Thanksgiving Week Extras

[Gilbert B Norman]

Well Ms. Blunt, how many times has "money talks, whatever else walks" been said?

Demand pricing has made the airlines profitable again and has made Amtrak mighty close to breakeven.

Leaving on Monday means you will have an A-I to ride, and likely "pointchasers" as your fellow passengers. On that note, I have to wonder how many Thanx tables will be minus so somebody can go chase airline points.

Oh, and an off topic "finally". Absent something like a family emergency, I will miss 2018 United Premier standing by 928 miles. Anyone think I'm going to take a 1000 mile "airfan Qualflight"?

[electricron]

I'm sort of taking part in the rush this year, albeit way out in the sticks. I'm off to MSP on the Builder today and then after the holiday Tucson to NOLA. Obviously there's a flight on AMR in between, as MSP-TUS would be one heck of a long ride.

Yes, it would be a long ride. How long depends upon which way you went, clockwise or counterclockwise?
CW = Depart St. Paul at 8:00 am (1), arrive Chicago at 3:55 pm (1), depart Chicago at 1:45 pm (2), join the Sunset Limited in San Antonio without a train transfer, arrive Tucson at 6:45 pm (4); 2 nights aboard the train with a night in a hotel room in Chicago; 84 hours total after adding one hour for the time zone changes. You're not likely to miss making a 22 hour layover at your only train transfer.
CCW - Depart St, Paul at 10:20 pm (1), arrive Portland at 10:10 am (3), depart Portland at 2:25 pm (3), arrive Los Angeles at 9:00 pm (4), depart Los Angeles at 10:00 pm (4), arrive Tucson at 7:28 am (5); 4 nights aboard trains, 2 train transfers - 4 hours in Portland and 1 hour in Los Angeles; 82 hours total assuming all the train transfers are made and adding one hour net for all the time zone changes. Since the last transfer was to a train that doesn't run every day,, if you miss that last transfer you will most likely add another 48 hours to your trip.
With either direction, keep in mind that the Sunset Limited runs just three days a week in each direction. I would take the clockwise direction path going because the sole transfer is easy, and you'll have 12 more hours (day 1) of daylight on the train.
I haven't checked which way I would go coming back yet.

[GirlOnTheTrain]

Well Ms. Blunt, how many times has "money talks, whatever else walks" been said?

Oh, I know...just saying...I hate the Arrows on a NJT trip to Trenton, not gonna pay a premium to ride them to WAS for funsies! If it was markedly cheaper I would have maybe entertained the thought.

[gokeefe]

Hope you enjoy your trip!

I will be interested to hear what ridership looks like on the Sunset Limited during the post-Thanksgiving holiday period.

[mtuandrew]

And I’d like to hear what you think about St. Paul Union Depot, Tadman. I haven’t actually used it as an Amtrak facility yet.

[New Haven 1]

Just had to throw something on this post now. Am aboard the southbound Vermonter as I write. It pulled into Northampton Mass. about 20 minutes late. There were at least 30 passengers waiting and the Conductor announced that he was opening the last empty car on the train right behind the engine for us as it was essentially full in behind. A friend texted me that there are slow orders in Vermont. We have slowed a few times south of Springfield too, actually coming to a stop once. Wonder what is going on. Looks like that original 1 1/2 layover in Newark Penn station isn't going to be quite as long

[Tadman]

And I’d like to hear what you think about St. Paul Union Depot, Tadman. I haven’t actually used it as an Amtrak facility yet.

I will find the SPUD thread and make some notes there, this is probably not the thread to do so. I'll shoot you a PM as well.

[liftedjeep]

Today's (11/26) Thanksgiving Holiday Extras as photographed through Bridesburg, Philadelphia.

-Holiday Extra #1054 with a "disappointing" Amtrak City Sprinter leading a string of MARC coaches:

http://www.rrpicturearchives.net/showPi ... id=4849488" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

-"Going away" shot of #1054 with MARC Cab Car #7760 trailing:

http://www.rrpicturearchives.net/showPi ... id=4849489" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

-Holiday Extra #1057 consisting of eight NJ Transit Arrow III MUs:

http://www.rrpicturearchives.net/showPi ... id=4849490" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

-Holiday Extra #1099 with a 2nd set of eight NJ Transit Arrow III MUs:

http://www.rrpicturearchives.net/showPi ... id=4849516" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

Ben

[Nicholas Chen]

Thanksgiving Extras at Jersey Avenue:
Train 1057, with NJ Transit Arrow III cars: https://youtu.be/sIJUb0Z6cIM" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;
Train 1054, with Amtrak ACS-64 and MARC coaches: https://youtu.be/2sbU1tfrYFo" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

[ziggyzack1234]

Amtrak needs more trains, plain and simple. I remember them dipping into the commuter coach reserve before, but when the EMU's are brought out you know it's busy.

But that's a topic for a different thread.

[CNJGeep]

They borrow Arrow MUs from NJT every year for the Sunday after Thanksgiving. This has been going on for a looooong time.

[nova08]

Yesterday's WB Capital Limited had about 4 amfleet cars at the beginning of the train. I suspect headed to Beach Groove for much needed maintenance after the rush or back to the Midwest after the rush. Yesterday's WB LSL had 3 Horizon cars at the tail end. I suspect these might have been the Horizon cars seen on the Vermonter recently.

[Train2009]

The 3 Horizon cars were on the Adirondack train #68/69, one trainset had 2 and the other had 1.

[gokeefe]

Watch what happens over Thanksgiving when they have some extra cars lying around for a few years. I will not be surprised if there are some unexpected service "experiments".

[njtmnrrbuff]

With Thanksgiving a little under two months away, I decided to check to see if the Amtrak website listed any holiday extras. I don't see the ones listed in the morning and early afternoon. I know that for many years, the holiday extra that departs NYP late morning and early afternoon have used Arrow III sets but with the issues that have been happening at NJT, especially the Arrow IIIs breaking down, it's probably not a good idea for Amtrak to borrow them from NJT anymore. Will there be any other holiday extras on the NEC besides one that departs NYC in the late afternoon?