Pre-Inaugural Philly-Wilmington-DC Victory Movement

CarterB wrote:From all the news reports and Obama team press releases I have read, the theme of riding the train from Phl - Was seems to have nothing to do with Acela nor the Amtrak 'image'. All releases evoke nostalgia as well as 'letting the people view the trip'
So...to me...this is NOT an Amtrak marketing ploy, and PV would fit the press release descriptions of the raison d'etre

they should make it into an amtrak marketing ploy.

jhdeasy wrote:I predict private car GEORGIA 300 will be the rear car for Mr. Obama's use on the POTUS-Elect special train to Washington, which will consist of conventional equipment.

Obama used Georgin 300 for his whistlestop campaign in Pennsylvania in April.

A few of us on this board have been around long enough to remember RFK's funeral train, the Eisenhower funeral train (which used the ATSF president's car on the rear for the family), and Richard Nixon's trip on the Metroliner. I was looking through some old articles while preparing a short piece on the original Metroliners, and noted that Nixon's trip cost $150,000. You'd think it would be cheaper to fly.

Unfortunately, I think Obama is doing this for "nostalgia" (everybody knows how old fashioned trains are), and therefore my bets are on at least one chartered PV. Either Ohio River or Pennsylvania 120 (which Prince Charles rode) would be a good choice. Acela Express equipment (which I rode yesterday north from WAS) is too spartan, and doesn't strike the right note for Obama, I think.

Security should not be a major issue. After all, presidents do drive on highways (tying up whole cities in the process).

I plan to be nowhere near Washington, DC from the 17th through the 21st.

Kaback,

This has absolutely nothing to do with marketing Amtrak per se. The unique opportunity to perhaps see the President Elect on a classic PV far outweighs a ubiquitous train rushing by with very small tinted windows. Might as well be Bernard Medoff, or Rod Blagojevich in sunglasses on an Acela going at 120mph.
Just the fact that he chose to enter by train is enough of an advertisement for Amtrak travel, but absolutely NO need for using 'commodity' equipment.

And that is why Amtrak is failing here, they have a Private car use that instead at least, by going in a fancy PV you only show everyone that you are special and not a "regular guy". Of course then there is the argument that well he is the president he is special, yes you would be correct there, but if you want to show change I can believe in at least start by riding in something that looks like standard Amtrak equipment.

Kaback9 wrote:And that is why Amtrak is failing here, they have a Private car use that instead at least, by going in a fancy PV you only show everyone that you are special and not a "regular guy". Of course then there is the argument that well he is the president he is special, yes you would be correct there, but if you want to show change I can believe in at least start by riding in something that looks like standard Amtrak equipment.

He isn't president quite yet so he can use all the private varnish he wants

I'm not going to get pulled into this I made my point.

Kaback9 wrote:the president should be riding either in Beech Grove or one of the other Business cars Amtrak has.

OK, just how many cars does Amtrak have in Company service. How many are PV?

SFAIK, the current PV of the National Railroad Passenger Corporation is Beech Grove.

Amtrak has that other one that sits in DC..not sure what it is and then they use the Dome which would be out of the question anyway as an officer car. Gunn used it on the back of the Empire Builder.

Kaback9 wrote:Amtrak has that other one that sits in DC..not sure what it is and then they use the Dome which would be out of the question anyway as an officer car. Gunn used it on the back of the Empire Builder.

http://on-track-on-line.com/amtk-roster ... ml#Company

Amtrak's only business car is 10001, Beech Grove. They have a few Amtrak Police/inspector general cars in the Pacific series, an instruction car, and 10002 and 10003, track inspection cars. Since 10031, their full-length dome, won't fit through the Baltimore tunnels, it's out.

It wouldn't surprise me in the least to see a train with a consist like so, though I obviously have no inside information:

AEM-7AC
AEM-7AC - because the last thing they need is a failure on one of their motors
Baggage
Amfleet business - for media
Amfleet business - for security personnel
Amfleet cafe/lounge
10001 Beech Grove
9800 Conference Car
Georgia 300

EDIT: Ah, I see which car you're thinking of - the 9800, former Metroliner and current conference car. The possible consist has been changed above to reflect that car/

Kaback9 wrote:...that other one that sits in DC..not sure what it is...

10002 Corridor Clipper - a track geometry car. It's "all work and no play'.

http://www.jefflubchanskycpa.com/AMT100 ... DIGI16.jpg

mtuandrew wrote:

Kaback9 wrote:Amtrak has that other one that sits in DC..not sure what it is and then they use the Dome which would be out of the question anyway as an officer car. Gunn used it on the back of the Empire Builder.

http://on-track-on-line.com/amtk-roster ... ml#Company

Amtrak's only business car is 10001, Beech Grove. They have a few Amtrak Police/inspector general cars in the Pacific series, an instruction car, and 10002 and 10003, track inspection cars. Since 10031, their full-length dome, won't fit through the Baltimore tunnels, it's out.

It wouldn't surprise me in the least to see a train with a consist like so, though I obviously have no inside information:

AEM-7AC
AEM-7AC - because the last thing they need is a failure on one of their motors
Baggage
Amfleet business - for media
Amfleet business - for security personnel
Amfleet cafe/lounge
10001 Beech Grove
9800 Conference Car
Georgia 300

EDIT: Ah, I see which car you're thinking of - the 9800, former Metroliner and current conference car. The possible consist has been changed above to reflect that car/

9800&10001 would look nice since it vaguely resembles other amtrak equipment. Even if they could use the great dome, people would ask "Where can I ride that car?" the answer would be that it hardly ever enters revenue service.

sorry if this has been covered but does anyone know what day they are stopping in wilmington? i'll be there for conductor training classes and i am wondering how insane the whole town is gonna be.

The main purpose of this trip is to attract crowds somewhere -- anywhere -- that is not Washington DC.

The crowd projections for the actual Inaugural keep spiraling up like 2007 oil prices (the 4M figure turned out to be fantasy, but the official projections are still closer to 2M than 1.5M), and the National Capital Area is going to have a devil of a time accommodating the throngs of people as they arrive, stay, then leave. There are threads on this board, and on the WMATA and MARC/VRE boards that have one unifying message, which is not so much "Change", but rather "INCOMING!" Having Philadelphia, Wilmington, and Baltimore pick up some of the load, and perhaps dissuading Mid-Atlantic locals from going in person to the Main Event, is probably the only choice the Inaugural committee has.

I would just be curious as to where in Philadelphia the event will be held; 30th Street is much, much too small (!) for this purpose, the last Obama event I personally attended there was on Independence Mall, which worked well as a venue and is loaded with symbolism, but is on the wrong side of Center City, so I'm going to speculate that they'll use the Parkway and the PMA backdrop. I'm now 2,500 miles away and so can't attend any of the festivities, but would appreciate being kept posted as details emerge.

Rtrain wrote:sorry if this has been covered but does anyone know what day they are stopping in wilmington? i'll be there for conductor training classes and i am wondering how insane the whole town is gonna be.

Not surprisingly, the date is mentioned in Mr. Norman's message that started this thread:

...on January 17, President-elect Obama will ride "by train' from Philadelphia to Wash. A stop will be made at Wilmington where Vice-President-elect Biden will board.