Tis The Season for Late Trains

Amtrak’s eastbound Lake Shore Limited is running five hours late as it rushes through Berea, Ohio, on Jan. 22 on Norfolk Southern tracks.

No. 48 was 3.5 hours late leaving Chicago Union Station the night before and was expected to reach New York Penn Station at 11:57 p.m. on Tuesday night, having lost another half hour en route.

Note that No. 48 has its winter consist of one coach for the Boston section and two coaches to New York. The Boston baggage car is gone.

Also in the consist is Viewliner diner Montgomery, a city in Alabama that Amtrak has not served in several years.

Entering the Shadows

Bort Road near North East, Pennsylvania, has long been one of my favorite locations to photograph Amtrak’s eastbound Lake Shore Limited.

There is a one-lane ancient bridge here that arches over the CSX Erie West Subdivision that Amtrak uses.

The sun had not been up all that long when No. 48 came charging past on a Sunday morning in early September 2016.

On the point is P42DC No. 12 followed by a still new Viewliner II baggage car, three Viewliner sleepers, two food service cars and five Amfleet II coaches.

The shadows of the bridge are playing on the nose of No. 12 as it approaches. But it won’t be here long because train 48 is doing track speed and has places to  go.

Trackside Checked Bicycle Service Now Available on Most Amtrak Long-distance Trains

Amtrak has begun checked trackside bicycle service on most long-distance trains.

The service is available only at stations that have checked baggage service.

Passengers with bikes must check in with a station agent, obtain a claim check/baggage tag for their bike, and then give that to a crew member inside the baggage car of their train.

Passengers must retrieve their bikes from the baggage car from a crew member once they reach their destination.

The new procedure has ended the need for passengers to break down and box their bikes on long-distance trains. Checked bikes also require payment of a $25 fee.

The service is not yet available on the Portland section of the Empire Builder, the Boston section of the Lake Shore Limited or on the Coast Starlight.

Amtrak said checked bike service will begin on the Seattle-Los Angeles Coast Starlight at a date to be announced.

Amtrak’s 70 new Viewliner II baggage cars have racks to hang bicycles.

Inside a Viewliner Baggage Car

The exterior of the Viewliner sleeper on display in Toledo at National Train Day.

Amtrak passengers seldom get an inside look of a baggage car. If you are riding in a coach or sleeper next to a baggage car you might be able to get a glimpse inside the baggage car through the door window of your car.

So it was a rare opportunity during the annual National Train Day festival in Toledo recently to be able to go inside one of the new Viewliner baggage car.

The car has racks to hold luggage but they were locked upright, probably to prevent children from climbing on them.

At one end of the car was a cabinet that can be locked. Someone on a railfan chat list suggested it is or could be used for storing firearms that have been checked as luggage.

The car has the familiar bowed sides of a Viewliner on the inside.

Looking down the middle of the interior.

Getting a closer look at the luggage racks that were in the up position.

A locked cabinet sat at one end of the car.

The current Amtrak logo on the side of the car.

Amtrak Viewliner II Baggage Cars Enter Service

Amtrak’s new Viewliner II baggage cars entered revenue service this week on the East Cost.

The first trains to carry the cars were the northbound Silver Meteor (New York-Miami) and northbound Carolinian (New York-Charlotte, N.C.).

Altogether, Amtrak ordered 55 of the cars and plans to assign them to all of its 15 long-distance routes.

The cars were built at the CAF USA plant near Elmira, N.Y. Earlier, they were ferried to Amtrak’s Hialeah maintenance facility in Miami for inspection.

Amtrak has ordered 130 single-level, long-distance passenger cars, including diners, sleepers and baggage-dorm cars.