Amtrak Grand Central Terminal Operations

Noel Weaver wrote:

amtrakowitz wrote:

bwparker1 wrote:Did Amtrak ever bring trains into Grand Central Terminal?

Yes. Up until 1991, Grand Central was the only place in Midtown Manhattan that you could see a Turboliner or an EMD FL9.

Not so, the New Haven ran FL-9's in and out of Penn Station on a regular basis especially as the "Jets" bit the dust one by one in the 60's. In fact sometimes with the same crew a train would run from New Haven to Penn Station with a pair of FL-9's and upon arrival the crew would change ends and run the pair of FL-9's out to New Rochelle, change ends again and go to Grand Central Terminal to cover a morning train out. This was a regular move on a couple of night jobs. This practice ended almost immediately after Penn Central took over the New Haven as the FL-9's were wanted for Harlem and Hudson trains and they made the shoes stationary at that time which precluded their use in or out of Penn Station.
Noel Weaver

But we are speaking of Amtrak, not its predecessors. Therefore, certainly from Amtrak's beginning up until 1991, the only place in Midtown Manhattan one could see a Turboliner or FL9 was GCT.

^Could they not have gotten a peak inside NYP if they had to go to Beech Grove or some other repair facility by way of the Hell's Gate Line?

Just curious about something: what, if any, are the height restrictions on trains going into GCT? Assuming a trip following the old NYC route in and out of town to ALB, could a dome or a Superliner make it, or is it essentially under the same Viewliner-sized height restrictions that NYP is?

both GCT and NYP have a max 14'6" restriction, no domes allowed south of Harmon

lirr42 wrote:^Could they not have gotten a peak inside NYP if they had to go to Beech Grove or some other repair facility by way of the Hell's Gate Line?

Since MNRR operated them too, they may have just worked on them at their shops?

Amtrak units were not worked on at Harmon shops unless they had a problem that prevented them from being towed to Renselear shop.

If a 15 ft 10 inch dome did leave Harmon southbound, where would it first hit something? We know it could get to Tarrytown-- probably to Spuyten Duyvil? Could it get to 97th St untouched?

A dome might make it to Highbridge or where ever the Oak Point connector spins off the Hudson line,
however any dome found on a SB train would be taken off at Harmon or Croton west yard(3rd rail clearance).

A dome has no problem with third rail, it has same clearance as any Heritage car.
Domes are not allowed south of Croton Harmon.

I think Timz is asking where the first low obstruction is that would theoretically foul a dome car.

I believe there's a bridge in Tarrytown that's too low for a dome, but I'm not an expert on this route.

I think that's an honest question. We'd all love to know when this http://youtu.be/qs1QcRTOMEg?t=2m would happen.

Ah, Brendan Fraser - the sign of a terrible movie...

Tadman wrote:I think Timz is asking where the first low obstruction is that would theoretically foul a dome car.

I believe there's a bridge in Tarrytown that's too low for a dome, but I'm not an expert on this route.

There is that somewhat low bridge at the old auto plant location... It looked pretty low from my vantage point in the train, the others in the area seemed to have plenty of clearance.

That's the one I was thinking of, at the old Chevy plant.

at one time a misrouted garbage double stack container, made it as far as just south of yankee stadium.