All things Pennsylvanian AND Keystone West

There's been reports in local press that definitely ask for a second round trip that leaves Pittsburgh later in the day, but from what I saw... I think the expectation was more "I want to day-trip into Pittsburgh from Altoona" than just double capacity.... which to be honest, both are a good idea.

That said... yes, the later group will poach some existing riders. There will be a lot of conventioneers who would love a few extra hours of sleep after dancing and partying the night before... but there will be others waking up way early to catch the early train because it was the only seat available. Both trains will get filled, and NS had best get another track through Pittsburgh Union station before too long because I do see within a decade the demand for a third trip.

Will Amtrak be able to use the existing pair of trainsets for the second trip or will they have to source a whole new set of Amfleets, including a 110mph-capable baggage car? I have heard anecdotal reports stating that many of Amtrak's high-speed baggage cars are either out of service pending repair, or already in use on all of the existing services.

TheOneKEA wrote: ↑Sat Apr 13, 2024 12:10 pm Will Amtrak be able to use the existing pair of trainsets for the second trip or will they have to source a whole new set of Amfleets, including a 110mph-capable baggage car? I have heard anecdotal reports stating that many of Amtrak's high-speed baggage cars are either out of service pending repair, or already in use on all of the existing services.

They'll need another pair. The two trains, as it stands now, are only staggered about three hours apart from each other.

All of the baggage cars in revenue service are LDSL cars and good for 125.

I thought of posting this in the NEC delays thread, since it started there. However, since the Pennsylvanian 43 was also significantly delayed on the Harrisburg & Pittsburgh lines yesterday, I felt it was more appropriate in this thread.

I was in Lancaster yesterday (August 10, 2024), and for a pleasant surprised Amtrak Pennsylvanian 42 was....ON TIME. I don't take that train too often, but whenever I did it was routinely 30-90 mins. So I switched to primarily taking Keystones when I head out west. I tried to get the Amtrak P42DC in Phase II, but as the universe would have it, a "standard" Phase V P42 led the way.

Ok, now let me get to the point. The departure board for Pennsylvanian 43 went from a 2 minute to a ~40 minute delay.
So I figured, it should meet us closer to Philadelphia. However, we made it to Philadelphia with no sighting of 43, meaning something was awfully awry.

I took a look at RailRat.Net & apparently something took place around Trenton that lead to it being 2 hrs late to Philadelphia (screenshot attached. Then it was another 2 hrs late from Harrisburg to Lewisburg.

Any ideas on what happened at Trenton and Harrisburg? Also I'm sure that led to a little "creativity" near / at Trenton since it's likely this train was stuck on Track 4. By "creativity" I mean moving trains around it. Locomotive troubles? A 2 hour delay into Philly from Trenton is very odd, that's a 25 minute non stop trip.

Let us see if we can find some clues... AmtrakNECAlerts has nothing for yesterday... AmtrakAlerts ditto... Nothing on SEPTA for that stretch.

ASM TransitDocs says it arrived 14 minutes late to PHL but departed nearly 2 hours late. My likely guess is that they had engine trouble with a swap, and had to find another diesel (if they had said "swap it in Harrisburg" I would of seen a delay in departure there). Harrisburgh to Lewistown I can see because they missed their window and Norfolk Southern dispatch was being a pain in the ass, having to have them follow a freight.

STrRedWolf wrote: ↑Sun Aug 11, 2024 7:52 am Let us see if we can find some clues... AmtrakNECAlerts has nothing for yesterday... AmtrakAlerts ditto... Nothing on SEPTA for that stretch.

ASM TransitDocs says it arrived 14 minutes late to PHL but departed nearly 2 hours late. My likely guess is that they had engine trouble with a swap, and had to find another diesel (if they had said "swap it in Harrisburg" I would of seen a delay in departure there). Harrisburgh to Lewistown I can see because they missed their window and Norfolk Southern dispatch was being a pain in the ass, having to have them follow a freight.

Ah, good call. Also, I realized I was looking at the wrong thing. It was 2 hrs late leaving Philly, not arriving at Philly. Classic case of human error on my part.

I did wonder if they swapped at HAR instead of PHL. It doesn't seem like there are frequently more than 2 P42s at Race Street nowadays. The ALCs aren't in revenue service out here (NEC / Pittsburgh) line yet. If the diesel failed at Philly, I could see a Sprinter pulling it to HAR and then doing the swap there.

And yes, it makes sense if 43 was 2hrs late that Norfolk Southern would make them ride the yellows & reds. They already have issues with the justice system in behind stuff like this, but that's another convo for another day

Diesel shopped, new diesel needed to be wyed. New diesel had PTC issues initializing PTC on the NS.

CNJGeep wrote: ↑Sun Aug 11, 2024 4:29 pm Diesel shopped, new diesel needed to be wyed. New diesel had PTC issues initializing PTC on the NS.

Well, one out of two. They wyed it out by ZOO?

Yes, around the wye in Philly

TheOneKEA wrote: ↑Sat Apr 13, 2024 12:10 pm Will Amtrak be able to use the existing pair of trainsets for the second trip or will they have to source a whole new set of Amfleets, including a 110mph-capable baggage car? I have heard anecdotal reports stating that many of Amtrak's high-speed baggage cars are either out of service pending repair, or already in use on all of the existing services.

Does a second frequency really need a baggage? Or even a through service to NYP? If the tunnels are full, why not meet a NE Regional at Philly and do a cross-platform transfer?

We need a +1 button. Anyway, yes to this. There are maybe a hundred trains to NY for this service to connect to. Through-routing just creates potential for a late train screwing things up. All sorts of new mid-distance trains ought to be connecting to the NEC, building that backbone into something huge. Make the transfers simple. Run trains into Philly from 3 or 4 directions (Delaware, Eastern PA) so that there are economies of scales for Amtrak baggage handling or enough people that private red-cap service pops up. It's crazy to me that the east coast (mostly northeast) has such an incredible backbone of service, but so few connections.

Tadman wrote: ↑Mon Aug 12, 2024 12:55 pm Does a second frequency really need a baggage? Or even a through service to NYP? If the tunnels are full, why not meet a NE Regional at Philly and do a cross-platform transfer?

Amtrak has plenty of time to get a high speed bag car ready to go. The only time they'd need it is early July for massive city-invading conventions that generate a ton of cash for said city, and there's only one of those as far as I know.