Amfleet Refresh

"Page isn't available" message, George.

gokeefe wrote:Here's the latest video from Amtrak on the Amfleet Refresh (via TrainRiders Northeast Facebook).

Apparently you have to be on Facebook to see this video. That is where I saw it in the Northeast Corridor Railfans group at FB.

RRspatch wrote:

gokeefe wrote:Here's the latest video from Amtrak on the Amfleet Refresh (via TrainRiders Northeast Facebook).

Apparently you have to be on Facebook to see this video. That is where I saw it in the Northeast Corridor Railfans group at FB.

I'm logged in to facebook and cannot view. Either broken link or members only video. Why would a video not be marked public?

Here it is on youtube:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Jb0yBoBfOsQ" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

Rockingham Racer wrote:"Page isn't available" message, George.

Wow. My apologies on that one. I will check into it and report back.

BandA wrote:

RRspatch wrote:

gokeefe wrote:Here's the latest video from Amtrak on the Amfleet Refresh (via TrainRiders Northeast Facebook).

Apparently you have to be on Facebook to see this video. That is where I saw it in the Northeast Corridor Railfans group at FB.

I'm logged in to facebook and cannot view. Either broken link or members only video. Why would a video not be marked public?

No idea. I am seeing it as Public when I checked on it. ... Wondering if I'm not using the right type of link. Pretty sure mine was to mobile version.

I rode in one of the refreshed Amfleets on Saturday night from KIN to PHL on Regional #65. I actually much prefer the new seats to the old ones. More upright and less sag in the cushions led to what felt like better posture. The new LED lights and carpeting are much nicer than what used to be there and the car still had a "clean carpet" smell. I can't wait until these new interiors are rolled out to the entire fleet.

That is great to hear. Thanks for the report!

How is the brightness & glare with the LED lighting?

Earlier in this discussion, we noted the absence of armrests in any Amtrak Coach and further that the A-I's were so equipped when delivered, but those armrests were removed during subsequent rebuilds of the cars.

While the linked material is unrelated to this topic it does have one thought within such that I submit here as a Fair Use quotation:

http://www.livinglearninglovinglife.com ... story.html" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

For CRYING OUT LOUD – they need armrests that can be put down when you are sitting next to someone who is a stranger to you. It makes it so that you are basically sitting in a loveseat shaped space with someone you don’t know!!!!

I bet Amtrak originates 200+ trains/day. Every time, and at many times en-route, the conductor gets on the intercom and says something like "we're a full train, please take your stuff off the seat next to you, passengers need it".

Call me crazy, but putting an arm rest in between passengers is probably a good way to make it clear that the space is reserved for others, not a giant seat-couch (or "couchette" in euro-parlance) for one's detritus. It's also a great way to make people more comfortable with others next to them.

But $50 says this idea is too much common sense, ergo we'll just continue hollering at passengers over the PA, which is at best marginally effective.

I remember when the 1st Amfleet coaches had fixed armrests between the double seats. I also remember how hard and unyielding they seemed to be as I tried to slide over them to a window seat and got my hip joints too low and too soon. Ow!

JimBoylan wrote:I remember when the 1st Amfleet coaches had fixed armrests between the double seats. I also remember how hard and unyielding they seemed to be as I tried to slide over them to a window seat and got my hip joints too low and too soon. Ow!

So removed arm rests instead of making them fold up ?

BandA wrote:How is the brightness & glare with the LED lighting?

I'm at 80% LED at my house. It's a blue-ish light, it's powerful, but it's far more directional than incandescent ever was. That's in part due to the smaller element area, compared to an incandescent. I've not seen Amtrak seat lighting in the LED era, but I've seen it on busses in Europe. If you're on a tablet of some sort, it'll be a bit of a challenge.

My two cents.

John_Perkowski wrote:I'm at 80% LED at my house. It's a blue-ish light, it's powerful, but it's far more directional than incandescent ever was. That's in part due to the smaller element area, compared to an incandescent. I've not seen Amtrak seat lighting in the LED era, but I've seen it on busses in Europe. If you're on a tablet of some sort, it'll be a bit of a challenge.

One thing to consider when going to LED lighting (or fluorescents for that matter) is color temperature. The soft-white (2400-3000K) LED bulbs do a good job of mimicking an incandescent bulb, while the cool white and daylight ones (5000-7000K) don't.

There are also LED tubes available both as drop-in replacements for old fluorescents, or with the fixtures rewired to bypass the ballast and starting circuitry. Some of these are noticeably brighter than the fluorescent tubes they replace.