Palmetto changes

Amtrak Unlimited Discussion Forum

Help Support Amtrak Unlimited Discussion Forum:

This site may earn a commission from merchant affiliate links, including eBay, Amazon, and others.
Status
Not open for further replies.

battalion51

Engineer
Joined
Aug 23, 2002
Messages
7,193
Location
USA
The NB Palmetto will now leave Miami at 1500 rather than the current 1700. The SB Palmetto will not be effected and will still have a scheduled arrival at MIA at 1210. The changes will take effect supposedly on January 29, but may occur earlier. The jobs must be rebid (Conductor and Engineer) as the change is more than an hour off the current schedule. What will this mean to the travelling public? First of all a more sensible departure from Tampa will be had, as it is currently 2225, and will now be closer to 2030. Also, from a railfan perspective, one would likely be able to get to JAX and switch to 89 for the trip south, rather than the current location of Waldo. I should hear this weekend when the change will take place, as the jobs should be posted today. I'll let you all know hopefully next Tuesday after I get back from my railfan trip to Charleston :D .
 
It's not marked on Amtrak's website in the reservation system as of 1/29/02 so I will not believe it until an official release, source of Amtrak, comes out.

To clarify the Northbound Palmetto is still scheduled to leave at 5:00pm from Miami.
 
Notices have been posted at the Ft Lauderdale Amtrak station saying that the Palmetto will leave there at 3:40 something, I don't remember the exact number.
 
Are you sure it was not just a one week thing because of track work. Trust me if there was such a perminant change it would be on the reservation system and a notice would have been released stating the change. Something like this can't not be at the spur of a moment because Amtrak would have to work with CSX and the commuter railroads in the Northeast to find a new time slot. Just look at the problems with the Pennsylvanian and Three Rivers and the agreement between Norfolk and Southern.
 
You could be right Jon, but my belief is that it's a long term thing due to a few things. Firest the rebiding of the jobs, makes me believe that if people are going to shift around their work schedules that it is permanent. Second, I've heard that the work is taking place on the South End and Charleston Subs, which I've been told are nutorious for bad switches and uneven welding. The ultimate answer in the end will be what word I recieve out of JAx this weekend.
 
Will that new departure time from MIA give the crews enough time to clean and turn the train especially if the SB experiences any type of delay. Seems like they are trying to cut it kind of close.
 
tp49 said:
Will that new departure time from MIA give the crews enough time to clean and turn the train especially if the SB experiences any type of delay. Seems like they are trying to cut it kind of close.
When there were standard consists on the Silver Palm, Silver Star, and Silver Meteor, it was not necessary for say, the Star to turn as the Star in Miami. The equipment was interchangeable between the three trains. Now that the Silver Palm has become the Palmetto, and has a business class car but no diner or sleeper, it has to turn as itself. Perhaps this was a criteria in its rescheduling. The Star and Meteor may still be interchangeable, although I believe the Star usually runs with more sleepers than the Meteor.
 
Superliner Diner, the Palmetto can and does change over to the Star/Meteor on ocassion. There is no real rhythm that I know of to how equipment is swapped over. But usually if 97 is really late what will happen is they will remove the business car from the Palmetto and pull the sleepers and diner from the pool they have at the yard. Usually two or three are chillin there. What I've found recently is this (if all is on schedule) 97 to 98, 91 to 92, 89 to 90. This does not always hold up but that is the rhythm I've found. (By the way, how bout dem skills on the schedule changes?)
 
Well, at least they didn't cancel the train during the track work and substitute a BUS along the route! That would not be good. A few hours change should not make too big of a difference, and the article said the time change is only temporary.
 
Status
Not open for further replies.
Back
Top