Amtrak Capitol Limited Thread

[Allouette]

Obviously you get more scenery eastbound. It's still a nice ride even without the dome cars that were on it before the Superliners. The Cleveland station is reasonably safe - there's nothing around it for folks not involved in the train to hang around for. The biggest problem with the station is that even native Clevelanders have a hard time finding it (it's off the "Marginal" - the expressway's access road). The eastbound train is likely to be near the scheduled time. Check the Amtrak web site to see how it's been doing. My practice is to check the arrivals on the same day of the week for a couple of weeks going back.

[farecard]

Thanks, I'm a native so I know where it is, but public transport is a PITA.
I'll have to get a cab to Public Square to catch my bus.

Ditto on the way back....

I'll bring food and tree-ware to keep occupied.

[mmi16]

The 'wee' hours of scheduled service at Cleveland can be daunting.

[farecard]

> The 'wee' hours of scheduled service at Cleveland can be daunting.
Naw.... Cleveland has all night bus service....



One question: What kind of rolling stock will I see?

See, last time I took Amtrak to Cleveland, many years ago, it was the Lake Shore Limited on a New Years Eve and in a blizzard.
The steam lines kept freezing up; at every station, the crew was using a flamethrower between the cars to melt them. Despite their efforts, it was ^%^&^*%%^& cold in there.

I assume that generation of coaches is long gone... is it electric heat with 480v HEP??

[Greg Moore]

Yes. All that equipment is long gone.

The Capitol Limited is Superliner equipment, so it'll be two level and yes, have electric heat.

[farecard]

I took my WAS-CLE-WAS trip in January. All went well. Outside Pittsburgh, we stopped and backed up a mile+. The trainman reported it was due to a freight "dead on the track ahead" but I didn't find out if it was a bad order, or outlaw crew. We still arrived CLE a few minutes early.

(Woke up cab driver for trip to Public Square & bus; but he fell back asleep at one stoplight.....)

Eastbound was beautiful; there was new snowfall on the ground much of the way. Several places the westbound track went through tunnels but eastbound [clearly later construction] was carved out of the hillside. We did take the tunnel under RT160 south of Berlin; the road there is a long steep slope midst windmill farms that I enjoy taking.

I spent most of my time in the coach. Comfy seat.

The sole negative aspect I recall was after dusk, the lights were still on bright in the dome car, making it impossible to look out.

[Gilbert B Norman]

From Marriott Biscayne Bay Miami--

The steam lines kept freezing up; at every station, the crew was using a flamethrower between the cars.

Mr.Farecard, my guess your attachment the industry is that of a railfan/train rider, but the device you note is called a Fusee'.

[farecard]

Hmmm, my great great grandfather was an RR man, and family lore was about him creeping down a steep set of switchbacks, while the trainman in the caboose dropped what I was told were fusees (what I'd call a flare...) behind them to avoid being hit from the rear. Suddenly he saw a fusee in front of him and managed to stop.... only to then realize it was their own that had fallen down from above.

The Lake Shore Limited crew was using a propane tank, hose & nozzle on the end of a long handle.... Is that called a fusee? I'd call it a weed burner in any other location.

[David Benton]

Definitely not a fusee, flamethrower or propane burner would be more correct. Amazing that it was so cold steam lines froze up .

[farecard]

Definitely not a fusee, flamethrower or propane burner would be more correct. Amazing that it was so cold steam lines froze up .

It was in a %$^&^%$ blizzard on NYday. And cold. This was in early 1970's; first part of trip was Floridian with track generators in each car; L&N stuck us on siding long enough lighting failed.

LSL crew said Diesel prime movers never made enough steam as compared to steam locos, esp. at low speeds.
I'd assumed steam came from separate Diesel burning boiler but maybe it was bled from engine water jacket????

[Backshophoss]

The Steam Generators use diesel fuel to create steam for car heating,possibly the coils in the generator were full of scale crud and were never
cleaned out during the summer months.
With the snow turning to ice on the outside fittings and piping,you would need to use a propane torch to remove the ice at the connection fittings
to make/break connections.

[farecard]

Maybe they were breaking them to see where the blockage was, I could not see that much. I do now recall them shoveling their way to between the cars to get to the lines.....

[Morning Zephyr]

I once got to ride the caboose of a C&NW freight train down a seldom-used branch line in southern Minnesota. At one of the sidings that was rarely used, wasps had built a nest in the switch stand. The crew used fusees to smoke them out. Surely the most innovative use of a fusee.

[farecard]

Took another WAS-CLE-WAS trip.

Some questions:

A Rails to Trails volunteer was on the one leg and we chatted about tunnels. There are multiple tunnels on the trip. Is there a list? At least one location is a tunnel on one track and not on the other. Was that original, or the other line was added later?

There is a fiber optic route alongside the trackage through parts of PA. There are periodic regenerator sites along side the track; you can recognize them by the fenced enclosure with two small buildings, one with huge J-hook air vents. [Wish I'd tagged such in my GPS but it needed charging.]

There are also small orange warning signs along the RoW. I'm curious whose fiber it is, but never has the train stopped with one of those signs outside my window, alas.

[mtuandrew]

farecard: there's a historic employee timetable at the American Rails Sand Patch Grade page. Not sure about modern sources.