Thanksgiving 2019

[Gilbert B Norman]

Not mentioned at this topic so far is that trains 384 and 385 have been added over the Thanx period CHI-QCY.

The plan is that 380 makes a turn for 385 and thence 382. The consist I observed, 380 (23) had six cars (one additional) and SC-44's double ended.

I'm certain Amtrak wisely ensured that scheduled maintenance had been address prior to the "surge", and I doubt if such could be maintained through thevyear.

[STrRedWolf]

And the extras are running on the NEC. 1196 “NE Reg Extra” is running WAS to NYP and is 4 min late at Baltimore (5:14p “regular“ departure time).

[gokeefe]

Not great but also "not bad". Seems like a fair assumption that yet again Amtrak will likely come close to if not set a single day ridership record. Great economy and minimal weather delays.

[ThirdRail7]

If only they lengthened more trains.

[Greg Moore]

Speaking of which apparently Train 281 NYP-BUF ran as a 10 car train today.

As far as I know, that's the longest all-coach train Amtrak has run on that route. (I don't know if they split it at ALB, they might have.)

[ThirdRail7]

Speaking of which apparently Train 281 NYP-BUF ran as a 10 car train today.

As far as I know, that's the longest all-coach train Amtrak has run on that route. (I don't know if they split it at ALB, they might have.)

It left NYP with 10 cars and two engines. At ALB, both engines came off with 4 coaches. A new P32 went on, and they departed with 6. It took a hit in NYP since they loaded almost 600 people on board.

[twropr]

An unusual phenomenon has been occurring the past several Thanksgivings on the MAPLE LEAF, which very rarely runs with more than five cars, except during T'giving. An extra NY-Toronto coach runs every other day during T'giving week. This year the extra coach went west on #63 on Tuesday the 26th and was on #64 Wednesday the 27th. Would be interested to know if any additional cars were added to either train NY-ALB on Wed.
Andy

[Greg Moore]

Speaking of which apparently Train 281 NYP-BUF ran as a 10 car train today.

As far as I know, that's the longest all-coach train Amtrak has run on that route. (I don't know if they split it at ALB, they might have.)

It left NYP with 10 cars and two engines. At ALB, both engines came off with 4 coaches. A new P32 went on, and they departed with 6. It took a hit in NYP since they loaded almost 600 people on board.

Thanks. Yeah, once I realized it was a BUF bound train, it dawned on me they probably pulled off some cars.
Did it run with 9 couches and 1 cafe or 1 cafe at each end (i.e. so they could pull off 3 coaches and a cafe and immediately have a SB set?)

600 people. Not to shabby!

[ThirdRail7]

The 1st split club was 4 deep so when they pulled off the 4 cars, all they had to do was add 1 more coach to complete the set.

[Greg Moore]

Makes sense.

Cool.

Of course ironically where my son needed the extra seats was WB to Buffalo on Sunday. He waited too long to buy tickets so ended up carpooling this time around.

[Boyishcolt23]

Too bad they don't lease out VIA with there crews as extra runs on Thanksgiving for the Northeast. People may even pay more for it

[STrRedWolf]

Too bad they don't lease out VIA with there crews as extra runs on Thanksgiving for the Northeast. People may even pay more for it

It's an idea, but it has a few problems.

Amtrak defines the "northeast region" as having Maryland, Pennsylvania, and New York as the southwest border states. Smack dab in the middle of that is... New York Penn Station. NYP has the train height limitation in it's tunnels to and from that station. That kills a good chunk of VIA's fleet.

Take into that it's on the NEC, and Amtrak likes to make sure the cars can handle the speed. VIA would need to get certified for that, because I don't think they have so far. Talking about certification, VIA would have to go under FRA rules and regulations, on top of Canada's rail regulations.

Also, take a look at VIA's fleet, which is... not as uniform as Amtrak's (which is slowly becoming uniform), per Wikipedia. What a mess. Must be expensive with all the variety.

All of this boils down to VIA needing a year or two of lead time to be able to send equipment into America. Amtrak can't wait that long (or spend the money). So it leases from where it can from agencies which have the right equipment that they can spare... and right now, that's MARC.

[mtuandrew]

Amtrak could run the Michigan service trains with VIA equipment though, and move the Superliner, Horizon and Amfleet equipment elsewhere for that time of year.

[gokeefe]

*Maybe* they could. Of course FRA has jurisdiction in Michigan so that would still be a challenge.

Furthermore temporary shifts of equipment away from their bases is not something Amtrak would want to do during the busy season. It's operationally risky for only minimal (if any) reward.

I was thinking about what Thanksgiving 2020 will look like compared to this year and the big change is probably going to be the new Cal/IDOT cars which should be entering service in the next 9-10 months.

Depending on what the service planners are cooking up there could be a shift of Amfleet equipment from California and Illinois to the Northeast before November 2020.

We may have witnessed the last of the Thanksgiving commuter equipment extras this week.

[Rockingham Racer]

I note your italicized "may", but given there's hardly a seat to be had today, I'd be of the opinion that commuter extras will continue along with those possible extra Amfleets. Amtrak needs all the seats it can get its hands on today, apparently. I just did a query. You can get an Acela first class seat WAS-NYP for a mere $449.50--on a few trains only. Most Regionals are sold out today.

On the Boston side, there's not one seat available until # 66 at 9:45 PM tonight. Definitely need more trains east of NYC. The Inland Route might be the answer, or longer trains, but then you get into double stopping at some places.