Baggage Car Shortage

I recently took the (51) Cardinal from Indianapolis to Chicago. When I arrived at the station, I was told that checked baggage was suspended on that train until October 2004. A sign on the ticket counter window said that Amtrak is experiencing a shortage of baggage cars. Is this the case? If so, why does Amtrak not employ old MHCs and Express cars for checked baggage service? Are those not in surplus? Thanks in advance.

The reson a lot of MHC were set aside was that if not loaded or lightly loaded they derailed, so CSX, NS, BNSF etc put a 60 mph max speed on them unless they were considerd loaded.
how would a crew guess what the loaded weight of a bagage car is ??? so basicly the train would be restricted to 60 mph all time.

Other reasons:

1) Unless you put baggage at the rear of a train, you have to have a pass-through for Conductor and Brakeman to move from locomotive to passenger cars. That may not be a work rule, but it seems to be an operating practice.

2) How many Amtrak MHCs have train lines for HEP?

3) Some (not necessarily all) Amtrak baggage cars have attendant/messengers on board ... baggage car is designed with passenger trucks, suspension, and tightlock couplers. MHC is a glorified boxcar.

John

PS: We've talked, in the old forum, about buying or leasing PVs back. This is a legitimate area where Amtrak can buy back or lease back cars. There are baggage cars sitting at Illinois Transit http://www.iltransit.com/baggage.html as we speak

hmm need side sill work ??? corrosion, the car was sold for reason.
restricted trucks maybe ??

other cars listed don't have HEP/27 point feed true.

Any reason why the baggage car needs to be on the front of the train ?
If it was on the back it wouldnt need hep , or pass through facilities .

If if if if people travel lighter there would be no need of Bagage cars.
On any train how much load does the Baggage car actualy carry and at what $$ rate, would that car be just a cost or would it make money ?? think about it.

John_Perkowski wrote:1) Unless you put baggage at the rear of a train, you have to have a pass-through for Conductor and Brakeman to move from locomotive to passenger cars. That may not be a work rule, but it seems to be an operating practice.

Not always. It depends on the train. Many western long-distance trains run with multiple locomotives, often with the rear locomotive running cab-backwards. In either case, the conductor would not be able to access the locomotives from the train.

On the NEC portion of eastern LD trains, there would be no access to the electric locomotive from the passenger section.

The bigger issue would be the HEP capabilities. The old MHCs had HEP, and were often placed at the front of the train, but they were embargoed and most, if not all, have been removed from service.

Right on Mr. Dutch--

First rule of travel:

"If you can't carry it, don't bring it.'

Works for me.

Lest we forget, (GBN and others) that this is a recent 'rule.' Back in the days of the City of Los Angles and electrified routes in the North and Northwest, trunks and copious amounts of baggage were the norm.

I still see people today that board airliners with tons of baggage. Very few people seem to adhear to the 'little baggage is good baggage' rule.

DutchRailnut wrote:If if if if people travel lighter there would be no need of Bagage cars.

Not necessarily true, Mr. Dutch. Not everyone who travels packs the kitchen sink. The baggage car is merely a convenience. Even on airliners, they stow luggage beneath the plane; and on buses too. The baggage car is there to aid in the travel ease of customers. When I returned from Chicago (from Seattle) to Indianapolis, my luggage--which had been checked on the Empire Builder--had to be carried with me. I had a backback, my laptop, and my suitcase. The coach was overbooked and the luggage racks were overflowing. People were upset, to say the least. Take away baggage cars and lose potential returning passengers.

Mr Doty most of the time the bagage car is 95% empty, and the 5% of lugage in there only a liability to railroad as it needs more personal and the car cost the railroad several thousand a month to operate.

So it seems like the answer would be to include a small baggage section as part of one of the existing cars...that way, you have the baggage capability in case it's needed, but if it's mostly empty, you're not wasting the expense of a separate car either.

Well gee, they used to have a whole bunch of those cars in the Superliner fleet, too...why did they ever stop using the Coach/Baggages for their intended purpose anyway? Also, before the 2500-series Heritage dorm-lounges, they used to use dual-purpose Baggage-Dorm cars on long-haul Eastern trains.

Put forward in the latest Amtrak five-year plan is to ‘un-convert’ many coach-smoking Superliner I’s back into coach-baggage cars. This should help the crunch in the short term.

Long term, Amtrak does need a new/standard baggage car. Heritage baggage cars have the same issue as all other heritage cars: like snowflakes no two are alike. The MHC’s and recycled boxcars are fine for hauling freight but can’t pinch hit as a baggage car. Some trains do utilize the full baggage car such as the California Zephyr. The Florida trains used to before they were truncated into ‘mixed-train locals.’ Something new is needed and needed quickly.

In this vein I put forward a proposal for discussion: a new baggage car based on the “economy baggage car” purchased by SP and CRI&P in 1962. They were very simple to construct and many still exist today. Columbus Castings is currently developing a truck for auto-rack cars that looks as if it would be a perfect fit for such a baggage car. To ensure suitability I would procure maybe a half dozen extant cars and retrofit them with the new trucks and trainlines then ‘run the wheels off of ‘em’ for the next eighteen months. As simple carbon steel cars any freight car manufacturer should be able to construct them. As cars not carrying paying passengers buff strength crash resistance is not an issue.

Actualy the buff strenght is applicable to any trains in tier I or Tier II service (all passennger trains) and a carbon steel car would weigh more than a simular Stainless steel car due to Stainless steel being stronger.

is the baggage allowance.

Now, I recognize that OSHA rules are changing the "steamer trunks and gold brick laden 4 suiter Pullman suitcases" into stuff "too heavy" for the baggageman...

... but when I travelled with my (then) wife and (still) son during the holidays, the ability to check the wrapped presents was a huge selling point.

Sorry to you, Messrs GBN and DR, but reducing or eliminating the checked baggage allowance approaches eliminating the "psychological decompression" advantage of using rail vice air.

My two centsl.

Joh