliner V critics: hasn't Denver RTD also bought Silverliner V cars? If so, is RTD equally stupid as SEPTA?

Not a rhetorical question; maybe you're right and both agencies are wrong. But if RTD wanted to piggyback on an existing EMU design or order, they could've picked the Metra Electric cars or Metro-North M8 cars, for instance. They didn't.
 
Agent said:
Yes, that was me. Looks like 628 had its first taste of winter:

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Nice, I'll bookmark this one. Yes, it was pretty wintery yesterday, especially up around Moffat. Skiers who boarded at Fraser were wearing smiles from ear to ear all night.
 
John Bredin said:
Though I hesitate to perpetuate a tangent :) I have to ask the Silverliner V critics: hasn't Denver RTD also bought Silverliner V cars? If so, is RTD equally stupid as SEPTA?

Not a rhetorical question; maybe you're right and both agencies are wrong. But if RTD wanted to piggyback on an existing EMU design or order, they could've picked the Metra Electric cars or Metro-North M8 cars, for instance. They didn't.
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Looking at photos of them. They're a slightly modified SL V.
 
I should add these better-shot videos of Amtrak #6(25) made by another train enthusiast in Ottumwa, Iowa.

 
The California Zephyr with 631 came through southeast Iowa this morning running almost on time. I think this might be the last time an ACS-64 will be coupled to a heritage baggage car on the Zephyr.

(Skip to the 5:29 mark for Amtrak, unless you want to watch BNSF hi-rail trucks go from road to rail.)

 
Agent said:
The California Zephyr with 631 came through southeast Iowa this morning running almost on time. I think this might be the last time an ACS-64 will be coupled to a heritage baggage car on the Zephyr.

(Skip to the 5:29 mark for Amtrak, unless you want to watch BNSF hi-rail trucks go from road to rail.)

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Was the wind blowing a little bit??? :)
 
I've seen no reports that the Viewliner II baggage cars have entered service. Last I heard they're still at Miami awaiting inspection. I expect they will enter service on the eastern trains first so it will be a while before they are assigned to the California Zephyr.
 
I'm not expecting the Viewliner baggage cars to be put on the California Zephyr anytime soon. But they're starting to pull heritage baggage cars off the Zephyr and other trains for over a month, and I'm not entirely confident they'll be using heritage baggage cars when they start putting baggage cars back on.
 
Well, I was wrong about there not being heritage baggage cars when the next ACS-64 came through. AMTK 632 is heading east on Amtrak #6(17), and was twenty-six minutes late when it passed by Agency, Iowa this morning. This post on Trainorders says AMTK 635 is on #6(18).

Is that pink paint covering the snowplow on the lead unit? The same Trainorders post shows it didn't look like that leaving California.

 

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