Amtrak Crescent Discussion

I have indeed seen a horizon car on the Crescent I believe but Im sure it couldve been one of the Silver Service trains last week probably Thursday or Friday afternoon when I was on the headend of train 178. That was 2 days in a row I saw a Horizon car on a LD train outta NYP that wasnt the Lake Shore Limited.
I swear youtube is sometimes the best source of info when you are looking for specific trains.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=P8ueaR8rLFI
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YKtD-AEpcCA

The meteor had it's regular heritage diner back on out of NYP yesterday.

Today as the NJT train I was on stopped at Elizabeth, A LD train came through with a Horizon Dinnete on it, I noticed right of way when the train didn't have that usual Shiny look.

In case you're interested - there's an opportunity to view the Crescent on an unusual Wye move in Atlanta during its February termination in Atlanta. You can see the Crescent use Decatur Wye that goes under I-85 and over the old I-85 before stopping next to the a golf course before returning, in reverse, to Peachtree Station. This line and track is only in limited use and the pictures of the Crescent in a really unusual location.

The move seems to take place soon after AMTRAK arrives in Atlanta in morning. The Crescent was parked, ready for evening service around 10:30 AM this morning so it had to make the move between its 8:30 arrival in Atlanta and then.

FYI - This segment is not proposed for Decatur Belt Abandonment I posted about previously.

Because the train is terminating in Atlanta I guess is a good reason why I have been passing 19-20 on the NEC with just 1 sleeper all this week.

one would guess it would have additional sleepers because it needs 2 less train sets. Odd.

That's weird - the consist I saw yesterday had two Viewliners. I'll look again today if I get a chance.

Im guessing if you saw it yesterday, It will be up this way today. So far this week on the NEC I have only seen 1 sleeper on 19-20. I just figured they had a shortage of sleepers since it was winter time and they were having frozen pipes problems but since they are only running to Atlanta I guess Amtrak figures all they need is just 1 sleeper?

hi55us wrote:one would guess it would have additional sleepers because it needs 2 less train sets. Odd.

How do you figure that? It looks like the train that arrives New Orleans on Sunday evening sits there until Friday. And that's it. There is no second set not being operated except to the extent that one is sitting in Atlanta during the day (at midnight, all sets are where you'd expect with the exception of the one in New Orleans being there for multiple nights).

Funny this came up. I took the Crescent into Atlanta and arrived on the 29th. I then took a taxi to get my rental car (which I couldn't pick up until Noon unless I wanted to go with the higher rates that were more than double what I ended up paying).

When I drove back past the station around 12:20 I could see the Crescent turned and ready for its north bound trip. It confused me because I figured either the train was WAY early or VERY late. Then I recalled reading it was terminating early for a bit. So didn't see the move, but saw the results of the move. (And there were definitely 2 sleepers on it.)

Yes you may have see 2 sleepers on it on the 29th in Atlanta, but from Monday to Thuirsday when I worked 185 and 2122, I pass both 20 when Im going down on 185 and 19 when Im running 2122 and on those days, those 2 trains passed me with ONLY 1 sleeper.

In case you're interested - there's an opportunity to view the Crescent on an unusual Wye move in Atlanta during its February termination in Atlanta. You can see the Crescent use Decatur Wye that goes under I-85 and over the old I-85 before stopping next to the a golf course before returning, in reverse, to Peachtree Station. This line and track is only in limited use and the pictures of the Crescent in a really unusual location.

This move is not set in stone, so to speak. The train could just as easily be turned at Howell Junction about two miles south of Peachtree Station. It depends on what, if anything, is in Armour Yard, the whims of the dispatcher and traffic levels. If one wants to photograph the turning operations of this train, then it is best to wait to see which direction it goes after detraining passengers. Of course, monitoring scanner channels 160.950 (NS Road Channel) and 160.920 (Amtrak Ops Channel) should give enough warning of the move to get into position for wherever it is going to take place.

Today I passed train 19 in the B&P tunnels in Baltimore when bringing up 2122. It has only 1 viewliner. Thank You

Well, worse than that, they're apparently running only one occupied coach from Atlanta to N.O. A friend saw the dark trailing coaches go by then called Amtrak to see if he could get a ticket from Birmingham to N.O. and was told he had to reserve two weeks in advance. When he told them he just saw the train go by with two dark/unoccupied coaches they told him the same thing again. Sounds like they might be trying to save money by running only one coach attendant south of ATL and only opening one of the two trailing coaches when the first fills up. (Amtrak assigns one attendant for every two cars.) Typical consist lately is baggage, viewliner, diner, lounge, coach, coach, coach - - just seven cars.

BuddSilverliner269 wrote:Today I passed train 19 in the B&P tunnels in Baltimore when bringing up 2122. It has only 1 viewliner. Thank You

Ayup, the Imperial View. I was on that up from Atlanta to Washington. Room 7.