Possible rare siting in Fort Worth?

[orson]

I had to take a detour on the drive into work this morning which took me past the rail station. I got a quick glimpse of an Amtrak engine sitting on the tracks with one or two cars attached to it. One of the cars, and it may have been the only one attached, was a long silver car with the word "Pullman" on it. I don't know too much about trains but I have heard of the Pullman sleeper cars. However, I thought those had long since been retired. Was this something rare or are they still in use today?

 

[Trogdor]

There are plenty of old private cars still around, and Amtrak routinely transports them around the country. It's possible that one was to be transported on the Texas Eagle, or perhaps they just paid for an Amtrak engine to provide power to the car while it was parked in Fort Worth (I don't know if that station would have ground hookups for power).

 

[AmtrakFan]

Mr. Madison,

They have 1 P42 in Ft. Worth as a Protection unit.

 

[battalion51]

The pro-tect unit is there on an everyday basis, never leaves except to switch out or rescue. I would be very surprised if there was ground power since the only thing that lays over there on a regular basis is 821/822, and they always have their road power there for that short layover.

 

[AlanB]

I didn't notice any ground power when I was there last month.

 

[Superliner Diner]

Regarding the Pullmans you saw, here is your answer:

http://www.on-track-on-line.com/forums/ind...showtopic=10974

This is a special excursion, I believe being hauled on the rear of the TEXAS EAGLE from Fort Worth to St. Louis. According to that schedule it should be departing this afternoon (Friday 8/12) from FTW.

 

[panamaclipper]

The Eagle with the private car just left Dallas heading North. I see it has some of the duplex style roomettes they had on The Canadian when I took it earlier in the year.

 

[MrFSS]

According to the article the car was part of the original EB. Here is a picture I took in the 50's of that train. You can see the duplex car right in front of the Observation Car.

EB 1950's

 

[sechs]

I don't know too much about trains but I have heard of the Pullman sleeper cars.  However, I thought those had long since been retired.  Was this something rare or are they still in use today?

If I recall correctly, all Superliner I equipment is Pullman. Therfore the Superliner I sleepers maybe properly called Pullman sleepers.

 

[AmtrakWPK]

From the OTOL thread, "The car also includes an onboard generator and air conditioner so that it can operate without connection to a locomotive", so unless that was broken, the Amtrak engine wasn't there to provide HEP. I would imagine that renting an Amtrak engine would be rather expensive, and the other question is whether an engineer is required anytime the engine is running? Or can they have it idling unattended if it's not in a "traffic area" of track? What's the law on that - anybody know?

 

[battalion51]

Actually you can leave an engine on and standing, it happens all the time when crews knock off for lunch or whatever. There are several procedures that must be followed, IIRC the parking brake must be applied, reverser centered and removed, and the Generator Field must be taken off-line. Most crews also normally place the HEP into Standby mode so the engine runs at 700 RPM instead of 920 in Normal Mode.

 

[AmtrakWPK]

Thanks, Bat!

 

[Bill Haithcoat]

I don't know too much about trains but I have heard of the Pullman sleeper cars.  However, I thought those had long since been retired.  Was this something rare or are they still in use today?

If I recall correctly, all Superliner I equipment is Pullman. Therfore the Superliner I sleepers maybe properly called Pullman sleepers.

Disclaimer: before I get too much into this, let it be noted that there is an operating difference bewteen the Pullman Company (which operated sleeping cars for those railroads which chose to participate) and the Pullman Standard company, which built all sorts of railroad equipment, not just sleepers. That being said....(it might have been two branches of the same parent company)

Actually the pullman company is long gone, about 1967, I think. About four years before Amtrak. George M. Pullman built the first successful sleeping car company, thus the name.

The pullman company was a concept about ownership/leasorship issues between the pullman company and the railroads whcih participated. This to the ability to move sleeping cars around the country as needed for speical movements, equipment breakdowns, extra heavy business, etc with a minimum of red tape.

For example if a sleeper was found to be defective before departure, and the operating railroad had no spare sleepers, well, perhaps another railroad in the same town had a sleeper to spare.If both railroads participated with the pullman company, it would be relatively easy to borrow.

Such a thing is no longer needed today since Amtrak is all one national company. It does not need permission to borrow from itself.

There is much more to be said but this should help. Anyway, while oldtimers like me may privately think of them as pullmans, the official usage of the name ended years ago.

It had nothing to do with the actual type of car or accommodations in the cars, such as berth versus room.. Instead all about leasing issues,etc.(NOTE: and the nature of who was leasing to whom changed through the years).

By the time the pullman company disolved itself of that business, it was hardly needed anymore anyway, so much less train travel and at least some raiilroads had more spares than they knew what to do with.

 

[MrFSS]

Here are some intereesting Pullman Links:

Historic Pullman Site

Pullman Museum