Palmland, from one old timer to another. Interesting that you noted the Memphis to Chicago run. I have done that very thing as noted in post 18. Of course you remember the old Panama Limited.
AMTK-Excutive Sleeper? and Sleeper car set off service
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Road crews regularly do switching moves now. The Empire Builder split/join in Spokane is done by the road crews. Same with the Zephyr, when it has the set-out sleeper in Denver during the summer. You don't need a switch engine or separate crew to do that kind of stuff.
Hi Bill, yes I do remember the Memphis sleeper on the Panama. Rode it once on a nice spring night. The IC did it right. We boarded early and were amazed at how efficiently the IC handled the switching. Two switchers were used to reduce the time required. One took our car to the north end of the terminal tracks. As the Panama rolled in, the other switcher that had been on another siding, moved in behind it to remove the observation car. It was moving in behind the train before it had stopped. After the observation was removed, our car was added and the observation recoupled. Very smooth move taking less than 10 minutes. I can only imagine how long Amtrak might take (of course current FRA rules makes it more difficult to make a fast move - no dismounting a moving car, complete stop before a coupling).
mp-44
Train Attendant
at least into the early 80's there was a through car sleeper from NY to LAX layover in NOL in station hooked up to electric and added to the Sunset the next day but this was the good ol 10-6 sleeper made the trip a few times was able to visit NOL and come back near departure time
Thinking over the idea of having somebody else run the sleepers brings up another thought, namely Amtrak working out long-term lease agreements with a company which would retain ownership of the sleepers. Taking a couple of the packed runs (NYP/WAS-ATL and NYP/WAS-ORL), I'm wondering, if the situation persists, if it wouldn't make sense for Amtrak to cut a deal with someone to tack a batch of Viewliner IIs (or, heaven forbid, Superliner IIIs) onto their next order with the third party agreeing to pay for the cars in exchange for a 20-year lease on those cars. Assuming $4m per car (I know it varies, and I'm assuming superliners here since the Viewliner situation seems to be working itself out), could Amtrak make a $500,000/year agreement work? In a 10-6, sticking to the lower buckets (say, $241 ATL-WAS) on a 14-3 arrangement (I know...it's 12-3-1-and-a-bathroom...where did the extra two slots that a 10-6 had go, anyway?), you have potential revenue of over $1 million before we even add the bedrooms in. If you could keep this close to filled half of the time, $500,000 a year would break even.
Yes, I understand that you've got to add in the attendant, the car upkeep, and the diner expenses, but in the scheme of things...working out a "piggyback" deal with long-term leases would seem to be a solution, at least in theory.
Yes, I understand that you've got to add in the attendant, the car upkeep, and the diner expenses, but in the scheme of things...working out a "piggyback" deal with long-term leases would seem to be a solution, at least in theory.
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There is a long convoluted history on this.
It has been variously through the years Washington to LA, NYC to LA and Boston to LA.
It has been at times daily, at other times it has been three days a week. It has not always been the Crescent and the Sunset Limited. At times it has been on the Piedmont Limited and the Arognaut.
Wish I had ridden it.
Amtrak also had an all-Amtrak (not incl. SR), coast to coast 10-6 sleeper on the National Limited/Southwest Limited route connecting at Kansas City.
What you're talking about is a sale-leaseback. Amtraks already done that with a lot of their equipment in the past and it costs more money in the long run. They've even done it with some of their real estate (NYP).
henryj
Conductor
when the railroads ran their own passenger trains there were set outs and pickups at many stations. All these stations had steam heat, electrical power and waste disposal hook ups for the cars when they were not on the train. That is all gone now. For Amtrak to set out cars somewhere they would have to have the equivalent of head end power available to plug the cars into. Except for a few special places, I doubt if that is available any more.
I'm aware that it's more expensive (I can do the math on it)...but the alternative is increasingly a capacity crunch. Basically, I am staring the cuts to the capital budget and looking at workarounds to what is shaping up to be an increasing capacity crunch.
The way I'm looking at this is that the added sleepers might still assist a train's contribution even under a sale-leaseback because of the fare situation.
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While perhaps not quite as extensive as back in the Freight/Passenger days, many Amtrak stations still have ground power available for PV's.
RailFanLNK
Conductor
I'm always dreaming but "if" I ever win the Mega Millions or Powerball in Lincoln NE I want to have Hostel in downtown LNK. I would try and place it near the Haymarket and near the Amtrak station. A hostel you pretty much pay for a bunk bed. Our WB train leaves at 12:14am, I could sell sleeping accomodations to someone wanting to go to bed, but be by the station. Our EB train now comes through at the ungodly hour of 3:15am. I could sell sleeping accomodations to that train as well literally waking folks up 10 minutes before arrival. While the 3:15am time sucks, we now get into Chicago (if on time) at 2:30pm or earlier and it seems we have almost gained a whole day than the old time of 3:50pm and with trains being 2 or 3 hours late arriving in the early evening. When I have taken the #6 at 3:15am, I find it very hard now to get up at that time of the morning (?). Its too late to stay up for and right smack in the middle of the night. The old departure time of 4:45 was more manageable.
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jis
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Actually the sale-leaseback scenario is one of several ways of doing this and is a bit after the fact. If you look at how the so called ROSCOEs in the UK operate, these companies outright own and purchase new rolling stock and then lease them to the TOC (Train Operating Companies). Even in the airline industry there is a healthy leasing business.
In both cases the operating company does not have any role in the purchasing transaction, other than possibly to make it known to a leasing company that they are in the market looking to lease some particular kind of equipment. The leasing companies carry put the purchase, and then lease the equipment to the TOC. The lease contract may include comprehensive maintenance contract with it (leasing company contracts to provide x number of sets in fully operational condition each day at designated locations) or the TOC may take on the responsibility of maintenance. Of course, in our land of the free, union contracts may make the former impossible to do.
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