Thanksgiving schedule posted

Shop deals on ebay
shop deals on amazon
Advertise with us
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.
FYI, the Michigan service Thanksgiving timetable has been posted on the Amtrak timetable page.

18 extra trains. It appears to be virtually identical to the 2012 Wolverine Thanksgiving service.
 
Wolverine Extra #359 should be permanent. I'd LOVE that schedule. It departs KAL at 6:15 PM and arrives in CHI at 7:45 PM. That's perfect for weekend travelers who don't want to either 1) take a half-day at work (or can't) or 2) wait until 9:30 and arrive in CHI at 11:00-ish, basically killing Friday night.
 
SarahZ said:
Wolverine Extra #359 should be permanent. I'd LOVE that schedule. It departs KAL at 6:15 PM and arrives in CHI at 7:45 PM. That's perfect for weekend travelers who don't want to either 1) take a half-day at work (or can't) or 2) wait until 9:30 and arrive in CHI at 11:00-ish, basically killing Friday night.
Click to expand...
Indeed, unlike much of the extra holiday service on the NEC and the Cascades, most of the Wolverine Extra trains look like they'd fit in pretty well on

an ongoing basis, if equipment/budgets/host railroads allowed for it. I think I'd move 358 an hour earlier for a 9:00 p.m. CHI departure but otherwise

these extra trains all seem like fairly natural additions to the timetable.
 
Wolverine schedules are probably going to be juggled around next year after the trackwork is done; maybe the shorter runtimes will allow for running more trains per day permanently.
 
So, I see there are Thanksgiving extras on:

- NEC

- Cascades (one more RT)

- Quincy service (one more RT)

- Michigan service (one more RT to Kalamazoo, one more RT to Ann Arbor)

The Empire Service and Keystone Service seem to have schedule changes but no actual extra runs. :-(

Anything special going on in California? Any news about lengthening trains which aren't getting extra runs? Haven't seen any news yet...
 
Nathanael said:
So, I see there are Thanksgiving extras on:

- NEC

- Cascades (one more RT)

- Quincy service (one more RT)

- Michigan service (one more RT to Kalamazoo, one more RT to Ann Arbor)

The Empire Service and Keystone Service seem to have schedule changes but no actual extra runs. :-(

Anything special going on in California? Any news about lengthening trains which aren't getting extra runs? Haven't seen any news yet...
Click to expand...
Good catch on the Quincy service. Looks like the extra RT operates 12/1 only.

I think the reason for the Empire and Keystone timetables is basically to prevent a slew of confusing "exception" footnotes

on the regular timetable. (Plus, the Keystones go all-reserved during that period, though that in and of itself wouldn't

require a new timetable) That said, you'd think they'd add a few extra Keystones on Sunday, but I guess Amtrak figures

any spare Amfleets they have are put to better use on the NEC.
 
Also what's neat about that extra Quincy train is its being done without any additional trainsets, each of the 2 trainsets normally used by the Carl Sandberg and Illinois Zephyr will simply be making one and a half round-trips that day (overnighting in the place opposite of where they started) instead of just one round-trip made ordinarily.
 
Looks like they're adding an extra Lincoln Service train to BNL on 12/1 only. Departs CHI 10:30 a.m., arrives BNL 12:44 p.m.

Return trip departs BNL 1:15 p.m. arrives CHI 3:35 p.m.

(That's a pretty quick turn in BNL!)
 
The Illinois extras seem to be new this year. Here's hoping all these extras improve Amtrak's financial position significantly.... I guess we won't really find out until sometime in February when the December monthly report comes out, though.
 
More Thanksgiving service: there's a second daily roundtrip to Holland (but not Grand Rapids) on the Pere Marquette line for December 1.

There's also extra bus service on the corridor from Portland to Eugene, Oregon on Nov 27 and Dec 1.

Amtrak's also released its schedule for the Great Dome:

(was on the Adirondack Sep. 9 - Oct 29)

(was on the Lake Shore Limited Oct 30, going to Chicago)

Nov 5 - 22 on the Illinois Zephyr

(not in service on Nov 23-24)

Nov 25 - 28 on the Hiawathas

Nov 29 and 30 on the Lincoln Service

Dec 1 on the Hiawathas

I can see why some Amtrak insiders are actually talking about ordering more dome cars; they're using the one they've got pretty intensively, and it's a Heritage car.

I am still curious as to which trains will get lengthened with "regular" cars for the holiday period (extra cars Chicago-to-Denver? Chicago-to-Minneapolis? Chicago-NY?), but Amtrak probably won't publish press releases to announce that.
 
Nathanael said:
I am still curious as to which trains will get lengthened with "regular" cars for the holiday period (extra cars Chicago-to-Denver? Chicago-to-Minneapolis? Chicago-NY?), but Amtrak probably won't publish press releases to announce that.
Click to expand...
Amtrak uses every car and locomotive available for use. Because the demand is there for it.
 
Wow that special Pere Marquette schedule I hadn't noticed, kind of amazing, there clearly just keeping the one Superliner trainset and milking the extra mid-day round trip to Holland in the middle of the day.

Hope it gets dispatched well and leaves on time in the morning!

Dp. Grand Rapids - 6:00am EST

Ar. Chicago - 8:50am CST

Dp. Chicago - 10:00am CST

Ar. Holland - 2:08pm EST

Dp. Holland - 3:10pm EST

Ar. Chicago - 5:22pm CST

Dp. Chicago - 6:30pm CST

Ar. Grand Rapids - 11:30pm CST

I know the Pere Marquette is normally not push-pull/pull-pull and wyed in Grand Rapids. I assume for this special occasion it will get an extra locomotive or Cabbage, to make those just over an hour turns work
 
Acela150 said:
Nathanael said:
I am still curious as to which trains will get lengthened with "regular" cars for the holiday period (extra cars Chicago-to-Denver? Chicago-to-Minneapolis? Chicago-NY?), but Amtrak probably won't publish press releases to announce that.
Click to expand...
Amtrak uses every car and locomotive available for use. Because the demand is there for it.
Click to expand...
Well, yes, but what I'm curious about is where they're using the cars. With only so many extra cars, which trains do they get added to?
 
Nathanael said:
Acela150 said:
Nathanael said:
I am still curious as to which trains will get lengthened with "regular" cars for the holiday period (extra cars Chicago-to-Denver? Chicago-to-Minneapolis? Chicago-NY?), but Amtrak probably won't publish press releases to announce that.
Click to expand...
Amtrak uses every car and locomotive available for use. Because the demand is there for it.
Click to expand...
Well, yes, but what I'm curious about is where they're using the cars. With only so many extra cars, which trains do they get added to?
Click to expand...
The NEC is the primary concern. As hundreds of thousands of riders use the NEC from Tuesday to Monday when the special schedule is in effect. Wednesday has been the big travel day in past years. With Sunday coming a close second.
 
Anyway, I find upon some research (on trainorders archive) that in 2012, there was an extra coach added to most of the long-distance trains on the day after Thanksgiving (with the LSL getting an extra Boston coach *and* an extra NY coach), and an extra sleeper on the Silver Star. The Chicago-area trains which weren't getting extra frequencies seemed to get one extra coach each whereever possible, as did the California corridors.

So Amtrak may simply follow the "one extra car per trip" theory. That would be quite simplistic but would probably work to a first approximation.
 
Status
Not open for further replies.

Latest posts

Back
Top