RAILforum: Anybody interested in a little experiment?

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Posted by Geoff Mayo (Member # 153) on :

I was wondering if anybody would be interested in a little experiment? Basically it involves tracking some cars for a month or two, just to see where they travel to, how far they've gone, etc.

To do this effectively we need people out there watching any Amtrak trains rolling past to see whether it contains any of the selected cars, and then to report it to me with a date, time, and train number. I can then print a log for each selected car and possibly a map.

I realise some cars get assigned to the same trains for several runs at a time, but they do swap over every now and again, and also go for major servicing (if Amtrak is like the UK, that'd be about every 4 weeks).

Comments, suggestions welcome here or to my email, g.mayo@virgin.net.

Thanks

Geoff Mayo.

Posted by Mr. Toy (Member # 311) on :

That sounds like fun. I don't see Amtrak trains that often, though. But maybe I can help get you started. I have a few car numbers or names (in the case of some Superliner sleepers) along with the dates they were on trains I was riding.

California Zephyr:
On August 9, 2000 we boarded a Superliner I sleeper with the name George M. Pullman in Emeryville bound for Denver.

On August 16 2000 we boarded a Superliner II sleeper named Oregon in Denver headed westbound.

On Friday May 25th I photographed some cars on the northbound Coast Starlight at various points along the route:
Sleeper 32085
Coaches 34116, 34512, and 34080 and 34081, The latter two happened to be the last two cars at the rear of the train.

On May 29th when I got off the southbound Starlight in Salinas I noted three sleeper names on the train: Vermont, Washington and Ohio.

So we can ask "Where are they now?"

I also photographed a couple of trains in Salinas early in 2001, but I don't have the photos at hand. When I have time I can dig them out and see what numbers might be on them.

------------------
Trust God, love your neighbor, and never mistake opinion for truth.
-Mr. Toy

The Del Monte Club Car

[This message has been edited by Mr. Toy (edited 10-13-2001).]

Posted by lakeshorelimited (Member # 576) on :

That does sound like a fun idea! Unfortunately, like Mr. Toy, I'm not in a position to help out with that at this point. I wouldn't mind trying in a few months when it's convienent!

Posted by DC2001 (Member # 542) on :

I wish I could help, but I like 4 1/2 hours (one-way) from the closest Amtrak route! I'd be really interested to see the results when you have them, though.

I wonder if there are any webcams with the correct angle and resolution sufficient to see the car names and numbers consistently? This would make the task much easier.

Posted by CV (Member # 1114) on :

I could help out with some action here in the northeast. The Lakeshore may be of particular interest. I'll update this next time I head out.

Posted by Geoff Mayo (Member # 153) on :

We really need lots of people to make this work. However, I'm willing to give it a go. What I'll need to do is set up a database on my website (time to read that CGI/Perl book I bought ages ago and haven't read yet...), so give me a few weeks and I might have it ready. I'll post again when it's ready.

Geoff Mayo.

Posted by skinsfan31 (Member # 910) on :

I do know that on the Twilight Shoreliner (usually 1 Viewliner sleeper), the sleeper is the same Northbound and Southbound. Sleeper Village View (10592?), into Boston Sat. morning and out of Boston Sat. night on the same train.

Chuck

Posted by Geoff Mayo (Member # 153) on :

An update: I have started a database which I have entered some (real) data into. It is far from complete, you can't enter any data, and it is very raw, unprettyfied. But it's a start, so please have a look:
http://www.simsig.co.uk/amtrak/

Thanks

Geoff Mayo.

Posted by Geoff_S (Member # 1142) on :

Geoff

I've had a similar idea myself but based on locating all Amtrak equipment in service over a period of say two weeks, longer if the effort was willing and available.
I've found at least one other person who regularly publishes logs for his location, but it would need more similar people.
There are questions as to what to include or not; i.e. should it be limited to long-distance services (perhaps as a initial trial run). If widened to the whole of Amtrak then many more people would be needed, especially in the NEC.
I'm currently working on guessing a consist working patterns which looks quite easy for Chicago and west of there, but gets much more complex if the NEC is included.

Geoff

Posted by skinsfan31 (Member # 910) on :

Geoff,

Some information for your table, gleaned over a recent trip home from college.

Heritage Dinette "San Luis Opisbo" on 41, Three Rivers Westbound 11/5/01

Amfleet II Coach 25092 on 41, 11/5/01

More information coming when I pull it up from where I hastily wrote it down

Chuck