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Privately-Owned Rail Cars

amtrak.com

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Re: Privately-Owned Rail Cars

#211

Post by mauvehaus »

TrevorJ wrote: post #192
don_albrecht wrote: post #165

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I never wanted one to go anywhere, I've always wanted one for a tiny house / social space on my property. They always struck me as a perfect option for a unique cabin. I know there are old rail car hotels, but I've never seen one that epitomizes the pullman luxury.

A couple generations ago it was not uncommon for people in rural areas to buy old boxcars from the railroad for this purpose. My grandfather did it.

Prior art: The Boxcar Children.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Boxcar_Children

Not to be confused with the yet to be written The Bockscar Children, which would be a bleaker series altogether.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bockscar

Re: Privately-Owned Rail Cars

#212

Post by itronitron »

adriand wrote: post #161
fabioborellini wrote: post #138

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Railroad companies having cab cars in Europe do sometimes run them in the middle of trains. It is not impossible, it just voids the benefits of having a cab car for the particular train and schedule. Sometimes it is acceptable in the greater scheme of scheduling and planning. One example that comes to my mind is prisoner transports. I have seen a prisoner car (which cannot be passed through by passengers or crew, it…

I feel like for people with the means to have one of these, having the plebeians pass through your car is a feature, not a bug.

That would really need to be taken into account by the person running the murder mystery game.

Re: Privately-Owned Rail Cars

#213

Post by rchowe »

jandrese wrote: post #106
chiph wrote: post #17

This is my "if I won the lottery" dream. Which it would have to be, since everything about it isn't cheap. Purchasing a Pullman car then upgrading it to Amtrak standards will cost at least $300k. Any interior upgrades are on top of that (renovating the galley with modern appliances, adding central air since some cars used block ice for cooling). Amtrak requires you add 480v head-end power (but you will likely want a…

Would it be possible to instead buy an Amtrak car and then just do the interior upgrades? Seems like it would save a lot of work on upgrades. I have to assume that Amtrak eventually retires the cars at some point. Or heck, if you're rich just buy an unfinished car from whatever company makes Amtrak cars and then finish it yourself.

Many of the private railcars in existence today are ex-Amtrak, because when Amtrak was formed on May 1, 1971, they assumed most of the passenger rolling stock of the railroads that discharged passenger service.

Supposedly the biggest cost associated with refurbishing a car is passing the Amtrak inspection of the bogies, axles, and wheels -- I believe they have to be completely replaced at 40 years of age. When a railroad retires a car, this equipment may be close to end-of-life.

Many freight railroads still have "office-car specials" -- passenger equipment for the executives to use. Those would probably be the easiest to get up to Amtrak specs.

Trivia: Amtrak will only run trains with private railcars at a maximum speed of 110 mph. On the Northeast Corridor, private railcars are only allowed to be added to the overnight Northeast Regional train which normally travels at 125 mph -- but there's enough padding in the schedule that they can slow it down to 110 without affecting the timetable.

Re: Privately-Owned Rail Cars

#214

Post by differentview97 »

ak217 wrote: post #202
differentview97 wrote: post #173

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I don't understand why Amtrak - the only operator on its own tracks - is unable to make it work, meanwhile in EU you have literally thousands of private operators operating their own trains as well as combined multi-owner trains riding on tracks belonging to dozens of owners... and it works fairly well, there certainly are no 6+ hours delays, at most an hour or so for the whole multi-state 1000km trip.

Europe has dedicated infrastructure for intercity trains used by people who need to get there on time. The US does not (outside the NEC). Can you imagine a TGV or ICE stopping to hook up a private car?

Sure I can. On the same track you have many different companies operating their own lines, combined multi-operatoe lines, as well as irregular connections (again single and multiple operators combined).

I've seen multiple operators (some of them entirely private, some entirely state-owned corporations, some combinations) combine their trains on an EuroCity-labelled line more than a few times.

I have a friend who is working on founding his own train company and he's actually providing services to the state-owned corporations where they have him operate their wagons in his combined train, with his own locomotive. He operated a major intercity line several times this way (they use his service when there's a problem on the regular route) - and it stopped to recombine several times. I've personally been on a train ride that combined his private for-fun party wagon with an EC train.

Re: Privately-Owned Rail Cars

#215

Post by e40 »

chiph wrote: post #17

This is my "if I won the lottery" dream. Which it would have to be, since everything about it isn't cheap. Purchasing a Pullman car then upgrading it to Amtrak standards will cost at least $300k. Any interior upgrades are on top of that (renovating the galley with modern appliances, adding central air since some cars used block ice for cooling). Amtrak requires you add 480v head-end power (but you will likely want a…

I didn't know that was my "if I won the lottery" dream, until I read this comment. Seems so cool.

Re: Privately-Owned Rail Cars

#217

Post by ak217 »

differentview97 wrote: post #214
ak217 wrote: post #202

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Europe has dedicated infrastructure for intercity trains used by people who need to get there on time. The US does not (outside the NEC). Can you imagine a TGV or ICE stopping to hook up a private car?

Sure I can. On the same track you have many different companies operating their own lines, combined multi-operatoe lines, as well as irregular connections (again single and multiple operators combined). I've seen multiple operators (some of them entirely private, some entirely state-owned corporations, some combinations) combine their trains on an EuroCity-labelled line more than a few times. I have a friend who is w…

It sounds like your sentiment is part of the same problem in Europe - I mean you said it yourself, you saw delays on these combo trains.

Luckily Europe has high speed rail which does not allow your friend's party wagon to disrupt the schedule. You might imagine a TGV or ICE picking it up, but I don't think it will ever happen.

Re: Privately-Owned Rail Cars

#218

Post by differentview97 »

ak217 wrote: post #217
differentview97 wrote: post #214

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Sure I can. On the same track you have many different companies operating their own lines, combined multi-operatoe lines, as well as irregular connections (again single and multiple operators combined). I've seen multiple operators (some of them entirely private, some entirely state-owned corporations, some combinations) combine their trains on an EuroCity-labelled line more than a few times. I have a friend who is w…

It sounds like your sentiment is part of the same problem in Europe - I mean you said it yourself, you saw delays on these combo trains. Luckily Europe has high speed rail which does not allow your friend's party wagon to disrupt the schedule. You might imagine a TGV or ICE picking it up, but I don't think it will ever happen.

That's entirely up to the company operating that ICE or TGV train. Not saying it's going to happen - many companies don't let other's wagons on their trains. But many do.

BTW so far my friend's train was never delayed by his own fault, not sure what problem you're talking about - there's no problem, his train had usually the lowest priority (it costs money to have higher priority) so he's the one waiting for "normal" trains.

When I said there are delays, I meant the "normal" trains primarily. But sure, as he increases operation it's going to happen to him too.

Improve schedule planning and Amtrak won't have problems too.

Re: Privately-Owned Rail Cars

#219

Post by rcMgD2BwE72F »

rippercushions wrote: post #93

There are an increasing number of ultra-deluxe trains in Japan that aim to replicate the experience. Seven Stars is the original: https://www.cruisetrain-sevenstars.jp/english/ Prices start at $4500 per person twin sharing for 4 nights, so not exactly cheap, but still a few orders of magnitude less than kitting out your own. Plus it's Japan, so you get a modern train, incredible service and everything runs like clock…

See also https://www.belmond.com/experiences/train

Re: Privately-Owned Rail Cars

#220

Post by czinck »

differentview97 wrote: post #173
ak217 wrote: post #122

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Yeah, that's the "banned this practice" change that I was talking about. The documents in the link that the post is about are from 2021/2022 though. So they must have un-banned it. The "guidelines" document at https://www.amtrak.com/content/dam/projects/dotcom/english/p... lists 44 Amtrak stations throughout the US where this practice is allowed (and likely to continue to disrupt schedules for regular passengers). It…

I don't understand why Amtrak - the only operator on its own tracks - is unable to make it work, meanwhile in EU you have literally thousands of private operators operating their own trains as well as combined multi-owner trains riding on tracks belonging to dozens of owners... and it works fairly well, there certainly are no 6+ hours delays, at most an hour or so for the whole multi-state 1000km trip.

> the only operator on its own tracks

Amtrak only owns ~630 miles of tracks out of the 21,000 it uses, and basically all of that 630 is in the North East. This is definitely Amtrak's best area, although that's partially because of the amount of people going between Boston/NYC/Philadelphia/DC; the rest of the US doesn't have as many big cities that close together.

> multi-state 1000km trip

If you get on I-5 North in Los Angeles and start driving, 1000km later you'll still be in California.

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